Archive for February 29, 2012

Hlane Royal National Park

Arriving at Hlane Royal National Park, the Waterhole by the restaurant was like a scene out of the Lion King!

Rhino, Hippo, Elephants, Impala, Stork, Ox Peckers and Crocodile, all that was missing was the Giraffe!

white Rhino in the bush - nature tour south africa

The Rhino tries to find his way to the water past the hippos, croc and elephants

bull elephant in swaziland

The elephant looks smug after seeing off that pesky Rhino!

crocodile extreme nature tour

The croc sunbathes on the sand waiting for an easy lunch

elephant family at waterhole

Once the coast was clear the whole elephant family came down to the water hole

hippo pillow extreme nature tour south africa

With one look the hippo tells the Rhino to stay away from their part of the water

Sulking Rhino at Swaziland

The Rhino flops to the ground and sulks while he waits for the Hippos, Croc and Elephants to let him to the water.

Another evening drive for Stephanie and Adrian Tonight followed by an early morning mountain bike ride around the park (to say they are excited would be an understatement!)

Time to go for a paddle

The last full day of their nature tour in South Africa sees Stephanie and Adrian taking to the water once more in St Lucia.

Again, these waters contain both Hippos and Crocodiles, but this time Stephanie and Adrian are on Kayaks.

Paddling in the waters with Hippos and crocs doesn’t seem like such a good idea as you carry your paddle to the waters edge…

And they're off! Stephanie and Adrian glide across the surface leaving Justin to catch up with them

…but after the first few strokes of the paddle you are soaring across the water and all thoughts of turning back are gone from your mind.

kayak south africa, estuary, st lucia, african safari

Stephanie and Adrian leave Justin in their dust!

Lead by our trusty guide Justin, Stephanie and Adrian ventured out in search of the Hippos, Crocs and birdlife of the estuary.

kayak safaris, kayak south africa

Justin - our guide.

birds on the st lucia estaury, twitcher holiday, kayak south africa

A juvenile fish eagle swoops after the adult female with her eel catch.

estuary kayak south africa

"Goliath Heron...way over there!"

kayak africa, african safari, nature tour

Justin takes them closer to the Goliath Heron

twitcher heaven, st lucia estuary, kayak south africa

Now we know why it is called Goliath, it is massive!

kayak south africa, st lucia kayak safaris

Feeling the breeze from the Goliath herons wings.

Once more Adrian and Stephanie have decided that they’re not ready to leave South Africa yet.

kayak souh africa, african safari

Stephanie and Adrian try to paddle off into the sunset together.

But we caught them and brought them back!

st lucia kayak safaris, kayak south africa

Over so soon... can we go again please?!

 

Don’t worry you two, the estuary, the crocodiles, the hippos and the kayaks will still be here when you get back!

 

st lucia estuary, kayak with crocodiles

Missing a leg, Stephanie and Adrian finished their kayak unscathed...

Full Day Game Drive – again!

Adrian and Stephanie enjoyed yesterdays full day game drive so much that they’ve decided to go on another one!

They’ve clocked the Big 5 – but it would appear that’s not enough, they want to see a Cheetah in the wild and they want black rhino.

Good luck!

Well done Adrian!

Well done Adrian!

On todays game drive he spotted the first Lion, and before the game ranger!

That never happens!!
Be proud :)

Elephants and Kitties to play with!

Today was a busy day!

The morning was spent tickling and feeding elephants…

get close to the elephants, african safari

Steph was so determined not to leave South Africa, she climbed in!

elephant interaction in south africa, safari holiday

Unable to handle the extra wife, Adrian tries to convince Rambo (the elephant) to go to the pub for some male bonding

The afternoon was spent having a spot of lunch at Ilala Weavers (and shopping) and then a tour around a local township.

And then the last item on the days agenda is a bit of a hardship….

cuddling cheetah!!

stroke a cheetah, south african holiday

Not quite sure what Kitten and co, will make of Stephanie and Adrians new pet...

More babies! Iguanas are hatching!

Our state of the art hatching facility (a drawer in the garage desk) has once more produced some babies for us this year.

This time it is the babies of our two lovely adult iguanas.

Imagine our delight when a quick peek at the eggs this morning showed us a little head

baby iguana hatching

Peek-a-boo

Gently replacing the lid we left the little guy to do his stuff and break free from his former home.

How on earth does it fit in such a little egg!

He kept on going then he was free and jumped out of the box straight into my hand!

Ta da! One baby iguana, complete with a blob of yoghurt on its nose :)

Walking with Rhino-saurs

It started off as just a normal drive...

Rhino

Spot the rhino, its there in the background

rhinocerous trail

...closer....

....closer....

south africa extreme nature tour rhino

...then the rhinos came closer...

...surely they won't get much closer....

...oh, ok then...

Steph and Adrian peek through the bushes at the Rhino mother (and large) Calf

Swaziland here we come!

We had a feast last night, everything must go! Due to laws in Swaziland you are not allowed to take any food products into the country so we ate and drank until we were fit to burst!

Armed with coffee fresh from the percolator (Antons travel companion who was greatly admired by Adrian) we woke ourselves from sleep and Stephanie ate Stephanies concuction of Pineapple and fruit Yoghurt :)

We all crossed the border without a hitch and proceeded to our breakfast stop in Swaziland overlooking a small lake. Little crocodile and BIG fish! Not to mention a teeny tiny water monitor who was basking on the frame work below the veranda.

water monitor - extreme nature tour, south africa

It's a hard life for a little monitor

Redbishop extreme nature tour south africa

This redbishop was building a nest nearby to the restaurant.

Big Cat and Fish

Leopard! On the night drive last night Stephanie and Adrian saw a Leopard! They saw lots of animals, but I can’t tell you what they were as all they kept saying was “Leopard!!”.

Breakfast this morning brought us a handful of guests to the table, namely the Warthog family.

baby warthogs at jozini south africa

The baby warthogs are cheeky as their mum tries to steal our food

warthog bushpig south africa nature tour

Mmmmmmm foooooood....

Pongola pig warthog south africa

Mummy warthog eyes our lunch hungrily

Out on the boat again today, but disaster stuck. No sooner had we pulled away from the dock than one of the valves snapped on the steering system causing a fountain of pink fluid.

We were covered in hydraulic fluid, but Adrian and Anton were in
heaven as they tried to fix the boat!

pongola boat

After borrowing some tools from a nearby work crew the boys battled with the boat.

Stephanie and I decided that it would be unfair if we let the boys do all the hard work, so we hooked the bait on the lines and opened a couple of beers to keep us hydrated as we fished.

We were going for big catches, namely Hippo and Crocodile (or at least that is what Stephanie and I told anyone that asked)!
After a while the boys decided that the boat could wait as they could see Tigerfish from the boat where it was moored.

adrians tigerfish

Adrian Catches a Tigerfish on his second Cast!

catfish at jozini lake

Steph plays with Antons little Catfish

Crocodile at Jozini Lake

No Hippos, but we did catch our Crocodile!

jozini lake fishing

Another s*#t day in Africa....

dragonfly south africa nature tour

Dragon fly radio :)

The Best Way to Travel

The worst bit about any trip is the travelling to get there and then once you are there travelling around in-country.

safari tour, kwazulu natal

A quick lunch with Meera the birthday girl and then it is off on the next leg

lizard kwazulu natal

Unexpected lunch guest

Whilst the journey times from our base in Hluhluwe are not too long, we like to mix it up a bit, so the next leg of our journey is by boat.

nature tour safari south africa

On the way down everyone is silently thankful that they don't have to walk back up the hill again!

nature tour boat transfer

Better than aircon!

kwazulu natal nature tour, safari

Steph makes herself right at home!

boat transfer kwazulu natal extreme nature tour

Soon sitting back up for the elephants

 

What a shame it just happens to be on a really good fishing spot too!

 

boat transfer kwazulu natal nature tour

Sundowners on the boat with the elephants nearby :)