Blogs from Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Africa


envoyforHermes icon
envoyforHermes
March 11th 2012

The racial tension in South Africa is palpable. I guess it is understandable given that Apartheid ended only 18 years ago, however I wasn’t prepared for the blatant racism I experienced. Expecting them to get over their racism and come together as a united community in the short time after such a horrific past seems not only unlikely but also unfair – they are, after all, only human. And yet, I found myself feeling frustrated and angry at the way people spoke to each other and the way they responded to me based on the color of my skin. Other whites seemed to assume I was also racist and spoke to me thus, most blacks and coloreds seemed to assume I was racist because I was white and for the most part shied away from conversations ... read more




F B in SA icon
F B in SA
January 11th 2012

Was eine Nacht! Ich habe zu gut wie kein Auge zugemacht... die ganze Nacht sind Mäuse durch unsere Hütte geflitzt und dann lag auch noch eine tot im Bad. Um halb 5 morgens konnten wir dannn beide nicht mehr schlafen und haben uns fertig gemacht für einen neuen Safaritag... Damit aber noch nicht genug - als ich duschen wollte hing eine weitere Maus an meiner Waschtasche. Nachdem ich schreiend aus dem Bad kam erbarmte sich schließlich Bettina und warf das Ding aus dem Fenster. Was ein Tag! 12 Stunden fuhren wir durch den Park und haben unglaublich viel erlebt. Los ging es mit einer Büffelgruppe, die uns die Strasse versperrte, was wir zum Anlass nahmen erstmal gemütlich zu frühstücken. Weiter ging es mit Giraffen direkt vor unserer Nase und einer Paviangruppe. Die ersten Schweißperlen bekam Bettina ... read more




F B in SA icon
F B in SA
January 10th 2012

Eigentlich wollten wir heute nochmal chillen und erst mal ein wenig am Strand liegen, bevor es dann in den Hluhluwe-Park gehen sollte. Doch Ken, unser Gastgeber in St. Lucia war heute morgen nicht so mundfaul und empfahl uns, gleich loszufahren und den iMfolozi Park zu erkunden. Also schnell noch den frisch gepressten O-Saft und das Spiegelei rein und dann ging es los. Erst mal ein Fernglas und Futter für die Kühlbox und dann weiter. 12.30 Uhr waren wir dann am Eingang. Anmeldung, damit keiner verloren geht. Kaum waren wir im Park, hat es geschüttet wie verrückt. Ich wäre am liebsten umgekehrt... Aber wir wurden für unseren Mut und die Fahrt durch die Sturzbäche belohnt: nach den ersten Zebras war kein Halten mehr: es folgten Rhinozeros (faul in einer Wasserlache liegend, wo wir ihn 4 Stunden später ... read more




travelbuddies icon
travelbuddies
June 3rd 2011

Hey everyone, This was our fist game park and we took tons of pictures... and were very excited!!! It was awesome! :) let us know what you think! Love, Randi and Quinn... read more




SusanC icon
SusanC
August 21st 2010

Long dayFriday, August 20. We fly to Durbin this morning then take a short tour of the city before driving to Hluhluwe in Zululand. Before arriving at our hotel, we stop at a Zulu collective market to buy native goods. The market is run largely by women who make and sell their products, drums, jewelry, wooden bowls. We don't get into the hotel till 6 pm, twelve hours after we left the Cape Town hotel. Very long day. Unfortunately the beautiful brightly colored, beaded bracelet I bought, started ripping apart before I even got to the hotel. Oh, well. I think of it as a tiny bit of support for their economy. Tomorrow our day starts at 5 am again, but this time we're going out for our first game drive. We're really excited. The adventure ... read more






Carly and Jez icon
Carly and Jez
June 4th 2010

Monday (14/6/2010) 6.30am…. time to get up, pack up our tent and catch a taxi back to Nomads for our Baz bus pickup on route to St. Lucia. Exhausted we crashed on the bus for a couple hours arriving at St. Lucia for lunch. We had lunch and set to hiring a car for self drive through Umfolozi national park the next morning. Tuesday Up at 4.30am we grabbed our breaky and lunch supplies, and the Sat nav and set off for the Umfolozi. There was just one problem we couldn’t find reverse! Our ancient Citi golf just wouldn’t go into reverse after ten or more minutes sitting in the dark we agreed we could take the car forward over the nature strip and work reverse out later. Under the guidance of the Sat Nav we ... read more




Kayse icon
Kayse
November 22nd 2009

I am back from my great South African Game Reserve adventure, and adventure it was! Carolyn and I left for the game reserve mid day last Sunday and drove three hours up north in the pouring rain. We reached the reserve in the late afternoon and as soon as we entered the first set of gates we were stopped by two huge elephants. They were on either side of the rd, but soon one decided to join the other. This was fantastic because there was nothing between us and the elephants which are absolutely enormous. But this soon started to work against us as the elephant crossing the rd got distracted by some better looking vegetation and started to “trot” down the rd after us. Thankfully there was only one car behind us so we ... read more




Kayse icon
Kayse
November 22nd 2009

Okay I am continuing this blog from the previous blog entitled Umfolozi. Do not start reading here or you will be coming in half way through the story! We arrived at our next camp, we were unable to reserve the fancy bush camp for the entire time, and unpacked our massive amount of food and clothes. We checked out the playground and took a bit of a rest before heading out on our own evening drive. After we left we ran into a huge group of 20 vultures all in one area. We tried as hard as we could but did not see any kill in the area. We found a picnic spot on the river and set about having some wine and crackers in the setting sun. Max and I were down looking at the ... read more




SmithyWorldWide icon
SmithyWorldWide
September 14th 2009

The St Lucia Wetland Park is located on the Elephant Coast of KwaZulu-Natal, north of Durban. I was staying in the small town of St Lucia, located on a small peninsula at the mouth of the St Lucia Estuary. My day began with a kayak safari in the estuary, home to crocodiles, hippos and an abundance of birdlife, including fish eagles, kingfishers and numerous others I don't know the names of. My guide and I set off in our two-person kayaks, and headed straight away to a group of hippos resting in the shallow water near the bank. Resting our kayaks on a sandbank between us and the hippos, we sat and watched as they did what all hippos tend to do... nothing. More active were the 4 or 5 crocs, some about 2 metres long, ... read more




FrkMadsen icon
FrkMadsen
February 13th 2009

Hej derhjemme Her lidt nye billeder fra Sydafrika, fra min tur med Dea øst på til KwaZulu-Natal. Det var en tur med rigtig, rigtig mange dyr, som I nok kan gætte ud fra alle dyrebillederne. Mest af alt var der mange flodheste, mit nye yndlingsdyr! Først var vi i St. Lucia, som ligger helt ude ved østkysten, tæt mod grænsen til Mozambique. Det er et kæmpe naturområde, med mange forskellige øko-systemer og et meget varieret dyreliv. Der er masser at lave, og vi kedede os ikke. St. Lucia er også så heldig at være ejer af en lækker sandstrand med tilhørende varmt havvand. Kan man ønske sig mere? Derefter kørte vi lidt tilbage igen mod Hluhluwe-Imfolozi dyrepark. Der er alle "Big 5" (løver, leoparder, næsehorn, elefanter og bøfler), samt en masse andre dyr. Vi så mere ... read more









Tot: 0.058s; Tpl: 0.006s; cc: 22; qc: 22; dbt: 0.0256s; 1; s:notus w:www (50.28.60.10); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.4mb