Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Day 20/21: Pilanesberg National Park

All I can say is WOW!!!  Yesterday morning we drove about 2 hours to Pilanesberg to visit the game reserve.  It is said to be the best place to see the Big 5 in South Africa.  We stayed at the Golden Leopard Resort at the Munyane Gate (there are several gates into the park).  I have to say, with this trip and going to the Lion Park, it was a little reminiscent of Jurassic Park when you enter the gates. :)

We arrived at the resort around lunch time, so we had lunch at the restaurant and then walked around for a bit to pass the time until we could check in.  We quickly dropped our things off in our room and headed into the park.  I will say, we stayed at the Golden Leopard because it was a fraction of the cost of the other resorts and you get what you pay for.  Our room was clean and satisfactory, but definitely not what the website described!  Our entire chalet was the size of my kitchen at home.  It said it could sleep up to 2 adults and 2 children and we had 2 twin beds.  In addition, when we checked in they asked us how much we owed on our room (shouldn't that be logged somewhere???) and when we checked out they said we hadn't paid (again with the record keeping......).

So anyway, back to the adventure!!  We headed into the park around 2:30PM not knowing what to expect.  The park is HUGE and you could literally drive around it for days and not see everything.  Another thing to note, we are driving the equivalent of a Nissan Versa (teeny 4-cylinder).  I would like to give kudos to the car because we didn't get stuck or blow a tire, either of which were very possible on some of the trails.  We drove through the park on Monday until 6:45PM, and we only left because they close the gates at 7PM.  It seemed that every time we felt that we had been driving for a while without seeing anything, you would turn your head and there they were.  This morning we got up at 5:15AM to try to catch the animals first thing in the morning.  To our disappointment, we really didn't see much on that drive.  Who knows if we weren't in the right area or if it was just not a good day, but our after-breakfast drive was much more fruitful.  Here are some of the highlights, but as you can imagine - we have LOTS of pictures and video!

This is a video of the elephants.  Listen for him/her to say hello!


This is one of many giraffes we saw.

And of course, my favorite, ZEBRAS!!

Awwwwww......so cute!

Rhino, far away.....(can you see the bird sitting on its back?)

Rhinos very close!!!! (As is, practically in the road!)

Elephants in their herd (do you see the babies in the middle?)

Elephants on Tuesday (look at all those babies!)

Up close and personal!!

Who are you looking at?

Amazing view!!!

Just having a snack :) 
(We found it interesting that we saw a lot of color variation in the giraffes.  Some were very, very light and this one had a lot of contrast)

Hungry hungry hippos!  (ok.....I don't know if they were really hungry)

This is a group of springboks (The South Africa rugby team's mascot is the springbok).  There are also a couple wildebeasts in the back on the left side of the picture.

This is an impala (antelope family).  We saw lots of these, including about 25 of them right outside our chalet both last night and this morning!  They are hard to see, but this one has spiraled antlers.

We thought we wouldn't see any lions and then we came up on two cars feverishly snapping pictures of....nothing.  We looked and looked at the mountainside and could NOT figure out what they were so exicted about.  Then, we finally got it!  We would never have seen them if it weren't for those people.  Thank you!

They were completely unphased by the 3 cars in the road.  They just kept on their merry way.

What a view!!  It was amazing!!!!

So, if you do the math, we spent about 10 hours in the car (not including driving to and from Pilanesberg) in two days.  Nicolas enjoyed seeing the animals, but did not enjoy the periods between our great sightings.  So......he was very thankful to have his dvd player!  It was a fun trip for all and we now have priceless memories and photos to remember South Africa with!

Here are a few other random bits of info we learned on our trip:
1.  South Africans like to put up lots of speed limit signs within a 1/4 mile stretch of road.  It would be 120 kph, then 80, then 60, then back to 120.  We are assuming it has something to do with the intersections, but we haven't had a chance to verify.
2.  South Africans are very daring passers.  Much of the 2-lane road we drove on was really more like a 3-lane road with only 2 lanes, meaning that the shoulder of the road was the equivalent of another half lane so a driver could pull half way off the road to allow you to pass.  With that said, cars would pass with oncoming traffic present.  AGGGGH!!!!
3.  The speed limit on the highway was 120 kph (about 70 mph).  The speed limit on the 2-lane road with signs warning of potholes was also 120 kph......eeek!

Once we got back, we grabbed lunch and some groceries, hopped in the pool for a bit, cleaned up and had dinner, did homework, and then we called it a night.  It was been a long, but awesome couple of days.  Our plan is to sleep in a bit tomorrow and then we will play it by ear.  

On that note, goodnight! :)

Laura, Kevin, and Nicolas

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