Date: Feb 7, 2007 3:19 PM
Subject: Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
RICHARD’S BAY, SOUTH AFRICA Day II
Again we got up at some ungodly hour. Around 6:00 I think. I’m not sure because I kind of woke up a little and found myself dressed. I must have done it in my sleep. Gobbled down breakfast in the room and had to run to make our tour bus.
Today it was Hluhluwe (shoe uh loui) Umfolpzi Reserve. Yes, that is the real name. I didn’t make this one up. It is the oldest and largest game park in South Africa. The ride to the Park was just over an hour and then we got into 4X4 vehicles. Ours was a Land
Rover. An old one that held ten passengers pretty comfortably. I got to ride shot gun as I had on the dunes in Namibia. Bobbi was just behind, in the first Passenger row, but on the right side. There was a top but no sides and the windshield was down. Our driver was a Zulu that spoke limited English and had limited driving skills.
After loading we took off down a one and one half lane black top road. Hardly out in the bush as we expected. The reserve is all
rolling hills with small trees, some bushy areas, and a lot of grass. The scenery is gorgeous. It is too inviting. You have the urge to get out and take pictures at some of the scenic overlooks. You do not really want to do that here. We were warned to not even stand up and to be completely quiet when we see animals. Just more hype I figured. Not Hype. There are lots of things here that will eat you.
First we saw a few different kinds of Impala. They did not look at
all like Chevys. Then out of nowhere we hear something tearing down trees and leaves and branches rustling loudly like the dinosaurs did in the movie, Jurassic Park, only this was real and we were in it. The monster turned out to be a big bull elephant. The nasty sucker was just knocking down anything in his path and eating it. Leaves, branches, bark. You couldn’t help hearing the snapping as he chewed a tree into bits. We had been told that the most dangerous animal was the elephant. It will often charge a vehicle unprovoked and can easily turn a car over. This one was in 
a bad mood. He looked at us watching him for about a minute and suddenly dropped the tree he was chewing up. He was down a little ways from the road and we did manage to get out of the way. I think the driver might have wet himself trying to get that old Land Rover to move. Amazing how stupid some people are. They were all totally without a care as if they were watching some circus elephant perform. They had not a clue they were very close to being elephant squish.
The second most dangerous animal is the water buffalo. They too will charge for no reason. The driver says, if they catch you, they make sure you are completely dead before they stop attacking. White Rhino rarely charge but the Black Rhinoceros will occasionally charge a vehicle. The big cats never pay any attention to the vehicles unless you stand up or leave the vehicle.
We did see several water buffalo, and a couple of giraffe, one a big male. There were two zebra just standing in the road. Later we
saw a female elephant but we didn’t stay long. She took one look and ran at us. The driver said they are more dangerous then the male. They always charge.
We saw a small crocodile and couple of stork and a whole large family of baboon. A momma Wart Hog walked by with her baby. We saw just about all the major types of animals. The only major misses today were leopard and Hippo.
Most of the day was spent on these black top roads but toward the end of the day we did go onto some unpaved.
Everyone we talked to said they really enjoyed it and all the vehicles did see something. The buses got us back to the ship by about 2:00 PM. The Ship left at 4:00 this afternoon.
RICHARD’S BAY, SOUTH AFRICA Day II
Again we got up at some ungodly hour. Around 6:00 I think. I’m not sure because I kind of woke up a little and found myself dressed. I must have done it in my sleep. Gobbled down breakfast in the room and had to run to make our tour bus.Today it was Hluhluwe (shoe uh loui) Umfolpzi Reserve. Yes, that is the real name. I didn’t make this one up. It is the oldest and largest game park in South Africa. The ride to the Park was just over an hour and then we got into 4X4 vehicles. Ours was a Land
Rover. An old one that held ten passengers pretty comfortably. I got to ride shot gun as I had on the dunes in Namibia. Bobbi was just behind, in the first Passenger row, but on the right side. There was a top but no sides and the windshield was down. Our driver was a Zulu that spoke limited English and had limited driving skills.After loading we took off down a one and one half lane black top road. Hardly out in the bush as we expected. The reserve is all
rolling hills with small trees, some bushy areas, and a lot of grass. The scenery is gorgeous. It is too inviting. You have the urge to get out and take pictures at some of the scenic overlooks. You do not really want to do that here. We were warned to not even stand up and to be completely quiet when we see animals. Just more hype I figured. Not Hype. There are lots of things here that will eat you.First we saw a few different kinds of Impala. They did not look at
all like Chevys. Then out of nowhere we hear something tearing down trees and leaves and branches rustling loudly like the dinosaurs did in the movie, Jurassic Park, only this was real and we were in it. The monster turned out to be a big bull elephant. The nasty sucker was just knocking down anything in his path and eating it. Leaves, branches, bark. You couldn’t help hearing the snapping as he chewed a tree into bits. We had been told that the most dangerous animal was the elephant. It will often charge a vehicle unprovoked and can easily turn a car over. This one was in 
a bad mood. He looked at us watching him for about a minute and suddenly dropped the tree he was chewing up. He was down a little ways from the road and we did manage to get out of the way. I think the driver might have wet himself trying to get that old Land Rover to move. Amazing how stupid some people are. They were all totally without a care as if they were watching some circus elephant perform. They had not a clue they were very close to being elephant squish.
The second most dangerous animal is the water buffalo. They too will charge for no reason. The driver says, if they catch you, they make sure you are completely dead before they stop attacking. White Rhino rarely charge but the Black Rhinoceros will occasionally charge a vehicle. The big cats never pay any attention to the vehicles unless you stand up or leave the vehicle.We did see several water buffalo, and a couple of giraffe, one a big male. There were two zebra just standing in the road. Later we
saw a female elephant but we didn’t stay long. She took one look and ran at us. The driver said they are more dangerous then the male. They always charge.We saw a small crocodile and couple of stork and a whole large family of baboon. A momma Wart Hog walked by with her baby. We saw just about all the major types of animals. The only major misses today were leopard and Hippo.
Most of the day was spent on these black top roads but toward the end of the day we did go onto some unpaved.Everyone we talked to said they really enjoyed it and all the vehicles did see something. The buses got us back to the ship by about 2:00 PM. The Ship left at 4:00 this afternoon.
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