Steve and I are having an amazing holiday in South Africa. We stayed with family in Johannesberg for a few days and this was a lovely relaxing time before we ventured out on our own. We drove to Madiwke Reserve which is on the border with Botswana. The drive was trhough a wide variety of countryside from the big city to small towns and villages with animals and crops in the fields. We were very lucky with the weather which was warm and sunny except for an afternoon thunderstorm most days! Our first game drive was amazing with us seeing 5 lions which was a mother and her 2 cubs (fairly well grown) and another 2 older cubs belonging to her sister who had died who she has also brought up. It was an incredible sight. On the same drive we saw several hawks as well as zebra and one of my favourites the giraffe. The verdant monkeys live in the trees around the lodge and were always on the look out for anything to steal, from food to nice shiny items. We had to be very careful. As you can see from the photo, there was a thunderstorm approaching and it was very dramatic and exciting out in the open surrounded by lightening with thunder overhead. The Game drive had to finish early that day as we were all very wet!
