Week 10 & 11 - Game Reserves

Hi Everyone,
Im sitting in Johannesburg writing this on our last full day in South Africa. I've had some of the best times of my life, and the last two weeks have been a fantastic end to the best holiday ever!
Our first stay was in a nature reserve called Loskop. Its very deserted so there are almost no cars driving the trails, this means seeing game is rare. But we still managed to see hippo, giraffe, zebra, buffalo, lots of antelope, and a black mamba! The days were dedecated to various tasks including a photography course, and learning how to track animals. We stayed in permanent tents, and the place had electricity a couple of hours a day and a bar! So it was luxury compared to our second stop!
After a week there, we moved to Mabula. This reserve is a lot more touristy so more cars and more game sightings! I say its more touristy...but we saw none of that. We stayed in the heart of the bush in tents with broken zips! No electricity...NO BAR...and a spider in your tent each night! There we saw lion, croc, rhino, and loads of zebra and giraffe.
But the best moment of the trip had to be seeing elephants! The guy who looked after them took us with him on a feed, which they do about every 2 weeks just to keep them used to humans. When you lay the food, they run straight past it and surround the car to check you out. These actual orphan elephants have killed 19 rhino and 3 humans, so when the trunks of a 4 ton monster is an inch away from your face, its one of the most scary things i have ever experienced!!
During the week we also did: A course in dangerous animals where we approached rhino on foot.
A survival course, run by an ex-paratrooper. The final exam was to build a shelter with just a survival backpack in 3 hours.
And rifle handling, which was just 2 days of shooting!
Back in jo'burg, its nice to have a proper shower and electricity, but i think everyone actually misses the peace of being in the middle of nowhere!
Flying at 8pm, and dreading the 12 hour flight once again,
Enzo.xxx

Pics are up from the reserves, but jo'burg will be a few days.