Mala Mala - Private Game Reserve

Thank you to Kevin for writing this post late last night after I conked out to sleep:

Day 2 started out as a typical and relatively uneventful vacation day – a quick shuttle over to the small airport where we met our nine-passenger plane, after taping up a ripped suitcase with luggage stickers. Ok, well that’s probably not the most typical of vacation days, but nothing went wrong in the transfer. In fact, the flight was actually quite enjoyable; my grandfather’s eternal love for aircraft pushed him to take the passenger seat, while the rest of us enjoyed the views that we had only seen in movies (if the Lion King counts).

Just over an hour after boarding, we had reached our next accommodation – the private game reserve of MalaMala, where we will spend the next three nights. A short ride by jeep to the camp allowed us to meet not only our informative tour guide/guard Robin, but also the first Big Five member of our trip. It came in the form of a large gray rhinoceros about 10 feet away, and although that sounds scary, it was awesome (and also scary).

Our first planned safari wasn’t scheduled to start until 3 in the afternoon, so we had plenty of time to get acquainted with our heavenly abode (the primary ingredient for fancy language is jetlag). A few hours of staring down nature from our porch and rejuvenation, and we were set for adventure.

After just a few hours of driving, we had not only seen two more Big Five members (elephant and lion), but also a rare sight – feeding hour for a den of wild dogs. Moments after Robin told us that it could begin in a matter of thirty seconds or thirty minutes, the puppies charged (with alarming energy and volume) after the freshly caught food, brought home by one of the hunters. It was hard to imagine that in such a short amount of time, we had already managed to see an event that we will likely never witness again.

We returned to camp at around 7 in the evening, and an hour later we were met by an escort who took us down to dinner. The outdoor meal featured delicious food, a cozy fire, and an entertaining song performed by the chefs and waiters in their native language (which my natural ear for the African tongue translated to “Welcome, welcome, please eat all my food”) (just kidding). It was certainly a memorable dinner to cap off a memorable day here at the MalaMala camp.