Hluhluwe Imfolozi game park

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Last week, Thea and Brian came to Durban to spend the first five days of their 3-week South African adventure with us, before they move to Savannah from Hoboken. Needless to say, I was looking forward to their visit. We rented a minivan, packed it up with lots of food and drinks, and headed off on the 3 hour ride to the Hluhluwe (shoo-shlew-wee)- Imfolozi game park, the first game reserve area in Africa. You may have heard of this park recently -- the photo on the front page of the NY Post with the elephant on top of the little car took place here.

We spent our first and last night partying at Hluhluwe backpackers, a great place only about a mile away from the park entrance and at least a quarter of the price of any of the places in the park. We also spent two nights at the Hilltop Camp in the park. Hilltop, as its name suggests, sits on top of a hill overlooking the park. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a booking at the Mpila Camp in the south for the nights we were there. But it worked out in our favor -- one of the those nights a guy was attacked by a leopard as he was tending to his braai. The leopard bit him in the neck, but luckily he is doing just fine today. As you can guess, there aren't any fences at this camp. And fences at Hilltop "are not lion proof" as we learned after we took the trail home from dinner along the tiny fence around 10pm. I think we can finally laugh about and admit how scared we really were. But Andy wants me to make sure I tell you he wasn't scared at all because he "knows the bush" 😉 😉

Now, for what we saw at the park...

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Photos

Cheetah and Cub
an awesome, awesome, awesome expereince. Truly gorgeous animals

Andy And Brian
getting the coals ready fro the Braai, the stars above were unreal

Lisa And Thea
Catching up and having fun

Thea and Brian
Waiting for the meat to cook

Marching Band
ummm..thats supposed to be on the floor

us...at a bar...again
the hluhluwe backpacker entertainment area

Dave the bartender
..and the owner. Great guy and gracious host

Susie
As usual, the backpackers had it's dog, she was a thirteens year old, fat , sweetheart

Nelson
Nelson enjoyed guilting you out of dinner at the braai

Nyala
nothing special here, our first spot.

"I can see you house from up here"
the really are exetremely weird animals uplclose, so gawky and graceful at the same time

Zebras
they stand like this so as to avoid having their backs to trouble, they are number one on the shopping lists of lions

just passing time
it's awesome just watching life in it's natural environment, even if it's just hanging out

Widebeests
or..Gnu's for the less eductated. The like to hang with the zebbies

Girraffe's
keeping a watchful eye out while their buddies eat

Lee, Rhino, Thea
The Umfolozi park almost single handidly saved the black rhino from extinction and this is a little reminder

Lone Bull at Dusk
having a drink at sundown

Leopard
Leopard up a tree. you can't see the warthog it had just dragged up there, or the hyhenas below waiting for scraps

Comments

[fitz]

pictures
Great pictures. I am so jealous.

[JOSEPHINE]

hi my cousin
these pictures are so awsome I'm so happy for you . are you having the ball of your life ???? You go girl!!!! Keep in touch with me Love ya your cousin Josephine

[Mike the Neigh]

Finally leaving a note
I love your blog... what an incredible adventure. So many cool experiences, and it's only your first country. By now, you may already be in South America, but I'll be checking in to look for your next updates. I just spent a week in the DR doing some diving and snorkelling and checking out the aquatic life, but I have to get out to the veldt some time. It looks incredible. I'll see you on some beach somewhere.

[DAVE DAVIES]

THANKS FOR THE COMMENTS
HI THIS IS THE FRIENDLY BARMAN DAVE DAVIES HLUHLUWE BACKPACKERS THAKS FOR THE COMMENT ABOUT ME AND THE BACKPACKER I THINK PUT ME UP IN FACE BOOK THEN WE CAN COMMUNICAT THANKS DAVE DAVIES YOUR HOST

[Exodus]

Hi!
So glad you found our blog! I've been meaning to try and get in touch with you. As promised, I've contacted Lonely Planet and got their attention regarding including your place in their next edition. Not sure if this means they'll definitely be including it, but I think they'll send someone there at some point to check it out. I'll send them your email addresss, but can you also send me your phone number, address, and rates so that I can give them all the correct info? My facebook is Lisa Sciambra and email is [e-mail]

[DAVE DAVIES]

the park is alive
something for yous pls gointo safrinow.com and my new website www.hlubackpack.co.za check it out otherwise thing are going good at the backpackers your host dave davies

[DAVE]

GREETINGS
HI FROM HLUHLUWE , R YOUR BLOCK STILL GOING , ALL THINGS WEEL , YOUR HOST DAVE DAVIES