South Africa

Specials / Self-drive / Family / Walking / Romance / General Tours
Horse Safaris / Camping Tours / Victoria Falls extension

May 2005 South Africa Trip

I went to South Africa to attend the annual conference for Southern African tourism, with about 1600 exhibitors featuring lodges, hotels and tour operators from many of the southern African countries. Before the conference I had a few days to go on safari.

My first stop was the Phinda Forest Lodge. How exciting it is to drive down a road and see signs warning you to watch out for elephants! The Forest Lodge has individual bungalows tucked away in dense forest. As you can see from the photo of my room on the right, the rooms have windows all around so that you can feel more with nature and see the various animals that roam around the area.

The guide that I had was very knowledgable and excited about working there. With his experience, he could work at any of the lodges, but he chose to work there because the variety of ecosystems in the area is so great - river, sand forest, savannah, etc. and the wildlife in each is plentiful. On our first safari there, we saw 2 young male cheetahs looking into the distance. The guide said there had been 3 brothers, so they were probably looking for the other one.

We saw rhinos all through the day and late in the afternoon we saw a black and white rhino engaging each other. The smaller, but more aggressive black rhino would move forward, backing up the white one, then the white one would push the black one back. They didn't seem ready to fight, but rather to just sort of "feel each other out". The guide said it was rare to see them together like that. Unfortunately it was too late in the day to get a good photo.

We did see a few wildebeest also - nothing like the size of migration herds, but enough of them. Late that night we also saw a leopard with a kill. We were told that they sometimes roam through our camp area at night. Elephants will also come to drink out of the private pools at the small neighboring lodge and when you dine at both lodges you can often see game out in the field.

The next morning we went to the river and saw a few hippos, as well as fish eagles and a few other eagles. On the way back we were trying to meet with a herd of 40 elephants that was crossing the area. When we got close to where they were, we came upon a big bull elephant who was the "rear guard", and he chased us off.

Later that day I transferred over to the mountain lodge, which had more rooms. They were more traditional and, though some people preferred staying there (one couple had been to the mountain lodge 5 times and preferred it), I sort of liked being in the forest. We saw quite a number of water buffalo on the afternoon safari there.

My guide at the mountain lodge had been a tracker for a number of years, so he had a different style than the other guide. He focused more on animal habits and tracking techniques. Though I didn't learn as much from him, he was good at finding animals.We came upon a group of 6 lions late in the afternoon.

On the way out of the lodge area, I stopped by the Rock Lodge to see what it was like. It's a small property with only 6 rooms that are tucked into the side of a mountain. The people there have a private guide who is top notch and since it is small and quiet, many animals can be seen close by. I really liked the architecture and thought it was a great place for honeymooners. The manager enjoys giving guests an intimate experience and she told me that Brad Pitt had recently stayed there.

All of these lodges were exceptional and offered great game viewing, wonderful accomodations and attentive service.

The next night was spent at Hluhluwe River Lodge. This was a pleasant and more moderate place near the Hluhluwe Umfolozi Park and St. Lucia Wetlands area. It is a great area for birders. The Hluhluwe Umfolozi Park is one of the oldest national parks in the world and has a great number of games species. To the great surprise of my guide, first thing in the morning we saw a couple of wild dogs! When I looked at the sightings log at the administration building, I noticed that while there had been hundreds or thousands of sightings of lions, elephants, giraffes, etc., there had only been 5 sightings of wild dogs. My guide told me that these are the fastest killers because they just rip apart their prey. Wish I could have gotten a decent picture, but it

was foggy that morning. We did have a hyena come right up to our vehicle. He got close enough to sniff the driver's side mirror, so my guide had to lean over towards me, just to make sure he didn't get his face bitten off.

All in all, this is a great area to visit. Not only is there great game viewing, but it is near Zulu land, so there are many places for cultural excursions, there is great diving off the coast, beautiful mountain areas with lots of rock art and trout fishing are nearby and it is also close to the famous battefields of the Zulu and Boer wars.