This has been an incredible experience and I have so many photos that I will have to break it down into 3 separate sections. They will be labelled Day 1; Day 1 Photos; and Day 2.
When I last wrote, I said we were docked in Richard's Bay. That was incorrect - we were in English Bay. That evening we sailed to Durban where we left the ship and drove for three hours to reach the outer gates of Phinda Game Reserve. This is an absolutely amazing place owned and operated by the Getty Foundation. The animals in this post are a sampling of just what we saw from the bus before we arrived at the inner gates where we were met by our Driver/Guides and transferred to Toyota Land Cruisers for the final 5 kilometer trip to the Lodge.
We were greeted by friendly staff with cold towels, frosty drinks and a delicious lunch as our luggage was delivered to our bungalows. You can see from the pictures that there was nothing primitive about our accommodations and we were impressed to note that each of the individual cottages was strategically situated for complete privacy. No bathing suits required when using your outdoor plunge pool! The only prying eyes were monkeys swinging from the trees who would occasionally perch on the railing.
After unpacking and enjoying a bit of refreshement from our fully stocked bar, we gathered in the main lodge and headed for the vehicles to go on our first game drive at 4 p.m. In the Day 1 Photos, you will see that on that first afternoon and evening we saw Zebra, Rhino, Warthogs, Wildebeast, Giraffe, Cheeta, Impala, Elephants, and Nyala.
The vehicles carry six people plus the Driver/Guide and a Tracker. Our driver was Jonty and our Zulu tracker was Tim. We were amazed at how well they could read the signs and get us right to the animals. And it was incredible that we could get so close to the animals without spooking them by our presence. Jonty explained that they are quite familiar with the shape of the vehicles but we should never stand up to take a photo because that presents a deviation to the shape they are accustomed to and they will run or charge. Peter and Pru and Ken and I obeyed the instructions but of course the other couple with us kept breaking the rule until we all let them know we were not amused! There is a good reason why the the guides keep a rifle handy as we were to understand when a group of elephants decided to charge our vehicle and we had to make a hasty retreat!
While the vehicles all go their separate ways on this vast property, the drivers maintain contact via radio and as the sun began to set we all met for a very civilized gin and tonic at a pre-arranged location before getting in another hour of viewing and then heading back to the lodge for dinner. We were all in bed by 11:00 p.m. to get some sleep before our 5 a.m. wake up call for the sunrise animal drive.
The next post will just be photos of the animals sighted on that first day. No text required except to say I have tried to include shots where you can get an idea of how close we were to these amazing creatures. I will send a description and photos of the Day 2 sights but right now we have to go for lunch with Captain Corsaro and other World Cruisers.
Hope you enjoy them.
D & K
P.S. The good news is that we did not see a single snake!! I know there must have been some but they kept themselves well hidden.
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