Safari at Ngala Tented Camp

After three hours of travel from Cape Town, we finally made it to our first safari at Ngala Tented Camp in the Timbavati Private Reserve within Krueger National Park on the northern border. Ngala is a Shangaan word for "lion" and this reserve is known for its cats. On our way to the reserve we happen upon this guy who is trying to cross the road. He was not happy to see us, but once we stopped to leave him enough space he was able to cross.

We have a nice lemonade as a welcome drink and fill out all the disclaimer forms, and then we are taken to our tent. As you can see, it is a semi-permanent structure, however the walls are still tent walls. Paul and I decided the first night was animal party night because it seemed all the animals were right outside doing who knows what. The second night was much quieter. We later came to the conclusion that the impalas were the culprits for keeping us awake during most of the night.

Here is the interior of the tent. The bed was quite nice as it was really chilly in the evenings and we would come back from our game drives to a hot water bottle warming the bed and a hot bath drawn. As you can see, though we were in a tent, we were not "roughing" it at all!

At 3 pm, we left the tent and head down to the lodge to meet our ranger Derrick, and have a cold coffee. After learning the rules of safari, we head out on our first afternoon game drive. The game drives typically last 3 - 4 hours, so you are able to see night animals as well.

The first glimpse of animals we had was of a herd of impala. Paul gets to see his wildebeest!

A cranky old male water buffalo . . .

Within 20 minutes of the first drive, we went to see a pride of female lions with 4 male cubs. They had made a water buffalo kill a few days before, so we went back to see them having their dinner.

We sat and watched the lions for about one hour. At one point the entire pride had surrounded the Range Rover. For our first outing in the bush, it was a little nerve wracking. We knew the lions would not jump into the vehicle, but we were in their territory and anything goes. After we left the pride, we decided to drive about 10 minutes away from where they were feeding and have a sundowner. There is nothing like being in the bush with a G & T in your hand and knowing that there are lions a short distance away. What is even better is having to take a bush break with this knowledge. Oddly enough, after the first drive these things we noticed stop being so odd and just became normal to us.

After our sundowner, we happened to find another male lion. This guy is about 4 years old. He just wanted his tummy scratched! He looks a little like Zoe, right now! Ok, maybe not, but they do share some similar behavior.

It is now time to head back to camp for dinner. On the our way, we come across this bush baby in the tree.

Back to camp for dinner and bed. At 5:30 am we received our wake-up call with coffee and biscuits. By 6:00 am, we were escorted by security out to the Range Rover for our morning drive. The tented camp is semi-protected, so predators can walk onto the camp which is why security walks us to the car at dusk and dawn. Here I am searching for animals on this early morning. It is freezing outside, so I am bundled up with a wool shawl on my lap, a hot water bottle, and a thick wool blanket to keep me warm.

Our ranger Derrick spots these huge spider nests on a large web as we are driving.

Kudus . . .

Zebra . . . A dazzle of zebra are a lot trickier to find in the bush then one would think--they move pretty fast.

Impala in the wild!
Giraffe . . .

Sunset in the African bushveld. We stop here to have our sundowner amongst all the natural beauty with the sunset as the backdrop.

As the Range Rover comes to a stop, we hear a thundering stampede and look up to see these hippos rushing into the water, and rhinos coming toward the truck.

These rhinos do not spot us until they are pretty much sitting in the truck with us. The video below shows how they react when they finally see the car.

Fleeting rhinos! The coast is somewhat clear except for the hippos in the water. Paul and I decide it will be ok to get out of the car as long as we keep our eye on these two waterlogged friends.

The sun finally sets. Paul and I lose track of the hippos in the water, and so we decide to jump in the truck. On the way back to camp, we come across some African wild cats and then the African wild dogs. This is a rare treat to find them as they are on the endangered species list.

Bright and early the following morning, we sit alert as we are on the lookout for a leopard.

We do not find the leopard, but we do find a pack of hyenas that stole the leopard's morning breakfast of impala.

Yum-O! Impala, the breakfast of champions.

The laughing hyena . . .

On the way back to camp, we see a herd of a couple hundred buffalo. Look at these two sunbathing.

Surprise! Breakfast is served in the bush. We were on the way back to camp, when we came across this lovely setup in the middle of the bush.

Oskar is on braai, Afrikaans for barbecue, duty making some eggs, bacon, sausage, and toast.

Yogurt, museli, strawberries . . . and mimosa . . . my favorite!

We leave the bush breakfast sad as it is our last drive back to camp before we head out to Sabi Sands for our next safari. Along the way, we spot our favorite bird in the bush, the lilac breasted roller.

Along with Paul's new friend, the warthog . . .

Here is our safari group at Ngala. Ranger Derrick, Paul, me, Mark (Santa Barbara, CA), Lisa (Santa Barbara, CA), Julia (Santa Barbara, CA), and Tracker Jonas.

Back to the tent to quickly pack up and then a three hour drive to the southern border of the Krueger to Sabi Sands for safari number two!