Hakuna Matata!

So we have now been in South Africa for over a month and felt that it was about time to go on a safari – or as it is properly referred to – a “game drive”. 

Actually it didn’t quite happen that way.  Ali and I felt that it would be nice to get as many of the CBA interns together to celebrate Thanksgiving.  We thought that since most of them are in Johannesburg it would be a good meeting spot.  So me being a natural-born organizer, I took the initiative to go on Facebook and find out if people were interested in getting together for Thanksgiving.  The answers were as follows: “Yes we are interested” and “Why don’t we all meet in Durban?”  All of a sudden we were potentially facing an influx of Canadian interns visiting us for the weekend.  The problem was that our place, though right on the beach, is not that big and not very guest friendly.  So our response was, “How about we go on a safari?”

It turned out to be the best and most exciting Thanksgiving weekend ever.  We had three interns visiting from Jo’burg/Pretoria (Joseph, Sarah and Sean) and three interns visiting from Grahamstown (Mat, Sabrina and Tim).  Tim is from Australia but we decided to adopt him from the weekend.  After everyone met in Durban we were on our way to Hluhluwe-Imofolozi Game Reserve.  The park is described as follows:  “Set in the heart of Zululand, the oldest game reserve in Africa where Zulu kings such as Dingiswayo and Shaka hunted and put in place the first conservation laws, where today the "big five" of African legend stalk the verdant savannah.”

When we arrived at the park we immediately saw zebras, giraffes, buffaloes and a rhino.  It was so amazing that it almost felt like they were told to stay close to the gates just to impress visitors on their way in. 

Upon check at the Hilltop Camp in we discovered that the evening drive was all booked up, however, there were spots available for the morning drive – which by the way leaves at 5am.  Not everyone was thrilled with this.  I was too excited to care.  We were spending the night in rondavels, which were actually quite comfortable.

We decided to take some time to drive around the park on our own before dinner.  As we exited the camp we immediately encountered a rhino that was just walking on the road.  It was coming straight towards us and it was quite nerve-wrecking.  As we were trying to reverse the car, which by the way wasn’t really working as Mat’s car was right behind us, the rhino slowly proceeded to walk by us without taking notice.

While we were driving around the park we could not help but admire its absolute beauty.  With its rolling hills and valleys the sights were unbelievable.  After watching the sun set behind the hills in the distance we returned back to camp.  We had dinner in a beautiful restaurant at the top of the hill.  After dinner we got together for a couple of drinks in Sean and Joseph’s rondavel.  It was so much fun to hang out with the other interns and relate stories of our various experiences so far – the good, the bad and the ugly!  Unfortunately, we had to call it an early night and prepare for our 4:30am start the following morning.

Our three hour game drive the following morning was amazing.  I could only relate the experience through pictures as sometimes words are not enough.  As this was my first safari ever here are my TOP 10 observations:

1.  Driving through the game park is more like driving in Algonquin Park looking for moose than feeling like you are in The Lion King.  You have to be patient.  I almost expected that I would be driving around and there would be tons of animals everywhere just like on TV.  Instead, you can drive for quite a while without seeing anything.  That makes a sighting that much more exciting!

2.  Zebras are incredibly photogenic!

3.  You should under no circumstances get out of your car, because more experienced safari-goers will likely yell at you!

4.  Male impalas are very controlling of their women!

5.  For the most part you forget to be scared of the animals as you are so excited just to see them.  Unless there is a rhino coming right at you and then you might just think twice!

6.  Having the soundtrack to The Lion King while driving around on your own may add to the experience (or it might scare away the animals)!

7.  As much as it hurts, waking up at 4:30am is really the way to go if you want to see a lot of wildlife!  Going with an experienced guide is a must!

8.  Apparently the monkeys steal your things so watch out.  Though we were not subject to any muggings on this particular occasion.

9.  Going on a safari with seven other amazing and fun people is an absolute bonus!

10.  Spending Thanksgiving viewing wildlife instead of eating turkey is definitely a DO!