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Madikwe Game Reserve vs Kruger National Park

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ashley in South Africa,, African Adventures,, Community & Culture,, Family Holidays,, Food & Wine,, On Safari,, Quick lists,, Quirky Stuff,, Romance,, Self-drive holidays,, Travel Tips,, Wildlife,,
June 28th, 2011 at 1:27pm
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The adventure began at the crack of dawn on a Monday morning. As soon as my alarm went off I was up and ready to go. I dont think I have been that excited in a long time so this was already off to a good start. We made our way to Cape Town International where we caught our 06:20 flight to Johannesburg. RNS Transfers were there to meet and greet us and transfer us to our first site inspection at Sun City.

Sun City was a really wonderful walk down memory lane for me and it was great to get a fresh reminder of what each hotel has to offer.

After a brief site inspection of the grounds and hotels, we had to rush off to make it to Madikwe Game Reserve in time for our first game drive. We spent our first night on Safari at Madikwe Safari Lodge. This is a really wonderful lodge in Madikwe. The staff are unbelievably friendly, the lodge is really stunning with very large, luxurious African Suites and the food was awesome. We had a wonderful game drive where we saw giraffe, zebras, lots of buck and two male Lions smile... Sun downers in the bush was a real treat followed by a boma dinner with all the staff, rangers and fellow guests.

The next day we made our way to Royal Madikwe for lunch. It was such a great way to spend an afternoon after a lots of driving around. We were welcomed by an elephant at the waterhole and whilst we sat on the deck overlooking the bush and elephant drinking, we enjoyed a lovely glass of wine and gorgeous meal.

Elephant at the waterhole at Royal Madikwe

Our second night was spent at Motswiri Private Safari Lodge. Were were hosted by the rangers and their families and were really made to feel like we were all apart of one big family. Again, the lodge is small and intimate and really stunning. We got the honour of some more elephants at the waterhole which we were able to watch from the comfort of our rooms or the dining/deck area. It was so beautiful. We went on a game drive before dinner and we saw a pack of lions that just decided that the middle of the road is where they wanted to "chill".

On our 3rd day, we were up bright and early again and had a grooling 5 hour drive ahead of us from Madikwe Game Reserve to Johannesburg OR Tambo International so catch our flight to MQP (Nelspruit). We arrive at Nelspruit at around 12:00, collected our hire car and made our way to site inspections at Exeter and then to our overnight at Singita Boulders in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve. WOW WOW WOW is all that I can really say to describe Singita Boulders. The service, the food, the lodge, the people, the rooms, everything about it was amazing. We were also fortunate enough to experience a Total Eclipse that night which we got to watch out in the bush around a bonfire after we had the most gorgeous meal by the fireplace.

The following morning after a good nights sleep, after a short but sweet Game Drive - we saw two spotted Hyena's - we completed the site inspection of the property and we SO Lucky because we saw a mommy Leopard and her two cubs just as they were walking into the bush.

After Singita, our next stop was Tintswalo Safari Lodge in the Manyaleti Game Reserve. Today was an extremely adventurous day. Our hire car had a mulfunction so we were stuck in the middle of the Kruger. Now you can imagine, 4 girls, 30 degrees in the shade... we were not very happy. But Lady Luck was on our side and Lisa was able to get the car moving until we were able to wave down a fellow driver who just happened to be a driver from Eastgate. They are one of our preferred suppliers and pulled together to ensure that we were looked after and delivered safely to our final destintion. We unfortunately didnt make it to our sites that day but were able to see Ngala Tented Camp at least. When we arrived at Tintswalo, there were 4 elephants drinking water right by the viewing deck. It was amazing.

We had a lovely evening at Tintswalo, we were served a lovely dinner in the wine cellar which was a great experience. We were all so tired after the excitement of the day that we called it an early night. Our new car arrived the next morning right on time and we were on the road again on our way to Lions Sands in The Sabi Sand Game Reserve. We did some more site inspecitons and enjoyed a lovely light meal at Notten's Bush Camp before making our way to the Lion Sands River Lodge. After a fantastic game drive where we saw a rhino with her baby, we had a little while to freshen up before another boma dinner.

Our last stop was Arathusa Safari Lodge which is one of our very popular lodges. We arrived there after another long day of driving and spending a little time in Hazyview (Perry'sbridge).
Today was the first day that we decided against the evening game drive and instead indulge in a well deserved massage at the Spa. What a perfect end to a very production, entertaining and well enjoyed week. After the massage, drinks were enjoyed on the deck overlooking the dam:

We called it a night shortly after dinner as we had another early start to get to our last two site inspections at Casterbridge Hollow and Cybele.

From there, we made our way to the MQP Airport and bid our farewells to our safari adventure!

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Recent Comments

  • 1: 

    Beautiful pictures.  Feels like I were there…

    Professional
    jenieen-barnardt
    June 28th, 2011 at 1:46pm

  • 2: 

    Love all the animal sightings stories, especially the mother Leopard and her cubs!

    Professional
    megz282
    June 28th, 2011 at 3:52pm

  • 3: 

    I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. I like it.  And I like to tell you mostly that pictures are also very good.  Thanks!!!
    Gir Wildlife Sanctuary

    Traveller
    travel12
    July 18th, 2011 at 12:48pm

  • 4: 

    Thank you very much for your kind words. I am so pleased that you enjoyed reading my post and looking at the pictures.

    Professional Expert
    ashley
    July 18th, 2011 at 12:52pm

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