Days 41-42: Notten's Bush Camp

From Tanda Tula, we drove about three hours south to Notten's Bush Camp, which is another family run game lodge located within the Sabi Sands game reserve.  Notten's is not a tented camp like Tanda Tula, as the rooms are actual buildings.  We decided to try two different safari camps in order to get a feel for these two different types of experiences, but more importantly, because Sabi Sands is geographically and environmentally different from Timbavati and hence you could potentially see different types of animals.  Specifically, Timbavati is rather open, spread out and vegetation can be very sparse at times.  Sabi Sands features some areas of very dense vegetation and other areas with wide open savannas.  

As mentioned, Nottens' accomodations are completed structures rather than the tents at Tanda Tula.  Here are some photos of our room:

Our cabin #6

Our deck and, of course, outdoor shower.

View from our deck

Similar to Tanda Tula, Notten's has two game drives per day - in the early morning and at sunset.  Our group this time consisted of a very nice couple from Berlin who were working for the German embassy in Rwanda.  The other members of our group were two girls from Sweden on the first day, and a small group from India on the second day, as well as our guide, Thomas and tracker, Fox.

As we expected, we did get to see some different types of animals at Notten's and had some more great experiences!  Here are some of the highlights:

Cheetah!
According to our guide, these are very rare to glimpse in this part of Africa.  He said he sometimes goes six months without seeing any.  However, on our second evening drive, we spotted this guy sitting on top of a large termite mound staring out over the open fields.  

Lions
This time we came across a group of four female lions snoozing in a field on our morning drive.

Our tracker, Fox, and one of the four lions walking just a few feet away. Just another day in Sabi Sands!

In the evening, after sunset, we came upon the same group waking up and getting ready to hunt.  We followed them for 30 minutes or so, hoping they would find dinner.  They walked slowly, single-file, evenly spaced, listening for any potential prey in the bushes.  Amazingly, they paid little attention to us or our spotlight.  We felt like we were on the hunt with them.  It was really incredible to see!

Waking up and getting ready to hunt! A little blurry as this was well after sunset...

Here are some videos of the lions. Please note that the flashlight did not bother them since they are primarily nocturnal.

Following the lions in our Land Rover. Fox, our tracker, is sitting in front holding the flashlight.

Buffalo
We saw many more buffalo at Notten's, including a group of about 8-10 grazing in a clearing.  This is the only time we saw our guide get a little nervous.  Some of the buffalo are more used to the safari vehicles than others.  Because the reserve is not fenced in, animals come and go from other areas of the park and beyond.  Those that are not as used to seeing vehicles and people can sometimes react unpredictably.  We saw a buffalo freak out when we got too close, and our guide quickly moved the vehicle away from the area.  Nevertheless, we got some great shots!

Buffalo

This guy was hilarious. The bird rode around on his head and the buffalo seems to have simply stopped caring.

Wild Dog and Hyena
For such an elusive animal, we got lucky twice and saw more wild dogs at Sabi Sands.  We saw these guys coming, turned off the engine and waited.  Three dogs came right by our vehicle, barely paying us any attention.  Later that night, we saw a solitary hyena prowling around for food and captured a few shots, though he seemed a bit put off by us.  Even our guide, Thomas, could not believe our luck and the number of animals we were spotting, saying It's like a zoo out here tonight!

Wild dogs

Hyena looking for food after sunset.

In addition to the "Big 5" the safari camps also maintain an unofficial "Ugly 5". Perched atop the list is the hyena. We can't figure out why :)

Bush Walk
After breakfast on our second day at Notten's we went on a guided walk through some of the local areas to learn more about some of the interesting plants and smaller animals one might not see on a game drive.  We soon came across a local warthog named Philemon.

Eva, pointing to Philemon the warthog (so named by the locals). We kept our distance.

We learned lots of interesting tidbits about the local plants, bugs and dung identification techniques, skills sure to come in handy one day.  We also got to see bones from lots of the local wildlife:

Pile of bones

Rhino tooth

Leopard jaw.

In addition to the highlights described above, here are some of the other interesting creatures we saw while at Notten's:

Baby warthog fleeing the scene

Wildebeest

Lots more rhinos!

More of these guys too!

Mother and baby zebra

Sunset over Sabi Sands

Sunset our during our first sundowner at Sabi Sands. There was a controlled fire in the distance.

Notten's also featured all of the traditional aspects of safari life, such as sundowner cocktails in the bush and fun dining experiences with the other guests.  Notten's was fully booked while we were there (about 16-18 guests), while Tanda Tula was at most half full (10-12 people), which created a bit of a different dynamic.  We had a great time at both places and are glad we chose to try two different sites, as the environment was very different and we got to see a wide variety of animals.   The only drawback was the drive between the two camps, which was tedious due to slow mining trucks along the route and long stretches of bumpy unpaved roads within the reserves.  We unwisely rented a compact car instead of an SUV, resulting in some interesting experiences traversing dried up sandy riverbeds in the reserves.  It is a miracle we got the car back in one piece with no visible scratches!

We made the six hour drive back to Johannesburg, as the return flights from Hoedspruit and Nelspruit were very expensive.  This is another very tedious drive due to lots of severely potholed roads, more trucks, and curvy mountain passes.  If possible, we'd avoid this drive next time around.  

Overall, the safari experience was amazing and a highlight of our voyage so far.  We would highly recommend it to anyone and hope to do another someday.