Durban day safari to Tala and Valley of 1000 Hills 11th January 2015
I met my client in Durban off the Oceana Nautica cruise ship it was one of those days where the ship comes 2 hours late and for some Tour operators and tour guide this ruined the day as they would have booked something and ended up not being able to get their in time.
I was really fortunate as I could be really flexible and we manage for the most part to avoid the huge bus tours as we went on our merry way. My clients were originally from Scotland and not live in Canada which was really interesting, a lovely group.
We first began at Tala game reserve and having learning that my clients had been to Botswana for and the Sabi Sands for Safaris already on this trip all I could do was wow them with information they may not have heard. The animals sightings I have to say were very good but Tala is a small private game reserve and does not have the Big 5, except Rhino.
Our first sighting as usual was Zebra as we go into Tala game reserve on our Durban day safari.
Zebra on our Durban day safari
Zebra on our Durban day safari
As we continued we found more Zebra, Wildebeest, Blesbok, Warthogs, Nyala, Impala and the list goes on. We only ended up spending just over 2 hours at Tala as we saw everything they had just about and as the clients had seen it all before this meant we could get into the Valley of 1000 Hills sooner than expected after the ship delay.
Ostriches on our Durban day safari
Ostriches on our Durban day safari
These ostriches were great as they had a huge amount of little ones with them and this was something my clients had not seen! We continued on and found some Giraffe which were great as it was 2 females with 2 babies. We spent some time correcting some theories other guides had mentioned and this was really great for me to share the knowledge I have on these animals with my great clients.
Giraffe on our Durban day safari
Giraffe on our Durban day safari
As we move on we visited the dam where the Hippos were and go some small looks at them which were not great but still good. We then made our way into the open plains to find the Rhinos of which we did all 5 of them. This was looking like a good Durban day safari.
Rhino on our Durban day safari
Rhino on our Durban day safari
We decided to leave the game reserve of Tala and move on into the valley of 1000 Hills 35 minutes away to enjoy the views and have some lunch. I was very surprised that the restaurant was able to make provision for us and we had a restaurant all to our selves even though they had it booked for the Ships big bus tours!
My clients were great sports and had Phutu, Chakalaka and Boerewors which I had as well which is a really traditional dish! It was lovely.
Once we finished up we avoided the crowds at the reptile park and I did my own tour for my clients. It was great and some of the crocodiles there are huge!
Crocodile seen on our Durban day safari
Crocodile seen on our Durban day safari
The above crocodile was a female on a nest that we saw in the valley of 1000 hills at Phezulu safari park. Next would be the Zulu Cultural village overlooking the amazing valley of 1000 hills which is so we known in the area and a great place to visit if you are in the Durban area on a Durban day safari with Tim Brown Tours.
We then moved on into the Zulu cultural village where we got to witness some amazing Zulu dancing and drumming. The team in the Valley of 1000 Hills, really put in such effort and perform for us!
Zulu dancing seen on our Durban day safari
Zulu dancing seen on our Durban day safari
My clients enjoyed the Zulu dancing and after the show we had a look through the shop before making our way slowly back to the Oceana Cruise ship.
Zulu drumming on our Durban day safari
Zulu drumming on our Durban day safari
We arrived back in Durban late afternoon after what had been a great Durban day safari and after my clients had got to experience some amazing Zulu Culture, Nature and History of the KwaZulu Natal area.
If you are interested in what is shown above contact me and we will area a Durban day safari or Durban overnight safari to suit your needs.
