Hluhluwe-Imfolozi safari

Our first stop in South Africa was Richards Bay. It was a great place to catch our breath and get used to this new country. Here we were lucky to finally meet up with our friends Ian and Kathy from Ariel. They had been close throughout the Indian Ocean but we missed at each anchorage by just days. We made many walking grocery trips with the “Ariels” and explored a bit of the area together. We decided that this was the time to rent a car and go see some animals. Richards Bay is close to a very popular game park, school summer vacation had not yet begun and our boats were safely tied to docks.



We rented a car - a big 4 wheel drive one so we'd be safe on unfamiliar roads and off road too.



We weren't sure what to expect and as we entered the park we stopped to look at every impala and warthog



and even the smallest flowers



It's spring here so there were lots of babies about.



Apparently no self respecting South African stops specifically to look at warthogs or impala because as we soon found out they are so abundant it's difficult not to see them almost at every turn.

A few miles into the park we were seeing zebra and other herbivores such as springbok nyala, kudu and steenbok .





When we weren't seeing animals the scenery was enough to hold our attention.



As we got deeper into the park and closer to the river the animals were so concentrated it seemed almost as if we were in a zoo. We saw a baboon just as the pavement ended



and lions across the river resting in the sun. The lion find was very lucky as we had already passed the turnoff for the overlook. Peter's expert tracking instincts took over and he made a quick turn off the road to see what was at the river.





As the afternoon heated up we came upon a wildebeest carcass with vultures



and a group of giraffes.



We saw a stopped car ahead and pulled up behind them. Our first elephant sighting was quite exciting. We were directly in it's path and it let us know with ears out and a stamp toward the car that it was coming our way.



Peter quickly pulled forward of the trail and we watched as it passed just behind the car then down the road and off the other side.





Before leaving on our trip we had heard stories of aggressive elephants sitting on cars and generally being unhappy with the tourists so we were anxious to avoid any elephant/car encounters.

There were rhinos everywhere



and with all those big animals the dung beetles had their work cut out for them.



At the hottest part of the day we stopped to check out a blind



and just before sunset we raced to the other end of the park to our hotel.



We enjoyed a nice dinner



and the view from the breakfast table was perfect the next morning.



On the way out of the park we saw lots of buffalo



and were sent off in style by Zulu dancers at the gate.





Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Marcy crew!