Phinda Game Reserve

Executive Summary

• Back in the lifestyle to which we became accustomed (hah), all-inclusive style

• A different landscape to Sabi Sands/Kruger with a different concentration of animals

• Discovered a new beer - Hansa!

• The Australian cricket team's performance made for a good conversation starter with the South African visitors and staff at the lodge (until they failed miserably)

• Baby rhino - 2nd cutest baby animal ever.

• Aggressive monkeys raid my bathroom and supply of dried mangoes.

Arriving in Phinda we encountered several zebra and warthogs between the gate and the lodge. Something that probably would have freaked us out at the start but now we're old pros at this game driving stuff. The lodge was a bit more intimate than the Singita lodge, which was conducive to guests sharing a drink and having a chat at the end of a drive. We arrived around 1pm and freshened up for the evening drive, where we met Richard the game ranger and Alston the tracker, along with a South African couple on holiday for the weekend. It was a different sort of drive than the Sabi Sands one - the terrain was more hilly and rocky (which resulted in a back-wrenching bumpy 4WD ride) and we didn't seem to sight animals as frequently. But when we did...wow.

First drive at Phinda we encountered a pride of lions gnawing on a kill of some sort - 2 lioness as well as 3 cubs. It was the first time we saw baby lions (awwwww) and they put on quite a show for us, fighting and playing around. In the background a herd of elephants were wandering through, suddenly trumpeting alarm when they sensed the lions nearby - the lions were immediately at attention. Oh - hello! Then to our right a rhino started lumbering through (it was at this point I pictured the ghost of Steve Irwin jumping out of the bush and exclaiming "Crikey! Have a look at this!"). The lions forgot about the elephants and the cubs started thinking they'd go the rhino...mum guided them off the course and back towards the food they already had. Safe to say it was quite the show.

We stopped for an evening drink and some nibbles, where Richard suggested to Dad he try a Hansa as opposed to the Windhoek or Castle that we'd been drinking previously. He was hooked and we proceeded to drink them out of their (cold) stock that night. Mom & I tried Amarula for the first time, a liquor that tastes quite a bit like Baileys but is made from a South African fruit.

The next day we watched a baby cheetah and mum as well as several rhino, elephant, zebra, buffalo and such. Oh, and impala (Look kids! Big Ben...Parliament...). On the way back from the morning drive Richard offered us the opportunity to do a short bushwalk back to the lodge rather than drive. Starved of exercise we were keen to do this, so Alston drove the vehicle away leaving us with Richard and his rifle. Richard turns to us with a serious face and says "RIGHT- a few rules. NO ONE walks in front of my rifle. You can walk to the side or behind but NOT in front. IF we encounter an animal I will tell you what to do but under no circumstances should you run. Here we go."

Oh...wait...there are lions about...

(After all that, we saw a grasshopper and a few butterflies....)

After lunch, more sunning and swimming in the plunge pool in between game drives, followed by a river cruise that evening as part of the game drive.

The South African couple were keen to see leopard, but Richard said that leopard sightings weren't very common in this game reserve. A few kms down the track the tracker spotted one in the tree - by this point it was too dark to take photos but we followed the leopard and her cub (older than the one we saw at Kruger) for 15-20 minutes before heading back to camp. It was fun to see Richard and Alston high-fiving each other with their tracking success. Clearly the game rangers stake their pride / manhood on rare animal sightings.

After that we were led to a clearing for a bush dinner amongst candlelight with all the guests, stuffing ourselves with grilled ostrich, springbok, fish, chicken, veggies, etc. We had found out that Phinda was in a malarial area, which my travel doctor didn't know so we didn't have the meds for this part of the trip - I decided to take preventative action in the form of gin and tonic just in case. Excellent foresight on my part, as it turns out, because amongst the group was an American guy, who decided to do one of those 'this game drive stuff is nice but it's no Amazon...' that makes sensible travelling Americans all over the world cringe. When he started waxing poetic about being a lifelong Republican that voted for Obama...another g&t please...strong.

The next morning at breakfast the monkeys were particularly cunning in their attack. All this week between Sabi Sands and Phinda we were on high monkey alert - they would hang out in the tree waiting for the perfect moment to go in for the fruit or a sweet bun left out for breakfast or morning tea. At Sabi Sands the porters and butlers would have sling shots ready, and just the threat of holding one was enough to make the monkeys scatter. At Phinda they were far more aggressive, however, and not at all afraid of the female staff. The monkeys this morning were implementing a coordinated attack effort, in which one would cause a distraction and, as we were trying to scare him off, the other would come from the opposite direction and grab the booty. It was working quite well for them and it was amusing for us. I tried to scare them off by stomping and shouting but - nope, they're definitely not afraid of chicks since this one bared his teeth and did this chattering hissing thing that made me glad I decided to get those rabies vaccines back in Oz.

After breakfast I headed back into my room, unlocking the door as I entered. I heard a bit of clatter from the bathroom, thinking, that's odd since I thought housekeeping was finished...oh, no, there's a monkey in my bathroom, throwing my toiletries around. I calmly left and notified the staff that I had an unexpected visitor, and 2 porters and Richard the game driver later it was coaxed out of my room (poor thing was banging his head against the glass in my bathroom trying to get out). Quite funny really, and the monkey poo had managed to miss anything important too (lucky).

That evening game drive we were joined by an Aussie couple from Perth. It was to be our last game drive and we had yet to see

• black rhino

• something kill something else *

*Ok I found out that I actually DIDN'T want to see this when we encountered some lions on the prowl and there was a giraffe in the background. Thankfully I was spared this event as the lions weren't interested in giraffe that day.

We attempted to track the black rhino that morning, over some seriously back-wrenching terrain - which prompted Dad to suggest that, you know, the black rhino really does look just like the white rhino. But in the course of doing this we came upon several monkeys in a tree, who all of a sudden started chattering an alarm - Alston and Richard knew exactly what this meant and quickly drove across the road. Turns out we've come across another leopard, which excited the crew and Richard/Alston alike (bragging rights amongst game rangers is clearly serious business). He was a difficult one to follow as we were mowing over 3' bushes and some small trees, even, to keep on his trail.

We saw some more lions - heard the first proper roar and...yeah, that's not something I'd like to hear outside the confines of the open-air 4WD and without experienced marksmen and a rifle at the ready.

Then we happened upon baby rhino and mum, lumbering through the grass. The baby rhino is absolutely hilarious, it was only 3 weeks old and looked a bit like a piglet, with his flopping ears and blunt nose, trotting along next to mum. Can't quite top the baby leopard in cuteness stakes but is pretty close.

Turning the corner we saw the elusive black rhino - and baby as well - munching on some grass. We were so close we could hear the crunching of the rhino's teeth against the brush. (Insert smart ass comment from Mom & me about how it sounds like Dad eating cereal in the morning, followed by smart ass reply from Dad that perhaps we'd like to get out of the car and tell the rhino to be quiet as we do him).

To be fair, the black rhino DOES look a lot like the white rhino...

Lastly we saw the baby cheetah and mum from the previous drive were dining over a kill in the grasslands, not far from the rhino. Between the lion's roar, the baby white rhino, black rhino and cheetah and cub, it was truly one of the best game drives in the end. We decided to forgo the morning game drive the next day so as to not spoil such a perfect finish.

When we awoke there were 3 or 4 antelope of some sort having breakfast around our rooms. I got so close to them you could actually see a row of ticks hanging off their ears (ew). At breakfast we were again on high monkey alert and constantly getting up off our seats to scare them away. I headed back to my room to finish packing up, making sure to shut the door behind me...but I didn't lock it.

Sure enough I turned around at one point and there was a monkey raiding my minibar, which had bowls of cornnuts and dried mangoes. I shouted at it and stamped my feet as the monkey looked at me, cheeks and fists full of mangoes. He made for the door (I'm still shouting and stamping in an attempt to look threatening), dropping a few mangoes along the way, then paused...clearly thinking "I reckon I could go back for the dropped ones". He looked at me, looked at the door, looked at the mangoes - and went back for the mangoes before making a break for it. The door was bolted from then on.

I was incredibly sad to leave Phinda knowing that was my last game reserve experience for a while. I really wasn't anticipating having the reaction I had - it wasn't something I was particularly looking forward to in my travels, though obviously it is something you do when you're in South Africa so I was going to do it. But both Sabi Sands and Phinda were the most special, memorable experiences and something I will remember for the rest of my life. I almost feel like I've peaked too early in my travels - as the rest of the year will have to be pretty bloody good to top that week in Africa.