Pilanesberg National Park – South Africa

After being in Botswana for a few days, we drove back to Zimbabwe and then flew to Johannesburg. We then drove about 4 hours to Pilanesberg National Park. They have the Big Five there for wildlife and the game reserve is a 150,000-acre area centered on a caldera of an extinct volcano. They had a large rhino population there and we got to see a lot of white rhino, although there are also black rhino as well. Know the difference? It isn’t the color. They are both dark gray. The white rhinos tend to have their heads down and and have flat mouths and lips. They tend to keep their young in front of them and defend them from behind. The black rhinos have a pointed upper lip, they tend to keep their heads up and they guard their young from the front. They are more aggressive. This was special for us because we did not see rhinos very close when we were in Kenya and Tanzania two years ago. They were so far away you could barely tell they were rhinos with strong binoculars. That wasn’t at all an issue at Pilanesberg! We saw a lot of rhinos up close. We went on sunrise game drives starting around 0545. It was dark and COLD at that time in those open-air vehicles. We had several layers on including fleece lined ponchos, wool blankets, and hot water bottles that became our best friends. I broke down and bought a beanie to keep my ears warm. You could see your breath. Remember, it was winter there and South Africa is pretty far south. In the morning we would stop mid drive for coffee, hot tea or hot chocolate. In the afternoon game drives, we would stop and have a beer, wine, water, or for me, a ginger beer (nonalcoholic). I fell in love with the African ginger beer. It was very peppery and spicy. We stayed at the Black Rhino Lodge and it was a really nice place. Both the sunsets and the sunrises were amazing. I don’t know if it was because there was a lot of dust in the air or what, but the rays of the sun were just so beautiful. I have a few signs that I feel my Joe is trying to connect with me. Sunrays coming through clouds is one of them. Another is magpies…I got to see the African version of a magpie…the magpie shrike at one of our drink stops one morning. It shrieked several times and just sat on a wall and let me come relatively close. They were nice signs that Joe was with us on this trip.