I met my ship on Dec 15 in Durban, South Africa after a bum-numbing trip that included a 14.5 hour non-stop from NY to Johannesburg. We sailed north, along the east coast and up to Richard's Bay; from there a motor coach conveyed us about an hour and a half inland to the Hluhluwe Game Preserve which is the oldest and one of the largest in Africa for my one chance at a safari. It's a huge reserve at over 237,000 acres. The only park older in the world is Yellowstone they said.
I know that the people who work the real safaris will hate me for saying it, but the Disney safari at the Animal Kingdom park is spot on... I was amazed at how similar the experience was. Of course, this preserve is one of the public preserves so it has decent roads and you're not allowed to drive off-road to get up close to some wildlife like they do in some of the private preserves.
It wasn't an experience with vast flat savanna plains with herds of antelope frolicking, like you see on Wild Kingdom; in fact, I was impressed by how green and mountainous the area was. It rained most of the tour but we were still fortunate to encounter a good bit of wildlife.
We boarded 10 person trucks that were open sided but with a roof so the rain wasn't too much of an inconvenience. The seats were also tiered with each seat a bit higher than the one in front, so everyone really had a terrific view. Our guide, Wiseman (no, I don't think he was Jewish; he was Zulu) was great and had a good eye for noticing animals on far away hills, birds, etc.
The overall experience was exactly like the Disney tour, bouncy roads, a little mud, some exciting encounters with animals, but the big difference of course is that these animals were completely wild and on their own. We came across quite a few groups of zebra right in the road and they were close enough to touch. One of the zebra was suffering from two huge gashes, about 8-10 inches long on it's side from some cat attack.
Everyone had their eyes peeled, on the look-out for one of the "Big Five". Back when big game hunting was in fashion, hunters had a Big Five they named as the 5 most dangerous animals to hunt. Thus it was a big deal to bag your five. When times changed for the better (for the animals!) preservationists sort of pirated the title to help stave off extinction of these animals so that tourists also now look for the Big Five: Lion, Leopard, African Elephant, Rhino, Cape Buffalo (the African variety, not the water buffalo).
We got conflicting info but it seems that the Rhino and Buffalo are the most dangerous. Also, more people are killed by hippo's than by other animals; our guide guessed that since they're such water oriented animals and people also need to use the rivers and lakes for water, washing, etc. that we're just thrown into more opportunities for danger. The African crocodile is much the same.
The buffalo are dangerous because they give no warning before attacking and trampling you. If they sense you near, they stay still behind a bush or something, then just come out charging. Not unlike a WalMart shopper on Black Friday.
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| (These are not buffalo charging, but our group at lunch) |
They provided us with a light lunch at a gorgeous pavilion area; signs warned us not to wander too far off the common areas.
Then, back to the trucks for the trip to return to the main gate of the preserve. About 5 min into our return we almost stumbled an incredible bull elephant only about a hundred feet from our road. After a few minutes I guess he got tired of us and started making signs that we better move on, which we did before things got out of hand. Our elephant friend crossed the road (why did the elephant....?) into the bush. A real exciting treat to wind up our visit.
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| Beware the endangered White Hippo, shown here with our tour guide, Wiseman |
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