A day at the Hlane Royal National Park

We are in Swaziland, or Eswatini, at the Hlane Royal National Park and more precisely at the Bhubesi Camp.

This morning we woke up in our cottage, we had breakfast in our kitchen, well it is definitely more convenient than having breakfast on our table in the middle of the savannah, although we love it.

Today we take it with a bit of calm, this morning we want to enjoy a bit of relaxation; after breakfast we pick up Dr. Livingstone and we go to the Ndlovu Lodge.

We sit at the wooden tables that are near the shop, I write and download on the Mac the photographs taken in recent days, while Silvano goes around to photograph birds; there are beautiful ones, such as the hoopoe and the paradise flycatcher with its beautiful long tail when it is in the breeding period, in practice, without moving from the lodge, you can do a good birdwatching.
 

What a relaxation this morning, after many days of safari at the Kruger we need days a little less demanding.

At the waterhole today there are no rhinos, they will probably arrive later, from what we understand the waterhole in front of the Ndlovu Lodge is their favorite place; in the waterhole, however, are the three hippos, that are immersed in water, and several water birds such as herons and lapwings.

We spend the morning here at the lodge, today there is no one, the group of Italians, who was there yesterday, has already left, there are only two couples of South Africans but, shortly after, they disappear; we have the entire lodge for us.

On the acacias, near the reception, there are many weavers’ nests, some are building them right now; they are fascinating, they succeed, with their small beak, to finely weave their nests hanging from the branches, they seem elaborate baskets, we remain always enchanted looking at them.

We're going to get food and drink in Dr. Livingstone's fridge and have lunch at the wooden tables in the sun; this morning we really enjoyed the relaxation immersed in nature anyway.

While we have lunch we realize that, hanging from the attic of the store, there are several bats; they are small and have a nice little face.

We booked a safari in the rhino sector and in the lions sector for this afternoon; taking part in a safari organized by Ndlovu Lodge is the only way to see the lion sector, while it is possible to do self-drive in the rhinos sector and in the rest of the park.

At 2.00 pm we leave and, first of all, we do the safari in the rhinos section; we find them almost immediately, they are not far from the waterhole but in a point not visible from the lodge, they are sitting or lying on the ground, they are very relaxed, it is clear that they do not feel threatened either by other animals or by humans.

We continue our safari and go to the lions section; here the park is much less vegetated, there are probably more elephants in this area, or there have been in the past.

The Hlane Royal National Park is divided into three sectors, bounded by fences, this is done in order to protect some species of animals that have been reintroduced with difficulty, such as rhinos, elephants and lions; this perhaps penalizes a bit the experience of the visit, but it is a very useful operation for the conservation.

The lions sector is not very wide, but we still have to turn a bit to find them and in the end we can see them along the perimeter of the fence; this is a herd consisting of three females and a young male, one of the females, that our guide calls "granma" is the progenitor of the herd and is very old, when it walks it looks like a harmless old woman, but just crossing its gaze is enough to understand that, if it wanted to, it could kill with a feline leap.

The guide tells us that there is another herd in this area but we cannot find it, incredible, although the area is relatively small and sparsely vegetated they manage to hide themselves very well.

These lions have been reintroduced here recently, currently living alone in this area the plan is to reintroduce them in the future, no one knows when, in the remaining part of the park.

An expert eye immediately grasps that they are still in a state of semi-liberty, here in fact there are no prey and the lions remain close to the fence, probably the rangers enter the preys from here to feed them; this is our deduction but there is no other explanation for the absence of herbivores that are their natural killing.

We go back to the area of ​​the park that is in the rhino sector, we go to a hide that is on a small hill; from here the view opens onto a lagoon where there are several birds, some elephants and several impalas, the contrast of this green oasis is very beautiful with the rest of the park that is dry at this time of the year.

When we return to the Ndlovu Lodge, we go to the waterhole to see if the rhinos have arrived and in fact they are there, some lying down, others standing; they are too beautiful.

At about 5:00pm we decide to return to our lodge, the Bhubesi Camp, we have to start putting our bags inside Dr. Livingstone because tomorrow we leave, we also have to prepare wood for making charcoal for the braai, but first we drink a glass of Casa Montini wine.

Cheers to today!