Today we drive to Shamwari Game Reserve.

On the way these little rascals ran in the road in front of us. When you’re a teacher you’re always a teacher as together we chorused ‘It’s the three Billy Goats Gruff!’

We saw huge swathes of land covered in white plastic. In many cases they’d even passed a pylon through the middle as well. It’s Agricultural Shade netting that protects the citrus fruit from extreme sun and heat as damage to the rind affects market value. They also reduce evaporation as conservation of water in this region is critical. The colour allows light through but not birds or insects so less pesticides are necessary.

We arrived at Shamwari in a thunderstorm and tropical rain that Noah would have been proud of!     It is a beautiful place. Founded in 1993 it’s home to the big 5, elephant, buffalo, lion, leopard and rhino, there are also a range of antelopes, hippos, cheetahs, giraffe, wildebeest, earthogs,hyenas and also……..

In 250 sq km  it’s not easy to spot all the wildlife as we found out on our first game ride today. Our first encounter though was with this elephant who was slathering himself in mud to try and keep cool. 

The Reserve works with the Born Free Foundation and there are two big cat sanctuaries that look after lions and leopards that have been rescued from circuses or zoos.  They cannot be released to the wild as they have had too much human contact.

After the 4 hour drive we had dinner and it’s an early night as we’re up at 5.30 for the morning game drive.  

Apologies for a bit of an animal photo dump as we’re here until Sunday and unless either of us get eaten by a lion there won’t be much to report.

Hopefully tomorrow lions!