Welcome back, Gaurang!

Gaurang,

Thanks for the greetings. Very sweet of all of them....awaiting my next trip and look forward to seeing them all again....

Rgds,
Hari

Thanks, Gaurang, for the greetings from James007!

Hello again.

I have just arrived at the most elegant lodge I have EVER visited, Mateya Safari Lodge.

I enjoyed three wonderful nights at Sabi Sabi and despite having very lush vegetation (as the Sabi Sand has at this time of year), it was still a very successful trip...four leopards in four game drives, including tracking the dominant male of the area on foot with my field guide, Marco, until we finally caught up with him about an hour later (by then we were back in the vehicle, fortunately!).

Also I substituted one game drive for a morning walking safari and thanks to my very knowledgable guide, it was right up there with (or surpassing) a Zambian walking safari.

I did skip my morning game drive this morning, as would anybody after about 20 days of safari and while also enjoying the incredible Amber Suite at Sabi Sabi Earth Lodge.

Saw too many rhinos to count (20+), had the opportunity to see lions but passed in order to spend quality time with the leopards, saw and photographed a very rare Pygmy Bee Eater (I saw the Carmine Bee Eater and Blue Cheeked Bee Eater at Kwando Lagoon) and also had a couple nice close encounters with elephants, including one who tried to scare us off the scene but he was totally unsuccessful...he had just been too nice when we first approached and by the time he got aggressive, we didn't believe his display was sincere! He finally gave up after a few displays of "aggression" and stomped away possibly feeling like less of a Bull Elephant! ;)

The food was too good and too abundant at Sabi Sabi, all meals plated except continental breakfast (although hot breakfast was plated and made to order). Definitely, had I lost any weight in Botswana (although I don't think I did), I definitely put it back on at Sabi Sabi. Always four different lunch choices and two different dinner choices, along with multiple choices of salads, soups and desserts.

Sabi Sabi Selati, on my first night in the Sabi Sand, was heavenly...finally able to enjoy a room with air conditioning and other creature comforts. Really nice lodge with colonial type feel to it...each lodge named after a rail station of the now defunct Selati Railways.

Sabi Sabi Little Bush Camp definitely exceeded expectations...not easy to find a luxury lodge in the Sabi Sand with only 5 rooms like at Little Bush Camp. Had numerous elephants walk through the manicured grounds daily and even opened my door once to find an elephant less than 5 meters away (but I had heard it prior to opening my door so I was in no real danger and even when I tried to get his attention, he paid me no mind and just kept moving on down eating away).

Sabi Sabi Earth Lodge was the nicest of them all and despite incredible rooms (although I was extra spoiled in the Amber Suite), the common areas were also very beautiful and I give a big thumbs up to the Earth Spa where I enjoyed an unforgettable 2.5 hour massage & facial.

Wireless internet here in the rooms at Mateya and at least this suite has a beautiful view with windows and sliding glass door nearly the length of the entire bedroom, overlooking the very ample plunge pool (almost too big to be called a plunge pool, really) and just incredible artwork both in the common areas of the lodge, in the bedrooms and even on the paths to the rooms. Just myself and a honeymooning couple from New York in camp for my stay.

Hopefully I will see more wild dogs, a black rhino and less common antelope that I have not yet seen.

This trip has easily been my best safari experience yet and I am very pleased with the order of my itinerary...really, I don't think I would change a thing if I could do it over again (although I did knock a night off Kwando Lagoon when I discovered a large group was arriving and I added it to Little Kwara...had I just chose to arrive a day early at Sabi Sabi, I, like my fellow guests at Sabi Sabi Selati, would have been treated to a buffalo kill by lions...that is the only thing I have not yet had on this trip and it would take a minor miracle to see it with only two night game drives remaining).

Very nice to be spoiled here in South Africa after enjoying such a wonderful wildlife experience in Botswana (although nice gameviewing continues here).

Cheers from Mateya Safari Lodge in Madike.

Rocco

Apparently you've discovered a new species of bird - the Pygmy Bee Eater! Maybe it was the rather more common Little Bee Eater?

Glad you had a good time at Sabi Sabi, will be interested in a more detailed report when you get back.

NapaMatt,

My bad...I meant to say Pygmy Kingfisher rather than Pygmy Bee Eater.

Love the way those kingfishers fly over the water, almost like treading water and just wait until they see their prey.

Another one of my favorite birds in Botswana, and someone will need to help me with this as I just returned from a gamedrive where I enjoyed three glasses of Chardonnay with a very nice honeymooning couple from New York, is the black bird who makes a cape out of his/her wings in order to better see underwater and then does his fishing...I will just call it the Count Dracula until someone corrects me. :)

Time for dinner. Cheers from Mateya.

A black egret, perhaps?

Yes, I saw the black egret in action for the first time last August at Duba Plains. Newman's bird book even shows this technique for the black egret.

I thought these birds looked like furry turtles and that was without the help of any Chardonnay.

Yes, thanks...black egret is correct!

Another interesting birding occurrence:

At Little Kwara, on our afternoon/evening game drive, we saw literally a hundred birds made up of swallows, kites and even eagles, circling around and around at a very fast pace. We went to the center of it all to investigate and what we found was an insect smorgasbord. The birds were just flying in tight loops and picking insects out of the air.

We would focus on a single insect knowing that it had literally a few seconds to live before, sure enough, a bird would circle around and snatch it out of the air. We watched this for a good 15 minutes and we had great fun with it, happy that the insects were being picked off by the birds, rather than having the opportunity to fly into our soup bowls or wine glasses later that evening!

Take it for what it is worth, but Mateya is not only the nicest safari lodge I have ever visited but more than likely the most fantastic property I have ever visited...it is just amazing beyond description.

Honestly, I am all safari'd out at this point and have hardly been paying attention to the wildlife, but we did have a fantastic rhino encounter on our evening game drive, saw dozens of elephants, plenty of giraffes, ostriches, jackals, zebras, wildebeest and even one of my favorites, red hartebeest, amongst much more.

Absolutely fantastic dinner of grilled, stuffed chicken breasts (spinach and feta cheese) with Penna Cotta? and poached plums for dessert.

Although there is only one vehicle going out of this lodge at the moment (with three of us as guests), the Madikwe properties do cooperate with each other in order to help find wildlife so even with only one vehicle going out we are not as handicapped as would be the case without such cooperation.

One thing this trip has taught me, and I am being totally honest, is that you NEED other vehicles around to ensure the best possible gameviewing. We had FANTASTIC viewings at Kwando but more often than not the vehicles were working a particular area and as a result we had a lot of success. Same story at Sabi Sabi and despite Sabi Sabi being a mere fraction the size of Kwando, there were never any more vehicles at a Sabi Sabi spotting than at a Kwando spotting. Same story with all the camps really. Only camp that there was not the benefit of other vehicles working the area was Linyanti Bushcamp, and as a result, gameviewing was hard to come by although it has been the only camp that has produced cheetahs (2 of them together) so far and there was plenty of plains game. Even with lions close enough that they chased the staff into a bush dinner we were enjoying just outside the camp, we were still unable to find the lions later, although had we another vehicle, I am sure we would have found the lions without much challenge.

One nice thing about Madikwe is that the animals look different due to the more reddish soil here...should make for some nice photos.

Rocco, I've always thought the best thing to see on safari is a stopped vehicle (you know they are likely looking at something good). I agree, other vehicles can be a real benefit.

Rocco,

Has the new pack of wild dogs been released into Madikwe? If so, how are they getting along with the 5 remaining original dogs? I hope you get to see them.

"One thing this trip has taught me, and I am being totally honest, is that you NEED other vehicles around to ensure the best possible gameviewing" - Rocco

I disagree. I know it's just a matter of opinion and personal preference, but the <i>quality</i> of wildlife viewing is diminished for me the moment there's one more vehicle present. I don't necessarily go into the African bush for easy sightings. It's nice to get them, of course, but they are far more rewarding for me if we find animals without help. If we find them with the assistance of knowing their whereabouts in advance, I enjoy it more if we're privileged to be the only vehicle on the scene. Everybody to his own, of course, but the fewer vehicles I'm likely to encounter, the better...that's one of the first things I look at when choosing destinations.

John

John,

I also think that the quality of the gameviewing is much better when you are the only vehicle at the sighting.
Animals tend to be more relaxed and I sometimes rather skip a sighting than have to queue for the best possible angle to make a shot.

And one of my main reasons to start earlier than anyone else, is to be able to come across an interesting sighting and enjoy it by yourself.

Believe it or not but most of my favourite shots were made when I was the only one at the sighting.

Greetz,

Johan

Agree with John. More exciting to find the animals and not the vehicles.

How very commercial
So what do we have here. A veteran of what, 5 or 6 safaris who is now going to be the expert. OK, granted, Rocco has done the time, but what has he learned. Oh! has he really done the time in Africa? Has he ever spent time alone in the bush on his own? I personally think Rocco has just spent his money going to see the most fantastic lodges and reports on that. I invite Rocco to spend 1 night with me in the bush without anything to prove he is a man. Are you on Rocco. I know you are!
Mark

Rocco

Pygmy Kingfisher tres cool.
Can't imagine being safari'd out, but haven't gone for as long as you.

Mark - smack down!

The absolute best, IMO, is coming across an incredible sighting when there is no one else around, and having it all to oneself.

The only time I am happy to see (or hear) another vehicle is if we have driven for hours and seen nothing. Thankfully though this seems rare.

I'm greedy too, loving to be the first vehicle to spot a sighting and keeping it all to ourselves for that all important quality time and to get the best photos.

And then sharing it-after you've gotten a lot of good shots. Having a guide who loves and understands photography is an asset too.

Mark-
I'll take you up on a night in the bush alone anytime. Just let me know when! ;-)

Sandy

I've been in vehicles that have
1.) Tracked our own animals
2.) Invited by other vehicles to share
3.) Invited other vehicles after tracking the animals(sometimes tracking 1-3hours).

choice 1 is most satisfactory and rewarding. Choice 2, i dont mind as long as it is done in a proper conduct. Choice 3, also i dont mind, because the other guests in camp/lodge have the same right to share our sightings.

That said, i've seen skittish animals bolting after the arrival of the third vehicle at times....

In August, i chose to spend multiple game drives with the female cheetah at Lebala (just in case, anyone missed the story! HAHAHAH)...after the first game drive, other vehicles didnt care to go to see her (except for a brief glimpse) so we had maybe 3 game drives of the sighting to ourselves....when the other car would come, we would pull out and give them a good photo op, as they only wanted to see her for maybe 10 minutes. As luck would have it, the day she made her kill.....we went away to see the wild dogs. I dont regret the choice one bit, because it was some of the most adrenaline pumping action i could've ever hoped for.

Hari

Don't get me wrong...there were plenty of times when we were the first ones on the sighting (at various lodges), and when so, we would spend ample time on the sighting before calling it in to the other vehicles.

However, you better believe that I have been grateful each and every time that a radio call has come in reporting leopards and wild dogs. For the Lebala wild dog spotting, it was only through a joint effort of my Lebala guide, Charles, and I doing some serious tracking on foot of the wild dog combined with radioing in our findings to another Kwando vehicle who then checked out the area we suspected they may have headed (a good 5 kilometers away) before the dogs were found by the other vehicle.

Also, for Chiefs Camp and Lagoon wild dog sightings, both of those were found by other vehicles and I would not have seen them if not for the radio call by these guides. I don't think my photos were compromised one bit for being the second vehicle on the scene and for the Lagoon sighting I was even able to approach quite closely on the ground to the very relaxed wild dogs before a youngster (about a year old), started showing a bit of aggression (one of the benefits of being a &quot;serious&quot; photographer and an agent rather than an average guest).

There have been about 10 different leopard sightings on this safari (about three of mothers with a cub) and I figure that half of them would not have occurred without the cooperation of the other vehicles.

My favorite park continues to be South Luangwa, and this park is really FULL of leopards (Zambia has more leopards than any other country) but you just don't get the same leopard viewing because there is not the same level of cooperation between the guides (either that or I have just preferred staying at the smaller camps...and, yes, I realize that not offroading also has a factor).

Well, that's all for now...time to go find the pack of wild dogs. My guide says the new pack is doing well and has been spotted every couple days since their recent release into the reserve.