We arrived in the early afternoon, just in time for afternoon tea on the deck overlooking the damn in front of the lodge where some inyala were grazing. Then Shane took us on a private game drive which was fantastic. He is extremely knowledgeable and he really made the drive interesting, he not only finds you the big game to look at, but keeps you captivated by his knowledge of the bush and of the animals that call it their home.
Shane and Christy - our tracker for the day
The river that runs through Amakhosi behind me
An elephant came through the trees and crossed the road
right behind the vehicle
A beautiful African sunset
Dean and Shane enjoying a skottle in the bush
While we were enjoying our bush skottle, we heard the roar of a lion which didn't sound too far away, needless to say I was ready to jump back on the vehicle, but Shane said that the sound can travel for kilometers and that it was unlikely to be as close as it sounded. He also explained that they have come across lions while having bush dinners before and if you get back on the vehicle slowly, the lion shouldn't pay too much attention to you as you are not their natural pray. I was still quite skeptical and stayed a little closer to the vehicle.
On the drive back to the lodge we found what all the noise was about. We followed an adult male lion we spotted off the road and into the thick bush where he met up with his pride. They were devouring an enormous buffalo! It was really scary, there were lions everywhere, it was dark and we were almost wedged in by the thick bush. Even though the adrenaline was pumping, I never felt unsafe, as I knew Shane knew what he was doing. There were a total of 13 lions tearing at the flesh of the buffalo. Two adult males, two adult females and nine adolescent cubs of about a year in age.
As you can see this lioness on the right doesn't look that impressed with us disturbing her dinner
We then headed back to the lodge where we were met with warm towels to clean our faces and hands after the drive. We were told that Dean and I were to be treated with a private dinner on the deck outside our room. We went back to our room to freshen up only to find that a bath had been run with lots of candles all over the chalet.
What luxury!
After a relaxing bath, dinner was served. We were treated to a fabulous three course meal.
Cheers to our engagement!
We even had personalized menus
While we were enjoying our dinner we heard a rustle in the tree only to look up to see two little bush babies staring down at us with their huge round eyes.
After a long, fabulous day it was time for bed.
I woke up with a fright in the middle of the night to an extremely loud lion roar! I was convinced the lions were right outside the room. I was terrified. The roars and grunts continued, but I eventually managed to get to sleep again. Only to be woken again a few hours later with a loud bang and crash in the lounge area of the chalet. Dean, being the gentleman he is, sent me to investigate while he followed behind me. I was half expecting to see a lion standing in the next room! What I did find was an African mask that was hanging on the wall had been knocked down subsequently pushing all the coffee cups off the counter and onto the floor. I had no idea what was going on, then Dean pointed to something up on the rafters in the ceiling, the three naughty little bush babies were back.
After telling the bush babies to "footseck" it was back to sleep without any more major disturbances by wild animals. Until the next morning that is...
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