Back in the bush after 5 months

Our unique private reserve

Last month we decided it was time to visit the reserve again, after not having visited it for a while. Two days ago we arrived at the reserve at 2:00 PM, in time to be ready for an evening drive at 5:00 PM. The bush looks totally different compared to our last visit in November; everything is green. Because of a lack of enough rain, the leaves of some trees are already starting to change color.

Beautiful sunset

During our evening drive we didn’t see many animals, but that was fine; we are happy to be back in the bush. We had a nice sundowner at one of the waterholes while listening to the sounds of wildebeest around us; they were thirsty! We had plenty of time to check them out with our new binoculars, very impressive animals. The sunset was beautiful, something you hardly ever see in Europe.

Four hyenas!

On our way back to the lodge, we heard, what we thought, was the sound of a hyena. The ranger reversed the car and after driving back for a couple of meters, he used the spotlight on the road. We were right! Two spotted hyenas right in front of us on the road, not bothered by us at all. It ended up being 4 spotted hyenas. After having sniffed the bushes and eyeing us they took off after a couple of minutes.

We were excited and the ranger continued driving back to the lodges. At a certain point he stopped and backed up, because he had seen something in the grass. At first we had no clue of what it could be, but with the spotlight we noticed a civet. It was as relaxed as can be; first laying in the grass and eventually climbing into a tree; not hurrying at all. This gave us plenty of time to take pictures and shoot some videos.

Our Part of Africa

The ranger told us a dead wildebeest was spotted near the lodges, hyena’s had been munching on it. He wanted to know if we wanted to go and have a look… Is that even a question? Upon arriving we spotted a brown hyena and a jackal – lucky us! They were a bit shy so we decided to leave them alone.

While turning the car, the ranger saw a huge male leopard. Relaxed but aware of our presence, he looked at us while we drove away to the lodge; it was amazing to see.

How happy are we to be back in this Part of Africa.

A short story written by co-owner Sylvia van Kerkwijk