Day two of our safari was incredible. We didn’t have much time so we up early and headed out by 6 AM to see the animals. In front of our chalet just as the sun was rising with the golden light hitting the landscape just perfectly, we came across TWO lions sitting in the grass LITERALLY no more than ten feet from us. I was FREAKING OUT with joy. These animals were absolutely breathtaking. Both had big full manes and looked so incredibly regal. After a few moments they got up and started walking in the field along the road still no more than 10 feet away the entire time. We drove along side of these two lions for a couple minutes until one of them stopped to give us a little show and scratch his paws on a tree (just like a cat would scratch a post!). Oh wow it was so cool. Eventually our feline friend went to cross the road in front of us so he paused, then we paused, then he looked up at us as if to make sure we were going to let him pass and we crossed in front of us practically touching our car. We drove along side the two lions for a couple more minutes until they disappeared into the bush. Definitely the COOLEST experience of the entire trip.

Being that close to a lion in the wild is a once in a lifetime experience. For anyone. A few minutes later one of the cars that was also enjoying this experience with us came up to us with very worried faces. As you can imagine the whole time I was completely giddy and so of course I would occasionally hang out of the window to get a good shot of the lions. However, what I didn’t know, and what this other car came to tell us, was that there were actually THREE lions (the third we never saw) and that it was very dangerous for me to be hanging out of the window like that. So long story short…I almost died on an African Safari haha. The rest of day was pretty much like the day before; Giraffe, Rhino Zebra etc.

After the game reserve we drove to St. Lucia to check out the beach! Despite being extremely windy it was really nice. The ocean there is BEAUTIFUL. Long/wide sandy beaches. We tried eating lunch on the beach but because of the wind ended up supplementing our meal with a mouthful of sand. No big deal its minerals or something right? We headed back around 3 to try to make it back to Nkandla before it got dark. It was really weird driving through a first world part of South Africa after I’d been in such a rural third world part. I’ve come to really love Nkandla and the rural areas. They just seem more real and
sincere to me.