Following a late night of drinking, the next day at Ukhozi started with an early (and I mean early for regular people….) game drive. I got up as planned, showered, and was getting ready when I realized that I had to wake Jen up with a pillow fight again. Wine can cause a bit of trouble with getting up on time! The alarm here went off at 5:00 AM, for us both to get showers and ready by 6:30. To be honest, the details on the morning game drive were a bit fuzzy, I didn’t really remember what happened the night before and I couldn’t remember what was said!
With that stated, though, I knew there was something about 6:30, so I got up, got ready, woke Jen, and was patiently waiting as she got ready when out of the blue she came screaming out of the bathroom area: “Nope! Nope nope nope!”, and pointing above the sink. It was one of the largest spiders I have ever seen.
A different spider, in the lounge, but you get the idea. That’s a couch he’s on for a sense of scale.
I should take this moment to point out that the Ukhozi chalet houses are pretty much open to bugs and all sorts of critters. While mostly elevated, we discovered that most of the drains empty just below the lodge onto rocks (not the toilet, but about everything else). This leaves some large gaps for large bugs, and the spider was easily the size of my hand, and its legs would have hung off the edges. I wanted to take pictures, but chivalry got the better of me and I grabbed the trash bucket. It was the only instrument large enough to put the monster spider outside. This, however, resulted in a fiasco in which I ended up dropping the empty bucket in the shower, only to discover another (much smaller) spider in the bucket, and now in the shower. During this incident, the big spider hid again behind the bathroom wall mirror. We sprayed some bug spray all over, Jen very bravely took a shower, and we headed out to the game drive.
We wandered into the main lodge/restaurant for Ukhozi to find it empty, and wondered if we had gotten the timing wrong, but Imogen quickly appeared to tell us that it was just starting, and we were right on time. After a quick coffee (the cappuccino machine was broken), we headed out.
The main lodge at Ukhozi
Today there was a German couple who had also joined us the first day, but while they were friendly enough we didn’t really get to know them, and they wanted to see lions. We began our trek with hints of tracks and stories of sightings, and drove around trying to spot the elusive big cat. While we had trouble, another ranger spotted the older male of the bunch and soon we were sitting within feet of him. It was one of the most surreal experiences of my life. No bars, no real safety measures, twenty feet from an adult male lion. Jen took a selfie (see Facebook and will eventually upload), I took pictures, watched the lion with a bit of trepidation, but didn’t really feel unsafe. Imogen was at the wheel, the lion had his eyes closed for the most part, and again the animal remained docile. We safely took some of the most amazing pictures I think my camera has ever taken, and we continued on our way as the lion decided he was done posing for a photo shoot.
For reference… were were really this close!
The rest of the drive was calm, mainly looking for different types of animals and heading back to the “safe” side of the park. In the back of the safari vehicle, the ride is extremely bumpy, and Jen and I had fun trying to both hold on, and see how it felt to flirt with disaster. Imogen was very accommodating, and we made it back unscathed. We spent the rest of the day sitting on the outside area of the chalet and while I typed yesterday’s entry Jen distracted me (in a good way) with talks of what she was witnessing on the open area below. A warthog chased a herd of animals by the lake, we watched as nature meandered on in front of us. Eventually it was time for our lunch, and the second game drive of the day.
I just realized I’ve never discussed the meals at the lodge, at least not for breakfast. They are, as was everything, delicious. To start plenty of cold options, then toast, and a “warm” menu that includes a very stuffed omelet which fulfilled my every whim for an omelet Mushrooms, cheese, bacon, sausage, etc., etc.. it was great on all accounts. Breakfast typically follows the first game drive, and lunch takes place around 2:00 PM before the evening game drive at 3:30. The game drives are about three hours each, and we typically head back with about a half-hour to spare. The evening of the second day, Jen requested that we hunt elephants, and Imogen was happy to oblige!
Breakfast at the Lodge
Again we set off into the park, seeing signs of broken tree limbs, elephant dung on the roads, and the soft trumpeting of a pack of elephant. Ukhozi has around 30 elephants total, and we got to see three or four of them within feet of our vehicle, crossing the road on all sides, snacking on the vegetation, and moving through the dense brush. The park does not cut the ivory from their male elephants (though they do trim the rhino horns, though not ivory, to save them from poaching), though we only really saw females. Promises of male elephants to come as well! I don’t remember how much time we spent watching the elephants, but we were soon out of time, and after a quick stop for drinks (did I mention there is a drinks and snack break?!?) we headed back in. I know we saw more animals that night, but I’ll have to go through the pictures to remember it for sure. It was another great day.
Hippos!
Dinner made me laugh, the first item on the menu was “ostrich”, and Jen beat me to asking if the lodge was like Red Lobster, and we could point out an animal to eat to put on our plate at the end of the day. Imogen laughed, but assured me that was not the case. I think she might actually be a vegetarian, but I’m guessing at this point. She said that there was no way the game reserve would operate that way, and my thought was if it did… people like her who are extremely passionate not only about the animals but about the feel of the park and the personality of protection and sanctity that it provides to the animals, wouldn’t hang around. Obviously, I’m in agreement on this point, and given our experiences I think that Imogen really provides a great deal of the ambiance this trip had, we really can’t thank her enough, and I hope she outlasts the stigma of a temporary job (more on this later, but know that the average work-career of a game reserve guide is very short per-park), and that she continues to have such an amazing passion for what she does.
All of that said, I did still have the ostrich, and it was quite delicious. I’ve had it before, and it is actually a red meat, which most people don’t expect or know. It’s very much like beef in my mind, but it was cooked to perfection as always and it was succulent to boot. Another great end to a spectacular day.
Hopefully wasn’t my dinner…
I was reading this at work & I almost got fired because I was laughing SO hard at the “spider incident.”
It was a valiant fight! We barely escaped with our lives 😉