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.