7. - 13 Dec.: Schotia Game reserve to Knysna, via Elephant Back Ride Safari

Get up at the crack of dawn (well almost, it must have been 6:30am) for a quick (wood fire heated) shower in the open, an instant coffee and an early morning walking safari in the hills around our tents. Justin is there as promised and so is the Washington couple we met yesterday.

We start slowly and enjoy the cool early morning air but no animals in sight. The Washington lady jogs around and gets way ahead of the rest of us but suddenly grinds to a halt when in sight of the two huge mammals. Rhinos! Two big white rhinos, buth sadly dehorned by poachers in May 2013.

We can get very close. Maybe a bit too close when Justin tells me to freeze as I drop to the ground to photograph from down up and one rhino puts its big lips on the ground within two meters from the tip of my lens. Great pictures though!

After breakfast we drive to Lenmore, a restaurant not far and our meeting point with Walter, from elephant back ride safari. Yan insisted on doing this and while I was initially a bit reluctant as we have a lot of driving today and lots to see on the way, she was right as this turned out to be a unique experience.

From Lenmore it is a long drive, over one hour on a highway then 45 minutes of a dirt road with potholes the size of bomb craters. We are pretty shattered when we get to the reserve but thrilled with anticipation.

Walter tells us he used to work here but then changed jobs to driver because too remote wants to be with family. Proudly show his name and number still on gate. He now takes cigarettes and other stuff to the staff at the camp who don't see civilization for weeks on end.

There are three elephants, and they always go together even if there are no clients. We rent two elephants and the third just follows... We start a bit late: while the elephants are tamed, they are free to roam around and to gather them for the tourist ride is not always a five minute affair.

It's a lot of fun to ride them, and it is as natural as it gets: no saddles or seats, just our bums on their bare back. Walter smiles when we say we'd like to ride longer than the standard half an hour: "You'll bruise your behind raw!" After 45 minutes we realize he was right, but it was worth it!

At the end of our ride we get a tasty lunch by a small lake, and then all start our way back over the bomb craters to Lenmore and our car.

 Time to drive to Knysna, which we reach after an easy five hour drive on the N2, the long coastal road that runs along South Africa's maritime regions.

Dinner is at the Golf club with Mike, a German friend of mine who used to be my neighbor in Belgium. Rather an ex German I should say: he moved to Italy from his native country when he was very young, married Carla, a bright and beautiful Italian lady he met at work, and lived and worked around the world ever since. Ten years ago he retired and they decided to abolish Fall and Winter from their vocabulary: May to October in Italy, and November to April in South Africa, where of course the seasons are inverted. Carla sadly passed away a few years ago but Mike keeps his seasonal hybernation routine.

There is a birthday party going on and the main dining room is taken. Crowds of all-white friends singing South Africa's national anthem. I am especially struck by their singing the rifst lines in Xhosa: Nkosi sikelele Afrika... A song full of meaning, especially when sung by whites. The new South Africa.

No fear: we get table in the main hall, between the kitchen and the bar. Delicions seafood, nice full bodied Chardonnay from the Cape (beer for Mike) and a very forgiving check. The strong Euro buys a pretty good time in South Africa this year.

6. - 12 Dec.: Game drives and walks at Schotia Game Reserve

This morning our driver is Justin, son of owner of Schotia who is going to take over at some point.  He is very passionate about the reserve and his job and shows both affection and authority while is leading our tour. A close up encounter with a lone male lion soon after breakfast is just what we need to wake up.

Readying a hot bath

After lunch we rest a bit and then go for a walking safari around our tented camp. We run into a family of giraffe who let us come pretty close.It is warm and sunny, an ideal afternoon for a leisurly walk in the wild. I take the opportunity of our stop at the camp to add more wood to the water heating furnace.

Later on we keep on driving and share car with a couple from Washington state. He is cool and easy she is a bit paranoid about the animals and diseases. I wonder why she came to Africa in the first place.

In the evening, after another filling and tasty meat buffet by the fire, we welcome the night by driving out again in search for the lion, whom this time we meet as he is lying in the open grass.

But the most frightening encounter of the day is yet to come: it's about 11pm and we are making our way home when our good old friend Old Boss who is not yet ready for a good night sleep. He is in musth and when Justin tries to drive on the way to our tents he seems to have alrady lost his sense of humor.

Old Boss is not ready for sleep

The day ends with a candle-lit hot bath in our large tatch-covered tub house. I add more wood to the furnace and the water is nice and hot, a pleasant contrast to the moonlit chilly evening outside.

5. - 11 Dec.: Lalibela Lodge to Schotia Safari Game Reserve

Funny how these two private game reserves have names coming from different parts of the world, very far from South Africa.

In the morning another early game drive and then an easy move a few km to the west to Schotia Safari Game Reserve . This is a very different type of reserve: not luxury and in fact in part a tented camp. Our tent is quite big and it is raised from the floor by a system of stilts.

Quite a romantic bathroom too: water is heated by wood, and one of the first things I must learn is how to add wood to the furnace just outside the bathroom, next to the shower.

Male elephant

Our ranger for the afternoon drive is Leandi, a petite and seemingly fragile blond girl in her late twenties. (OK Leandi if you are reading this by any chace please don't be upset if I got it wrong, I am always wrong with ladies' age.) Yan asks about the meaning of her name and the answer is quite unique: her mother had six sisters and L.E.A.N.D.I. are the initials of their names. I forgot the sisters' names, but the ethimology stuck in my mind.

Bull chasing jeep

Leandi drives better than I have seen any man drive, especially when shifting our big 12 seater 4x4 into reverse and backing off in the mud from a charging elephant bull in chase. She also knows quite a bit and gives us comprehensive explanations about the fauna and the flora we see.

Dinner buffet by the fire, just next to the croc and hippo pond. Then a night drive during which, with the help of a big halogen light, we see a lone male lion resting in a bush. Can't really see much of him but enough to get some adrenaline pumping.The best sight though is a majestic male kudu who passes nonchalantly by as we drive home.

Male kudu, my fav antilope

4. - 10 Dec.: Game drives and night safari

In the cold afternoon drizzle we again brave the elements but are rewarded when we meet the resident cheetahs with a recent kill. The mother and 4 cubs rest, stomachs full, next to the carcass of a springbok. They sit atop a hill, with clear visibility in all directions, and are probably waiting to finish off what flesh is left on the bones of the antilope before the hyenas home in at night.

Cheetah meal leftover

A number of other sightings, including a large family of elephants who block the road and force us to wait a good half an hour, make the discomfort worthwhile after all. It's dusk and we are making our way back to the lodge, we meet a matriarch elephant leading her herd through the thick forest and into a green expanse. They are obviously used to cars and can't be bothered by our presence.

After dinner we go for a night safari, it is my first ever. Yuan is driving with one hand and brandishing a powerful halogen lamp with the other. He only points it at nocturnal animals, who can quickly adjust to it, and avoids shining it into the face of diurnal animals who could easily be blinded and scared away.

We go by our cheetas and they are still there, no signs of hyenas. Yuan explains that normally they would have gone to hide by now but evidently can't afford to leave all that meat behind. 

After a little while we run into  our elephants again, and the matriarchal female moves very close to us to show who is in charge. Yuan is slightly worried, shifts into reverse and backs off. I am a bit disappointed as I would have liked to see the animal closer, even more so when he says he would have let her come and touch the car had he been alone. Still, a magical moment to share with these gentlr beasts under a soft moonlight.

3. - 9 Dec.: Lalibela game drives and walks

Yuan and vehicle

Game drives and walks all day. The weather is not our best friend, it is drizzling and rather chilly, unexpected. I have not taken much warm clothing along, but make good use of a couple of sweaters. Yuan provides us with warm blankets that help moderate the wind chill in our oper vehicles. My major problem is keeping my cameras dry, and Yan her binoculars.

In the afternoon we do a walking safari with Jill, a lady who is the head ranger here. Don't meet much in terms of big animals, or even small animals for that matter. A bit disappointed as I did not come here to see small flowers and footprints. Our guide does not allow us to get closer to  hippos than about 250 meters with a pond between us. Ok safety first but this seems a bit excessive to me.

End of the day with another spectacular game drive with Yuan. This time it is cheetahs who keep us company.

To cap an exhilarating drive, a lone white rhino happens to be on our way but keeps grazing carelessly as we drive by.

Great meals as usual in the Lalibela lodge, and enjoyable evening by the fireplace backing up pictures to my hard drives and talking to Yuan about his country and his life. All he wants is a peaceful South Africa, he is too young to even remember apartheid anyway. He says his parents tought differently, but they belong to a different era, that seems almost inconceivable now. Of course.