Crash and Dazzle

I got to spend Sunday through Tuesday on one of the most fantastic trips I have ever experienced. Not only did I have great company, the sights were incredible, and I was spoiled the whole time. Three others ladies and I set off early Sunday morning for our safari adventure. We were lucky enough to have the best guide ever (that is not an exaggeration). When I say we were lucky, it was a fluke that we ended up with Brett. We booked with another tour company but they didn't have the man power to take us, and they have a great working relationship with Brett, who manages his own tour company, so we got kicked over to him. If you have an inkling to do a safari in any country in the Southern part of the African continent I would HIGHLY recommend you use Brett. This is his website: http://www.mangalekaafrica.co.za/. He is knowledgeable about the wildlife, he knows a ton of languages, he is a great cook, takes amazing photos, has a serious amount of patience, and seems to love what he does. We spent our time in Hluhulwe iMfolozi Game Reserve, which is about a 3 hour drive outside of Durban. Before we got to the game reserve we stopped at a cat rehabilitation centre. The animals at the centre are there for a variety of reasons: some are disabled and wouldn't be able to survive in the wild, and some were purchased as pets and then their owners got to a point where they couldn't take care of them anymore. We saw serval, caracal, african wild cats (which look like house cats), and cheetahs.

Look at those long legs!

After the rehab centre we headed for the park and got to work looking for animals. It is a good thing I can buy my food at the grocery store because if I had to hunt I'd die really quickly. I was not very good at spotting animals but there were others in my group who had a knack for it, so we got to see many different animals. We had some incredible sightings and I think the pictures really speak for themselves.

Nyala

Warthogs

Vultures

Did you know a group of zebra is called a dazzle? And a group of giraffe is called a tower or a journey? And a group of rhino is called a crash? After learning these things we named ourselves team crash and dazzle. 

On Tuesday we were headed back to Durban but first, we made a stop in St. Lucia to take a boat cruise on the St. Lucia Estuary. An estuary is meeting point where a river or a stream meets a body of salt water. This is where we saw many hippos and crocodiles. 

An Australian, 2 Americans, and a Canadian with some hippo teeth