Our last safari was just as exciting. Off we went again in search of our leopard. We drove to the sight of yesterday’s kill and saw that the leopard had been back. The warthog with the trailing entrails was gone. Our guide and tracker joined another vehicle’s guide and tracker on foot and left us for over a half an hour waiting. Their plan was to collectively flush out the leopard so that it would come us in the vehicles. We waited and listened in to the radio to hear how the plan was proceeding. In the end, although they followed the leopard’s fresh tracks for quite some time they just couldn’t locate it. Rogers, our tracker, was so disappointed for us. On our quest he had actually seen the leopard twice, once when seated just meters in front of us on the tracker seat of our vehicle! He so desperately wanted us to have a sighting as did Brett, our guide. We felt that the whole adventure of looking was one of the best experiences that we had ever had.
We saw a few more animals on our way back to the lodge. We were flying high with the experience of the last few days and were so very, very sad that we were leaving. Although we had only spent three days with Brett and Rogers we couldn’t help but feeling that we were leaving good friends. Many hugs and heartfelt good-byes later we were on our way. Brett gave the boys two beautiful porcupine quills as a parting gift.
We boarded our vehicle with suitcases up to our ears and were off. We were all anxious to get on the road so that we wouldn’t be rolling in to Johannesburg after dark. The drive was long but went well and we were soon pulling up to Bob’s Bunkhouse near the airport. We were going from a five-star exquisite resort with turn-down service, high tea, and three unbelievalbe meals per day…a place where they washed out your socks if you left them in your running shoes and had options of three different types of pillows (hard, soft, medium) to… Bob’s Bunkhouse.
Joe: En route, we made pretty good time on the travel that we decided to make a stop at a Ndbele tribe cultural centre (they’re the tribe where the woman wear rings around their necks). On the map, it looked like about a 35km detour. Hmmm. Well, after about 100 km, sure enough we happened on the village. We snapped a few photos, and left disappointed at the experience. A few woman were dressed in the garb, but they were not well trained on teaching us about their history. They seemed satisfied to offer themselves for the photos. After short visit to their straw huts and colourfully painted walls, we were back on the road.
Arriving at Bob’s Bunkhouse was such a relief. We were so worried about driving to Jo’burg. What a beautiful warm welcome we received. Bob and Joan greeted us with open arms and spent well over an hour advising us about how to best spend our time in Johannesburg. We had a drink and chatted before going out for an Italian dinner around the corner. Bed was bliss - we were dog-tired after getting up at 5:30 am for the last few days.
We saw a few more animals on our way back to the lodge. We were flying high with the experience of the last few days and were so very, very sad that we were leaving. Although we had only spent three days with Brett and Rogers we couldn’t help but feeling that we were leaving good friends. Many hugs and heartfelt good-byes later we were on our way. Brett gave the boys two beautiful porcupine quills as a parting gift.
We boarded our vehicle with suitcases up to our ears and were off. We were all anxious to get on the road so that we wouldn’t be rolling in to Johannesburg after dark. The drive was long but went well and we were soon pulling up to Bob’s Bunkhouse near the airport. We were going from a five-star exquisite resort with turn-down service, high tea, and three unbelievalbe meals per day…a place where they washed out your socks if you left them in your running shoes and had options of three different types of pillows (hard, soft, medium) to… Bob’s Bunkhouse.
Joe: En route, we made pretty good time on the travel that we decided to make a stop at a Ndbele tribe cultural centre (they’re the tribe where the woman wear rings around their necks). On the map, it looked like about a 35km detour. Hmmm. Well, after about 100 km, sure enough we happened on the village. We snapped a few photos, and left disappointed at the experience. A few woman were dressed in the garb, but they were not well trained on teaching us about their history. They seemed satisfied to offer themselves for the photos. After short visit to their straw huts and colourfully painted walls, we were back on the road.
Arriving at Bob’s Bunkhouse was such a relief. We were so worried about driving to Jo’burg. What a beautiful warm welcome we received. Bob and Joan greeted us with open arms and spent well over an hour advising us about how to best spend our time in Johannesburg. We had a drink and chatted before going out for an Italian dinner around the corner. Bed was bliss - we were dog-tired after getting up at 5:30 am for the last few days.
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