South Africa Travel Diaries Part 1: Safari at Londolozi

Hellooooo from the Londolozi Game Reserve in beautiful South Africa! This family vacation has been booked for almost two years and has always felt like this distant dream… I am currently sitting on this gorgeous private deck, in and out of our own plunge pool, overlooking the bush, watching elephants and kudu walk right past our room and it’s just beyond surreal. A total trip of a lifetime and its only just beginning— the best feeling of a vacation eh? It actually feels like we have been here for closer to a week because of our almost 43 hours of travel time to get here, plus the time difference, plus how long our days have been with the early morning drives. So much has happened in the 4 days since I left Chicago on Friday, as as this is an almost two week trip, I figured it would be in my best interest to capture my travel diaries as continuously as possible; otherwise, I may never get to it out of the overwhelming sheer volume of stories and photos and that would be so sad.

To give a quick recap of where we are exactly and how we got here. We flew from Chicago O’hare to the Frankfurt International Airport in Germany. The flight was a little under 8 hours and we landed around 7 am. We planned a 14 hour layover so we could have a day trip to Heidelberg, break up the travel time a bit, and adjust to the time zone better. We booked a hotel for the day, so once we landed, we drove about 45 min to the town and ended up napping for about two hours, until 12 pm. I know some people say napping is the worst thing you can do for jet lag (my dad is of this opinion lol) but it totally rejuvenated my life. I felt so much better when I woke up; super refreshed and ready for the day. We got lunch, checked out the Christmas market and just walked around exploring. Then we headed back to the hotel, packed up, and headed back to the airport that same night. Our flight to Johannesberg left around 10 pm and was a 13 hour flight. We were in business class (such a treat, not a normal thing for us!), so we got a great dinner, a couple drinks, watched Madagascar (which I highly recommend in general but especially to anyone traveling to go on safari lol, we’ve been quoting it and referencing it every time we see the animals in the movie), and were able to get like 7 hours of sleep. We landed just after 9 am and then had another 3 hour layover to get on a 45 min flight to Skuduza airport, which is tiny little regional airport in Kruger National Park. There, we were picked up by our guide from Londolozi, the resort we are staying at. Unbeknownst to us, our hour and fifteen min drive to Londolozi was in a safari truck, (covered roof, but no doors), and there was no highway… We also ended up seeing elephants, lions, zebra, rhinos, and plenty of kudu (essentially like African deer!) on our way back. Kate, my sister, was actually the one that spotted the lions, and our guide at first didn’t believe her. We came across Salalah, a 6 year old lioness, and her baby cub, just laying in the bush. Salalah has an incredible story. Typically, lions live in prides, but Salalah grew up with just a single mother raising her. She had two brothers, both of whom, with her mother, were all killed by other lions. She eventually had three cubs of her own, two of which also died, and now she is raising her daughter alone, just as she was raised. She doesn’t know any other way of life; however, as she has a daughter, there is a possibility of them starting their own pride. Salalah is a ranger favorite in this area, and it was really lucky and rare that we spotted her.

Once we got back to Londolozi, we quickly changed and went back out for a ride. There are two rides per day, one at 5:45 am and another at 4 pm. We get up at 5 am and meet for coffee at 5:30 and honestly I feel like I’m living two days in one, which I love. The sun is essentially fully up by 5, which makes getting up so much easier; maybe this will inspire me to wake up earlier back home haha. It was just our family in the car, plus our guide and tracker. Something I love about the Londolozi experience, (which I haven’t even gotten to yet), is that they pair you with the same ranger and tracker for the entire duration of your stay, and you get to have some meals with your ranger as well, so it really fosters a bonding experience. Our tracker has been tracking his whole life; it’s amazing what he is able to see as we are driving quickly… Each safari so far has centered around what other rangers and trackers have reported seeing. So, for our first one, we went out and our tracker saw leopard prints. He was able to determine that it was a mother and male cub, and which was they were headed. A big part of going on safari is simple driving around finding the animals, looking for clues, and listening in on walkie talkies to hear what other rangers are saying. At times, our tracker and ranger would park the car and go off on foot so they could better determine which way tracks were going, or look for other clues. Our ranger said that sometimes you just need to turn off the car and listen to what the bush is telling you. We eventually found the male cub, which was absolutely incredible. We were SO close. All of the babies in the park have grown up with the safari vehicles, as have their parents, so they are very used to it and not bothered. Staying in the car and not standing up is the crucial key, as is being overall respectful and knowing when to move out and leave them alone. We drove along following the leopard for a while, and then eventually came across another male, adult leopard totally by coincidence. He was way bigger and definitely more territorial, as opposed to the cub, who only just started wandering around on his own when his mom leaves him; just becoming a curious cat!

The morning safaris end with some snacks and amarula and coffee (South Africa’s version of Bailey’s) in the bush. We have been getting back from the morning ride around 8:45 am and then go strait to breakfast. Then we have a few hours of relaxation time; Kate and I napped the first day, and have spent time editing photos and being on our phones since there isn’t a ton of wifi, laying out and going in the plunge pool, and working out. Lunch is served at 1:30 pm, and the afternoon safari is at 4 pm. For our first afternoon safari, our goal was to find a pride of lions. It ended up taking a while, and sometimes on safari you won’t end up finding what you’re looking for, but oh my goshhhhh did we get lucky. This was also the first ride where I brought along a rented canon and lens from the resort, were talking a 400 mm lens, which I was so so happy to have. Our tracker was the one who found the lions, so we were the first group to go over to them. There were maybe 7 all kinda chilling in the grass when we saw them, 2 males and some lionesses. All of a sudden, one of the males, who is literally like 6 feet next to me, lifts his head up and is listening and smelling. Our guide notices voltures circling a tree in the distance. Explaining to us that perhaps a stillborn kudu was born and they are waiting to scavenge it, the lions all at once spring into action, the male running ahead. Then, the rest of the pride starting rolling in; there are literally like 15 lions all running after each other. First, the lionesses, and slowly but surely all of the cubs, at least 12 of them, all walking a bit and then waiting to see if it was safe for them to follow. We started making our way over to where the volutures were, first passing by one of the lioness and her three baby cubs, who were all playing. In a pride of lions, multiple lionesses will help co-parent the cubs, but when it comes to little baby cubs, only their mother will stay with them when the rest of the group goes to a kill. We raced over to where the kill was and all of a sudden there are just like 20 lions casually chilling all over the place. There was a single lioness feeding on a lamb (newborn Kudu), with a bunch of cubs trying to get in on the action. And she was all oh hell nah!!

We stayed and just watched them for about an hour and it was for real one of the most magical and beautiful experiences of my life. They were just so close!!!! And couldn’t have cared less that there were three cars parked watching them. They were just doing their thing, existing in the wild, and it was just so crazy to think that we were peaking into a moment into their life as a pride.

Something really beautiful about going on safari is the stories; the animals, their babies, their lives, as well as the story you takeaway from each time you go out. You have no idea what you are going to see or experience and that is part of what makes it so incredible. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.

Like I mentioned at the top of this post (for anyone still reading, hi I love you so much), there is going to be SO much to share on this trip, and this will be the first post of many. Next up will be more details on Londolozi and I will definitely be doing a little style guide on all of my safari looks!!! I was trying to find inspo online and couldn’t really find what I was looking for, so hopefully that will be of help to any of you doing research for a safari trip 🙂

It’s over 100 degrees, so I’m gonna go take another dip in the plunge pool and then head off the lunch before our next drive. Ta ta for now friends! xx