7th Post - Walk with the Lions and back to Johannesburg

It's a beautiful drive from Kapama northwest into the more tropical zone of Tzaneen and then up onto the Highveld near Polokwane. We stayed at the Protea Hotel Ranch Resort / Nature Conservancy.

Monday afternoon we visited the animals they raise and rescue. We got to pet young cheetahs and they just purred like kittens! The white Kalahari Lions were the most beautiful - wow!

But of course the highlight was the next morning when we got to walk with the lions! We got to walk with three tan ones and one white one. These are not tame lions - they are just accustomed to walking with people, but we had to follow strict guidelines from the rangers!
Back in Johannesburg, we visited a small pre-school at the edge of a shanty town. We brought them some school supplies and learned about this very worthwhile project.

Ruth in front of some of the lush vegetation of the Protea Ranch Hotel

Pool area at our hotel

Scenic view from our hotel

Twila loves the cheetahs!

Cindy enjoys petting them as well.

This cheetah decided to lick my head!

Two Kalahari lions and a more normal brown one

The young cubs watch us interact with the big boys.

The lions can jump!

The big white male Kalahari Lion is spectacular!

He doesn't seem quite as excited to see us as we are to see him!

Ahhhhhh

And then out into the bush to walk with the lions! The lions noticed a big antelope (eland) and the female took off on the hunt! The rangers had quite the time getting her back, but it just showed we were really in the bush and these are not 'tame' lions!

Gaylene walks with the lion.

Cindy gets to pose with one of the male lions.

The white lion is beautiful but to skittish for us to walk with or pose with.

Two at once!

Lest you think they are always well-behaved!

Oooooh! Vaughn, be careful!!

Just a morning stroll with my hand on a lion's back!

Then we transitioned to the pre-school, "Build the Future."

A very appropriate name.

The kids crowd in tightly to see Vaughn's pictures on her IPad.

They love seeing their own photos.

Teacher Elizabeth is thrilled with all the school supplies.

Gaylene could happily stay here with the kids.

Chloe gives a photography lesson.

Our group with teachers Elizabeth and Eva, and Penny, who organized the visit.

Farewell African sunset on our last evening in South Africa.

Tomorrow we fly north to Livingstone, Zambia for 3 nights, where we will visit Victoria Falls and do an Elephant Safari in Botswana.

6th Post - Kapama Nature Reserve

Two nights at Kapama Buffalo Camp. This was my first time to stay at this small lodge in Kapama. There are only 11 tents and we had 6 of them. There is nothing rustic about them and the whole lodge was just exquisite.
The animals we were fortunate to observe on 4 game drives were equally outstanding! Lion, Leopard, Cheetah, Elephant, Zebra, Giraffe, Buffalo etc. etc. They were all there!
We went out each morning by 6:00 a.m. for 3 hours, and then in the afternoon from 4:30 to 7:30.

A 'simple tent' at Buffalo Camp

The lovely interior

The deck overlooking the reserve

Buffalo Camp's swimming pool

Ready for our first game drive

Water Buffalo

After seeing such great numbers of animals in Kruger, we transitioned to the dramatic very quickly after arriving at Kapama Nature Reserve! We set out on our first drive Saturday afternoon and saw a few giraffes, impalas, and zebras, when our driver turned the vehicle around and took off at top speed, racing and bouncing across the roads. It must be something good! We came around a bend and there were two lions. Aha! But we raced past them and the driver just said we'll come back to them later! I've NEVER had that happen on safari before.

We arrived at another area where there were two young male lions and we drove a few yards past them. Up in a tree was a leopard. She had killed an impala, which had drawn the attention of the two lions. They treed her (lions will kill a leopard!) and she didn't dare come down. We sat and watched, and after a while she suddenly bounded down the tree and took off, with the lions after her! She went right back up another tree, where she was much more visible to us.

After the leopard went up the second tree, the lions went off and contented themselves with the impala. The leopard probably thought it would be much better off killing another lunch for itself, rather than becoming lunch for the lions, so it took the opportunity and came down out of the tree and took off. The lions continued to enjoy their lunch!

Two female Lions

Ghent enjoys a chameleon on her arm.

The very first animals we saw the next morning were these 5 lions!

The lions saunter down the road ahead of us.

Then off into the bush.....

Do you see the owl?

young zebra

We all got to see the beautiful, graceful cheetah.

Sundowners at Lion's Den

Mmmmm, don't you think maybe we should back up?

Ghent likes them this close!

No really, don't you think we should back up!!??

Here come the baby elephants.

Rhino Mud Bath

Giraffe silhouette at African Sunset

The giraffes think they should be invited to drinks as well!

Rare sighting of a giraffe lying down

Gaylene and Twila! That Lion is pretty close!

Follow your mother!

This elephant wasn't happy. She charged us but we got away.

Then she stood there with her ears straight out and glared at us.

Having eaten well the night before, they prefer resting in the road this morning.