Laurel's Jackal Story

Laurel got inspired by Simbavati to write a story about Jackals. Here it is:

Come," Harley beckoned her with his tail, "I want to show you something,"

Liana hauled herself to her feet.

   "This better be good," she growled playfully, "Because the sun is

about to rise and I should be sleeping,"

Harley blew air out of his nose, as if exasperated, and trotted out of

the den. Liana shook leaves out of her pelt and followed him. They

journeyed across a plain of nothing but grass, and then uphill, on

solid rock. When the rock gave way to forest, Liana finally caught up

with the other jackal.

   "Where are we going?" she asked him.

   "You'll see," was all he said.

Harley halted just above a sheer drop. It was a clearing in the woods,

and trees framed the pink sky.

   "Okay, is this," Liana waved her tail in a circle, "what you wanted

to show me?"

   "No," Harley answered, "But this is,"

The sky seemed to catch fire as a bright golden sliver of light made

its way into the sky. Liana yelped and jumped back. Harley chuckled at

her reaction.

   "We came all this way for a prank?" Liana sniffed, cleaning her

pelt with her tongue.

Harley's head drooped, "You don't like it?"

   "No, no. It's beautiful," Liana apologized.

Harley lifted his head so his resin-colored eyes met Liana's, "Just

like you,"

Liana grew warm under her pelt, as if the sun had made her icy heart

suddenly melt.

   "LianaŠ. I love you!" he burst out, and then looked ashamed.

   "Oh, Harley," Liana said softly, "I-I don't know what to say right

now,"

They shared a tense laugh before falling into silence.

The two jackals watched the sun climb higher in the sky without

speaking a word. Harley edged closer to Liana. She held herself erect

until they were so close their pelts touched, and then Liana leaned her

head against Harley and looked up at him. She loved the feel of his

fur, the way his jaw curved, how the fur on his head spiked upwards. It

seemed as if in that moment, not only their tails but their hearts were

twined together, and nothing could ever pull them apart.

Bryce's Review of Simbavati

Here's Bryce's TripAdvisor review of Simbavati Lodge:

Overall my stay at Simbavati was great. You wake up early in the morning, get dressed, head to the breakfast area, have hot chocolate and biscuits, get a hot water bottle, and head out in a jeep. You see great animals and come back at 7:45 where you're greeted by some friendly staff and given a warm mini towel. When you're done with the towel a staff member collects it and you head down for a hearty yet delicous breakfast with toast, bacon, jelly, cereal, fruit, and best yet, a crepe stand where you can order crepes. After that you can sit on the deck and look for warthogs, hippos, kudu, guinea fowl, and other animals. You have some down time and then can enjoy hanging with friends and other activities. My two favorite moments were the welcoming and when the staff sang me a birthday song. When you come to Simbavati you're greeted by the staff and given a warm towel that smells of vanilla and a delicous sweet drink. After a while or when everybody is there, a staff member will anounce the schedule for the days you'll be there. On our last night there the whole staff came in and sang me a wonderfull birthday song. Overall, Simbavati is a wonderful place and I'd highly reccomend anybody to go there.

Last day in Simbavati

We had one more day in this African paradise to see some of the animals we had yet to fully enjoy.  We also switched drivers, as some of our party were raving about a particular guide.  Our previous guide, Jimmy, was probably the best tracker of the bunch, but he was also the quietest, so we had to really ask him a lot of questions to get information out of him.  The other two guides were more chatty and personable, and would often just stop the vehicle and explain about a particular bird or tree.

On this last day, I finally got to see a crocodile, and a herd of bathing hippos – all in the same pond.  The croc even opened his mouth really wide for us as he was sunbathing next to the pond.  He must have been 15 feet long.  Nearby, about 10 hippos were happily lounging, with just their heads or eyes above water.  Every so often, one would open his mouth wide for us, as if to show off.

We also encountered another pride of lions. Our driver brought the vehicle within 20 feet of them, and they didn’t seem to mind us while they were sleeping off their last meal.

At night, it was showtime by the boma.  A boma is a traditional African barbecue, introduced by the British.  They spread out the coals, and had chicken and sausages in enclosed flay grills that were easy to rotate.  While the food was cooking, a couple of the boys in our group did an Eminem rap for us, and then I did a fire poi show for our group and the staff, which was really well receive in spite of the fact I dropped the poi a couple of times.  The staff had never seen anything like it before, and they gave me some nice compliments.  Then, the entire staff sang an African happy birthday to Cindi, Bryce and Laurel. And then we feasted on delicious barbecue meat, with some tasty vegetables and a white polenta-like grain.  After inner, we just sat around the barbecue campfire and chatted.  It was a glorious day.

Simbavati - Second Day

I was looking forward to experiencing the morning game drive, since I missed it yesterday.  The knock on the door came at 5:30 AM as promised, but Sue and I were already awakened by the unfamiliar noises of the bush.  The mornings are advertised as "very cold", and I had long gloves, underwear, pants and sweater, and a shell. Even so, once you get into the open air Land Rovers, the 37 degree weather seems even colder, so they give us a blanket and a hot water bottle. The first hour is indeed very cold, but it warms up quickly once the sun rises.

Morning Sunrise

We tracked a lion pair through the morning mist for about 30 minutes or so, hoping to see a live kill. The driver of our Land Rover thinks he is an animal as well, so we crashed through the bush following the lions, running over trees and bushes like they weren't even there. Bryce loved it.

Our lion in the mist

The rest of the morning we tried to track a pair of rhinos unsuccessfully, but on our way home we saw some giraffes and a warthog family.  Both sets of animals were kind enough to pose for us.

Morning Giraffe

Warthog mommy protecting the kids

The afternoon game drive was equally interesting.  As a part of our "bucket list", we wanted to have a cape buffalo encounter, and we weren't disappointed. Our guides found a herd of about 400 buffalo, and knew exactly where they were going to go.  We parked at their destination - a popular watering hole - and awaited their arrival. You could see a dust cloud in the distance coming closer and closer, and eventually the sound of a couple thousand hoofs filled the air. As they approached the watering hole, they broke into a trot to get to the water. It was quite a sight.

Cape Buffalo

The herd getting a drink

Video: The Epic Cape Buffalo Migration

First Day at Simbavati Lodge

Our safari has finally started!  We traveled most of the day Saturday from Johannesburg to reach the Simbavati Lodge, in the Timbavati private game reserve.  We stopped at a few interesting places on the way, including a cool waterfall called Lisbon Falls, and "God's Window", an amazing vista point overlooking a huge valley.

Lisbon Falls

We arrived after dark.  Three open-top land rovers greeted us where the bus could go no farther, and Bryce and I got to ride in the dark, through the bush, looking up at the clear night sky. I saw a shooting star.

Arriving at Simbavati, the first order of business was to learn the safety rules.  We are out in the middle of a game reserve, and wild animals run everywhere. We are not to leave the grounds of the lodge, and at night, we need an escort to our rooms, even though they are 30 feet from the common area. Kids are to be accompanied by an adult at all times. 'Nuff said.

Game drives - where we driver around the bush and look for animals - are at 6:30 AM and 3:30 PM. The animals are most active at sunrise and dusk. Wake up is at 5:30 AM, which is challenging for our family of night-owls, but we resolved to go with it nonetheless.

The first night, Bryce got sick, and I opted to keep him company instead of doing the morning game drive. We both slept in, and when the rest of the group returned from the morning excursion, we were regaled with tales and photos of lions, elephants and more.

Elephant from the morning game drive

Bryce rallied for the evening game drive, and we weren't disappointed.  We saw a pride of lions feasting on a dead cape buffalo.  We saw a white rhino.  And best of all, our guides located a leopard who had just killed a kudu, and was ripping it apart.  Cool stuff.

White Rhino

Lion #1

A buzzard waiting for the lions to be done

Lion #2

Our flesh-ripping leopard

Video: Our leopard eating a kudu

One of the unexpected and slightly unnerving things about safariing here is that our open-air land rovers get super-close to all the animals.  We were 15 feet away from the lions and the leopard.  You can hear the flesh being ripped off of the dead animals, and the purring of the lions.  Supposedly, the animals don't realize that each vehicle contains 13 tasty human treats, and instead view each land-rover as a single, very large entity that is not to be messed with. It's as if the animals don't even notice us, and they just carry about their business as usual.

A Land Rover with some of our crew

The lodge itself is deluxe.  We have a big deck to hang out on during the day, which is a great place to spot more animals and birds.  We've seen baboons, hippos, an elephant, warthogs, and other assorted birds and animals from here. The bar is always open to serve drinks.  The food is delicious. Our room is comfortable, and even has heated mattress pads.  Ann, our trip leader, told us this may be the nicest place we stay during our entire safari, so I plan on enjoying every minute of being here.