🙂 Fantastic off peak rate thanks to friends! Amazing co-incidence! Rhinos!
🙁 Tin Can Hire Car! LOL! Not a great guide 🙁
Playing it forward – share the LOVE to make a positive difference … Madikwe Hills is very proud to play a prominent, active role in the upliftment of the local communities around Madikwe Game Reserve. Madikwe Hills supports the Lesedi Day Care Centre in Rietpan – your donation goes a long way …
Wednesday, 23 August 2023
We have heard such great things about Madikwe, so when fellow VHRs mentioned that their friend could accommodate us with a huge discount at Madikwe Hills we grabbed the opportunity! I changed our flights to SA (which were via a Companion Voucher from Amex) to fly a few days earlier and we received a further refund as it was off peak and which completely covered our stay so it was cost neutral – Win Win! 🙂
We had an enjoyable flight, collected our hire car … Paul was horrified – it only cost us £50 for the 3 days and e could see why!! It really was bad. A 1l Renault KWID… Yikes! It was in fact SO bad that when we arrived at the gates of Madikwe to check ourselves in, the Guard asked us if we were returning workers?!! He could not believe that we were paying guests in that vehicle! Ha! Ha! 🙂
We drove through the gates and almost immediately saw a white rhino – very special.
A few kilometres on and we had a lovely herd of elephants.
On arrival at Camp we were warmly welcomed with a drink and a quick briefing. We were shown to our magnificent HOUSE (not a room!) overlooking the water hole – stunning!
Fully stocked mini bar! Groovy lighting!
We were ravenous and a delicious lunch was served – stunning views… LOVED the deconstructed banoffee pie!
After lunch we napped around the plunge pol and watched the Kudu, elephants, giraffe, wildebeest etc etc coming to drink from the waterhole – blissful! All too soon it was time for our game drive – but we were rearing to go and find what was out there! Our Guide Ivan introduced himself and our Spotter. We had some great elephant sightings and a magical rhino sighting. The sunset was superb making sundowners special. We shared our vehicle with a lovely couple from Australia called Natalia and Josh. They said they lived on the Gold Coast and I told them that my best friend from school lives at Mermaid Beach and they laughed and said that was a bit upmarket for them… and conversation moved to lots of other things as they are also very well travelled.
We enjoyed the drive and headed back for dinner which was delicious Gemsbok – Yum! We finished our food and got chatting to another really lovely couple from Hout Bay when we spotted lions at the watering hole!
The staff said that the pride would definitely make their way to the waterhole outside our house so rushed back…and we were rewarded with them drinking for about ten minutes – magical! We were SO happy! Great start to this trip! We could hear them roaring all night!
We watched the lions from our decking sipping a glass of port! We could hear them roaring all night!
The bed was super comfortable. All the light switches have labels which is very useful!
Thursday, 24 August 2023
We were up at 05h00 ready fr the day! Grabbed a quick coffee and were on our way! Another very pleasant couple joined us for the morning drive. They had been unwell and had missed the afternoon drive the day before. It was the PERFECT start to the morning as we could hear the lion roaring and simply followed the sound… what a magnificent sight to behold! Especially under the rising sun! WOW.
His roar was impressive!
What an amazing start to our day. We stopped off at a few other pleasant game sightings and Ivan put Paul on the spot and told him to act as though he was the Guide and to talk to the guests about giraffes while he filmed him on his phone?!? Fortunately Paul actually really knows his stuff and kept us entertained with giraffe facts for over ten amusing minutes on the topic and to the applause of the Aussies … we both felt that he had intended to show Paul up and that it had backfired on him…lol. Next up was a gorgeous bull elephant.
We drove on and then he spotted some poo and once again told Paul to present what we were seeing. The Aussies said, “Ivan we have paid a lot of money for you to guide us and not for another guest to do the guiding who incidentally have also paid a lot of money to be here’ … which seemed to shut him up. and put an end to that little bit of bullying behaviour. (IN case you are wondering, it was hippo poo – they flick it with their tails so it is scattered).
We stopped off for a delicious Amarula coffee whilst chatting about our luck that morning! It was really interesting chatting to our Spotter – he had been in a specialist branch of the Police during Apartheid and had witnessed some hectic stuff. He had a son that he was very proud of who was at Stellenbosch doing Computer Science after being talent scouted and sponsored. He had also adopted a baby orphan who was abandoned and was now 4 years old and very much part of their family. Heartwarming.
We headed back for a HUGE breakfast! After breakfast I enjoyed a fantastic massage while Paul chilled on our deck by the pool watching the animal world go by. I joined him for a glass of bubbly and enjoyed the bliss…
We were still so full from breakfast that we skipped lunch and headed down at 15h00 when my fellow VHR Members were arriving to have a cup of tea with us. We have only met virtually so it was great to see them in person. The 45mins passed far too quickly as we had so much to talk about!!
The other couple were ill again so it was just the Aussies and us in the vehicle. We were delighted to find the pride of lions.
Ivan indicated that we were going to leave the sighting as the male was flat and he wanted to get to the pan to see the wild dog which were rumoured to be in the area …the Aussies asked us if we minded staying with the pride of lions rather than moving on and we said no, not at all – we were completely relaxed and very happy to have found the big cats. Unfortunately Ivan ignored them and drove off… Natalia was livid and did not say another word for the rest of the game drive… it was quite awkward as I could see she was generally furious and struggling to contain her frustration…a herd of ellies were sleeping in the shade of a tree.
Fortunately, we were relaxed and were happy to find a female cheetah who had just been feeding on a kill. The bones of the cheetah’s voice box are made up by a fixed structure – unlike a lion, who have ligaments that stretch, creating a larger sound-producing passage . Cheetah purr and chirrup – a bird-like chirp they often use to locate one another. Madikwe only have 5 cheetahs on the Reserve. Apparently they really struggle as the lions and wild dogs keep killing them hence why all the cheetahs are collared, so that they can keep track of them and their whereabouts. She was fairly relaxed until another vehicle arrived and then appeared to be stressed so we left her.
We headed to the pan which was a hive of activity! Rhinos, elephants and then the cheetah also arrived … all coming for a drink as the sun was dipping… amazing…
The tiny ellies got stuck in the mud and were too adorable!
It was also tricky for the cheetah!
It was blissful observing all of this action….marred by only one irritant … Ivan LOVES the sound of his own voice did not stop talking about himself the entire time that we sat there …which in itself would not be an issue except that it wasn’t about wildlife experiences and he had absolutely zero interest in what the Aussies had to share when they spoke, or when Paul tried to say something – I did not even bother to try and get a word in edgeways as it was clear it was a one man show – this is NOT what the Aussies had spent a fortune on at a top end game reserve – we have never experienced such a poor guide in our thirty plus years of safaris. .:-( He had also clocked that I was a SHR, which is the first time he actually engaged with me after two game drives! … and asked me to put in a good word as he had been trying to get into the Honorary Rangers for 3 years without success (wants to join to allow him to guide in Kruger, nothing about being a volunteer and supporting the cause against poaching etc!) – I wonder why he hasn’t been successful?! The sun was setting so we headed for our sundowners. A nice little touch at Madikwe is that they cook delicious snacks, in our case eland steak on a camp stove – DIVINE!! (I did have to ask Ivan if he was going to do so as he did not offer this a when we stopped and he handed us our drinks and he reluctantly agreed, if we REALLY wanted it?!! … I only knew about this lovely touch as the couple from Cape Town had asked us if we enjoyed ours the evening before and I said it was not offered – they were shocked and told me to definitely ask on this afternoon drive – laziness?). When Aussies tried to show him their pics he just ignoredthem…so rude.
As we finished off we heard that the wild dog were at the pan … we saw the other Guide,Benson who was driving the couple fromCape Town race past and heard ‘makanyane’ on the radio – wild dog – we asked him and he said it was too late to drive back! But his colleague was driving back? Well, they saw the wild dog make a kill next their vehicle …again, just not bothered to do his job properly.
The sunset was absolutely phenomenal!! Just spectacular!
And Madikwe had not quite stopped giving… as we turned into camp we spotted a black rhino … giving us the evils!
We were greeted with the usual welcome tipple after the game drive and warm cloths – divine. Our room was beautifully decorated n our arrival…complete with a soothing bubble bath!
Tonight was a hosted dinner along with the Aussie couple so Ivan would be joining us. He arrived late and the Aussies were fuming. They felt that the Spotter was not doing his job and that Ivan only positioned the vehicle for the benefit of his own photos and never asked if we were ready to move on before driving off, which in hindsight was absolutely correct … Paul had been fine as he had told Paul to sit behind him as photographer…. They were also really disgusted that Ivan made Paul present and had strongly felt that it was in an effort to show us up as we were experienced safari goers in the hoe that Paul would not have som many facts to share … so it was a bit awkward when Ivan finally arrived as only Paul chatted to him! He must have noticed the atmosphere as he gave his apologies and left early, much to our relief! It is actually a real shame because beneath his arrogance and self-centredness lies a knowledgeable guide – he did share some interesting facts and does know his stuff but he has zero skill at interacting with clients at a top end establishment and could take a leaf out of the many humble BUT hugely experienced guides that we have had the privilege of being guided by and walking with and who themselves have always said that they continue to learn every day, and sometimes even from their clients! I salute Jaco Buys, Irving Knight, AlanMcSmith, Clive Walker and many more legends cut from the same cloth. We did toy with informing management but rightly or wrongly decided against this given that we had been offered such a reduced rate we did not want to appear ungrateful by making a complaint…
Enough about that, we sat around the fire and chatted to the Aussies and conversation turned to various bits and bobs including poos… as it does?! LOL…. Natalia mentioned that she had a South African boss who was very ‘posh’ and that he and his wife never poo’d when on holiday … I laughed and joking said, your boss isn’t called Graeme married to Loren? She nearly fell off her chair – IT WAS!!! What an unbelievable small world! We really had a giggle and took a photo the next morning and sent it to Loren and Graeme … Graeme laighed and said that he’d actually said to Loren, wouldn’t it be weird if Tracy bumped into Natalia on safari?!! How crazy is that – of every lodge in South Africa and to be on the same vehicle?! Just WOW!
Friday, 25 August 2023
Our first sighting was a hyena … fresh blood matted in his fur…
We had previously asked to go and see the brown hyena den but I van was reluctant so we asked again as there was not much game about … we could just spot the ears in between the rocks but the pups were already back in the den asleep – it was a shame that we did not head there at first light when they’d still be active (the lady fromCape Town told us at breakfast that they had spent time with them).
The area is know for the klipspringers and we found a couple as well as a jackal.
We saw a movement up ahead – a black rhino hiding from us in the bushes! SO lucky!
We headed back to camp and enjoyed breakfast. The lady from Cape Town asked us whether Ivan had taken us to see the rhino carcass – poor creature had been poached (2nd one in two weeks!)…she said Benson had told him where it was but he said he didn’t know the road well enough … she said she was shocked because it was right next to the Brown Hyena den a few kilometres on and you couldn’t miss it because there were so many hundreds of vultures – again – pure laziness!! Aaargh. We said farewell to all our new friends and headed off back to Jhb excited for our next adventure in Mana Pools! Madikwe Hills is a stunning place to stay and the game was prolific! Thank you Team!
We drove past the hyena den and sure enough, about a kilometre on we saw all the vultures – unfortunately we were in our little vehicle and could not go off road to look for the poor poached rhino…but it was interesting to see so many vultures together.
Go Back to : South Africa
