We were awakened by our butler Richard at 5:30 am with a tray of coffee, tea and homemade granola bars. We bundled up (the temperature was about 30 degrees Fahrenheit) and joined the group at the safari vehicles at 6:00 am and we were off! We were thrilled with the hot water bottles and blankets waiting for us in the Land Rovers and glad we had brought hats, gloves and jackets! We immediately saw and watched four lion cubs—they were very cute and playful. After much off-roading, reading tracks and listening to the sounds of the other animals, Adam found a pride of adult lions---two males and four females—asleep in the sun. We watched them for a while, excited when one would lift his head and look at us. We then found a herd (20-30) of elephants including a few babies trying to learn to use their trunks. We watched them moving and eating trees for some time. The “gray ghosts” are truly remarkable—so huge, but yet so quiet, and they blend into the vegetation until you almost can’t see them.
We stopped for our morning break of either coffee, tea or the “ranger special” --a combination of coffee, hot chocolate, and Amarula (a local cream licquer) with delicious cookies baked by the Camp’s chef, Oscar. We slowly returned to Camp for breakfast. By now it was warm and beautiful and we all took off a couple of layers of clothes. Breakfast was served at our leisure on the verandah. All the CC Africa lodges and camps offer a cold breakfast buffet of juices, fruit, yogurt, cereals, granola and pastries. Richard took our “hot” order—eggs any way, bacon or sausage and more! Little monkeys were running and jumping all around the open-air verandah, but never coming close to anyone. But after we left our table, one little guy jumped up and stole a remaining croissant and a lemon from the bar in the open-air lobby. Now it was time for a nap and reading until lunch—very welcome time.
Another delicious lunch and tea time and then the afternoon game drive—and this was the best so far. We saw more elephant, giraffe, python tracks in the dry river bed, and the best part is that we found a pride of lion—three females and seven cubs—that Ryan and Adam didn’t know. Even they got excited! We watched them for some time and realized that they had just eaten and we found their kill—a zebra. The cubs and females were very wary of us—they obviously came from another area and hadn’t seen many vehicles before. We stopped under a full moon for drinks and snacks and returned to camp very happy with what we had seen. Dinner was another fantastic meal—spinach ravioli for starters, your choice of lamb shank or kingklip fish, and a wonderful chocolate molten cake for dessert. We fell into bed happy, tired and full!
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