Reset search
2023 - South Africa2023 - South Africa
SatelliteEdit route

2023 - South Africa

November 2023
- 3 day Safari in Sabi Sand Game Reserve at Umkumbe Safari River Lodge
- Camping Trip from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town - via Garden Route
- 3 days in Cape Town - Hotel The Bay in Camps Bay Read more
  • 30footprints
  • 1countries
  • 25days
  • 590photos
  • 30videos
  • 20.5kkilometers
  • 19.0kkilometers
  • 73kilometers
Follow Calendar Share Bucket list
Date ascending
  • Traveler2023 - South Africa
    Day 2

    The 24h-Journey 🥵

    November 7, 2023 in South Africa ⋅ 🌧 30 °C

    The way to South Africa is long 😜
    We started by Public Transport in Altbüron and faced the first challenge not even 10mins away: the local train delayed by 10min(!) so we missed our connection at Langenthal 😡 Almost every train was delayed but we made it on time.
    At least the flight had left on time. With a SWISS plane named LUZERN we flew 10 hours through the night straight south to Johannesburg.
    There we had to wait some hours for our connection flight to Kruger International Airport! The weather was super rainy and stormy. After a two hours car transfer to the final destination in Sabi Sandds we arrived finally 24 hours later at Umkumbe Safari Lodge in Sabi Sand Game Reserve.    Read more

  • Traveler2023 - South Africa
    1
    Day 3

    Our very first African Safari 🦏🐆🦒

    November 8, 2023 in South Africa ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    5:00h wake up time! 5:30h Morning Safari Departure Time😁
    After the rain, we had a dry „after rain day“ and blue sky ahead! Perfect. We were also lucky and shortly after the start we met some Rhinos. Not long after, we got lucky again and found Shaba, a 15 years old Leopard Lady. She is used to Safari Jeeps and therefore we could go very close. We have seen other animals and not to forget, a Giraffe 👍
    The sun was warming up and after three hours we went back to the Lodge for breakfast.    Read more

  • Traveler2023 - South Africa
    Day 3

    The Lodge & Bushwalk

    November 8, 2023 in South Africa ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    The privat owned Umkumbe Safari Lodge is situated directly on the Sand River. A couple of lodges only - ours (Rhino) with River view! It’s within Sabi Sands Game Reserve-not much around in the middle of the wilderness. Sabi Sand is a private part of Kruger National Park - but less busy.
    We could go for a short bush walk after the morning safari to trace some tracks of animals.    Read more

  • Traveler2023 - South Africa
    Day 3

    The first Sunset Safari

    November 8, 2023 in South Africa ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    At 16:30h we headed out for our second trip. Our guide Jess had support from a tracker sitting in front and looking out for animals. The temperature was nice and the light just amazing. We found the Rhinos again (different herd) and soon after another Leopard Lady. Impressive to see how she was chasing a rabbit just in front of our nose! Some other interesting animals (mostly Antilopes) and a Hyena! At sunset, we stopped for an aperitif before we drove through the night. The tracker used a flashlight to spot some reflective eyes of animals. But apart of some rabbits, nothing to see tonight! But still great experience though!
    Back at the lodge we enjoyed a very good dinner in a nice outdoor patio.    Read more

  • Traveler2023 - South Africa
    Day 4

    2nd day of Safari

    November 9, 2023 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    We started again at 05:30 am for our second morning Safari. We found plenty of Zebras and a den of Hyenas. The black birds with the red head are critically endangered species. It takes them up to 7 years to raise a young one!
    Once back at the lodge we enjoyed a good breakfast with a beautiful view on the river. During our relaxing time, we were busy observing animals in front of our terrace! The Giraffe was the highlight!    Read more

  • Traveler2023 - South Africa
    Day 4

    The unexpected highlight

    November 9, 2023 in South Africa ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    The evening safari started with the viewing of our third „Big 5“-animal: the Elephant! Very impressive to see it so close. He was not far from the lodge. Not long after, we met another one along the road. He was not bothered about us at all…(see video).
    We passed by the Hyena den we found this morning and could finally meet the entire family! The mum very relaxed…the young ones rather curious.
    The weather was just perfect and a beautiful sunset scenery accompanied us. Sunset Drink in its best environment!
    The unexpected highlight happened on our way back in the dark, when someone found a leopard. We rushed to the site and followed the leopard. For us already a highlight- but then the Leopard led us to a pangolin a very rare animal and one of the most hunted one in the world. He tried to attack it but the Pangolin rolled and protected himself with his hard shell! This sighting was also a highlight for all our Tour Guides…the kept talking about it all evening 😃 You can hear the excitement from our Guide Jessica on the video!    Read more

  • Traveler2023 - South Africa
    Day 5

    The big 5 - part 1

    November 10, 2023 in South Africa ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    Another wake up call at 5am, but to be honest, it is so exciting to go again and meet nature that waking up so early becomes easy. The weather was not as good as previous days, grey clouds and a slight drizzle.
    We jumped in the land rover with our now safari-friends: a couple from Germany and another one from France with whom we shared previous safari days. We maybe drove 1 minute outside the camp and met 3 giraffes having breakfast !! After admiring them for a few minutes, we drove on and 5 minutes later a big male elephant appeared on the road. What a great animal! We were all in awe as he walked by the car, 2 meters away! All animals consider the cars as non-threatening as the reserve made a point of driving near them every day since years. So the animals are fine with the cars and their noises. But getting out of the car or even standing in the car is not allowed: it changes the outline the animals are used to see and one do not know how they would react when facing a human.
    Anyhow after the elephant, we drove another 20 minutes and suddenly there they were…. Brown shapes far away lying on the road: Lions!!!!!! Woooaw. 5 females lions and Jess our guide, told us their pride story. The brother, whom they call “floppy ears” was not with their sisters this time. We watched them lying, sleeping and being big cats that one wants to cuddle. After that, our day was made! We, all 6 of us, had our dream come true with meeting the lions. But the morning safari did not end there: on our way, we met zebras, an elephant mother with her 2 cute babys, 2 ostrichts and countless impalas.
    Back to lodge for breakfast at 0830.
    We did another bush walk with Tye and learnt a lot about termites and dung beetles!    Read more

  • Traveler2023 - South Africa
    Day 5

    The big 5 - part 2

    November 10, 2023 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    After such an eventful morning, what could possibly happen? 3 different herds of elephants just having food and water on the river banks as we are having lunch just above…then we got back to our lodge to rest, and another elephant just passed by in front of our lodge, 8 meters from our balcony! Then it was a giraffe. Who needs to go on game drive with such a show!
    Evening safari started ideally: we were missing one of the big 5 and voilà: 2 buffalos! trying to hide in the grass and giving us nasty looks. After finding a few rhinos, jess got a call that the lions were around again. So we went to watch them. Of course, at first, being lions, they were not very active: sleeping, rolling in the grass and being so so so cute! Big cats really and you just want to rub their belly (would be the last time though if you were).
    We had to leave them to do our apero but Jess promised that she would monitor her radio if they moved.
    After the drinks, done in a spectacular setting as usual, we decided to go back to the lions- it was then pitch dark. Jess got a call that a colleague found a leopard. It was the female we saw on our first day. She was curled up, almost invisible in the grass… but the most incredible thing was that the lions were maybe 500 meters away. And suddenly, we saw in the light of one of the other guides car, the lions moving, coming closer. What an incredible spectacle to see those 5 silhouettes walking, against the light shone on them. They did not look like big cuddly cats anymore, but very much the apex predators. Lights shone on the leopard were turned off so that we don’t make her vulnerable. And all 3 cars started to follow the lions. Was amazing and so exciting. Throughout, the lions did not care about us. They were focused. We never found out on what since we had to abort the mission to get back to the lodge for dinner… we were so hyped. WHAT A DAY!    Read more

  • Traveler2023 - South Africa
    Day 6

    Last day in Paradise

    November 11, 2023 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    All good things come to an end. Another 5 o‘clock start for our last trip out…it was the last day for all of us and after the Big Five day we did not had any expectations. It was a sunny and lovely morning and the animals seem to have a day off. Not much around apart from a Hyena, a lot of Zebras, Gnus, and few Elephants (among which one of them unnecessarily knocked down a tree…)! Jessica taught us how to read tracks, talked a lot about plants and birds and we watched Dung Beetles rolling dung across the road. It doesn’t need to be a lion all the time 😜
    We drove all the eay to the most western part of their property and reached the fenceline, where National Park and Civilisation boarders. Almost a bit Jurassic Parc 😮
    Once back at the Lodge, checking out, quick breakfast and good byes!
    Umkumbe Safari River Lodge has been a perfect place for us! Nice settlement, not luxury, not too big, nice lodges, tasty food, nice and knowledgeable staff and all the animals you want to see! The private part of Kruger brings the advantage that only „our“ vehicles are allowed to cruise around and permitted to leave official roads to track animals. You can’t get closer! We‘ve seen the Big Five several times ✅✅✅✅✅
    We were also lucky to have Jessica as our Guide! She loves her job and is excited about certain sightings and still taking pictures herself. Her knowledge about nature is outstanding!👏

    Our transfer out of Sabi Sand Game Reserve went along the fence to the park where we finally saw a large herd of Buffalos. They were the last we saw…

    We flew back to Johannesburg and then further south to Port Elizabeth. We took an Uber and stayed in a hotel around Summerstrand Village. We saw and smelled the Indian Ocean for the first time.    Read more

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English