Babymoon 2012

 I dont think we ever thought we would be going on a Babymoon 2012, but here we are!  We decided to take advantage of the long Labor Day weekend and went up north, almost to Botswana to Madikwe Game Reserve.  It is supposed to be one of the premiere reserves in SA and we found a great deal, so we left Kinley with Magdeline and headed out! 

Standing on our deck with the watering hole in the background

We stayed at the only lodge in the park that is not fenced in.  So when they showed us to our chalet, we were so excited to see that we were situated right next to a watering hole and there were tons of elephants hanging out there.  What a welcome!  We were told that we were not allowed to go to our rooms by ourselves at night.  We had to be escorted by our guide with a rifle, just in case there were animals lurking about!!

Figured I should take one pregnancy pic this time around.

We were really excited to have Patrick and Holiday as our guides.  Patrick has been a tracker for 28 years and just became a driver last year.  And Holiday has been tracking for 22 years.  So between the two of them, we didnt miss anything within miles.  They would spot things and call things out and then about 3 minutes later I would see them!  We spent a good amount of time tracking a leopard, but never saw him :(

We came across a rare sighting of a Caracal.  We were driving in the middle of nowhere with fields all around us and all of the sudden Holiday yells something out to Patrick.  He drives off into the bush and about 75+ yards deep in the bush, camoflauged with the dead grass is this male caracal!  They said they are so rare that they were even excited to see it.

Male lion with blood in his mouth from just eating a zebra!

The remains

 We came across this Waterbuck that had been dragged high into this tree by a leopard.  How in the world they get them up there is unbelievable!

Beautiful Madikwe sunset

 The first night we had dinner in an outside area with the rest of the people staying at the lodge.  We had our own table with Patrick (the guide).  So it was great to get to know him and hear his stories.  He is one of 2 Master Trackers in all of South Africa, so that was pretty cool.  But the second night there was only one other couple staying there and it was his birthday, so when we got back from our afternoon drive, they had set up a private dinner on our deck for us! 

 It was a really nice weekend away.  Our last "African" experience before we leave.