We are at the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park in South Africa and this morning during the safari at dawn, in the Hluhluwe area, we have made one of the most beautiful safaris of this trip; in addition to white rhinos, elephants and buffaloes, we saw three beautiful lion cubs and eight African wild dogs walking fast along the dirt road.

We managed to follow the wild dogs for a while, before the other cars arrived; this park, however, does not have many visitors and in the end we were five cars that took turns to not bother them too much.

A spectacular sighting!

After the safari we returned to the Hilltop Camp, just the time to have breakfast, load our car and leave; tonight we sleep in the other part of the park, at iMfolozi, and, descending, we cross a large part of the park and go on safari.

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During the safari at dawn we saved the position of where the lion cubs were, so, first, we try to see if they can still be seen or if the mothers came back from the hunt and moved them.

We take a dirt road that climbs up one of the many hills in the park, it is very steep but our Dr. Livingstone has no problem getting there; from the road and from the top you can enjoy a wonderful view of the park.

As we go towards the place where the lion cubs were, we spot several zebras, buffaloes, nyalas, impalas and some elephants; we take some pictures and then continue.

When we reach our destination the lion cubs are gone, or perhaps we can no longer see them, perhaps they have moved behind the tall grass, where it would be impossible to sight them; instead of the two lionesses there is no trace.

Patience we tried.

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We go back along the dirt track and then take the road that runs along the river, even this is unpaved but it is less steep.

The river is permanent and has a lot of water, along its banks is a beautiful river forest, occasionally there is a vantage point from where you can admire beautiful views.

At one point we see two elephants on the riverbank that are drinking and we stop to observe them, shortly after comes the rest of the herd, it is quite numerous and there are also three puppies; we immediately turn off the engine and look at them, taking pictures, they are beautiful and they are all there on the river bank to drink.

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We are both turned to the left and the windows of our car are all lowered, the engine is off and no noise is heard except a few birds in the distance; at some point we hear a rustle of grass near us: two lionesses are passing next to the car but on the right side, they are so close that we could caress them.

Wow, however, when one says the feline step, if we had not heard that slight rustle of grass we probably would not even notice their presence.

As soon as they pass us, we start to follow them, they cross the road and now they are on the left side, they stop to look at us and we stop not to scare them but also to close the windows, you never know, better keep a safety distance.

They continue to walk and we follow them, they are beautiful, we are almost certain that they are the mothers of the puppies we saw this morning, we have seen only three, but some researchers have told us that there are actually five puppies and they are of two different females.

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We have deduced that they are the mothers because it is clear that they have milk; also for this reason we keep at distance, they are in a delicate phase of their life.

At a certain point they both look in one direction and leave at a brisk pace, probably they have pointed a prey, but they disappear almost immediately in the tall grass and we do not see them anymore.

But what a thrill to see them so close to us, we were alone and we like it a lot; it is really true that sometimes you can turn around and not find an animal, while if it is destiny, you can see them even without looking for them.

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We continue our safari and see some buffaloes lying in the mud of the river, they look like elderly specimens, when they are old the buffaloes gradually lose their hair and tend to sprinkle with mud to protect the skin from the sun.

We also see an elephant near a waterhole that is sleeping, they are too funny when they sleep with their proboscis resting on the ground; come on wake up the sun is already high in the sky!

We arrive on the main road that is paved and proceed to the South.

Since it is already lunchtime we look for a picnic area and stop to eat; there are tables and benches made of recycled plastic, they have done too well to do so because in this way they do not get ruined like the wood ones, they do not release splinters and above all they recycle plastic.

While we have lunch, a South African approaches our car and looks at it with curiosity, we watch him and he asks us a thousand questions, he is changing his car and would like to do it like ours; this year our Dr. Livingstone makes massacres of hearts!

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We arrive at the sign indicating that we are leaving Hluhluwe and are entering iMfolozi.

Here, however, the landscape is hilly but the hills are less steep and there are more grasslands of low grass and less trees, it should be easier to sight the animals, but this in theory, then in practice we will see.

We stop at the Centenary Center, where there is a small take away, a craft market and a museum, it is small but interesting, it tells how over the years the animals have been moved and how this has played a key role in the preservation of some species.

We go back to the car and continue our journey, we go to the Mpila Camp, we skip the various lookouts, we are a bit tired, it was a long day today and we want to rest a little, tomorrow we have all day to explore the area.

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