Madikwe

Kate, Alexander, and Caroline enjoying a moment on a game drive. 

Kate Ellis was visiting with us last weekend.  (Kate wins the prize for first non-family member to visit us on a non-work related trip.)  We planned her trip to coincide with Alexander and Quince’s mid-term break, which consisted of Thursday afternoon, Friday and the following Monday.

Lions, and rhinoceros, and elephants: Oh, my!  Quince hanging out with two female and one male (you can see his ears visible to the right of the females) lion who had just missed a wildebeest.  They were about 40 feet away and ignored us.

We took the opportunity to visit Madikwe Nature Reserve, which is about 4 ½ hours drive outside of Johannesburg, very close to Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana.  You can only enter Madikwe if you are staying at one of the lodges in the reserve.  Also, all the driving for game viewing is done by guides who are employees of the game lodges. 

Just call me Goofy!  I should sue Bill for capturing such a silly photo of me and posting it on the internet!  

We left early on Friday morning for the reserve and arrived for a mid-afternoon lunch.  We were shown to our accommodations: platform tents with metal roofs and canvas sides.  The lodge we stayed at was an eco-friendly lodge, meaning, in part, that it had no electricity and no plumbing.  While it was rustic, it was also luxurious.  All of our meals were prepared for us, our rooms were cleaned in the morning, it had a nice open-air lounge and the nighttime star-gazing was spectacular.

This is us posing with our guide for the weekend in front of the Land Rover.  The cover on the top was priceless! It  helped keep out the sun and the rain.

Each day consisted of 2 game drives, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.  We would be awoken before sunrise to go on a 3 to 4 hour morning drive.  We would stop for a coffee and tea break during the drive and we would return for a hearty breakfast.  We would then hang out until 4:45 pm when we would go for another 3 to 4 hour game drive.  Before we departed we would pack a cooler of drinks for a “sundowner” out in the reserve.  Dinner would follow our return and after hanging out a bit to enjoy the stars, we would be off to bed.

Please pass the peanuts.  Enjoying a sundowner in the middle of our evening game drive.

This was a completely different experience than our game drives in Pilanesburg where Caroline or I would be at the wheel.  First, we were in a large Land Rover with stadium-like seating, so we were high above things looking down.  Second, the Land Rover would go off road and along roads that would have stranded our Peugeot.  Most importantly, we had a trained guide who would track animals, answer our questions, know where to go, and would communicate with his fellow guides as to the locations of animals.  I think game drives are all about serendipitous moments where you round a bend and see a wild animals, and this was absolutely true about Madikwe.  However, the number of these moments was much higher on this trip with the guide than our self-guided tours. 

The King of the Beasts doing what he loves best: sleeping!