The cubs – cute, cuddly and playful; those teeth are sharp! Just ask Gibbo…

When we were at Sun City we booked ourselves an afternoon at Ukutula, an interactive lion park a bit over an hour’s drive from our lodge. A driver picked us up Thursday afternoon.

Our “greeter” was a young girl from Logan who first came here several years ago with her mother to volunteer; she kept coming back until they gave her a job.

Sure; no problem.

This is where the “devils” were – the older cubs that are just learning to hunt; you had to watch your back in here! It’s possible to stay in the rooms inside the enclosure instead of in the lodge.

All through the park are sculptures of African animals.

This is what we really came for – the interactive Walk With Lions.

More sticks – these were our only form of protection (although I had a Plan B that involved hiding behind Gibbo if things went downhill in a hurry; figured he’d make a juicier meal than I would. I’d be more like a toothpick).

This is Ben, one of our guides; he’s giving us the Safety Talk and letting us know what to do if things got out of hand and that if you misbehaved or didn’t follow procedures they would radio back to base and have a nice vehicle come pick you up and take you away. I flicked Gibbo an eyebrow.

Three lions are taken on the walks; the bigger one in our group was nearly 2 years old and will soon be retired. Recently, while out on a walk, he ran off the track and killed a sable.

Our second guide had a bag of small chicken bodies which he threw around.

More chicken.

We met up with another walking group – the lions all ran to each other for a meet and greet. They must love getting out.

Home again.

We arrived back at Bakubung Lodge about 7pm; the rest of our group were out on a game drive.

From the cubs we moved on to The Devils – while the cubs are playful, these kids are naughty. They’re just learning to hunt; we were warned to be mindful that while we might be patting the cute one in front of us there were probably 3 of them sneaking up from behind, ready to pounce!

Sticks are used to distract them or to push them away if they get too boisterous. Or to tickle them.

Then we moved on to the big guns. As we walked up, a chain reaction of blood curdling roars reverberated around the park. Even from the safe side of the fence it was chilling. Imagine being lost in the African savannah and hearing that sound! You wouldn’t rate your chances of making it to breakfast; not yours anyway.

Ah. The tourists are here. Delightful.

The female hyena was entertaining. They can break a giraffe’s femur with a single bite.

The cheetah brothers, acting nonchalant.

We got up early (Thurs) and went on a dawn game drive; it was cool and fresh and beautiful.

Here’s our guide, scanning the horizon for anything that moves (the French man in the seat in front told him, “you have really good eyes”). Sir, it’s the binoculars….

Sunrise at Pilanesberg National Park.

If I mentioned that the last post may have had a lot of photos – then this one does too! We are constantly amazed at how quiet all the animals are. This elephant encounter really was incredible. Magical. I’m not really into elephants but this moment has been the highlight so far for me.

The mother was walking straight toward me and passed close to the back of the vehicle.

Then this little guy pushed his way through…

and gave us a wave with his trunk.

Cheeky Boy!

Gibbo helped our driver unload the refreshments.

Then had his photo taken with him.

There wasn’t any action at the waterhole. I could have sat here all day; iIt was so peaceful.

We came across this scene; a herd of wary wildebeest acting nervously – and a dozen cars and trucks lined up along the road! Something must have happened before we arrived to indicate there might be some action – there was a larger wildebeest further up the hill, separate from the others, and the guide (not Gibbo, I mean the real one) thought we might see something happen but, alas, nothing did. It has occurred to me that while we’re all oohing and aahing at the scene in front of us there could be a pride of lions right behind us, tap-dancing in tutus and whistling Dixie, and no-one would notice such is the focus on the scene in front.

More giraffe; so elegant.

More zebra; so stripey.

This is why we don’t usually give Gibbo the camera….

Ah, there he is; the day of the jackal.

This one is for you Mum. I got your comment – it worked – you did good!

I probably shouldn’t use the words “elephant” and “kill” in the same sentence for fear of trending on Twitter but I mean it as a warning – there’s A LOT of photos of elephants in this post.

Thirteen members of the tour/playing group arrived Wednesday afternoon and we set off on an evening game drive in a truck all to ourselves. Gibbo stood up the back and channeled Steve Irwin pointed out all the animals. He actually wanted to drive.

This guy came lumbering down the road,

closer and closer until….

he was right there in front of us!

He ignored us completely but became slightly agitated when a white land cruiser got a bit too close; he turned and ran a few steps towards it.

We’ve learned that the word “antelope” can mean many things.

See those rocks? They’re actually hippos.

See the lioness? Just above the V in the trees. I couldn’t either, not for a while anyway. She’s the white smudge right in the middle of frame.

The game drives finish around 8.30pm.

Yesterday we woke up to this sight!

Below is our friend Brian, handing over some wagyu biltong that he produces from his family farm; we’re looking forward to trying this. It’s going to be the secret ingredient for getting the team through next week successfully (they’ll need it – one player has already broken down and his substitute is arriving with a broken finger. No-one has had much match practice but everyone is talking themselves up about how well they’re going to perform…one player in particular). Beer and Biltong Bonding Sessions are planned for Thursday and Friday nights (there’s a warm up game on Saturday in Franschoek then the festival starts on Sunday with the opening ceremony, first game Monday).

Yesterday we caught the shuttle to Sun City (a luxury resort and casino that borders the Game Reserve where we’re staying).

We visited the Cultural Village and were the only two people in the audience so it was all rather intense.

We were taken on a mini tour of the 8 tribes of South Africa and given a short explanation of the origin of each, their clothing, their beliefs – and how many wives a man was allowed to have.

The Zulu.

Zulu warriors!

This skirt was quite heavy and was worn to hide whether a single woman had child bearing hips (or not). Her husband wouldn’t find out until after the wedding whether he had married a woman who would give him many children….

Then we watched a song and dance routine which was really entertaining……

especially the dance part…..

This dancer was very…umm…athletic.

The xylophone band played The Lion Sleeps Tonight and La Bamba. True story.

We finished off the trip with a cold beer in the casino.

Managed a quick nap this afternoon then headed off on safari! Off into the wilderness! Comfortable in our 4WD. Within a few kms of the lodge. Roughing it. Not.

There were only a dozen of us in the 22 seater vehicle; we four sat up the back like all the cool kids do. I was able to keep moving from side to side to take pics.

We saw 18 different kind of animals, some multiple times – zebra, elephant, rhino, giraffe, puff adder, chameleon, kudu, water buck, baboon, vervet monkey, eqyptian goose, springbok, crocodile, steenbok, gnu, impala, tsesebe – and the pick of the day – LEOPARD!! We weren’t close enough to photograph everything (giraffe, baboon), some moved too quickly (monkey, she was in a real hurry) and the leopard was in the dark (blurry).

We saw the leopard twice; she was just walking along the road towards us. She crossed in front and wandered off into the bush. Suddenly, 3 other nearby safari trucks descended; there were 4 spotlights searching for her. After a short while our driver saw her just nonchalantly walking along the road again. She wasn’t scared or bothered by our presence.

A chameleon!

After 24 long hours we’ve made it to South Africa and our lodge at the game park. Last night’s flight left Singapore at 1.30am; again, I had an empty seat on one side. I watched two more movies – Birdman (quirky, a bit dark, well acted) and The Imitation Game (really like this one). That’s four movies in total – more than I usually watch in a whole year.

I managed to fold myself up in the two seats and have a bit of a nap. When I woke up and looked out the window into the dark night I thought, “oh, how cool, there’s a big storm happening out there. Look at that lightning; there’s so much of it. It’s quite regular. Actually it’s very regular.” Then I realised it wasn’t a storm at all – it was the flashing lights on the wings. Then I crawled over Gibbo and went to the toilet and had a moment of panic when I thought I’d locked myself in. Clearly, I need to get out more.

Customs was easy; our bags were the last two to come onto the carousel (of course). Our friends were waiting for us and we drove from Johannesburg, through Pretoria and then on to Bakubung Lodge in Pilanesberg National Park where, just before the entrance, we glimpsed our very first African Animal.

This could be a novel way of replacing the regular weather site that Gibbo spends so much time checking.

Our room is just to the left of picture.