This past week I was on my April holiday break. I have had about 10 days off and I have enjoyed traveling around South Africa. I was able to go to Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve and to Cape Town. I will tell the stories and show pictures of my adventure. We started off by driving about 3 hours north of Durban to Hluhluwe where we went on a walk in our own 'nature reserve' at our Bushlands hotel (more like a lodge than a hotel, since giraffe's could peek in the windows if they wanted.) We were able to see giraffe, zebra, nyala and impala on our walk. We got about 30 feet from the giraffes. It was amazing.
In the morning we went on a game drive in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi park from about 6:00-9:00 am. The park is about 96,000 hectares or about 211,000 acres (if I remember correctly.) You are only allowed to drive on the paved and unpaved roads, there is no off roading through the bush, and you must stay in your car. There is one picnic area where you can get out of your car an eat...as long as you eat fast enough not to be a meal for another animal. The park hours are from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm. You must be out of the park by 6:00 pm when they lock the gates.
We saw a ton of cool animals and went back in the afternoon for our own game drive in the tiny car. We didn't get stepped on by any elephants, but we did see a herd crossing the road in front and behind us. I was a little freaked for a minute. I will show all of the pics of the animals...I took a ton of them. I will try and pick out my favorites.
While we didn't see the 'Big Five', we did see three of them...buffalo, rhino and elephant. We did see a lonely wildebeest running by himself but didn't get close enough to take a picture-they are supposedly some of the stupidest animals. I didn't get to see any lions, leopards, cheetahs, or hyaenas--hopefully I will on a future trip!
