12 April 2010 – Monday

We were up early and made it to Umfolozi game reserve before 7:00. We have gone so often that the woman ranger at the desk know the make and color of our car. It turned out to be a perfect day to be in the park. The sky was clear but it was not too warm.

For the first three hours we did not really see that many different animals. We did see lots of giraffes and zebras, but the most interesting things we saw were birds. We came across four or five varieties that we did not recognize and we got to take some good pictures.

It was not until we left Sontuli picnic area that things really started to happen. First we saw our first rhinos but they were deep in the grass and it was impossible to get good pictures. But then we heard and saw a helicopter circling around and soon we could see it was herding a large herd of Cape buffalo to some part of the park. Along with the buffalo were impalas and wildebeests. I took a short movie of the helicopter doing its job. As we left the park I asked the rangers if they knew what was going on and they said they were pushing them to a corral where they could be given shots against disease.

A little further along we were going through herds of friendly impalas and zebras when a young elephant came out of the brush and walked across the road about 300 yards in front of us. By the time we got to where he crossed he was well on his way to wherever he was headed. He was walking a very steady and determined pace. I later wondered what would have happened if we had been sitting right where he crossed the road – I am not sure we would have been much of an obstacle for him.

It got better even better after that as we saw a car stopped on a bridge crossing as dry river bed. It turned out they had located two lions sitting in the grass. One was a young lion of probably a year or so and the other was a good looking older male. We got some good pictures and at one point I found myself looking the older male right in the eyes as he was looking for a way across the road we were on. He decided not to cross right there and moved back into the bush instead of going over the car.

After that we saw a nice group of 5 or 6 rhinos lounging under some trees, a couple more lions, and then another single elephant. We also ran across a herd of zebras where they had pretty much paired off and were resting their heads on each others backs. I never did figure out why – maybe so they could brush flies off each other’s face? It really was quite interesting to see.

The drive home took a little longer than our morning drive to the park, but we enjoyed looking at the landscape of Africa along the way. So ended one of the best P-days of the year.