Gondwana Game Reserve, South Africa

 We had a bit of a challenge arriving in South Africa. High winds and waves forced us to cancel our stop at the beach town of Mossel Bay, and then delayed our arrival into Capetown for a day because high winds had forced the closure of the port. We missed a day of sightseeing in Capetown, so when we disembarked we immediately picked up our rental car and drove for five hours to the wonderful Gondwana Game reserve.

Gondwana is a private game reserve, covering over 10,000 hectares. It is located in the southern Cape in an area known as the garden route for it's lush landscape. The reserve has a mixture of plains and mountainous areas set against the backdrop  of a beautiful mountain range. The reserve has some private homes, as well as four lodges for guest  accommodation. 

The entrance to Gondwana Game reserve.

This large valley is part of a rift which goes all the way to the ocean and used to be an extensive wildlife corridor. There is a goal to restore this corridor called "The Eden Project", which would link a number of game reserves,  with free migration of animals within the corridor. This would help to restore the genetic diversity which is being quickly lost. Inbreeding with resultant deformities and abnormalities is becoming a big problem on game reserves since the genetic pool of many of the animals is very limited.

We have our own private African style beehive hut with fantastic views of the valley and mountains beyond. Our daily routine includes a game drive from  6 AM to about 9 AM, followed by a gourmet breakfast, then lunch from 1-2. We have our second game drive from 4 PM to about 7- 8 PM, followed by a lovely dinner at the restaurant overlooking the valley. The game drives are timed to view the animals at dawn and dusk when they are most active.  The guides are excellent, with extensive knowledge of both the vegetation and animals. 

Our hut accommodation. We're definitely "glamping"!

 
Some of the huts overlooking the pool.

We have been here for three days and have had many close encounters with all kinds of wildlife.  Most people on visits to game reserves hope to view the "big five". These are the animals deemed most dangerous to hunt and include the lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo. The only member of  the "big five" which we have not encountered here is the leopard. The park has a couple of leopards, but they are very elusive.  This reserve in particular has a large number of the endangered white rhino, and we see them up close every time we go out on a drive.


Mama and baby hippo.


Four rhinos "playing" in front of us


Gondwana is limited to having six lions on the reserve due to proximity to neighboring farms and private land. This proud old male who is about 16 years old is the dominant male in the pride. He was happy to relax and stare at us from a distance of about 10 feet! There are another two females and two cubs who we have not seen yet, as well as a lone female. The variety of lion here is the desert lion, and they are quite large, with very large paws.

This is the young lone female on the reserve. She is the daughter of the dominant male, and has been rejected from the pride because the father will not mate with the daughter. The reserve is hoping to trade her to another reserve where she will find a male and start her own pride.

She was very interested in us, and was very playful, rolling around and exposing her belly like a kitten who wants to be scratched! Tempting, but not a good idea! In the presence of predators, or the unpredictable animals like the elephant, rhino and buffalo we stay in the vehicle at all times, speak quietly, and don't make any sudden moves which could startle the animals and provoke an attack.


Our game drives are very civilized, and we always stop for morning coffee and afternoon drinks in a safe area. Here we are being investigated by two curious giraffe. There were another four more behind us. The nice young family in the picture who were sharing our vehicle were from Frankfurt, Germany. Our excellent guide "Eugene" is on the left.


A momma with baby who is about a month old. The zebras here have a light brown stripe in between the black and white stripes.
 
We have two more game drives before we leave tomorrow morning to explore the "garden route" and coastal beaches for two days, then off to Franschoek in the lovely wine country outside of Capetown for four days.







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