I met my client at a Durban hotel, it was here we would begin our Durban Day Safari to the Valley of 1000 Hills.
This Durban Day tour and Safari is always a interesting one as it covers a vast amount of things: Nature, Culture and History all in one short day. We always begin with the History of Durban and KwaZulu-Natal chat in the vehicle on the drive to Tala game reserve before we cover the nature side of things in the reserve.
Tala game reserve is great place for a Safari near Durban as it is only 45 minutes from the city. Being so close it means we can cover more than just the Animals in a Durban Day Tour.
We arrived at Tala game reserve and had some really good sightings of animals. Our first sighting was this Wildebeest silhouetted with a dam behind him.
Wildebeest seen on our Durban Safari near Durban to Tala game reserve, Valley of 1000 Hills and Zulu Cultural Village
Wildebeest seen on our Durban Safari near Durban to Tala game reserve, Valley of 1000 Hills and Zulu Cultural Village
Tala game reserve has a very high density of animals which means you should see a lot in a short time which give us the opportunity to cover this game reserve in short space of time. Minutes later we spotted more animals on this Durban Day Tour.
Blesbok, Egyptian Geese and Ostrich seen on our Durban Safari near Durban to Tala game reserve, Valley of 1000 Hills and Zulu Cultural Village
Blesbok, Egyptian Geese and Ostrich seen on our Durban Safari near Durban to Tala game reserve, Valley of 1000 Hills and Zulu Cultural Village
This was such a great picture as we had 3 different species of animals all next to one another. This is common in shared habitat like open grasslands. Both the Ostrich and Blessbok eat grass.
Our next sighting was of some Zebra, wow what a Day safari Tour!
Zebra seen on our Durban Safari near Durban to Tala game reserve, Valley of 1000 Hills and Zulu Cultural Village
Zebra seen on our Durban Safari near Durban to Tala game reserve, Valley of 1000 Hills and Zulu Cultural Village
These Zebra were just grazing away and taking things very easy. It was at this point we decided to look for Rhinos at the open areas near the watering holes. We had no luck with the Rhinos as it was a cold cloudy day for our safari which meant the Rhinos hid in the thick bush. We did however have an awesome sighting of Eland which is a huge cow sizes antelope, in this species both male and female have horns.
Eland seen on our Durban Safari near Durban to Tala game reserve, Valley of 1000 Hills and Zulu Cultural Village
Eland seen on our Durban Safari near Durban to Tala game reserve, Valley of 1000 Hills and Zulu Cultural Village
These Eland were traditionally hunted by the true South Africans the San-Bushmen and we used for not only food but every part of the body was used for something. The skin was used for clothing, Blood and Fat for binding agents in paint, horns to transport fluids etc.
Our next sighting after a quick look around the curio shop was the Giraffe.
Giraffe seen on our Durban Safari near Durban to Tala game reserve, Valley of 1000 Hills and Zulu Cultural Village
Giraffe seen on our Durban Safari near Durban to Tala game reserve, Valley of 1000 Hills and Zulu Cultural Village
This female Giraffe had a baby with her but the baby always was moving away from its mother. Our Durban Day Tour was really looking promising at this stage. We headed down to another dam where we spotted some Hippos resting in the water.
Hippos seen on our Durban Safari near Durban to Tala game reserve, Valley of 1000 Hills and Zulu Cultural Village
Hippos seen on our Durban Safari near Durban to Tala game reserve, Valley of 1000 Hills and Zulu Cultural Village
These Hippos were having a good rest after a night of feeding on grass, these 2 Ton beast can consume as much as 90Kgs of grass in a night! After spotted a Fish Eagle with a fish he had just caught we continued on and departed for the Valley of 1000 Hills. It took us about 35 minutes to get to our destination, Phezulu Safari Park.
It was here that we had arrived just in time to join a free “Dangerous snake demonstration”, this was very interesting and we then had some lunch before doing the full Tour of the reptile park.
Crocodiles seen on our Durban Safari near Durban to Tala game reserve, Valley of 1000 Hills and Zulu Cultural Village
Crocodiles seen on our Durban Safari near Durban to Tala game reserve, Valley of 1000 Hills and Zulu Cultural Village
These were some big crocodiles we saw and we also got to enjoy the snakes, terrapins and Tortoises on this part of our Durban Day Tour.
It was not 2pm and time to get across to the Zulu Cultural Village for the Zulu Dancing and singing, it is also here where we get to enter into the meeting Hut and cooking hut to learn more about Zulu Culture.
Sangoma throws the bones on our Durban Safari near Durban to Tala game reserve, Valley of 1000 Hills and Zulu Cultural Village
Sangoma throws the bones on our Durban Safari near Durban to Tala game reserve, Valley of 1000 Hills and Zulu Cultural Village
We were shown how a marriage proposal would work in Zulu culture and the Sangomas or Fortune tellers throwing the bones to read the future of the young man who was to be married. All of this is very exciting to witness even for me and I have done and seen this many times!
Zulu Dancing seen on our Durban Safari near Durban to Tala game reserve, Valley of 1000 Hills and Zulu Cultural Village
Zulu Dancing seen on our Durban Safari near Durban to Tala game reserve, Valley of 1000 Hills and Zulu Cultural Village
This Zulu is one man I can never take my eyes off as he dances with such passion every time he is in front us. Its truly a special experience to be invited to witness the traditions which are sadly fading in Zulu Culture. This is for me what makes this a special Durban Day Tour to be involved with.
Demonstration of King Shakas Invention the Assagai on our Durban Safari near Durban to Tala game reserve, Valley of 1000 Hills and Zulu Cultural Village
Demonstration of King Shakas Invention the Assagai on our Durban Safari near Durban to Tala game reserve, Valley of 1000 Hills and Zulu Cultural Village
The last part of our Durban Day Tour at this Zulu Cultural village is to visit with Chief Gaza and learn more of how the Zulu lives and of there traditional weapons. The Assagai being held by was invented by the great King Shaka in the 1820’s. It was a short stabbing spear and used to kill the British in close combat in many famous battles in the future including Isandlwana in 1879.
It was a this point we now had a look at the curio, craft shop before heading back to Durban City.
What a great Durban Day Tour!
