On the last day of our trip, we hired a local guide to take us game viewing in the nearby national game park – Hluhluwe-Imfolozi. This 240,000 acre park established in 1895 is the oldest game preserve in Africa. Recognized for its conservation efforts, it has the largest population of white rhinos in the world. The park is also reputed for its natural beauty. So we met our guide at the jeep loop about an hour before dawn. It was damp and cool without the sun. Fortunately, our vehicle had zip up windows to block the wind, so cocooned in plastic, we hurtled down the empty highway to the north entrance of Hluhluwe, entering the park just as the sun yellowed the sky, backlighting the acacia trees on the horizon.
Immediately living up to its reputation, we spotted two white rhinoceros purposefully plodding across a plain of wispy grass heading toward the main park road. We quickly drove ahead of where the animals would likely cross and parked to watch.
Much to our delight, when the rhinoceroses reached the road, they realized it would be easier traveling on pavement than grassland, so began walking toward us. Meanwhile, all the vehicles entering the park behind the rhinos had to stop. These massive beasts sauntered toward us, giving us plenty of time to observe and photograph them; then as they neared, we left. Casually making their way down the road, they prevented the vehicles behind them from continuing into the park, giving us a traffic free head start to venture out on the park’s extensive 190 mile network of roads.
The park is situated between two rivers, the Black Umfolozi to the north and the White Umfolozi to the south with a mixture of lowlands and steep hills. There was no shortage of wetlands with thick, gooey mud, a perfect hangout for those old bachelor cape buffalos.
Our plan was to game view as we drove south towards Hilltop Lodge for a breakfast stop. The morning was still and given the early hour and little traffic (for all we knew, jeeps coming in the main park gate might still be processing slowly behind those two rhinos), we frequently saw wildlife on the gravel road, warming themselves in the rising sun. Staring intently at us as we interrupted its grooming ritual, a vervet monkey waited until we were within 20 feet of it, to bound away.
Hilltop is aptly named as this lodge sits atop a high ridge about 1200 feet above sea level. The drive up the ridge was breathtaking, with distant forested hills and valleys of lush green bushveld.
Hilltop was the first tourist camp and lodge built in the park in 1934 and is still a popular overnight stop for game viewing visitors. We breakfasted on a large screened veranda overlooking the valley. It was too cool to comfortably sit outside for breakfast, but the large open windows provided a breathtaking view of the surrounding area.
From Hilltop, we left paved and gravel roads, heading south into the rugged grasslands on sandy tracks. This was the perfect habitat for giraffes.
A lovely female with light yellow and brown markings poked her head out of a clump of bushes, ears standing at attention, an oxpecker attached to her forehead.
Two adolescent females with vibrant, Irish setter-like coloring emerged from the brush, standing on the road, watching as we slowly approached. Like human fingerprints, a giraffe’s markings are unique. Its pattern of spots is effective camouflage from predators, but also serves another important purpose. Beneath each patch is a sophisticated system of blood vessels that a giraffe can send blood through to release accumulated heat in its body and cool itself.
Open sandy riverbeds, now dry but still cool and shaded, were popular places for nyala to gather. Nyalas are not particularly fast or strong so when they are out in the open, they typically have forest nearby to escape to, playing hide and seek, which they are quite good at, with predators. Called the wanderers of the antelope world, nyala typically live in loose temporary groups of 4-8 animals. Females and youngsters are easily identified by their vibrant white stripes.
Nyala have a symbiotic relationship with monkeys and baboons, eating fruit that is dropped by these primate friends. They also react to their alarm calls. Not surprisingly, a baboon was perched in the crook of a tree above the nyala.
Sandy river beds are also great resting places for rhinoceros and we saw several dozing in the shade of scrub along the bank. Hlu ‘s white rhino population is estimated at 1600. The park’s conservation efforts are credited with bringing the white rhino back from near extinction. Under the visionary leadership of the Director of Provisional Park Services, ‘Colonel’ Jack Vincent, Operation Rhino was started in the 1950s to protect and relocate rhinoceros. Initially, starting as an anti-game hunting, anti-poaching initiative to preserve and protect what few remaining rhinos were left in Hlu, the Colonel eventually teamed up with a noted veterinarian, Ian Parker who developed a method of tracking and safely anesthetizing these huge animals so they could be transported and relocated to other conservation areas in South Africa. Starting in the 1960s, over 4000 white rhinos and 90 black rhinos have been safely relocated from Hlu to other parks. Thanks to this initiative, the white rhino population has rebounded to an estimated 20,000 and the black to 5500. Poaching is still a significant threat to the species’ survival – despite scientific evidence that the keratin in rhino horns is similar to human fingernails and has no medicinal value, some Asian countries, notably Vietnam, believe it has curative properties and confers status. So Hlu’s field ranger teams remain vigilant, monitoring and carrying out anti-poaching activities via patrol, assisted by dogs and aircraft.
By midday, we made a loop and began to head north, detouring to Hilltop for a refreshment and bio break. The panorama from the patio was even more beautiful in the soft light of the afternoon sun, illuminating the autumnal oranges, brown and yellows of the bushveld.
Descending to the valley, we encountered a ‘tower’ of giraffes, nibbling on scrubby thorn bushes, their patterned hides beautifully contrasting with the landscape.
As we turned on the main road that would ultimately take us to the main gate and out of the park, I mistakenly assumed our wildlife viewing was done for the day. But the animals must know that as dusk approaches and the park closes, the road is theirs to use. First, we saw a warthog family, mom and three adolescents, grubbing for bugs along the edge of the road where it was easier to burrow.
A ‘dazzle’ of zebras walked the road, stopping to nibble grasses along the shoulder.
As we approached the gate, a large herd of cape buffalo congregated on the road, blocking our passage. So we waited patiently for them to move along, observing these African bovines as they grazed. Like oversized cows, these animals appear docile and harmless, although historically big game hunters called them the Black Death. The name still sticks today, cape buffalo are unpredictable and do attack humans. As the animals grazed, so too, numerous oxpeckers feasted on the lice and ticks on their bodies. One large bull raised his head to look around and as if on cue, so too the oxpecker he was hosting!
Eventually the buffalos cleared the road and we exited the park, heading back to Zulu Nyala. Tomorrow we go home, refreshed and rejuvenated by the week we spent appreciating the wonders of the natural world. Little did we realize how the world we were heading back to would change, and how this week long dose of nature would sustain us in the difficult months ahead.