South Africa – Day 5, Safari at Pilanesberg Game Reserve

After spending a thought filled day of service at Teboho Trust yesterday, we had a rather light day today. We checked out of our accommodations in Pretoria and headed 1 ½ hours to Pilanesberg to the Kwa Maritane Game Reserve. The park is home to Africa’s “Big Five”: lion, leopard, black and white rhino, elephant, and buffalo. Our stay at the reserve began with a fine buffet that featured everything from Sushi and pastas to traditional African fare. The meal cost us 160 Rand each, which amounts to around 20 US dollars. That’s a good deal. We checked into our plush rooms at the reserve, and I do mean plush. The rooms were very nice, but we didn’t have time to take it all in… safari at 3!

We all piled into an open air truck, and our guide “Ranger Louie” took us on a 4 ½ hour drive through the reserve. We saw zebra, several species of antelope, wilderbeast, giraffe, elephants, black and white rhino, a female lion, wart hogs, 2 hippo carcasses (sorry, no live hippos), and plenty of indigenous plant species. About half way through, we stopped at a shop run buy the game reserve and purchased a few souvenirs. We headed back to the game lodge from there, where we had another big buffet meal included in the price of lunch. I told you it was a good deal. After some good dinner conversation with Jose Bright and the rest of the group, some of the younger folk headed over to Sun City. The rest of chatted with Jose Bright before turning in for the evening.

See! I told you it was a light day. I’m going to get a good night’s rest. Tomorrow we visit the Apartheid Museum.

Written by Frederick A Hanna