African Safari: Part 1

I figured we should start the year with my favorite trip ever… the safari in South Africa!

I had always wanted to go on a safari. I knew that I would enjoy it, but I never imagined just how incredible it could be. Seeing the animals roam free in their natural habitat was unreal. I have never felt so at peace, as I did in South Africa.

 

THE LODGE

Our accommodations were incredible. We stayed at Leopard Hills, a 5-star luxury lodge (it should be more than 5-stars), located in Sabi Sands Private Game Reserve, which borders Kruger National Park. Each room is more like a small private cottage with a full living room, beautiful bathroom, outdoor shower, private plunge pool and a hammock. It’s paradise!

The entrance

Our room at Leopard Hills

Beautiful entrance to our bathroom

Our bathroom Bathtub overlooking the bush (the door accesses our outdoor shower)

Outdoor shower

If you want to stay here, book ahead of time. Leopard Hills only has 8 rooms, which allows for a much more personal experience. They provide top notch service, down to the very last detail. You get to know the entire staff during your stay, but the person you will interact with the most is your guide. Upon your arrival, you are assigned a guide that will lead your game drives throughout your entire stay. Our guide, Jehanne, was amazing. I honestly believe that we got the best guide in all of South Africa… I don’t know how anyone could be better. Maybe I’m biased, but he really made our trip unforgettable.

Leopard Hills is incredible, but it is quite expensive. Accommodations there cost about $1,000 per person per day (basically $2,000 per night for both of us), but it includes EVERYTHING (all of your meals, liquor, laundry services, etc). At the end of the day, you get what you pay for. The main benefit of choosing a 5-star safari, beyond the incredible room and service, is that you get the very best guides and trackers. I have heard from many people that have been on a safari for over a week that they never saw the Big 5. We saw them in the first 2 days! Not the mention that we went during rainy season, which means that the animals don’t need to come out to the watering holes to drink, so they’re much harder to find.

We only stayed for 3-nights and honestly that was enough. By choosing a 5-star lodge, you won’t miss out by staying less days (this helps with how expensive it is). We got the opportunity to see everything we wanted to see, however, we never missed a drive. There’s 2 game drives per day, one first thing in the morning (like seriously first thing… it departs at 5:45am) and another in the afternoon.

 

UPON ARRIVAL

We arrived at Leopard Hills mid-day and were greeted by the whole staff. They walked us through check-in and showed us to our accommodations. We had a couple of hours to settle in and have lunch before the evening drive.

 

Our welcome gift

Cheers to a great adventure

The back of our room… I told you it was huge!

First glass of champagne 

View of the bush from lunch

 

GAME DRIVE #1

After lunch we took off on our first game drive. Let me apologize since now for the picture overload. This place is a photographers dream! I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves….

 

 

 

 

 

 

It must be heavy

 

 

 

 

 

He charged at us and apparently my husbands natural instinct is to laugh

 

 

They flap their ears to create wind to cool off their bodies

 

 

The first of many beautiful sunsets we saw

 

On every drive you stop for a break out in the bush where they prepare drinks and snacks

 

Ready for our first dinner

Check back soon for the rest of our adventure in South Africa.