Without exaggeration I am able to say, this was one of the most remarkable and memorable trips i've ever experienced. Everything about this vacation was an adventure. We arrived in Johannesburg on a direct flight from JFK, then took a small plane to the Ulusaba Private Air Strip and were greeted with champagne by our guide, Matt, and tracker, Eric.

Upon landing on the strip, I was able to see a herd of elephants just to the left of the airstrip. Scott saw a few giraffes. Already, I knew this would be the trip of a lifetime.

Without wasting a moment, we hopped in the "Rova" and took off to Ulusaba. In the heart of the Bush, we arrived at our home for the next few days. The room, as mentioned in my last post, was an Elephant Room with a private plunge pool. It was the furthest room from the main lodge, and the closest to the large watering hole, and home to crocodiles and hippos.

Matt & Eric in the Rover...much better than the Cruiser!

Right after an amazing lunch, we headed to our room, only after being told about the back story of River Room 4. A leopard had killed an impala right outside the room, and our guide, Matt, had to drag the impala away, so that the guests would be out of the leopard's way. From the moment we entered our room, we were on the lookout for the leopard! We saw many warthogs, impalas, and kudos... but no leopards...from the room that is!

*Please be aware that some photos may be graphic*

Leopards are my favorite animal and I was dying to see one. Before arriving, I feared that we would not get to see one, as it was the one animal I NEEDED to see. Fortunately, that was not the case, in fact, we may have been the luckiest safari-goers in general. We saw every animal, and on some drives, we saw the BIG 5 in one outing.

Big 5: African Lion, African Elephant, Cape Buffalo, African Leopard, and Black Rhino. The term Big 5 was used by hunters, to describe the hardest and most dangerous animals to kill.

When I tell you the game drives were action packed, i'm not even describing the experience accurately enough. We witnessed nature in its purest form, right out of a national geographic documentary. We were about to head out on our first drive: an afternoon drive. We met at the main lodge, met the two other couples who would be with us for our stay, grabbed some coffee and cocktails, and headed out while it was still daylight.

As we boarded the Rover, we were given the instructions we would need to follow to ensure everyone's safety. No standing up in the vehicle, keep the chatter to a minimum when near the animals (no yelling..or abrupt sounds) and keep your limbs in the vehicle. Oh Boy. This was actually about to happen. Matt started the engine...and away we went.

Sure enough. What is the first animal we see? The most beautiful animal in the bush: my leopard. He was lying with his sister, bellies full, lying on their backs, steps from their kill: the impala. We were arms distance from the leopards, marveling at their beauty, and in awe of this miraculous sighting. Wow. Within 20 minutes of our first drive, I had just witnessed something I had never dreamed possible.

We watched the leopards feast on their kill and nap. As this was our first drive, we let them be, and decided we would come back when it was dark and see if we could track down 3 male lions rumored to be in the territory.

As we were backing out, who do you think was holding out for some scraps? None other than a hyena. The hyenas get a bad reputation as scavengers, but really they are just doing what they need to do to survive. It actually became a joke as the week progressed: whenever there was action, a hyena was on the scene, just sitting on the sidelines waiting for a snack.

Hyena... just sitting back...he's got to eat too!

Back on the road we go. On a mission for some male lions. Wow! We are off to a great start. Eric, the world's greatest tracker, is following the tracks and we are moving in the right direction. One problem, we need to cross the river. Luckily, we are on a Land Rover and not a Cruiser. If you get stuck in the water, you have to put the pink flag on the vehicle, and get heckled by the other guides...and this is the risk we need to take to catch up to the males.

As we cross the river, an angry fellow pops up, and lets us know we are disturbing him, and don't dare come an inch closer. Ok Mr. Hippo, noted.

Angry, Angry Hippos... oops! Now I understand the reference.

As the sun goes down, I'm thinking, how in the world are we going to track a lion? Honestly, I had already planned on not being able to track them, but I didn't realize I was riding with the best guide and tracker in Sabi Sands. Sure enough, what I witnessed, I still don't really believe.

Three male lions, most likely brothers, walking down the dirt path, arms distance from the vehicle. I realize we were told not to worry about our safety, they don't care about us on the vehicle. I also realize Matt would never put us in danger, but when you see a lion, with a paw the size of your head, next to you.... you stop breathing, well I stopped breathing for a few seconds, with my heartbeat racing, and adrenaline off the charts.

We followed the lions for most of the evening, and even thought they would fight the hippo, but they kept walking and we were late for dinner... the first of many times. All for the most amazing reasons possible, when we tried to head home, something incredible gave us a reason not to.

Every night when you arrive back at Ulusaba, they greet you at the Rover, and walk back to the lodge (flashlights in hand with a bodyguard.) We meet at the bar after changing, and share photos and experiences with the guests from other vehicles. To say there is a bond between us all, in sharing this experience, is an understatement. We share stories, ask how it came to be that we all came to Sir Richard Branson's Private Game Reserve. One could go on several safaris and never experience the same event.

Here we were in the middle of the bush, with couples from Singapore, Chicago, London, and all over the world, witnessing once in a lifetime moments with each other. It was pretty special.

After grabbing cocktails and catching up on the day, the chef comes out and tells us about the specials, and then dinner is served family style, with only the freshest ingredients. Every morning and every evening, Ulusaba makes the meals exciting and new. Breakfast on the porch with live local bands to evening bonfire parties with invited guests from the Rock Lodge (Richard Branson's other lodge.) Endless wine from his private cellar and service unmatched.

*On our last night, we arranged to have a private, romantic dinner in the wine cellar. I highly recommend doing this if you plan on staying at the Ulusaba Safari Lodge.

Bright and early we rise in the bush, eager to seize the day. We meet for breakfast at 5:30am and head out before 6am. We knew where the leopards were from the previous day, so we were going to start the day by checking on our friends.

We went back to the spot the leopards had been and we saw the impala in the tree. We knew the leopard had carried his kill up into the tree: so he would be back. We will check on him later.

There was a rumor that wild dogs were on the route, so we agreed this would be our mission: Try to find Wild Dogs. On our way, we come across a tower of giraffes.

We ended up running into this family of giraffes a few times. They are peaceful and slow moving, so after a few minutes, we continued on our way to find the wild dogs.

African Wild Dogs, also known as painted dogs and hunting dogs, are unlike our pets at home. They have four toes instead of five, with painted fur, and big round ears. They live in packs anywhere between 6-20 pups, and an average of 49 lbs. They are very social beings and will help their weaker and injured friends. The Wild Dogs are endangered and there are no more than 3,000-5,000 left in the world. As you can imagine, much less in Sabi Sands and Kruger National Park. Sightings are rare, even if you can track them, because they run so fast.

As I mentioned earlier, we had the ultimate trip, call it luck, or give the well deserved credit to Matt & Eric. We not only found the dogs, we found them multiple times throughout the trip. Today we found them sleeping. I wanted to take them home...but I'm sure that's not advised! My dogs at home may not like that.

l wanted to mention the rhinos when talking about the wild dogs. The Rhino is critically endangered; there are fewer than 5,000 left in the world, and humans are to blame. The decline in their population is critical and in direct correlation to poaching. It is believed, but not factual, that the rhino horns cure illnesses. This is not true, but it has not stopped the poaching and trading of these horns. Just last year over 1,000 rhinos were killed in South Africa.

Throughout Matt & Eric's careers, they have seen and heard of horrific killings of the rhino. Poachers leaving them barely breathing, with horns cut off. During our travel, we would not post photos of the rhino or our location, for fear of potential poachers. You will see the occasional helicopter flying over the territory searching for poachers. It is extremely upsetting and hard to hear about.

The dogs must have been up all night running around, because there was little to no movement occurring. We waited a bit for them to wake up, but it wasn't going to be for a while, so we went on our way.

As I mentioned, when you are in a hurry to get back, or not looking for an animal, another one pops up. Perhaps the elephants spotted on the plane the day before were on our route back home. They were eating breakfast and knocking down the trees in their way.

Breakfast time, and over four hours on the game drive, I was ready for a nap and some food. Little did we know, our friends at Ulusaba had other plans.

We were surprised with a band from the local village. Their energy and good cheer was contagious, because before long, I was no longer tired and I joined the boys and learned the dance! (Well I attempted to)

clearly I was laughing too hard to perfect the dance moves.

The days were filled with swimming and relaxing until the night drive. Tonights drive will be one we will never forget.

We had seen the male lions the night before, which had Matt & Eric thinking that the females and cubs must be around as well. We began tracking the lions and then the vehicle stopped. Matt & Eric hopped out of the vehicle and looked back at us.

"We are going on foot to look for the lions, if we aren't back in 20 minutes, use the radio and call in that your guide and trackers are missing." Oh boy.

The six of us, left in the vehicle, began joking about our current situation, but as the minutes, which felt like hours, passed, we became scared that we had lost our guides.

Minutes later, Matt arrived back at the vehicle and radioed to Eric. He was on foot, in the middle of the bush, searching for the lion pride. Sure enough, he found them. Except, he found himself between the kill and the lions. He pretended he didn't see them, walked backwards, which is when we rushed to pick him up.

The pride of lions had killed a zebra and they were feasting on him.

We watched the pride of six lions feast on their kill, watching the whole family eat with the mother watching over her babies. Generally, you are not guaranteed to find a lion, let alone a kill. We were only on Day 2 and and we had now seen Kill #2. Matt & Eric had gained our full appreciation and respect within 24 hours.

After we left the lions, we headed back to find the leopard with the impala in the tree. As predicted, he was there, in the tree, finishing off his meal. The photo is graphic, but beautiful, this animal is in his natural state feeding on his kill.

Another day had come to an end, filled with stories and memories we would never forget. We headed back for our dinner, some wine, and sleep, as 5:30am would come sooner than any of us would like.

Day 3: We had been so lucky this trip, there wasn't an animal we hadn't seen. This actually made everything that much better. Sometimes when you have a certain animal on your mind, you miss other experiences. We had nothing left to check off, so we let Matt & Eric lead us on an adventure. We drove to the furthest part of the territory and found a pride of 16 lions.

This was absolutely incredible. I'm still in awe from this experience. We parked on the side of the road and watched these females and cubs stroll on down, jump on each other, and nap and bathe their moms and babies. The lions kept moving, and that is when we realized there was a male lion close behind.

The male lion is guaranteed the kill first when the pride catches a meal. The pride of 16 lions were not happy that he was so close behind them, knowing they would need to share. They kept walking further and further away from him, and he kept his distance about 100 feet behind. At one point the lions were using the vehicle, as if to hide.

There was a dead kudo in another part of the territory. We had passed it several times, confused why another animal had not eaten him. The kudo had died of natural causes, perhaps, old age or illness. As a result, there was no bloodshed. Animals scent for hunting is from blood, since there was no blood, the animals were unknowing of this easy meal.

Today we decided to drive back to the area where the dead kudo was. All of a sudden, we found a male lion. He was acting very peculiar. His behavior seemed like he was hunting, he would walk, then run, look all around and then double back. He walked straight to the dead kudo, which had finally been eaten.

We assumed, he would be angry when finding out his nose led him to an already eaten kudo. This is where we were wrong, and the hunt began. The male lion was looking for the animal that had eaten the kudo!

Eric jumped off the Rover and looked at the tracks. "Wild Dogs!!"

The Wild Dogs had eaten the kudo, and now the lion was after them. The dogs were trying to outrun the lion, but had backed themselves in a corner. We were at the boundary of Sabi Sands, Kruger National Park and a river. The dogs would have to cross the river and risk being eaten by a crocodile if they had any hope of escaping the lion.

Our vehicle really wanted to watch a live kill. We were warned it would be extremely upsetting to watch. I wanted to see one as well, but not a wild dog. I had become very attached to the dogs, so I was desperate to watch them escape. The dogs ran down the river, one dog looking back for the lion, and the others trying to find a shallow entryway to cross the river.

As hoped, the wild dogs finally escaped the lion and crossed the river. This was not without humor, one dog stayed behind, almost as though he were scared to cross, then at the last minute finally swam away.

Fortunately, the wild dogs got away and we were on the road again. We drove back for breakfast, until we came across a male leopard. He must have been hungry, because he attempted to sneak up on an impala... unsuccessfully. The impala warned his friends and they scattered.

He continued to walk down the road and we noticed zebras. The zebras immediately acknowledged the presence of the leopard and alerted their friends.

As we continued following the leopard, we were unsure of what would happen next. Would the leopard try to attack the zebras? Probably not, since they had already seen him. Still, we watched. As predicted, he did not attempt the attack, but it was remarkable watching the reaction of the zebras in the presence of this predator.

The last game drive of the trip, we came across the pride of six lions walking down the road. The cubs slowing down their mothers and taking unexpected detours. The cubs are so playful, you almost forget they are predators and want to take them home!

***Every morning and every evening during our drives, we would stop for drinks at a special watering hole or observing area. At night, we were offered hors d-oevres and miscellaneous drinks. In the morning, the same was offered as well as Eric's Special: Coffee, Hot Chocolate, and Amarula.

This was the same pride that had taken down the zebra earlier in the week, and their bellies were already visibly empty. They were trying to hunt. The difference between lions and leopards when hunting is their patience.

Leopards will stalk an animal for hours before they pounce, a lion doesn't have the same patience, especially the young ones. They are clumsier and pounce too soon.

We saw the lions slow down, and realized there might be a potential meal on our path. That's when we saw some buffalo. The adult females in the pack clearly knew they didn't have a chance with this guy, but one of the "teenage" males thought he could take down the buffalo. He took off after the buffalo, we heard a loud brush and they all ran away in the other direction.

The remaining five lions sat down in the road, waiting for their brother. Sure enough, minutes later, he came walking back (basically with his tail between his legs) and his little siblings hid in the bushes ready to pounce on his back.

Now, we had seen elephants earlier in the week, but we didn't really spend time watching them interact with each other. Today was different. This herd of elephants was enormous.

We witnessed a very upsetting situation with an adult female with a broken foot. She could barely walk and we all knew her fate. Elephants travel far distances, and she would not be able to keep up for long, putting her in grave danger. It was very hard to watch, but there was nothing anyone could do. The Conservation doesn't step in, in cases like this.

On our last night, we planned on having a special experience star gazing, with the largest telescope I've ever seen (probably will ever see.) If the moon was out, you would have to change the settings, because you could burn your eyes from the strength. On our way to the star gazing hut, we had to cross the air strip.

Well, it wouldn't be a night at Ulusaba if something remarkable didn't occur: the pride of six lions, napping on the airstrip from this morning!

Five of the six lions were content napping.. but there's always one. One little cub kept jumping on the other members of his family. It was adorable watching them play. The cubs have so much playful energy, including hiding on each other and jumping from behind bushes. This was the end to our fabulous trip to Ulusaba. We witnessed some of the greatest experiences I may ever see. The lodge was perfection and our game drives were out of this world: we may never get this lucky again.

Someday, we hope to make it back to Ulusaba: we may spend some nights at Ulusaba Safari Lodge and a few at Rock Lodge. A couple that was on our game drive, did just this, one morning and one afternoon for cocktails, we were able to take advantage of the view from above at Rock Lodge.

View of the watering hole from Rock Lodge

A special thanks to Matt & Eric, for our experience may have not occurred if it wasn't for their knowledge and passion for what they do. They went above and beyond ensuring we saw everything we had wished for. Including sharing their knowledge of astronomy. I will forever remember how to guide myself with the Southern Cross in the Southern Hemisphere.

Extras:

Ulusaba

Ulusaba is Richard Branson's private game reserve in Sabi Sands. It is located next to Kruger National Park. There are three different lodges: Safari Lodge, Rock Lodge, and Cliff Lodge. 21 rooms and suites are spread amongst all three. Richard Branson is rumored to enjoy Cliff Lodge when he visits, and goes on all the game drives.

Ulusaba is part of Sir Richard Branson's collection of luxury hotels: Virgin Limited Edition. It is nothing short of perfection. He bought the location over a decade ago and has not only revived the property but he has given back to the community in so many wonderful ways. His charity is called Pride n' Purpose in the area, and he is said to spend 6 hours a day in the community when he visits.

There is a pool if you choose not to get a room with plunge pool, as well as a spa. The Spa overlooks the river, with animals to view as you are getting a treatment and massage done. If you are like me and enjoy working out there is also a gym and tennis courts. The tennis courts can be arranged with your guide (as they need to keep watch!) I enjoy running, but this was not a trip I'd be able to run the trails, so I opted to do some barre exercises learned from my favorite studio back home: Pure Barre!

Being the dork that I am, I opted for a photo on the swinging bridge--trying to tone my thighs. Ha! I also attempted at the pool. Might as well get some color and a workout in at the same time.

Pure Barre on the swinging rope to my room

Pride n' Purpose

Pride n' Purpose is Ulusaba's charitable organization to give back to the communities adjacent to the Sabi Sands Reserve. All of the charity's costs are paid by Virgin Limited Edition, and Richard Branson's other organizations including non profit organization.

The idea is to help disadvantaged communities build sustainable systems and 100% of donations contribute to maintaining this. There are different ways one can donate to the foundation. One can simply give a monetary donation when staying at Ulusaba and you can also come to the village and meet the children and community. When packing for your trip and have extra room in your bag: essentials needed are any sort of medical supplies, school supplies, books, clothing, socks, jackets, etc. For a full list of necessities please go to: http://www.virginlimitededition.com/en/ulusaba/pride

We will never forget our trip to Ulusaba Safari Lodge and thank the whole team for providing us with memories that will last a lifetime.

Until Next Time, Safe Travels!

Blog

Extras:

Ulusaba

Pride n' Purpose