First Game Drive

So today has been exciting, the work still hasn't started yet as after settling in yesterday, today was just all about showing us around the 6000 hectares that they have here. We started off with the walk round tour which included showing us the pool, tennis courts, games room, petting zoo as well as the main hotel. It is all stunning! The hotel is 5* so equally the facilities are amazing as well. This was all done by our 'African Mum', I don't know her real name, but she is lovely and full of energy, although if you don't answer as a group to her questions then she keeps repeating herself until you do, which was rather amusing.

This was also done with a group of university students from Australia who arrived yesterday morning. They all seem really nice as well, although I am not going to try and remember their names right now. We were also told about certain things to do or not to do in the African culture one being that to hand something to someone with your left hand was seen as an insult which I never knew.

Next, we were split into 3 groups of 8 and taken around

the rehabilitation part of the reserve. My group were taken round by a man called Lloyd and a girl named Blue. Lloyd is a native South African and English is his second language so although he is very good at speaking, he takes his time with explaining so this did go into our lunch a bit, but it was totally worth it. We first saw a lion family and clearly it must have been mating season as the male lion ran at the gate growling. In the family there was a male, female and 2 cubs (if you can still call them that) who were aged 3. The lions could not have been more than 2 metres away from us, it was incredible. I never realised how majestic they are up close! Next, we saw 2 white lions which I felt really honoured to see considering there are less than 300 in the world due to the fact they cannot blend in as well in their natural habitats along with habitat destruction. We also saw a cheetah burrowed amongst the undergrowth which just looked so adorable; made me miss my little cat, Truffles, at home even though there would be no way she could move as fast as a cheetah. The final animal we saw in the rehabilitation section were the tigers, which I was really surprised by as considering they are not native to Africa, I did not think I would have seen one whilst out here. The noise they made though was so sweet, hard to believe it was coming out of a big cat.

It was lovely weather this morning around 25 degrees Celsius so that was perfect for walking around the reserve plus getting a little tan, (don't worry mum, I wore suncream and even got someone else to do my back for me) although by the time lunch came the temperature had dropped slightly and it started lightly showering, which actually felt quite refreshing.

For lunch today there was some strange sort of potato and cheese bake with salad; it was very tasty once again which is always good, at least I am not going hungry.

We all met up once again at 14.30 for our very first game drive, everyone was so excited for this part. We got into a safari truck which held 10 people plus the driver although, there were only the 8 of us who met on the first day in my truck plus Blue and the driver called Hannah. The game drive was nothing like I expected! Firstly, I was shocked by the difference in terrain although equally this made it super fun as the truck became really bouncy. Charlotte described it as a fairground ride which I agree with. The land used to be 6 separate farms so they had walls separating them so there were still a lot of rocks around which made it uneven. Also, I never quite grasped the idea before how much land there was on the reserve as even though we were out there for just over 2 hours we still did not manage to see all of the big five. We did however see 3

different types of antelope - Springbok, Blesbok and Impala. A bit of information for you is that both male and female Springbok have antlers, the difference being males' antlers twist back whilst females twist forward. This is to avoid injury when the males are fighting for dominance, Springbok's also have a white stomach. Whereas only the male Blesbok's have antlers, they also have a distorted white blaze down their face. We also saw 2 hippos, 3 giraffes, 1 cape-buffalo and zebras. What was slightly mad though was how many skeletons you could see lying around the reserve from where nature has taken its course, either through natural causes such as injury or from being hunted by those higher in the food chain. The game drive finished around 17.00 so we then had an hour's free time before dinner. Dinner tonight was the same as last night so now I am happily stuffed. Proper work should start tomorrow so I am going to spend the rest of the evening socialising and enjoying peace.