Retired Nomads: Safari - Arathusa Lodge at Sabi Sands

Mar 31 Safari 2 game drives & bush walk

We got up at 4:45 to be ready for hot drinks and biscuits before starting our first game drive at 5:30. We got in the land rover and we sat in the back. It was an overcast day, but warm. The drive starts out pretty much in the dark, but got light quickly.

Our Ranger/guide was Calton and our tracker’s name was Rifos. “Reef” for short. Calton was a joker. He loved corny jokes. I will share a few later.

We first encountered a herd of elephants. They crossed the road in front of us and behind us. We passed by some Kudu and Calton asked if we knew how Kudu got their name. He said a buck antelope walked into a bar and saw the female antelopes and said “I Kude do her and I Kude do her and…” Yep, he’s a jokester.

Gray Heron

Kudu

Impala

Then, we came across a couple of hyenas. That signified to our tracker that there may be a kill nearby. As we came around the corner there was a leopard reclining on a rock. Near her there was a Kudu that she had placed in a tree and it was hanging there. We watched her on the rock for quite some time and then she got down and laid in the grass. She had a juvenile leopard that was also in the grass. (there may have been 2 of them as the ranger said she had 2 and he saw one of them walk off in the other direction.

dead Kudu in the tree

The Hyenas were growling and walking around waiting for any bits of meat to fall when the leopard returned to the tree.

We next came across a troupe of Baboons. One mother had a cute baby on her back. We also saw more Kudu and some Waterbucks. We saw quite a few Impala as well. The ranger was a comedian and every time he saw them, he sang pa-la-la-la. He also told lots of cute riddles.

Waterbuck

another camp in the area

It was time for our mid-morning “coffee break”. They pulled out a small table and put out several kinds of biscuits/cookies and made coffee, tea or hot chocolate. We stopped at a pond that had a couple of hippos and some Fulvous and Egyptian Geese. Before Calton hands me my hot chocolate he asked me “what do you call the thing in the middle of a tennis court?” I said “a net” He said “here you go a net” I said “you have been saving that one haven’t you?” He told many other “jokes” over our 3 days, but I don’t remember most of them now. Most were “groaners”. LOL

morning refreshment break

we watched hippos as we had our refreshments

young Egyptian Geese

Water Thick-knee

Three-banded Plover

After our break we continued with the game drive. We saw some Helmeted Guinea Fowl and of course in the course of our day we saw many different types of birds including the beautiful Lilac-breasted Rollers. We also saw a Tawny Eagle.

We also saw a family of Dwarf Mongoose and some vultures. Amongst the other antelope we saw a Springbok and a Steenbok.

Lilac-breasted Roller

Wahlberg's Eagle

Mongoose

White-backed Vulture

Blacksmith Lapwing

Lesser Striped Swallow

airstrip near the lodge

It was time to go back to the lodge for breakfast. We were greeted with cold towels and cold drinks. They had a long table of breakfasts items out on the deck and I thought that was the choices for breakfast. (it would have been enough) Then, the cook comes around and offers us our 3 choices for hot breakfast. So good, and so much food. The Hornbills were doing their best to steal food. We also had the company of a resident monkey. The dry watering hole had some Grey Herons and some Kingfishers.

the bartender that kept me happy with lots of Diet Coke

Southern Red-billed Hornbill

Woodland Kingfisher

Burchell's Starling

lunch

Harriet and I spent some time shopping at their gift shop. They had such cute things.

We should have had a bush walk, but we didn’t know that we needed to express interest. (no one else at the lodge wanted to go) We went to meet at the proper time, but no one was there. So, we had free time at the lodge and we walked around the grounds past all of the bush facing rooms looking for birds and other critters.

When we got back to our villa there was a Hornbill sitting on our patio furniture and then got down and upon seeing its’ reflection in our front door it started pecking the glass and flying at it.

Southern Red-billed Hornbill

We were chilling in the room when a knock came on the door asking if we wanted to see elephants and of course we did. A lovely herd was passing through the dry watering hole area. Later, a lady staying in one of the bush facing rooms got a photo of the herd drinking from her plunge pool. All of their trunks were draped around the pool. What a great photo and a moment she will never forget. There was also a family of Mongoose living on the grounds, so we went and checked them out.

Gray Go-away-bird

Mongoose family

Fork-tailed Drongo juvenile

Bearded Woodpecker

Fork-tailed Drongo

Cape Starling

part of the lodge

spa was out by the bush facing rooms

bush facing room

Barn Swallow

Laughing Dove

Fork-tailed Drongo

Black-headed Oriole

Black-headed Herons

Gray Go-away-bird

After the afternoon tea we were off on the afternoon game drive. We saw more Kudu and a Southern African Giraffe. We got a good look at it, but being in the back of the vehicle we didn’t get decent photos. We then came across some zebras and some more Guinea Fowl. Calton told us the astronomical number of times a Zebra farts and sure enough we then heard one loud fart.

Kudu

our friends gave us their photos

Guinea Fowl

Red-billed Hornbill

Our ranger Calton, got out and showed us how you can tell the sex of an elephant by their poop. (one sounds hollower than the other when dropped…)

We also came across more interesting birds such as a juvenile Batalour, Crested Barbett, Orange-breasted Bush Shrike to name a few. Still going through photos trying to identify some of them.

juvenile Bateleur

Crested Barbet

Calton got out and showed us a large termite mound and he climbed to the top of it. A couple of the other guys in the vehicle also climbed up there with him. I could have climbed it, but I wasn’t sure if I would kill myself trying to get down.

Then, it was time for our Sundowner. They got out a table and prepared the drinks we requested at lunch time. Of course, there were more snacks. It was a beautiful sunset and Calton got photos of all of us.

preparing our sundowner

After our long break we finished our game drive into the evening. We went back to the area where the leopard had her kill in the tree and the leopard was now in the tree and was eating. The Hyenas were all around and growling. One came right up to the truck and almost touched my foot that was resting on the vehicle. Calton told me not to move. Finally, the hyena moved away. The leopard moved the kill higher up the tree. It was dark and very hard to get photos, but we got a few. We then headed back to the lodge for dinner.

leopard in the tree with her kill

We were greeted with cold towels and an aperitif. It was different every night such as Brandy, Amarula Cream. etc)

We had dinner at the breakfast and lunch table. We always were seated with our ranger and the people we were on the game drive with. Again, we had 3 choices of main dishes. The food was amazing.