Winter in South Africa is always a bit of a shock, even though you've experienced it before. Most houses in South Africa aren't really made for winters, as their real winter is only two months long or something like that... as if it's ok to freeze your butt off for 15-20% of your life!? You learn to dress quickly in the mornings though and I'm starting to understand the idea of always wearing shoes indoors, but of course, I also brought my slippers, like a proper grandma.
The early mornings in the bush are wonderfully still and beautiful in the mist. The frost in the grass however gives you an indication that game drives at 6:30 in open vehicles may be a bit chilly... though I was told it hasn't been really cold yet while I've been here, as the temperature only dropped to about -4 one night... I usually get frost bites when it drops below +25!
A game drive is however always a game drive and it's one of very few activities I'll gladly get up before daybreak and accept being frozen solid for. As the sun rises you'd expect the air to warm up, but this is actually the coldest time of the day..!
Some mornings, I could have sworn that even the animals had had enough of the cold and were hibernating in their nests... especially the lions and the elephants! The afternoon drives were less of a slap in the face with a bag of ice cubes and we were treated with some really good elephant and cheetah sightings.
On the day of departure, after a week at Entabeni, a small group among my guests hadn't yet seen any lions and they were crossing all fingers available, as we headed out for one last morning drive. Fortunately there were other groups out on the same mission and with combined effort, the southern side of the reserve was combed through. There were tracks all over the place and eventually one of the rangers struck gold. Of course, we made our way there in a heartbeat.
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