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Discovering Eastern South Africa and Swaziland
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi: wild dog - Photo Credits: Romina Facchi
When we wake up this morning it's still dark, we get ready, have a coffee and then, with our Dr. Livingstone, we go to where the central area of the lodge is; from here organized safaris depart.
We are in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, this morning we have a morning drive safari with a Hilltop Camp guide and then, after breakfast, we will leave in the direction of the iMfolozi area.
Last night's sunset safari did not particularly impress us, today we hope to be luckier.
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi: elephants - Photo Credits: Romina Facchi
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!
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi - Photo Credits: Romina Facchi
We are at the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, in the part of iMfolozi, in South Africa; this is the first time we venture into this part of the park.
We chose the Mpila Camp that has both cottages and tents and we have preferred the latter.
We check in, take a ride to the store, but it has very few things, we, knowing it, are prepared, we did the shopping in St. Lucia the other day.
We follow the signs for the tent no. 27 and, when we find it, we park Dr. Livingstone and take the path that leads to our tent.
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi - Photo Credits: Romina Facchi
This morning we wake up in our wonderful tent at the Mpila Camp, it is 6:30am and the sun has already risen since a while; we sit on our terrace in the sun to have breakfast and then we leave for the last full day of safari of this trip; better not to think about it so as not to get too fed up.
In the first few kms we do not see much, here the vegetation is a bit too thick to make sightings, we would see an animal only if it were on the way.
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi: Rhinos - Photo Credits: Romina Facchi
This morning we woke up at the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park in South Africa, but this was the last night we spent in a park and we're a little sad; we have breakfast and then we load our Dr. Livingstone and we leave.
We drive all the way to the Nyalazi Gate, taking advantage of these few miles to make the last safari of this trip.
Shakaland Cultural Village - Photo Credits: Romina Facchi
We are in the KwaZulu-Natal along the East coast of South Africa, we decided to spend time in the Shakaland Cultural Village to learn more about the traditions of the Zulu.
Among the many African cultures present in South Africa, the Zulu is undoubtedly one of the most significant, it has a long history, an important cultural heritage and a modern identity.
The name of the Shakaland Cultural Village pays tribute to the famous Shaka, king of the Zulus who gave a decisive impulse to the history of his people.
Our car! - Photo Credits: Silvano Greco
This morning we left Shakaland in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal; after visiting the Zulus cultural village, we checked out and we left by our Dr. Livingstone.
The road to Johannesburg is rather long and sometimes monotonous, crossing endless meadows of livestock breeding, small towns with a traffic worthy of the Milan fashion week and fields cultivated with sugar cane.
The R34 runs quite fast, the bottom is good and the donkey-drawn carts and the herds that clutter the road are almost completely absent.
Ethiopian Airlines - Photo Credits: Silvano Greco
We are in Johannesburg, this morning we wake up and have breakfast, today is the day of our departure to go back home, and we already miss so much our Dr. Livingstone.
At about 10:00am we take the shuttle by our hotel and we go to the airport.
First we go to the Vodacom store to return the portable wi-fi we rented; although not very cheap it was the ideal solution for us, in this way we always had the connection, for the entire duration of our journey.
We go to the check in, we pass the checks and make the exit from the country: bye bye South Africa, see you soon!
Ethiopian Airlines - Photo Credits: Romina Facchi
We are coming back from our trip to South Africa and we are in transit at Addis Ababa, our flight to Milan leaves at 11:45pm; we stay at the Ethiopian's lounge until the last moment, as we have the privileged controls and boarding we have time.
We pass the checks and wait for them to call our flight, while we wait they call many other flights: Johannesburg (who wants to go back!), Tokyo, Seoul, Chennai, Toronto, Washington, Vienna, Brussels, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Nairobi, Kampala , Asmara, Entebbe ... in a few minutes we have been around the world!
South Africa - Swaziland - Photo Credits: Romina Facchi
Our trip to South Africa and Swaziland has just ended; we have just returned home and it is time to draw conclusions, as usual at the end of such an adventure.
Here are the numbers of our trip:
4 flight routes with Ethiopian Airlines, for a total of 22 hours of flying
4 hours spent at the Sheba Lounge in Addis Ababa
10,945 km traveled on our Dr. Livingstone
65,705 photo and video files with our DSLR cameras, the new arrival Lumix Panasonic, our Gopro and our iphone
106 hours of recorded video
25 days of safari