randombirder

27th November A long journey south finally arriving into the tiny airport at Hoedspruit a full 26-hours later, into a stifling 40C wall of heat. Tired from the long journey, we left the airport and within five minutes encountered a giraffe along the roadside.  The Hippomoon Lodge was a 45 minute drive with most of the journey spent bouncing over unmade roads in our tiny rental car. The lodge was located north of Kruger within a reserve run by the eccentric and wildly sociable Xavier along with Patricia who couldn't do enough for us. It was an interesting experience and a novel way to spend a landmark birthday for which I was truly grateful.  The lodge is part of a large landholding that supported a number of free-roaming animals. Despite this, it did at times feel like a captive assemblage of regional species some of which were being supplementary fed on-site. These nyala were seen close to the lodge  A short afternoon drive bouncing over the tracks provided a nice intro...