December 18, 2009 | Africa,Birds,Botswana,Mala Mala,Mashatu,South Africa

One of the prettiest birds we saw during our trip was the national bird of Botswana, the Lilac Breasted Roller.  In fact, I could not stop taking pictures of it.

Mashatu:

Mala Mala:

This pair of Lilac Breasted Rollers was clearly nesting in this tree on the lawn at Mala Mala.

On our very last day, as we were waiting to leave for the airstrip, I managed to get a photo of one in flight.

December 15, 2009 | Africa,Botswana,Mala Mala,Mashatu,South Africa

Leopard at Mala Mala

20-22 September 2009

My brother and mother have done a brilliant job delivering the blow-by-blow of the vacation over at Mashatu Tiger; here’s a link to Doug’s summary of our arrival at Mala Mala and here’s Mum’s rundown on our time there.

I’ll bottom line it for you. Mala Mala Main Camp is beautiful and very elegant. We saw some amazing animals, including the Secretary Bird and the Ground Hornbill. Lots of lions, leopards, elephant and giraffe. We had a tremendous sighting of two bull rhinos on the last morning. We saw a mother and baby hippo walking across the lawn around 11 pm from our room. Our ranger, Lucky, was phenomenal. He was even able to spot a chameleon in a tree at night.

For most of these photos, you’ll need to visit my brother’s photo gallery because I managed to delete a whole bunch of my pictures from Mala Mala when I got home (don’t ask, I am still pissed about it.)

Nevertheless, we preferred Mashatu. Why? Mala Mala is elegant and the hospitality is impeccable. It just didn’t feel as friendly and down to earth as Mashatu. In fairness, our experience of Mashatu may be a little colored by Mum’s friendship with Afke and deep knowledge of the native animals due to her time spent “at the Pond.” Likewise, our first night at Mala Mala was not the smoothest — starting with the long delay of the plane and ending with some confusion upon arrival, well detailed in my mom and brother’s posts linked above.

However, I’m a pretty objective person. Even after I eliminate all of that, if your budget is limited and you can only do one “luxury” game reserve, I would recommend Mashatu over Mala Mala. If you can visit both, by all means do. The landscapes are completely different, and there are animals in each place that you just won’t see in the other.

But if you have to choose, make it Mashatu.

That said, here are some of my favorite pictures from Mala Mala.

Photo Sets: September 20, 21, 22

Links:

• Mashatu Game Reserve
• Mala Mala Game Reserve

September 7, 2009 | Africa,Botswana,Mala Mala,Mashatu,Safari,South Africa,Victoria Falls

In less than a week, we will be boarding a plane for a 15 hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. I hope to be able to post at least every other day.

Here’s our itinerary:

Friday Sept 11: Boston to NY JFK. Staying overnight at airport Holiday Inn.

Saturday Sept. 12: NY to Johannesburg

Sunday Sept. 13: Arrive Johannesburg in am. Plan to visit Apartheid Museum in afternoon.

Monday Sept. 14: Depart for Livingstone, Zambia – Victoria Falls. We haven’t made any specific plans for the time in Livingstone as yet. We plan to get the lay of the land and take it easy for the nearly two days we’ll be there.

Wednesday Sept. 16: Depart for Johannesburg. This is basically a layover night at an airport hotel.

Thursday Sept. 17: Flight to Polokwane, South Africa, followed by a 2+ hour drive to the Pont Drift Border Post on the Botswana border, and then to Mashatu Main Camp.

Sunday Sept. 20: Flight to MalaMala Game Reserve in South Africa via light aircraft.

Tuesday Sept. 22: Depart for Johannesburg, and then in the evening, Johannesburg to NY

Wednesday Sept. 23: Arrive JFK NY in the morning. Once we’re through customs, we’ll catch a shuttle back to Boston.