On Saturday 27 July we woke up at 6am and watched the sun rise over the ocean, a moment of quiet before the busy few days at the game reserve commenced. We were off at 7am and the 3 hour drive landed us in Zululand, Kwa-Zulu Natal, home of the Big 5 (Elephants, Rhino, Buffalo, Leopard and Lion) and many more breathtaking African animals. As we were driving into the game reserve, we saw two female lions on the side of the road, which Steve said was incredibly rare. The lions were very large, and it was really scary for me, but Jenna and Steve said we were fine because of the electric fence. After we stopped off to see the lions, we headed to a reserve called Bayete to do an elephant encounter. The elephant encounter was really cool, because it is more beneficial for the elephants than it is for us humans. The elephants there are a family; a dad named Rambo, a mom named Rachel, and a daughter named Jabulani. Both Rachel and Rambo were supposed to be products of culling, which is when humans kill a large number of a species for various reasons, but they were saved because of their young age. They were then taken to an animal rehabilitation centre, when they had daily contact with humans. When they were put back into the wild, they did not thrive because they had gotten used to being with humans and they missed it, so they both ended up at Bayete elephant encounter, where they get to spend time with lots of humans! The elephant encounter was incredible! We got to feed all the elephants, and we got to touch Rambo behind the ears, on his tusks, on his heart, and even his tongue. The tongue was really gross to me, but the heart and muscles were really cool because he was so strong it was like touching brick wall with skin. After the elephant encounter was over, we headed to another game reserve called Rhino River, where we were staying.
Lions on the side of the road!
Only Steve, Jenna, and I went on this trip, and for lodging we got a really cute chalet. We arrived and it was lunch time, we had chicken wraps and banoffee pie, which were delicious, and then it was time for our first game drive. Our guide Wilme was amazing, she was very excited to be out and about on the reserve, and she was incredible at finding the animals. She really wanted to find the elephants, so we drove 30 minutes across the reserve to try to see them, and we ended up so close and personal them. On the way to the elephants we saw giraffe, zebra, and lots of impala, which I thought was really cool, but Steve and Jenna told me it wasn’t that unusual. We were just driving on one of the dirt roads, and out from the trees pops a giant elephant. Then about six more came out! They were as interested in us as we were in them, so Wilme had to clap her hands and make noise to keep them from touching the car. They were really cool, and we were lucky we got there when we did, because they disappeared into the trees just as easily as they had come out. This was the case for a lot of the animals, because its winter here and the grass is dry and yellow, its hard to see lions, cheetahs, leopards, etc.
After seeing the elephants, we drove up a small hill for drinks and watching the sunset. In our car we had Wilme, Steve, Jenna, me, and a really nice family from the Netherlands. Wilme set up a little picnic for us and we watched the sunset from the game car. After sunset is when the real game watching happens, so I was really excited to continue driving. As we were driving, we saw a rhino, but it was just laying down and not doing much. We kept driving, and soon Wilme saw a small tail in the distance. It ended up being an African wild dog, which was really surprising and rare because they are endangered and are on the verge of extinction. They are quite similar to hyenas in their hunting and abilities, but hyenas target and kill them. Out of the six there, two were missing legs from fights with hyenas. The dogs are really beautiful, and they have the most incredible patterns on their backs. Steve was amazed, in his entire life of living in SA and going to game reserves, he had never seen one. We watched the wild dogs for a while, then headed back to camp for dinner. In all, the first game drive 4 of the most incredible hours of my entire life.
For dinner we had butternut soup, game meat, and Malva pudding. Dinner was really nice because we had it outside around a fire, and we got to stargaze while we ate. The pollution there was very minimal, and the view of the stars was incredible. At first, I didn’t realise that the constellations in Africa would be different than the ones in North America, so I spent a solid 10 minutes looking for the Big Dipper before I realised it didn’t exist in SA! We went to bed at 9 because we were super tired, and had to wake up at 5:30am the next morning for the sunrise game drive.
The morning drive was very exciting! Wilme started us off by driving to find cheetahs, which we found in about 15 minutes. We found a mom and her three babies on the hunt for some breakfast. The cheetahs were incredible, but again scary for me because I had never been so close to such a dangerous wild animal before. The babies were adorable, they found a tower of giraffes, and started chasing them for fun, watching this was hysterical! They also chased off a jackal, the speed that both of those animals run at is insane. The cheetahs eventually wandered away, and Wilme wanted to take up to find some lions. As we were driving, I turned to my left and saw a giant lioness wandering in the bushes, Wilme and Steve were very impressed because I was the only one that spotted it. The lions were so chill with us, even though we were 10 feet away from them, but I was so scared of them. Once they had gone away, we kept driving and we saw the cheetahs again, except this time they had just caught a baby impala for breakfast. Wilme told us that cheetah’s bodies stop the blood flow to their digestive track when they run in a hunt, so that more blood can go to their lungs and muscles, which is really helpful until they catch their food. Cheetahs have to rest for 20ish minutes after they catch their food so that blood flow can go back to their digestive systems, which leaves them susceptible to attacks and stolen food from other predators. Wilme was really scared that the lions were gonna come attack the cheetahs because they were close by, and would have heard the noises the impala made while it was being killed. We watched the cheetahs eat and rest for a little bit, then headed back to camp for breakfast. The sunrise game drive was incredible because the sunrise was so beautiful, and it made everything red/orange, which was just amazing.
We left the game reserve at around 11, but Steve wasn’t satisfied because I hadn’t really seen buffalo or rhino, so on the way back to Durban, we went to a government run game reserve (where you drive yourself around instead of being in a game vehicle), to look for them. Within 20 minutes we had seen at least 100 buffalo, and 15 rhino! The buffalo were just chilling in the middle of the road, and they would not move for our car, it was so funny. The rhino were taking naps, so they were less exciting, but it is crazy how big they are. When we left the reserve, we had to get our car checked for horns because of all the illegal poaching issues, which is really sad. I really loved the game reserve, it was truly one of the most amazing experiences of my entire life, and I hope I can go to one again. More about the Drakensberg and hiking soon!
South African Adventure 