December 16, Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park

We arrived at the game park at 6am in a light rain. Just minutes through the gate we came upon a mother rhino and her adolescent child. We turned onto a dirt/gravel road and were rewarded some time later with two cape buffalo very close to the road. Buffalo can be very dangerous so we stopped and watched them for quite some time to give them room. The bush here was very thick so we couldn't actually tell if there were only two buffalo or if there was a whole herd in the bush. After they sauntered off the road slightly we crawled forward and turned a corner only to come face to face with a male adolescent elephant. He watched us for a bit and then continued with his breakfast and stripping the trees. After he had put a safe distance between himself and us we slowly started up a hill. We began to round a corner when suddenly there was a large female elephant in front of us and about 10 other elephants behind her on the road, including some very tiny babies. The actual term we have heard used for the large female elephant is 'crossing guard,' and she was certainly doing her job. She was a bit alarmed to see us there and she started her warning to us of flapping her ears. Duncan immediately reversed all the way back down the hill. From the first moment to when we saw her to returning to the bottom of the hill was a mere 30 seconds. We were not interested in getting trampled by elephants. Apparently the elephants in this park have a special love for flattening VW Golfs. Fortunately they seemed to like the Japanese so we were safe in our Toyota.

We waited several minutes and then slowly started up the hill again, trying to look around corners before we rounded them. The elephants eventually made there way down into a valley and we followed along side for a few minutes. We spotted a watering hole up ahead and thought that they might be heading that direction so we drove ahead and positioned ourselves for viewing but also for quick escape if need be. The elephants never came but we were entertained by a buffalo who was covering himself with mud to the extent where he would roll over on his back and loll around with his four legs up in the air.

The rest of the day was not quite as action packed with animals around every corner, but we had some great highlights:

- A herd of a dozen giraffe
- One very amorous male giraffe who pursued his interest very intently (we think the crowd of cars interrupted the moment:))
- 10+ more rhinos
- A warthog mother and her babies
- A female rhino literally scratching every part of her body on a tree for ten minutes – it was a complete massage!!
- A HUGE secretary bird
- Two herds of buffalo, one that blocked our way out for several minutes
- A small herd of zebra
- A tortoise crossing the road
- Several other solitary male elephants
- Several fruit bats at our lunch spot

It was a great day! (Even though we still have not seen a cat of any sort other than our pregnant cat who camped with us at Sodwana Bay and Felix, a tame Wild African Cat who was part of the menagerie at Old Vic's and who spent much time with us! - DW)

Almost forgot to mention that the name Isinkwe is Zulu for Bushbaby which is one of the camps claims to fame. Every night they put out some bananas and the Bushbabies stop in for a brief snack before continuing on with their night time hunting.

The next day we drove a further four hours down the coast, stopping briefly in Durban for Bunny Chow (curry in a hollowed out half loaf of bread) for lunch before arriving at The Spot Backpackers, a secret little gem on the beach popular with surfers, that surprised us with its beauty and tranquility. (Ok first night it was filled with a group of testosterone driven South Africans, but after they left the next morning it was a great spot...thus the name...)

Andrea