#3 - Cape Town - Safari - Big Five

Today is the day of the absolute highlight! We are going on a day tour to the Aquila Reserve. There, a safari with the 'Big Five' awaits us (lions, elephants, buffalo, leopards, and rhinoceroses). The reserve covers 10,000 square meters and is privately owned. The owners are very engaged in the region, creating many jobs and supporting various projects, such as rhino protection. They have already won numerous awards.

Some time ago, criminals broke into the reserve at night, cut off the rhinos' horns, and quickly fled. Unfortunately, the criminals have not been caught yet. The rhinos bled to death as the horns were cut too deeply. This is indeed a very sad story that we were told…

After breakfast, we were picked up directly from the hotel by our driver, Ibrahim, at 08:40 AM. We were to travel about two hours to the reserve with three other participants. Two of them speak German - as expected 😅.

The drive itself was somewhat impressive. Cape Town is surrounded by mountains. Many vineyards can be seen. The vegetation consists of sand, stone, and bushes 😃. It reminded us a bit of New Zealand.

However, between the cities, you see many poor people living in miserable huts... One must be careful with cars and trucks, as they try various tricks to get the vehicles to stop for robbery.

Upon arriving at the reserve, we were welcomed with a drink - very nice 😁. Afterwards, we were allowed to help ourselves at the buffet.

Elisa immediately noticed that this reserve was part of a previously mentioned rose cavalier show. Apparently, a dream date took place 😅🙈.

At 1 PM, we set off with our driver, Nichelle. We were quite shaken up. After all, there are no roads there 😅. First, we saw silhouettes of hippos in the water. Then we passed by some giraffes.

... Suddenly, a rhino came towards us from the left. We had to stop because the animal just kept walking across the road and to the side of the truck. That was pretty cool 😁.

Now we spotted zebras and drove straight towards them. The topic of color came up. Our driver said that the animals are basically black since we are in Africa. Everyone laughed 😆.

After that, we drove to a water source. There, we watched rhinos and buffalo peacefully side by side. A little rhino baby was part of the group 😃👍🏻. Then, from a distance, two ostriches strolled over, presumably thirsty. From afar, they looked like two black balls 😁. According to Nichelle, buffalo are supposedly the most dangerous and aggressive animals of the 'Big Five' 🙈.

Now it began to get really spectacular! In the numerous reviews of the tour, it can be read that, in general, no one sees a lion or lioness 😅 .... We saw four little kitties right away! But one thing at a time...

Before we drove onto the wildcats' territory, we had to get a briefing. In general, we should not attract attention and keep our hands inside the vehicle. If they jump up with us, that's not good. We will then be perceived as a large prey animal. This speech really gave us courage 😅🙈.

I didn't expect that we would see anything... But suddenly, three lionesses were lying on a rock resting. Three of them! Inside I thought: