16 July 2024- from the itinerary: Experience the romance and magic of Africa in the luxurious
Ngala Treehouse, a remote overnight retreat that allows you to sleep on an elevated and safe platform, under a blanket of stars. Your stay includes a stocked bar, a starlit picnic dinner and a selection of midnight and breakfast snacks.
Weather: 75 and cloudy in the morning, sunny in the afternoon
I had a 5:30 am wake up and had to meet Steve/Chris at 5:45am
This morning was the big game viewing walk since I was again alone with Steve and Chris.
Driving to the walk we went by some elephants. The old dam by/on the road didn’t really like us there and made some aggressive moves as we went off-road to give her more room.
- I really enjoyed getting out for the 90 minute walk. We had some wildebeast follow us
Impala
and saw a large amount of dung
(some of which had parts of furry creatures in it)
There were several birds on the walk, and recurred through the stay:
Lapwings
And Cape Starlings
also Steenboks
And termite mounds
There were tracks from several animals - elephants, rhino, cats…
We ended up back at the waterhole
where we could watch hippos relax together in the water.
And have Amarula coffee with our snack.
On the way back I saw a brown mongoose by the side of the road
When we got back it was time for breakfast and we had a new addition to the watering hole - this time a giraffe.
There are some pretty Impala Lillies in bloom on the property
Breakfast was a buffet with pink or white champagne, along with lots of other tasty options.
There were a few hours off for blogging and exercise before lunch of an artichoke salad
We left early for our afternoon drive to get to the wild dogs before others came and enjoyed seeing them have a snooze in the sun
Then it was time to head over to drop me for my night at the Ngala Tree House which was definitely a 5 star affair.
Nico greeted me and explained how the emergency radio worked. While he gave me a tour of the place several Vervet Monkey’s walked through the upper deck to join their group in the adjoining trees
As you can see from the above shot, the tree house is on about 4 levels. The entrance opens onto a kitchenette and dining area, up to the toilet/shower area, up to the bedroom, and finally up to the deck with retractable star roof.
Here’s the video taken the next morning
I enjoyed my drink, opened a cooling bottle of champagne and enjoyed the pre-dinner snacks (especially the kudu biltong) while the sun set
During this time I saw several small bats. There were very interesting noises, like baboons - which sounded like dogs barking and growling - and hyena.
The sun finally set about 6:15 and dinner was at 7. I have not photos of the food, but dinner was butternut squash cream soup, trout, and a brownie/fudge combination.
Unfortunately it was a waxing moon- about half full. I could read my book by its light…this meant I would have to get up after the moon set to see the stars.
I got up about 4 times and was finally more or less dark at about 3am. Stars were pretty, but no Milky Way. I was able to see some shooting stars.
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