On Safari

Last Friday we decided that since Jeremy was doing so well, we would make one (more) switch to our itinerary. So on Saturday morning we packed up our belongings, threw all of our suitcases into our Honda Jazz, and drove up the coast to St. Lucia, a quiet little vacation town about three hours north of Durban.

The decision to go to St. Lucia was definitely a good one. After settling in at “African Ambiance, our gorgeous B&B, complete with African décor, gorgeous wooden furniture and a grass thatched roof, we took our hosts’ advice and headed to the beach.

Geckos, better than rats I guess!

After a short hike along a boardwalk, on our guard against rogue crocodiles, we found ourselves at the beachfront of the St. Lucia Estuary, a huge wildlife park. The estuary is home to hundreds of different bird life, hippos, crocodiles, sharks, whales, and is the breeding ground of the leather backed turtle. The beach was beautiful and huge, and it took some time to find the shore…

After the beach we went to the local ski and boat club restaurant for drinks and to watch the crocs and hippos play in the river. What a great afternoon! We watched a mamma and baby hippo romping through the water, swimming back and forth across the river. And about five crocodiles were chilling out near the shore. We also saw some beautiful birds who were quite hesitant around the crocs.

The goal of our trip to St. Lucia was simple– safari. On Sunday morning we headed out to Hluhuwe Imfolozi Park and set off on a 6 hour safari drive in search of wildlife. With Jeremy sound asleep in the back, we headed out into the Imfolozi part of the park. We hoped to see animals – lots of them, and we were not disappointed. Around the first turn after entering the park, a giant African Elephant was tramping through the tall grass. We spent the entire day marvelling at creation, worshiping God as we gazed at zebra, warthog, impala, nyala, kudu, and lots of others. We were greeted by a baby giraffe walking with it’s parents and relatives right beside the road. We were road-blocked by a wildebeest, who glared at us as we inched timidly around him. And an enormous rhinoceros sized us up as we passed by him and his mate. Jeremy woke in time for our picnic lunch at the Mpila Camp, and he even rode in the front seat with us for a bit down the road (when in Rome…).

Buffalo

Jeremy and the Giraffes

Momma, Poppa and little baby

White Rhinoceros (or maybe black, who can tell?)

Wildebeest

Drove right beside this one

Impala, they were EVERYWHERE!

Blurry African Elephant (and African grass which stole the focus)

Vervet Monkey (these were all around St. Lucia)

Red Duiker, also in St. Lucia

Nyala

Warthog, she had four babies with her too -- even the babies are ugly!

Beautiful zebra grazing right beside the road

The day was awe inspiring. What an incredible world we live in!