Chapter 8 - St. Lucia and Durban

So the evening game drive from the Hilltop Camp would be our last on land.  We would sleep one more night there before heading out and making our way south to Durban.  This would be the first time we would be on the coast of South Africa and it meant a change of scenery.  We would trading these...


...for these.

Just in case...

This would be a short visit as we were here only to take a boat ride on St. Lucia Lake.  The lake itself appears more like a river and leads right into the ocean.  However, the two are often seperated by sand as the tide comes in and out.   See below...  



I'm so glad I can fly

We travelled up river towards the area where three pods of hippos live.  Hippos though known for their diet of white marbles and tendency for having extreme hunger, are actually one of the most dangerous animals in Africa.  They are extremely aggressive toward humans and commonly attack whether on land or in water without provocation.  We would travel in a fairly large boat which kept us from feeling threatened...

hippo tusk

                           ...until Kate got her hands on this!  There canine tusks are made of ivory and they are very dense.  This weighed around twenty pounds.  The docile appearance of the hippo has lead to a lack of fear in humans which in turn has resulted in quite a few tragic results.  For whatever reason, they don't like us.  Given that they are herbivores and only resort to meat eating in times of nutritional stress, you have to wonder what the motive for attack could be. 

They spend most of the day in the water because their skin can easily dry out.  They will come on land at dusk to graze but EVERYTHING else is done in water.  They can pull off sleeping because the water is so shallow.  They are actually standing on the bottom. 

I'm pretty sure we saw more sleeping than we did awake...

   



Okay so they weren't all asleep.

Hippos were not the only animals we would see on the river.  We were visited by a few others we had come across in Kruger National Park.



Giant Kingfisher



Kind of hard to tell what this guy is supposed to blend in with...



African Fish-Eagle



Our old buddy...

Pod #2

Pods are made up of one dominant male and the rest are females.  If a cow gives birth to a male, the mother will flee with the newborn for safety.   Otherwise the alpha male will kill the calf.

infant hippo

Not going to lie.  All I wanted was a picture of one of theses things with its mouth wide open and none of them were obliging me.

Had pretty much put the camera away on our way back to the dock and of course this happens.  Caught this guy at the last second.  Apparrently an open mouth means the hippo feels threatened. 

The end of our cruise in St. Lucia would mean we were finally heading back to civilization: Durban.  Located on the south eastern coast of SA, it is the fastest growing city in the world behind Mexico City according to our guide David .  It has the busiest port in SA and more importantly, really nice hotels.  We were ready to be back in luxury as our last few nights on safari were a little rough. 

The Indian Ocean from our hotel in Durban

We arrived in Durban early enough for a dip in the Indian Ocean and some time on the beach.  It was fantastic.  The following morning we were off to the airport and headed to Capetown.

Chapter 7- Hluhluwe Game Reserve

Friday, January 14th

We left the Forrester Arms and made our way through the capital city of Mbabane headed for the border (not taco bell.)  After clearing customs and immigration for the second time in two days, we were back in SA and headed for the Hluhluwe Game Reserve.  This would be the site of our last game drive in South Africa.  Given all that we had seen up to this point, we felt like anything we saw now would be a nice encore to what has been an incredible adventure.

Our destination would be the Hilltop Camp located on the reserve. 

Family of warthogs

The South African people are quite hospitable as evidenced by the welcoming party that was sent to greet our arrival

Another greeter, this guy stood in the middle of the one lane road up to the camp.  For about ten minutes he displayed some definite unpleasantness with the prospect of our passing.  The dropping of the head is a precursor to a charge.  We were just able to sneak by before anything came about.




Hamerkop








The large amount of rainfall made some of the passage to Hilltop Camp a little treacherous as water was occasionally flowing over the road.  This guy was standing in a creek that was doing just that.

As we were making the final approach to camp and winding our way to the top, we came upon a pair of zebra.  A male and a pregnant female, the latter bore the scars of a lion attack that she was somehow able to escape.  Look below at the ribs and rump and you can see where each paw dug in an attempt to secure a meal.

Plains Zebra





KwaZulu-Natal Province

Our final game drive in South Africa would start that afternoon.  In the meantime we would settle in to the second of two rooms after discovering some "uninvited guests" upon arrival in our first hut.  A couple of hours sunbathing and then we were back in our hut getting outfitted for the drive. 

The Hilltop Camp had a really cool lobby that opened up to an incredible view out over the Drakensburg Mountains. 




One Tree Hill







































Purple-crested Turaco

 This drive would begin with a short speech from our ranger Pumawakay (Puma) describing how game driving is alot like fishing, sometimes you don't catch anything.  So as the drive began and our first few stops were to listen to bullfrogs call back and forth, to spy some far off Waterbok, and then to try and find the bird calling from some trees (here on the left) I was a little worried.  It felt like our ranger was attempting to build a little equity in the event we didn't cross paths with anything of significant interest.



Our previous good fortune on game drives kept us from taking many photos on this one.  We came across some White Rhino that were a little far off; some Zebra as well.  After about an hour into the drive Puma pulled off the trail into a little drive and we were suddenly 20 feet from this fella...

Male Giraffe

This was a male that we would sit and watch for twenty minutes or so while he fed.  He didn't seem to mind us being there at all.

Fun fact: One of the reasons animals feeding on trees will move on before picking them clean is because trees have a defense mechanism.  After an animal begins to feed, the tree will push tannins into its leave creating a bitter taste that tells the animal to move on.

This poor guy had a bum left front leg that he was favoring.  We had to wait for him to let us get by to get out of here. 

Took every ounce of self control I had not to give this guy a "good game" pat on the rear on our way by.  He was within arms reach.
















Woodland Kingfisher









Pretty bird...

Here we found some zebra grazing with what is presumably the group our lone giraffe belongs to.

Yes, that one ended with a preposition.  Sorry Mom.

These guys would end up walking single file down the road with another three giraffes in tow.  We followed for a few minutes and it felt like we were going to the Ark.

After our encounter with the z's and g's, we would stop for a cold one and to mingle with some safarians riding in other vehicles.  Daylight was fading fast which meant the spotlights would be neccessary from here on out. 

So with the onset of darkness we pushed forward.  I was surprised how quickly we would cover ground at night given the idea it would be harder to spot animals.  Puma told us instead of looking for shapes or bodies of animals to watch for the reflection of the eyes of the animal.  It is much easier to see as you can see below.

 

Cape Buffalo


 It would not be the eyes that gave away the location of our final encounter of the day.  With daylight long gone, and the sinking feeling that our ranger Puma was making his way back towards camp, we came to a T in the road.  Puma made one last look of the spot light toward the right, toward the camp before swinging back to his left.  Now what I saw from 500 yards away looked like a boulder on the side of the road.  Puma and my wife Kate thought different.  It was almost immediately after we took the left that Kate expressed what she thought was (actually) in the middle of the road ahead.

 "I think it's a lion."

As we approached what I had mistaken for a bolder, we were instead staring at an adult male lion laying right in the middle of the road.  When we were about 100 yards from him, Puma stopped to call another ranger in the area to come assist us with lighting the animal.  As we waited the minute or so for the other ranger to arrive, the KOTJ got up and ambled into the bruch to our dismay.  Luckily upon approach to where he had been, we could see him immediately to the left about ten feet into the brush.

I spent most of my time manning a spotlight so others could take photos.  Our subject clearly did not enjoy the light on his face and I felt a little guilty for being such a nuisance.  I did my best to keep the light around him and not on him.  Unfortunately, the lack of light and my lack of expertise in photography meant we didn't get the best shots when I finally had a chance to take a few pics. 

thanks for the assist photoshop.

Atleast you can get an idea of how magnificent a specimen this dude is. 

And this would conclude our final game drive in South Africa.  It would not be the last time we would see animals in the wild however.  In the near future, we would find the strangest sight of the entire trip.

Chapter 6 - Swaziland

Thursday, January 13th

Do you like flowers?!?!?!  If so this entry is for you.  If not, no worries.  This entry is short and sweet.

From Kruger we would head east to the mountain Kingdom of Swaziland.  Landlocked by South Africa on three sides and Mozambique on one, Swaziland is smaller than Kruger National Park!  The current King Mswati III is one of the last absolute monarchs in the world and has taken 13 wives since he began his rule.  This part of the trip felt like a mini vacation in the middle of our safari.

Swaziland

The country landscape is beautiful and mountainous.  We felt like we were in the Alps.


As we would see in parts of SA, there is rampant poverty in Swaziland.  77% of the country are employed in subsistence farming with 60% of the population surviving on less than $1.25/day.

The vendors that we would see on the side of the roads and in markets were much more agressive in their marketing efforts.  We crossed a bridge at one point and came upon three young children dancing in the road with strings of bananas around their neck.  A pretty valliant effort to peddle fruit.

Although we would take note of this in SA as well, our travel along the roads through Swaziland  were marked heavily with people and animals.  We could be driving 110km/h and we would pass small children walking the edge of the road with no adult supervision.  People would more often travel in the back of open vehicles than they would seatbelted in the cab.  We would also have to come to a halt from time to time to avoid the cattle that would graze and roam freely.  It just goes to show what positive effects government regulation can have on a country.  Our guide David said many lives are lost as a result of such poor traffic laws.

   
For the day we would spend in Swaziland, most of it would be relaxing at the Forrester Arms Hotel.  The weather was sunny and 85 and we were ready for some pool time. 



The Forrester Arms









The hotel had a lush garden with all sorts of flowers in bloom.  Yup, I took pictures of flowers. For those of you looking for animals, you won't find them here.  Feel free to skip to the next chapter.

Mrs. K

The hotel was run by an expat from England.  Despite the english reputation for mediocre fare, our dining experience here was wonderful.  We had a designated table for all our meals which was pretty cool. 

Ready to head back to SA after some pool and sun.

It was nice to put the camera down (for the most part) and get to relax.  However, we found we were looking forward to getting back to South Africa. 

Easiest entry yet.