Safari at Kapama private game reserve

Hi everyone, and thanks for following my blog.  I am home now and this will be my last post, at least from this trip.  After we flew to Johannesburg, we flew to a small airport very near the Kapama Game reserve.  In fact it was right across the road.  It was a beautiful slice of African wilderness right next to Kruger National Park in South Africa.  We were there for four days and the schedule went like this.  In the afternoon at 4:30 go for a game drive in an open vehicle with tiered seats, enough for ten people.  We had a very knowledgable ranger (Devon) and a spotter (Harry).  Devon drove the vehicle and narrated for us and Harry sat on a seat in the front by the grill looking for animals.  Harry is a Zulu and has really good eyes and ears.
Back to the schedule, the game drive lasted until 7:30 and dinner is at 8:00.  At 5:00 am we got a wake up call for the early morning game drive which leaves at 6:00 am and lasts until 9:00.  There is coffee and biscotti served before the morning drive and a full breakfast when we got back.  We spent four days on this schedule and saw an incredibe number of animals up close and personal.  The vehicle was able to go off road, so if Harry spotted something we drove to the animal.  The animals are active in the early morning and early evening, thus the daily schedule.  Everyone rests in the afternoon, people and animals.  One afternoon Dick and I had a massage at their spa, it was heavenly. 
I took lots of pictures of animals and will send them in a separate blog after this one, it is easier that way.  The animals are used to the vehicles and people so they are not spooked by their presence.  The ranger asked us not to stand up and change the shape of the vehicle because that will cause the animals to respond to something different and they could charge the vehicle.  We saw lots of giraffes, they are so tall in the wild and eat off the top of trees.  We saw all of the "big five" lions, both male and female, African buffalo, elephants, leopards and rhinos.  We also saw hippos, but they were usually in the water so it was hard to see all of their body.  We saw wart hogs, jackals, hyenas, zebras and lots of animals that look like deer, such as impalas, kudus, steenbok, and nyala.  There were white faced monkeys and baboons, some near the lodge.  We saw many birds and several owls in the nighttime drives.  All of this was breath-taking and unreal to be so close to African nature.  It truly was a piece of paradise.
We left for home on Thursday night and flew all night from Johannesburg to Atlanta, GA.  The flight was 17 hours but was on a new airbus with quite a bit of leg room and individual TV sets and music, so it was bearable.  Hard to sleep, though and there is an 8 hour time difference from MN. so still a little jet laggy. 
Thanks for taking this journey with me and it is good to be home.
Love to all,  Gwen