Inyati - Sabi Sands Game Reserve.
http://www.inyati.co.za/
I am sitting on the deck of our ‘room’ at the lodge watching elephants and giraffes graze just a short distance away. It is hard to believe that we are about to take our last evening drive here at beautiful Inyati. The schedule is similar to that of the last camp. Early morning game drives, coffee or cocoa in the ‘bush’, return to a sumptuous brunch, free time until 1:30 pm ‘animal lecture’ held by Leslie, our fabulous and knowledgeable guide, 3:00 high tea (again, it’s really early happy hour!) fabulous cold hot hors d’oeuvres and sweets...brownies the size of your fist!....and then the evening drive begins at 3:30, which includes a cocktail stop where they have your preferred cocktail is ready for you within minutes of the ‘set up’ plus more hot and cold munchies. Our ‘ranger’ guides us in our open air 4 wheel drive 4 Runner ++ to different locations throughout the reserve, guided by our tracker who sits perched above the left front bumper on a small seat (and no seat belt!...for us either!) who looks for fresh tracks in the sandy ‘road’. Theses guides are amazing, today finding mother and baby cheetah tracks that lead us to an incredible, up close viewing of these amazing animals, resting and playing. We also have seen (very up close....within feet sometimes!) rhinos, giraffe, hyenas with babies, rhino, hippos, lions, (males and a ‘pride’ of three females with 2 babies!) and a Cheetah with a baby this morning. Just yesterday alone we saw the ‘Big 5’ of African Safaris: Lion, Leopard, Rhino, Cape Water Buffalo and Elephants, including countess other species/birds previously unknown to most of us. We had an elephant ‘encounter’ yesterday which consisted of about 15 - 20 young bull elephants who we observed coming up over a hill on the horizon about 1/4 mile away heading towards our jeeps and and portable ‘cocktail lounge’ that was set up; yes, with a small table, table cloth, glasses (not plastic), ice, lime slices etc. As the elephants got closer the ‘bar’ it was quickly packed up by the guides. We were told to immediately get into the vehicles and then drove around the the other side of the watering hole. And then they came.....lining up around the pond, drinking, splashing and one elephant moving within about 3 feet of our vehicle. Amazing and surreal.
These evening drives have been the favorite part of the day for me and Erin certainly and I imagine for others here also. The wind is hot and dry as we set out from camp in our deluxe 4 Runners, slathered in sun screen and everyone with hats to protect us from the hot African sun. One amazing sighting after another. By the time we head back to camp the air and wind is no longer hot but instead envelopes us like a soft blanket, warm and comforting as we drive over the plains and bush....wind in our hair.
The red sun setting in the distance lights the sky on fire.....all seen through the ‘typical’ ‘African’ Acacia trees which frame the bottom of the “picture” perfectly. The sky begins to darken and now we can see the crescent moon rising above the horizon, Venus and Jupiter close by, with a billion stars starting to illuminate the evening sky. It is quiet, peaceful, even amidst the sound of the strong vehicle carrying us ‘home’. It is at this time that I think most of us feel a strong and deeply moving connection to the ancient history in earth below us, to the dimming light in the sky as the Universe explodes above us, to the humans who are ‘with’ us and those who have gone before us. But most of all, it is, for me, the primeval connection I now, and quite suddenly, feel with all the amazing creatures of the Earth. For all the adjectives I could choose, no word or words can describe what we now know is truly ‘Africa’. We are truly melting into the River of Souls.
‘What is mine?’
‘What is God’s?’
‘What is the river’s?”
Quote from Dan Fogelberg’s ‘River of Souls’.
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