🙂 Heaven on Earth. This is all about the Kalahari and unique sightings: Aardwolf, Pangolin, Aardvark, sitting with wild dog on a kudu kill, tracking cheetah on foot.
🙁 EVERYTHING is PERFECT!
This magnificent trip was my 50th birthday present – simply the best!
Tswalu is owned by the Oppenheimers and we stayed in Tarkuni, which was their private residence in the Reserve. Quite simply amazing. We flew in by private jet from Jhb.
Funnily enough, the other couple on the flight had recently been aboard the Delphin 1 in Peru – small world!
We drove to Tarkuni to meet the kids who had self driven from Upington. Juan Venter was our Guide. On our way we spotted Mountain Zebra – very rare and very cool.
The lodge is stunning. There are 5 suites and it comes along with your personal chef, butler, staff, Game Ranger and Tracker – all at your disposal 24/7! The Oppenheimers had previously used it as their family home on visits to Tswalu.
After a swim, snack and a welcome drink we headed off to see the meerkats, which Juan’s fiance had been habituating.
We spent about 30mins with these adorable creatures who were foraging for food.
Lunch back at the house was divine. We watched gemsbok and sable coming down to drink at the waterhole.
Our next most amazing experience was this stunning cheetah and her young cubs – beautiful.
The dark yields all sorts of magic! Our first surprise was a cute bat eared fox family – unfortunately blurry pics – but evidence!
We were blown away. But the day was yet young… we found an aardvark which we proceeded to pursue on foot!
We had a delicious dinner … we had been asked to be up at 02h30 to find the wild dogs hopefully on a hunt so it was an early night for us all!
We were not disappointed – we found the alpha female and then the rest of the pack almost immediately but they were already running – we just missed the kill by the time we caught up with them but they had taken a heavily pregnant Kudu and ripped the foetus from her whilst another ran off with the lungs – gruesome but awesome!
We couldn’t believe it when Juan told us to get out of the vehicle … we went and sat on the ground right next to the pack and watched them devour their kill…one came and sniffed Charlotte’s boots! AMAZING.
The kori busted, kudu and roan seemed rather tame after all that excitement!
This old dagga boy has seen it all!
There was plenty of life all around us.
Love this photobomb!
We enjoyed a delicious lunch and chilled by the pool for a few hours. There is also an option to horseride , if you feel so inclined.
We found a honeymoon couple. He was too sleepy to be bothered with us!
The next sighting was top of my bucket list – the only one I have ever had in 50+ years of going to the bush … an AARDWOLF! Yay! It was a glimpse and then he disappeared but we captured the moment!
Then we received a call on the radio to say that our tracker had found a pangolin – this was my other top bucket list animal – we were so excited we nearly had heart attacks!
As if that was not enough magnificence in one day … the night ended with a porcupine running across our path! This is TSWALU!
We headed back at 22h30 – WHAT a day! Non stop action since 02h30!
We were up at 02h30 again to see what the wild dogs would deliver! They started to run so we followed them in eager anticipation!
As the morning progressed and the sun rose, the light was stunning and the wildflowers added to the beauty. … A wildebeest bumbled past but it was his lucky day as they just ignored him!
We had decided to do a bush walk and track the two male cheetahs – it was hot but we found the tracks and soon spotted them! They rested in the shade and largely ignored us.
We then headed to where the black desert rhino was recently spotted – we found tracks but could not find the rhino … one to come back for!
On our way back for lunch we greeted the bat eared foxes again.
We also saw more mountain zebras and a Pale Chanting Goshawk with a snake kill.
A feast had been prepared around the boma – and a lovely birthday cake along with a birthday song – too lovely.
The outdoor bed was made up for Paul and I and we enjoyed a blissful night under the stars ….MAGIC.
Tswalu is my absolute favourite place in the world – words cannot do it enough justice. I feel very fortunate and blessed to have had this incredible experience for my 50th Birthday. Just WOW.
