Mandi – again out and about with her family in tow – recently visited Botlierskop Private Game Reserve, which is located very close to Mossel Bay on the Garden Route. She continues, “I can recommend it to travelers as a day tour, if you are short of time and do not have the opportunity of staying in a game reserve in the Eastern Cape or further north in the Kruger National Park area. We took the morning game drive and saw rhino and their babies, various antelope species, giraffe and black springbok (a special and very interesting breed unique to Botlierskop). An attraction of this malaria-free reserve is that you can get out of the vehicle as there are no predators in the majority of the reserve, so our little son enjoyed running after the giraffe (which of course ran away!).
We then returned to the lodge to get in to another vehicle – which was extremely noisy – to be taken up the hill to the lion enclosure. There we found 2 lazy lions in their enclosure. This was not something I would recommend and was pretty dissatisfied as both lions have been hand reared and as a visitor to Southern African, one might find it disappointing to see lions that don’t have that natural wild element to them. A big highlight after lunch was to feed the elephants. They have a male, female and very young baby elephant that have handlers that stay with them all day. We were lucky to be the only ones booked on this afternoon activity so could feed the elephant fruit to our hearts content. It was very special and something I would highly recommend. There are various places on the Garden Route where you can do this and it is fun for both adults and children. A humbling experience to feed these amazing animals where you realize how small you are in comparison!
Botlierskop is perfect for a soft game experience and it is especially suitable for young children. This really does make for a fun day activity on the Garden Route.
What fun riding that ostrich….can I have a turn too ?
Gramps