Visit to Monwana Lodge at Thornybush

*Visit to Monwana Lodge at Thornybush - April 2003* (click any picture to get enlargement)

*The final portion of Pam & Wayne's South African trip was to Monwana Lodge, in the Thornybush Game Reserve, by Kruger Park.* *We got lucky and were the only guests; it was like our own resort!*	*The rooms were in thatched buildings.*	*A couple of Nyala nibbling on tender grass.*

	*Nicole & Jay relaxed & made plans by the pool upon arrival. We then went on an evening game drive, followed by another the next morning. Due to our busy schedule, we could only stay one day.*

*There was a nice waterhole about 50 feet from the front of our rooms. The only thing separating us from the animals was a small electric fence. Impala and Warthogs were the most common visitors.*

*Ostrich cooling down by relaxing his wings.*	*Statue-like Giraffe.*	Mom & baby Leopard lounging in the bush; hard to see!

	We saw a single Rhino early on the drive. As it got dark we found a mother and baby. It was great to see how the babies acted, but you had to watch out for the protective mothers!

Towards evening there was a call on the radio reporting a "kill". Since we were nearby, we decided to have a look. *Upon arrival we saw a male lion in the road. We went around him, only to find another in the grass.*	*Lion in the road ... hurt?*	*Lion in the grass; dead?*

*Then we saw the females and noticed that one was chewing on something.*	*We tried to get closer, but there were too many.*	This gal was too full to even move.

*As we turned a corner we saw what was for dinner.*	*The lions had killed a medium sized Giraffe.*	*Males eat first, then the females; all were stuffed!*

We then took a break to have a "sundowner" drink (in the dark) and to discuss the lion kill. It is not very common to see a large kill, so we were very lucky!		As we left the sight we could see scavengers getting closer. The vultures in the trees & the jackals in the bush. *They all were waiting for the lions to finish so they could clean up the mess.*

*The next morning we came across elephants.*	They got a bit excited and changed direction.	Then they started to circle all around us.

*A mother with two children came near; her ears flared (a warning).*	*We couldn't move and sat hoping they'd just go by.*	*Contact ... not good! The mother made a noise & they moved on... whew!!*

As we were leaving the lodge, we noted that we had seen quite a few animals. We were also close to seeing the Big-5, which are the most dangerous to be hunted. The only Big-5 animal we didn't see up to this point was the buffalo.	*Guess what?*	*A large Buffalo herd ...*

	... with this big male not being happy that we were there. The Ranger recommended that we quickly take pictures & then leave the area ... which we were able to do without problems.

We left the Thornybush area and drove back to Pretoria without incident. This was the last activity during Pam & Wayne's visit to South Africa. We were concerned about personal security and malaria on their visit, but l uckily we encountered no major problems during their visit. The water & food in South Africa is clean & healthy and no one got anything more than a cold. Their trip back to Wisconsin went via Frankfurt & Chicago; luckily the layovers were much less than on the way out... but it still took almost 30 hours. *Cheers to a nice visit ! Return to Jay's Main Page*