Turning off the road towards the Great Fish Nature Reserve we headed for Bucklands Private Game Reserve. This part of the tour was something I was really looking forward to and when we travelled along the gravel road to Bucklands I started to get really excited.
On arrival at Bucklands we were met by the owner Terry who welcomed us and showed us around the fortified guest house on the game reserve. With 4 luxury bedrooms to choose from he showed us which rooms had been booked for us. I settled in the very comfortable room which boasted a fantastic four poster king sized bed, tea & coffee station as well as comfortable chairs and dressing table. there was a wardrobe to store my things in and a en suite bathroom which had his and her basins, a bath as well as a shower. After I inspected the room to see how great it was we enjoyed a light lunch on the veranda enjoying the view while we chatted about the reserve. We were then told that we were going to enjoy a lesson in rifle handling. I had previously used a rifle but the others had never held a fire arm before and this lesson was thoroughly enjoyed by them as well as myself. The rifles that we used are used for management purposes on the reserve and also the guides walk with the heavy calibre rifles due to dangerous game being present on the reserve.
We returned to the lodge for high tea which was great as I had last enjoyed a cup of tea when we woke in the morning and it was a welcome treat. The kitchen prepared some fantastic sweets for us to enjoy with our tea or coffee and I could have had thirds or even fourths of the cakes and muffins that were baked for us.
We left on the evening wildlife safari which was a great excursion that gave us a great understanding of the vegetation and topography of the reserve and also the fauna and flora. We got to see a few Giraffe and Kudu while on drive before we stopped for a sundowners drink overlooking the reserve. We departed for the night part of the safari where we saw two Aardwolf which is a small predatory mammal that feeds of insects and is nocturnal. It was great to see these amazing animals again.
We returned to the lodge after the exciting drive and enjoyed a fantastic dinner. We enjoyed a three course home-made meal which was excellent before retiring for the night in our luxury rooms.
We got up early for tea and coffee with rusks and muffins so that we could get away early to enjoy seeing the wildlife as they come out to enjoy the morning sun.We enjoyed taking an excellent walk towards some giraffe which were only 20 meters away before they moved off. We then got a call from Terry that he had found the two rhino that we were looking for. We walked and searched for them again as they tend to disappear. They had pulled a sneaky move and headed back to where we had come from and were a little agitated. so we viewed them from a distance through the bush. We then took a leisurely walk back to the lodge with our guide to enjoy breakfast before departing the lodge and reserve to return to East London.
On arrival at Bucklands we were met by the owner Terry who welcomed us and showed us around the fortified guest house on the game reserve. With 4 luxury bedrooms to choose from he showed us which rooms had been booked for us. I settled in the very comfortable room which boasted a fantastic four poster king sized bed, tea & coffee station as well as comfortable chairs and dressing table. there was a wardrobe to store my things in and a en suite bathroom which had his and her basins, a bath as well as a shower. After I inspected the room to see how great it was we enjoyed a light lunch on the veranda enjoying the view while we chatted about the reserve. We were then told that we were going to enjoy a lesson in rifle handling. I had previously used a rifle but the others had never held a fire arm before and this lesson was thoroughly enjoyed by them as well as myself. The rifles that we used are used for management purposes on the reserve and also the guides walk with the heavy calibre rifles due to dangerous game being present on the reserve.
We returned to the lodge for high tea which was great as I had last enjoyed a cup of tea when we woke in the morning and it was a welcome treat. The kitchen prepared some fantastic sweets for us to enjoy with our tea or coffee and I could have had thirds or even fourths of the cakes and muffins that were baked for us.
We left on the evening wildlife safari which was a great excursion that gave us a great understanding of the vegetation and topography of the reserve and also the fauna and flora. We got to see a few Giraffe and Kudu while on drive before we stopped for a sundowners drink overlooking the reserve. We departed for the night part of the safari where we saw two Aardwolf which is a small predatory mammal that feeds of insects and is nocturnal. It was great to see these amazing animals again.
We returned to the lodge after the exciting drive and enjoyed a fantastic dinner. We enjoyed a three course home-made meal which was excellent before retiring for the night in our luxury rooms.
We got up early for tea and coffee with rusks and muffins so that we could get away early to enjoy seeing the wildlife as they come out to enjoy the morning sun.We enjoyed taking an excellent walk towards some giraffe which were only 20 meters away before they moved off. We then got a call from Terry that he had found the two rhino that we were looking for. We walked and searched for them again as they tend to disappear. They had pulled a sneaky move and headed back to where we had come from and were a little agitated. so we viewed them from a distance through the bush. We then took a leisurely walk back to the lodge with our guide to enjoy breakfast before departing the lodge and reserve to return to East London.
