Ken, great images as usual! I love those baby elephants!

More Photos From Family Safari - Kings Camp.

Love the little bird of happiness . Wonderful pictures, as usual.
Glad you all are having such a great trip--I'm sure having the grandkids makes it even more fun!

Love pix of 3 boys with dancer - those boys are so darn cute!!!

WOW - These photos are superb. Wonderful lifetime memories being made..

I'm loving all this, and enjoying my memories.

Madikwe was Roar2; our big problem with it was the brown, brown water in the bathrooms. Do they have that fixed now?

These are wonderful pictures!

The problems with Madikwe four years ago resulted from the fact they had not had rain for eight months.

It caused problems with the water. I had been there many times and only had that issue on that one trip I also went there after that trip without that problem

Also the lack of rain made the roads horibbly dusty and they had just done a ton of controlled burning in defense of a uncontrollable wild fire as everything was so dry.
That inhibited the off road driving as well. Also black ground was not particularly attractive.

The drought just messed with the situation completely but that particular trip was the only time I experienced any of those problems. It really ruined our stay there.

Brent & Mark before the morning game drive. They insisted on wearing shorts.

Absolutely terrific animal photos. Also great Boma pictures--with Ngaire and Ralph "cutting the sand" and the grandkids watching the male dancer.

---------------

Eugene

I am loving these reports and photos! You all are truly having a trip to remember!

These pictures are so fun to see....agree with Eugene, love seeing all the moves and the kids enjoying the dancers. The animals pix are spectacular.

Of all your many trips Ngaire & Ken, guessing this may be the #1 BEST (and Leopard a close 2nd of course )

Ngaire, I never minded the brown water at Madikwe that much, had experienced that on Regent a couple of times. The trick is to take a shower, and you can't see it, lol! It really is going to bring no harm.

I think my more unpleasant memories of this camp had nothing to do with water or the accommodations or food. OTOH, Accommodations, food, service, the whole ambiance of the whole place was wonderful. It was all about the hard clay soil, and driving in bumpy vehicles (Toyota) on those roads that were not nearly as forgiving or as comfortable as Range Rovers (the British Brand), like we had elsewhere. Just sayin', this is what I remember. dunno, my younger daughter with me ( her first trip) never registered a complaint, and took every game drive there was. I am just getting way too picky. Your experience makes me want to go back. But I think Kings Camp is the ideal I am looking to forward bookings one of these days. Never been there, but so many good reports not only from you, but from other lct who posted here in the past.

Short story, Africa safari ranks up there as two of my most wonderful experiences ever, and I am so enjoying each and every picture and narrative you all are sharing. Loved seeing the picture of those 3 young boys so much!!!! And of course, all the adults, cutting the sand.

Ngaire, I think you have gathered the most generous grandparents on the planet (you included) for these children, they will absolutely remember this forever. They are all truly blessed.

I wrote two whole posts on my iPad they disappeared. So I will try to remember all that has happened since then. I may write and post and come back to continue so they won't be lost again

Last morning at Kings Camp. As we were loading the vehicle Leisha said there are wild dogs. I could not believe I would get to see them again. Off we raced to find the dogs they were very close to camp. We followed them for quite some and watched them work together. They would fan out on each side of the road then come together to mark their territory and then dO the same thing again. Definitely in hunting mode. Finally we had to pull out to let in other vehicles. They were not successful with a kill that morning. So much happens if I do not record it each night I cannot remember all that happened.

I know we had some more elephants and some ground hornbills that are huge birds with a red head. We also found a huge herd of Cape Buffalo they were all around us in a river Bed. We git a great shot of Ralphs family with the buffalo in the background It was a great last drive.

One last breakfast and a sad farewell this has been the best visit to Kings Camp i have ever had. Last time we came they had only one sickly lion. This time lion and leopard were all over the place. This is nature and why things are different each time you come.

The flight to Leopard Hills took 10 minutes. CLay was trained as a pilot with an aviation degree but no jobs in that field when he graduated. When he started university to take that degree they were hiring for the commercial commuters on graduating. So he went in another direction and has not flown for years. The pilot let him sit in the co pilot spot and he loved it. Said he had forgotten how much he loved flying a plane. An expensive hobby hopefully this will not fire up a desire to fly again an expensive hobby

We arrived at Leopard Hills. Greeted by Duncan, John, Raymond and all the same bar staff Sam was there and gave me a big hug. Like coming home and a perfect day not the rain that greeted us last time. Next post will be our UNIQUE first drive at Leopard Hills. No time now but stay tuned for the next episode. Something that I have not experienced before wish I had Anne to write it up. Writing is not one of my talents.

Photo of Peter from Madikwe Safari Lodge:


Peter & Ngaire. Peter was a ranger at Madikwe Hills and is now the manager of Madikwe Safari Lodge - Lepala.

I see Ken just posted this picture. It was so fun to see him again and he remberec us all from Roar III.

Eugene, Duncan says hello to you and Gail. He recalled several things on the game drives we took with him as our ranger and was reminding me of some of our adventures.

Okay got to sign off now

This is such great reading! I am loving every word and every photo...can't wait for the next post!

Wonderful reports, and Ngaire, I think you are a fine writer. Please please do not let Clay take up flying again. I have lost so many friends to small plane crashes, over 10 people who were good friends. I just don't like it (and George used to fly, but I made him stop).

SAFARI the acronym stands for Simply Awesome Family Adventure Roaringly Incredible. I feel this experience lives up to that acronym.

We left camp on a search for lion cubs a key sighting that we had not experienced yet. On the way we saw great hippo out of the water and a few other animals. Our mission was the lion cubs. They found the tracks and we found adult members of the pride but the cubs had obviously been hidden somewhere. Our ranger decided to cross the river to see if the cubs were on the other side. We crossed and went up and down the river bank no cubs to be found. It was getting late and we had given up when it came across the radio, the lion cubs have come out. Of course we were now on the wrong side of the river and a long way from the crossing place. We could see the cubs playing on the other side of the river it was an idyllic scene.

We raced down to a spot where we were told by the ranger from this part of the reserve it was safe to cross. All was going well but about 10 feet from the bank we stopped. This has happened to me before and another vehicle hooks up a tow line and pulls you out. No big deal. So I was not worried at all. Clay’s wife Brooke was a little nervous about this and I told her not to worry it would all be fine. We saw the Webster’s but they just waved, laughed at us and left. Our ranger explained we needed a Toyota Land Cruiser to get us out as a Land Rover would not be able to pull us out.

The Toyota arrived and our tracker got into the water and hooked up the tow line. The operation started and we simply spun our tires and got in deeper. A further three attempts rendered the same results. Not sure why we took all this so well but we were all enjoying the moment until we heard these words “sorry you need to get out of the vehicle and wade to shore”. Whoops!! Not what I had expected. Brooke handled this far better than I would have expected and said “lets take our shoes”. Did we listen to the voice of intelligent thought? Of course not, I thought about wearing them in the river but these were my only shoes. Of course I believed once on the bank the car would come right out and all would be well. They made the people in the Land Cruiser get out as well. The water was not cold and it was very shallow with a sandy a bottom no problem wading out. But once on the bank we had to move back from the vehicles for safety. That was hard with the sand and the grass that was a bit prickly. Brooke put on her shoes and was in fine shape but “unintelligent experienced ones” were having some difficulty. This sounds terrible I know but we were all laughing.

So now the attempt to pull us out starts again --- the vehicle did not budge. Oh my, what now! At this time the Turners turned up. Laughing at us, taking pictures enjoying seeing us all with our pants rolled up and bare feet. The Turner’s got out of their vehicle and when Jim heard that we waded out of the river he just cracked up laughing. The rangers hooked up the Turner’s Land Rover to the Land Cruiser and then to our stranded vehicle. After about three attempts our vehicle was returned to dry land. We all piled in and put back on our socks and shoes happy to be back in our comfort zone.

Too late to view the lion cubs we started home. Almost immediately we found a lion on the road. At that moment Clay’s phone rang. We all jumped and could not believe there was phone service this deep in the bush. He answered the phone and it was his insurance company. He said “well I am in South Africa right now” can I call you when I get back. He should have said “well I am in South Africa right now, was just rescued from a river and am looking at a lion right now, can I call you back later". By this time we were all in absolute hysterics. I know reading this it may sound scary but it was truly a great adventure and even Brooke who was very nervous on arrival came through with flying colors. She is a “tough seasoned safari gal now”. At no time were we in any danger it was just an inconvenience but a story I can now tell for a long time.

Safari experiences are so unique there is NO way to explain how all this feels when you are here. Everyone has had an incredible time it is sad to think there is only one day left.

This morning I joined the Webster’s and we went in search of a second group of lion cubs that were a little bit older. We had to cross the river again so of course we were all giving this ranger a hard time. The lion cubs were found and we went deep off road to get to them. These cubs were older about 7 months and cute as could be. One had found a plastic bottle and he was carrying that around and playing with it. There were seven cubs all together. We sat there by ourselves for quite some time watching. There were two female lion mothers with them. We left to let the rest of my family into the sighting.

On the way back we saw a leopard it was close to the road but very difficult to maneuver in to get a close look but we made it! We also saw a tree full of baboons. It looked like a baboon Christmas tree and the baboons were the ornaments. It was a neat sight.

We decided the grandparents or the wallets (as we are now called since we paid for everything for our families) should have a game drive together. So we mixed up the families and Jim, Pam, Ralph, Ken and I all went out together. We had John as our ranger who many of you may remember. We had a lovely adult afternoon, we went to a hyena den but the puppies were not coming out much into the open, but at least we saw them. A giraffe was born here about three weeks ago and one of the rangers and his guests saw the birth. We were lucky enough to see that baby giraffe. It was not an easy sighting she was in the trees but we could make out how small she was in comparison to her mother. We saw some elephants but the last two sightings were the highlight. A kill had taken place and we saw a male lion sleeping that the rangers did not recognize. We could not get to the kill but what was amazing were the vultures. These are really magnificent birds and there were so many of them. Flying over head and landing in many of the trees it was a great sight. We spent a ton of time just watching the vultures. Then the final sighting was also something I had not seen before. When the female hippo is ready to mate she pushes her backside way out of the water and wags her tail with gusto. The male hippo responds with the normal grunting sounds that hippos make. Then the disappear under the water. The mate in the water. We saw this behavior three times it was something to watch never seen that before.

At dinner Jim, Pam and Ralph gave me a gift for putting the safari together. They had commissioned a local sculptor to make a wild dog out of leadwood. It had taken months to complete and it was truly an incredible piece of art. I was overwhelmed and really quite speechless. They have pictures they will give me of the progress of the work from start to finish. I have already figured out where to put it in my house in front of a picture that Ken took at Madikwe Hills of some wild dogs near a river. At dinner tonight I just kept looking at this piece in awe of the workmanship and detail in this sculpture. I also cannot tell you how touched I was that they had done this for me. The biggest reward of going into this business has been the people I have met and the lifelong friends that we have made. That is quite frankly priceless!!

Tomorrow is our last full day at Leopard Hills. After the morning game drive seventeen are going to Elephant Whispers, and three are going to play golf. Just Pam, Ralph, Ken and I will be left in camp. A nice quiet afternoon.

The families have really bonded. I think there is a budding romance between my grandson Connor and Ralph's granddaughter Charlotte. They are together all the time. Of course they are only eleven.

This trip has exceeded my expectations in every way. The bonding of the families, and the exceptional game particularly at Madikwe and Kings Camp far better than I had expected. The food was also fantastic with Kings Camp taking the prize for food. Very mixed reviews on which camp was the best and that is good because it means they were all good. The "wallets" are very pleased

This will be quick and to the point because I lost an earlier post

Our safari schedule is the BEST. Really want to use this schedule in future. 7:30 am start for game drive in am. Do not miss a thing at that time. Afternoon game drive out at 2:30 pm. Back around 5:30 pm. Dinner no later than 6:30 pm. PERFECT !!!!!

We have not missed a thing

Camps are really good. Have not been to kings camp before and really liked it. Would go back again in a heart beat.

I forgot to mention we did a photo shot of pictures of our family yesterday afternoon and looked at the pictures today. Some were really great John took them for us. Great memories. Of course all the adult kids are asking the wallets to plan the next triple family trip. Once you start something you know how it goes.

Also we had the SNAKE GUY come and I always love his presentation. He does such a great job of educating and making people more comfortable with snakes. The kids were totally engaged both the young and older kids. He bought three poisonous snakes including a cobra. One he let crawl all over him. Everyone loved it.

This morning Clay, Brooke, Connor and Cindy took the morning off and did not go on a game drive. Clay did not to risk being late back from the game drive to leave to play golf. Jim and Clay are playing. Clay is a golf fanatic and is thrilled to play in South Africa.

We took Brayden and Ken, Ngaire, Mark and Taylor went in search of the lion cubs. Our ranger was Raymond and he is a great tracker. Only our vehicle was on the hunt. He figured out just where the mother had left the cubs from the tracks. It was a very thick bush area along a river bed. He kept driving back and forth this area and then success we spotted the cubs. They are so cute but skittish as they should be when mom is away.

They kept disappearing into the bush and we kept finding them again. We wanted to stay as if the mother came back the reunion is always terrific and cubs are relaxed. However time got away from us and we needed to get back for breakfast and for the group to head out to Elephant Whispers.

On the way we stopped to view the hippos out of the water. We saw a tiny baby only three weeks old SO adorable.

The troops all left for their activities and Ralph (now Uncle Ralph as far as my grandson Connor is concerned) Pam, Ken and I are all in the library working on our IPads it is a nice relaxing day. Ken is working on some pictures hopefully he will get some posted today.

We are having a fantastic trip. Loving the new schedule. Usually by this time we are feeling exhaustive but not on this trip. We are out at 7 to 7:30. Back at 9:30. Out again at 2:30. Home by 5:30 or 6 depending on sightings and dinner no later than 6:30 in bed by 9. Hate that it is almost over. Baby lion cubs, wild dog kill( the kids first sighting). We have seen it all and more. Really a great family bonding trip plus for Jim and me who have no brother and sisters we now have a great extended family with the webster's and hutarya's. Ken's pictures are really only giving you a small taste. On to 2014!

Photos From Leopard Hills:


The Wild Dog Presentation.


Snake School.


Baboons in the tree like Christmas ornaments.


Dwarf Mongoose.


Young Spotted Hyena.




Vultures waiting for the Lions to leave their kill.


The Webster Family on a game drive.


Some of the Webster & Turner kids on a game drive.

Not sure if I can get people into this new routine but I have absolutely loved it. We did it initially for the younger kids but we all found it so much better. Talking with the rangers several said it was a smart way to go. The early morning was just the tradition as in the summer it gets so hot you must go out at daylight as you cannot stay out when the sun comes up. The time of year we go this is not an issue. There is really no pressing need to go so early.

One ranger said let all the vehicles in the reserve go out and follow tracks and find the game. Then we can go out and see the sightings. Our wake up call was at 6.45 and we left no later than 7.30 am. The sun is up and it is not as cold. We sure missed nothing with this schedule. Then the earlier afternoon departure and the earlier dinner worked too. Having sometime to chill down at night was wonderful. As Pam said it can get so tiring but because we got more sleep we all feel so much better. I think in most cases the drives after dark are not good. It gets really cold you see little and if you run into elephants at night you can be stuck on the road for ages.

Something to seriously consider for the future. We also cut out afternoon tea as we went out earlier.

Okay off to lunch the "wallets" have ordered kingklip and prawns for lunch. Kingklip is a yummy South African fish.

WOW What fascinating and entertaining reports! Thank you so much for taking the time to post! Love it! And the photos!

I love the idea of the new schedule for all the reasons you mentioned....it gets our vote for 2015 ZEBRA.

Great family photos. Enjoy Leopard Hills. We'll all be sad when your trip ends, it's been so enjoyable for us too.

Wonderful photos as always. The mouth on that hippo...oh my!

More Leopard Hills Photos:


Our Family in the Bush.


We found the Cubs again.


Check out the baby Hippo laying down on the ground.

Spectacular animals and what a wonderful family photo - just beautiful! Must be those new game drives times that have everyone looking so happy and well-rested I will be so sorry to see your safari come to an end - so happy you were so willing to share so much of it with all of us!

We have loved following your family safari and as Kathy said, we'll be sorry to see it come to an end. Thanks to Ngaire for all her great descriptions and to Ken for wonderful photos.

We also love the new timetable. Maybe we can use that in the future. You certainly didn't see any fewer animals and it sounds a lot more relaxing and less tiring.

Maybe I'm just getting older, but those later starting times seem so civilized! Come back, late breakfast, time for cards, light lunch, etc...sounds fantastic.

I'm a little jealous of the fantastic trip you are having with your families.

The "younguns" really know how to keep the adults young at heart.

Pat, you're not getting older just more experienced!

What a wonderful family picture! The new schedule works much better with my body clock! I'm so happy that the families had such a wonderful safari experience and I suspect such a wonderful family memory.

One item we all forget to mention. The weather has been fantastic. The mornings are not as cold as expected nor the late afternoons early evenings and the middle of the day has been simply outstanding. Sad to see this adventure drawing to and end. Tomorrow is walk with the lions and play time with the lion cubs. Should be a great end to this once in a life time experience.

I can not wait to share this experience in 2015 with June. Something really special to look forward to I am sure.

We have arrived at sun city hotel. Internet is very slow and requires payment so do not expect much for a day or two. We do walk with lions on Friday. Flight was very smooth but did take 1 1/2 hours.

It is a hoot to see Ngaire worry over her wild dog. They have it all bubble wrapped and will carry it home. Ngaire does not want risk any thing happening to it.

So sad for your fabulous trip to end. I know what a fun time you'll have at Walk With The Lions, another highlight. What a trip of a lifetime you all have had !! We love Ngaire's wild dog and we know she'll always treasure it.

Safe travels back to reality....

I have a great idea, I think we need to have another LCT get together at Nagire's house so we can all see her Wild Dog............

Great idea, Arlene!!!

Looks like you all had a wonderful trip.
The 'walk with lions' will be the cherry on top!
It was for us & will be for you!

Enjoy!
Doug