Londolozi: Tree Camp and The Big Five

Londolozi: Tree Camp and The Big Five

The Boss faired very well on the bush plane and after landing on a bumpy airstrip in the middle of the jungle, we were picked up by Alfred. Alfred turned out to be our bush guide.  He welcomed us to Londolozi, grabbed our bags and drove us the short distance between the airstrip and the camp. On the way to the camp, we saw scores of impala, some wildebeests and some hippos, and I thought, “Wow, what a lucky break to see all that in just a few hundred meters”. But let me tell you, it is now Friday as I write this article and what we saw on the trip from the airport was the tip of the iceberg. In addition, I can only comment that this resort is just the most incredible place I have ever stayed at and I will definitely come back here.

Let me start by showing you a few pictures of the resort and then some from our outings in the bush with Alfred and his sidekick Bennett, who is our local tracker. You will not believe what we have seen, and as they say, pictures say a thousand words:

Cape Town to Londolozi:

Saying Good-bye to Alan and Achmed

Our bush plane

Our pilots were younger than our son

We touched down at the Londolozi airstrip and were picked up in a resort Land Rover and drove the half a kilometre to the resort. This is what we saw:

Our first Impala on the way to the resort from the airstrip (we have since seen a thousand)

Where is the Hippo?

Wildebeest

We checked in and then checked out the best room I have ever stayed in:

Londolozi Deck

Londolozi reception and lounge

Londolozi Dining Room

Londolozi Bar

Our room looked like this:

Our Living Room

Our Plunge Pool

Our bedroom

Immediately after settling in we went on a game drive at 4 PM on Wednesday and have followed up with game drives at 5 AM Thursday morning and 4 PM Thursday afternoon. We are scheduled to leave after the Friday morning bush drive but we have already seen the Big Five up close and many other  species. We do one more trip here tomorrow before we move into the Kruger National Park at 1:30 PM by bush plane. Here is a small sampling of what we saw from the Big Five species in Londolozi:

Bennett in tracker's chair and Alfred at the wheel

The Cape Buffalo

This one was easy, he was shot from our deck

This guy was further afield

check out these horns

The Giraffe

This is a male and female that were mating

The Rhino

This is one of the White Rhinos that we saw

The Leopard

This is a female Leopard with a baby impala for breakfast

This is a very good posing male leopard

The male flexes his muscles to have a drink

The Lion:

This is Simba

Simba and his buddies are going down for a nap

This is a 3-year old male and female that are stalking impala

The Elephant:

This is a horny 25-year old bull who is literally leaking testosterone

I was anxious about him

So we got up close and personal with all of the Big Five in less than two days and we felt very privileged. We saw much more than the Big Five and in the next submission I will show you some of those pictures.

Stay tuned!