South Africa

Hoedspruit/Safari

9.8.13 - 9.10.13 95 °F

We met up with the group we are traveling with at the airport in Johannesburg. They had just flown 15 hours non-stop from JFK, and had to transfer to the domestic terminal for our South African Air Express hour long flight to Hoedspruit and then another hour drive to the four star Shiduli Safari Lodge in the Karongwe Private Game Reserve - a private animal reserve of more than 22,500 acres (35 square miles). You do two game drives per day in the park - a sundowners tour at 4:00pm for three hours, and a sunrise drive leaving at 6:00am to see the animals start their day. The goal is to see the 'big five' - lion, leopard, elephant, rhino, water buffalo. We saw all and added two more - hippos and cheetah with her kittens, all in the native habitat.