South African Safari - Balule

After landing at the small airport in Hoedspruit, South Africa we had a nice, though bumpy, 30 minute ride on mostly dirt roads to the safari camp.  Our driver joked that they call driving down bumpy roads in the bush getting an "African massage."  She also exclaimed, "Get off my guava, I had my indicator on" when someone was tailgating her before she made a turn which just sounded hilarious. 

The safari camp where we spent 3 nights was called Sausage Tree and was located just outside Kruger National Park in the Balule Nature Reserve.  It was was a tented accommodation, though they were pretty comfortable and well equipped tents and as you can see the tent is partially protected by a larger structure.  In the back of the tent was an outdoor shower that looked out over the bush that was pretty neat.

There were only 5 tents in total in the camp so it was pretty quiet and there weren't any other camps nearby. 

Even with the structure surrounding part of the tent you definitely heard birds, hyenas and other animals through the night and the flaps of the tent blowing around in wind.  The camp was protected by an electric fence to keep us safe from any wandering animals.

There were several common areas where the 10 or so guests at the camp had meals together and could also just relax in between game drives.

This was the view from the main deck of the camp.  You can see a small watering hole on the left and a mountain range faintly in the distance on the right.

The size of the camp made it really easy to meet and get to know the other guests.  Most of the other visitors were from the United States or Europe.  As a first time Safari goer it was interesting to talk to the other guests most of whom had been on safari before and hear about some of the amazing things they'd seen.

Each morning we were woken at about 5:15am for our first game drive.  The game drives are early in the morning and then again at sunset as this is when the temperatures are most comfortable, but also when the animals are the most active.  The morning drive would go about three hours after which we'd have breakfast.  Then we'd get some time to ourselves until lunch was served around 2pm.  After lunch it wasn't long before our sunset game drive.  Halfway through the evening game drive we'd stop for drinks in the bush somewhere and watch the sunset.  On this part of the trip I'd say I found a new appreciation for gin.  Everyone in the group was drinking it and raving about it, so who was I not to partake?  They also say it helps ward off mosquitoes.  Though I was probably wearing a liter of bug spray so who can really be sure?  Anyway, maybe I'd just been drinking crappy gin all my life, but the South African gin they served along with some herbs, fruit and tonic was delicious!  After the evening game drive we'd all get together for dinner in an intimate area outside that honestly reminded me of where they have the tribal council on the TV show Survivor. I never got a photo of it, but here's a shot of one of the meals and it gives a sense of the setting.  All the food at the camp was quite good. 

Though I've yet to detail the best part, what we saw on the game drives!  At most, 10 of us would pile into one big safari vehicle.  The owner of the camp was actually our driver, and there is also a "spotter" who sits in the seat in the front left actually hanging outside the vehicle and his job is spot any animals hiding in the bush! 

Here we are!  Josh wanted to be "assistant spotter" (I made that up) -- as you can see he's right up front.

The owner did a great job getting us really close to lots of animals but also describing for us the plants, birds and other wildlife we saw on our drives.  Here's some of what we saw with some comments in the captions:

We spotted this giraffe and it's baby nearby.

Here's baby giraffe.

This elephant was actually blocking our path.

At one point we came across a heard of seven elephants.

The elephants really weren't too bothered by us pulling up behind them

The giraffes and elephants pictured above were pretty plentiful and easy to find.  Once you found them, they also weren't put off by us, so we could get close and watch them for as long as we wanted.  We also spotted warthogs, hyenas, zebras and plenty of impala and kudu.  One of the hardest animals to spot, at least in this area, is the leopard.  Though we got very lucky to spot one on our very first drive!

Here he is! We only got close for about 30 seconds before he ran off.

I'd say the most amazing spottings we had were of both male and female lions.

This is a female lion we saw up on a rock.

This was a male (note the mane) that we spotted just after sunset.

Later one, we spotted the female again on the ground.

At one point we thought the female lion was going to attack this impala, but she basically ignored him.  We soon learned why.

She was calling for a male lion to join her.

And he actually did!  The male lion is illuminated by the light of another jeep that joined us and the female is on the right in the shadow.

We also saw rhino's but they made quite a strong point about not posting any pictures anywhere online as it helps poachers track them which is a huge problem in the area.  Not that more than 7 people read this blog anyway and I doubt any of you are African rhino poachers, but still I won't post!

Even when we weren't tracking an animal, the bush had its own unique beauty to it.

There is our spotter, looking down the road ahead.

I have to admit I stole some of these photos from my new European friends who rode with us on the trip.  This Dutch couple and also a Swedish couple both had these amazing cameras with huge zoom lenses that took great photos of what we saw.  My crummy little iPhone photos really didn't do them justice, though as you can probably tell, the giraffe and elephant photos up there are mine while the lion and leopard photos are from my new buddies.

I'd certainly go on safari again and try out another region in Africa.  While constantly applying bug spray and taking anti-malarials as a precaution every day was annoying, I don't think I got one mosquito bite the entire trip.  I think what really made it such an awesome experience was the small group of people we got to know and safaried with.  The people working the camp were also great hosts, amazingly hospitable and the food and drink was plentiful and delicious.  What else can you ask for?

Next stop, Capetown, South Africa!