Zululand – Hluhluwe Game Reserve

We awoke to bright blue sky and warm sun but within an hour or so it had clouded over but remained warm. We had breakfast with Carol, Sherry and her husband Bruce – lots of breakfast choices, especially the wonderful local pineapple. Bruce went for a swim this morning, as did a few of our fellow travelers. The trees at the hotel were covered with small nests made by the yellow weaver birds that use palms from the palm trees to weave their nests. Our relaxed morning saw many walking around the beautiful hotel grounds. At 10 a.m. we headed out to Dumazula, the Zulu cultural centre. Dumazulua shows customs and traditions from Zulu culture. It features woven round huts of the Zulu arranged in a circle around the cattle kraal. We saw lots of pineapple plantations on the way. We were treated to demonstrations on traditional Zulu crafts, costumes, culture and language. To say ‘my name is’ in Zulu, is ‘eekalamee’. The zulu tribe performed a very energetic dance to the drums played by individuals from the village. We had a great lunch at the village restaurant. The ice cream, especially, was really really good. It got quite cold and rainy so I had to buy a polar top to wear. We went on to the Hluhluwe Game Reserve (pronounced Shooshlouis) for our first game drive. The Hluhluwe Game Reserve, with one of the most biologically diverse habitats on the planet, has good year round animal viewing. Within its bounds there are 1250 species of plants and trees. It is one of Africa’s oldest game reserves and is said to have been King Shaka’s favourite hunting ground. The conservation efforts here have saved the white rhino from extinction. White rhinos from this park are now sent to other African parks. Twenty per cent of Africa’s black rhinos live in this park and work is now going into building up the numbers of black rhinos as well. Hluhluwe is 6% of the size of Kruger Park. Even so, one can drive for days around the park. We had a 3 hour drive in 10 passenger Landrovers around the reserve to see if we could spot any animals. We saw water buffalo, white rhinos, zebras, a wart hog, several different birds and graceful giraffes that walked right in front of our vehicles. In spite of the polar and the capes provided, it was pretty cold and wet. Back to the hotel to change and warm up followed by a wonderful meal where we were treated to another singing and zulu dance group performance. We found out from Kay that her grandson, Craig Beller, who attends Yale, was drafted by the New York Rangers – must keep our eyes and ears open in the future.