MONDAY, APR 12TH--LEOPARD HILLS PRIVATE GAME RESERVE

UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!! Let me start with yesterday's journey to get here. We were off the ship at 9am and was only a 15 minute drive to the airport. The South African Airways Air Link agents did not show up until 10:30 so was a boring wait as the airport was very small. Our flight departed on time for Johannesburg in a 50 seat turbo prop. We arrived at Jo Burg , as they call it, at 1:15pm so we had lots of time to get to our 3:30pm flight. The airport must be the largest one in Africa as it was huge. Our flight on to Kruger Park airport left right on time in a 50 seat regional jet for our short ride. The Kruger Park airport was small but very nice. After getting our checked luggage, our driver, Evenick, was waiting to drive Paula, Charles, Rebecca, and I to the Leopard Hills Private Game Reserve. This was a very interesting 2 hour drive. The countryside was beautiful rolling hills with miles and miles of plantations. There were orange, banana, avocado, mango, and other kinds of fruit plantations. It was not what we had expected to see in Africa. For the first hour the road was a nice smooth highway and there were lots of local people walking along it on a Sunday evening. Guess they cannot afford cars or motorbikes so they walk. Then we turned onto a dirt and gravel road. For the next hour we bounced all over the place on this rough road. I though the van would come apart. We left the airport at 4:30 and arrived at Leopard Hills after dark at 6:30pm. Just as we were unloading our luggage the two safari vehicles were driving up from the evening game drive. After signing in we were escorted to our rooms by security. We were told never to walk to or from our rooms after dark because there were no fences around the lodge. The wild animals are roaming around at night so we call for security to walk with us. Our room was fabulous just as the pictures in the brochure depicted. I had requested the room overlooking the watering hole and it was ours. Dinner was 30 minutes later and last night was boma night. We ate under the stars with a big fire in the middle of this fenced in area. Our guide sat at our table with two other couples who had been here for several days but left after this morning's game drive. Candles were on the tables and the cooks were preparing a wonderful buffet dinner. I was a perfect evening temperature and weather wise. They had a full bar set up out there and I really enjoyed the red South African wine. Our room also has a stocked bar and frig with drinks which is all complimentary. We finished dinner and were escorted back to our room and told they would wake us at 5:30am for a quick coffee before we began our morning game drive. I was awake at 5am just as it was beginning to be light outside. I walked out on our huge patio and looked down at the watering hole below and about a quarter of a mile away. No animals though. We boarded the 4 wheel drive safari vehicle for our first game drive. There were 3 other Canadians with us doing their last drive. Tonight the 4 of us have the lodge to ourselves. There are 8 rooms here at Leopard Hills. The next 3 1/2 hours were incredible, and as I said, UNBELIEVABLE. When I am able to upload the photos you will see for yourselves. Marius, our guide, was the driver and told us all about what we were seeing. Sitting on a seat mounted out on front left side of the vehicle was our tracker, Abram. Mounted on the dash in reach of Marius was a rifle, just in case an animal objected to our photo taking. Marius said that shooting an animal in Kruger Park required a mountain of paperwork. He also explained that unlike Kenya we would not be seeing lots of animals but the ones we would see in Kruger would be "up close". Man, was he right!!! There were several safari vehicles in the park and the guides were all talking to each other on the radio about where to go to see stuff. Marius said that seeing white back vultures up in trees was an indication that a lion or leopard had killed something and would be in the area. There are small dirt roads in Kruger but Marius would plow right through stuff to get to the area he wanted. We ran over trees, stumps, or whatever got in our way. We came upon a lion in the tall grass near a tree. About 20 feet away was a dead kudu (like an elk) that the lion had eaten most of its stomach. The lion had a full stomach now and was lying to rest. We got within 20 feet of the lion. Marius said the lion would be eating there for a couple more days so we will check it again tomorrow. The kudu and a beautiful rack of horns. Would love to have them but the lion was protecting his meals. We continued our driving and came upon a dead impala (like a deer) that a leopard had killed and drug up in the tree. The male leopard was lying under the tree. Suddenly here comes a female leopard with two cubs. Could not get very good pics of the cubs though. When one ranger found something all the vehicles came to look also. Back on the road we saw a herd of impala. Then word came that there was a pride of lions several miles away so we sped there. On the way we passed an elephant eating on the leaves of a tree. We paused a minute for photos then sped on the see the lions. Sure enough there they were: one male, and 3 females, and 3 cubs. One cub was larger and and two were small ones from different mothers. They were lying there and we were sitting in the safari vehicle only 10 feet from them for at least a half hour. I have some absolutely incredible close up photos of them as not only were we close but I was using my telephoto lens. I have heard people say that leopards are the hardest animal to find but this morning we saw 4. We saw 10 lions. We saw dead and alive kudus and impalas. We saw an elephant. Marius said we will see lots more elephants on other drives. Then we saw a giraffe in an fairly open field with one tree there and it was eating the leaves. Marius said, "Lets go have some coffee with the giraffe". And we did. Abram had cups and thermos of coffee or tea with some muffins. The giraffe moved on but we got some good photos first. Buy this time we had to end the drive and get the Canadians back so they could leave to catch a flight out. We arrived back at the lodge at 9:30 and a huge breakfast was waiting us. Lunch will be at 1pm and tea time is 3pm right before we start our second drive at 3:30pm. After breakfast a herd of probably 50 impala came to the watering hole below us so I put my telephoto lens back on and got some pics. This safari is THE neatest thing we have ever done. Even "princess" Rebecca is loving it. I still cannot believe how close we get to these animals. I will have lots of photos and I know you will love them. Tonight Charles & Paula and us are the only ones in camp so we will have a private dinner out on the deck that overlooks the watering hole. I certainly chose the right lodge as Leopard Hills is an amazing place. They have a computer in the library with high speed Internet so I am writing from there. By the way in one of the other safari vehicles was Toni Blair, former Prime Minister of Great Britain. Got a photo to prove it!

This is the link to my safari photos.  There are 468 photos for you to view.  You will have to cut and paste this link to your browser to view them.

https://goo.gl/photos/iNXndTtSRciBjRLx7