Kichaka Day Two!

We got up early in the morning to go on our first game drive of the day. We were not disappointed with Francois (the man, the ranger the legend) and his abilities to hunt down the big 5. We (and by we, I mean Francois spotted it and pointed it out to the rest of us) spotted this lion track and started our search for the king of the jungle.

After a few minutes of searching we finally saw three lions just after they had made a fresh kill. It was disgusting/breath-taking/amazing to be this close to these large, dangerous animals. They were probably my favorite animals we were able to see this whole trip. This mom and her teenage son and daughter had killed an eland and were just sitting down to breakfast.

It kind of surprised me how much like Clyde these big cats were!

After we spent about an hour just watching the lions we decided to start looking for more big game. We soon found this rhino just hanging around some of the staff housing. His horns were quite frightening to look at.

Just after we saw the rhino we came upon a herd of zebra or "Zehbra" (rhymes with Debra) in South African. They were beautiful. We stopped for a quick potty break just behind these bushes. It is a little bit nerve-wrecking to have a nature call out in the middle of nature! It was also a great time to stop for some hot chocolate and biscuits. Here is Kell and me in front of our Indiana Jones like vehicle.

When we went back to the lodge for breakfast this was part of the food they had spread out for us. Delicious strawberries, granola, breads and cheeses. Then we were able to order from a cook to order menu as well.

We loved Kichaka lodge, it was beautiful. We had a couple of hours until the next game drive so we took more pictures of our place.


On the afternoon game drive we went back to watch the lions for a while then decided we wanted to see more elephants. We saw a few more giraffe on our search for the "big boys."

When we finally found these two brothers ,who had been kicked out of the herd as teenagers, we were amazed. They were HUGE! Francois told us we would be alright as long as they didn't surround us and start to pretend they were eating... which is exactly what they started doing. We had a few tense seconds when this guy started to fake eat and circle around behind us. I was sitting on the back row and I would just like to say, I stared down an elephant and I won! The business end of the elephant!
It was freezing on this game drive and we were bundled up with two blankets, a couple of jackets, gloves, a head wrap, and a hoodie. Even all those layers couldn't keep us warm.
We drove back past the lions on our way back to the lodge. It was kind of creepy to see all three of them at dusk and their eyes started to gleam.

Safari sunset, need I say more?

Just before we entered the lodge grounds we ran right into the 4th lion that lives on the reserve. She was just hanging out right next to the road. She was huge compared to the other lions we had seen. She was not a member of their pride and the reserve people are in the process of buying another lion so they can start their own pride.

It was another amazing day at Kichaka. When we got back to the lodge we were able to look through their giant telescope at the full moon and the different constalations they have in the southern hemisphere. It was crazy not to see the North Star or the big dipper!