Ingwelala Game Reserve

We set off from Joburg at 4 am to make the 6 hour drive to the north of SA to Ingwelala with Laura, the drive wasn't as scary as it sounds as we slept most of the way and took in the sceneary.

With the fuel gage on less than 0 and the car packed to the roof with food and drink we made it to Ingwelala, on the drive up to the reserve we had already seen zebra and gariffe. later that day we went of our first drive, we came across a really sick lion by the side of the road who we kept checking on throughout the day. On our third visit to him that day we found him in the same spot surrounded by around 15 hungry vultures just waiting to him to take his last breath. That night was the most amazing experience we made a final trip to where the lion was and were greeted by not only the sick lion but 9 other pride members, including cubs! We hung out with them for a few hours before driving around while sitting on the bonet and lying on the river bed gazing at the Milky Way.

Healthy lion

Sick lion

The next day we were lucky enough to find the lions again and saw two different prides who shares the same alpha male, which is really unusual so we were so luck to see this! The 3 females in the second pride had a total of 6 cubs of different ages. Ryan (Olivia's boyfriend) also drove up for the week and we were also so surprised that Liv also flew on in the Thursday for a long weekend. 

I could write about our incredible experience in the African bush for days, reliving each magical second with pleasure, but to summarise the rest of the week our time we balanced our time out by relaxing by the pool surrounded by monkeys with their new born babies - so cute! Even if they did go rummaging through my back pack and stole my art supplies which I had to chance them down for through the bushes throwing rocks (you're welcome for that hilarious image of me doing that). Other animals we saw were a bull elephant, kudu, giraffe, buck, owls, porcupines, buffalo, hyenas, mongoose and more, sadly the infamous leopard did not make an appearance so we'll certainly be back to find one! 

Both me and Adrian can't thank Laura, Olivia enough for taking us to this magical place and thank you Brian and Molly for allowing us to go! 

The beautiful cottage