Game Drive in the Eastern Cape

On Friday March 15^th we had the opportunity to go on a game drive at a local animal reserve! We had been vocalizing our desire to go on safari since day one in Joburg, so we were all really excited that Stewart and Tabesa were able to make our collective dream a reality. Around 8:45 am our group of twenty-seven plus Stewart was picked up in three safari trucks and driven to the park down the road from the backpackers’ lodge where we were staying. After signing some paperwork, Lara and I were off with Rodger, our driver/guide, and the other six members of our group to tour the reserve and look for some animals! The park was very hilly and the dirt paths we drove on were rocky and often times nonexistent. I would describe the experience to off-roading or a rollercoaster with animals. You would have enjoyed it, Dad! We drove around for about three hours and saw ostriches, giraffes, impala, zebras (the correct pronunciation is zeb-rah… like Debra but with a Z), rhinos, and a pride of lions! Stumbling upon the pride of lions was definitely the highlight of the day for me. The group we stumbled upon while riding around the lion enclosure included the alpha male (who happens to be a white lion) and female, three tawny cubs and a white cub, and a couple of young females. Roger offered me 10R to touch one of the lions on the nose. If he offered me a little more cash I might have accepted his offer; I wasn't really willing to risk the feat for $1 USD and change.

A young male lion hiding in the bush

The Alpha Male - a white lion! There are only 400 in the world and 11 live in this game reserve 

The Alpha Female and some of her cubs

A safari truck

The rhinos have their horns removed to protect them from poachers.

After our ride around the park we headed off to a separate area to meet a young male elephant! The elephant was much smaller than I expected, though as a teenager he still had some growing left to do. His handlers talked to us about elephants and explained the difference between African and Asian or India elephants. One thing I remember is that African elephants have ears shaped like Africa and Asian elephants have ears shaped like India, so you can tell apart based on their ears. We also got the opportunity to feed the elephant which was quite fun. He was very greedy and would stick his trunk out in your direction and steal the pellets right out of your hand! Apparently elephants can eat up to 40% of their body weight, but because they only have one stomach they need to eat constantly throughout the day. Even though all twenty-eight of us plus his two handlers gave him ample amounts of food, the young elephant was still very hungry when we left him to go back to his enclosure in the park!

Going on a game reserve in South Africa was such an amazing experience, and one I'll treasure for the rest of my life. If anyone has the opportunity to go on one, I definitely recommend it!