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On the tour we saw more elephants, a family with a mom, dad, and baby. They also drove us up on one hill where Botlierskop has a 90 hectare lion sanctuary. Right now only two female lions live there. There used to be two male lions living there also, but both sadly passed away within the last year. The guide told us that since these lions grew up in captivity they could never be released back into the wild so they created a large enclosure for them that would mimic life in the wild as much as possible. This reserve is also home to a large herd of impalas, both brown and endangered black impalas. For several years Botlierskop has run a breeding program to increase the population of black impalas.
We also saw a herd of wildebeest, a couple different antelope species (waterbuck and bontebok), white rhinos, giraffes, and zebras. The rhinos and giraffes were particularly exciting. We had driven around for a while without seeing any animals when we came around a bend and spotted a family of rhinos (mom, dad, and two daughters) grazing at the bottom of a hill. Their horns were huge and dangerous looking but they looked very content and peaceful. A little farther on one of the girls from our group spotted two giraffes way off in the distance. Our guide tried to bring the jeep closer but there was a swamp in the way that the vehicle couldn’t get through. Thankfully my camera had enough zoom that I could get great pictures of the giraffes even though they were far away. Eventually one giraffe became curious enough about us that it came closer and stopped about 50 yards from us. It was amazing to see these animals roaming free like this. Finally, at the end of our tour we saw a small herd of zebras. I was especially excited to see these because my band sorority’s mascot is a zebra. I’m very glad to come home from Africa with pictures of real zebras.
Wildebeest
Bontebok
After the safari tour we drove 2½ hours east, just across the border into the Eastern Cape province. (So now I can say I’ve been to two provinces in South Africa – Western Cape and Eastern Cape.) Some of our group had signed up to go bungy jumping at a place called Bloukrans Bridge, which is the highest bridge in Africa and the highest bungy jump distance in the world of 216 m. A company called Face Adrenalin operates the bungy jumps from this bridge. While I like adventures and thrills as much as the next person, I wasn’t really interested in something quite as crazy as bungy jumping. About half the group was dropped off here to do the jump or just to watch and the rest of us drove a few miles farther to the town of Storms River where we went zip lining in the nearby Tsitsikamma Forest. For zip lining you’re strapped into a harness that goes around your thighs, waist, and up your back. You have two clamps on your front that attach to the main cable and other clamp at your back that attaches to a secondary cable. Connected like this you slide on the cables from tree to tree, landing at a platform built onto each tree. Two guides come with your group to hook you on and off the cables at each tree. On the tour there are 10 different cable slides, varying in length and speed. The longest was about 90m long. Don’t worry, it’s very safe. The guides keep a close eye on us and even when we’re standing on the platforms we’re still hooked to another cable that wraps around the tree. I was a little nervous at first, but after the first slide that went away. It felt like flying to glide from tree to tree like that so high above the forest floor. Even though it was also raining and chilly I still had a great time. Most of the trees there were yellow-wood trees, which is the national tree of South Africa. I thought that was kind of cool.
Afterwards, we drove back to Bloukrans Bridge to meet up with the bungy jump group, all of whom were very excited and raving about their experience. Then we drove the 2½ hours back the way we came. It was a long day and I was very tired by the end of it.
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