Lucky Canadian Girl: Safari Time! (Madikwe Reserve, South Africa)

Super Excited to be on Safari!!!

The LION KING! :)

Approaching Madikwe Game Reserve

UPDATE: Want to see more pix? Check out my Flipagram at Cherrie's Safari pix in 30 seconds!

Have you ever been lucky enough to go on safari?

It is the most incredible experience!

Being upclose and personal with the animals – Totally indescribable…but I will try.

We stayed at Tau Lodge in the Madikwe Reserve in South Africa.

Madikwe is 75000 hectares big!

It's one of the largest game reserves in South Africa and they have both the "Big 5" and the "Magnificient 7".

The Big 5 are: the lion, rhino, leopard, elephant and buffalo...

And the wild dog and cheetah and you've got the magnificent 7.

(We got to see the magnificent 7 minus the leopard...which apparently is the hardest to find.)

While at the lodge, our stay included two game drives daily. One early in the morning and one in the evening.

Each day worked like this:

5am - wake up call

5am-530am - tea/coffee/muffins

530- 9am - game drive

9am - breakfast

1pm - lunch

430pm - afternoon tea

5 - 8pm - game drive

8pm - dinner

They look like busy days - but you have the FULL day between game drives to go back to sleep, go to the spa, go to the pool...etc.

Tau had amazing huts/chalets that we stayed in.

All of the "huts" backed a watering hole where animals come by to drink.

There were tons of waterbuck antelope and zebras that went by - but one of the afternoons I also saw three wort hogs! That was so cool!

I was eye to eye with these animals, probably about 20 ft apart…

The only thing that separates us is an electrified fence.

My amazing room...those steps lead to a hot tub!

While we were on game drive we had the same ranger every time. Ours was named Patrick and he was amazing. He was able to look in the road for paw/hoof marks and figure out where to go - he'd also look at the different "poop" in the road to see if it was 'fresh' and if we should follow it! Then when we found animals - Patrick would make sure we had optimal viewing. If there was another truck, he'd circle around the animals to get a better vantage point!

Some of my animal highlights...

- The first time we saw lions - lying lazily under a tree...they totally didn't care we were there. Turns out, we found out later, that had just feasted on a kill earlier in the day.

The first and second time we saw giraffes. They were so tall and beautiful and elegant. The next time we saw giraffes, zebras came by and they all just "hung out" together.
Seeing the white rhinos! They were adolescent boys and literally walked in front of us while they were playing... it was crazy!
The first time we saw mane lions! The lion king! There were two big guys... Again, they totally didn't care we were around. It was so strange!
The first time we saw elephants. They are so huge but so quiet. And one night we even came upon like 20 of them! They literally stood between us and the gate to our lodge.

One of five white Rhino's that walked past our truck

And in every case we also saw babies! We are in summer now so the baby animals we saw were all just born this past spring! I'd never seen soooo many cute baby elephants! It was pretty amazing.

The food…OMG the food was incredible at the lodge – and plentiful. I am certain that I gained 7 lbs over the weekend.

We also got to experience some local game – like ostrich carpaccio, grilled eland, impala pie! It was all delicious!

On each game drive we also stopped for refreshments, hard liquor, pop, juice and water along with dried nuts, fruit, jerky, meat pies and cookies. So as you can see, we were well nourished.

I dream of returning to this spa...

One other thing! Did I tell you about the spa??? Yup – Tau also had a full spa. On one occasion I enjoyed a hot stone massage and on the second a moisturizing and revitalizing facial.

So – Safari life…if you get the opportunity – do it!

It is incredible! :)

…Now…back to work!