we were collected at 11am and driven to Longlee Lodge in Shamwari Game Park, where we were given a warm welcome. This park, famous for being the setting for Born Free, is a varied terrain of 25,000 hectares.
We waited in the bar until our room was ready and were entertained by the lawn mowers, a family of warthogs. The little ones kneel to eat the grass.
They are still being fed by mum. The leftmost baby managed to fall over the others in his excitement for milk. The young one at the back has lost interest.
Our suite here is absolutely enormous: the bedroom
And the lounge which has its own WC.
Large bathroom with walk in shower area.
The view with the silent lawn mowers
Lunch was served from 12.30 in the elegant dining room
Then it was time for a rest.
At 4pm, we were out on our first game drive with another couple and our ranger, George who was trained in Shamwari and then spent some time in The Kruger National Park which is the area of ZA that he comes from.
This gives an idea of the landscape. You might just be able to notice the sights and nuzzle of the obligatory rifle which is always carried by the ranger. He has never needed to use it.
It's not just the big 5 (elephant, lion, buffalo,cheetah, and rhino), there are birds as well.
This is a starling, but much more colourful than the one we get in Europe.
These are African Shelduck.
This is a double ringed plover.
Springbok are everywhere
George spotted a large tortoise amongst the springbok
First of the big five to be ticked off was the white rhino. They are the less aggressive species with wide grazing mouths. The more aggressive black rhino eat tree leaves and have a narrow mouth which is a bit like a trunk.
Baby feeding time again, the baby rhino has to sit down to drink. In the group that we saw there were three mums with babies and a large male. The babies made little mewing noises.
A bonus here was a hippo in the water. It looked like a sand bank for much of the time
From time to time, it would come up for air and to keep an eye on the rhinos. He was a young male who had been ousted from the river by a mature male and had the scars to prove it. In the end he got a bit grumpy with the rhinos and made threatening noises which startled the rhinos.
This heron was also by the pond and was not put off by the huge rhinos.
We had seen giraffes as we drove into Shamwari, but now it was time to get close to them.
This giraffe seemed to be saying "I'm off to the next tree, dear" as it did a sort of embrace just before heading for the next tree.
George moved us so that the light was better for photos.
A hartebeest in the distance
Most of the time, we were driving along tracks, but now George stopped the jeep, collected his rifle and said that we were going for a short walk. We had strict instructions to walk quietly in single file, to keep our arms in and to make no sudden movements. We walked to within 20 feet of a couple of cheetahs lying in the shade. They didn't seem to be worried by us at all. They are a couple of brothers who are sticking together and hunting together.
At about 6.15 we stopped for a glass of wine overlooking a valley
The local river is no longer flowing but weirs trap water in its course.
We returned to the lodge and a barbecued meal with George and Ron and Pippa, the other couple in our jeep.
Pat and John on tour