Tom and Tinas Travels: South Africa - Day 6

The next morning is was up at 5:30 to get an early start on our first safari at Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve. We were anxious to get our first look at Africa's wildlife.

By 7:00 we were at the reserve and loading up in our vehicles.

And within 2 minutes of being inside the park we were looking at impala's.

And the zebra's (pronounced with a short e rather than a long e if you're African.

And then elephants. It was like they were coming out to greet us.

Then the rare and threatened white rhino joined the mix, and we hadn't driven more than 100 yards into the park.

As we started driving farther into the reserve, the fact that it was what PBS always shows as the African landscape seemed obvious.

Next up was the wildebeest.

And more impala's, which we soon found out is no big deal over here since they are one of the most plentiful of all animals on the reserves.

All of South Africa is under a severe drought as witnessed by this dry river bed which should have 2 feet of water at this time of year.

A lone male elephant.

And 2 hours in and finally a sighting of a baboon.

Which was actually a troop of baboons.

Pulling up the rear end of the troop (so to speak) is the female baboon in heat based on her rear end status.

Throw in some (ugly) warthogs and we were having a pretty good day.

Next up was the Cape Buffalo.

Both male (right) and female varieties.

A female American Hot Woman! :)

I believe this was a Brown Snake Bird ... but don't quote me on it.

Then finally a giraffe in the distant.

A closer view of a zebra.

Another giraffe at chow time.

Driving down the road to a mid-morning break.

Then we came across a vulture.

And more vultures along with Cape Buffalo.

Then a whole committee of vultures waiting for something.

Finally we saw the lioness while she was walking away from a dead Cape Buffalo that our guide thought had probably been brought down from the drought. The other Cape Buffalo were mourning the loss while the vultures were waiting for left overs.

The guide thought she was just going away to try to lure the vultures in so she could scare them away. I guess vultures can be very patient some times.

So finally she came back out to snack on her meat.

Moving along we saw a lone giraffe.

Which we then discovered was a tower of giraffes.

Then a lone male elephant ready to mate based on the fact that they urinate on themselves to let the female sense the sweet smell of male elephant urine. :)

Saying goodbye to our guide.

In the afternoon we were back on the bus to leave South Africa and cross over into Swaziland which is a country completely surrounded by South Africa. The common houses of Swaziland consist of round thatched huts for sleeping and regular rectangular buildings for other household activities.

A more modern aluminum roof.

Before stopping for the evening we stopped at a candle factory which was pretty inconsequential, other than it was the first opportunity of seeing of South African cat. So I've got to send a shout out to my parents (who might not even know what a shout out is) and give them a peacefully sleeping South African cat.