South Africa Adventure: Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve

On Tuesday, August 8th we were picked up by Jon, a former ranger for H-I Game reserve to drive us about an hour for an all day safari. It was just Dave & I so it was quite a treat. We had hot chocolate and rusks at the entry to the reserve, then went into the Infolozi side first. We saw Cape Buffalo, antelope, and even lions sunning themselves on a river bank (it was far away so the photos didn't turn out very well). Amazingly, we even saw a spotted hyena which Jon said is rare to see. We had breakfast at an overlook which was beautiful.

Later we went into the Hluhluwe (it sounds sort of like shshuway) side of the reserve where we saw elephants, beautiful giraffe, zebra, wildebeest and many birds. The animals were not as close as the ones we have seen in Pilanesberg, but we noticed that Jon gave them plenty of space. He had grown up on the reserve and then became a ranger. Part of the time he worked the rhino protection unit which is dangerous - both from the rhino he was trying to protect and the poachers who will kill the rangers! He fixed us an excellent braii (bbq) lunch of "texas steak" and SA sausage, potato salad and a curry pasta salad. Malva Pudding was dessert! We may not have seen as many animals as sometimes, but they were the healthiest we've seen and the reserve had excellent roads. they are experiencing a drought so a lot of the waterholes were dry. It was a great day and we were tired by the time we returned to St Lucia passing the villages on the road back.