Sunday morning. I had no idea what time the driver to Pumba was coming until I jumped in the shower at 7:30 and the front desk said he was here. It turns out that I’m his only client for the day so I grabbed breakfast to go and a cup of coffee and Johann and I headed to Pumba.
For those of you who have kids and have watched Lion King, the warthog in the movie was called Pumba which is the Swahili word for the warthog animal. Pumba is a luxury private game reserve located in Alicedale, about 100 KM (1 1/2 hour drive from the hotel). They have lovely facilities – two lodges, one located on a lake and the other more in the bush. It is comprised of about 16,000 acres and is privately owned the PE Hotel Group. The reserve has a wide variety of animals in the wild including the Big 5 (lion, elephant, hippo, rhino and leopard) as well as many plains animals large and small.
When we arrived, I was greeted personally, offered coffee and muffins and escorted to a Landrover for a private tour by head ranger Peter Dunn. I was so glad it was a sunny day that I didn’t care if it was windy and cold or how many of the Big 5 we saw. Peter drove all over the muddy trails on a hunt for some lions that had made a kill of a warthog early in the morning. Typically when they make a kill they hang around and eat until only bones are left. It took us a while to find lions and we never found the cub and mama who killed the warthog, though we saw partial remains of the animal. Eventually we did see two lion cubs (10 weeks old) and a lioness across a valley.
This game preserve is one of only a few with White Lions.
During the search for the lions, we did see giraffe, zebra and lots of impala (they have black M on their bums), blesbok (white face), Black and Blue Wildebeest (dark with hump and mane), monkeys, red hartebeest in the distance, a jackal, lots of warthogs (god they are ugly),
Peter is well trained and very knowledgable of the animals and their habits. He also rescued me from a big photo cluster. I brought my Canon DSLR camera with both lenses prepared to take lots of great wildlife pictures. When I pulled it out, I realized that I had not put the photo card back in after loading pictures back at BlueClif. Damn! Well Peter had an excellent Canon camera – actually one I’d been looking at before this trip with zoom that approximates 800mm lens on a 35mm camera. He graciously let me use his camera and gave me an SD card to keep. What a sweetheart. The pictures came out quite good. The only difference is on the long zoom things shake and dance around and it’s a little harder to find your subject. But once I steadied my hand the pictures came out very nice.
After a 2 hour drive Peter dropped me off at the Msenge Bush Lodge for lunch. I expected lunch to be similar to the affair at Schotia last week. I was wrong. This was upscale elegance all the way with linen napkins, complimentary wine, views over the bush and personal service. I was the only person in the dining room. The fixed menu included a tomato basil soup, salad, main entree with sauteed veggies, enchilada, and sweet and sour pork pieces; followed by a chili chocolate dessert. Oh my. Too much food in South Africa.
Typically people come to Pumba for two or three nights. The rooms/chalets are very private with Water Lodge guests have private decks, dipping pools and views over the lake. Meals and two game drives per day are included (early morning, late afternoon and night). We may need to try this on our next trip. After lunch I met a family from Gainesville who had spent two weeks hunting and then stays at two different game reserves. No city sightseeing for that family. We are on the same flight home on Tuesday so I look forward to learning more and having Bill talk to them about the hunting.
After lunch Peter and I drove around a bit more but we didn’t have any other lion sightings. I was happy with the day and ready to come back to warm hotel room and take a look at the pictures!
Took a short walk on the beach tonight to take some sunset photos. See Day 17 for pictures.
Today July 8th 2012 would have been my parents’ 61st wedding anniversary. Cheers to Helen and George.
www.pumbagamereserve.co.za
Impala
