Day 7

An early start today, thought this travelling business was supposed to be relaxing! Quite a chilly morning so we were wrapped up in blankets on the Game Viewer 4x4 while we made our way to Hluhluwe Imfolozi National Park - home to the Big 5! After watching the sun rise at the park the day warmed up while we enjoyed searching for animals in the bush!

As we were making our way to the south of the park we spotted some giraffes, zebras, wieldebeest, antelopes, rhinos, warthogs to name a few, with the ranger desperately trying to spot some lions, which we came across sitting in the dried up river with their cub. Before the safari started, we were told that it's rare to see elephants at this park as they tend to stay north at an adjacent park. But as the day went on we were in for a treat when a large herd of elephants were walking alongside the 4x4 before crossing the road about 10m in front of us! So nice to see the elephants in the wild and seeing an elephant less than a month old just melted our hearts before the poor thing was hysterically kicked across the road by its mother for taking too long to cross. Unbelievable timing and amazing to see just how quickly such a large herd of these massive animals just disappear out of site into the bush.

Great morning so far, but all feeling hungry we made our way to one of the rangers favourite viewing spots at the park looking over the thousands of acres of the park and the river bed which is unfortunately dried up to a mere stream due to the harsh drought the area has been facing over the last decade! It's so bad around here that the reservoirs in St Lucia have dried up and people are having to buy in water to fill large tanks (about 5000 litres) in the gardens. Even so, the views are still rewarding with the stream hosting an array of animals who have come to quench their thirst as the day continues to warm up.

After driving around to spot some more game, we had worked up an appitite which was treated well with a traditioanal South Arican Braii (unfortunately without the beer) - Boerewors, steak, pasta, salad and fresh rolls, making sure that the monkeys didn't come and steal it from the tables.

After lunch we went back out to view some more game, which to be fair was becoming a bit tiring now although we were lucky to see another two herds of elephants as we were driving towards the exit of the park.

Back to the lodge to get ready before heading out for dinner at a local restaurant - didn't catch the name. Full rack of ribs for Curt, salad for Emily, standard beers and wine to wash it down (Totalling R282 = £16.50). Nice stroll back to the lodge, but slightly dissapointed to not see any Hippo again walking the streets which are notorious in this area. Headed to our honesty bar again for one more before bed - joined by two frogs singing to each other rather loudly, unbeknown to us that these are actually a massive pest forcing the manager out of the lodge to hunt for them with Curtis using their torches. After finding the little critters we decided to call it a night where we enjoyed a peaceful night listening the the stream just outside our room....NO FROGS!.

C & E