This place is amazing. It’s like being at a luxury sleep-away camp with an endless array of breathtaking sights.
The camp itself is beautiful. A partially tented pavilion serves as the central meeting place, complete with a gleaming wooden dining table that seats about 20, along with a bar, refrigerator, and several couches and chairs in a lounge area. A fire pit sits just outside the pavilion, about 10 steps from a bathroom with running water.
Nine cabins dot the path heading out of the pavilion, tucked in the woods overlooking the valley, at the bottom of which one particular tree seems to serve as a daily afternoon napping spot for a lone giraffe.
Our cabin has two single beds pushed together, two wooden bedside tables, a wardrobe, and a full bathroom with solar-heated water. Each evening a hot water bottle greets us in our beds when we return from dinner. They call them “bush babies.” I love my bush baby on these chilly nights.
The best part about the cabin is the front porch with two wicker chairs overlooking the valley. I haven’t had much chance to use it yet, but I’m hoping I’ll have a little time tomorrow.
So, today. What a day. We got a wake-up call from one of our guides, Albert. We walked up to each cabin door and called, “wakey, wakey,” to which we responded, “Good morning.” We dressed in layers of clothing and packed our buffs, sun hats, binoculars, cameras, and water bottles and headed to the buffet breakfast.
By 7:15, our group of 13 had boarded the jeeps, and off we went on safari. Albert is full of knowledge and pointed out various flora and fauna.
This is a birder’s paradise. We saw the gorgeous green, yellow, orange and black little bee eater again, a group of them bathing in the dust in the road, fluttering and burrowing their little bellies and heads in the dirt. Another stunning beauty we saw was the lilac-breasted roller. Among others: guinea fowl, red-billed hornbill (which they call the flying chili pepper), white browed sparrow weaver, tawny eagle and more.
We saw elephants, wart hogs, giraffes, impalas, mongooses, crocodiles, hippos, and zebras, plus very cool vegetation like baobob, mopani, and acacia.
After the morning adventure, we returned to camp for lunch and siesta time, then headed back out for a sundown drive. We got to watch baboons grooming each other and a young one try play with a mongoose. We were heading down a stretch of road to meet the others for a drink and to watch the sunset, when right in the middle of the road stood a lioness. When she saw us, she simply lay down behind a bush and yawned. Then we noticed her four companions, all female and all dozing comfortably, bellies up and a few paws in the air. Albert radioed the other other jeep, and they rushed over. We all stared and took pictures for about 15 minutes.
While we were watching the sun go down, Albert spotted fresh lion tracks and lion cub tracks. He said we’d be on the lookout for more lions on our (dark) drive back to camp. Well. We didn’t see the mama and baby, but sitting just off the road was a male lion and same lionesses from before. At one point, I was no more that 10 feet from this majestic, deadly creature. Albert told us to minimize movement. We complied. I will never forget looking into his eyes. I wonder what he thought of us, and I’m grateful he didn’t appear to think much of us. I could’ve stared at him forever, but I was a little relieved when we slowly rolled past him and finished our drive back to camp where a hot meal awaited us.
My Corner of the Village 