Entabeni Game Reserve
Did you know that South Africa is pretty mountainous? I certainly did not expect hilly and mountainous landscape. Mountains surround the Entabeni game reserve which includes Hanglip mountain. Hanglip Mountain reminds me of Pride Rock from the Lion King. We loved our one night stay in Entabeni because of the gorgeous back drop and the fact it has a lot of giraffes!
Our giraffe experience
The main reason for our overnight stay in Entabeni is because I really wanted to see giraffes up close. And let me tell you, the experience did not disappoint! As we set out looking for the giraffes, we found them in an open field with the picturesque Hanglip mountain in the background. Our guides told us to jump out of the vehicle to have a photo shoot while the giraffes were walking around out in the open. It was safe being in the open field with minimal bushes.
As we were posing, Charlie and Serena told us not to move. I pulled my head slightly to the side to look around Zach’s head and saw a giraffe walking our way that veered around us. This is the giraffe that you see in the picture above, just staring us down and checking us out.
After our photo shoot I grabbed my camera to start taking pictures of the giraffes themselves. Then the most amazing thing happened! Two giraffes started this beautiful dance of necking. Giraffe necking is when they are competing for a mate. The superior one in the fight will win the attention of the female. We could hear the hits the ossicones (giraffe antlers or horns) made against each other.
Something was in the air that night as the giraffes and zebras were fighting! I couldn’t believe my eyes and just laughed with delight. We watched as mother nature played out in front of us for about an hour. We had our sundowner while viewing the beauty of the giraffes.
Active Hunt…
Our morning safari in Entabeni was gloomy and dreary. This didn’t stop us from being excited for another safari though. The morning was pretty quiet as we discovered some lion tracks. We were following the tracks for awhile then Zach spotted the black spots of a lionness’s ears. This in itself was amazing. We then noticed three lionesses in a hunt. A large group of wildebeests were in an open field grazing in a relaxed manner. One wildebeest seemed to notice something was going on since we were watching and waiting for the hunt to unfold.
One lioness jumped out prematurely and scared all the wildebeest. Although we didn’t get to see a successful hunt, we did get the excitement from the possibility. The older lioness did seem a little disappointed and gave the excited lioness the cold shoulder.
Although we had a short visit to Entabeni, I would definitely return back. This reserve was gorgeous and experienced my favorite giraffe sighting we had out of our whole trip. It was a magical experience and definitely recommend a stop here on your South African safari adventure! If you want to see our Kruger National Park experience, click here! We stayed at Honeyguide Ranger Camp, you can see their website here.
Wander On,
Christina
