Baobob Hill House

We are just two days from completing our stay at Baobob Hill House and I have so much to say!

Back patio and pool at Baobob Hill House

Getting There

We all met up at Newark airport and the flight to Johannesburg was long but uneventful. We took the shuttle to the Protea Marriott, very close to the airport, hoping for a simple hotel dinner and early bedtime to work our way back onto a good sleep schedule. I think all of us slept soundly until about midnight, followed by various states of restlessness.

I woke up with sinus pressure and a headache that quickly turned into acute nausea and “I can’t get out of bed”. We were all pretty worried. I was able to pack up and make it down to the lobby to get transport to our private air charter, and quickly rushed to the bathroom for a healthy round of vomitting. Still in bad shape, I was able to handle the ride and transfer to the airplane and slept for most of the flight up to northern Kruger NP. We had a fuel stop along the way, and by the time we made it to our final destination I was feeling much better.

Our guide and his co-worker diagnosing a battery issue

Our house is one of a few lodging options owned by Return Africa. Even though we are technically in Kruger National Park, the land is owned by the Makuleke people with a lease-back arrangement to the South African government. Many of the staff of Return Africa are Makaluke and have a family history going back to a nearby village from which they were expelled by the Apartheid government in 1969. All of our house staff and our primary guide are from the local village.

A Day at Baobob Hill House

Cape buffalo enjoying a mud bath

We are halfway through our third day at the house and I thought it might be helpful to share a typical daily schedule.

• 0500 – Wake up, make some French press coffee for Julie and me, eat a biscuit so I can take my malaria pill.
• 0545 - Our guide arrives in a safari-ready Land Cruiser to lead us on our morning adventure. On our first two days we did bush walks and I’ll do a separate post on the second one. Today we did a game drive, which is code for “drive around to a new spot (to us) and look for wildlife.
• 0830 – Short break for coffee, tea, and snacks. The breakfast before our breakfast.
• 1000 (or so) – Return to house for actual breakfast (eggs, maybe fried potatoes, sauteed onions and mushrooms, sausages) on the patio.
• Mid-day until about 1430 – Rest, cool off in pool, do work using the Starlink Mini, process photos from the prior day. Write blog posts.
• 1430 – Lunch on the patio.
• 1530 – Our guide arrives for our evening game drive. Sundown is about 1800 so we stop at around 1715 for cocktails and soft drinks served by our guide (and former mixologist, though he downplays it as “I was once a barman”). This is a “sundowner”.
• 1815 – Return gradually to our house on a night game drive, where our guide rambles through the bush with spotlight in hand. He is looking for danger but also trying to spot hard-to-find animals in the trees around us. Our first sightings of common genets, spotted hyenas, and giraffes all happend this way.
• 1900 – Arrive at house, clean up and regroup.
• 2000 (plus or minus 30 minutes) - Dinner on the patio.
• 2045 – Bed time.

Enjoying a sundowner with our guide and friends

The Wildlife

It is so hard to relate just how abundant and ubiquitous the wildlife is here. As I sit here and write this post we have babboons orbiting around our patio and pool, and probably 15 different bird species enjoying the watering holes around our yard. On the short drive from the airport to the house we immediately spotted warthogs, impala, nyala, babboons, and vervet monkeys.

Elephant at sunrise

Elephants are very abundant here, possibly overly abundant, but we never grow tired of seeing the family units tromp their way through the bush. They are bold and love to stand off against our vehicle, but never aggressive.

White-fronted bee eater

Ken and I are somewhat obsessed with birds, possibly to the frustration of our party mates. I’m up to 70 different bird species logged, tracked through the wonderful eBird app. At this point I’m trying to only ask for a stop if there’s a new-to-me bird sighting.

Giraffe head shot

Ken and Tenya were surprised to learn that giraffes had returned to this area of the park. We first spotted them at night but now have had a few daylight encounters. We think we are seeing the same group of five or so each time we spot them.

Hippos in the river

While the nearby Limpopo River is a dry sandy bed right now (it will flood during the rainy summer season), the tributary Levuvhu River runs right through our reserve and has ample flowing water. This means lots of hippos!

The Photography

Eurasian / African Hoopoe

Quality photography has been a challenge. Karen and I bought the same Canon super zoom point and shoot (Powershot SX 70HS) and it is no easy feat getting sharp photos at high zoom. Ken and Tenya have an older version of the same camera. With some training help from me we are all getting better, but I’m coming to think that there’s no chance of getting super-sharp shots at zoom when handheld. I’ve spent the afternoon with my tripod shooting birds around the patio and I think the results are getting way better.

Cape buffalo at sunset, shot with iPhone 15 Pro

A few of us have iPhone 15 Pros and they are by far the best option when we are photographing larger critters near the vehicle. And of course the video quality is amazing - we have some good video of elephants that I hope to share here.

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It is mid-day Saturday right now, and on Monday we will relocate to the southern part of the park. I’ll do at least one more post on our hike through Lanner Gorge. Plus maybe a photo update with sharper bird shots.