Makutsi Safari Springs 2018

After 2 days in Franschhoek, we flew to Hoedspruit near Kruger National Park for our 10 day stay at Makutsi Safari Springs where we met up with our ex-RAAF colleague Nadia. She had been here 3 years ago and had recommended it to us. When she knew we had booked to come, she decided to come back for a second visit. It was great having her here as she gave us some insider info which was handy - plus she was great company. 

Makutsi is a family run Safari lodge that covers about 500 hectares, but they share with a few other game parks with a total cover of 9,000 hectares. Our individual villas, known as rondavels, were only about 500 meters from the main office and central bar and dining areas, but we were not allowed to walk outside between the hours of 5.30pm and 7am. Shuttle buses would pick us up at our rondavel by 6.30pm for 7pm dinner - the driver had a strong torch (flashlight) and would check the area for animals before allowing us out of our door to accompany him. Last night I was waiting for the driver, and as it was pitch black, I put my head outside the door to see if I could see the lights of the bus arriving...I don’t know who got the bigger fright - me or the giraffe that was just outside my door! By the time I got my camera he had skittered off into the bushes! The biggest cause for concern here are the hippos. They have a waterhole not far from us, and they have been known to walk here to eat the fresh green grass that grows around this camp area.  A few weeks ago the staff found a hippo in the outside swimming pool (natural mineral water - no salt or chlorine). Hippos are the largest killer of humans in South Africa. The less worrisome Impala, monkeys and kudus are regularly seen outside our door. 

Rondavel 31 - Our Home for 10 days

Around Makutsi

Selection of Feathered Friends seen on this trip

Simba Sunset Stop

During our 10 days here, we did a safari every day except for one day when we visited a Canyon, and on our last day which we kept free to pack. Some days it would be a morning Safari from 6 - 9am, Or an afternoon safari from 3- 6 PM, or what they call a Simba tour which goes from 3- 8 PM. As the Simba tour coincides with sunset (around 6:30 PM), the driver stops the Safari jeep in a safe location and brings out an esky with a choice of beers, wines and soft drinks and sets out a selection of snacks including giraffe cabanossi! We aren’t usually allowed out of the vehicle, but we can on this occasion. The driver checks out nearby bushes and allows us to take a quick toilet break if necessary. What a fabulous way to enjoy the sunset. We also did a day safari to Kruger National Park, which will be covered on a separate blog. 

  

On Safari

The safari jeeps take a maximum of nine guests on the back, although for the first few days it was usually just us 5 (Jenny, Peter, Nadia, Murray and moi). The Makutsi drivers are driver and tracker combined. The adjoining game lodges use a driver plus a tracker sitting on the front of the Jeep. It is usually been our driver/tracker that have tracked the animals, and the other lodge jeeps have followed us. Only 2 jeeps are allowed at animal sightings at any one time, so as not to crowd the animals.

See Zebra in Background?

We have had some fabulous sightings of the animals – we’ve seen herds of 10 elephants ranging from little babies up to the matriarch and the big bull. We’ve seen lots of dangerous Cape Buffalo (one even head butted our Jeep)– they were the largest killer of the early settlers as their hard skulls deflected spears & even bullets, and they are downright ornery once injured or threatened. On several days we saw three beautiful male cheetahs- brothers. They are the fastest animal over a short distance. They can reach speeds up to 120 kph over 2-300 metres. Besides the lonely giraffe outside our rondavel, we have seen them in several areas around the Lodge here. Hippos are often seen in the pools around this area, however one day we were fortunate enough to watch a single hippo in a pond on his own frolicking in the water. I got the traditional yawning jaw photo, and a video of him doing a full roll in the water - his pink underbelly and feet we’re up in the air at one stage. He did about 7 rolls. We were all thrilled to witness such a sight - even the driver said he had never seen them do that many rolls. We saw lions - the proud male, and a few females - one had four 9 month old cubs. So playful! On our first encounter we were enjoying watching the female and her cubs, when all of a sudden we noticed the male lion almost at the back wheel of our Jeep. Talk about palpitations! Thankfully he was on Murray’s side of the Jeep and not mine, but then the lion stood up, and took off at an amazing speed to ward off some threat we couldn’t see - the driver said it was probably a leopard or cheetah. Scared us all there for a moment. 

Male Lion behind us

They have white rhinos in the park here, however they are de-horned to prevent poaching. Poachers kill the animal to take the horns and then leave the animal dead in the park. It’s a big problem in Africa. We have also seen springbok, wildebeests, Impala, bush bucks, kudu, duiker (smallest antelope), monkeys, baboons, warthogs and zebra. Some others have seen leopards a few times, but they are elusive creatures and we haven’t seen any ourselves. I will put photos of the animals in a separate blog.

We were only a few days into our Makutsi stay when we heard the sad news that Jenny’s mom Roma had passed away back home in Australia. They had to fly home at short notice for the funeral. They flew back to rejoin us in Johannesburg then the four of us flew to Frankfurt for the start of our European travels. Nadia left us in Johannesburg to fly home to Australia. I doubt if any of us will ever be able to forget the amazing safari memories we shared at Makutsi. 

Africa Travel 2018