...South Africa Photos...

Tuesday 30th May 2006 – Tammay and I arrive in Johannesburg after a flight from Mauritius. We didn't land until 19:20 so we spent night at The Garden Court JNB International – a basic hotel near Johannesburg airport. The following morning we were back on a plane and heading for a small airstrip in Mala Mala.

After landing at Mala Mala we were met by a local chap called Mbecky who would be our tracker for the week. We had decided to stay at Lion Sands, a private game reserve located on the banks of the Sabie River, covering approximately 3500 hectares and bordering the Kruger National Park. We travelled to the lodge in one of their open top/side Land Rovers, amazed at the number of animals we spotted on the way!

A selection of photos from our trip can be seen below – I hope to get a full set here soon!

African Elephant

This was a shot of the elephant's side with a shadow of the branch/leaves it was eating at the time.

African Elephant

It was at this point that the elephant decided he didn't want us around anymore. Trotting towards us with his ears opened wide... it worked.

African Elephant

A golden sunrise

The golden early morning sun shining over the dry grass.

Lion

When we arrived at Lion Sands we were told that there were currently no lions on the reserve. Luckly, on our second night a pride of lions moved onto the reserve – many of the staff & guests were kept up during the night by their calls, although Tammay and I heard nothing. From this point on we saw many lions.

Lion

After sunset we would see the lions yawn and strech lots before they got up and started to look for food.

Lion

Relaxing in the late afternoon sun.

Lion

Birds

Leopard

A Leopard's prey

A 15 foot python which had been dragged into a tree by a leopard.

Leopard

The leopard lay at the bottom of the tree panting hard. You could see its stomach was full!

Sunset

White Rhino

This rhino decided to charge at our vehicle. Thankfully shouts and waving arms from our ranger & tracker were enough to bring the animal to rest.

White Rhino

This was a baby rhino that we found with its parents.

White Rhino

Zebra

Unfortunately we didn't see many zebra on the safari. Our ranger spotted this one at quite a distance.

Zebra

Zebras

We spotted this small hurd of zebra on our way back to the airport in Mala Mala.

Impala

Greater Kudu

Vervet Monkey

Spotted Hyena

Giraffe

Water Buffalo

Baboon

African Civit

A few photos of us!

Sunday the 4th of June – we were taken by our tracker Mbecky back to Mala Mala airstrip for our 12:30 return flight to Johannesburg. We were once again amazed by the number of animals we saw along the way and our tracker's ability to spot them. We arrived at the airstrip to see a large hurd of water buffalo being moved off the runway.

After a six hour wait in Johannesburg we were on our way back to Heathrow. We landed at 06:25 on the Monday morning and were greeted at arrivals by nice chap in a suit who smoothly wisked us back to our flat in an S-Type Jaguar. A small comfort that seemed to make all the difference!