Safari at Leadwood Lodge, Exeter

We left Ngala with heavy hearts. We enjoyed our stay at Timbavati so much, how could anything get better. We got into our VW bus and drove through the land of Mpumalanga for 3 hours to reach Sabi Sands located on the southern edge of Krueger National Park.


We pull into to Sabi Sands and we quickly become amazed with our surroundings. The landscape has changed. No longer are we in tight, compact bushy spaces, but we see a vast hilly land in front of us. We pull into Exeter Private Game Reserve, and head back to Leadwood Lodge which borders the river.


Below are some photos of our lodge . . .

It is a bit too chilly to take a dip!



Paul and I get freshened up, and then head back to the main lodge for a cold coffee and lunch before the game drive begins at 3:30 pm. Our camp is at full capacity today with 4 couples including Paul and myself. We meet people from Phoenix, AZ and Jo'burg. After lunch, we head out to the truck and go on our first afternoon drive. We first encounter this elephant hiding behind a tree.



He has had enough of us staring at him, so he saunters off.


We spot this chameleon in a bush on our way back to camp. Then, we take a pause to locate the Southern Cross in the sky. Later, we also catch a glimpse of a genet.

Back at camp, we have a braai for dinner tonight.

After dinner, the staff decide to sing to us in their native Shangaan tongue. The video is pretty dark, but you can get a sense for the music and dancing.

Wake up call at 5:30 am with coffee and biscuits, and then on the road at 6:00 am. We first head out to see this pride of lions with their cubs. Yep, it's water buffalo for breakfast again.

Yummy! Now, where is my mom to help me clean up my face!

After we leave the pride, we run into a pack of elephants grazing for their morning meal. This little one is pretty shy and will not leave mom's side.

We spot a wildebeest drinking from this watering hole. We then decide we should have a morning drink as well . . . yummy, marula cream and coffee!

I am hiding . . . you cannot see me!

Here I am!

Me with the extremely shy giraffe as he is running away!

Here are the saddle bill storks. It was a treat to see them as they are on the endangered list.

On the way back to camp to have breakfast, Paul spots the Nile crocodile.

We lost some of our fellow safari friends today, so our group is much smaller as we head out this evening. I have been annoying our ranger, Mac, about the fact that I have still not seen a leopard, and it would be really nice if he could find one before I leave in 2 days. He swears that he cannot find a leopard, as they have all gone on strike, but he has found a rare spotted zebra for us tonight perched upon a termite hill. Below, take a glimpse of the rare, spotted zebra only found at Sabi Sands! Actually, it's Billy a 3 year old male.

We sadly leave Billy as he is on stakeout at the termite hill for warthog to eat for dinner. We then rush off to see a new animal. This time the extremely rare, prehistoric pangolin. He apparently is hardly ever seen in the bush, and rightly so since he is so fragile. Typically, his tail would be curled up and he would appear to be in a ball. However, he is on the move, so his tail is actually out.

Here you can see his head emerge as he begins to walk across the path in search of ants.

Ah . . . sunset in the African bushveld. Sabi Sands Rocks tonight! Time for a sundowner. Now, the gals are a little nervous since the bush break is supposed to be behind a termite hill tonight. We put our faith in our ranger and pray a leopard is not waiting for us on top of the hill! Yikes!

Back in the truck, and we are off to go see a group of male lions getting ready to roar. These guys are so lazy. They will not wake up for about a half hour. However, they finally start to move about and stretch. All of the sudden, one male gets up. His amber eyes become huge and round. He looks right through Paul and me, and begins to make the most horrific sound you will ever hear. I literally thought my heart jumped into my stomach. His roar was so loud, it felt as though the car was shaking. 30 seconds later, he plopped back down and went back to sleep.

Here are these two cuddling after scaring all of us.

Back to camp after a great night of animal viewing. 5:30 am our security guard knocks on our door with our coffee and biscuits. Same as usual, except this time we are told that there is a leopard 50 meters from our lodge and that we should not leave until he comes back for us. I had decided by the end of the 45 minute wait that if the leopard was still outside, I was not going on the game drive. However, when the guard came back the leopard was on the move, and we decided to track her. Here she is . . . I cannot type her name as it is in Shangaan and I do not know how to write it down.

On the lookout for something, we continue to follow her . . .
Oddly enough, she walks right past this family of giraffe. Apparently, they are not enemies and coexist peacefully.

We tour the area in the truck and witness the beautiful sunrise.

We love the colors of the sky at sunrise . . .

We pass by a springbok as we are driving this morning. Such a cute animal, Paul and I feel a little guilty about the springbok biltong (otherwise known as jerky) we had early this week, but it tasted so good!We enter a clearing a find a dazzle of zebra grazing for their breakfast.

Time for our morning ritual of marula and coffee. We stop to watch the giraffe play at the watering hole while enjoying our coffee. Here we are with Brent and Sasha by the truck.

A young giraffe plays in the clearing . . .
On the way back to camp, we find a young rhino with their mother.

Mac then decides to stop the car and ask me to get in the tracker seat. I reluctantly climb out of the truck and into the front seat. Once I am in the tracker seat, I ask Mac what I am tracking, to which he replies leopard, then no, nothing really. Of course, I then ask, what if we spot a leopard? He replies, you will then have to sit really still. Why did I get into this situation in the first place, I ask? All in all, it was fun.

Here is some video of my 10 minutes as a tracker. You can also get a feel for what the drive actually feels like in the truck.




Back to camp. Here we are with Ranger Mac and Tracker Isaac.

Back to pack up our things. Then, it is Jo'burg-Dubai-Mumbai-Pune!