Day 2 of our Safari March 31, 2015 

We had a 5:00am wakeup call.  Between the traveling, the running through the airport and the excitement of seeing elephants and the lion I slept like a log.  Bill answered the wake up call and woke me up.  After a quick shower we went into our living room and opened our little door and there was coffee, tea and muffins. The house was set up there was a huge door and when you went inside there was an outdoor courtyard with two huge rooms off of it.  The Bathroom and bedroom were off to the left, living room to the right and straight ahead was our private pool.  We were right on the Sabi River.  I was headed back to the bathroom and looked out at the river and what do I see  A RHINO!!!!!!  I quick run and get my camera and take a picture of it drinking. We were told to meet at the reception at 6:00am so we had to head to reception but as we were walking  away two more came out to the water’s edge!

We headed out of the lodge and we were driving for a little while and our tracker Noel said something to Enoch our guide in African.  Enoch turns off the road and we are going along and all of a sudden a Leopard is walking towards us.  Now I am sitting in the front seat next to Enoch the driver.  Everyone else is raised higher.  The only thing between me and the leopard is the door of our 4x4.  I am now holding my breath but really appreciating the beauty of this animal.  Of course my first thought was what a beautiful coat this would make.  Then I smacked myself and told me to get politically correct and not think of things like that!  We followed this leopard for quite awhile I even got a picture of him on top of a fallen tree.  All of a sudden he went into the brush and they tried to find him but it was impossible to see him in the brush!  Then the skys opened up and we were all given rain ponchos.  Noel got off his front seat to get mine and since we were 7 on her with Mary and not six there were not enough so poor Enoch was getting drenched.  It was a COLD Rain!  We meet up with the other group and they had an extra poncho !To be honest I don’t know who was more excited about seeing the leopard  Enoch or us!  I do know people who have gone on 2+ safarais and had not seen the leopard so to see him on our 2^nd drive was fabulous.  We are now driving on the other side of where we were and it is not raining.  All of a sudden I look out to the right and far away I yell I see a Giraffe!  It kind of  reminded me of the game we use to play on long car trips  “I Spy”  Enoch drives towards the Giraffes and I must say he does not stay on the roads.  Going over trees and bushes to get where we want to go.  I need one of these Land Rovers they would be great to just mow down all these snow birds who don’t know where they are going.  Oh sorry I degress. We  come up to about 4 Giraffes.  Now I have seen them in the zoo but out in the open man are these guys big.  They were happily eating the leaves off the tall trees!  They are just so graceful when they walk.  I want to take one home!  Now on the left side Enoch tells us to look through the brush and what is coming out but an elephant.  This one is traveling alone as it is the male. And it is huge! The females travel in packs not the males.  He was quite close to the car and he was just lovely.  I am in heaven.  I had asked Enoch last night if we would see Zebras.  His answer was ‘they are around they are just hard to find as they like open spaces”  So I was not expecting to see any when we came to this clearing and there were a couple of Zebras.  Okay pinch me now.  Lion, Rhino,Leopard, Elephant, Giraffes, Zebra.  We have seen 4 of the big 5 on only our 2^nd drive.  We get back to the lodge and we have time to freshen up before breakfast!  It is raining in part of the jungle so  we do not do our Bush walk and since this is Easter week the school is closed.  So we head back to our house to relax.  Lunch is at 1:30, tea at 4: and another drive at 4:30.

Our 3^rd drive we are driving through the jungle and we are looking for Cape Buffalo to fill out the big 5 and also Rhinos as only Bill and I and Lois and Mike who have the lodge right next to ours saw the Rhinos this am!  We came upon a different leopard.  Yesterday the leopard was a young male this was the father.  It was bigger and fuller.  Okay 2 leopards in 2 days wow!  he was just walking down the path so we just followed close behind for quite awhile.  We saw every species of Antelope there is including Kudos who are quite large.  We even saw them mating!

We saw a few more elephants and we were trying to find the lion again.

Last night they had dinner in an area where they had all torches lit and they set up a Buffet.  It looked lovely.  Tonight dinner was where we have breakfast and lunch on the mahagoney deck and you ordered off the menu.  It was also lit up with torches and looked beautiful.  The food is great.  Last night they had venison as one of the choices tonight they had impala as one!

I am closing with, today would have been my dad’s 93^rd birthday and even though he died at only 43 he is looking down from heaven and smiling at me as he would have loved this and he is so proud that we are able to do this!  Happy Birthday Daddy!