It is Wednesday morning in South Africa and we have a wine buzz. Let's blog!
On Monday we did two game drives here on Zulu Nyala. In our downtime between drives, we chilled in the tent and watched "My Best Friend's Wedding, " only the greatest movie of all time! Says holly. For dinner that night, they were serving impala -- fresh from the reserve! Ryan says it tasted a lot like beef stew but a little more gamey, not bad overall. Holly says pass the chicken!
On Tuesday we decided to do a day trip to St. Lucia. It is a small coastal town known for its estuary full of crocodiles and hippos. In fact, on the St. Lucia river, there are 1200 crocs and 800 hippos! But. Our river boat guide had trouble finding more than 6 crocs and 12 hippos. Our two hour boat ride could have been better spent napping, says Holly. The trip wasn't a total loss. We had a fun lunch at their boating and fishing club on the water and watched an intense televised game of cricket between Bangladesh and West Indies. You'll never guess it, but Bangladesh won. We couldn't believe it either! We finished our time there with a bit of shopping; Holly is much better at bartering than Ryan. (says Holly. But it's true!) On our way out of town we got our closest peek at monkeys, 4 of them sitting on the edge of the road posing as we took pics.
Back at the reserve, we met up with our group for an afternoon game drive. We got to see the female cheetah and her 4 cubs up close, but we are still on the hunt for the elusive Leopard, the only one of the Big 5 we haven't seen.
Our group of 9 and our guide had dinner together at the game lodge that's located inside the reserve. (Our tent and the hotel are located about a 5 min drive from the reserve.) The lodge is a bit fancier than our restaurant back in the village and it was nice to learn more about our guide, James.
Last night we finally experienced it --- Rain in Africa!! After 4 straight days of cloudy skies, they opened up and let it rip around 2 am. Have you ever slept in a tent during a thunderstorm? There is no sleeping involved! Also, the wind whips our roof around very very loudly, it is impossible to sleep through. Ryan has recorded the noise in a video, it is sure to be a YouTube hit.
Today our group is going shopping and having lunch in a nearby village, so we didn't go on the morning game drive hence the free time to drink some wine.
To answer your questions...
Most surprising thing about the trip thus far:
Holly: the radio songs...guess I was expecting more traditional African music, not so much American influence. Also the weather here on the safari..it has been a lot cooler than I thought (and I left my jacket in Durban but anytime I bring it up Ryan says "hakuna matata!")
Ryan: The wide range of landscapes throughout the country. We started off with mountains going into the ocean in Cape Town to fields of grapevines among the mountains in Franschhoek to farm fields on our way to Hermanus to the rocky coast of Hermanus and watching whales from the shore to the pine forests of Knysna to the coastal urban city of Durban and their endless beaches and now being in the bush with your more traditional looking safari landscape.
Holly: Ryan's answer was way better, i'll second what he says.
Something we're glad we researched before coming:
Everything! We spent a lot of time reading and planning before this trip and have been very glad that we did. Also its been very nice having our own car.
Holly also adds that she's glad Ryan did the research on driving/passing on the shoulder.
Down time at the safari?
Not really, each day so far has been different so our afternoon "free time" is hit or miss. Yesterday we had no free time during the day, the day before we had about 3 hours.
How close do we get to the animals?
The elephants have gotten within 6 feet of the vehicle. Our guide is very good at maintaining a safe distance from them. Other animals (Nyala, zebra, impala, buffalo, giraffe) are often closer, especially if they're in the roadway. At Phinda watching the lions, we parked about 15 feet away from them and they moved around us, sometimes coming closer.
Mock-charging Elephants
The elephants mock charge is their way of saying "One of us has to go. Either you move, or we'll fight over who moves." They don't want to fight if they don't have to but they're annoyed someone has entered "their" space.
Unique foods we've tried
Springbok balls - a common deer-like animal, deep fried in bite-sized balls
Sticky bun ice cream- amazing, we are going to start manufacturing this
"Chicken mayo" is a popular sandwich option - it's like a chicken salad, but creamier and just those two ingredients
Raw oyster in Knysna, supposedly the best in the whole world - not sure I agree says Holly
Homemade pie roadside stands - we haven't stopped at any yet, but it took awhile to realize they're not talking about apples and cherries. Meat pies seem to be a pretty traditional food, you can buy them in gas stations like you can buy slices of pizza and hot dogs in America
The food at the reserve is all buffet style with a lot of meat, sides and salad options. Nothing too exotic except for the impala the other night.
For the most part, we've been eating a lot of seafood when we're in coastal towns and non-African food when we're not -- like Thai, sushi, pizza, sandwiches. It is easier to find/more abundant than traditional foods.
Thanks for your questions! Keep 'em coming!
Holly and Ryan
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