Safari in South Africa

Each day, we do a game drive in the early morning and then late afternoon until sundown. The middle of the day is open to do whatever you want. Since ours was a wellness retreat, this is when we did yoga sessions by the watering hole. Other people staying on property for vacation played games, enjoyed the bar, enjoyed the pool, used the spa services, and explored the gift shop.

This is cabin style lodging so it’s comfortable but not a luxury hotel experience. You have outdoor showers and no air conditioning or heating. Since it’s cold there in June, we had heating pads that kept us very warm at night. Leggings and a hoodie were too warm to wear to bed so we were usually in shorts and a t shirt for sleepwear. The weather goes from comfortably warm to very cold in the mornings and evenings so we had everything from shorts to parkas packed and used it all.

The water is clean so you can brush your teeth using the sink water. Everything is filtered. The food was incredible! They also clean up your room every day while you’re on the game drives. Everyone was very friendly and helpful.

The meals were incredible! I had food intolerances plus we had a few vegans on the trip. They handled our food well. Be aware that celiac-level gluten free may have cross contamination as well as not quite the same amount of protein or fat that a vegan with very balanced/monitored meals can make themselves. I recommend bringing some food and snacks to supplement if you have any food accommodations. There's always tea and coffee available as well!

We heard the lions in the very early morning make a kill so our guide, Jimmy, was super excited to find where they were. We got up close to the lions eating a wildebeest!

Our guide specifically wanted to try to find the elephants so it was a good amount of driving but worth it!

Instead of the usual safari drive, we did a bush walk with our guide (armed with a rifle). We specifically stayed far away from where the lions were as a result! We got to see the herbivores on foot, learn animal prints, animal droppings, and how our guide tracks the animals every day for the game drives. We ended the bush walk with a surprise lunch at an outdoor fire pit picnic area the staff set up for us.

We went to an endangered animal orphanage (no photos or name mentioned to protect the organization from poachers) in the morning. After, we drove into the mountains to have lunch.

The staff prepared a special dinner at the same place we had lunch after the bush walk. They sang around the camp fire for us along with other fun cultural things to close out our amazing week with them!

We did our last morning game drive and then began the journey home.

Travel day back home