Our Trip to South Africa

Jaci's Safari Lodge at Madikwe Game Reserve

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The gate to the Madikwe game reserve. We didn't know what treasures awaited.

Across the suspension bridge and the adventure continues.

The bedrooms at Jaci's. Stunning. Sammy rearranging as quickly as possible.

Sara-Anne and Sammy test out the bath.

Lynn and Ben check out the outdoor showers.

5:30am Morning excursions into the game reserve. (2/7/2001) This is a stop for tea and rusks.

Madison joined us next morning(2/8/2001). 6:15 is pretty early.

The giraffe are early morning animals too.

Lucas and Abel, our intrepid tracker and ranger. They are both incredible sources of knowledge and insight.

A popular waterhole.

Two of the young lionesses(16 months old) checking us out rather closely. Their little brother was even more curious. Especially when he saw Madison.

They crossed the road in front of us.

another view.

It must be time for tea and rusks again I guess. Me, Frank and Madison.

Ben having an elegant breakfast at 9 am. Seemed late in the day after we woke up at 5.

Dad took a real fancy to this little metal bird. He is out on the front deck of the lodge. It overlooks a small river where there was a herd of elephants visiting the previous evening.

Sara-Anne and Dad admiring the bird sculpture.

What a creature.

My hut at Jaci's.(Number 5) Madison and I shared it.

The stairs going up to the deck.

The entrance to my hut.

The bathroom area with gorgeous copper sinks.

Wild dog napping. This was that evenings run. (2/8/2001 5:23pm)

A pair of kudu. Ten and a half years old.

Lucas in tracker mode on the front of the jeep. He just found the cheetahs.

The white rhino. Munching quietly on the plains.

Lynn fancies herself as a tracker that evening. Actually she rode on that little seat the whole way. What a brave woman.

Dad fancies himself a big safari dude. Next day 2/9/2001 at 6:40 am.

What would an early morning ride be like without rusks and tea? Me and Dad relaxing after a lion sighting.

Lucas looks on as Dad explains a particularly salient point about Lion mating habits.

Madison, Richard (ranger) and Sara-Anne watching carefully for more lions. You can't be too careful in the bush. Richard tells us that if you spend too much time there, you go "bossies"

There are the young lions again.

Not too concerned about us. We are about 6 feet away from her.

This is Stevie. He decided to drop in on the younger lions. Richard told us he had been fixed. Stevie also lost an eye in a hunting accident, but he didn't seem too much the worse for wear.

You know that warm fuzzy feeling you get when a huge male lion starts walking in your general direction? He was pretty darned close and there were no bars separating us and this guy. Stevie was walking along with a lioness who seemed to be very close to him.

Richard stayed on the radio informing the other rangers of the lions.

Stevie and his mate starting crossing the river, but another jeep arrived and seemed to cause a change in plans. They returned back to our side and strolled casually off. Richard suggested that Stevie was ready to visit the pride of younger lions and do battle with the male.

That is Stevie crossing and the lioness having a little drink.

Gladys and Evelina took care of the kiddos while we were out on safari.

And the feeding began again. We ate outdoors and the meals were fabulous. I had to skip a few meals eventually, my body was shutting down from all the fantastic food.

Lynn and Frank at dinner.

Next morning (2-11-2001) at 6:30 am, we found the young lions again.

The search for hippo (kubu) did not yield any animals, but it was a wonderful drive around the park for our last morning.

Lucas posing in the bush after marking his territory downwind.

A last minute wild dog siting. They were hungry and starting to do a little hunting. Then they sneaked off into the bushes.

Lucas, Madison and Richard joking about identifying hippos by tasting their dung.

Lucas and I at breakfast. Lucas decided that my native name was to be kubu (hippo). It seemed like a good fit. And he laughed endlessly at my mispronunciation of various tswana words. (Ratakatakakatan was one of his favorites)

We had a nice drive back to the airport with a few stops including Sun City and a really cool market where we bought curios. Terry was a great guide.

What a trip all set up by Longhorn Travel

Flying on home.... Lynn, Sammy and Sara-Anne.

Home at last. Colette and I.

Let me know what you thought of this presentation. Send me email: selwyn@austintx.com