Shamwari February 2023

Another trip to Shamwari

For some reserves, it is worth coming back again. And Shamwari is one of them for me. (beside others of course!) The benefit of returning to an already known reserve is that you can see the progress of some animals in the reserve and follow their story, you know how the ranger is, you know some of the hotel staff already and you exactly know where to store your stuff in your room or where to charge your camera equipment. It's also great again to explore new regions, reserves, national parks or lodges, but there is always a chance to have a sub-par experience if just one of the components does not deliver as expected. This could be because your field guide/ranger, the accommodation, the staff or the environment. Beside this, I already am lucky to make so many friends there and it is always great to see them again. My family feels the same and one of my daughters wanted to go nowhere else, but to Shamwari again. If you need to get more information about the location, the way you get there, the lodges or anything else: Feel free to read my former blog posts about Shamwari on my website. Just some quick facts:

Size: 25.000 hectars/250 km2 (and growing!)

Opened: 1992

Big Five: Yes (whenever the cape leopard doesn't show up that often)

Lodges: 6 + 1 private lodge with different styles

But let's start with some pictures I've taken on-site.

Some words about the food

In the past I've commented a lot about the food options at Shamwari. It was just no African enough for me. I would prefer local dishes - at least as an option. So Shamwari decided to let me try out some of the new dishes they like to introduce in the future. And I just can say: This food was absolutely magnificent! Dry aged buffalo steak, Chakalaka, Malva pudding, Bobotie has been served to me. It was just brillant and I hope all the dishes can find their way to the official menu. So absolutely no complaints food-wise anymore!

I didn't take many photos from the food being served at Shamwari, because usually there was no daylight, when I've approached the restaurant and because the food was just too delicious. I had to feed myself, after seeing so many animals eating.

The Safari Experience

Whenever we had a bit of bad luck weather-wise with a lot of rain, the safaris were still outstanding. My field guide Mino delivered again and knew most of the time, and where we could look for specific game or where to stop the vehicle for the best angle for game viewing and picture taking. Further Shamwari has so many different areas - some rocky ones, grassy areas, thick bushes, open plains, waterholes of different sizes and a river (whenever just parts of the river does contain water currently). Because many roads within the reserve leading to the top of some of the hills, there are many absolutely amazing spots with a wonderful view. And the reserve is big enough to say, that you can't see its borders from most of these places.

The only thing you need to be really lucky with is a leopard sighting. Cape leopards do hide very well and because of the lack of many high trees in the Eastern Cape, they usually hide in the rocky areas, where no car can go to. To see a leopard in Shamwari is not impossible - once I've seen three different ones in just one day. But out of my former eight stays at Shamwari, I was only successful twice. So there is a bigger chance to not seeing a leopard to keep the expectation a bit lower. We stayed for almost a week this time and tried to find a leopard - but again: No luck. But we had seen the rest of the big five and even some black rhinos, and brown hyenas, besides the regular game you expect in Africa.

Quality time with some playful lions

After an unsuccessful hunt, a pride of lions made the best out of it and started playing. Sometimes this looks a bit rough - but usually, they don't hurt each other. Even the old male lion was up for some fun with his son at one time. The three sisters in the pride were playing hide and seek, jumping on each other and even sometimes grabbing the tail of their other sister. It was amazing to see active and moving lions during the later afternoon. Usually, they spend their time during the day to lay flat on the ground sleeping. In the foreign language it is called "Lala Panzi" - where "Lala" means "sleeping" and "Panzi" stands for "flat". Here some pics of this sighting:

Precious Lioness

On a really rainy day, we made our way to a remote location at Shamwari where lions have been seen. We spent at least about 2 hours with these fantastic creatures. Three sisters of the Southern pride were at that location. They were just chilling and resting - nothing too special. But if you are ready to play the waiting game, you can get incredible shots of animals. Even in eye level, if they are moving just beside the car on an elevation.

Somewhere under the rainbow

On one of our last days at Shamwari we got the chance to see some sun in between the rain. Because of the rain, we were not able to off-road to get closer to them. But anyway: What your eyes see is usually way better, than what you can capture with any technical equipment. The second picture are of cheetahs during sunset on a clear day, where their eyes are especially standing out in that amazing orange colour. And this is why everybody needs to go to Africa once in their lifetime, to see its beauty with their own eyes. Anyway, I like to try to give you some impressions of what we've seen there in that situation.

Cool Zebras

Zebras could be very playful as well. They like to roll over, to run over the plains or to just lean on some of their friends. New-born zebras do have very long legs to hide behind their mom to be safe from predators. Zebras are amazing creatures, as you can see in the following pictures.

The Lion King

Did you know that you can hear a lion's roar from up to 5 miles away? They use the roar to call their pride members or to show their dominance to other lions. It is especially nice to see a lion roaring during the cooler evenings or mornings, because of the dust which is coming out of their mouth.

Conclusion

As usual I like to mention, that I didn't get this trip for free. I was paying a "returning customer" rate and that was it. So everything I mention in this post is based on my own experience as a paying customer. But I really like to thank the whole Shamwari team, who made our stay again memorable for us. And I/we will come back again for sure!