Hippos in Hluhluwe

Sawubona!

So this past weekend, I returned to little, old St. Lucia, but this time I went with ISA and all of the American exchange students (Pmb and Durban kids). The reason I like St. Lucia is that it is super small and I feel 99% comfortable walking around on the streets. There is one main street, Mackenzie, and pretty much everything there is to do is right there on that walk.

Arriving in St. Lucia, we all ate dinner at Ocean Basket. I got the beef and chicken skewer and it looked something like this:

For the duration of the trip, we stayed at a hotel called Boma. It was super nice and we had very big rooms. We were most excited about the fully loaded kitchen. 

That next morning (Saturday) we met with our Safari guides at 5:15 in the morning and they drove us over to the Hluhluwe. This safari would only be a half-day trip (my previous being a full day). The perk with this safari was definitely the weather. It was not cold and rainy and actually started to get really hot in the afternoon. 

I saw many of the same animals as I did last time and we had another great safari guide. However, the best part of the safari was when we came across a cheetah! This was a very rare find because there are only about 40 cheetahs in the 100,000+ acres that is Hluhluwe game reserve. This big cat was so beautiful and I was able to get a few decent pictures. 

That was easily the climax of the safari, although I did manage to capture some nice pictures of the other kinds of wildlife

An Impala

Zebra love

Pumba 

Giraffe running

The low point of the trip hit near the end of our safari. On our way to see a breeding herd of elephants (Close to 30 of them!) our truck ran over something bad and popped a tire.  After about 15 minutes driving on the spare, the bolts started coming loose so we had to stop yet again and eventually missed the big herd of elephants. We were all very dissapointed

Also near the end, the wildfires started picking up and gave me a wicked headache.

That night, half of us decided to go to the grocery store and cook ourselves a little braai for dinner. It was a collaborate effort and everything turned out deliciously. 

The highlight of that meal was not the stray kitten scratching my finger while trying to feed him meat, but the creatures that stumbled upon our little cookout right after sundown. 

HIPPOS!! So exciting!! 

Hippos are extremely dangerous and they run much faster than any of us could, but we were very excited to experience them right outside our back door. I wish that my camera was able to take a clearer picture, but I am sure that I can steal pictures from somebody else and post them later on.

The next day (Sunday), we went kayaking! In crocodile, shark, and hippo infested waters! Although our trip was only two hours we managed to see several hippos and a huge crocodile sunbathing. There was a certain adrenaline rush that came with the fact that we were in the water with these fierce beasts that easily eat us if they had wanted. Since we were in the water, I felt unsafe taking my camera so I was unable to capture pictures, but I doubt the pictures would have been able to do the experience justice. 

This picture of a crocodile sunbathing was stolen from a fellow student.

After kayaking, I went and visited my friends at the hostel I stayed over at last weekend. It was good to run into them again.

After that, we headed back home to Pietermaritzburg! Tiredly restless, I was ready to sleep in my own bed.

Next weekend, my ceramics prof is taking me and three other girls to her farm! We are going to spend Saturday in Lesotho hiking in the Drakensberg Mountains and then Sunday relaxing at her farm. Can't wait to share those pictures when they come.

So for now, Hamba Kahle!

Stay well.