South Africa at last!!!

Yeay - for the first time I could get a head start here! Well, ain't happenin' too often, I'm afraid - so no need to get used to it ;-)

We have arrived! Finally! Leaving Mauritius was very hard for Silvia and me (and for Antonia, returning to a wet and wintery Birmingham...), as you might have guessed when reading my last post.

At the Airport we said our goodbyes to my lovely sister, and arrived in Johannesburg after an uneventful, chilly flight in a very empty Air Mauritius plane.

In Jozi we were greeted by a spankingly new and shiny Johannesburg International Airport, and further by our lovely friends Neil and a beautifully pregnant Caroline Syrett. It was so lovely to finally hook up again, after we had not seen them since our Austrian skiing trip in Feb!

The Syretts kindly picked up our dive gear, which we were most likely not going to use in the bush and in Namibia, and also had lunch with us at one of the modern, new restaurants at the airport. Johannesburg Airport is certainly ready and prepared for the expected World Cup crowd - very impressive!

After a temporary goodbye to our friends (we will see them again on 23 Dec, as they invited us to stay at their house over Christmas) we departed on a much smaller plane towards Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport, a mere 50 mins flight away from Jozi. Upon decent we were told that some lightening had just taken out the landing lights of the airports’ runway, which basically would force us to turn around and return to Johannesburg. Great.

Well, having left Mauritius this morning at 5am, and having spent basically the entire day either in planes or in an airport, though admittedly in great company, the mood we were in was rather sombre and overtired. However, after a good night sleep at the Johannesburg Airport InterContinental, worth so much more than the mere ZAR 3,000 it cost me (I need to tell me that over and over again...) we did embark the next plane to Kruger at 6.30am the next morning. Man – what a mission.

This time we did land in Nelspruit, welcomed by our very nice transfer and some cold and grey weather. The latter was in dire need of fast change to the better, as we had literally brought no warm clothes at all! I did not even pack a sweater or pullover!

Transfer took two hours, and Silvia and I passed out pretty much immediately as soon as Johan hit the road to Sabi Sand Game Reserve.

Exeter Leadwood Lodge is just stunning. Nestled between huge granite boulders it sits very naturally in the lush green vegetation one can find here at this time of the year. Consisting of only four thatched bungalows and a communal, open dining building with a huge viewing platform, it allows total privacy for its maximum of 8 guests. Our bungalow is huge, all open plan, fully glazed, with outside private pool and sundeck. Wow – just amazing!

The staff here is more than helpful, looking after us so incredibly well! The food is out of this world, as we expect it from this part of this world – and we have been on 5 fantastic game drives so far, absolutely stunning! Mac, our ranger, is very knowledgeable and makes it worth our while to get up at 5am (!) every morning for the morning safari.

Morning safari takes a good three hours, with a “hot chocolate and Amarula”-break in between. The light in the morning is so crisp, and it is breathtaking to watch the bush wake up, with all its sounds, smells and colours!

Upon return we had straight for breakfast, cooked individually for every guest! What a treat. We have become good friends with the other guests, so there is much banter and laughter around the table. After breakfast there is time and need to catch up some sleep, in fact my Silvia has been fast asleep for now 2.5h whilst I am writing this! Bless, she is so not a morning person.

Lunch is around 2pm, normally light and pleasant salads, followed by some more rest until the Afternoon safari, starting at 4.30pm.

The light now is so much warmer in the afternoon, and the mood of the bush is so relaxed, after a long and hot day. I am not yet decided which time to prefer, as morning and afternoon have both their totally different and amazing atmospheres!

Yesterday the weather has really turned, and it is now hothot during the day! Very nice – exactly how we wanted it.

Game watching is so very different from our last safari to Pilanesburg Game Reserve, as that was in winter when all the grass and the bush are low, burned and yellow. Now the grass is this rich green, high up, which makes it much more difficult to spot the animals. But the colours do make up for that, and our brilliant tracker Colbert has been very successful so far in finding all the good stuff! We have seen a leopard, elephants, a giraffe, hippos, mother and baby rhino, plenty of bucks, impalas, kudu, buffalos, zebras, wildebeests, birds, eagles and warthogs. We even saw some very rare and critically endangered wild dogs, which was very exciting! But today was the highlight when we found a cheetah, and also two lions that started mating right next to our vehicle! Absolutely stunning. At least Silvia knows now to appreciate how gentle I am ;-)

Around sunset we stop to enjoy some sundowners in the bush, Silvia her G&T, I have Klippies and Coke, before returning to camp in the dark – with the beautiful African sky above us, where the stars seem to be with an arms’ reach...

All in all we are having the most fabulous time here, getting pampered and spoilt – loving every second of this unforgettable experience.

Lots of sunny kisses from the bush to wherever you are xxx