For our friends and family that would like a little insight into our recent amazing bush getaway…
After much excitement and anticipation we arrived at the beautiful five star Leopard Hills. A slice of pure heaven! Greeted with open arms, the travelling become a distant memory.
A welcoming drink and cool facecloth to freshen up, before we were shown to the deck to enjoy a lovely relaxing lunch, which was just the start of world-class food to come! It was hard not to enjoy the refreshing cool water misters while admiring the spectacular views!
Beaming with excitement, we bounced along the path to explore what words or pictures could not prepare us for! Immaculate accommodation that even the discerning traveler would be impressed with! A gorgeous spacious room with all the amenities you could ask for, including the all important minibar! (a very special card and champagne from Paula and Gary). A gorgeous big bed veiled by the mosquito net. Lovely freestanding bath tub, or if you prefer the doubled-headed shower, or even the outdoor shower! Best of all our very own private rim flow splash pool right on natures doorstep and less then a meter from our front door!
 |
| Unit 6 Leopard Hills (our little slice of heaven!) |
It was hard to decide what to do first, which was fortunate for us we didn’t have to! It was tea in the library at 4pm followed by our first ever professional game drive through the private reserve. Meet and greet the ranger and other guests while female Kudu and baby grazed around the nearby bushes. Once we had tea and cake it was into the landy and off on our adventure! Our first encounter was a family of elephants which crossed the road right in front of us. Huge and powerful creatures, stripping the leaves from branches in what seemed to be an effortless thrust of the trunk. Then onto the next stop, which was a rather rare one. The lesser spotted (literally spotted) leopard tortoise, only a few centimeters big, he had a very long road ahead of him. Poor little chap.
 |
| baby leopard tortoise |
The cats and her cubs!
The rangers in the private reserve communicate with 2 way radio, since there are about 15 private lodges within the park, there is a better chance of spotting something when the rangers call it in, we heard with huge excitement that a Lioness and her two cubs where spotted on a Kudu kill and were still there after a few days. The smell of the kill was easily forgotten when we got to follow them down to the water. We snapped away as the two little cubs weaved their way threw the long grass and paused in front of our vehicle just long enough for the sun to catch their eyes and us to get the perfect shot! Totally satisfied to have seen Cats for the first time and best of all cubs! We thought the day couldn’t get better, but it did! We drove down to a hippo pool and enjoyed sundowner drinks and snacks at the waters edge, while admired the wonderful African bush and listening the calls of nature.
 |
| lion cubs following mom to water |
We returned after sunset and were escorted to our rooms by guard as the resort is not fenced. Once we were ready for dinner we had a pre-dinner drink in our room with Paula and Gary and then made our way to the deck where there was a beautifully set candlelit table waiting for us. Freshly baked bread rolls accompanied by starter salad, a fruit sorbet to cleanse the pallet and prepare for an outstanding main meal, followed by gorgeous deserts and cheeseboard if you please. When all was said and done, we were escorted back to our rooms for a much needed good nights rest!
Refreshed and ready for an early start we were woken by a thunderous knock at the door at 5am. Scared to oversleep we popped out of bed and had a powerful shower that would wake the dead! We met on the deck for coffee, fresh fruit juices or homemade icetea, some chit chat and time to take in the early morning sunrise before heading off on our morning game drive at 6am.
Our first Leopard Sighting!
A male Leopard was spotted along the fence line exploring another male territory. We got to view him sent marking on bushes and trees as he passed. We followed him through the long grass and thick bush, while nearby giraffe watched closely. It was incredible to see how at ease he was with us in his space. A truly majestic animal.
 |
| Our first male leopard sighting |
Not long after that, we were called to a group sighting of lion and lionesses. A large lonely male lying in the road, totally gorged from what looked like a really big meal! Perhaps lovesick and comfort eating! (since he was the only single male in the group!) there were two mating pairs not far from each other, very special to see. Shortly after that magical moment, we decided to stop on one of the open planes to have an Amarula coffee and muffins to start the day off with a kick, when we spotted 3 rhino grazing in the long grass, so moved along swiftly to another slightly more safe spot to get out the vehicle.
Then it was back to the deck for an awesome breakfast, anything from home made muesli to full English breakfast with all the trims, whatever you please. After relaxing a bit and allowing our breakfast to settle we wondered back to our room to chill out and relax by the pool! More drinks, more food and a little nap to prepare for our adventures!
Late afternoon after a very chilled out day, Gary organized a bumble with some of the staff. We took a few drinks and headed out on our own little adventure. Having seen all the cats, we had to complete the big 5 with buffalo, and we did. We found one solitary male lazing in the river.
Satisfied with more game viewing then we have ever seen in our entire life, we were ready for any adventure! We stopped nearby a meandering river to take in the speldour!
Shortly after that we got news of a leopard in a tree on the other side of the reserve which Gary desperately tried to get us to, but it was not to be. We were too far away and night was closing in, despite his high speed efforts, great recovery of the vehicle from a really “sticky situation” and dodging spider webs with spiders in them, bigger then my hand, we came away adrenaline pumping! What an adventure! Then there was some time to freshen up, so we decided to run a huge bubble bath with bath salts and candles – stunning!
We made our way back to the bar for some drinks and snacks, good wine and home made potato chips! The evening was set, a private candlelit dinner under the stars out on the deck for just the 4 of us. Very special!
After a long lazy lie-in, we were woken up to the sound of baboons having a party on our desk. Sliding down the thatch and chucking chairs around, the large male baboon walked past our sliding door and gawked in, which was rather intimidating as he was almost a meter tall! We took our time getting up and once the baboons had pasted, enjoyed a refreshing outdoor morning shower.
We were making our way to breakfast when we got an urgent message to bring our camera! So we darted off to reception area to find Paula, Gary and landy waiting! They had news of a leopard on a kill with her two cubs and so they had arranged for us to take a private drive to go and see!
We could have sat and watched them all morning, they are absolutely gorgeous animals. Eventually we pried ourselves away to make it back for breakfast. What a way to end our special time at leopard hills!
A special thanks to Gary & Paula! Love you guys.XXX
