The road to the game reserve was largely mud tracks, it almost seemed that we were heading to nowhere. The bus just went on and on, there were no street lamps, only rare occasions of headlights from oncoming traffic. Upon arriving at i don't know where, we were transferred to 10 seater jeeps under the guidance of headlamps and torchlights underneath the blanket of the starry night sky.
We spent a day and a half at Entabeni Game Reserve, and any trip to South Africa, or for that matter the African continent won't be complete without spending at least a day at the safari. It was a good break from civilisation, there was absolutely no telecommunication signals,tv or internet whatsoever. Just nature and you. (Image heavy post coming up)
We were near Botswana, which is to the left of Limpopo Province.
The kickass rover drives practically over any terrain within the game reserve.
In South Africa, be sure to catch the Big 5 at the safaris. We were lucky enough to make the rhinoceros our first sighting. The other 4 that make up the Big 5 are the elephants, lions, leopards and the buffaloes. Female rhinos have shorter horns than the males. In this case, there're 2 females and a male, sniffing at a termite mount.
Zebras in the distance. They were rather well camouflaged with the environment. It was a bit too far to get a better picture of them.
I figured if i got lost, i will use the rock as a guiding object.
The weather was perfect, just that it gets too hot during midday.
One of the many species of antelopes. Notice how its horns almost form a heart shape.
Wildebeest, or the Gnu. The most common animal within the reserve.
The main reception area, where we had our meals or wait for transport. The reserve doesn't allow its guests to roam about due to safety reasons as well as the distance to the residential lodges. The place is safe from strangers but not the wild herbivores. The carnivores were placed within another area with an electric fence around the perimeter.
Dad and i shared a room along with our other insects like grasshoppers (various species), spiders, moths, praying mantis (HUGE ones), little bugs.. The list goes on. The ranger assigned to us missed out another important advice other than not to roam around on foot, which was to sleep with our mouths closed.
The ever famous dung beetle. It's a common sight almost anywhere with dung. Hope it was not because of me.
The reserve had various activities such as horse-riding, archery, quad-bike riding and various others, so we decided to give horse riding a try. This horse apparently followed us throughout the whole hour session!
The other side of the game reserve where carnivorous animals roam.
Our first sighting around the bend. Both the giraffe and us gave each other a scare.
We got as close as within 20 metres from a herd of 11 elephants. You could tell that the elephants were not very happy with our presence from the flared up ears and trunk actions.
The third of the Big 5 we saw. Look closer on the left of the picture and you can see the male sleeping in a really unglamorous position. Male lions drive away their own fathers or even kill them when they grow up so they can gain control of the territory. They then mark their territory with their poop or pee as a warning to other males not to mess with their females.
There were 3 initially, but the other female got sick of us and walked away. Lions don't attack the jeeps because they see it as a harmless object that poses no threat to them. Get down on to the grass and you might not live to tell the tale.
Baby millipede. Adults can grow up to the length of our palms.
The tok-tok beetle. The name derives from the "tok-tok" sound it makes when it knocks its belly on the ground in search of the female. The myraid of flora and fauna never ceases to amaze. Our dedicated ranger, Daniel, stops by at every insect or animal he sees and picks it up whenever possible to explain more about them.
Cheetahs are kept in captivity for a period of time to allow for adaptation to the environment before they are released into the wild to hunt on their own.
Then it was time for dinner. (:
An eagle perched on top of the bald tree.
Taking flight.. I couldn't tune the settings on the camera fast enough, so this was the best i could get out of it.
During dinner.
It makes you feel at ease with such hospitality from the South Africans. The second dude from the left was our ranger, and he doubles up as a musician too! It was a pity the rest of our tour members asked to leave for their respective lodges or i would have sat through the performance.
