We packed & headed out to find a coffee, Fathers machine had broken so we went back to Tasha’s.
We headed to the Gautrain & changed trains at Sandton. Apart from discovering if you’re going to the airport you must board the front 2 carriages & that we hadn’t loaded quite sufficient money onto our cards the journey was smooth. We located the check-in desk & then went to purchase a couple of rolls for lunch & then made our way to the gate. The aircraft was fairly small, 2 seats either side of the aisle & was rather empty, they made an announcement for 5 passengers to move down the plane for balance. We had a smooth 1 hour flight to Eastgate the closest airport to our lodge.
We located our driver & collected our luggage from the cart which parked in front of the terminal & made the 1 hour 15 min journey to Ngala Safari Lodge.
We arrived just in time to take our luggage to our lodge & head out on the evening safari, what a fantastic 4 hours. Apart from the sunset & moon rising being fantastic we saw a number of animals at a distance, but did view a pride of lions up close. We’d been tracking what they think was 1 of the females very off-road, Shaun our guide had been creating a pathway including knocking some shrubs over but we’d been unable to find her. Then a call came over the radio that another ranger had found lions so we sped along the track. We found 2 lionesses, 2 cubs & a lion, it was magical being able to get so close & the lions being so calm about it.
Lovely photos but also time just to watch. 1 of the cubs was quite inquisitive, both cubs also approached the lion but after a growl left him alone. On our way home we spotted 3 rhinos but it was too dark for photos.
We returned to dinner, a buffet & braai, our group, 3 couples in total, sat at the table with our guide. It was a lovely way to finish a great evening & to get to know the other couples, 1 English who had also arrived that day & the other American who had arrived the previous day.