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You realise when you travel
that often you find out more about trips when you actually
arrive in a country. This is very true about doing a safari in
SA. There are lots of game parks and doing one from the Durban
area meant NO dreaded malaria tablets for a month, plus the park
was a relatively short drive from Durban. We had our pick up at
07:30 so by 9am we were in the park called Hluhluwe-Hluhluwe
Umfolozi. This game reserve is known for the Big 5 and the
largest population of white rhino in the world with 50% of them
being here. At one point they were on the verge of extension
and this park was mainly responsible for building up the
population again to its current healthy levels. You realise
when you’re doing your research that all the big parks talk
about the Big 5. The Big 5 is even on the SA note currency.
Basically it’s the leopard, buffalo, lion, elephant and rhino,
so you want to make sure any game reserve you go to is known for
the Big 5 if you want to see lions.
How lucky were we? Our guide
had just got our park passes when we heard someone who had just
left the park and seen a lion on the rocks not far from the
entrance. So off we went and there it was in the distance. The
binoculars made it better to see but it was lazing in the sun.
From there we cruised around the park looking for animals until
the sun went down. We saw so many different animals - lots of
rhino, giraffes, zebras, impalas, wildebeest, buffalo, baboons
and lots of birds. We also saw the vultures hovering over a
recent kill! That night we stayed at a lovely lodge on another
smaller game reserve which was like a honeymoon place.
Next day was a very early
start. We were in the mini-van at 4am to visit another part of
the park to try to see the animals early, so we hit the reserve
just as light was breaking. We had a huge thunderstorm in the
night so it was misty and damp which game the park a different
feel. We had a full on breaky at Hilltop lodge in the park.
The weather cleared so the views were great and while eating we
could watch an elephant just doing his thing in the bush, not
too far away. Later on in the day we saw lots of animals just
crossing our path as well as one large elephant with huge tusks
by the side of the road and heard of giraffes just walking along
the plains. Today was a very long day in the park…
First thing the next day we
visited a touristy Zulu camp nearby to look around their camp
where they demonstrated traditional Zulu life. It was all a bit
strange as we were the only 2 people booked to visit the village
that day but they still put on the show for us! We were also
shown some warrior tribal dancing which was very energetic…
Then we hit the road south for
our next stop of the St Lucia Wetlands. We had heard lots about
this area as a really beautiful part of the country and a ‘must
do’ and a great place to see the hippos. We got on a boat and
over the next couple of hours we went up and down the estuary
and saw loads and loads of hippos doing their thing which was
amazing to see as well as crocs sunbathing or swimming in the
water and tons of birds as well. Another great part of the
Safari package. This was one place where we wished we had a
long lens camera, as we got close with the boat but the normal
digital camera was out of it’s depth to get really great photos.
While on the
way to the Wetlands the mini-van aircon packed up so during
lunch the guide was getting it fixed but we then had to wait
until 5pm before it was ready, so we mooched around the town.
We got back late to Durban shattered from the long day and had
lined up a different hostel to stay at very aptly name ‘Hippo
Hide’. Back to the Durban link. |
