Since we live within 5 minutes of several different private game reserves, Neil was getting antsy that we hadn't visited one yet. Finally, our time had come! We were excited. This would be different for us.
Like Kruger, Thornybush has lots of accessible vehicle-accessible terrain, breathtaking scenery, of course, oodles of animals.
But unlike Kruger, it is a private game reserve. So...
- it's much more expensive (unless you know someone who knows someone...)
- it has several luxury lodges scattered throughout (one of which is Elton John's preferred venue whenever he visits South Africa)
- it's smaller...about 11,500 hectares (Kruger is > 2.2 million hectares)
- there are fewer animals, but they are not allowed to roam across fences lines to neighboring reserves...so they are always around somewhere
- the guides communicate (via CB radios mounted underneath their dashboards) with each other so that they know where all the animals are then they drive you right to them
- you can go as early and stay as late as you like
- we don't have to do the driving
Our guide, Olaf, and his spotter, Freddy, picked us up from the front gate of our "compound" around 4:30 pm in a sturdy looking, army green, open-air Land Rover. Nice. We were on our way for a sunset drive.
Over the next few hours we enjoyed the sights and sounds of Thornybush. Accompanying us on our journey were:
Wildebeest
Ostritch
Spotted Eagle
Hippo
Elephant
Giraffe
and Lion (Yes, she's in there...you may have to squint to see her).
Our last sighting of the evening was this guy...sitting next to the road.
At first he was a quite interested at our arrival. A little too interested, perhaps. Look at those eyes! Is that his "I'm about to pounce!" position or what?
But, within a few minutes he became quite bored with us. Just another group of awed tourist. He started to yawn a lot and eventually wandered off into the bush searching for something a bit more tasty.
Well, as you can imagine, we were pretty thrilled. Never had we seen so many animals, so close, and in so short a time before. And a male lion to boot! It was exhilarating. Little did we know that the most exhilarating part was jet to come...
As we were on our way home, Olaf decided to try crossing a little stream. But the water was too deep and the edge of the bank too steep. So, naturally, we got got stuck.
We were beginning to wonder just how long Olaf would continue to spin the tires further and further into the soft sand below. Eventually, he stopped this questionable behavior. Then he told Freddy to get out the one and only shovel they had and start digging out the wheels. It was dark by now and, of course, Olaf's flashlight didn't work...needed new batteries. So, Neil and I headed around to the rear of the truck to help Freddy dig out the back tires with the aid of the red focus light on our camera. Occasionally I would push the button down entirely and temporarily blind all of us with a bright flash. (Not fun.)
So, there we were, sitting ducks in the middle of a Big Five game reserve. It's all well and good to hear lion moan from the safely of our home at night, but quite another when you're its potential prey. At this point, I was beginning to second guess Olaf's rule of never taking a fire arm with him on game drives.
This plan of attack soon far ran out of steam. We weren't getting anywhere. Eventually, Olaf called for help (why not do this earlier, I wondered?). So, we waited.
Then, as we were gathering up our tools and shoes, without warning, the male lion we had seen earlier came rushing out of the bush at full speed straight towards us...roaring like he was possessed...
Well, not really. Actually, we just got back into the truck and within 20 minutes another truck came to pull us out of the stream. Yeah! We had escaped entirely uneaten. We live to play another day!
