Being in South Africa wouldn’t be complete without going on a safari. SA has a few parks where you can spot the “big five” in wilderness. The major one, Kruger Park, was more or less 5 hour drive from Johannesburg, a bit too much of a drive for a weekend only, so we settled on Pilanesberg, only 2 hours away. When we got to our safari loge, the friendly staff warmly greeted us and announced that we arrived just in time for the first game drive. All our group got a designated ranger for the whole time of our stay, so we were able to negotiate 6am drives instead of 5am :D.
Initially, three to four hour rides seemed quite long, but every time trying to spot new animals was as exciting as the first time. Unfortunately, we did not encounter two out of big five – the cheetah and water buffalo. Since there are only a few of them in the park, we had a very little chance. On the other hand, we were very lucky with spotting rhinos, several times during the trip, which nowadays is quite rare due to inhumane and barbaric poaching. Over a thousand rhinos were killed last year in South Africa alone, just because of conviction that rhino’s horn aids with impotence…No prove for that exists. Sick.
The whole safari experience was amazing. The Ivory Tree Game Lodge, which I highly recommend, the rides, our designated ranger and safari sunrises. The culmination of the day in the peaceful game reserve was nothing other than taking an outdoor shower under the perfectly starry sky…
Wayfarer & Luggage 