Jyoti and I spent a fabulous weekend at the stunning Tau Lodge at the Madikwe Game Reserve in South Africa. We got T-Man (Luis' Botswanan counterpart, for those Guatemalans who may be perusing this blog) to drive us there and back, with minimal hindrance from Customs (except on the way back...need to remember out address is 154 Pilane Road, not Pilane Court, because apparently that matters...).
We got there early (as recommended) and we had some extra time to hang out and chill at the Lodge before the game drive that evening. We lounged in the sun, and dipped in the pool, but were then driven away from our swimming hole by this creature. Yes, it is bright blue.
I was quickly rinsing off after swimming, when Jyo called me to the window -- about 50 feet away across the pond a thirsty rhino came to bathe in the mud!
We ate lunch (the chef "threw together" a delicious lactovegeterian meal for us after patiently going through all our dietary discretions).
Then we went on the game drive -- huge toyota landcruiser 4x4 that was pretty gnarly. We saw lots of impala, kuru, zebras, red hartbeest, and springbok before we came across this -- a lion having just finished off the last of a zebra. It smelled awful! Apparently he had been eating the zebra meat for 3 days...
Not far from there we were stopped in our tracks by a wildebeast infiltrating a pack of zebras. Apparently if a wildebeast gets left on his own he'll pretend to be a different herd animal to try and stay safe from predators. This close up of a zebra came out well.
And finally, no big game drive would be complete without elephants! We saw a group of 4 elephants, all females of different ages, and 1 male lagging behind (he had been cast out on his own, but still had some separation anxiety...). The matriarch of this group was 35 years old and was leading her group to safety, but not before stopping to sniff the landrover :).
The sunrise and sunset were beautiful, and I'll leave you with one of each. Enjoy!
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