South Africa: Mabula Game Lodge

I kept repeating lyrics from Under African Skies by Paul Simon pretty often during our weekend in the Limpopo province of South Africa. I have always liked the lyrics specifically and the song in general, but being a perpetual sky watcher I get it when people talk about walking under certain skies.

His path was marked

By the stars in the Southern Hemisphere

And he walked his days

Under African Skies

This is the story of how we begin to remember

This is the powerful pulsing of love in the vein

After the dream of falling and calling your name out

These are the roots of rhythm

And the roots of rhythm remain

I think everyone is proprietary about having the prettiest sunrises and sunsets under their own particular sky, and our game driver was no different. She was proud of her South African skies, and I don't blame her. One of my favorite things about vacation is seeing the sunrise and set in a different location. See the sunrise in Cape Town was on my 40/40 list, but I actually did it here instead and it was glorious:

Sunday morning we flew from Cape Town back up to Jo'Burg, then boarded a bus for a little over two hours to the Mabula Game Lodge. Our flight was a little late leaving Cape Town, and we had a frazzled get luggage get lunch board the bus get the hell on the road early afternoon that left us feeling a little drained. We basically had time to go to the bathroom upon arrival before heading out for our first game drive.

Mabula is a 30,000 acre wild game preserve in the Waterberg region of the Limpopo Province. The closest town is Bela Bela. It is not completely open like Krueger National Park is. It is free of malaria. We went on two morning game drives, leaving at 4:45 a.m., and two evening game drives leaving at 4:30 p.m. It has a nice lobby with seating areas, a bar area that can be quiet (aside from the insane frogs making their presence known at night) or lively depending on who is bellied up to it, one large dining room (okay food), and rooms off the main courtyard that is sometimes inhabited by funny little warthogs. The rooms had high ceilings, thatched roofs, and large/cool bathrooms. The air had a hard time keeping up and the nights were pretty hot.

To be honest, I could have seen  no animals and still have been happy just riding around in the open air rovers for two days enjoying the wind on my face, the green everywhere, the cool trees, and the glorious skies. The early morning and early evening drives and open air cars with covered roofs kept it from being too hot, being in a malaria-free zone made it much less arduous than a typical safari, and I expected to take more pictures but I was honestly content to sit back and relax and enjoy the rides.

Of course, we did see animals. My favorite elephants were on a tree tearing down rampage high up on the hill so we didn't see them in their full glory, and the lions were sleeping as they are wont to do 20 hours a day so we saw elephants and lions at a distance. Otherwise we saw zebra, crocodile, hippos, rhinos, kudu, impala, ostrich, cape water buffalo, giraffe, warthogs, wildebeests, baboons, and many birds, including the endangered ground hornbill. I'm sure MFD could name some more as he's Mr. National Geographic. No leopards or cheetahs were spied.

We did have some time to relax, which we spent partially by the pool and partially in the spa. I had the best massage I've ever had in my life there. No lie.

MFD also used his free time after our last game drive to go on a horseback safari. The man has never ridden a horse and came back looking like Clark Griswold after he walked across the desert in Vacation. It was HOT there. LOL. He did well though and enjoyed it.

I used the last day spare time to shower extra long so I was not the source of BO on the flight back, put on an eye mask, pack my shit, and mentally prepare for the 2.5 hour ride to the airport (in what turned out to be a bus leaking diesel fuel), the two hour flight way and security fuckery at Jo'Burg airport, the 18 hour flight back to D.C., and the 3 hour drive home to Philly. I had memories of beauty and freedom and African skies to sustain me.

This is going to do it for the South Africa posts. If you missed them, here are links to Cape Town and the Peninsula Tour. Thanks for travelling along with me.

Linking up for Wanderlust Wednesdays with Kate, Emily, and Kerri