Hi everybody! This is Miles, writing to you about our amazing overnight safari that we topped off our trip with. The excitement of it truly began when we saw the first of the animals: mpalas chilling out in the field!
We then saw a large group of wilder beast running wildly along the side of a hill as we cruised by!
We then saw giraffes and zebras majestically walking crossing the road. And we were able to get very close to watch them in amazement!
As the sun began to set and we made our way back down the road in the direction from which we came, the wilder beast had made it down off the hill and were now crossing the street too, so we got a close up look at them as well!
We were off to an amazing start on our safari!
Hi everyone! This is Dakota here! I am going to be writing about our amazing two days safari in Pilanesberg National Park. Day one started off with seeing some of the animals Miles talked about in his section.
I was pretty nervous to begin with my irrational fear that we be eaten by one of the exotic animals we were observing, but the beginning of the tour started with some adorable and relaxing animals.
We saw plenty of antelope, seeing them release the last of my anxiety, as they were very obviously more afraid of us than we were of them. As they scurried along, we did as well moving on to see some hippos, take their evening dip in the water from afar.
After running around a bit, searching for a supposed leopard with no luck, we found ourselves with the sun starting to set and our guide looking through the thick of the bushes for any exotic animals. There is where we saw our first of the big five, the white rhino. he peeked out on the side of the road before quickly turning back around to avoid us.
From there, we turned around, deciding that day one was successful enough, making our way back to the front of the park when our safari guide, Tato, heard on the radio that there were water buffalo nearby. He began his high-speed chase going quickly towards them. Thulani, our guide throughout our trip, joked that this was the fastest safari he’s ever been on. Just as the sun was easing down, we saw in the distance I heard of probably 15 water Buffalo. Tato was sure he could get a better view for us whipped around to an off-road and parked us right near the bay the water buffalo were headed towards. There we saw them get into the water. This is where again, I became fearful as Kirby was telling us that on another safari the tracker had said the only animals they genuinely fear the water buffalo because never know when they’re going to attack, just as we were getting closer. While the view was beautiful, I did feel we were bit too close for comfort.
Seeing our second of the big five, we all felt pretty content with our first day of Safari, and watch the beautiful stars as we made our way back to the front park to end the night.
The next morning, we are again greeted by the white rhino, this one not nearly as shy as we shared the road with him, and eventually, he passed our caravan.
Our next sighting was a few elephants from way up on a hill. Our guide said that they were coming down from the mountain where they slept that night and were grazing before they went for water. We sat for probably 20 minutes, but they kept going into the thick of trees and bushes, camouflaging. Eventually, we gave up and decided that we’d cross paths with them later on.
Then, suddenly, after stopping for morning coffee, we saw them coming towards us. What felt like 20 elephants making their way past us down the road so close we could touch them. Incredible is a word that doesn’t do how beautiful the experience was justice. It was once in a lifetime experience. The third of our big three and for me solidifying this is one of the greatest experiences I’ve had as far.
I’ll leave it to Cam to discuss the rest of the safari, but there is a single thing I would change or take away about that beautiful morning and final goodbye to South Africa.
Hi all, Cam here!!! I will be writing about the portions of the Safari where we got the amazing opportunity to see two of my favorite animals: hippos and monkeys.
Hippos are one of my favorite and most feared animals and I was thrilled to see them in person. We saw these powerful giants on each safari trip, once from a large distance away, and the second from a lot closer distance. The first encounter we had , they were off in the distance slowly walking to a watering hole and eventually diving under.
Our second encounter with hippos was on our morning safari. At first, we could only make out their ears and eyes, but eventually they swam closer to us. I knew hippos were large, but I had no clue just how large they are until they got up close with us (still a safe distance away). I also did not know that hippos made such a loud grumbling noise when they would surface. It sounded like a huge grunt, similar to a very deep pig noise. We then saw the hippos fully emerge and open their powerful jaws for a big yawn.
Fun fact from our guide: Did you know hippos stay underwater to avoid sunburns?!
Monkeys have always held a special place in my heart since I was a child beginning with Curious George. Leading up to our departure, the one animal I kept telling everyone I was dying to see were monkeys, and this trip certainly did not disappoint. We first saw monkeys in our first half near Cape Town where we saw a ton of baboons. On the safari we did not get to see the monkeys until we returned to our chalets. There were a ton of monkeys scurrying around beneath the trees and creeping up very close to our chalets. There were even signs explicitly stating “DO NOT FEED THE MONKEYS.”
I first saw a monkey right outside our chalet when Elise shouted “OMG THERE’S A MONKEY” after believing it was a dog. Kirsten, Elise and I proceeded to bolt out of our chalets in hopes of getting a closer view (seen in the picture below).
Peace out A town ~ Cam, Miles, and Dakota ✌️🎶🕺
SMCVT South Africa 2024 
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