Up early. And I mean early. This is a safari, after all, and animals wait for no one.
Officially the wake-up call comes at 5:30 am, but we’re up closer to 5:10 am so that the kids have enough time to get ready before early nibbles at 5:45 am – coffee, tea, fruit, muffins, and some baked goods.
We nibble quickly – we’re in the safari vehicle and on our way before 6 am.
The vehicle itself is a highly-modified Land Rover with our tracker, Clifford, at the front looking for animal tracks and Scott, our guide, at the wheel.
Sometimes the animals aren’t particularly difficult to find
Scott has an earpiece and radio that connects him to many of the other game lodges at Sabi Sands. They share (limited) information so that they can help spot some of the rarer animals. It’s a fine balance – too little information and no one finds anything, too much and the virtual ‘queue’ to see the animals gets unwieldly. There’s a maximum of two vehicles present at any point in time to avoid disturbing the animals.
What does this look like in practice? Here’s what it feels like to be in the passenger seat:
This vehicle only has ‘window’ seats, so to speak – which was one of the questions that we asked prospective lodges before we booked. Others in Sabi Sands will have as many as ten guests per vehicle – which can be a good way to lower costs, but makes it difficult to get great photos or even to reach those hard-to-reach spots. (More on that later.)
Instead Dulini’s middle box contains all the necessities (and luxuries) for which one could ask – blankets, binoculars, water bottles, disinfectant wipes, and so on.
It’s a cool, hazy morning when we set out – and leopards are the order of the day “if we get lucky”, as Scott likes to say.
The first animal we spot is the giant kingfisher:
Followed by a family of giraffes:
Next we come across some more zebra, these with the yellow billed oxpecker on its back – somewhat rarer than their red-billed counterparts:
The oxpeckers will eat ticks from animals, but they also sometimes create wounds from which to feed. Not every animal is a fan – particularly elephants.
We then come across some hippos, including a youngster resting on its mother:
One yawns, but sadly I miss the shot. Next time, hopefully!
The scenery here in Sabi Sands is stunning, with the fog adding an extra layer of mystery:
Some lodges will set out trackers in advance of the game drives, but Dulini does its tracking in the field – and to “give the animals a break” as Scott puts it. We may well be spotting fewer animals this way, but frankly we’re enjoying the thrill of the hunt.
Next we come across a grey heron:
Followed by some Egyptian geese:
And a pair of African fish eagles:
Followed by a brown snake eagle:
Still no leopards yet – Scott’s heard rumours of a mother and two juveniles in the area, and there are a handful of vehicles on the lookour for prints.
In the meantime – giraffe!
Then word comes back – the juveniles and the mother leopard have been spotted heading into Singita, one of the larger neighbouring lodges. They don’t allow outside vehicles to cross into their territory, and so we’re out of luck with these particular leopards.
But Scott and Clifford aren’t discouraged. We carry on, bushwhacking through rough terrain on the lookout for a young lone leopard that had been spotted in the area.
Eventually – success!
We’d been checking trees, while Rivala had been exceptionally well camouflaged on the ground.
Rivala means “forgotten one” – she had been born in Dulini territory, but they lost track of her after she got older and moved to a far corner of the reserve. But now she’s back.
We wait patiently with one other vehicle, hoping that we might take a few photos without the grass in the way. Eventually we get a big yawn:
Rivala then snaps and paws as a butterfly flits past, and Scott mentions that’s another sign that she’s still quite young.
Then she stalks over to a tree:
Which she climbs, as we watch on in amazement:
We’ve really lucked out today. We are incredibly close, and the light is fantastic for photos:
It’s almost like she’s posing for us:
Another great kingfisher lands in the tree and kicks up a racket, so she goes over to chase it down – and perhaps have a snack:
No such luck, though – it soon flies off.
As must we, as there are others in line to visit this beautiful creature.
We then come across some waterbuck:
And more zebras, close enough to touch:
Eventually the game drive comes to an end. We return to Dulini Moya at around 9 am, at which point we have a nice hot breakfast to complement the snack we had earlier this morning.
We start with pastries and crepes:
Yoghurt and muesli:
And an extensive fruit plate:
I then have the hunter’s benedict with venison carpaccio and venison sausage:
While my wife has the avocado toast:
The food here is absolutely exceptional.
Our time is then our own until 1 pm, when we have lunch. In the mean time there are pools, and books, and places to lounge. I take a nap while my wife helps the kids with their homework. We switch up for a bit, and then it’s time for lunch.
Two options for lunch today – calamari:
And lamb kefka:
Plus a watermelon salad:
Off for a brief visit to the store, so we can pick up some hats for the kids. The prices here are surprisingly reasonable:
We then go for a swim in the cool-but-not-too-cool pool before it’s time to meet up for pre-drive snacks. Today it’s caramel cupcakes:
Plus iced tea and coffee:
The iced coffee is particularly delicious.
Then we’re off to find rhinos, the sole member of the “big five” that we’ve yet to see.
First we spot some warthogs, as shown in the earlier video:
Then we need to head north across the river –
We spot an African fish eagle doing what it does best, with a fish in its claws:
And come across a skull from a previous cape buffalo that was taken out by one of the male lions, way back when:
No rhinos yet, though the scenery is stunning:
And the elephants are still close enough to touch:
And did I mention the scenery?
We come across some more hippos, and I manage to capture the coveted “yawning hippo” photograph:
Scott asks if we’d like to stop for ‘sundowners’ – sunset cocktails – but frankly we’re more interested in the game drive, so we press on.
So we carry on, and soon come across some cape buffalo:
We’d spotted these before at Thali Thali but it was a fenced-in game reserve rather than open land like in Sabi Sands. So it’s special seeing them out in the wild like this.
There are a bunch of males and one lone female:
Cape buffalo tend to have a reputation for being a bit dense, but Scott recalls one time when a female lay down in front of a bird’s nest and stayed there – nose to beak – while the rest of the herd went around her. Protecting the bird, perhaps? Either way, she showed more intelligence than the cape buffalo is often credited for having.
Light is fading, so it’s time for our night drive before we head back to Dulini – and we come across a hippo out of the water!
Midnight hippo!
Hippos’ skin is vulnerable to sunburn, so they come out at night to feed. I thought that meant they would eat the reeds near their watering hole, but they apparently venture much further afield! This one was wandering through the woods when we came by.
There are a scattering of brush hares, and then we come across one last creature of the night:
A puff adder – the fastest-striking venemous snake in the region. Scott notes that – despite being highly venemous – most of the snakebite injuries associated with the puff adder are caused by people handling it.
It’s a spectacular find on this dark, dark night:
We may not have found rhinos, but that’s the nature of game drives – as in expedition cruising. You don’t always get exactly what you want, but you usually end up with something spectacular.
It’s ticking past 7 pm, so it’s time to head back to Dulini for dinner.
My wife and kids start with the tomato soup:
While I have the prawns:
And the beef filet for our mains:
It’s all absolutely delicious.
Dessert was a malva – think a brown sugar cake with vanilla ice cream. Very tasty, but I completely forgot to photograph it.
Off to bed! It’s a demanding schedule, and we’re doing it all again tomorrow.