Pondoro Lodge - Wow!

After a 3 hour drive from Nelspruit Airport we finally arrived at Pondoro Lodge in Kruger National Park around 8.30pm.  And what a place!  We were greeted by Lize, the general manager, and taken on a long trek to our room - the Buffalo Suite.  Wow, it was amazing!  A huge thatched 'hut' with an enormous living area, bedroom,  and open bathroom area, all with huge windows leading onto a large deck overlooking the Oliphants River.  The furnishings were all very modern and interesting, with an African twist - desk and vanity unit held up with twisted tree trunks, a huge red painting of a buffalo hanging over the bed, outdoor shower built around a tree trunk on the deck...... wonderful!

After sorting our luggage and getting changed we were then escorted to the dining area back at the main lodge area by one of the staff - at night you have to be escorted by a security person with a torch, as animals can be in the scrub around you. 

Dinner was served on a large deck overlooking the river, kerosene lamps on every table, trees overhead - it looked amazing.  Our first dinner was:  Chunky corn soup, followed by Ostrich fillet with almond couscous, African ratatouille and creamy basil pesto sauce, finishing with a sticky date pudding and vanilla ice cream, and African coffee.  All courses were beautifully presented and tasted wonderful.  After dinner we were again escorted back to our room, to prepare for our first game drive at 5.30am next morning - yes, 5.30am!  

Well, at 5.00am next morning we had a knock on the door (our wake-up call), we had to be up and ready in 15 minutes to be escorted to the dining area for tea/coffee before our drive.  We were driven by Robbie, the general manager, with Renson as our tracker, in an open-topped 11-seater 4WD Toyota.  We climbed into the back seat, greeted 4 other guests, then we were off into the scrub for our first drive.  It was quite cool (make that freezing) hurtling along the tracks early in the morning, and I hadn't brought a jacket (just a long-sleeved top), so I was wrapped up in a blanket for much of the trip - I'll be better prepared for the next drive! 

We struck it lucky early on in the drive - we found a lone bull elephant having breakfast at the side of the track, so Robbie went off-road and came around right next to him so we could take photos and observe him close-up.  It was awesome!  We didn't seem to bother him, and he just continued pulling up roots of trees and chomping on them.  Then one of the young girls in the front of the vehicle slid over on her seat rather noisily, and startled the elephant who suddenly turned and walked right at us, flapped his ears and squealed!  He then walked right around the front of the vehicle, where our tracker, Renson, was sitting on an elevated seat right out in front - he turned and stood right in front of Renson's face, ears out, and stared him down - I took a photo right at this moment, and this is the result - one of my favourite photos and moments of the whole trip!  

When the elephant looked like he might come further forward, Robbie started the car and drove forward towards the elephant who then backed off, and resumed eating.  After observing him for about half an hour, we then continued on our drive, then stopped for coffee/hot chocolate at a rocky outcrop overlooking the mountains.

We hopped back in the truck then tracked down a group of white rhinos - we observed them for a while, and Robbie radioed their location to our other vehicle, who also arrived and took photos.   During our first drive we spotted beautiful birds, elephants, rhinos, impala, warthogs, giraffes, and zebras - a good morning's work.  Getting up at 5.00am has its rewards!

After a good hearty breakfast at around 9.30, we went for a walk with Eryk, one of the trackers, who was toting a rifle for security.  We wandered through the bush as he pointed out various trees, shrubs, animal tracks and poo (yes, I did say that!), then headed down to the river where we spotted one large crocodile sunning himself on a small island in the river, and shortly after that we saw a young croc.  We were looking for hippos but were unlucky that day.

Later the same afternoon we went out for our first evening game drive with Ryno and Eryk.  We bumped into a black-backed jackal shortly after starting, and saw numerous zebras, a family of elephants and a chameleon - as well as a beautiful sunset.

During our stay we went on 7 game drives, each one revealing something different and magical each time.  On our second morning, Ryno asked what we would like to see - I replied that I would really like to see lions, so off we went.  And incredibly, they tracked down a pride of 11 lions lying in some dense scrub after a big night of hunting!  We sat only a few metres away from them, taking photos and talking in hushed voices, while they just ignored us - fantastic! 

On our next evening drive, Ryno again asked us what we would like to see - Trev replied, "We'd like to see a hippo and a leopard, both at the same time!"  Ryno replied that he'd certainly do his best, but couldn't guarantee it.  Well, we arrived at a dam where a hippo was clearly visible, together with a crocodile lazing on the banks of the dam.  So we ticked that one off, and had our 'sundowners' (beer and wine) at the top of the dam. 

After we packed up and hopped back into the truck, Eryk murmured 'leopard' and shone his spotlight to the left of our vehicle, where a beautiful big leopard was strolling along!  We were so excited, and the leopard passed in front of our vehicle where we had been standing having a drink just moments before!  He wandered around for a while while we took photos and movies, then wandered off into the scrub, where Ryno started following him.  We tracked him for a good half hour through dense scrub in the dark - it was just amazing.  So not only did Trev get his hippo and leopard at the same spot, but he also got a crocodile thrown in for free!  What a great day - lions in the morning followed by hippo, leopard and crocodile in the evening.

On our last day we decided we would still do the morning drive, even though we were leaving for Durban after breakfast.  What a good decision - shortly after starting, Ryno got word that a group of lions was on the move at a particular location.  We headed in that direction and eventually found them - the same pride we had seen a couple of days previously, only this time they were walking in front of, around and behind the truck - magic!  We stayed with them for around half an hour and I took numerous photos and movies.

Then it was back to the lodge for breakfast and packing to go to Ballito.  We usually had breakfast on the deck, but this time we were escorted to our own private breakfast table on the bank overlooking the river - it was just lovely, and a nice touch to finish on.

We had an absolutely wonderful stay at Pondoro Game Lodge - the food was fantastic (the lodge has won awards for it, and we got to taste impala, ostrich and kudu), the staff, guides and trackers were lovely and very knowledgeable, our suite was just amazing, and the game was plentiful.  And the pool was good, too, athough we only got to use it once, we were so exhausted!  We would definitely recommend Pondoro to anyone going to South Africa to view the wildlife.

Next stop - Ballito on the Indian Ocean ....