Game reserve day had arrived! We checked out of our Airbnb and headed out for breakfast. I had yet to fill up our second rental car so we drove to the petrol station and asked to have it filled up. In South Africa, workers at the station fill up your tank rather than self-service pumps. They will also check your tire pressure and clean your windshield.
Car Trouble
As we drove off, I noticed that the petrol gauge hadn’t moved to show full. We circled back to the station, they attempted to fill it again but the gauge still didn’t move. We were told it might take a couple of kilometers to register. I figured we would make our way to the restaurant and see if it adjusted.
Café 41 Eastwood is in the shopping plaza across the street from the US Embassy in Pretoria.
After a quick breakfast, we walked to Delagoa in the same plaza. Delagoa has some cute souvenirs, although you can also buy many of the same things at markets or on the street. There are a lot of beaded wire items around South Africa. This time I bought a beaded giraffe and a guinea fowl.
The tank still showed half-empty but, luckily, we had driven by a Firefly/Hertz rental building on the way to Café 41. After explaining the broken gauge and showing the petrol receipts, we were promised another car exchange. After moving all our stuff into our third rental car we were on our way.
Road Trip To Pilanesberg
I visited Pilanesberg National Park on my last trip to South Africa and loved it so much I wanted to return. Pilanesberg covers 55,000 hectare and is the fourth largest park in South Africa. There are over 7,000 animal and 350 bird species found in the park.
Want to learn what I saw the last time I visited Pilanesberg? Check out my 2016 Pilanesberg National Park and Reserve blog!
The park is about 2.5 hours from Johannesburg in the North West Province. There were 2 tolls on the road to Pilanesberg (N4). Our rental car didn’t have an e-tag so we had to pay cash at the booths.
Toll Booths
2020 Price: R15 for a car (approx. $1)
Along the way, the tire pressure sensor went off indicating that at least one tire was low. The rural drive on R556 didn’t offer a lot of petrol stations. We stopped once to fill up the tires and were able to reset the sensor. The tires felt too full after that on the bumpy road so we stopped a second time to take them back down.
Since tire pressure in the US is typically measured in pounds per square inch (PSI), we didn’t know what the proper pressure would be in kilopascals (kPa). Workers at the station ask you what pressure you want the tires to be. The rental car did not have this information anywhere on the car or in the manual. We asked several people at petrol stations and got different answers from everyone. After multiple trials, we found that 220 (kPa) or 2.2 (bar) was good for our small SUV.
Pilanesberg National Park
We stayed at a different lodge than I did last time – the Ivory Tree Game Lodge. Ivory Tree is great if you’re main focus is to go on game drives. Two game drives a day are included in your room price. The lodge I stayed at in 2016 only had one drive included a day.
Ivory Tree Game Lodge Standard Room
2020 Price: R16,793 (approx. $1,166) for 3 nights
While you can self-drive in the reserve, the roads are very rough in some places and going on guided drives lets you be in the park at non-peak hours. I highly enjoyed my stay at the Ivory Tree Game Lodge and would recommend it to others.
We arrived at 4 PM. At check-in they asked if we wanted to be part of the dusk game drive. We said yes of course – I hadn’t expected to get there in time for the drive so that was exciting. We had 30 minutes to take everything to our room and then get back to reception. Our suite, 50, was a short walk to reception.
Pilanesberg Game Drive
Each room is assigned to a guide and we were lucky enough to get Werner. We piled into the truck with seven others and started our trek into the park.
Rhinos
Shortly after entering the park, we found two white rhinos and a warthog with some piglets! The rhinos were so close to the vehicle and very calm. They are magnificent creatures.
Warthogs
Impalas
After the rhino, we found a small herd of impala including some calves.
Impalas are antelopes with reddish-brown coats. The Afrikaans name for impala is “rooibok”, meaning red buck. Females stay together in the herd while young males are forced out into bachelor herds. Only the males grow horns.
Zebras
Next, a mother zebra and her foal fed on green blades of grass.
Each zebra’s stripe pattern is unique. Plains zebras are the most common type and have black hides with white stripes. Some have a brownish “shadow” stripe between the black stripes. Zebra foals can stand and walk soon after they are born. They are nursed for up to a year.
Black-Backed Jackals
A lone black-backed jackal was hunting in the distance. Later we found another pair of jackals chasing after some birds. The pair were calling out to each other. Like their name suggests, black-backed jackal have a black saddle along their spine.
Guides often report sightings to each other over the radio or stop to chat as they pass. Werner heard that a cheetah and her cubs were seen near Hippo Loop so we raced over. The cheetahs had disappeared into the grass but we found some other wildlife. There was a blue wildebeest and three small hippos.
Giraffes
Up on the mountainside a group of giraffes munched on the trees. They slowly made their way along the ridge.
I was surprised we were able to see so much on our first night! I loved watching the wonder on mom’s face because it reminded me of my first game drive.
Lodge
We were brought back to the lodge just in time for dinner at 8 PM. All meals were included in the room rate and served buffet style. After dinner, we made our way back to the room via a walkway at the back of the main building. Knowing that we had to get up at 4:30 the next morning, we showered before bed to save time. The outdoor shower was so relaxing after a day bouncing around in the game vehicle.
Magnificent photography and colorful narrations!
You make it sound so exciting and adventurous.
I’m so glad I found you, I’m beginning to feel like your groopie. Looking forward to a trip after this pandemic. I would love one arranged by you.