August 2022

Guided game drive

Only half an hour’s drive from where we currently live is Inkwenkwezi Private Game Reserve. Instead of doing our weekly shopping on a Saturday morning, we decided it would be much more fun to go on a guided game drive – I’m sure you’ll agree it is indeed much better than shopping.

Inkwenkwezi Private Game Reserve:

You’ll find this private game reserve just 50km (31 miles) from East London Airport. It is in the heart of the Wild Coast and has 4 of the Big 5 animals (apparently the elephants have caused too many problems for the farms that surround this reserve). The reserve is a malaria-free zone and because it’s on the Wild Coast, beautiful beaches are also close by.

Inkwenkwezi’s open 4×4 vehicle used for guided drives

Inkwenkwezi offers different types of guided game drives. There is a choice between early morning, afternoon or sunset game drives. Besides the game drives, there are also many other activities, such as quad bike tours and guided forest walks. You can also stay in their wonderful accommodation if you prefer to be in the reserve.

We chose the early morning game drive of 3 hours. As we drove into the reserve, we spotted some zebras near the road.

Zebra at the entrance of the game reserve

Before we left on the game drive, we walked around Inkwenkwezi’s garden to take pictures. The staff were busy preparing for a wedding that would take place later in the morning and they were busy decorating their lovely restaurant with white linen and flowers. I think you must be very lucky to have your wedding here on Inkwenkwezi Private Game Reserve. Can you imagine how beautiful such photos would be?

The rustic open-air chapel used for weddings
One of the big trees in the garden
Monkey in the tree tops and a koi pond at reception

We enjoyed complimentary hot drinks while Gareth, our guide, prepared the vehicle for us. At 8:30 we departed from the main building for a very relaxing 3-hour drive through the picturesque landscape of Inkwenwezi. It was just the two of us on the game drive with Gareth, which was great. He stopped at our requests to take some photos and answered our many questions effortlessly.

It was quite chilly early in the morning (luckily there was a blanket in the vehicle)

The first part of the drive goes through a very dense area and we didn’t see any animals (although I’m sure they were there among the dense bushes and tall trees). Once we got to the open area of ​​the reserve, we started seeing wild animals.

Through the thick bushes and now on our way to the open field

The first animals we encountered were two ostriches. And we were very privileged to see the ‘male mating dance’. The male ‘dances’ low to the ground to signal to the female that he is ready to mate. Even the female showed brooding behaviour and it was quite a sight to watch these two for some time!

The male ostrich doing his ‘mating dance’
The female walking with her wings stretched out alongside her body – showing her readiness to mate

Gareth mentioned that they are experiencing a ‘green drought’ at the moment. This means there is just enough rain to make the reserve look lush, but not enough to relieve dry conditions. (★)

Inkwenkwezi is in the grip of a ‘green drought’

Our next sight was of a herd of impalas. This is a medium-sized antelope that are mostly found in eastern and southern Africa. They were widespread in the reserve and we saw them often.

A herd of impalas

And then we saw some giraffes. It’s always great to see them in the wild. Of course, this is not the same group we saw three weeks ago on our houseboat trip in Port Alfred, but they felt like old friends.

Giraffes between the tall trees

At one of the highest points of the reserve we could see the Indian Ocean in the distance. It is a reminder that we are only a short distance from the sea and that the beautiful beaches are very accessible.

Indian Ocean on the doorstep of Inkwenkwezi Private Game Reserve

We have now approached the highlight of the game drive – a drive through the lion camp. When we drove into the camp, we got the smell of dead animals. The lions had been fed the previous day and Gareth had warned that we might not see them as they were full and probably sleeping in the dense bush.

We drove around for some time. Gareth said the scary thought is that they know about us and can see us, while we can’t see them. Every now and then we heard a light roar. Finally we saw a male and female who were … well, you know … doing their thing. When they saw us, they relaxed and lay down next to each other.

Male and female lions
Only 10m from the lions

After a while we left these two and drove around one more time to see if we could spot any more lions. And we were lucky with the sight of another male and female. They lay in the sun and we were able to take a few more pictures.

Another male lion
The female was rolling on to her back while checking us out

We spent at least half an hour in the lion camp. Gareth went out of his way to find the lions so we could see them up close. It was, well, it was just amazing.

After we drove out of the lion camp, Gareth parked the 4×4 on a high hill. He offered us cold drinks and water while we could stretch our legs a bit. After all the excitement of seeing the lions, I said I had to ‘wee’. We had a good laugh when Gareth said: “Well, any tree is a lava-tree”!

Our view while enjoying some cold drinks

From here it took another 45 minutes to drive back to the main building. We saw more impalas and zebras, but the other larger animals (such as the rhinoceros, kudus and wildebeest) were nowhere to be found. It didn’t really matter because for us it was fun just being out in nature (and we saw the lions)!

More impalas
Note the shadow stripes between the more prominent stripes on the zebra
A last look at a herd of female impalas

On our way back, near a river, we spotted a leguaan (‘likkewaan’ in Afrikaans) basking in the hot sun.

Leguaan basking in the sun

Just before leaving the dense area, we drove through a river. Gareth stopped here so we could take some photos and just enjoy the tranquility.

Lovely scenery at the river

Now, that was wayyy better than a shopping trip, wouldn’t you agree? We would like to visit Inkwenkwezi Private Game Reserve again sometime to see if we can find other animals as well. But we left more than happy after a lovely morning in nature. And Gareth was not only a very knowledgeable guide but also a great 4×4 driver – he took us on a very rough road with ease!

After the game drive we decided to drive to the sea which we had seen earlier from Inkwenkwezi Private Game Reserve. We drove to Cintsa Beach and then walked to The Jolly Roger Pub where we enjoyed hot drinks – the perfect way to end a great morning.

Hot drinks at Cintsa Beach

(★) The good news is that since we left Inkwenkwezi, it started to rain that very same afternoon … and it rained continuously for 2 days. Hopefully this will bring some welcome relieve.