Animals in abundance … maybe
09 November 2015 | Richards Bay
We spent four days on animal encounters at Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve, staying three nights at Hilltop Camp. In keeping with our “take the armchair routes and accommodation” we opted for a two-person chalet which was very comfortable and spacious. The food was plentiful and good quality.
Now for the animals – well, we drove around ourselves following the excellent maps of the parks and reserves and we took an early morning drive (0500 start) with a guide, and evening drive with a guide, and an early morning walk (0500) with a guide. We also visited the Centenary Centre where Black Rhino juveniles were being cared for before release back into the wild and where there is a vast array of bomas (pens) for the bi-annual round up and auction of animals for other parks and reserves.
We saw: Lions (twice but could have been the same pride), Elephants, lots of White Rhinos, lots of Buffalos, Giraffes, Zebras, Wildebeests (at a distance so no photos), Impalas, Nyalas, Bushbucks, Warthogs, Bushpigs, Baboons, Mongeese, Common Duiker, Scrub Hare, Lappet-faced Vultures, Black-breasted Eagles and a variety of Bulbuls. It was all so good. We did not see any Leopards and one of our guides thought they had moved territory to somewhere remote form the tracks and roads as he had not seen one for five months. We were lucky to see lions that were having a post-lunch snooze with the male on its back displaying its manhood to the world, and the four females nearby with one of them alert to its surroundings as if on guard. Their lunch had been a buffalo and part of its carcase was close by.
Our walk was enjoyable as we could at last walk the ground and although we did not get as close to the animals, we got more of a sense of their environment. When driving around you have to stay in the car, but you do get closer to the animals. Our guide had a rifle but he said he had not needed to use it for over 25 years.
To round off our trip we stopped at the Emdoneni Rehabilitation Project and got right up close to Servals, Wildcats, Caracals and Cheetahs – some animals are released into the wild in other reserves and parks but some have been hand-reared and would not survive in the wild. That was a good visit too.
Lots of photos in the Gallery.
Then there is the ‘maybe’ – drought. It was supposed to start raining in September but nothing and now the rivers and waterholes are dried up or drying up. We saw one buffalo that had got trapped in the mud of a river bed and died. If the rain does not come or even does not come until April, then many animals will die. This is very sad.
When we got back to MINNIE B she was filthy from coal and other dust having blown across from the port, power station and smelter … so we washed the boat. A bad feeling did come over us – water in abundance here and likely animal deaths in abundance there. Not right, really.