On Safari
Given the entrance to Pilanesberg is a two-minute drive away, there are any number of excursions available to interact with the wildlife there. We went on two such trips, the low road and the high road, so to speak.
Trip one was a wonderful evening game drive, which took around three hours. After being picked up at the hotel lobby by Mankwe Game Trackers we boarded an open-sided jeep. Seconds later, we were going through the gates to the reserve (where our guide Joseph stopped to load his rifle) and within five minutes had spotted our first big game, a lone young male elephant. Over the next few hours we were treated to an unbelievable number of sights of wildlife, including lions, rhinos, hippos, giraffes, zebra, elephants, hyena, wild boar, impala, springbok and many others including dozens of types of birds. The highlight was arriving by a lake just after a lioness had brought down a zebra. We spent a fascinating time watching the lioness warding off hyenas and even an inquisitive hippo to protect her kill.
The evening concluded with a champagne toast in the park. As we drove back in the dark, Joseph used a handheld spotlight to find game in the dark by the road, an unnerving experience. We were treated to yet another testament to the sharp eyes of our guide when he even spotted a chameleon 20 yards away in a tree!
Over a sumptuous dinner in the Plume restaurant that night with hosts Lianne Kelly-Maartens and Sally Hancock, we had a hilarious discussion imagining the scene as the poor depressed chameleon (who by now had been named Cammie) returned home to his family to share his shame at not being able to escape detection in the dark. I guess you had to be there, but it remains the humour highlight of the trip for me. Sadly, an early night beckoned given our plans for the following day.
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