Day 14: Leaving the Timbavati

I'm sitting in the American Lounge at Heathrow getting the last page of the blog finished. What an amazing trip this was. Sitting in the bush with such a wide array of animals was such a privilege. We loved our last camp, Thabamati. It is truly special. With only 4 tents, we had the whole camp to ourselves.

Its watering hole was big attraction. 

And we finally spotted a Red-Bill Hornbill right by our lunch table.

Here are a few highlights of our last two game drives.

A young elephant nursing.

And finally we saw warthogs that weren't running away.

We were looking for Leopard on the evening game drive and instead found this male Cheetah--the second during our time in the Timbavati! He was sitting on top of a termite mound surveying the area for prey. This guy is magnificent.

After dark we found the 4 male lions we had seen the day before. Wow!

And during the morning drive we saw lots and lots of animals, but the most exiting was finding the male Cheetah in the road, miles from where he was the night before. We tracked him into a very bushy area and  he went back on top of a termite mound.

Each place we visited we had a totem animal that characterized our visit. It was definitely the Cheetah in the Timbavati. Our trip ended at the airport in Hoedspruit with this cute, but very naughty Vervet Monkey.

What a marvelous adventure we had.

Day 13: Here Comes the Sun

 After two days, we are finally back in the sunshine. The bush is so beautiful in this light.

Before leaving on our afternoon game drive, this Hadeda Ibis was poking around for food near my deck.

We drove back to see if the two Lions were still eating their kill. They were both there, but hardly anything was left of their meal. Love this Lioness.

What was new was the vultures had come in to clean things up. They are really magnificent birds.

Charlie tracked down a ginormous herd of Cape Buffalo.

There are lots of birds that follow these giants because their hooves kick up all kinds of insects. Here's my favorite again--the Lilac-Breasted Roller.

We saw so many different animals on this drive. I am always fascinated by Zebra.

And with the return of the sun, we are back to stunning sunsets. 

Before retuning to the camp, Charlie gave us a bit of an astronomy lesson. He pointed out a number of constellations and we were enthralled with the beauty of the Milky Way. It's impossible to describe the majesty of the African night sky.

With the weather turning nice again, we were able to gather in the boma for a fire and drinks before out wonderful dinner.

I'm getting spoiled here. Every morning when Caswell comes by to wake us up at 5:30 AM, he brings me a cappuccino. Yay!

On our morning game drive we were greeted first thing by this big boy. He was coming straight toward our vehicle and got very close. Charlie made a noise that stopped it. I was surprised to see this giant creature stop his forward momentum for a bit because of the sound of a human voice. He then continued coming toward us and Charlie drove us off.

After checking out the buffalo herd, we came upon 4 males lions who were in a coalition. If they form a pride, they will defend each other's cubs. Here are two of the group.

On returning to camp, we were surprised with a breakfast out in the bush. Marvelous!!