Safari at Inverndoorn

We drove along a dusty road through the hot, arid Karoo landscape. This is where I was born and my heart always gives a little leap as I enjoy this scrubby land with it’s red rocks and sand. We spotted a little outcrop of buildings at the foot of the mountains. This was our oasis, our destination. There is such scarce vegetation in the Karoo, I wondered how on earth there could be a safari park here.
We were met as we arrived and ushered to our lunch table. Never has a glass of cold, crisp, white wine tasted so good!
Our room was in the old farmhouse and gorgeously cool and dark. Those thick walls built to keep the African heat out! We spent some time relaxing by the sparkling pool: such a hardship! 

After tea and cake we set out on our evening safari. First stop the Cheetahs. Inverndoorn is a Cheetah conservation park first and foremost. The rehabilitate and breed cheetahs to release into the wild. We watched them being taught to hunt by chasing a lure – amazing to see these animals in action!

We were given dinners and breakfasts by the pool. But breakfast was extra special as they bought baby cheetahs to visit while we ate. The 6 month old ones played and ran around but they kept the yearlings on a leash. They were so beautiful and Joseph was delighted at the thought of sharing his coco pops with a cheetah!


We went on a total of 4 safari drives seeing cheetah, lions, giraffe, zebra, rhinos, hippos (well, their snouts sticking out of the water), oryx, kudu, springbok, ostrich, African foxes, etc, etc – this list goes on. Joseph loved it hugely although by the 4th drive he was a little “seen one of those already!” (spoiled child!)

We did get stuck by a water hole on our second drive, when the jeep drove into some very soft mud and were towed out by a tractor. But that was wonderful as we got to walk about the waterhole and examine the spoor in the mud.

We were also lucky enough to be there at full moon and saw the gorgeous moonrise over the lunar landscape and beautiful sunrise and sunset on the red mountains.

All in all a fantastic time for us all. Back to Cape Town until we head up to Namibia at Easter. Life is hard…….