First safari report: Mashatu, Phinda and Londolozi

[PT123]

 

 

@@PT123, we stayed at the Phinda Forest Lodge. It is in the northern part of the reserve, convenient for accessing cheetah habitat. I will find time to provide a little more detail on our Phinda experience.

 

 

 

@@foggy27

 

Thank you, we are considering a visit to Phinda and are trying to weigh the pros and cons of each of the different AndBeyond lodges on the reserve.

[optig]

@@foggy27 You have just given me yet another idea for a possible safari destination. I would like to visit Mashatsu and it would combine well with Phinda.

[foggy27]

Thanks for the interest in the report of a safari rookie. I finally got around with our impression on Phinda:

 

Phinda is a fenced reserve and as such may not appeal to wilderness purists. It nevertheless represents a significant conservation effort in returning degraded agriculture land to wildlife. The fence was erected to stop wildlife from getting into conflict with surrounding farming communities. The closed nature of the reserve dictates the need to actively manage the habitat and wildlife. If the lion population is “too strong”, other species would struggle. This is clearly a delicate task. From what we can tell, andBeyond is doing a great job in stocking and sustaining animals that most tourists love to see. All big five are present with both black and white rhino, and it is reputed as the best place in South Africa for cheetah.

 

Although fenced, it is definitely not a zoo. The ranger/tracker worked hard to deliver a great game viewing experience. Our ranger is a young lady in her twenties. She did her master thesis on habitat management. Phinda was her dream job. Working closely with the tracker, she did a good job guiding us. We were the first vehicle on all three cheetah sightings, as well as the single sight of black rhinos.

 

The fellow guests are from all over the world, testimony to the far and wide reach of andBeyond. Throughout our stay, we shared the vehicle with a couple from New Zealand who were last in Africa ten year ago, and a young couple from Korea on their honeymoon. They are fun company. Out of six game drives, we had a full vehicle with six guests on four occasions, and four guests twice. We rarely shared sighting with another vehicle, with the exception of two on night drive (one a leopard and the other a male lion).

 

There are a number of lodges at Phinda. We stayed at the Forest Lodge, at the northern side of the reserve. It is a good location, close to the savanna like habitat that is cheetah territory. Guests staying in the southern part of the reserve would have to take a long drive to look for cheetah. When we were there, there was some rain in the southern part of the reserve and elephants moved south. One of our vehicle mates was eager to see elephants, and we decided to go. The plan was to also visit a hippo pool as we had not seen hippo till that point. It took us quite a while to locate the elephants but, plus we were distracted (in a good way) on the way. It was getting dark and we had to turn back . Hippo would have to wait till we got to Londolozi later.

 

The lodge is quite stylish, and the service polished. The food is the best in this trip with plenty of vegetables and fish.

 

Phinda is a big five reserve, although leopard is hard to see in the lush vegetation. We were lucky to see a leopard on a night drive, alerted by radio. It attracted quite a few vehicles. The ranger told us they had not seen a leopard for over 2 weeks at that point. Black rhino is also very rare and we were privileged to witness a pair of black rhino interacting with lions. Cheetah and black rhino are two species that we saw only in Phinda. The antelope population may not be as diverse as Mashatu, but tend to be a little more relaxed. In particular nyala is ubiquitous in Phinda, more so than impala. It is an elegant antelope, and fun to watch.

 

Finally a few more photos taken at Phinda:

 

We saw elephant, lion, zebra and impala at every reserve. They just look better with green background.

 

 

The Forest Lodge is in the middle of sand forest. We captured a bird on the way to dining area, but did not know what it is. After we got home, we sent the image to our ranger for help. She was very excited as it was identified as a narina trogon, a rather rare sight.

 

 

Another rare sight: a pair of black rhinos. Black rhino is highly endangered and is generally a solitary browser.

 

 

Female nyalas

 

 

Male nyalas sizing each other

 

 

Ready, get set

 

 

And go for it

 

 

Apparently the winner of the fight

 

[wandergirl]

@@foggy27 - Thanks for the lovely report. Would love to hear about your last stop, Londolizi. I'm in the process of planning my second safari and deciding between lodges, one of this is Londolizi. What an incredible trip you had!

[PCNW]

Ahh yes, Phinda and Londolozi...two of my favorite. So glad you had such a great time, the trip and report are excellent. Thanks for sharing.

[foggy27]

@wandergirl

Sorry for taking time off from this forum and did not get back to you.  Londolozi is so well known and I hope you found other sources of information.  I enjoyed it very much.  It is hard to articulate but I will try.  As a safari newbie, I particularly like:

1. Young and enthusiastic guiding team.  Our guide just had a paper on elephant behavior accepted.  Fascinating to learn his findings before it “goes to press”.
2. Very experienced trackers.  Every time an “interesting” footprint was noticed, the tracker will jump down to investigate.  As a result, the guide would often alter our plan in pursuit, and share with us why they made the decision.
3. A sense of history.  Although modernized for comfort, it retains the atmosphere of a long history.  The staff is extremely proud, and eager to share stories taking place on the land many years ago.
4. Fellow tourists, many of them repeated customers for multiple generations.

Of course it has great wildlife.  But in the end it is always people.  They seem so genuinely happy.