Family
Sanctury Chief’s Camp
by Gil on Jul.31, 2019, under Family
Sanctuary Chief’s Camp is situated on the private Mombo Concession within the Moremi Game Reserve, at the core of the Okavango Delta. The area is a mix of mature woodlands, the biggest island being Cheif’s island on which the camp is built and verdant flood plains that become inundated from as early as April every year. The camp gets its name from the deceased Chief Moremi III’s wife under whose leadership in 1963 established the Moremi game reserve. It is the only officially protected area of the Okavango Delta and has resulted in an amazing concentration of diverse Africa species. The Sanctuary Retreats organization owns and manages a number of high-end camps and lodges in five African countries.
The camp itself is made up of the main lodge with luxury Pavillion Rooms on either side of the lodge facing a dried lake bed with a watering hole in front of a deck. During the rainy season, the lake is full, during the dry season it hosts a parade of all kinds of animals coming to drink or wallow.
We had five Pavillion Rooms that included a bedroom, sitting room, fully stocked bar, deck, pool, dressing room and bathroom with an indoor as well as an outdoor shower. Recently refurbished everything was modern, except the roof was thatched (wood ceilings in rooms). When the early morning wake-up calls (knock on the door) start the baboons would jump from roof to roof making a huge racket.
The routine at Chief’s camp was a six A.M. wake up call, breakfast buffet with served entres to order, morning game drive leaving at seven A.M. with a coffee break in the bush mid-morning then return to the camp for a sit down served lunch from the menu. The afternoon game drive left at three P.M. with cocktails served in the bush around sundown and the return to the lodge for more cocktails and dinner served from the menu. The food, wine, cocktails, services were first class and the staff was extremely friendly and well trained including the two drivers, tracker, guides assigned to our group.
- Sanctuary Sitting Room
- Sanctuary Bath Room and Pool
- Main Pool visitor
- Sanctuary Deck
- Dining Room
- Coffee on safari
- Morning coffee
- Cocktails on safari
- Chief’s Camp Guides
- Chief’s Camp Family Photo
Sanctuary Chiefs Camp, July 17th.
by Gil on Jul.31, 2019, under Family
Our first full day at Chiefs Camp starts off with an African sunrise then an incredible leopard photo op. A male and female, thought to be brother and sister were finishing off their impala kill. The male was eating but the female was posing and what a job she did.
- Leopard Pair
- Leopard pair
- Male Leopard
- Female Leopard
- Leopard Portrait
- Female Leopard
- Female Leopard
- Female Leopard
We then get treated to an Elephant show, first at the watering hole while having lunch in camp, then later out in the bush.
- Elephants dusting
- Elephant dusting
- Elephant
- Elephant
- Female and Juvenile
- Juvenile nursing
- Families
- Juvenile
We enjoy viewing a number of additional species in addition to the elephants in the afternoon. including a Baboon perched on top of a termite mound to scan for predators.
- Steenbok
- Cape Buffalo
- Kudu
- Southern Ground Hornbill
- Baboon
- Zebra
- Zebra
- Zebra Nursing
Chiefs Camp, Thursday July 18th.
by Gil on Jul.31, 2019, under Family
Thursday was our last full day at Chief’s camp and it turned out to be a full one which includes, a Hyena family and Rhino photo op in the morning along with some other interesting species.
- Hyena mother
- Hyena pups
- Rhino
- Rhino
- Rhino gets close
- Bat-eared Fox
- Impala
- Reedbuck
- Snake Eagle
When it was time to return to camp for lunch we had a surprise. The chef and staff had set up a stir fry to order lunch, of course with a bar, in the bush.
- Our Kitchen has been transported
- Along with the bar
- Lunch in the Bush
- Lioness
- Lioness
- Lioness
- Lioness
- Baboon
- Baboon family
- Baboon
- African Wild Dog
- African Wild Dog
- Puppys
- Puppies
- Cocktail Hyena
Tomorrow we will fly on to Singita.
Last Day at Chiefs Camp then on to Singita
by Gil on Jul.31, 2019, under Family
Joyce and I decide to have a leisurely morning as everyone else decides to take one last game drive on the way to the airstrip for our flight in the same King Air that brought us. It’s cool and we have breakfast with our family then see them off. We say our goodbyes to the wonderful Chiefs Camp staff, then are driven to the airstrip for our flight. It’s a short flight to Maun to clear customs out of Botswana, but this time they decide to do it the hard way and it takes us an hour and a half because they inspect every bag. We continue the hour and forty-five-minute flight landing at Sangita lodge where we are met by our guides and trackers. Our Hostess welcomes us to our compound, our chef has prepared lunch and we still leave for the afternoon game drive at three-thirty. We come upon a small heard of Rhinos wallowing in a water hole with both Black and White species, which is an impressive start. We then view some elephants and start to get the lay of the Singita land.
- Rhino photo op
- Rhino wallowing
- Elephant
- Elephant at the River
- Elephant drinking
- African Bee Eater
The first evening we join the other lodge guests at the main lodge for a barbeque. We are introduced to the excellent Singita wine collection, and a wonderful meal cooked over the fire. We are then entertained by the local tribe who perform a traditional dance, that includes participation by some of our family. It was a very auspicious start to our stay at Singita.
- Sangita Dancers
- Kinsey and Alexandra at the drums
- Sangita Dances
Singita Ebony Lodge a magic place
by Gil on Jul.31, 2019, under Family
Singita Ebony Lodge is the original location in the 19 lodge Sangita collection of top-end luxury “camps.” The private property is set within the 160,500-acre Sabi Sands Game Reserve adjacent to Kruger National Park in northeastern South Africa. Sangita Ebony Lodge sits on a bluff overlooking the Sands River, where we had a two-family suite (four bedrooms) plus common area and a separate suite for Joyce and me. Our separate compound had its own Hostess, Chef, serving staff and we had two trackers and two guides assigned to look after us. The main lodge was a five-minute walk away. Our routine was to rise at six A.M. have a light breakfast and leave on the game drive at seven. We would stop around nine A.M. for coffee, cocoa or tea, and a biscuit, then continue our morning game drive. We then would have a large breakfast/brunch around eleven and then relax or participate in activities until three P.M. We then would leave for the afternoon game drive, stop for a glass of wine or cocktail before returning to our lodge, where we would have a gourmet dinner prepared by our chef after cocktails. Singita is one of the biggest buyers of premium wines in South African and they served outstanding wines at every opportunity. Our Trackers and Guides were superb and became part of the family quickly.
- Singita Manager in the wine cellar
- Our Vila from across the river
- Vila entrance
- Vila family room and bar
- Vila Family room
- Vila Pool
- Gil and Joyces deck
- View from our deck
- Gil and Joyces bedroom
- Morning coffee
- Morning coffee
- Cocktails
- The family on game drive
- Our Trackers and Guides
Singita Saturday July 20th
by Gil on Jul.31, 2019, under Family
The word was that a lion pride had killed a Cape Buffalo next to Kruger Game Reserve, so we headed there first thing in the morning. We were not disappointed. The pride was still feeding on the second day with the dominate male doing the eating with two cubs and the mother and other females still there.
- At the Kill
- Pride feeding
- Pride feeding
- Dominate Male
- Dominate Male
- Cub watches
- Cub nursing
- Mom and Cub
- Cub portrait
- Lioness Portrait
We crossed the river each day on our game drive and saw the more aquatic species at the crossing.
- Hippos fighting
- Hippo Portrait
- Hippa day time activity
- Crocodile
The afternoon drive serves up a big variety of species.
- Waterbuck
- Rhino
- Rhino Portrait
- Elephant Herd
- Elephant Herd
- Juvenile Elephant
- Giraffe
- Giraffe Portrait
- Klipspringer
- Leopard
- Leopard Portrait
- Wildebeest
- Nyala
- Cape Buffalo
- Monkey
A great day of game viewing and enjoying Sangita incredible amenities and hospitality.
Singita Sunday July 21st.
by Gil on Jul.31, 2019, under Family
Sunday turned out to be a leopard highlight day. In the morning our amazing tracker Vusi spotted a lone leopard in a dense bush, it then decided to pose for us. In the afternoon we followed a male as he walked along the riverbank near our camp. In the evening, again our tracker spotted a female near our camp who had killed an antelope and had hyenas steal the kill. When we came upon the scene the hyenas were fighting over the kill, and we provided enough distraction for the leopard to steal back part of the kill. With a few more interesting animals to photograph it was quite a day.
- Zebra
- Morning Leopard
- Leopard
- Leopard Yawn
- Impala
- Leopard close encounter
- Strolling Leopard
- Wildebeest
- Giraffe
- Our last Africa Sunset
Tomorrow will be our last day and as usual, Our Singita Host, Chef and Staff prepare a great dinner, with great wine to celebrate a great trip.
Final Day and Return Home Monday July 22nd.
by Gil on Jul.31, 2019, under Family
We were ninety percent packed and had our normal six A.M. wake up call and seven A.M. departure for our last game drive. One of the naturalists had spotted a lone male lion so that was our challenge for the morning. Vusi our tracker picked up the tracks on a road and started tracking on foot in the bush and we circled to try to intercept our quarry. We soon spotted a magnificent young male traveling fast. The early morning sun was low and behind the lion but we still managed to capture some halfway decent images of this magnificent creature.
- Lion
- Lion on the move
- Lion
- Lion
- Zebra
As we headed back to camp we stopped to photograph two Zebra who turned to say goodbye as we leave this incredible place. We enjoyed one last Singita lunch, then finished packing and headed for the airstrip. Our flight was a little over an hour and we checked back into the Intercontinental where we had a day room. Lunch, shower and relax until our eight P.M. fifteen-hour flight to Atlanta. We cleared customs and then caught our last flight to our home airports. We all arrived home before noon on Tuesday, July 23. Enjoying two fabulous locations, unbelievable hospitality and unforgettable safari experience with our family is a trip of a lifetime. We will be sharing memories for months and years to come.
Thanksgiving 2018
by Gil on Nov.23, 2018, under Family
The family started gathering at the Chechessee cottage on the Monday before Thanksgiving with Jennifer, Mike, and Alexandra arriving from Florida. Tuesday Caitlin and Kinsey arrived with Gil and Joyce and Heidi, Gary and Brenn completed the gathering Thanksgiving morning. Thanksgiving day was typical with lots of activities, starting with some working out at Spring Island, games, cooking, eating, additional games, football watching, more eating, more games, talking, relaxing, more eating, more cooking, giving Thanks and then feasting. It was a great Thanksgiving day surrounded by several days of family fun.
- Our Family
- Brenn
- Caitlin
- The cooking begins
- Jen and Joyce
- Cousins cooperate
- Faulty Towers
- Heidi and Kinsey
- Puzzle
- Puzzle A team
- Turkey Time
- Saying Thanks
Black Friday activities started with exercise for everybody with some heading to the gym and others entering the 5K at Spring Island. Once that was done we resumed the eating, games, football watching Missouri won big, and there was some shopping. Gary left to coach his football team, who are in the playoffs. All but Gary went to the Oyster Roast at Spring Island for dinner.
- Spring Island 5K
- Brenn meets Oysters
- Oyster Roast
Christmas 2017
by Gil on Dec.29, 2017, under Family
Christmas weekend started with Caitlin and Kinsey coming to Hilton Head on Thursday, with Heidi having outpatient surgery done Friday. Friday Jennifer, Mike and Alexandra arrived in the evening from Florida. Saturday morning Jennifer organized the traditional gingerbread house baking and construction and there as lots of other holiday baking. Kinsey declared that her gingerbread house was hit by hurricane Mathew, Caitlin’s was sturdy and nice but the prize went to Alexandra for prettiest house (pictured below). Early Saturday afternoon we all traveled to the Chechessee cottage and to our surprise Heidi was there recovering. Gary and Brenn arrived Christmas eve morning. Christmas eve was spent playing games, watching college football, enjoying each others company, capped off by a fine dinner.
- Ginger bread project
- Alexandra’s creation
- Card Sharks
- Hanging out Christmas Eve
- Two against one
- Joyce and Heidi
- Grand Children
- Santa has arrived
Christmas morning the excitement was high and yes Santa had delivered lots of gifts. There was lots of happines, but the highlight was Brenn shedding tears of joy when he opened his tickets to the Collage Football National Championship game. We all teared up and it capped off a great morning. We then had a big Christmas brunch then everyone enjoyed their gifts and socialized. In the afternoon we watched the San Francisco 49ers pull off an impressive win over the Jaguars who were favored. We then enjoyed a traditional prime rib Christmas dinner. We spent Boxing day doing more family things, with some shopping, working out and playing with new toys, before Gary and Mike arrived with Barbecue dinner. The Prado’s went back to Savannah on Wednesday and Montgomery’s to Fort Lauderdale on Thursday. It was a great family Christmas.
- Christmas gifts for all
- Cailin’s happy
- Brenn’s new fishing pole
- Alexandra’s delighted
- Kinsey’s all smiles
- More smiles
- Jewelry nice
- Tear’s of Joy
- Christmas Dinner 2017