Next stop… Hluhluwe

Our journey continues….

Day 9
Leaving the beautiful country of Swaziland today. More awesome scenery along the way! On our drive out Solly chose a village to stop at for us to visit and leave the food and supplies we had picked up along the way. The village had 17 people living there including many children and they were very appreciative of the food,happy to share their story with us and welcomed us to to see their homes. The children especially
were excited to have visitors. Definitely another one of those times where you appreciate what you have back home.

Today we also got more passport stamps! One to leave Swaziland and another to re-enter South Africa. Next stop …the Hluhluwe/Imfolozi game reserve for another game drive or safari. This one was particular to the rhinos and we sure did see our share of them. We saw both the black and white variety. (White rhino is larger and has a squared lip, the black rhino is smaller with a hooked upper lip) On the drive we also saw many many buffalo, some nyalas (a type of antelope), lion, crocodile, fish eagle, zebra, guinea fowl, giraffes, white backed vultures, impala (they’re a given everywhere we go 🙂 ) and baboons. I’m probably forgetting a few but it was once again an AMAZING adventure!

Spent the night in Hluhluwe (pronounced as shush Louie) with another group dinner. Spending 2 nights here so it’s a little more relaxing evening. No need to worry about re-packing.

Day 10

Today we set off for St Lucia Wetland Park

A rainy day for a cruise in the St Lucia wetlands. We left the hotel around 9 am so we actually got to sleep in a little bit today. It was about an hours drive. We boarded the riverboat for our 2 hour cruise along the salt water river looking for hippos, crocodiles, and a variety of birds and simply enjoying the view. While onboard a few of us also enjoyed some hot coffee with our new favorite African liquoer Amarula added to it. 🙂 It was a little misty when we got started but again this might have been good for our chances of finding the animals. We had no trouble finding the hippos. We saw 3 or 4 pods of them along the way. Pretty big and interesting animals. There was a hippo tooth on the boat and you’d be amazed at how heavy and big it was and it wasn’t even one of the larger front teeth.

Not so lucky with seeing other wildlife. Caught a couple glimpses of crocodile and a few birds here and there. The rain picked up quite a bit at one point but by the time we docked it seemed to have stopped for a bit.

After the cruise we had some time to stroll around the small town to grab some lunch and of course shop a bit. We had lunch at the Ocean Basket restaurant and I chose to have their “world famous feesh and chips”! Very good choice!

We arrived back at the hotel for a short rest and then off for another excursion. We took a drive in the safari jeeps to the Endemeni Lodge for a wild cat adventure. This is a rehabilitation place for wild cats including cheetah, cervals, African wild cats and cerecals. They were all in caged environments but we did have the opportunity to go in to a couple of the areas. Zebra meat was on the menu tonight for the cats. We did get up close and personal with a cheetah named Moya but believe me I wasn’t as relaxed as I was with the lions. We had a couple of people in the group that really pushed the patience of Moya and I think she was getting a little annoyed with her visitors.

Another windy ride back to the hotel where we enjoyed a group barbecue dinner (Just another tasty buffet meal of salads, beef, BBQ pork, stew, vegetables, some delicious custard desserts, and of course lots of fruit). After dinner we were entertained by a group of young people sharing their Zulu culture and tribal dances. It was quite entertaining.