Nine Days in South Africa: Wine, Penguins & Safari VIII

9 Days in South Africa: Wine, Penguins & Safari (20 to 28 Feb 2020) Trip Report Menu

Day 1: Singapore – Stellenbosch
Day 2: Stellenbosch – Stony Point – Cape Town
Day 3: Cape Town – Old Biscuit Mill & Super Rugby
Day 4: Cape Town – Lion’s Head
Day 5: Cape Town – Bo Kaap, Chapman’s Drive, Cape Peninsula, Muizenberg, La Colombe
Day 6: Cape Town – Phinda
Day 7: Phinda
Day 8: Phinda
Day 9: Phinda – Singapore

Day 8: Phinda

Our final game drive with Zandri and Sipho began with the spotting of some Cape buffalos; they should be the same herd which we saw on our way back to the lodge the previous evening.

In search of big cats again

Binoculars out

Remembered our Scrabble set

Sipho noticed some footprints and we followed them until we hit roadblock of…

…lionesses and cubs resting on the track!

Our original position wasn’t so conducive for photographs so we moved to the other side of the road. Half-way through, these beautiful creatures decided to move to a cooler place.

A pretty majestic sight

One that turned around

We followed them until they were in the bush where they would be seeking refuge under the shade for the rest of the day. This chance meeting made up for the unsuccessful tracking the previous evening.

Moving on, we encountered a group of impalas, the most common antelopes in Phinda.

Another roadblock: this time was a family of giraffes!

Coming down to our level

We were pleasantly surprised by Zandri and Sipho who pre-arranged for the bush breakfast to be set up before our arrival. We had some nuts and drinks before traveling back to the lodge.

Family of warthogs or ‘Pumbaa‘ as Zandri called them so that our Spanish companions could understand

After breakfast, we started packing up our stuff to prepare for our move to Rock Lodge. After two nights in Mountain Lodge, our last night in Phinda would be at Rock Lodge, a more intimate property with six suites (compared to over 20 at Mountain Lodge).

One last look of Mountain Lodge

There is another property Zuka Lodge in the vicinity of Mountain and Rock Lodge and we were able to take a look at it en-route to Rock Lodge.

With only four suites (at most three suites used for FIT guests), Zuka is similar to Vlei in terms of cosiness. Mrs was particularly impressed and would suggest this property to her friends when she returned.

Common area

Pool area looking out to watering hole

Luxurious suite

After the site visit, we proceeded onwards to Rock Lodge where we had to wait a while before our room was ready.

Common area

View was good as well.

The room was well worth the wait; it was quite a fair bit bigger than our room at Mountain Lodge and the plunge pool was more inviting as well. Although the fittings weren’t as modern as the other lodges, it was still very nice and its design reminded us of the Flintstones.

Walkway to washroom area

Another bathtub with a view

Going down to bedroom

Bed

Plunge pool – we cooled ourselves down before our afternoon game drive

Our lunch consisted of samosa, salads, bread and quiche. To be honest, they weren’t my kind of food and I also noticed that the other couple hard touched the food as well.

Grant, our new ranger, and Sifiso, our new spotter, greeted us warmly when we met up before our first game drive from Rock Lodge. Our companions were two British ladies who just got married in Cape Town and were having their honeymoon. They went on a walking safari with Grant earlier in the day and had a close encounter with a rhinoceros!

Shortly getting out of the property, we met the family of giraffes again. It was as if the baby was posing for us.

While we were driving around looking for black rhinoceros, we encountered two lionesses.

According to Grant, they were a pair of aunt and niece and just had their cubs. They had left the cubs in a safe place (probably a cave) while both of them were out hunting for food.

Since it wasn’t daily that we would meet lionesses on the hunt, we changed track and decided to stalk them instead.

They came across a pond and were really thirsty.

We continued following them and there were occasions where they were as close as only two metres away. It was really exciting and we didn’t know what was going to happen next. I was grateful that we had this opportunity to do this; unlike national parks, jeeps such as ours are allowed to go off-the-track in private game reserves.

The younger lioness stretching itself. Grant mentioned that she seemed wary of the jeeps and tried to be further away; he gathered that she might have a bad experience previously.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t follow them any further as they entered an area full of thorny bushes and our jeep wasn’t able to continue through.

Moving on, Grant pointed out to us that the tortoise was moving to higher ground. He said that it was often a precursor of impending rain in the area soon.

Sifiso picked up some fresh leopard’s foot prints and both Grant and him did their best to try find it. However, we didn’t have much luck and decided to continue after the sundowner.

Mrs discovered that the dried pineapple was her new favourite snack.

As the sundowner, we were hoping to spot the elusive leopard. With the light fading, we made our last-ditch attempt to locate it but it was ultimately futile.

While making our way back, Grant had a call that another leopard was spotted near to the main road leading to the lodges. It was already dark by then and we would need to use the red light to view the animals.

The leopard had no luck with its hunting; both of its potential preys, an impala and a scrub hare, got away due to their alertness.

It got real close to the right side of our jeep…

….and then to the left side….

…before walking away in a distance.

This was definitely the most exciting game drive of our trip and our adrenaline was still pumping when we returned to our lodge for dinner.

Dinner menu

Grilled tilapia

I couldn’t recall much of the meal except that my fish wasn’t very flavourful.

The tortoise’s prophecy earlier that day did come true: the thunderstorms started in the middle of the night and continued until the next morning.