Last Long Day of a Fantastic Trip
Sabi Sands Game Reserve, South Africa
November 20, 2011
We woke up as the sun was trying to rise in the cloudy sky. We had some tea, hot chocolate granola bars & biscotti. Around 6:15 Enock, Sam & guests returned. They had tried to find the leopard last night, but were not successful.
This morning we headed to the hyena den & were successful! There was 2 males, 1 female & 3 pups. They actually have cute faces, but when they stand up they look mean & ugly. The pups were very curious & came close to the truck to observe us. The eldest male was discipling 2 of the pups & showing no mercy. We were all captivated & stayed to watch for a long time.
Then we saw 5 giraffes, the highlight was watching an older female bend all the way down & drink from a puddle right beside our vehicle Not Cute. WOW!
And as if the day was not good enough already, the leopard had been spotted, so we went to see if we could get a good look too. The one group had a really good view, so we circled around to try & see her from another angle. Many trees died that day, but we saw the leopard up close & personal!! We stayed for a long time & kept changing spots to get a better look. Sadly, each time there was always 1 blade of grass in the leopard's face no matter where we moved to. UGH! Eventually we got as close as 12 - 15 feet from her. She really did not seem to care too much. She just looked bored & middy annoyed. Eventually another vehicle showed up & she decided that she had enough & gracefully exited.
We have just had 2 very amazing drives! We will definitely take home some great memories & photos!
After the drive was over we had a quick breakfast, then had to pack up as new guests were arriving Cute. We cleared out by 11:30, then headed to the bar. Derrick made us our last Rock Shanty's of the trip. Sigh!
We ordered a bottle of white wine, cold mushroom & wine soup, springbok carpaccio, Scottish salmon & vanilla ice cream. Another great meal from Chef Lorraine! It will be our last good meal for a while (boo). Derrick & Lorraine have done a great job of taking care of us & as a result I think we both need to detox & go on a diet when we get home!
At 1:00 we met Enock & Sam who signed our map of the property & numbered the locations where we saw the animals. They have been a great duo & have made our stay here really special.
Herbert brought us on our 2 hour journey to the airport. Our time here has gone by way too fast!
New animals that we saw today at Lions Sands:
common/grey duiker
nyala
serrated hinged terrapin
New birds that we saw today at Lions Sands:
Jacobin cuckoo
green wood hoopoe
