Sun City: February 2019 holiday

Our February ended on an adventerous note with a holiday to one of our favourite places - Sun City.  Staying in Sun City means getting to spend hours in Pilanesberg National Park soaking up precious time in nature while spotting wildlife and beautiful birds. The temperatures were super hot and we enjoyed 37+ degrees each day.

This is close to one of the hides in Pilanesberg.

Inside a hide.

The birdlife this trip was amazing.  The picture above is the Yellow-Billed Hornbill perched on top of a tree.   Hubby and I keep a list of birds we spot (called lifers) and we added quite a few this holiday. 

The wildlife was spectacular and as we drove around each day we really appreciated the beautiful sightings

Here is a hippo showing his bottom!  We've only ever seen hippos in water so this was an exciting surprise.

Two beautiful Zebras

I've always had a fondness for Warthog and can never resist taking a picture of them!  This one was happily eating some grass and didn't mind us parked nearby.

This Warthog was feeding her young ones under the shade of a tree.

A Black-backed Jackal walking away after getting a drink of water.

One afternoon drive we spotted a large chameleon crossing the road.  It was a sweltering day and he was just taking his time across the hot tar - not a care in the world!

Another evening while driving back to the entrance gate, we had a storm which cooled things down for a few minutes. It quickly cleared and left behind a beautiful rainbow.

In Sun City we visited the Valley of the Waves and went on a water slide.  Twice.

We visited the Maze on a super warm evening and got some lovely views of the Palace.

Enjoyed lots of breakfasts and lunches at the Lost City Golf Course as well as at the Gary Player Country Club. I visited the hairdresser at the salon at the Country Club for a trim and went to the gym for a couple of workouts.

This is a picture of one of the sunsets we saw early in the week.

We were about to exit the Park and make our way back for dinner.  Such a stunning start to the evening.We enjoyed lots of braais in our apartment at Sun City in the evenings.  Sitting on our balcony with a drink while we discussed our day and which part was our favourite.

We were optimistic that we'd get to see a Leopard again (seen a Leopard on the last 3 trips) but as the days went by we tried not to get our hopes up. We knew that getting sightings of the Big 5 is no guarantee and so each day brought with it the suspense of wondering what was around the corner!  On our second last day we went to the Park super early and saw.......YES....a Leopard. 

Breathtaking experience as always!  Hubby got some photos and the very next day (our last in the park) we spotted another!  You never know what you are going to find when you visit Pilanesberg National Park and that is part of the fun!  I don't have any pictures on my camera but hubby was lucky to get a few!

That afternoon, after lunch at Gary Player we made our way to the airport for our flight home.  We've been back for just over a week and I'm ready to return!

xx