Province of North West

The next morning we woke up at 5am again to drive quickly to last nights' finding of the lions' kill to see how far they've come. The lions were still eating and from the Buffalo body, only a carcass was still standing.
Given told us that the lions would eat until there was nothing left (or e.g. Hyenas have chased them off). As they were so full, they had to regulate their body temperature and digestion by breathing. Poor lions looked as if they'd be sick.
As vehicles from other Lodges in the Private Reserve came to see the lions themselves, we drove on and saw some actual Hyenas. They are one of the Ugly 5 but tbh I don't think they look that bad. But of course, they're again from the dog family, so I have to kinda like them.
We've been shaken up by the dirt roads some more until Given has spotted something different. Wild dogs with their cups. As they were hiding in a mould, we had to get out of the car and tried to quietly get closer so we could see the Wild Dogs. However, obviously we weren't quiet enough and scared them up. They split up, one half running away from us, the other half running towards us up the hill. Given, usually very calm and a joker, got very hectic and you could feel the necessity in his voice when he told us to run back to the car. We did as fast as we could and he pushed the pedal to the metal. But the rush wasn't necessary. They've actually send the cups up to us to hide behind us in some bushes. We let them be, but the blood was still rushing through my ears. That was a great kick!
To calm down, we visited the Drifters Bush Lodge that we could book for people who wanted to do a Self-Drive rather than do a group tour with Drifters. Included in a 300€ p.p./night package is full board and two game drives per day as well as a beautiful room for themselves and transfers from and to the airport. I must admit, that deal is great, especially when seeing how far away you are from any civilisation.
After visiting the Bush Lodge, we made our way back to our Balule Lodge to pack our things and drive into Kruger NP for our Camping night.Läs mer