Motswiri Private Safari Lodge, MADIKWE!

Four cheetah brothers napping.

Just a one hour drive from Gaborone and you're in a different world... a world of gourmet food, cheetahs lounging at your feet, elephants outside your bedroom window, and a day spent looking for The Big Five...the world of Madikwe Game Reserve!

Another cat, napping.

Awesome pool!

Scott and I took our first trip down to Madikwe, just across the border in South Africa, for his birthday weekend last Friday through Sunday. We had been on safari before in Botswana's Chobe National Park and South Africa's Pilanesburg Game Reserve, and both were absolutely amazing. However, our first two safaris did not prepare us for the incredible and amazing Motswiri Private Safari Lodge where we spent two glorious nights.

Our guide made sundowners for us out in the bush.

The lodge manages to provide high luxury - a gorgeous private villa, lovely swimming pool, gourmet food, private accommodation with only five rooms in the entire place - while still maintaining a rustic, secluded and natural feel to the place. It took longer to drive from the park gate to our hotel in the interior of the reserve, than it did to drive from our house in Gaborone to the park entrance!  There are quite a few lodges inside Madikwe but they're so spread out and small that you feel like you have the park all to yourself. Just you and the bush... and the animals of course!  We spent a total of seven hours out in the gorgeous park on game drives on Saturday; as someone who visits the National Zoo on average once a week when I'm in DC, this was basically an ideal way to spend a day.

Sunset at Madikwe.

The service at Motswiri was flawless and the ranger who took us on our five game drives (yes, five in just two days!) was extremely knowledgeable and found all kinds of interesting animals for us to "ooh and ahh" at - we saw two lion brothers and four cheetah brothers napping together, elephants, zebra, rhino, kudu, and all kinds of birds. The animals were all very accustomed to the safari vehicle, so we would pull up literally 10-15 feet from the lions, cheetahs, etc. and just watch them going about their business without a care in the world. Pretty cool! One thing I know for sure: we'll be visiting Madikwe again... and soon!  Have to check back to see what the cheetahs are doing, after all.