2009 September - Safari in South Africa

 

The telephone on the bedside table let out a shrill ring.  I woke with a start. It was still dark outside.

 

“Thanks”, I heard my husband muttering into the phone, and then immediately roll over and fall back to sleep.

I tiptoed across the cold tiled floor in the bathroom and welcomed the sudden warmth of the bathroom tiles beneath my feet. 

The ranger had told us the previous night that we needed to be ready to leave by 6.15am; it was now 5.55 am and Nigel was still in bed.  We had told the babysitter that Holly would probably sleep past 6am so we would leave her in her cot in the bedroom; but as we crept towards the front door an inquisitive little head appeared above the cot with a big smile on her face.  Being carried out into the cold darkness and then handed over to a strange lady with out even being given her morning milk certainly came as a surprise. 

We snuggled up in the van with layers of blankets and furry mittens.  We had been very fortunate the previous afternoon to discover the “King of the South”; the most beautiful, sleek Lion imaginable.  In the stillness of the morning, as the sun began to rise, we spotted giraffes slowly waking up and craning their necks high into the sky.  Then the radio in the landrover suddenly became alive, informing us of a sighting of a mother Lion and her 3 cubs. 

There they were.  The landrover stopped.  The mother Lion turned her head to look over at us, but her eyes seemed to look straight through us and into the distance.  She glanced back over to her pups who were following close behind, and then turned back round and nestled herself into a small patch of grass.  The pups immediately took this as a sign that it was play time and started teasing and play fighting together.  I immediately thought of Holly back at the safari lodge, probably now demanding her morning milk feed and some breakfast, and hoped that she had forgiven us for deserting her.

The morning flew by. As the sun continued to rise, the landscape became more alive as herds of Rhino, Zebras and giraffes began to emerge.  Two baby rhinos were enjoying a morning mud bath, while three cheetah cubs were starting to explore a little further away from their mother.

As we stopped and topped up on hot chocolate, we gazed over the beautiful expanse of rolling hills and rough terrain.  Suddenly a loud grumble noise made everyone’s head turn towards me; after all it was now 10am and we had had no breakfast!

A delicious array of food was waiting for us back at the lodge.  I spotted Holly in the play room, plodding around the table as if she owned the place, carrying a selection of animals from one corner to the next.  The giraffe was cuddled up next to the lion and the rhino and the elephant looked like best friends.  If only life could be so simple.

In the brochure it was described as a “safari lodge with an attitude”, I had to agree that it was one of a kind.  Form the outside the Pagoda-style corrugated iron roof and the minimalist chic of the panelled walls appeared almost basic, but as your eyes adjusted to the unstoppable expanse of landscape and the subtle colour all blending into each other, the lodges became magical.  Inside, the spacious living area merged gently with the landscape, visible from all angels through glass doors.