After a much needed amazing night of sleep in our luxurious king bed, we awoke to our guide Gareth’s friendly knock on the door, implying that it was time for another day of adventure at Kirkman’s Kamp. Gathering our camera equipment and, believe it or not, winter coats and hats, we headed up to the lodge for breakfast. Our butler, Sam, greeted us with a smile and showed us to our seats where we had coffee, juice and biscuits waiting for us. My husband and I each ordered the Eggs Benedict, which may have been the best we’ve ever had, and after quickly eating, we jumped into the safari vehicle for another morning of excitement.
Beautiful Cuisine at our hotel (Emily Steinberg)
Gareth mentioned there was rumors of a lion just a few hundred yards from the lodge this morning and that really got our blood pumping. We were bumping along through the bush to the dry river bed of the Sand River when we heard it: the unmistakable roar of a male lion. As our safari vehicle rushed towards the noise, in the distance we saw two other vehicles headed the same way. Everyone was on a mission to get a glimpse of this majestic beast and for a few minutes we forgot about our freezing fingers and toes as the adrenaline kicked in. Two apprehensive minutes later and there he was. Breath visible in the cold morning air and belly bulging from the morning meal, the last of the big five was walking directly at us. The male lion eyed us up and down as he slowly walked by, mostly without concern, and found way his to a patch of morning sunlight where he could lay down and digest. As we watched him relax after an apparently busy morning, he started letting our bone shaking, guttural roars over and over again. We were told this was him calling for his brother, whom he was planning on investigating a rival male with later that morning.
After we picked our jaws up from the ground, word came over the radio that there was a fresh kill just a mile away: a water buffalo this male lion and his brother had taken down the day before. Gareth didn’t hesitate as he hit the gas and off we were to check out the situation. As we arrived at the kill, we noticed vultures overhead and periodic roars from within the tall grass of the African budge. It turned out there were two female lioness and the rival male lion in question, all sharing the carcass of the water buffalo. Although the smell was a bit gut wrenching, to view big cats such as these coming together without (much) conflict was a sight to see. The original male lion and his brother did eventually arrive but luckily they weren’t too bothered by the rival feeding and everyone got a fair meal.
Lunch that day left our bellies full as ever and we were fortunately able to sneak in a nap before the evening game drive, which is just what we needed after a morning of such excitement. This evening's game drive consisted of a seemingly never-ending herd of water buffalo trotting across the road, multiple herds of zebra (pronounced like “Debra”, as the tracker pointed out that “You don’t say DEEbra do you?”) and a purple and orange sunset that was unmistakable African.
Excellent travel advice and service
This is my second experience working with Adventure Life. I’m sold. Jess Heuermann is an experienced traveler and provides a lot of useful information when planning a trip. These are the questions I like to ask at the outset - What’s it like to go here, there, what would you suggest, what do people report, can we add any additional side trips? Jess took the time to answer my questions and seek additional information to share with me. Petchie Colina is outstanding in helping with travel logistics and final preparations. Adventure Life has excellent guides and offers private guides and small group adventures. We enjoyed the opportunity to talk with the guides and drivers to learn more about their countries, cultures and histories. A highlight was having the guides pick local restaurants where we could share meals together. Highly recommend.
Claire Cordon
5 days ago
Our six-day tour in Iceland went smoothly with one exception. We had asked for two rooms each night. Somehow we were booked with one room with three beds. It could not be fixed at the first hotel in Reykjavik because the hotel was fully booked. Once informed of the problem, however, Adventure Life rebooked for two rooms for the remainder of the trip. As an 85-year-old traveler, I appreciated that one could participate at different physical levels at many of the stops. Iceland is a great place to visit but on the expensive side.
Mary Warren
6 days ago
Jess was very easy going and answered all our questions. It’s not easy dealing with 6 people at once but she did an outstanding job!
Diane Foster
1 week ago
Kassandra and the Adventure Life team have been incredible! Kassandra was very knowledgeable and attentive to our asks while making sure we kept within our budget. This was our first experience with a travel agent and we were blown away by the booking/initial exploration service. We will use Adventure Life again.