We went for breakfast at another pancake house, and they actually served breakfast pancakes. Although they called them flapjacks. I now understand why pancakes are stuffed for lunch and dinner instead of drowned in maple syrup for breakfast. No maple syrup. They made a valiant attempt with a cane sugar syrup with maple-ish flavouring. I don't think I'll be having any more pancakes. At least not for breakfast.
The waitress asked where we were from, and when I told her Canada, she replied "Why would you vacation in Graskop? It's so cold here!" I replied that compared to home, this is summer time! Graskop is actually on the top of the Drakensburg escarpment, which passes for mountains around here at an elevation of 1396m. So it was cold at night, but by 7:30 am, it seemed like it was going to be a reasonable day.
So we headed out towards the game park, taking the scenic route. We caught a few more scenic over-looks with more crafts for sale. One of which had 2 foot bridges over a canyon and waterfall, with smoothly carved "potholes" from the flow of the water. UG enjoyed climbing out on the rocks to get the best picture, I suggested he let me hold his wallet and car keys. You know, just in case. He elected to keep them, figuring if he went over the edge, I'd need some incentive to have him rescued.
Along the road, we saw a few groups of baboons, but again, moving too fast to get any pictures.
At one point, we turned off on the road towards the game lodge at some little town only marked on the map as a point to turn off. We've passed dozens of small towns and seen no more than 10 people at any given time (not including tourists at the viewpoints, of course, we were following a bus) so we didn't expect to see anyone at this turn-off. Somehow, for at least 5km, there were thousands of people in the streets. There were a few shops and streetside vendors, but more people than we've seen since Amsterdam! And even a few goats wandering amongst the people as well.
As soon as we entered the game reserve, which is a large area shared by a dozen or so private lodges, we saw some impala. I also saw some large buffalo looking things just inside the fence before we got to the gate. I called them water buffalo. But once we arrived at the lodge, and you can see more from the deck of the main building, the staff called them wildebeast. Oops.
The lodge is gorgeous, I again may not want to leave. There are 2 pools, both of which over look a field where impala and some wildebeast graze all day long. Meals are included, and we arrived in time for lunch, which included a curry and rice dish followed by yummy chocolate cake.
After a swim, we headed out on our first game drive. 9 guests plus 2 guides (a driver and a spotter) climbed into an open top jeep and headed out for about 3 hours. Our first sighting, about 20 minutes out, was 4 white rhino!!!! I am so excited because these are rare, endangered and prime prey for poachers, so I wasn't sure we'd see any. But they were on my personal top 5 list, along with hippo, elephant, zebra and giraffe. Apparently this was a male and 3 females he's hoping to get lucky with. When we got near, the male started to charge our jeep, which freaked us out, but he didn't get too close, and the guide explained he does that in the presence of the ladies, but he's a bit of a wimp most of the time, and it's what's known as a "mock charge". After a couple of minutes, they all wandered off and we kept driving.
About 10 minutes later, we saw a couple of teenage male elephants. Once we arrived, they split off and we followed the one. I embarrased myself by being the only one to giggle when the guide explained that the elephant's erect penis weigh about 27kg, and he can use it to swipe flies off his belly.
Then we moved on and saw more impala. Then we crossed a dam and saw 3 hippos in the water, but didn't hang out for long there.
Then we found a leopard hanging out in the grass, and we sat in the jeep next to her for quite a while. Apparently she is 7 years old and is very used to the jeeps.
Then we stopped for a "sundowner", drinks in the dark in the bush before driving back to "camp". On the way home, we saw a couple of male elephants who didn't like the vehicle in the dark, so one of them trumpetted at us. They could possibly have been the same ones we saw earlier. Moving along before we could charged, we passed a field of zebra, but I just caught a glimpse of striped bums as the spotter moved the light across. It disturbs the animals, and possibly makes them go blind if you shine bright lights on them, so we didn't get more than just knowing they were there and kept going. So 4 of my top 5 on the first day! We also saw some rabbits briefly when the light passed over them. Watching the spotters light, you realize how he does his job. He passes it so quickly here and there, stopping so quickly that you barely have time to register what you are looking at, let alone if it's something unique.
Dinner is held in the "boma", an outdoor ring surrounding a fire pit, with fancy white table cloths and glasses of wine. Chicken skewers and beef stroganoff followed by ice cream sundaes. Finished off with marshmallows and skewers when the fire was just right. We came back to our room right after without hanging around to discuss the constellations. It was just after 9pm, and we have a 5:30am wake-up call for our next game drive. I did see a shooting star just as dinner started. And life is so good right now, I had no idea what to wish for!
The camp is not fully fenced, there's an opening by reception, so we're required to wait for an escort to walk us to our "rondavel". Yikes!
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