Our second day at Solio Lodge was so great! We started the day with a game drive at 6:00 am and it was very chilly! The sun had yet to rise, the temperature was only 51 degrees, and part of the roof was open in case we wanted to sit up top, so I, the cold-loving Canadian, was surprisingly freezing. The lodge provides big fleece ponchos to wear on game drives, so I put one on and it was very cozy!
Partway through our drive, we stopped for breakfast, which was kindly prepared by Anthony and Theuri. The sun kept coming out and then disappearing behind clouds, so over the course of breakfast, we had bright blue skies and dark gray skies, but it was an absolutely wonderful meal, with several rhinos in the distance and one nearby! I hope I never forget the feeling of being around these incredible animals!
After breakfast, we decided to sit up on the roof for the remainder of our drive, despite the chill in the air! Our guides were so knowledgeable, answering our many questions about everything from hunting patterns of different animals to what the weather is like during the four seasons!
we stopped for breakfast
our two guides were so good to us!
they even made us mimosas!
breakfast buddy
a bit of a treacherous crossing
cold, but happy!
In the afternoon, we went to the Solio Rhino Orphanage and we loved our time there. The staff's love for and dedication to these babies is so inspiring!
I mean look at this face!
I can't handle it!
we fed the baby rhinos!
after which time, they immediately took naps - so cute!
you can see the bunks where their caretakers sleep so they won't be alone!
the orphanage also has three baby zebras!
we fed them, too!
their stripes will turn from brown to black as they mature!
we learned that baby zebras are very sweet, but adult zebras are mean jerks LOL
we fed an impala as well!
as with the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust I wrote about the other day, we loved the mission here and all of the work they're doing, so we decided to support them and we got to add our names to their donor wall
Our evening drive was not quite as wild as the previous night's (how could it possibly be?!?), but we saw lots of animals and loved the beautiful weather and scenery!
When we got back to the lodge, the staff had arranged for us to have a private dinner up on the balcony that overlooks the grounds, so we watched the rhinos roam around while we ate! So magical!
just for reference, that upper level is the balcony where we ate (it was too dark at the time to take any proper photos!)
Once again, the guard who escorted us to our room after dinner built us a fire and right before we went to sleep, I decided to take one last look outside only to find three rhino visitors right in front of our cottage!
the dark space in the foreground is the yard of our cottage and is a little elevated compared to where the rhinos can roam (for safety reasons, obviously!)
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