From St. Lucia we headed North for about 1.5 hours to a small town called Hluhluwe, famous for the Imfolozi-Hluhluwe game reserve. We stayed at Hluhluwe backpackers for two nights, another great place with friendly people! The next day we spent in the park observing wildlife! This park is famous as it is the oldest game reserve in South Africa and played an important role in restoring the white and black rhinoceros populations in 1958. It’s horrible but poaching is still a large problem. Poachers kill the rhinos solely for their horns, in the last year over 30 rhinos have been poached. The horn is incorporated into a decorative traditional dagger worn on the belt of prestigious Yemen people. Interestingly enough, the increase in oil consumption is partially to blame for the increase in poaching of Rhinos. As oil production increased in the 1970's so did the wallet sizes of many people in Yemen and increasing with that was their desire to have an authentic rhino horn hilt for their traditional daggers. Hluhluwe was a beautiful park and we saw tons of wildlife; 6 Giraffe, 5 Rhinos, 4 Nyalas, 5 elephants, lots of warthogs, impala, and wildebeests. After two nights in the backpackers we were ready for some more camping so we drove further northwest to Ithala Game Reserve where we had booked three nights of camping. We didn’t realize that the campground was 17km away from the main lodge and only had basic facilities. Arriving at our campground we were surprised to see we were the only ones there, we were even more surprised to see there were no fences or security of any kind from animals. We set up camp next to a fire pit and braai stand. Camping was fun, somewhat spooky at night when we could see eyes in the bush, good thing it was only a small herd of little impala (we drove over with the car to investigate). The stars at our campsite were unbelievably bright too and the water running in the river was very soothing. The next three days we spent driving around spotting wildlife. Ithala is another beautiful set park that ranges from 400m to 1450 m above sea level. We also enjoyed the two self-guided hikes the park offers. Our most memorable wildlife spotting was being in the middle of a HUGE elephant herd. We had been driving through elephant terrain, as everything in their area was destroyed, but were surprised we weren’t seeing them. We were on our way out of the area when we spotted the herd lower in a valley. We watched them for a bit eating from tree tops then they all started to congregate. It was amazing to see how they got into their walking formation, putting the young ones in the middle of the line then walking together as a group. We drove down the road and ended up being right beside them as they came up onto the road from the bush! We then saw a parks truck up the road stop and could see another herd in the bush with a huge male displaying signs of musth, an aggressive territorial state that they warn you about in the parks info pamphlets. We had no choice but to sit and wait for the elephants to move off the road. Once the parks truck came to our car we followed him out. Luckily Courtney was able to capture this video of the not so happy males trumpeting for us to get out of there. After almost an hour being stuck in one herd of elephants we were happy to be back driving towards our campsite at dusk. The rules for the park are simple - no driving or walking before or after sunrise or sunset and we now know why! We got stuck in another herd of elephants up the road, except this herd had a male trying to mate with a female. After several failed mating attempts two males begun to fight by intertwining their tusks, pushing each other through the bush, and making all sorts of noise! We watched for as long as we could and captured it all on video. We realized we would be driving at dark so we had to keep going. Other close encounters were countless giraffe right on the road staring at us as we stared back and we even got to see one drinking from a stream and then jet off down the road, a huge roan running out onto the road right beside the car, a white rhino and her calf a few meters from the road side, herds of wildebeests, zebra, warthogs, impala, and kudu. Tons of amazing birds. Two types stuck out; one was black but then when the sun hit it's feathers it turned metallic blue with orange eyes, another was stripped like a zebra. We also enjoyed how the birds would fly down and rest on the animals bodies as they grazed. One giraffe had 7 birds on his body as he walked along the road! In the three days we saw approximately 24 zebra, 12 giraffe, uncountable impala, kudu, wildebeests, 9 rhino and one calf, 3 roan etc etc etc! As we are in South Africa's winter it gets dark pretty early here, around 6:00pm. So instead of making a large dinner we prepared delicious braai lunches in very scenic picnic spots! After a long day of wildlife spotting we would return to camp, make a small fire, view the stars, then head to bed where we could listen to the bush and river. On our last day we were lucky to spot three species we hadn’t seen. A black backed jackal, 2 waterbucks and 8 tsessebes. We then headed Northeast to Swaziland!
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We took a private shuttle from Warner Beach to Durban’s city Center to pick up our rental car. Once we arrived and sorted through the rental agreement we jumped in a shiny new VW Vivo, a small hatchback (a bit bigger than the Daewoo). We were a bit nervous to be driving in another country but so excited for our adventure. Lucky for me Andrew nominated himself to drive the car out of the city. I was really impressed with Andrew as it took him only a couple of minutes to get orientated to driving manual on the wrong side of the road and soon enough we were zipping down the N2 headed for iSimangaliso Wetland Park in St. Lucia. It was really fun having our own wheels for the first time in 6 months. We saw a few things that were a bit different than what you would see drivng in Canada. Unfortunately lots of people (all ages and speeds) cross the highway (4 lanes or more) by foot; it’s super dangerous. We then saw a backie (truck in South African) literally stuffed with people standing in the back driving at high speeds on the highway; also super dangerous but props for good economic use of space and what a great way to reduce emissions! We saw a man on an old bicycle carrying a log of about 12 feet in length on the highway. We also thought it was funny that wherever there was road construction women were walking up and down the road carrying fruit for sale on their heads. The drive was very scenic the whole 250 kms, both sides of the road were covered with sprawling fields of sugar cane that was being farmed. They say that South Africa has the best sugar in the World! Once we arrived in St.Lucia we set up our tent, and walked around the area towards the beach. We were happy to be in a place that was safe and filled with families on school vacation. Directly outside the camping park was a boardwalk running alongside an estuary and out to the ocean where a beautiful pristine beach is set. Along the boardwalk and out on the beach were these signs… And behind the signs were these guys... We were super excited to be able to watch crocodiles and hippos right from our camping sites doorstep. Every night before dark we would walk to the boardwalk and watch the hippos splash around, popping their little eyes out of water to see who was watching them. There were always so many, some up on the land eating others swimming around looking for food. Once we were standing chatting with a family and one popped right out of the water next to the dock and scared everyone as he made a huge blow noise that reminded us of a large burp. We assumed he was trying to get our attention; it worked! The second day we took a stroll on the beach, drove to the Croc Center and the walked along a free self-guided hiking trail. Along the trail we saw one buffalo grazing in the fields and some red duikers. The Croc center was very informative and interesting; there were crocs of every size and age lazing around in their little enclosures. The Croc Center also had its share of hilarious signs! We chatted with a young South African couple in the next camp site over who gave us some advice about South Africa and places not to miss on our trip! So far we’ve found that word of mouth is the best way to get around in this country. The guide books don’t really do it justice! One of the couple’s suggestions was for us to visit Cape Vidal, another area in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park 35 km North of St. Lucia. So the next day we headed north through iSimangaliso and had a fabulous day observing game and swimming in the Indian Ocean (Editors note: It’s winter here)! Along the drive were side dirt road loops with viewing points, picnic spots and game hides. The game hides are small buildings designed to allow spectators to covertly view animals in their natural habitats without spooking them. We saw so much wildlife along the way it was fantastic! Once we got to Cape Vidal we changed into our swimming costumes (what South Africans call bathing suits) and lazed around on the pristine sandy beach that stretched further than the eye could see up and down the coast. Late we spent some time walking up and down the coast watching families play and anglers fish. We then climbed up to a dune where we had a private lookout of the ocean with a tropical wetland forest behind us. The parks gate near St. Lucia closed at 6:00pm so we had to hop back into the car and head back to our camp. Along the way we saw lots more wildlife and got to take in some more beautiful South African scenery at sunset. Our third day in St.Lucia we got up early to go hiking but then sat for an hour in the car waiting for the rain to pass. Once the rain passed we drove back to the self-guided hiking trails where we hiked around the area for over 3 hours. At one point on the path there is a set of stairs over an electric fence where the path goes towards the St. Lucia Estuary. There is a lovely sign cautioning people about the area as there is a potential to encounter buffalo, hippos, crocs, elephant, and big cats. Unfortunately (or fortunately perhaps) we didn’t see any big game in this section but later saw tons of harmless animals. In one area we saw countless zebra, wildebeests, bushpigs, warthogs, kudu, wild horses, eagles, vultures, red duikers and impalas amongst other things we couldn’t name. But the most exciting wildlife we saw was this HUGE dung beetle who we filmed rolling a piece of dung the size of a baseball. We have learned to avoid stepping on or driving over dung as dung beetles lay their eggs within the mounds. They also contribute to a greener earth by eating the dung and thus reducing the amount of greenhouse gases that our furry friends produce. Later in the day we headed back to the beach attached to our camping site and walked along it for several hours. We had lots of fun trying not to get wet from the huge waves splashing up the shoreline. The Indian Ocean is surprisingly warm especially for their winter. We spent the evening observing the hippos right near our camp site where we met an amazingly friendly Indian family who gave us their contacts and invited us for a visit the next time we are in Durban. Once it got dark we had to sit in the car to watch the hippos. We were told to never walk at night due to the risk of encountering a hippo.
The next day when we were driving to our next destination (Hluhluwe) we heard on the radio that a parks ranger, in St. Lucia, was in his garden in the evening seeing what his dog was barking at and got attacked by a hippo who felt threatened. The man survived but had to get his leg amputated. The parks people are now observing the hippo to see if they need to relocate him. CRAZY! We really enjoyed St.Lucia, it is a great, small, peaceful town with beautiful beaches, hiking trails, and wildlife. We also really liked sleeping in our tent listening to the lapping waves of the ocean, the crying bush babies and the monkeys throwing stuff onto the roof of our tent! After 22 long distance bus rides we were thrilled to be taking a long distance flight from Buenos Aires to Johannesburg. We flew with South African Airways and were very impressed with their food and service. Once we arrived in Joburg the co-pilot announced it was the captain’s last flight with SAA as he was retiring. In honor of his retirement the fire department sprayed water over the plane to congratulate the captain when we taxied off the runway. After meeting our airport shuttle driver, Jhama, and some other backpackers we headed towards our hostel. We thought it was interesting driving through the different townships. Some townships were your average middle class subdivision, while others ranged from shanty-filled slums to very rich areas filled with mansions. The area we stayed in was very affluent with huge houses enclosed by huge electric fences and security guards. We were happy to learn that the area was walkable (day and night) which is very rare in South Africa. We spent two days buying camping supplies for our next trip chapter where we will be camping throughout South Africa in camp grounds, backpackers lodges and National Parks. The third day in Joburg we went on a day trip with our hostel to the Apartheid Museum and Soweto (short for South Western Township and the first area where black people were forced to move to out of the city during Apartheid). The museum was very eye opening and informative. We knew a little bit of Apartheid history but had no idea of about the extent of what the separation did to the people. After the museum we got to drive through a wealthy area of Soweto where property value is really quiet high. From there we were dropped off and met a young man who gave us a walking tour through the slum area of Soweto. It was so interesting to see the contrast of the different areas. Sometimes it was only one street that divided the very rich from the very poor. We had some little kids following our group through the tour of the slums so we stopped and played with them for a bit. They loved taking photos with our cameras and they also loved posing for photos! It was very interesting as everyone told us that Soweto is very safe even though it is very poor. The people who live in the Soweto slums value safety for themselves and their children and so crime in the area is frowned upon and closely monitored by the community. The people in this area respect tourists and therefore little crime towards tourists takes place. After Soweto we headed over to the township Orlando where Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu (two Nobel Peace Prize winners) both once lived and where some of the anti-apartheid uprisings began at the black secondary schools in the area. We visited another museum dedicated to Hector Pieterson, a young black boy who was the first to die in the anti-apartheid uprisings of June 16, 1976. He was one of 700 students to be killed after police forces used violence to curb their peaceful protest. From Johannesburg we took a backpacker bus called the Bazbus to Durban. Durban, the second largest city in South Africa and has a large Indian population so lots of the food is Indian influenced. We really enjoyed eating a Durban specialty known as Bunny Chows, which is a loaf of bread hollowed and filled with curry. Many years ago when Black people weren’t allowed to eat in restaurants one restaurant owner would serve curry and rice to black people on the street. The owner quickly saw that it was too difficult for his Black customers to eat the curry in a traditional roti without spilling it on the ground so he invented the Bunny Chow! After two nights in Durban we made our way to Warner Beach on the warm Indian Ocean. We stayed in a great backpackers lodge (Blue Sky Mining Backpackers http://www.blueskymining.co.za/ ) in Warner Beach for almost a week. In south Africa people refer to hostels as backpackers, because the term hostel was the name they used for the mass housing complexes where gold miners lived in the late 1800's and early 1900's. This backpackers (hostel) is more like a small self-catering resort with friendly staff, delicious foods and very clean facilities. Courtney enjoyed getting an informal Indian curry cooking lesson from the head cook. Most days we spent walking up and down the beach watching kite surfers and anglers. It was a great place to get use to sleeping in our tent, relax, cook delicious meals, and plan the next month or so of our trip. Our plan for the next month or so is to rent a car from Durban, drive North to St. Lucia Wetlands (Kayak Safari with Crocodiles and Hippo’s), then drive to Hluhluwe Game Reserve, continue North West inland to Ithala Game Reserve, drive North East through Swaziland and end in Kruger National Park where we will spend 14 days camping in 6 different camps observing game!!! We are so excited to see the beautiful country side and can’t wait for the sunrise bush walk and sunrise bush drive we have booked in Kruger. After our time in Kruger we will drive South to the Drakensburg Mountains and spend some time hiking. We will then return to Warner Beach and continue the trip on the Baz Bus (with our hop on hop off ticket) heading down the Wild coast towards Cape Town. We are not sure how accessible WIFI will be but will try and keep in touch!
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