Morning Game Drives and a Bittersweet Good-Bye

Our last morning at the Kapana Game Reserve started once again with a 6 AM wakeup call. We met our driver Azaria and our spotter, Bright one last time for a drive out into the bush. While the drivers know where certain animals can generally be found, as some have very specific territories, animals can show up anywhere.

As we headed out of the resort area down a road we saw a large rhinoceros, Azaria said that it was a huge bull and backup up the vehicle very quickly. Generally the drivers will just drive around the wild animals, even lions and elephants, but Azario said mature male rhinos mark their territory and anything they feel is encroaching on their territory, they will charge it. Azario said that this rhino could potentially charge right at the front of the vehicle. Bright showed us how the rhinos mark their territory with piles of “poop” and urine, and then kick with their hind legs. If I female is interested when she comes upon a pile she will add to it to tell the male know she is interested in finding him. If another male adds to it, he is saying he wants to challenge the bull for his territory. This will result in the bull who controls the territory covering over that pile and will then challenge the other male if they meet. The male rhino we saw was immense and definitely nothing we’d want to tangle with.

During the rest of the game drive we came across more South African Buffalo, birds, including a vulture sitting in a nest, more antelope, zebras and some young rhinos who had not reached maturity. Our game drive was a bit shorter than our previous drives because we needed to get ready for our departure and catch a plane to Johannesburg in late morning. At the end of the drive we said our good byes to our spotter, Bright. He had tears in his eyes as he said farewell, as did many of us. It is amazing how close you can get to wonderful people in such a short time.

After our last breakfast we picked up our carry on luggage in our rooms and headed to the front of the resort for one last ride to the airport in our safari vehicle with Azario. Because we had a little time before arriving at the airport we got one last chance to drive though some of the roads on the game reserve and saw a few more animals and some South African Buffalo bones that were the remnants of a number of meals enjoyed by animals on the reserve. About 30 seconds before leaving the reserve we saw a warthog which Azario had tried to find during some of our game drives. It was hidden behind brush but we can say we saw it.

We saw so many different animals during our time on the game reserve, Words cannot communicate how magnificent the area is. We were thrilled to see all of the animals including the “Big Five” - lion, water African Buffalo, leopard, elephant and rhino, and all but one, we saw multiple times.

The trip to the airport took about 30 seconds once we left the game reserve. Azario dropped us off at the front of the tiny airport and we said our sad good byes, He was a most amazing driver. And everyone had a few tears I think as we said goodbye.

While waiting for our flight to Johannesburg at the single gate in the Hoedspruit airport we took a few more photos with our guides Tina and Jameel. They both accompanied use to Johannesburg where they showed us around the airport and said our final good byes to everyone in the group.