Richards Bay, South Africa

Hi All,

Yesterday we were in Richards Bay.  It is a small city that is home to the world’s largest coal port.  This lovely port view was from our ship.

But we weren’t here to see Richards Bay.  Today we did a tour to the Hlihluwe Umfolozi Wildlife Reserve.  This national park is over 600 square miles in size and sits in the middle of South Africa’s Zulu land.  

On the way to the park, we drove through areas where the Zulu tribe still lives.  This is a Zulu settlement.

All  Zulu families have one of these small round buildings on their property.  This is a place where their ancestors can live.  On holidays the Zulu people even put food outside these buildings for their deceased family members.

After about an hours drive, we arrived at the park entrance.

We were a group of six, and we toured the park in this vehicle.  Everyone had a window seat!

We arrived at the park about 10:30am.  Our guide said we probably would not see lions that late in the morning.  But we got lucky and saw this guy chilling out from about 100 yards away.  

Then we saw this big boy

And these White Rhinos

Warthogs

Giraffes

Antelopes

Wildebeests

Baboons

Zebras

This isn’t a very good picture, these two water buffaloes were pretty far away.

This is called a Secretary bird because its feathers were once used to make writing quills.

These tiny birds are Glossy starlings.

The vistas in the park were stunning.  These pictures don’t do them justice.

Along the way our guide Jeff prepared lunch.  Sausages, steak, garden salad and pasta salad.  Wine, beer, and soft drinks.  It was a great lunch in a magnificent setting.

Our group of fearless travelers.  The two guys on the left are retired doctors from New York city.  The two women in the back are both single ladies (widows) on the ship.  The two front and right I think you know.

So, after a full and amazing day we returned to our ship about 5:30pm.  This park exceeded our expectations.  We have only included a few pictures due to internet limitations, but we saw LOTS of animals.  In fact we saw so many that by the end of the day everyone stopped taking pictures.  We sailed for Durban, South Africa about 9pm.  We will post about our day there tomorrow.  All is well on the good ship Serenity!

Jerry and Helen