Shamwari Game Reserve!!!

On Thursday, we left Pezula to drive to Shamwari Game Reserve. The drive along the Garden Route was spectacular, winding through mountains and along coastal valleys, with a constantly changing terrain that never ceased to amaze us with its beauty. Our driver, Michael (Me-kal), provided a very informative running commentary of not only interesting geographical information, but also an encapsulated history of South Africa, and specifically his experience throughout apartheid and beyond. He also delighted us with his translation of words into Xhosa, one of the top 3 of South Africa's 11 official languages (all students are required to study English, Afrikaans and Xhosa in school, and each student chooses one as his/her primary language). Xhosa is a beautiful language, well-known for the unique clicking sound that characterizes many of its words-not something that is easy to reproduce if it is not your native tongue.
We arrived at Shamwari, and took a few brief moments to settle in to our room at Long Lee Lodge, a 100-year old manor house inside the reserve.
Shamwari Game Reserve is one of the world's leading conservation organizations, whose focus is the management, development and rehabilitation of an Eco-system that had been destroyed by farming, but has now been returned to its natural state. The reserve encompasses more than 25,000 hectares (close to 75,000 acres).
After settling in, we headed to the bar where we met our driver, Phillip, and our vehicle mates, John and Dorothy, and we ventured out on our first drive.
We returned after probably the most amazing 4 hours of our lives and enjoyed our first Braai, a South African barbecue. Then we retired, eagerly anticipating our 5:30AM wake-up call so we could head back out in the bush.
Over the course of the next 3 days, we will make a total of 6 drives in an effort to see as much of the preserve and as many of the animals in their natural habitat as we can. Our guide, Phillip, is an incredible wealth of information, and I couldn't even begin to tell you all that we have learned, even after only 2 drives. He can spot an animal from miles away-as can our new friend, Dorothy, although John says that she comes by it honestly because she's had a lot of practice trying to find his "Little Willy.". The most amazing thing is that, because the animals live in an environment where humans present no threat, they allow us to get incredibly close to them, and they continue to go about their business as if we weren't even there. Obviously, Phillip has a shot-gun at the ready just in case, but in general, they will walk right by us-sometimes even within arms reach! Note our resident warthog family-they live on the grounds of the hotel, and we delighted in the fact that the giraffes came right up to the edge of the hotel property last evening to witness the wedding that took place.
Anyway, from this point forward, unless I have something new to report, I'm just going to post photos from our drives-they speak for themselves!