Safari for Real

27/07/2024

The Okavango Delta in Botswana…. Teaming with life and diversity!
took these beautiful images whilst leading a recent safari in Southern Africa’s garden of Eden!

17/07/2024

An overload of cuteness……. Captured beautifully by Safari For Real Co-Founder and guide, Lex Hes, last week whilst leading a safari to some of Southern Africa’s iconic destinations. This image of the Ntsevu lion pride’s newest additions was taken at Mala Mala in South Africa, before Lex and his group travelled northwards to Victoria falls and the Okavango Delta,

28/06/2024

Chris has just returned from leading a 10 day safari exploring the Greater Kruger National Park and experiencing magnificent landscapes, wildlife interaction and the expanse this ancient land holds. This peaceful image of an impala lamb suckling, whilst its mother looks out for ever present danger was taken on our return from our last evening game drive.. a beautiful way to end a memorable trip!

10/11/2022

Join Chris and Lex with the latest exciting experience they have to offer. Read more about the beautiful Nyala Camp in the Timbavati Game Reserve...

https://mailchi.mp/d3211dddcde4/introducing-you-to-an-exciting-new-experience-nyala-camp

24/10/2022

“The Sunset Female”
Our first encounter with this beautiful and relaxed female came as we were enjoying our last sunset (sundowner) of a recent stay at Nyala Camp. We were perched overlooking a large waterhole filled with noisy hippos!
stretching our legs and enjoying the views over the large body of water and looking out towards the eastern escarpment, one of our guests said calmly that they thought they had just seen a large cat approaching the waterhole! Grabbing our binoculars to confirm, we saw a leopard walking towards the waters edge and we all hopped into the vehicle and slowly drove towards it. We were incredibly pleased to see just how relaxed she was and she allowed us a great chance to watch her drink before lying down to rest on a large termite mound!
As is often the case at Nyala Camp, we were the only vehicle in the area and we left her walking into the bush after spending well over an hour with her!

📷 Hendrik Van Tonder (SFR guest)

23/10/2022

“ The Hornbill Nest Male”
This young male leopard is about 2 and a half years old, & was first seen on a recent trip to the Timbavati Game Reserve & Nyala Camp. We named him the “Hornbill Nest Male” as he had killed and dragged an adult impala into a large Scotia tree where there is a Southern Ground Hornbill’s nest, along the banks of the Zhebanini riverbed. On our first encounter with him, he seemed slightly shy of the game drive vehicles, but having him feeding on a kill for three days allowed us to slowly gain his trust and get great views of him. We look forward to seeing him become more and more relaxed around the game drive vehicles & sharing news of him with you! Habituating leopards is incredibly rewarding and can take a lot of time and patience, especially when the leopards are not cubs. There is a trust that needs to be built, one where a leopard feels at total ease and safe in the presence of a vehicle, the noise and the smells. Leopards are incredibly shy and secretive creatures and it is always a privilege when they allow us into their worlds. Thankfully this is not new for us, Lex and his trackers and colleagues wrote the blueprint for it in the 1970’s (read “Leopards of Londolozi”) and Chris & the Djuma guides spent years in the northern Sabi Sands applying the same skills skills to habituate leopards in the northern Sabi Sands in the early 2000’s, where most leopards today are at total ease around Game drive vehicles to this day. Join us at Nyala Camp to see this first hand.

📷

09/10/2022

Special at Nyala Camp in the Timbavati Game Reserve, South Africa.
A unique and private experience for small groups nature enthusiasts, friends and families. Exclusive to Safari For Real!!

19/02/2022

On one of Lex’s recent safaris to Zambia a few nights were spent in Kasanka National Park to witness the migration of straw-coloured fruit bats. Around 8 million bats (Eidolon helvum) descend to feed on the many different fruit found in a small patch of evergreen swamp forest for a few months each year. This is the largest migration of mammals on earth and a spectacle like no other!!!

17/11/2021

Chris recently returned from a 3 week safari leading repeat guests On an fantastic desert (Namibia) and Delta (Botswana) safari! Here are a few snaps from the first stop of their safari at Sossusvlei in Namibia.
It is great that both Lex & Chris are travelling again. Since June we have travelled to Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana,Namibia and South Africa!

11/09/2021

The diversity of Antelope in Africa is astounding!! No other continent holds as many species. The diversity of habitat, altitude and terrain mean that no matter where in Africa you find yourself, you are certain not to be too far from and antelope of some type!
Here are a few of the species encountered on one of our recent safaris to East Africa.
Images by Lex Hes
Coke’s Hartebeest
Klipspringer
Bushbuck
Thompson Gazelle
Eland
Topi
Kirk’s Dik Dik
Wildebeest (White Bearded GNU)

08/09/2021

Africa’s big skies and wide open spaces……

02/09/2021

An iconic African scene….. Lions resting on one of the many “pride” rocks (Kopjes) in the eastern Serengeti National Park. Formed in the late Precambrian period, these Rocky outcrops are a distinctive feature of the Serengeti landscape. They offer hiding places for all sorts animals from Lions to lizards!
They house plants found nowhere else in the reserve and are often called “islands in a sea of grass”!
Image: Lex Hes of

31/08/2021

Words to our most recent guests to Africa who Lex Hes guided in Tanzania last month……”I want to thank you very, very much for making the effort to come to Africa during this very strange time in our lives and for giving us the chance to put together a dream itinerary that few people have the time to do.
It is so important from an economic point of view that we get tourists back to Africa. There are so many livelihoods that depend on it. Think of all of the wonderful people who welcomed us so warmly into their camps and who treated us so well and with great care, always with a smile on their faces. Karibu!! Karibu!! That word that we heard so often everywhere we went. Welcome! Welcome!
Your visit to Tanzania means so much to so many people. Thank you.”
.chris

26/08/2021

As co-founder of Safari For Real Lex leads safaris to many parts of Africa where his knowledge, skill, experience and sense of adventure are shared with the guests he leads. Here is an excerpt of Lex Hes’ chronicles of a a Botswana and South African safari he lead. “ But the highlight of the safari was yet to come: on our very last morning drive when the parents decided that it would be a good idea to stay in camp and get organised for the day of travelling ahead.
We had seen African Wild Dogs, once briefly earlier in the trip and were very keen to see if we could get another sighting of them. We knew that the dogs were denning to the north of us on a property that we were not allowed to visit, but we also knew that they occasionally made hunting forays into our area.
We decided then to travel along the boundary and look and listen out for the dogs. When they hunt, they often lose each other and then try and relocate one another by means of a forlorn, far-carrying hooting call.
Scotch and Jack eventually heard them calling when we had stopped to look at some birds and we raced along to where we though they were. Sure enough we found 3 dogs which we followed along our boundary. It wasn’t long before they disappeared into the neighbouring property, and we thought that we might lose them. But they were trotting more or less parallel to our boundary and we were able to keep an eye on them. Eventually they angled back into our property and began to show some interest in a thicket on our side. The next thing the dogs disappeared behind the thicket and we heard a loud bleating, the sound of a common duiker being killed. We raced around the thicket to find the dogs pulling the duiker apart and in seconds there were suddenly 15 or 16 dogs running past us to partake in the feast.
The kill was finished in a few minutes and some hyenas arrived but were too late. Before long the pack disappeared back into the neighbouring property to head back to the den and regurgitate meat for the alpha female who was there nursing her pups”
.tula .chris

28/06/2021

19/06/2021

Taking it all in “on the rocks”!

17/06/2021

Our guests, lead by Chris spent the morning following this very special leopard. It is very rare for guides working in a limited area to follow male leopards throughout their lifetime, as they typically disperse far from their natal ranges, but this male has his far western parts of his territory in an area of Eastern Djuma. Seeing him for the first time in over a year was very special! Thank you mr Q!

25/04/2021

Lex and Chris spent a great morning following this big male leopard in the Northern Sabi Sands recently, observing his behaviour and providing our guests with superb photographic opportunities. He is known locally by the guides as “Nhlangula” and is the dominant male leopard in the far northern reaches of the Sabi Sands, where his territory extends northwards into the Manyeleti Game reserve. He has extended the size of his territory to the south in recent months and as you can see he is in very good condition!!! Chris will be in the Manyeleti Game Reserve this week and is hoping to catch up with him again!

06/03/2021

TB to a great start to the day in the Masai Mara a few years ago!

06/03/2021

Jumping head first into the weekend!!!

03/03/2021

A young female leopard keeping watch over her kill. A great first afternoon on a recent safari to one of our favourite destinations in South Africa.

16/02/2021

On a safari in the Masai Mara, a couple of years ago, we were lucky enough to spend the morning with a lioness moving her cubs from one den to another. A very intimate experience. She moved 3 cubs to a new den, in 1 hour, carrying each one gently in her mouth.

16/02/2021

The Kruger National Park is a land of great contrasts! This video was taken 2 years ago at the end of a long dry season. There was not much grass to be found and the Buffalo were in a very bad condition due to a lack of nutrition. This made it much easier for predators, such as lions, to prey on them regularly! We followed this herd of Buffalo for 5 km desperately jogging towards one of the last remaining water sources for miles around. Today, in the middle of a very good rain season, this same area has grass up to their shoulders and water is available almost everywhere. The herds of Buffalo have gained back any condition they lost over the dry period and now it is the lions who are finding it much harder to find food!

02/02/2021

A Mursi woman and child in the Omo Valley, Ethiopia. The cultural landscape in this part of Ethiopia is both fascinating a diverse.

02/02/2021

The Makgadikgadi Pans at sunset!! A very special and unique place to visit!

02/02/2021

On a private safari a few years back, Rick, our guest and I wanted to get some high angle shots of an impressive tusker which was approaching the large rock we had perched on. We were expecting him to move slowly beneath the rock and get an interesting view of him drinking from a pool of water at the base of the rock. It soon became apparent that he was more interested in the clean water in a small pool on the rock. Seeing this as a great opportunity for another unique and really special angle, Rick and I scrambled down the rock, into our game drive vehicle and captured this unforgettable moment!!