We were greeted first thing by a female giraffe who was able to use her tongue to find leaves amongst the giant thorns of the tree she was working on.
Shortly thereafter, we ran into a young bull elephant who was tearing down whole branches of the trees he was eating.
You can see him reaching up with his trunk, which he'd wrap around a branch and pull down.
After we left the sand forest, we experienced our most intense lion encounter to date. At a watering hole, a sub-adult male lion (not from the dominant pride) was trying to interact with a female from the pride. She was having none of it.
The dynamic really got aggressive when the dominant male showed up with another lioness. At that point, the lioness went over the dominant male and the sub-adult was in a world of hurt. It was clear that he was trying to get out of the situation in a specific direction, but for some reason, the 3 lions weren't letting him do that. We'd soon understand why.
There are specific protocols that the rangers and vehicles need to observe. One is that only 3 vehicles can be at a specific interaction at any given time. The rangers will reserve a place "in line" so that when one vehicle leaves, they can drive into the area and observe.
While we were observing this lion interaction, we thought it was winding down and Matt "called out". Unfortunately, the action wasn't quite over yet, but another vehicle was already coming to take our spot.
Not to worry however, because nearby we were able to find another very intense lion encounter. This time, it was the two females who were companions of the sub-adult male. They were being absolutely harassed by another one of the pride lionesses.
The pride lioness clearly didn't want these two to go and support their male. She kept them penned into this small clearing by charging them several times. We could tell that the two females were very intimidated. They got very submissive and made sounds that were almost like a dog whining.
By the time that we left, the sub-adult male was pushed off into a different direction than where his lionesses went. We were hoping that we'd have the chance to see them interact again because it didn't seem that the soap opera was quite over.
That said, it was time for us to head back to the lodge for breakfast and to get ready for the wedding.
We enjoyed our breakfast and headed back into the tent cabin. We split up into separate cabins to have lunch and get ready. While that was going on, Francois took some pictures of the rings and the dress as well as Devon getting ready for the ceremony. Tasha joined Devon to help with her finishing touches.
The wedding site was a small clearing at the base of a Fever Tree about 10 minutes away from the lodge. Muzi drove Rob to the ceremony with the Reverend and Francois. Matt drove Devon and walked her down the rose petal aisle as a Zulu choir serenaded us. Devon had a protea bouquet and there was a beautiful lantern with filled with local flowers. Jess and Tasha were witnesses while Francois captured our special moments. It was all perfect and perfectly represented what we wanted: Love, Laughter and Adventure. Afterwards, we enjoyed some champagne and took some pictures at the site.
Until we receive our pictures from Francois, this is the only one from the ceremony that we have to share.
That afternoon we enjoyed a game/photo drive with Matt, Muzi and Francois. We enjoyed our sundowner at the top of a mountain where we watched the sunset and took more photos. It was a fun night with people who we know will remain lifelong friends.
When we returned to the Lodge for dinner, we were in the Boma again. This time we had a separate table from the other guests set up with candles and champagne. Once dinner was over, we set out to a few other places in the lodge with Matt and Francois for some final photos before heading to bed.
There were lots of laughs and great stories and it was a day that we'll never forget. We fell asleep excited for what tomorrow would bring, the start of our African Honeymoon.
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