TOUR REPORT
8th -12th May 2022

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Sunday 8th May- Mother’s Day, dawned and 8 of us excitedly boarded BA6323 heading to Port Elizabeth. After a slight departure delay with the flight coming in from JHB, we arrived in Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha) ahead of time.  Super to meet Margie from Tarkastad who extended the group to 9 people.

David from Karoo Connections was waiting to take us through to Graaff Reinet (over 260km). This trip went through countryside with a stop at a Padstalletjie where we were forewarned to buy their ‘droe-wors’.  Our arrival at the Drostdy Hotel was just after 13h30 and we were all settled in our rooms (one ‘mishap’ where one of our ladies used her disc to enter her room to find it ‘already occupied’! An extreme embarrassment for the tour operators but quickly sorted out by the hotel!

The group went up to the Valley of Desolation with David at just before 16h00 – a fabulous couple of hours with expert commentary of both the botany and developments at the site – ending their time out with drinks & snacks at sunset!

Dinner was enjoyed in the elegant dining room at the Drostdy where the group could choose between Ouma’s Broth/Beetroot Carpaccio – Mains were Grilled Pork Belly/Lamb Rump – Dessert a decadent platter of Chocolate Brownies with popcorn and other accompaniments.

Breakfast and then for some a walk around Graaff Reinet/a Visit to their museums/a Visit to their tourism office and then by 11h30 everyone was ready to depart for Mount Camdeboo. The 60km – of which 27km was on a gravel road  was expertly driven by Karoo Connections!

Our arrival at Mount Camdeboo was very warm and lunch enjoyed by all – Chicken pita with salad and we had to be ready for our first game drive at 15h30. Ryan, the game ranger assigned to our group for our stay, introduced us to the area with an early ‘sundowner’ drink alongside the river.

Dinner on our first night was Beef fillet served, sadly, on cold plates. This ‘problem’ was solved with meals thereafter!

Tuesday morning and we headed up the hill looking for game – suddenly Ryan quietly turned the vehicle around and there we had a magnificent sighting of their lions – we were all contented to see 4 of the young cubs – when suddenly 2 male lions and another female joined the the group!  What a special hour we spent with these magnificent creatures!

They showed us one of their newly erected ‘pods’ – ‘glamping at its finest’ – near the escarpment. You have breakfast at the Manor House, and they take lunch and dinner up for you! Our lunch today was bobotie and rice – huge portions but empty plates went back to the kitchen! Once again at 15h30 we went to the area named  Oshoek where previously elephants had been sighted! We never saw the elephants, but we saw a Rhino and her calf up close!

In fact, when were ready to descend the mountain, mommy Rhino protected her calf and blocked the road for quite sometime resulting in us getting down to the Manor House quite late for dinner – but never fear this ‘encounter’ was worth it!

Dinner tonight was Pork Belly with vegetables and a potato bake – food is SO delicious at Mount Camdeboo.

Wednesday dawned and it is our last full day on the reserve – of course, everyone wanted to see the elephants – but just as we were heading to Oshoek again along came the pride of lions!  We watched them a while before heading along one of the upper roads finding a Sable with a young calf which  had ‘perhaps’ lost her ‘way’ or her ‘mother’ by a killing and had ‘attached’ herself to the Sable – a rare combination! Then we ambled down looking at the erosion in the valley when suddenly, we spotted, Thandi the cheetah. In fact, she was stalking a herd of impalas, but they were far away in the distance (she knew where they were – and was very relaxed and those who wanted to do so, could get off the vehicle, and enjoy a coffee with this magnificent animal in the distance. We were told we were not disturbing her at all as it usually takes an extended time to track prey.

Breakfast was fabulous – served on the lawn in the garden – and we heard of two of our group who had decided to enjoy ‘me’ time – one had slipped into the mud with hilarious consequences!  Everyone has a story to tell after excitement in their lives.

Our game drive at 15h30 was nothing short of excitement when we noticed a tree moving viciously ahead of us – it was Norman their new elephant from Amakhala – he is forty-nine and enormous – we sat and watched him for what seemed like ages and then decided to head off on the rest of our afternoon drive. Only to realise we could not get further along the road as he had pulled a tree down blocking the way completely.

After this we headed up the hill towards what is perhaps the best kept secret for the last night – a visit to escarpment – where you get out of the vehicle and enjoy the sun set with views over the Plains of Camdeboo – what a fabulous evening – an experience for your memory bank!

Another fabulous experience was to arrive back at the Manor house and discover dinner tonight was in their boma – yet another fabulous set-up on the part of the Camdeboo staff.

In fact, a visit to Mount Camdeboo Private Game Reserve – the award-winning 35 000-acre private game reserve in South Africa’s Great Karoo, with principles of Restoration, Celebration, Conservation & Education will leave you gob-smacked and make you want to return time and time again!

View A Selection of  photos

But first we need to welcome the return of the tar!

Then we need to catch our return flight in Port Elizabeth.