Hello everyone,

Wow we have had such an amazing time on Safari. Look at our photos to see the amazing close ups of all the animals.

The journey to Kruger was very long and tiring. We left at 6am on Saturday and arrived at Kruger Park (the private game lodge where we stayed) at 7.30pm. We stopped at 3 other natural landscapes. They were God's window, Bourke Luck Potholes and the 3 Rondavals. 

When we got to our lodge we has a 3-course meal, which was lovely and stayed in a Rondaval, which is a round hut. We were treated to five star service. Great food, great drink and by now we got to know 4 other fantastic people. Two Irish girls and a German couple (photos to follow).

We went to bed early, as we had to leave the lodge at 7.30am to be at the Cheetah research and breeding project. That was amazing to see all the cheetahs and how dedicated the staff were. We went in a safari jeep around the park and were given a guided drive. Gemma would love to work there. Darren would make a good shop manager as well :o)

After lunch we went for our 1st game drive, which was amazing. The only problem we had was with our mini bus. It would have been nice to have an open top vehicle. We saw most animals on this drive. 

We were looking for Lions and saw a pride of 10. There were 2 cubs and they were all lazing around under a tree in the shade. We went away and saw some elephants. We went back to see the lions again and they were not where we thought they should have been, but turned the corner and a huge bull elephant was right next to the car. It was amazing to see him, but he warned us that we were too close by flapping his ear and shaking his head. You only get one warning and then they charge. All of us were gob smacked. We had such an amazing time. We also went on a sunset drive and were pitch black by the times we saw a pride of lions. It was lovely to see. We all turned off the torches and were seeing if the lions would roar but they didn’t. We saw a lot of animals that evening. And once again the tour guide was amazing.   

The next day was a full safari day. 5.30am to 4.30pm. We left the lodge and went camping in the middle of the park for the last night. We saw lots of animals again but not as good as the first day. We saw all of the big 5 apart from the Leopard. We went back to our camp and had dinner around an open campfire. A hyena walked past the fence and looked at us. It was about 10feet away. Didn’t realise how big they were. A bit frightening, but really cool to see. We saw spiders the size of our fists running around our feet. A great big black bug landed on our guide, who took him by surprise and really freaked him out, hilarious. 

We slept really well in the open air. Today we came back from the park to a town called Nelspruit. Very nice backpacker hostel. Pitched the tent and here we are. Now we will attempt to upload the photos. 

We love all the emails and please keep posting messages on the board, as we love to read what you are all doing.  

Missing home but having the time of our lives.