Singita Sabi Sands

Arrived here on Tuesday late morning via a new Beechcraft 8 seater 2 pilot twin prop. Our welcome was an impala on the side of the runway on approach. The rest of our Cape Town-Jo’burg group came later, after making a second approach due to the impala having moved onto the runway barring the plane from landing. Although we arrived late after being diverted to an alternate airport due to fog in Jo’burg, we were in time for lunch and afternoon safari. It was to be the first of our two-a-day - one at 5:30am and the other at 3pm ish jeep outtings.

Amazing stuff. Castleton Camp, unbeknownst to any of us, is a common lodge with full kitchen, staff quarters and private cabins with pool and tennis court. We had all thought from previous description the camp to be a big lodge w/ bedrooms. We were happy either way, but are enjoying the privacy of separate cottages. Did I mention we have our own chef? Oh, and our own guides and trackers for safaris?

Most amazing are the animals. The smells. The African scenery. Sunrises on safari and sunsets overlooking the plains. Oh, and stops for a pee and tea or a sundowner along the way, to break up the 3-4 hour treks through the 56,000 acres Sabi Sands reserves.

So what do our hundreds of pictures show? Rhinos and hippos, impalas and zebras, elephants and giraffes, eagles and vultures and other assorted birds, and monkeys and baboons, kudus and lions, leopards and wildebeest, water buck and herds of cape buffalo, civit and nyala, and….funny enough, one of the most amazing experiences was watching our tracker locate a chameleon on a leaf on a tree at night with his spotlight as we were driving down the road at 20 miles an hour! Of course, the leopard eating its impala kill was another wow, as her cubs wrestled a few yards away. Too-too many special moments to elaborate upon here, but just know that we captured as many as we could and just absorbed at the moment what we couldn’t, like the thick swath of the Milky Way star system illuminating our nights, with Orion’s Belt and the Southern Cross brightly guiding us in the right direction.

Tonight was our reason for coming here, our cousins Beth and Jeff’s vow renewal ceremony. Breathtaking event held at sunset, overlooking the watering hole just beyond our backyard, w/ impala chasing one another in the background and a curious rhino and baboon lurking nearby. African dancers, singers and drummers added to the festivities along with a food and wine tasting menu to be rivaled by the best in South Africa. Many speeches and pictures, videotaking and dancing later, we are now tucked in safe after being escorted back to our cabin, looking forward to what the next morning’s safari will bring.

Next day: a leopard in a tree branch high overhead; a large bull elephant in musk crossing the river, his scent overwhelming us in the high reeds; a journey of giraffes with a newborn – umbilical cord still attached; a crash of rhinos with two little ones in tow; a troop of baboons crossing our path and travelling between the trees; there is no end to the surprises nature provides. I feel closely connected to the animals here, and appreciate our trackers’ knowledge of plants and animal signs and habits, scents and habitats; a closeness to nature us city-folk would be hard pressed to understand, so distant we have become from our natural habitat. How much we humans would like to believe we are civilized, when in reality we are still and will always be animals, with intuition and instincts that remain in effect if we would only listen to them – would we be better off?