MalaMala Safari
“Nants ingonyama!”… I have the “Circle of Life” from the Lion King stuck on repeat in my head and I feel like I’m five years old again on Christmas morning, giddy with excitement. We just arrived at MalaMala Camp, one of the private game reserves in Sabi Sands, where we’ll be for the next two nights. This is my first safari experience and while I’m hoping we see a ton of animals, I’m trying not to have any expectations. But the drive in was enough to get the adrenaline going as we spotted our first elephant and a couple giraffes!
We were greeted by a welcoming team, one of whom was Liam, our safari guide for the next two days. Being extremely attractive must be a requirement for the job and I was hoping his good lucks wouldn’t distract me from the animals. He showed us around the property and provided the details for each day’s adventures. Impala and Nyala, who clearly aren’t phased by humans, are grazing all over camp and when we got to our rooms, an entire family of baboons was hanging out right off our back porch! With blazing hot temps and an hour to kill before lunch, we decided to take advantage of the infinity pool, which looks out over the reserve. This is just spectacular… I can’t believe I’m here!
At lunch we met Andrew and Sunny, a couple from San Diego who are on their honeymoon and who we will be going on our game drives with. Our first one is at 4pm this afternoon. We all gathered on the deck at the main lodge and then made our way to the tiered-seating, open 4×4 vehicle that would be taking us off road into the bush. Liam grabbed his rifle, hopped in the driver’s seat and off we went.
We weren’t even five minutes into the drive when we spotted a baby crocodile keeping cool in the swamp. A few minutes later we came across a giraffe and slowly followed him as he meandered across the riverbed to his buddy. Liam parked the vehicle and we sat and watched the giraffe for quite some time as he kept bending down to drink from the watering hole.
To better track the animals, all of MalaMala’s rangers are in contact with each other when out on drives and Liam got word of a leopard cub sighting, so off we went. Once we tracked down the location and pulled around the bush, the leopard cub came into view resting in the shade. She is beautiful! It’s hard to believe something that cute can be so dangerous.
We stayed with her for awhile, following her every time she got up and walked through the bush. She eventually made her way down to the river bed where she laid down in the sand right in front of our vehicle. It’s crazy how close we get to the animals and slightly unnerving! But I have full trust in Liam… he obviously knows what he’s doing. MalaMala only allows two vehicles to view an animal at a time, so after about an hour, Liam suggested we give another vehicle a chance to come in.
From there, he drove us to a clearing with a great view out over the reserve where we got out of the vehicle and enjoyed a few sundowners. It gets dark quickly out here and it was pitch black by the time we made our way back to camp. Liam had one hand on the wheel and the other on his flashlight scanning back and forth across the road looking for glowing eyes. We came across a few zebras but nothing more intimidating… maybe that was a blessing? Lol.
Back at camp, we had to be escorted to our rooms since it was after dark and that’s when the danger of stumbling upon a leopard or a lion is at greatest risk. We quickly changed and were escorted back to the main lodge for drinks and dinner. All the rangers and their guests spend about thirty minutes in the bar area recapping what they saw, which Liam said is his least favorite part… unless of course he’s had the day’s best sightings. Dinner is out on the big wooden deck and tonight Liam is joining the three of us. It was nice having the additional time with him, learning more about where he’s from, his family and the details of his job. I’m fascinated by this ranger lifestyle and the training that is involved… or maybe I’m just fascinated by him. We were all having a great time over a bottle of wine and a delicious dinner, but with a 5am wake-up call looming, bed time came quicker than we would have liked.
We were back out in the bush before 6am the next morning, which is quite an accomplishment for me considering I don’t usually do early mornings. Totally worth it though because Liam was in search of the lion pride who had been spotted in the area and it didn’t take us long to find them relaxing in the sand of the dried up riverbed. He pulled our vehicle between the male lion, who could have cared less that we were invading his snoozefest, and the two lionesses who were hanging with their six lion cubs. Seriously, six Simbas?!? This cuteness is more than I can handle. We watched them feed, be playful with their mothers and fight over the remnants of yesterday’s kill, which one of the cubs dragged down from the embankment and proceeded to showboat in front of the others all while ensuring he was the only one enjoying the feast. While our focus was mostly on the cubs, we did notice El Hefe roll over, stretch and settle back into a deep sleep… I guess Liam wasn’t kidding when he said lions are lazy and sleep about 20 hours a day.
I could have watched this entertainment for hours, but after one we continued on in search of more wildlife. After a dwarf mongoose sighting (they’re so cute and tiny), spotting a hippo mostly submerged in the watering hole and our first up-close elephant encounter, we headed back for a group breakfast. The weather has done a 180 in the last 24 hours, so there will be no lounging by the pool… but while we were lounging in our rooms, a herd of elephants, at least 15 of them, passed through camp and we had an incredible view from our patio!
On our second afternoon drive, Liam spotted a female leopard feasting on an impala up in the tree branches. We were lucky enough to see her come down the trunk ready to hunt more impala who were grazing in a nearby clearing. Fortunately for the impala, they saw her before she could prepare her method of attack and one of the herd started barking out an alarm to alert the others of her presence. She called off the hunt and we followed her through the bush until she found her cub and settled down on a rock to rest.
From there we drove forever in search of a rhino. Unfortunately South Africa is fighting a rhino poaching crisis, due to the growing demand for rhino horn in Asian countries, especially China and Vietnam. Their horns are made of keratin, which is the same type of protein that is found in our hair and fingernails, and has no scientific medical benefits. However, eastern cultures believe the horn has the power to heal everything from cancer to hangovers and due to the horn’s exorbitant cost on the black market, it has also become a status symbol for the wealthy. Because of South Africa’s commitment to stop this abhorrent crime, the safari rangers are not allowed to share rhino sightings over the radio, so Liam was on his own trying to spot one for us. Even he seemed excited when, out of nowhere, a male appeared grazing just off the road we were cruising along. Watching this cute and seemingly docile rhino for several minutes made me really sad to think someone could be so cruel as to take this animal’s life just to cut off his horn for an unfounded human belief, which is putting this species in danger of becoming extinct.
Back at camp, we were greeted by escorts who said a lioness and her cubs were spotted on property and stressed the importance of not walking anywhere alone. Liam arranged for all of us to eat dinner together, which was a great way to spend our last night. We’ve really enjoyed getting to know Andrew and Sunny and even though we’ve only been together for a day and a half, it feels like we’re a safari family! With much needed rain beginning to fall this evening and a forecast showing it was to continue well into the morning, Liam said it didn’t look good for our last safari drive in the am… so we opened another bottle of wine and closed down the bar. But he did promise to call us in the morning if things changed and we were able to go out.
I was surprised when Liam called at 6:30 saying the rain had let up and to be ready in thirty minutes. After scrambling to get out the door in time, I was shocked to realize the difference in temperature from two days ago when we first arrived. It’s freezing! I bundled up with extra jackets and blankets in the top seat of the 4×4 as we cruised around in search of Cape Buffalo, the last of the Big Five we have yet to see. Coined by game hunters, the term Big Five refers to the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot, mainly due to the degree of danger involved, not necessarily the animal’s size. Lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant and Cape Buffalo make up the Big Five and safari destinations now use Big Five sightings as a measuring tool against other game reserves.
Unfortunately we weren’t able to find a herd of Buffalo to complete our Big Five, but just before it was time to head in for breakfast, we found a lioness with her five cubs. The mother is part of the same pride we saw yesterday, but because her cubs are only a few weeks old, she hasn’t introduced them to the rest of the family yet. I can’t… these cubs are the most precious fury little things I’ve ever laid eyes on. We watched as the little ones worked together trying to get their mom to roll over so they could feed and we were in hysterics when we saw her dump one off her back not giving in to the request. At one point she stood up and with eyes on an impala herd just down the riverbed, she started to stalk closer to her potential meal. We were beyond excited thinking we were going to see a kill, which is one of the more difficult sightings to witness live. Liam repositioned our vehicle so we’d be in a good spot to watch it all go down as she continued to creep closer and closer to the impala, but her cubs weren’t getting the message and they kept following her through the reeds. Realizing they weren’t going to let her hunt, she eventually gave up and laid down in surrender. It would have been an amazing experience to witness the circle of life, but I’m also slightly relieved we didn’t see it all go down because I think the visual would have been hard for me to erase from my mind.
As we headed back to the lodge for breakfast, I felt an overwhelming sense of sadness. This safari was one of those once in a lifetime experiences I’ll never forget. Words can’t describe how incredible it is to be not even fifteen feet from a leopard or a lion as you watch them go about life in their natural habitat. And Liam is so incredibly knowledgeable about the land, the different species of animals and even the individual animals we saw. We learned so much from him and were so impressed with the respect he had for these creatures. I’m glad we have more exciting adventures in South Africa to look forward to, because it’s going to be very hard to say goodbye to our MalaMala safari family. And I’m definitely going to miss our ranger eye candy 😉