Bush House Olifants South Africa

It was wonderful to be back at our bushhouse in Olifants. It is the most relaxing and inspiring place on this planet. We flew from London to Johannesburg and then onto Hoedspruit. We were picked up by a driver in our land drover. Filled it with all our luggage and then went into town to shop for food and wine for the next few weeks. The day we arrived was Aimee's 18th birthday so we took her to lunch at a wonderful restaurant in town called Sleepers. It was great to sit outside and enjoy the African sun.

The bush is home to so many species of wildlife. If you can imagine this is their home and we are visitors there. The bushhouse is in a private park that is surrounded by their territory. The bird life is plentyfull and very varied. We saw many species like the Plover above with chicks to Eagles, Vultures and my favorite the Guinea Fowl.

They flock together in large families and are very humorous as well as colorful with speckled bodies. We were fortunate to see many families around the water holes.

We spent many mornings getting up at 5.30am and driving to a waterhole to see the sun come up and experienced many unforgettable game viewings. We also loved to go out in the late afternoon to see the sunset and have snacks and wine in the bush and wait for the animals to come down and drink.

We have an open land drover so you can get very close to the animals at times it is quiet exhilarating. Cathy and I experienced a pride of lions walk a few feet from us and even stopped to look at us before heading onto the bush. Our hearts missed a beat for a minute, but what an experience.

Besides all the wildlife their is an amazing array of fauna and flora. Trees and flowers you will never see anywhere else. It was winter while we were there so not too much was in full bloom but there was still an amazing variety to see.

We had a few sightings of elephants. Even a herd of about 50 with babies. You always have to be cautious as they can be very destructive.

One of our top sightings was lion at a buffalo kill. There were 3 lionesses and 5 cubs who dinned on the carcass for about three days.

We were also fortunate to see quiet a few rhinoceroses. They are very large and amazing animals.

We experienced amazing sunsets and starring nights under the full moon. The milky way is an unbelievable sight.

One of my favorite antelope is the Nyala. The male is the most amazing specie. His horns are enormous and they have wonderful markings.

We also were very fortunate to see two cheetah who walked up the road for quiet a way and then spent quiet a long time in a tree before retreating into the bush.

The time together with my mom, dad, Aimee and Cathy was very special. I have many memories to cherish for a life time.

Cathy, Aimee and I then travelled onto Cape Town and Mom and Dad went back to Johannesburg then back to London before returning home.

I will continue blogging our Cape Town experience shortly.

Take care

Sue