Hluhluwe to St Lucia and return

We had a close encounter with a charismatic Zulu this morning at the Dumazulu Cultural Centre. Madangalazana met us at the entrance after stepping out of his Mitsubishi ute and spent the next 30 minutes entertaining us in Zulu but still managing to make some cultural points, especially relating to marriage. When we were totally bamboozled he managed to drop a few words in English to steer us through. Our guide Tholi, took us through the rest of the Kraal and she explained various aspects of culture, culminating in a traditional dance.

An hour later we were in St Lucia. (Pronunciation is like lucifer without the "f") This is a large wetland area and is arguably the oldest park in the world, a title disputed by Yellowstone in the US. It has a variety of large animals but the feature animal is the hippopotamus. It also lays claim to having the greatest biodiversity in South Africa with over 400 indigenous tree species and 526 bird species. As you cruise the wetland, 3 main species stand out on the river bank. These are the swamp hibiscus, white mangrove and wetland reeds, the latter being well utilized by the yellow weaver birds. It was interesting to note that the hibiscus were in flower and this coincided with the bird nest construction as the yellow weaver bird sought refuge from predatory eagles amongst the yellow hibiscus flowers

Our first large animal encounter was with a Nile Crocodile, the only species in Africa. The hippos stole the show however and conservatively we must have seen over 70. The largest pod had over 30 members with males and females and babies. One or two were quite cantankerous and put on a brief show of aggression for the tourists but generally they were enjoying their soporific slumber. A number of males were active in the water as they made periodic surfacing for air. It is interesting that hippos can't swim or float and they simply walk across the bottom and push themselves off the bottom to breathe as their heads emerge. It was sobering to see warning signs in the town making people aware of hippos wandering the streets at night and this was supported by photos, one seen drinking from a backyard pool. Perhaps they did get one for Christmas!!

A variety of bird life was observed, the largest being the Goliath Heron which was over a metre tall and had a wingspan of 1.3 metres. The largest fish ever pulled out of the wetland was a 240kg potato bass which is now in an aquarium in Durban. The other animals in the photos below are Water Bucks.

We hit the local fish shop for a late lunch which was served by 2.45pm. Fish and chips were on special and were a bargain at $2.90 per person. This included copious chips, tartare sauce and 2 large pieces of tasty fish. All food is ridiculously cheap compared to Australia and this also includes drinks. A great day's spotting to end the Hluhluwe experience. Tomorrow we leave Kwazulu-Natal Province and enter the Kingdom of Swaziland.