Cape Town Safari Option - Aquila Game Reserve

Cape Town is one of South Africa's most picturesque cities, located right on the southern coastline and surrounded by the mountain range.

There are many different reasons to visit the southern city of Cape Town. For me personally, I traveled to town to visit friends as well as to remove my ultimate bucket list item ... great white dive.

Kruger National Park is by far the most popular game reserve in South Africa and is high on the list to be one of the most visited game reserves in all of Africa.

Cape Town, on the other hand, does not have a game reserve quite like Kruger, but many travelers to the southern city may not be able to include both places in one trip. I certainly couldn't, and then I searched for other safari parks near Cape Town.

Aquila Game Reserve was one such park and is a privately owned park that hosted a number of African species of wildlife.

This game reserve offers both full-day tours that pick you up from your hotel in town as well as offer some of the most amazing lodges I've seen.

Upon arrival, a breakfast buffet is served when guests are seated at a table, only inches away from the crocodile cabinet known by staff as 'Death Pit'. A great start to a wildlife package.

After breakfast and a quick orientation during the day, guests are then taken to the safari vehicles, a 4x4 jeep that are fairly open to optimal viewing of the animals.

Just a short drive from the breakfast area, the vehicles enter the gates and divide in different directions with our first stop landing at the site of a family of hippos. These are considered the most dangerous creatures in Africa and are known to charge. So we had to keep our distance from these guys, but were still able to see them from our spot.

From there, the vehicle then spotted two white rhinos grazing nearby. Little known to the passengers was also a giraffe tucked in the long grass with just its head out.

It was then time to move on and head towards the grazing herds in a closed area of ​​the park. Here we witnessed Cape buffalo, zebra, springbok and other kinds of deer grazing, playing and running around the park.

The next stop was for some champagne in a picturesque location of the park surrounded by the mountains in an area close to a herd of ostriches. This was a nice break, to get out of the car, stretch your legs and enjoy a drink in the amazing scenery and close to some of the park's wildlife.

The next part of the park was for the lions, no doubt a highlight of the trip.
However, one thing you may notice about Aquila is that the predators or animals with attitude are separate from herbivores. So you will not see a lion chasing a zebra in this park.

There is quite a lot of pride in Aquila and separated or not, they still have a roar that can send shivers down your spine and they can get quite close to the cars.

Out of this section are the elephants, which were the last checkpoint for my safari route. There were two elephants in these sections and they had been separated from the other herbivores because of their unpredictable nature.

Aside from seeing the lions, I have to admit that the elephants were my next favorite wildlife viewing. As soon as the cars pulled up, they became curious and started playing with each other, almost as if they were trying to show up.

By the end of the safari trip it was back to the food hall for lunch and some drinks by the pool.

Although we did not get to see any of the animals that hunted each other, it was still an amazing experience to see the wildlife here, and that meant I didn't have to go anywhere else to see some of Africa's best wildlife.

The Aquila Game Reserve also offers quad bikes or horseback safaris on top of the 4x4s, but whichever way you decide to make the trip, it's still a great experience with some wonderful photo opportunities.