Hakuna Matata!

What a weekend! I’ve seen SO many things in Hluhluwe Imfolozi Game Reserve that I have to write a special blog about it. Every picture I’ve made has a story.

I was told that I would be picked up at Tekweni on Friday between 12 and 13 (13:30 was pretty close) by Camron who would be our guide for the weekend. Together with three other Dutch girls I listened to Camron’s South African stories during the three hour drive. You see lots of lifting people at the side of the road and they make several signs to clarify where they want to go. One man was making wave moves with his arm and I asked Camron in what kind of car the guy would like to travel (he wanted to lift to the beach) and he shook his head: ‘Oh you blondie’. I also noticed the amount of waste here in South Africa. Sometimes you see these fields full of waste and trash. The other day when I was waiting for a taxi, a car pulled over opened his door and threw all his trash out. Camron explained that South African people have the weird habit to just drop everything on the ground. Even when they’re next to a bin, they will just drop it right next to it. 

Bush babies!

We arrived at a backpackers at 16:00. It was extremely out of the way, literally in the jungle. Camron prepared the most delicious spaghetti for us with marshmallow for desert. Somewhere around 19:00 the Bush babies appeared. In my opinion, it’s kind of a mix between a koala bear and a guinea-pig. Very funny creatures. Furthermore, there were lots of geckos in the bathrooms and I also had my first African spider experience. Unbelievable how huge, disgusting and scary these things are!

On Saturday we had to leave at 05:30 as the park opens at 06:00 and at this time you still have the chance to see some of the nocturnal animals. Luckily it was a bit cloudy and not that hot so the animals might not necessarily hide in the shades. The first animal we saw was a Warthog. There was also a baby, but even this one wasn’t really cute or good-looking. Further down the road a scent entered the car. The scent of a dead animal. A hyena came to have a look at the ‘crime scene’ but he was too late. Hyenas seem to eat the remaining parts of animals including bones. 

After this our real big 5 (rhino, elephant, buffalo, leopard, lion) expedition begun and we saw a group/pack/crowd whatever of buffalo’s real soon. These were unfortunately still pretty far away just as the elephants we saw on top of the hill. This is why we were pretty shocked when we were just watching these animals with our binoculars and suddenly an elephant appeared right behind us. I’ve seen elephants before in the zoo, but maybe it is an idea to place an information board which says that the wild elephants are like 4 times that size. Wauw! Camron told us that we were very lucky with the amount of elephants we’ve seen at such a close distance. I think we saw elephants crossing our road for five times. They came running towards us for three times and all three times I got really scared. Camron tried to reassure us by explaining that elephants are not aggressive animals, but they just want to make clear that you have to get out of their way. Ehmm yeah.. 

When we saw our first nyalas we were really impressed. Nyalas are quite similar to impala’s but nyalas have white stripes. I think we saw over 200 nyalas and impalas during the weekend. We had breakfast at 09:00. According to Camron, a woman’s love goes through the stomach and if that’s true his wife must be madly in love cause this man can cook! Delicious! There was also a river viewing point at this place where we could see a crocodile in the distance. A huge one! When I went to the ladies here a gecko fell out when I pulled the toilet paper. Not funny! I still get the shivers when I think of that moment. Nasty!!

I think we saw zebras after this experience. They were pretty close to the road and are not really scared. All animals come pretty close to the road actually, but this is because they don’t associate cars with people. This is why you’re not allowed to get out of your car, but you can open your windows to take some pictures. This is all a bit funny, because at the viewing points you are allowed to get out of the car while the animals can also get there. We also saw a baby zebra. The legs of these babies or of the same length as their mother’s so they can camouflage themselves in dangerous situations. Funny right? In the afternoon we had our first giraffe sight. Very impressive again while they’re so enormous! We saw something special here, because two male giraffes were fighting with each other (again at a very close distance). They were leaning against each other with their full body weight, after which they would swing their necks to hit the other with their ‘horns’ very hard. It was sad to see and sometimes I caught myself moaning as if I was feeling the pain myself. Haha ridiculous.

Around 14:00 we arrived at the camp where we would spend the night. We had the chance to catch a few minutes of sleep before a late afternoon drive to see if some of the predators already have woken up. Secretly I was hoping all day to see lions so I was very excited to go. I think around 16:30 the moment was there. Next to the car a lion was haunting an impala. Oh gosh we were so lucky! She was sneaking and chasing the animal but was eventually to lazy to catch it. Also a bit of a relieve though.. On the other side of the road we saw another four female lions and three babies. After a second attempt for a warthog the lions gave up. It started to get dark already so we were driving back to the camp where the adventure continued. We were having this lovely barbeque in front of our houses and a pack/group/crowd of impalas was chilling right next to us. Camron told us that hyenas may appear because of the smell of meat, but we didn’t have to be scared because they’re scared of people. (This didn’t really help after he told us a story that afternoon about a child that took some food with him in his tent. A hyena took the food together with some pieces of the kid’s face. The nine-year old was in the hospital for six months). We would be able to see the hyena coming because of the impala’s behaviour and so we did. Camron thought it would be funny to throw some bones veeeeery close to me and the hyena came towards me. I think I have never been so scared in my entire life. Such a huge scary ugly animal so freaking close! Luckily he left right after he found the bones. What an amazing and exciting day! 

The next morning we left again at 05:30 to see some more lions and, our last one of the big 5, a leopard. We saw a group of five female lions really quick on the side of the road. Unbelievable! Because we were so early we were the only car there and we just sat there to watch the lions for half an hour. Unfortunately we didn’t see a leopard. In total we saw lions five times which is incredible and which doesn’t happen quite often. I was still hoping to see a male lion (I just loooove the lion king) and so my dream came true!  Around 06:00/07:00 in the morning we were driving across this open spot and there he was. Musafa in real life! This is without a doubt the most beautiful animal I’ve ever seen in my life. I can’t describe how it is to see an animal like that in his own environment. 

On our way back we saw lots of zebras, giraffes, impalas and buffalos. Oh!! I can’t believe I forgot about the rhinos!! We saw these ones too very close and these animals are enormous! I saw a rhino baby as well, very cute. Rhinos produce by far the most disgusting and stinking stool of all animals! I also saw three types of monkeys, the cute white ones, baboons and the ones with the blue balls. I love monkeys! Unfortunately, there are no gorilla’s and chimpanzees here. I also saw spiders which still give me the shivers when I think about them. Huuuuge!

Camron told us that we could tell our friends and family that we saw the big 5 anyway. This because when we drove back we saw a cheetah. A cheetah is quite similar to a leopard, but a cheetah has no claws like cats so they can’t climb in trees. He is also a bit lighter and smaller than other predators that’s why he haunts during daytime. 

What a weekend! Definitely one of the best experiences in my life! I’m still impressed about everything that I saw and fascinated about Camron’s stories. If you ever have the opportunity to come to Africa you really need to go on a safari, because even if you won’t see the big 5 it’s so wonderful. Just the sunrise alone is already worth it..

Thank you again for reading!

Hakuna Matata!