After setting our things down in our tent, we had just enough time for a rest before our first game drive. Each day we have two game drives, one in the morning, typically starting around 6 A.M., and another in the afternoon starting around 3:00 P.M. through sunset.

Our guide is named Scotch and he is assisted by a “spotter”, named Patrick, that sits in a seat next to the hood of the car. Scotch drives with a rifle next to him, not for hunting, but for emergency protection, like if a lion charges the vehicle. Both Scotch and Patrick have been working at the lodge for over twenty years and live in nearby villages. They live on sight for 6 weeks, and return to their villages for 2 weeks.

The game drives are absolutely incredible and seeing these animals in the wild is such a different experience than in captivity. It’s humbling to watch these wild animals in their natural habitat. It’s the beginning of spring which is one of the best times to come, as the animals are coming out but the bush is not dense with leaves yet so you can clearly spot animals. We have been getting very lucky with all of the animals we have seen so far.

The guides are very respectful of the animals space and like to give the animals their space, though we do still get quite close.

We stop at sunset at each sunset game drive to have drinks and snacks that were packed for us.

Some of the animals we saw are impalas, lions (at night), a leopard, hippo, exotic birds, herd of elephants, giraffes, and more.

Below are pictures from our first sunset game drive. We do have a camera, but so far, these are just pictures from my iPhone.