He drove us toward the Hluhluwe Imfolozi Reserve north gate. Within the hour, we jumped up on a Land Cruiser safari vehicle that had three passengers aboard. They were Romanian tourists who live in Brussels. One lady spoke English and translated into Romanian for the others. She was the type of lady who liked to talk. And she was the kind of stranger who willingly discloses her life story in less than five minutes after meeting someone new.
This drive would last for five hours and allow us to see a fair portion of the northern section of the park.
The oldest nature reserve in Africa was amazingly beautiful. It was lush and green due to the season. Speaking of which we witnessed a great variety of weather this morning. It was clear, cloudy, and misty. There were trails up steep hills with 360-degree views. We crossed overflowing rivers and a variety of landscapes.
It got pretty cold for our shorts and short-sleeved shirts. The guide took out blankets which we were happy to use at the higher elevations.
We'd still not had our breakfast. It was 8:30 and we stopped on the top of a viewpoint. Our lodge of last night had packed a large box breakfast. It had hard boiled eggs, yoghurt and granola, a nectarine, fruit juice, a cheese-and-bacon sandwich, a 'queen's cake', plus another water bottle. The guide also poured cups of piping hot coffee or cappuccino from thermoses.
Of course, mist and rain blew in before we were quite complete! Our fellow breakfast buddies were seasoned tourists. We don't have any close friends who travel a lot but we come across the real thing often when away. So, these folks were not deterred by the weather. After all, we came here to see the real Africa and luckily for the animals that means a wet and dry season! It was splendid to experience the variety of conditions we saw today.
Our park ranger / guide was a local Zulu resident. In fact, he grew up near the park and developed a keen interest in the wildlife of his land. He was able to prosper from his knowledge and now helps run a few different vehicles and oversees his own employees.
He not only used his eyes when looking for the animals. He often heard them in the distance and used his sense of smell. He knew how recently animals such as rhinos had been in the area by the poop they left behind. He was able to find a park lioness because knew her habits.
The hours passed quickly. Soon we headed to a restaurant area in the park. We disembarked our jeep and met up with Shelldon again. It was after twelve but we weren't very hungry yet. So, rather than get lunch there, we waited to eat near the south entrance to Hluhluwe Imfolozi.
We drove towards the south gate and about an hour later neared the second place we could eat inside the park. It was more of a canteen than a restaurant. Jay had a big chicken wrap but I ordered a meat-pie made from impala. They are called roibok locally which means red buck in Afrikans. Yes, it was a delicious, unpungent type of venison. Jay and I ended up sharing what we ordered.
We left the park at 1:30 pm. Then, we had the return trip south to Durban. It was three and a half hours along the major divided highways. We got back to the Airbnb at exactly 5:00 pm. What an interesting two days we've had!