Pilanesberg Center

This morning we were all up bright and early. Hilda was up first at 5:15am and I was a close second at 5:30am. While Hilda was doing yoga I was doing press ups waking ourselves up nicely. Ellie was next out of Bed and then Pieter who got fresh coffee and some breakfast cereals on the go and finally Becky was up at around 6:15am.
By 7am we were all ready, and we set off for the gates and entered pilansberg National park. I had high hopes of seeing a leopard on entry and had 2 cameras and the go pro ready but unfortunately the universe had other ideas.
Within 30 minutes it started raining, and came over very black and then thunder and lightning started. It wasn’t very heavy but with none of the animals want to get wet so everything except a few birds and a random Elephant miles in the distance was in hiding.
Our first stop of the day was a watering hole and although there were no big animals we did see Pied Kingfishers close up and got some beautiful shots, then on leaving there we saw Hippos just surfacing from a lake.
Our second stop was for a quick coffee at the guest lodge and we took that with us and got back on the hunt. Next on the list was a giraffe, then a few Zebra and the rain was now starting to clear so Pieter thought it would be a good idea to stop for lunch for an hour or so and then try again.
We had a picnic, and the girls threw together a mixed bean salad with some ham and some rolls and we sat there for an hour hand feeding a small Guinea Fowl while the sun eventually came out and started to cook us.
Within 15 minutes it went from 19°c to 33°c and we set back off exploring with the air con blasting.
As we turned the first corner from our picnic spot, we saw wilder beasts with babies, Zebra with babies and warthog with babies. It was an amazing sight and Pieter turned the engine off and we sat there for 20 minutes with the animals right in front of us.
From there we drove in and less than a kilometre later we ran into a heard of atleast 20 elephants and they had several babies with them too. We sat there for ages as 2 young males started to play fight and then they all crossed the road right in front of us. As we turned the next corner there were 2 White Rhino right in front of us. Today has been an incredible day.
Our last stop of the day was another huge watering hole and this time we had hippos across the other side, we could only just see them but a big male kept on popping his head up and yawning and Ellie was determined to get a picture. Eventually she did get an amazing shot.
Then at 6:30pm it was back to camp.
No we hadn’t seen any big cats but I think the elephants and rhino made up for it and we still have a long way to travel yet.
Back at camp, Pieter cooked us a wonderful meal of marinated pork, with steamed vegetables and cheesy mushrooms with herbs. It was a stunning meal cooked completely and perfectly on an open fire.
We shared some drinks and some stories around the fire again before heading for bed at 10pm. Tomorrow we have a big drive ahead of us.Read more