Buffalo Hills Game Reserve and Addo Elephant National Park!

Hello,
I have just returned from Buffalo Hills Game Reserve and Addo Elephant National Park. Both of these incredible places are located along the Garden Route of the Eastern Cape in South Africa!
Buffalo Hills game reserve is a unique place that is about a 6 hour drive up the coast from Cape Town. There are no predators on this reserve only browsers and grazers. It is more of a stress free environment for these animals. There is plenty of space for them to roam about their business but they do not have to fight for their lives on a daily basis. White Rhino, Cape Buffalo, Burchell's Zebra, Bontebok, Wildebeest, Impala are some of the animals that we spotted at this reserve.
We saw a herd of about 25 Cape Buffalo which is one of the "Big Five" animals in Africa. Cape Buffalo can be very unpredictable and aggressive as it is the second most dangerous animal in Africa. They live in a matriarchal structure. The females are the dominant in the groups, what she says goes for what the herd does. The photo I took to the right is of the matriarch in the herd that we spotted. She definitely looks and acts her part...there was no messing around with her that's for sure! The photo below is of the matriarch and her baby.

This photo with the male impala chasing the female was taken at Buffalo Hills as well. Our game ranger explained how the female was trying to leave the males herd and go onto another one but the male picked up on it and chased her back into his herd. I was very lucky as they came running from a distance, circled around our land rover and ran back to where they came from. she is running for her life!!!
After Buffalo Hills I went onto Addo Elephant National Park which is another 4 hour drive further up the coast! This park is about 300,000 acres and it's expanding all the time as the elephants are growing in numbers. There are an estimated 370 elephants, 380 Cape Buffalo, 15 black rhino, hundreds of kudu and about 6 lions. There are several other animals as well. I was really impressed with how well run this park is. We went to three different water holes and the elephants were dunking each other in the water, communicating with each other, they overall seemed very happy and comfortable. People are very respectful and keep their distance so the elephants are not threatened by any vehicles. They will walk right up next to your vehicle and pass through. The smallest baby I saw was about 3 months old as shown in the photo with her mom. We watched them for hours...elephants are very active and move around a lot as they only sleep about 4 hours in a day taking small resting breaks....I absolutely just loved this park!

For the month of Feb I am staying local, I will be taking photos at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, Table Mountain and Lions Head they are all located in Cape Town. If anyone has any questions about prints and sizes please contact me through e-mail carrie@zellerphotography.com
thanks and I will be in touch!

Okavango Delta Botswana!!!

Happy New Year to everyone!

I have just returned from The Okavango Delta located in the north western corner of Botswana. The Okavango Delta is a combination of lagoons, channels and overgrown islands teaming with wildlife. It is largest inland delta in the world which is in the shape of an open hand as seen in the map to your right.

I stayed in three unique places that are all located within the Delta. Sandibe Safari Lodge, Xugana Island Lodge and Nxabega Safari Camp. Flying into the Delta was insane! From the four seated charter plane we could see herds of elephants playing in water holes, hippos swimming and several impala...it was unbelievable!

My first destination was at the Sandibe Safari Lodge. I stayed in 1 of the 8 beautiful cottages that they have. The cottages are tucked away in a forest full of wild palms and fig trees located right on one of the permanent channels of the Delta. At night I could here hippos grazing around the cottage and lions roaring from a distance...it was thrilling!

Tsobe was my game ranger at Sandibe, he was born and raised in Botswana. He is very educated about the wildlife and the land and made it a successful trip as we saw Lion, Leopard, Giraffe, Zebra, Wildebeest, Elephant, Vervet Monkeys....several birds. The list could go on and on!

The second place I stayed at Xugana Lodge is located north of Chief's Island on a separate island. The highlight at this lodge was seeing the hippo pools. They took us out on a 45 minute boat ride from the lodge to reach some of the best hippo pools in Africa! We spent about 10 minutes at each pool as you have to leave before the hippos get agitated. Hippos are the most dangerous animal and Africa, they are very territorial if they are bothered with a situation they will definitely come after you. We went to five different pools with at least 15 hippos in each pool, to be honest I felt a little on edge and nervous in this situation but of course it was totally worth it and I would definitely do it again!!!

The last place I stayed was at Nxabega Safari Camp which I absolutely loved! I stayed in an elevated canvas tent that seemed like living in a tree house. The most memorable moment at this lodge was when we followed a pride of lions hunt a full grown giraffe. It was about 6:30pm and a lightning storm was coming on. We watched the lioness chase the giraffe down as the other lions followed but they were unsuccessful in their hunt, again we were all amazed! Botswana is a magical place and I definitely plan on returning.

My mom arrived safely in Cape Town on January 2nd! Today we made a trip down to Simon's Town where the adorable African Peguins are located. We are looking forward to visitng the winelands and all along the eastern cape! Thanks for reading and I hope all is well!