We began our Durban Day Safari very early due to the Amashova Road Cycle race which cause road closures from as early as 04:15 am. I got up at 3am to get to Durban on time to collect 2 of my clients and then was in Ballito to collect my other two clients at 5am.
We were already at the gate to reserve at 07:15 am and had already covered the major History of South Africa, Durban and the province of KwaZulu-Natal before our arrival. I must say all my clients were great sports with the early start and were still happy to listen to me cover the History and asked questions which was great.
We began our Durban Day Safari and spotted Zebra and Wildebeest before we spotted some Vultures on the ground pruning after finishing up a small Carcass which probably had been killed by Wild dogs and stolen by Lions that one of the vehicles in front was lucky to see the rear ends of as they walked into the thick bush.
Vultures pruning after finishing a carcass during our Durban day Safari Tour
Vultures pruning after finishing a carcass during our Durban day Safari Tour
We did not have to continue much further before another great sighting of a Black Rhino sleeping on the Hill. We waited in the hope he would stand up as the Impala walked past him but alas it was not meant to be so we continued our Durban Day Safari.
Black Rhino seen on our Durban Day Safari Tour
Black Rhino seen on our Durban Day Safari Tour
This was a great start as we also spotted an Elephant in the distance and a herd of Buffalo, we didn’t count those as they were to far!
We only needed to continue a few hundred meters before a great sighting of female Kudu which crossed the road and fed next to it for a great photo opportunity.
Kudu crossing the road on our Durban Day Safari Tour
Kudu crossing the road on our Durban Day Safari Tour
What a lovely sighting! Our Durban Day Safari Continued and we just kept spotting animals, next was the Waterbuck family with 6 or 7 females and this one Male I photographed.
What a Durban Day Safari this was turning out to be.
Waterbuck seen grazing on our Durban Day Safari Tour
Waterbuck seen grazing on our Durban Day Safari Tour
Moving along we spotted more Zebra and Baboons before we came across a fantastic sighting of a Giraffe walking next to the road near to some Warthogs! Very exciting.
Giraffe seen on our Durban Day Safari
Giraffe seen on our Durban Day Safari
It was now time to check the Umfolozi river and see what we could find. There was nothing really so we continued and spotted some Baboons and two old male Buffalo which came together for companionship. We then pasted through Mpila camp and stopped for a quick break before moving further down south were we spotted an amazing sighting of White Rhinos. Some were mud wallowing and the other grazing near by.
White Rhino mother and calf seen on our Durban Day Safari
White Rhino mother and calf seen on our Durban Day Safari
After this we continued with our Safari, we had actually seen Baboons, Kudu and the Rhino at this same spot. We had already seen 3 of the Big 5 and and just really needed to see the Elephants closer.
Our next sighting was actually a nice big herd of Buffalo.
Herd of Buffalo seen on the road during our Durban Day Tour
Herd of Buffalo seen on the road during our Durban Day Tour
What a brilliant Safari from Durban! As we moved on there wasn’t to much more time before we got our Elephants closer. I spotted them in the thickets and we just waited as the wondered closer to the road. We actually got some great shots of this male below but there was a twist as there was a Rock Monitor Lizard very close to where the Elephant was feeding so I took a picture of the scene. See if you can spot the Lizard?
Rock Monitor Lizard with this Elephant seen on our Safari from Durban.
Can you spot the Rock Monitor Lizard with this Elephant seen on our Safari from Durban
This was amazing to see this guy moving as far out of reach as possible, we had actually seen 3 Rock monitors in this single Day Safari and this is mostly because its the mating season for them.
We spent a bit more time out down South and we spotted a new born baby Elephant being rushed across the road by his mother and a sibling before we found more Warthogs. We even spotted a second Black Rhino for the day!
It was time to stretch the legs again so we spotted at a designated view site to do this and enjoy the view. Here we saw Rhino and Vultures.
As we started to head back I decided to check an old Giraffe carcass but there was no activity as it was now 2 weeks old and the middle of the day! On route back up to the late luncheon stop we spotted some Zebra next to the road.
Zebra foul next to the road on our Durban Day Tour
Zebra foul next to the road on our Durban Day Tour
Most people have very little interest in birds but my group seemed to like them so every so often if we saw something special we would stop to try and get a picture. I got a great on of this Purple Crested Turaco.
Purple Crested Turaco seen on our Durban Day Safari Tour
Purple Crested Turaco seen on our Durban Day Safari Tour
Continuing with our Durban day Safari we got back to the Umfolozi river where we spotted a Troop of Baboons drinking and playing in the river we also spotted Egyptian Geese and Spur Winged Geese.
Chacma Baboons at the Umfolozi river during our Durban Day Safari Tour
Chacma Baboons at the Umfolozi river during our Durban Day Safari Tour
It was time to get some food as the snack packs I provided were now finished and we were all feeling a little hungry so we headed to the Centenary center. By the time we had got there we had done almost 6 full hours in the game reserve and we hardly noticed the time go by as we all had such a great time and saw so many interesting things.
Lunch was great as always and the clients had a look through the curio shop before purchasing a few gifts to take home.
We were running low on time and we had had such an early start that we were all feeling the effects, we continued a bit longer before we spotted a bull Elephant actually outside the gate but still with in the game reserve next to the main Corridor road separating the Hluhluwe Sections from the Umfolozi Section.
We turned back to go and spend some time with this Elephant he also was right next to the sign saying “Hluhluwe Imfolozi game reserve” so it made for a great picture.
Elephant Bull seen next to the Hluhluwe Imfolozi game reserve turn off sign feeding on our Durban Day Tour
Elephant Bull seen next to the Hluhluwe Imfolozi game reserve turn off sign feeding on our Durban Day Tour
Our Durban Day Safari Tour had just about ended and we headed out the game reserve back to first Ballito, Durban and then the Bluff.
All final questions were asked and answered and a coffee stop had to be taken to keep us all awake… All in all a brilliant Durban Day Safari enjoyed by all of us!
