It seems I should start at the beginning of this trip as I jumped into the middle. At Phinda we stayed in an old farmhouse. There were six of us - 5 women ranging in age and locati from 20 to me and from Colorado, Australia, Tasmania and South of London. There was one young (18) man from the Netherlands doing his gap year volunteering at various parks in Africa. We shared a kitchen and two bathrooms and got along wonderfully and laughed a lot! We also arose and were on the road by 4 to 5 a.m. depending on the day. We left at 3:30 a.m.on my last day there and spent 7 hours looking for a bull elephant name Pica who evaded us. This was because he was the right size and age to move to a different park along with a younger, smaller male. A substitute was found for Pica and the process went on with the same amount of work and incredible expertise by the team at Phinda that I had witnessed with the rhinos. "We" succeeded in darting two elephants - no easy thing and lifting them by crane in a 3 step process to a transport vehicle to be driven to another park. The elephants alone weighed over 16 tons! This has happened only rarely in the park with many guides saying they had never witnessed it. I was fortunate enough to be there that week! So lucky!! I, of course, have miles of video but cannot share due to people's privacy. The smaller elephant that I'm standing by did not fall in the open and lucky for him he was asleep and didn't hear the din of several chainsaws sawing as we moved brush so the truck could get in to pick him up.
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| My face by a giant elephant foot! |
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| Me and the small elephant |
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| Loading onto the truck - Step 2 |
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| The truck transporting two elephants |
Here are some other animals we were lucky enough to see while at Phinda.
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| Endangered Black Rhino |
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| Pregnant Cheetah |
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| Cheetah cub |
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| Tortoise in the road |
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| My "pet" warthog just outside my window |
The animals that would be in our yard after being out all morning was so very cool! We had a warthog family, some wildebeests, sometimes a herd of impala or nyala and the above rhino and her young were across from the entrance to our house on many evenings.
So I am now in the Central Drankensberg mountain range after spending one night in Pietermaritzburg. The owner, Gail, and I got along famously and once again I wished that I was staying longer but I will get to spend one more night there before I turn my car in at the Durban King Shaka International Airport! This is some really beautiful country with hikes that are many, varied, well-marked and just breathtaking. I was fortunate to arrive on the day of an afternoon concert by the Drakensberg Boy's Choir - a world renowned school right across from my little rondavel and so I went. No photos or phones are allowed to record but it was moving. The first half with classical mixed with Bridge Over Troubled Water as well as Cyndi Lauper so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes. The second half was typical African songs from the area - mostly Zulu and just incredible. I was also fortunate that the Falcon Ridge Bird of Prey center was open as they are closed on Fridays and Mondays. I debated going but am so happy I did. Here are just a few photos.
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| Verreaux's Eagle |
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| Owl |
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| Cape Vulture |
Finally for a bit on this amazing place. I hiked yesterday and it was very hot and sunny and ended up putting my feet in a lovely little pool by a stream. Today I hiked in a rain poncho and got rained on several times but still had a great hike. Since I've returned to my cute little rondavel, it has rained consistently and forced some flying insects out of the ground which made some ducks show up and they would jump in the air to catch the insects. Hysterical to watch. There is also a bright orange sunset while it's raining. What a place. Tomorrow I leave to head South to the Southern Drakensberg where there is a detour through a village with the road consisting or rocks the size of baseballs. Fun trip! Worth it though. Beautiful!
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| Yesterday in the sun |
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| Today between rains |
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| My temporary hom |
