We Won An MZNP Game Drive
Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 8:15 pm
Mountain Zebra National Park recently celebrated its 80th birthday, and we were fortunate to win a game drive voucher for 2
On the one hand it's fun to win things like that, but then of course you have to pay for accommodation to actually use it... and then pay for the kids to come along as well
Not that I'm complaining too much - it was a great excuse for us to head back to MZNP for a few days. I went with very low expectations as I know it can sometimes be hard to find the elusive animals, and we had been so lucky on our last visit that I would have been quite happy this time if we just saw some ground squirrels![Laugh lol](./images/smilies/lol.gif)
I managed to get a late booking on one of the chalets for the public holiday weekend, so we set off as soon as the kids were out of school on Friday to enjoy 3 nights in the park
![Dance O/\](./images/smilies/dance3.gif)
Fairly soon after we hit the road, I got a message through from one of the guides in Addo that the lions were snoozing close to the road on Vukani Loop. Curiosity got the better of us, so we convinced ourselves that it wasn't much of a detour to go through the park rather than round it
Sure enough, the lionesses had made a buffalo kill quite close to the road. Josie, Dawn, Duffy and the 3 cubs were all flat out after gorging themselves on the buff. One of the cubs was giving aunty Dawn a cuddle
![Image](https://www.africawild-forum.com/images/ext/146a01267ffb04f59177f633c53e3a1e.jpg)
The adults were fast asleep, but fortunately a couple of the cubs were looking around for a while
![Image](https://www.africawild-forum.com/images/ext/07709ab75f238e2d0dd74ab9b1960a5b.jpg)
![Image](https://www.africawild-forum.com/images/ext/dfbcabfa0a5eca407454cca1116118b2.jpg)
![Image](https://www.africawild-forum.com/images/ext/60e463921270e142f4f197024f00d8db.jpg)
There weren't too many people at the sighting, but someone had obviously parked badly or been parked in as some car horn sounds had the cubs on high alert
![Image](https://www.africawild-forum.com/images/ext/4d7d007c0e4c4742d0de4139f361cbc3.jpg)
![Image](https://www.africawild-forum.com/images/ext/4b6feb24207ff140a34d43f99e2331e0.jpg)
Double trouble then gave us a nice pose
![Image](https://www.africawild-forum.com/images/ext/edcdb2d6d4ae6171879d211dda99ed18.jpg)
![Image](https://www.africawild-forum.com/images/ext/0d3decad9f56d1e69fbede8965764374.jpg)
After a while it all became too tiring for the youngsters and they flopped down again
![Image](https://www.africawild-forum.com/images/ext/a23aa0b9e094df7f10272717c3268dc7.jpg)
It would have been nice to stay longer and watch the cubs when they were more active, but we were in entirely the wrong game reserve and had the bulk of our journey still to go![Whistle O**](./images/smilies/bwhistle.gif)
![Cheers X#X](./images/smilies/icon_prost.gif)
On the one hand it's fun to win things like that, but then of course you have to pay for accommodation to actually use it... and then pay for the kids to come along as well
![Doff 0*\](./images/smilies/doh10.gif)
![Whistle O**](./images/smilies/bwhistle.gif)
![Whistle O**](./images/smilies/bwhistle.gif)
Not that I'm complaining too much - it was a great excuse for us to head back to MZNP for a few days. I went with very low expectations as I know it can sometimes be hard to find the elusive animals, and we had been so lucky on our last visit that I would have been quite happy this time if we just saw some ground squirrels
![Laugh lol](./images/smilies/lol.gif)
I managed to get a late booking on one of the chalets for the public holiday weekend, so we set off as soon as the kids were out of school on Friday to enjoy 3 nights in the park
![Dance O/\](./images/smilies/dance3.gif)
![Dance O/\](./images/smilies/dance3.gif)
Fairly soon after we hit the road, I got a message through from one of the guides in Addo that the lions were snoozing close to the road on Vukani Loop. Curiosity got the better of us, so we convinced ourselves that it wasn't much of a detour to go through the park rather than round it
![Hilarious =O:](./images/smilies/Funny.gif)
![Hilarious =O:](./images/smilies/Funny.gif)
Sure enough, the lionesses had made a buffalo kill quite close to the road. Josie, Dawn, Duffy and the 3 cubs were all flat out after gorging themselves on the buff. One of the cubs was giving aunty Dawn a cuddle
![Cool O:V](./images/smilies/cool.gif)
![Image](https://www.africawild-forum.com/images/ext/146a01267ffb04f59177f633c53e3a1e.jpg)
The adults were fast asleep, but fortunately a couple of the cubs were looking around for a while
![2thumbsup \O](./images/smilies/icon_2thumbs.gif)
![Image](https://www.africawild-forum.com/images/ext/07709ab75f238e2d0dd74ab9b1960a5b.jpg)
![Image](https://www.africawild-forum.com/images/ext/dfbcabfa0a5eca407454cca1116118b2.jpg)
![Image](https://www.africawild-forum.com/images/ext/60e463921270e142f4f197024f00d8db.jpg)
There weren't too many people at the sighting, but someone had obviously parked badly or been parked in as some car horn sounds had the cubs on high alert
![duck --00--](./images/smilies/icon_ducken.gif)
![Image](https://www.africawild-forum.com/images/ext/4d7d007c0e4c4742d0de4139f361cbc3.jpg)
![Image](https://www.africawild-forum.com/images/ext/4b6feb24207ff140a34d43f99e2331e0.jpg)
Double trouble then gave us a nice pose
![Cool O:V](./images/smilies/cool.gif)
![Image](https://www.africawild-forum.com/images/ext/edcdb2d6d4ae6171879d211dda99ed18.jpg)
![Image](https://www.africawild-forum.com/images/ext/0d3decad9f56d1e69fbede8965764374.jpg)
After a while it all became too tiring for the youngsters and they flopped down again
![Image](https://www.africawild-forum.com/images/ext/a23aa0b9e094df7f10272717c3268dc7.jpg)
It would have been nice to stay longer and watch the cubs when they were more active, but we were in entirely the wrong game reserve and had the bulk of our journey still to go
![Whistle O**](./images/smilies/bwhistle.gif)