Monday February 15, 2016

At 5am we received our wake-up call and after coffee, we boarded our jeep and off we went on more adventures.  The sun had just come above the mountains on a beautiful day.

We get a chance to see what the lodge looks like in daylight

 Two other early morning commuters

 Fever tree

Whit

 White rhinos are late sleepers.  This guy just didn't want to be bothered

 Matt and Josi were pretty sure there was a lioness with some cubs in the area and we circled around looking for tracks.  Along the way we passed a shaded area full of baboons, warthogs and zebra.

Two young warthogs -- they were running and fighting and generally being kids

Two adolescent male white rhino

Josi was in front in his little seat and suddenly motioned to Matt to stop.  He got down and began walking along the rutted path and pointed up the hill--he had found lion tracks.  Sure enough, Matt drove us up the hill, continuing to spiral in a circle as Josi followed the tracks.  Across a dry stream bed, up the other side and as we came close to a thicket there was a loud, deep roar.  Josi had found the mother lioness with 3 cubs.

 For Josi this was as meaningful as a billboard along the interstate

 A mother and three cubs.  They hadn't picked the most photogenic spot, but they were cute and playful.  Also, it was like after the Thanksgiving meal -- they were full and sleepy.

While we were looking at the lion cubs, Josi noticed a huge black rhino ambling down the hill.  They are highly endangered and we were so lucky to be able to see one. The black rhino never got very close to us, and they're much shyer than the white rhinos.  This is as close as we could get -- he actually wandered towards us as we were watching the lion cubs.

Buoyed by success we continued on our way up and down little red paths.  It was time for our morning tea, so in a shady area Matt and Josi set up the very British tea service.  Also available was a combination coffee, hot chocolate and Amarula, a local amaretto. 

 Matt now wanted to look for a cheetah family that someone had found.  Off again into the general area of the cheetah with Josi scanning the ground and horizon.  Josi motioned Matt to turn up the hill because he "had seen an eye in a thicket of shrubs."   Imagine in all of that, he could see "an eye." Around to the back side of the shrubs Matt drove and there was a mother cheetah and 2 cubs.

 Mom checking us out, and deciding we're not a threat, or very interesting

 Tree trunk as a pillow

 

 Too soon, it was time to return to the Lodge for breakfast which was a lovely table filled with fruit, oatmeal, a variety of pastries, ham, Canadian bacon, and orders taken for  hot cooked food.  Looking over the bannister we saw a mother warthog and baby....baby wanted breakfast, too!

We returned to our room to repack our backpacks and we opened our curtains to see what we could not see the night before.....a panoramic view of  the Ubombo mountain range and the African bushveld.  Absolutely stunning.  We were so fortunate to have seen the Big Five: lion, African elephant, cape buffalo, leopard, and rhino.

We said good-bye to Matt and Josi and boarded the bus to take us back to our ship.  On our way out, Phinda management sent one last representative to say good-bye!

The weather was amazing, cool and sunny, and the landscape extraordinary

thanks to steve@affordabletours for encouraging us to take this cruise; we're thinking of you!