South Africa and Lesotho Day 9: Safari!

No trip to South Africa is complete without a big-game safari adventure and so, of course, we made time for one! We set forth from Cape Town this morning for the 2½-hour drive to the arid Karoo region.

Now here is a road sign we don’t see back home:

south of Ceres, Western Cape, South Africa

Our safari was at the Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve, which is tastefully set into the surrounding desert landscape.

Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve, northeast of Ceres, Western Cape, South Africa

We arrived in the early afternoon and were invited to settle in and relax in our lodge before setting out on our first game drive. (The animals, it would seem, tend to lounge about in the mid-day heat, so best to do the same!)

Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve, northeast of Ceres, Western Cape, South Africa

At 5pm, we were summoned to the main reception to get into the jeeps? trucks? (not sure what to call them) for our tour of the grounds. Note the subtle green color; this allows the vehicles to blend in with the surrounding vegetation.

Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve, northeast of Ceres, Western Cape, South Africa

Play the next video for a sense of what the jeep adventure is like … that clatter and bump would be our lives for the next two hours or so as we drove around in search of the animals.

Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve, northeast of Ceres, Western Cape, South Africa

First up, lions!

Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve, northeast of Ceres, Western Cape, South Africa

Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve, northeast of Ceres, Western Cape, South Africa

Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve, northeast of Ceres, Western Cape, South Africa

So … ummm … yes, it’s mating season. And they got busy shortly after the above photo. This being a family-rated show, we’ll skip ahead a couple minutes, where we find them back to lounging about:

Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve, northeast of Ceres, Western Cape, South Africa

While off in search of the next animals, I captured this picture which nicely captures the essence of the Karoo: loose vegetation and always mountains in the distance.

Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve, northeast of Ceres, Western Cape, South Africa

Next up, rhinos! You’ll notice the horns are missing. This is done to protect the animals from poachers.

Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve, northeast of Ceres, Western Cape, South Africa

Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve, northeast of Ceres, Western Cape, South Africa

Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve, northeast of Ceres, Western Cape, South Africa

Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve, northeast of Ceres, Western Cape, South Africa · by Lisa Rozmyn

Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve, northeast of Ceres, Western Cape, South Africa

Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve, northeast of Ceres, Western Cape, South Africa

Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve, northeast of Ceres, Western Cape, South Africa

Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve, northeast of Ceres, Western Cape, South Africa

Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve, northeast of Ceres, Western Cape, South Africa

Having seen most of the animals that we would for this evening, we took a moment to step out of the vehicle (safely away from any of the dangerous animals) for a light snack and glass of wine before heading back to the local watering hole for the night.

Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve, northeast of Ceres, Western Cape, South Africa

Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve, northeast of Ceres, Western Cape, South Africa

Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve, northeast of Ceres, Western Cape, South Africa

Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve, northeast of Ceres, Western Cape, South Africa

Oh, silly … when I said watering hole, I meant literally watering hole, where we would find our last animal for the evening. Hippos spend most of the daylight hours underwater. They surface every 5-7 minutes to breathe and manage to do so without losing sleep. As night falls, they emerge to graze overnight. We timed our visit for the twilight hours when they are just coming out of the water.

Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve, northeast of Ceres, Western Cape, South Africa

It’s rare these days that I need to use my big camera gear, but today I was thankful for a long lens. We were kept at quite a distance from the hippo, who we were told would kill anyone who dared to venture near or into the nearby pond. They don’t eat people, but they do not like intruders.

We all obeyed the orders to stay in the truck and made it back safely to that other watering hole 😉 for dinner and drinks.

What a way to celebrate a birthday!