April 24, 2025
Our first full day of safari and the days really are as full as they can be with the morning starting around 6AM at the main lodge. It was raining this morning when we woke up so I walked to the lodge to see what the normal plan is with the rain. Joe was there with another guide who both informed me we could go out but it isn’t very pleasant in the rain and no other groups were going out. That was all we needed to hear to take a pass.
I went back to the room to tell Kayleen and light a fire. Figuring we could have a relaxing morning since we were up so early and the kids should be tired. Unfortunately that was derailed by putting towels down for a few different leaks in the roof from all the rain and the boys waking up by 6:45. They claimed they woke up because they thought they needed to so they could go out looking for animals.
The boys did some home school lessons on their iPads and then we headed to breakfast where we continued our Uno games. There are impressively large bugs everywhere and Ollie is very into investigating them. Lenny is too but is actually scared to do it solo.
After our brief bug hunting we went back to the room to finish home school. Ollie wrote two letters, which he made seem like an impossible task. Kayleen also started to teach him “business math” at Ollie’s request which he attentively listened to. Lenny started to expand his list of “Lenny words” that he is supposed to know when we read a book.
The reward for a good home school effort today was pellet gun shooting with Joe. There is a list of kids activities and the ones that caught the boys eye were pellet gun shooting and bow & arrows. Lenny asked “When we do the bow & arrows is the arrow going to be super sharp or like a plumbing thing?” He meant suction cup but associates those with plungers apparently.
The pellet gun was a rifle sized gun that held one round at a time and was fired by a spring. I went with the boys and Joe to shoot at a paper buffalo target and hanging metal targets. Ollie was very into it and trying to aim with Joe’s help. Lenny was more about Joe aiming and letting him just pull the trigger, usually followed by a brag about how good of a shot he made.
We found a gecko during our shooting session that blended right into the wooden platform we were on. Everything was going well until we were finishing to get lunch and Lenny felt wronged that Ollie might come back another day to shoot more with Joe. He took my hat, and after being warned not to multiple times, threw it off the platform attempting to get it in the swampy water below. It landed on a rock but regardless he was in big trouble on our way to lunch.
Lenny was punished by not being allowed to use his iPad while he got a pedicure with Kayleen and not being allowed to sit upfront with Joe on our evening drive (would end up being a blessing). The greater punishment was knowing that Ollie got to do both of those things he was now barred from doing. I reminded him of this a few times.
The boys have started to get three strike each day before they lose something we have talked up as an end of day reward. The current reward are jelly beans Kayleen found that have good and gross flavors, similar to a candy in the Harry Potter series.
The boys and Kayleen finished getting their nails done just before we had to leave for our evening drive. Without his iPad Lenny feel asleep at the spa but only for 15 minutes. The boys have been called girls a few times here (the hair and now the nails) but they just correct the offender, “I’m just a boy with long hair” and they move on.
Everyone is pretty tired throughout the day but there is so much to do that we feel guilty taking a nap. I’m sure we will need it one day but not today! Time to head out for our evening drive, our goal, to find big cats.
The reserve has experienced much more rain then usual so a lot of the roads are in bad shape or completely closed. Joe got word on the radio, from other guides, that the main lion pride had made a kill. I was not very excited to see them eating but we knew they would stay in one place for a while so we headed to the spot.
Along the way we saw our male Kudu friend and came across a dung beetle with his poop ball prize. Joe stopped so we could check him out and all got a chance to touch his very hard shell, except tough guy Lenny who chickened out.
Then we got to one of the roads in rough shape on our way to the lion pride. It was a pretty soupy looking section that ended with a small incline. There were fresh tracks so Joe thought we could try it and we agreed which was a mistake by all of us. We picked up some speed to get through the mud but must have hit a large rock under the mud when we got to the incline. It was like hitting a wall. Ollie flew into the dashboard face first which seemed like it was going to be a bad injury. Somehow he didn’t have a cut or scratch on him and only briefly cried, we think he was trying to act tough for Joe because it was very jarring. My knees got the worst of it for the group with some cuts and bruises.
Joe found another route and we made it to the lions who where luckily done eating. They had taken down a wildebeest. The lion pride is made up of two lionesses and one male who is the alpha in the reserve. They were laying on the ground in a slumber with massive stomachs after their meal and the jackals where scavenging the remains. The rest of the wildebeest herd looked on from a distance still eating grass…
Ollie was excited to see the alpha lion and called him “the boss lion of all the girl lions.” Though we found out he had made a move to kill one of the male cubs once and the lioness clawed his face so badly he was bleeding for days so maybe not always the boss.
We returned to the lodge for dinner where we had our nightly elephant visit at the pool. They sure do love the warm salt water but we can’t seem to find them during the day. Ollie got the jelly bean reward, only 10 beans, while Lenny sat and watched. He was banned as further punishment for trying to toss my hat in the swamp. Goodnight!
