Honeyguide Safari

We left Kapama a little worried that the next place couldn’t possibly measure up, but we were wrong. Both Kapama and Honeyguide are excellent in their own ways. Same same but different. Honeyguide camp is open to the Kruger National Park with no fences or barriers, so has a much wilder feel to it. We loved the main lodge, which is completely open air and surrounded by thick bush. It has a sitting area with leather couches, a bar, a long heavy wooden table with benches and a small but inviting pool with lounge chairs. We were greeted by the manager, Lyton, who informed us that we had to be escorted to our tent by our guide at night to protect us from the animals. The last couple nights they’ve hear a lion roaring in the tent area through the night. Great. Honeyguide prides themselves on giving guests the Hemmingway African experience, which includes being one with nature.

Our tent was on a platform only a few feet above ground and the front was completely open. On the front patio, we had a living room set up facing the bush and a watering hole utilized by many different animals. Right from the start several elephant were using it to refresh themselves…in our front yard. The only thing separating us from nature was a mosquito net around the bed. We settled into the couch and watched nature work…elephants watering, birds flying from tree to tree and monkeys swinging from limb to limb.

Our Honeyguide Tent

Our Front Yard

Just when I felt settled I heard a pitter pat on the canvas roof of the tent that gave me a fright. I looked around and saw a tail swinging from side to side off the roof. Then a little head popped down and looked right at me sizing me up.

Checking out the Scene

But he's so cute!

I’ve had an excessive love for monkeys ever since my dad rented a chimp for my 6th birthday party in the style of the movie “Every Which Way But Loose”. My granny still proudly displays the picture of the chimp and I hugging with big grins on our faces. So I wasn’t scared, but also wasn’t under the illusion that this wild monkey would come over, sit in my lap and give me a high five. He wanted my goods. He and his buddy jumped onto our patio surrounding me and inching closer and closer. One of them charged me while the other stole our bag of medicine and dragged it off the patio (looked like sweets). These little guys were tricky. I charged the monkey with the meds and they both ran away. I later found out that was a very dangerous thing to do because these monkeys bite and go straight for the jugular. When we got back from lunch, the monkeys clearly had their revenge – they had ransacked our bathroom like a couple of 300 pound burglars. The only thing they stole was my malaria tablets…and we are in a malaria zone. Luckily the monkey ditched them when he couldn’t get them open and I got them back (thanks to Lyton the manager). So as you can see, we had a very exciting start to Safari Part II.


Meals were held at the main lodge in communal style and were even better than Kapama. Every meal started with hearty homemade breads, flavored olive oils, vinegar and fresh ground pepper. It was a carb heavy few days for sure. The meals were more international in style with egg rolls, asian chicken noodles, cold vegetable soups, steak, lamb shanks, fish and the most delicious desserts of cheese cake, milk pudding and apple tart.


We met the most wonderful people at the camp and these meals are where we got to know each other. First we met a family originally from Massachusetts, whose permanent address was in Atlanta, but were living in Jo’berg for a year on a work assignment. Mom and dad had really outgoing personalities and we had a lot of fun chatting with them. They were the first Americans we’d come across in weeks and it was nice to feel a little bit of home.


Our game drive crew was made up of an interesting bunch of people. Niki Z is a hairdresser from NYC and living in Qatar (she pronounces it /Cutter/). She is a really interesting person and we became friends during our time together. Her friend Riann works at the camp and came on evening drives with us. It was like getting two guides for the price of one….excellent. Pierre and Bridgette are from Belgium and England. And our guide Wayne who is 21, just graduated with his guide degree, and has two months on the job. Then we had our tracker Phillip who has more than 30 years on the job and was very quiet, but had a great smile. We had a fantastic time on the drives and at the sundowners because everyone was young, fun and outgoing. The group had a great vibe and we got along really well.

Our Friends at The Sundowner

The first game drive was very representative of most of the drives. We saw animals, but for the most part they were further away and less in quantity than at Kapama. We concluded this was due to fewer roads dividing the bush so the “blocks” were much bigger and so harder to spot animals. Plus Honeyguide does not permit off-roading out of respect for the animals. The most memorable sightings were a male lion at a distance on the first day and a much closer encounter with a young male lion hunting at night on the last day. We saw all the other animals as well…except the elusive leopard…of course.

Young Male Lion on the Hunt

Mud Covered Buffalo

Rhino

Waterbuck

But by the tenth game drive, getting up at 5am and the animals had lost the luster and I would have preferred to sleep in instead. If you are planning a safari, 3-4 days are plenty unless you are really into it.


I looked forward to the time between our drives when we had the whole day to ourselves. We spent our days sitting on our porch enjoying the peaceful quiet and were entertained by the animals. We could sit there for hours and not get bored. That’s weird for me because I struggle to turn off and relax. We also enjoyed hanging at the pool where Niki and I shared an abridged version of our life stories and enjoyed some vino. These days were the most relaxing of the trip. We were forced to relax because there was nowhere to go and nothing to do but sit back and enjoy.


The first night sleeping close to nature we just laid there listening to the sounds of the bush. It was an odd sensation to sleep in the open air. On one hand I felt incredibly exposed, but on the other I felt very secluded. Except for the lion.