Over the past few days we have been on an amazing journey on our self-guided safari around the Hluhluwe Umfolozi Game Reserve - what a place.
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| Our transport around Hluhluwe Umfolozi, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa |
We had a three hour drive North after stocking up with supplies and leaving Durban. The road was mainly highway until we turned off for the Reserve and the things became more 'rural'. There was a bit of confusion when we arrived - no record of our booking for some reason - but luckily there was space in one of the camps for us. Once we had checked in and booked our place on the night safari, we headed to our camp to unpack our gear. There was only one way to describe it: glamping! It was basically a very nice and fully equipped chalet with a tented roof over the top; very nice indeed. There seemed to be a lot of signs all around warning about the dangers of the big five... not a fence in sight...
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| Giraffes, Hluhluwe Umfolozi, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa |
We headed out in our 4x4 armed with only a map and our sheer excitement at seeing some animals in the wild. We tried to take every turning we could and drive along every road possible but we soon discovered that we had underestimated the scale of the reserve; it was huge! We knew that we simply wouldn't have time to do it all in two days but we wanted to try and see as much as possible. It was great fun not having a guide and to have the freedom to head to wherever the road took us... and even more fun having an extremely powerful 4x4 to tear around in without any restrictions! We came across lots of animals in our first afternoon. Many Giraffes, Rhinos, Impalas, Buffalos, and Elephants but the big cats remained elusive and hidden. I was surprised at just how many animals we spotted without difficulty and the place and situation really did have a wild feel to it. We had a close encounter with a rather angry and rather large elephant who took an extreme dislike to our vehicle. It was then a bit of a rush back to the main HQ for the night safari that began at 7pm.
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| Rhino, Hluhluwe Umfolozi, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa |
The night safari involved a large group of us being driven around in an old opensided-truck with seats on the back while some of us held high-powered search lamps pointed outwards into the bush. We were lucky enough to see a group of Hyenas (unmistakable by their bright yellow eyes in the dark) and a fully grown male Lion. We headed back to our camp buzzing from the most amazing day of animal spotting.
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| Elephant, Hluhluwe Umfolozi, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa |
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| Elephant, Hluhluwe Umfolozi, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa |
This morning we woke early and packed up everything into the car so we were ready to leave the reserve whenever we wanted. We were keen to make the most of our final morning in the Reserve so we headed North to a section that we were yet to explore. A short way down the first track we came across a couple of rangers who were out of their parked jeep and looking at something down the hill through their binoculars. We stopped and asked them what they had spotted. "Lions", they replied grinning from ear to ear. Sure enough, as we gazed over the grassy plain below us, we could clearly make out a pride of Lions sprawled out basking in the morning sun - what a sight. We watched them for a good while before moving on towards the exit gates to the North. Just when we thought nothing could top the Lions, we rounded a corner and found our way blocked by a huge herd of Elephants crossing the track ahead of us; we counted more than 30 altogether - an absolutely mind-blowing sight.
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| A Lion in the night, Hluhluwe Umfolozi, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa |
We were reluctant to leave but we knew that we had a long drive ahead of us; back to Durban and on through Pietermaritzburg to spend the night in The Drakensberg.
