Safari!

This was my third safari and my first high-end one.  Each experience has provided special memories in terms of the people I was with, the locations and most especially, the animal encounters. This time I stayed at the 5-star Lukimbi Lodge in South Kruger National Park and it certainly delivered with wonderful staff, accommodations and meals.  A far cry from the accommodations on my camping safari with Carrie 26 years ago.   Good grief, was it really that long ago?!

I was in a hut at the end of the walkway which provided views of the surrounding grounds and passing animals.  You could watch them - mostly impala - from the comfort of your porch, as you cleaned up in an outside shower or from your free-standing soaking tub positioned in front of a large picture window.  It was all good.

 

 

We drove around in safari-style Land Rovers that came in handy when we got off the usual pathways to true off-roading.  As long as we were in the private reserve area (as opposed to on Kruger Park land), the guides are allowed to follow lions and a few other animals into the bush.  And boy, did we!

 

Our first game drive was the afternoon that we checked into the lodge.  The trackers spotted lion tracks and decided to follow on foot. 

 

 

Eventually they let our guide know where the pride was and off we went into the bush.  It was wild.  We were driving through – and I do mean through – bushes and trees.  Just running them down (although most popped back up again behind us).  But no lions. 

It was getting dark by now and the final glow of the sunset was used to determine direction.  Only problem was that it turned out to be the glow of a sugarcane field burning way off in the distance.  I was pretty hard for the guides to find their bearings in the high growth but the good news was that we eventually stumbled upon the lions.  19 of them!  And it was wonderful.  They were hanging out and didn’t seem to mind some spotlights on them.  Eventually they got up and meandered off.  We did the same and eventually found our way back to the path (I refuse to call these paths ‘roads’).  We were only a bit more than an hour late getting back to the lodge that night. 

 

 

 

 

We had many other great encounters including finding a herd of about 25 elephants at a watering hole…

A herd of water buffalo, zebra and a mom giraffe with her 2 week old.  Babies were everywhere - lions, water buffalo, rhino. 

 

  

 

 

 

And, lions in the sunshine.  The cubs are about a year old now.  We followed them into the bush to a water hole which was now merely a mud bath.  They hung out for a little while anyway.

 

 

 

 

Taolanaro, Madagascar

I took a gazillion photos at our second port of call in Madagascar, but I'm going to focus on my friendly little primates.  The Nahampoana Reserve has 4 types of lemurs living on their grounds.  I only saw 3 types and one of them (brown lemurs) I was only able to get butt shots.  But the other two types made up for the rest of them.  If I have this correct, the first ones here are sifakas lemurs (black face ringed with white fur) and the second are the ring-tail.  So darn cute.

Sainte Marie Island – Madagascar

Coming back to Africa is always a treat, and to finally make it to Madagascar is special.   On the first day we anchored off of Sainte Marie Island and its main town of Ambodifotatra.  From there I did an excursion that took us to the small island Ile Aux Nattes.  Our primary base was the only resort on the island – a small, simple place with individual huts.  From there we walked much of the island through small villages and up to the highest point with the island’s lighthouse.  There are no cars on the island making walking the dirt streets easy. 

 

 

 

 

Two lemurs came to visit while we were there.  They didn’t stay around for too long, but long enough to get a few photos while they were atop one of the huts.

 

 

And as always, there were cute children...

 

The French Island of Reunion

Reunion is another tropical paradise, but quite different from Mauritius.  Mauritius is an independent island nation with a strong Indian influence.  It’s quite flat with miles of sugarcane fields and pretty beaches.  In contrast, Reunion is French territory and is very mountainous with villages dotting the lush slopes.  Many of the miles of beaches are beautiful, but not prized as swimming beaches due to the hot black sand laced with broken coral. The French influence is evident everywhere.  I did a 4-wheel drive excursion into the mountains to check out the tropical scenery.  
 

 

 

Just a sample of the many flowers to be found up in the mountains.



 

We had lunch at the home of a family who cater to small groups, cook over a wood-burning stove and use veggies and herbs from their own garden.   They specialize in maintaining knowledge of the healing properties of the region’s plants, even working with scientists to figure out why one of the leaves works to lower cholesterol.  Chopped up plants, bark and whatever where laid out drying to be used eventually in teas or other preparations.  Lunch was fabulous.

 

 

 

 

The Island of Mauritius

It was a long way across the Indian Ocean to find land again and what we found was quite lovely.  On Mauritius three of us hired a cab driver for the day and he proved to be a good tour guide as well.  We spent some time in the city of Port Louis before venturing out to see smaller towns, beaches, and sugar cane fields.

From the dock we took a water taxi to town.

 

 

Providing some shade at a strip mall.

Scenes from a fish market.

 

 

Sunset on Mauritius

 

More from Down Under

The second week in Australia brought us to Adelaide, Albany and Perth – although I never actually saw Perth. 

Adelaide was a lovely town to walk around along with its ocean-front sister town of Glenelg just a short tram ride away.  Lots of walking around the two towns.  I only took a few photos that day, this one is from Glenelg.

 

 

 

In Albany I did an excursion out to the Valley of the Giants.  The tingle trees that grow here are massive, on the scale of our red wood trees, and grow only in Australia.  There were paths to walk around (and through a few) of these ancient trees as well as a treetop walkway.   Afterwards we fit in a bit of wine tasting to round out the day.

 

Perth was our last stop… actually Freemantle, where the port is located.  The first day was spent in Freemantle, a great town to walk around with everything within easy reach from the ship.  A fun little town with good shopping, restaurants and beaches.   The second day was off on an excursion into the country to Yanchep National Park to see koalas (in their enclosure), kangaroos and various birds.

 

At home we have pigeons and seagulls stealing our food.  Here the thieving birds were more interesting.

 

We also went down into the Crystal Caves and out to some big sand dunes.  Busy day.

Moving on to Mauritius next.  In the meantime, the annual World Cruise Olympics are starting up.  Should be entertaining over these upcoming sea days.

 

My Last Continent: Australia

We’ve been in Australia for a week now.  The day in Sydney was spent with friends walking around the city. I never did go into the Opera House, but yup, it was there and it was pretty.

In Melbourne I did a night excursion to see the ‘penguin parade’ on Phillip Island.  The smallest penguins in the world, aptly named Little Penguins, gather in protective groups to return from the sea to their nests at sunset every night.  Very cute little guys and fun to watch.  Photos are no longer allowed (to avoid folks who couldn’t/wouldn’t shut off their flash), so this photo I stole from the internet.

The next day I was out in ‘the bush’ to see kangaroos and koalas in the wild.  What a great experience.  We saw lots of kangaroos – pretty much stalked them as a group (about 20 of us).  If you stay together they see you as one entity and get use to you so you can get pretty close.  If you separate, then they start to feel threatened as it must seem that they’re being surrounded.

 

 

We also saw two koalas.  One was curled up in a ball sleeping (they sleep for about 20hrs per day), but the other was awake and active.  And so darn cute.  Even with this cute guy high up in a tree I would have had great photos had I remembered to bring my long lens.  As it was, I just had a wide angle lens, so these photos are cropped.  Not a brilliant move on my part. But regardless, it was such fun to watch him climb up higher in the tree to reach leaves, smell them to be sure it was something he wanted to eat and then munch on them.

 

 

 

 

Today we were in Adelaide.  Again, I just roamed the city with friends and had a great time.  Now its 2 days of cruising again before our last 3 days in Australia.  Time is going by much too fast!