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| Once in 30 Years - a Sabi Sand fairytale |
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| I recently went with some friends for a weekend away at Leadwood Lodge, an &Beyond property in the Sabi Sand, Kruger. In 30 years of regularly visiting the bush, I have never witnessed such game viewing. |
| | After coffee and rusks before dawn broke, we embarked on our first morning game drive. At a large waterhole we watched as a herd of over 300 buffalo ambled by, drinking water and wallowing in the mud alongside. As the buffalo were departing two large male Rhino’s approached from a distance and strolled leisurely past the Land Rover. We gazed upon a few elephant nearby. A short while later we came across a cheetah lazing in an open clearing. As we watched the cheetah, a fairly uncommon sight on its own, in the distance our tracker spotted a leopard approaching cautiously. |
| | The male leopard had an inkling of an animal in its territory and proceeded to approach the unaware cheetah. From about 30 meters away, the cheetah suddenly became aware of an approaching animal, we cannot say whether he realized it was a leopard. The leopard, whose instinct would have him kill the cheetah to remove competition in the environment, stalked and chased the cheetah for 15 minutes. Eventually the leopard lost interest when the cheetah was far enough out of his territory. |
| | On our way to the main camp, we passed a breeding herd of elephant with small calves, some as young as one month. |
| | We looked forward to the evening drive and what would unfold next in the wild. |
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| As we set out, the ranger advised there was a lion pride 15 minutes from us, so off we went. The pride was lazing under some trees, all 8 of them, clearly not in a hurry to move, with the youngsters nuzzling away. |
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| The crackle of the 2-way radio got our ranger’s attention and with only a few seconds’ warning he proceeded to drive at break-neck speed, slowing down for bumps- well, most of them, to get us to a pack of wild dogs. When we found the pack, they were in typical hunting formation, with the pack leader ahead and the others running behind him. It was not long before the dogs picked up a scent and subsequently the pace. |
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| Andrew, our ranger decided to loop around to the airstrip and lo and behold, over 300 impala were gathering at dusk for their evening rest. We sat and waited. Our patience was rewarded as 2 of the dogs emerged from the bush and loped head down, ears back making their way to the gathering Impala. As the dogs closed the gap, the impala who had been looking in their direction started to shift, and in a flash they all started to sprint away. 300 hundred plus impala running in all directions; what a sight! Just 10 meters in front of us, an unlucky impala was brought down by the two wild dogs. It was an amazing sighting, but difficult to watch. As the other dogs arrived they all participated in devouring the impala. |
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| We were more than happy to go for our sunset drink, even as it was almost dark to toast the celebration of wildlife at its best and a glorious day in the Sabi Sand. |
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| Timeless Africa Safaris at the YPO Global Leadership Conference (GLC) in Denver, Colorado. |
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| On Saturday, 19 Feb 2011, Kirsty Gordon, our manager at TAS, flew across to the USA to attend the annual YPO GLC and represent us to approximately 2500 YPO and WPO delegates as the only African travel stand at the GLC Marketplace. |
| | A personal greeting video from Marco in Cape Town played at our marketplace stand to a crowd of both new and familiar faces. We had fantastic footage of wildlife and accommodation photography, with some amazing videos of the areas we specialize in Southern Africa, Botswana and East Africa. Timeless Africa Safaris hosts and accommodates numerous YPO’ers and WPO’ers and their families in Southern and East Africa. | | | | |
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| The three days of the conference flew by in a whirlwind of meet and greets. |
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| Our stand in particular received a lot of attention with people stopping by to taste our famous biltong, take a hat or a much-needed beanie (Denver was far colder than any South African could have prepared for), but most importantly to chat with Kirsty about travel to Southern and East Africa as well as the Indian Ocean Islands. |
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| For those of you who were there, or those that missed this GLC, Timeless Africa Safaris will definitely see you in Singapore next year for the 2012 GLC! |
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| June |
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| The endless plains of East Africa are the setting for the world’s greatest wildlife spectacle - the 1.5 million animal ungulate (wildebeest) migration. From the vast Serengeti plains to the champagne colored hills of Kenya’s Masai Mara, over 1.4 million wildebeest and 200,000 zebra and gazelle, relentlessly tracked by Africa’s great predators (lion and hyena). |
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| This annual movement is an 1800 mile epic and moves through two famous river crossings – the first crossing of the Grumeti River May/June and the second crossing of the Mara River in August/September. These crossings are very dramatic where huge crocodiles wait in anticipation as the herds have to make enormous leaps to get into the water and swim safely to the other bank to continue towards the lush grasslands. |
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| For more information on the Okavango Delta click here. |
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| July |
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| July is a great month to visit Zambia which is often referred to as the “Real Africa”. Choose from eight National Parks which have breathtaking landscapes teeming with wildlife. Visit the Victoria Falls and go rafting at this optimal time of year when the water levels are not excessively high and most days are sunny and dry with moderate temperatures. |
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| Or you may choose to visit Zambia’s largest national park, Kafue. Here the resident elephant herds as well as some plains game and their predators, including leopards, wild dogs, lions and cheetah, provide memorable game viewing. |
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| For more information about Zambia click here. |
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| August |
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| As Spring re-awakens the floral kingdom, the Namaqualand blossoms with the bright hues of wildflowers that envelope the rolling hills of the countryside as far as the eye can see. Moderate and dry weather at this time of year creates the perfect setting for driving through this beautiful region, with the windows down, and going for long walks. A must for photographers, professional and budding alike. |
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| For more information on the Namaqualand click here. |
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