Amakhosi ? ?a King?s Pride?

For an amazing Safari Adventure, and excellent game-viewing in KZN, I can honestly promote Amakhosi Lodge after the wonderful weekend we experienced there!!

Before reaching the final security gate, we were greeted by a huge rhino and many cute warthogs. At last, after a few kilometers of dirt road, we entered the Amakhosi Lodge area. A very friendly girl, Vicky welcomed us to Amakhosi, took our keys, handed us some refreshments and took us through to the verandah of Amakhosi. In the meantime, our car was taken to the parking area and our luggage was transported to our room.

Vicky walked us to our ?room?, which was an air-conditioned, beautifully decorated (0in an African theme) chalet. There was a lovely bedroom with a huge bed, a cosy lounge with mini-bar, magazines and comfy seating. One large bathroom had a spa bath, while the smaller bathroom had a shower.

We were invited to ?high tea? on the verandah at 3pm where we met the ranger and other guests on the game drive. A lovely fruit drink was waiting for us on the table and a buffet was set out including chicken wings, meat balls, salads, mini lemon meringues and koeksisters.

Our game ranger, named Nicholau, then led us through to the game vehicle and there, we met our tracker, climbed aboard and set off for our first game drive. We were lucky enough to see huge herds of wildebeest, buffalo, lion and we even followed a cheetah. The highlight was a huge male elephant that followed the vehicle. We had to sit dead still and could unfortunately, not manage a close up photo? we saw a large variety of buck: nyala, impala, kudu and river buck.

We only got to stop for our sun-downers when it was dark, as it was much more exciting to follow the cheetah. The drinks were most welcome, and poured by our ranger.

We returned to the lodge and were welcomed with lit fires, hot cloths and amarula to warm us up. Dinner was at separate tables in the dining room. It was a feast with pea soup, beef fillet and yellow tail.

The menu was personalized as were any notices which made us feel special and very welcome.

We went off to bed for an early night and were woken at 2am by the sound of Bushbabies scurrying on or roof!!

Our ranger called at 5:30am and we all met at 6am at the Amakhosi Lodge for coffee and rusks, thereafter, we set off for our morning drive. Again, we saw a large variety of animals: 2 lionesses, a large male lion, a large herd of elephants with their babies, and a few hippo wallowed in the dam while we enjoyed our picnic.

We returned to the camp just after 9am to an excellent breakfast and the home-made scones and muffins were delicious!

This was a Saturday, and a rugby test match was on TV, so my husband departed to the lounge to watch the game. Alwyn, the manager, popped in now and then, between fixing his bulldozer. What a friendly bunch of people, who clearly love their life in the bush! The other guests lay on loungers around the swimming pool catching a tan in the middle of winter.

We met again for a delicious high tea and set off for our night drive. Once again, we were not disappointed with the many giraffes, warthogs and selection of buck.

The ranger was very enthusiastic and knowledgeable and gave us much interesting information about the plants, birds and animals. We had our sundowners on ?top of the world?, one of the highest points in the park where the view was spectacular and we watched the sun disappear as we sipped our drinks.

We were welcomed home with fires and sherry and had a braai on the terrace which was great fun. All the female staff entertained us with singing and dancing.

We then went off for a good night?s sleep before our early morning wake ? up call.

Although we did not see any of the big five on our final game drive, we still had a wonderful trip and saw crocodile, giraffe, zebra and a large variety of buck. We then returned to the dam for coffee and cake, where we revisited the wallowing hippos.

After breakfast, our car was returned to us (it had been cleaned!!) at reception and Vicky came to see us off with some ?padkos? for the journey. (even a few warthogs came out to say?goodbye?)

All in all, we had a wonderful weekend, totally relaxing. The staff really went the extra mile to make us feel welcome and the animal viewing was spectacular.

I would like to thank Sean and Alison Uys of Beach and Bush Adventures for arranging this wonderful safari experience for us.

Valerie Herbst