Those who know me well enough will know that games reserves in South Africa has always been one of the places I have been wanting to visit :)
Exploring Africa has always been feeling mysterious; magnificent; amazing; adventurous; inspiring (in fact many other mixed feelings) to me. Unfortunately, the conventional 10D9N tour packages offered by Singapore failed to intrigue me in any way. The packages available to Africa, like most other packages, cover numerous places around South Africa – ie. Cape Town/ Johannesburg etc but include only 1D in game reserve. I detest such hasty and stressful tour package!!!! During the NATAS fair in March 2011, one of the tour agents standing at a barely visible corner attracted me with the safari pictures. I have never heard of this tour agency though but trust me, this lady provided me with the most excellent service based on my experiences with all other money-sucker and poor English-speaking agents that I came across.
Her agency offered the conventional tour packages like others as well but as I voiced out my ideas of covering only game reserves during my trip, she agreed to draft a customised package based on my requests. Her enthusiasm and passion for South Africa had also impressed me much as well. Frankly speaking, she does not make a good marketing person:P. She was telling me all about her experiences in South Africa and how much she loves that place which got her to start this business (she hardly spoke about selling her package throughout the conversation until I interrupted her to get to it) I like her very much though!
After a week of discussion on this customised trip, I decided to visit Durban under her recommendation in the 10D8N adventure!
Finally, getting started on my trip..it took me a long way to get there! Taking Emirate Air will mean 10 hours flight to Dubai, followed by 4 hours transit at Dubai and 8 hours to Durban (22 hours in total!). There were 2 accommodations selected for this trip: Falaza Game Park & Spa http://falaza.co.za and Pakamisa Paradise http://www.pakamisa.co.za.
Both Falaza and Pakamisa own private game reserves. Both packages offered 2 daily activities with 3 meals. For each meal, there were different menu to choose from. Given that most visitors there are Europeans, they served tasty and nicely-decorated meals everyday! Except that after staying at Pakamisa Paradise, I realised that the food at Falaza is nothing.....read on to hear about that Paradise!!!!!
The first night at Falaza was extremely short. I arrived at Durban in the evening and took the 2 hours drive from Durban airport to Falaza. I arrived at about 9+pm and had dinner there and slept. The next early morning, I visited Falaza Private Game Reserve which is within the compound. I am fortunate to get a passionate ranger who knows absolutely everything about animals (but I forgot his unique local name...). If you click on the Falaza website, you will immediately see rhinoceros which is one of their main attractions there. We drove around in the rover and found the 4 beautiful rhinoceros grazing on grasses. Did you know rhino are almost blind? They cannot see but can hear and smell very well. They react to any sudden movement around them as well. I was invited to get down the rover to stand near the rhino. At the start, I was so worried that they may charge at me as I was less than a metre away from 4 of them! They look ferocious yet gentle and you can almost sense calmness standing next to them.
We also spotted giraffes and a herd of “running away” zebra which i caught a few glimpse before they disappeared. This private game reserve is only 600+ hectares, too small to contain any carnivores but a good orientation for me on the first day.
The second activity on 1st day is Big 5 Game Drive (Just in case, big 5 are the elephants, lions; buffaloes; rhinocerous and leopards) to Hluhluwe Game Reserve which is about 30minutes drive from Falaza. http://www.gamereservehluhluwe.com/. If I remember correctly, the size of Hluhluwee is about 96,000 hectares (as compared to the 600+hectares in Falaza Game Reserve). I was almost dumb-founded when I got into this huge and magnificent game reserve. There were sightings of more animals for sure. In this first trip, I caught the cute giraffes (so many of them, including the young, standing next to the rover!!!!). I also managed to capture a herds of zebras next to the giraffes as well. In the safari, you can see many impalas (small species of deers) as they are part of the food chain for the young carnivores like the lion cubs. I spotted the warthogs (which looks like pigs to me) as well.
One of the interesting games spotted was the hyenas. There were two of them, one asleep in the grass and the other keeping a close watch on us. The drive was about 3 hours long and all vehicles have to leave the reserve by 6pm. Sun sets very early during winter and it was almost dark on our way out at 5.50pm. We managed to drive through a large group of giraffe and zebras again. It was magnificent to see so many of them in the dark! Still no sight of my lions.. :(
It was almost impossible to get enough of the reserve so i returned the next day for the morning game drive. Departing at 5.30am, I arrived at the reserve at around 6am which was the opening hours. I was greeted by the spotted hyenas which I could not manage to get a clear look last evening. I managed to spot more giraffes, zebras, impalas and this time round, I saw the herds of buffaloes! Still no sight of my lions.. On the way back, there was a group of baboons (little monkeys with red butt which I call them) on the road! As more jeeps came along, they scuttled back to the trees and stared at us from there.
In the afternoon, I decided to go for the afternoon cruise at St Lucia lake. The jetty was about 30minutes drive away from Falaza. It was a boring 2 hours cruise for me with a group of tourists onboard. There were numerous birds flying in the sky (I am not a bird lover); a lazy crocodile on shore as well as hippotamus swimming in the lake. The only interesting thing was observing how big the hippotamus can open its mouth! I read that hippotamus show their dominance and power by the width of their open mouth! The one with smaller mouth usually gets intimidated and will move away.
On my last day at Falazaa, I requested for a last morning game drive at Hluhluwe Game Reserve, hoping for a last chance to spot my cats. I had to pay for the extra trip since the original activity and a sand walk (and get bitten by sandflies) which I was not keen at all. I continue to spot the usual animals like the giraffes; zebra; impalas; kudos. We drove to a different part of the reserve to follow the trail of the lion spotted early in the morning before 5am by some rangers. I prayed anxiously to see them as the ranger drove on. Every minute was a disappointment The closest I have to a lion was its paw prints left on the sand near to a river!! There were paws but no sight of any lions!!!! Lying lazily on the sand was a small alligator though.
The ranger had to send me back on time on the last drive as he explained that he has to assist to put down an elephant in the park. One of the baby elephants had damaged a vehicle (A damn silly white BMW!) which went to near to it yesterday. If you recall that I have mentioned that numerous elephant that I have spotted previously and how defensive they became when humans get too near to them. The baby elephant had apparently went towards the car and sat on it. The passengers were unhurt by the incident but the animal has to be put to sleep since it is capable to committing similar act again after doing it once. I am so mad with the silly driver who probably thinks that he is in an enclosed zoo! Some of these urban visitors, especially from Johannesburg which I understand from the ranger, do not understand simple rules in a park – keep a comfortable distance from the animals!!!!!
I had to depart Falazaa on a sad note. The lady boss, Isabellea, from Pakamisa was nice enough to come over to pick us up from Falazza (FYI. Isabella is a Austrial Dutchness who has fulfilled her dreams of having her Pakamisa in South Africa) On our way, we stopped by few curator shops and I bought a bead bracelet. I was looking fo nice copper bracelets but could not find any. I heard that these bracelets are made using coppers from telephone cables stolen by syndicates. Hence, the reason that most homes or even hotels do not have telephone connection and that most of the people use mobile phones as the main communication tool.
Arriving at Pakamisa in the evening, it was time for dinner. We were greeted by a friendly dog at the lobby. The lobby was very impressive and well-decorated. It even comes with a fireplace area and a huge library. The room, with high ceiling, was grand & spacious. It was tastefully decorated as well. It comes with a lovely balcony where I could see the bright sparking stars! Food at Pakamisa was simply incredible and fantastic – this applied to all the food from Pakamisa in entire stay.
Isabella owns a stable within the reserve (She used to be a competitive rider and you can view all her trophies and pictures in the hall) and my first morning was learning to groom the house before learning how to ride it. I was assigned to a handsome white horse (oppss...I totally forgot his name, he was not nice to me for the 3 days as well!:P). This young lady who guided on foot is from Germany and stays in Pakamisa as a volunteer as she is a horse-lover as well. The one hour ride was exhausting as my butt hurts terribly and the weather was scorching hot! However, it was nice as I spotted the giraffes and impalas during my ride. The giraffes were staring at me as I rode past them!
In the afternoon, I went on a game drive at Pakamisa private game reserve. I spotted the usual animals such as the giraffes; kudos; impala and warthogs. It was nice seeing them again still but I missed my lions :(
The next morning was hiking on Pakamisa hill. It was extremely tiring but manageable. The view on the peak was spectacular. I was surrounded by hills and more hills! The guide pointed out to some animals down the hill but I could not see any at all! I almost “fell and died” on my way down as the slopes are covered with boulders and rocks! If not for my guide, I guessed I would not make my way down safely ..whew!
I had the 2nd ride in the afternoon and was assigned to the same horse. The reason why I said he was not nice to me was because he refused to let me handle him and kept resisting when I pulled the rope (my palms hurt when he did that!). I had the same 1 hour ride with the same nice lady on a different path this time. My butt still hurt but I begun to enjoy the ride in the woods with the lovely animal :)
On my last morning, the staff arranged for bush breakfast. I was taken to the picnic spot in the wild by my handsome horse and the staff, including Isabella joined us for breakfast. The coffee tasted so nice then and I still remember the taste now! After breakfast, I had to hop onto the horse on my own! I could not do so so I jumped and the 2 ladies had to push me up!!! It was so embarrassing - obviously, I have zero talent in horse-riding.
After lunch, I checked out for a 4 hours drive to Durban Airport. On the way back with Isabella, we stopped by few more curators shop for my copper bracelets but could not find any (I wonder why...no more copper syndicates or no more telephone cable???!!). I bided Isabella goodbye and ended my South Africa adventure. South Africa, I will return again!!! Perhaps Cape Town and Kruger National Park (One of the largest reserves in South Africa) the next time but I have to start saving first! :)
Exploring Africa has always been feeling mysterious; magnificent; amazing; adventurous; inspiring (in fact many other mixed feelings) to me. Unfortunately, the conventional 10D9N tour packages offered by Singapore failed to intrigue me in any way. The packages available to Africa, like most other packages, cover numerous places around South Africa – ie. Cape Town/ Johannesburg etc but include only 1D in game reserve. I detest such hasty and stressful tour package!!!! During the NATAS fair in March 2011, one of the tour agents standing at a barely visible corner attracted me with the safari pictures. I have never heard of this tour agency though but trust me, this lady provided me with the most excellent service based on my experiences with all other money-sucker and poor English-speaking agents that I came across.
Her agency offered the conventional tour packages like others as well but as I voiced out my ideas of covering only game reserves during my trip, she agreed to draft a customised package based on my requests. Her enthusiasm and passion for South Africa had also impressed me much as well. Frankly speaking, she does not make a good marketing person:P. She was telling me all about her experiences in South Africa and how much she loves that place which got her to start this business (she hardly spoke about selling her package throughout the conversation until I interrupted her to get to it) I like her very much though!
After a week of discussion on this customised trip, I decided to visit Durban under her recommendation in the 10D8N adventure!
Finally, getting started on my trip..it took me a long way to get there! Taking Emirate Air will mean 10 hours flight to Dubai, followed by 4 hours transit at Dubai and 8 hours to Durban (22 hours in total!). There were 2 accommodations selected for this trip: Falaza Game Park & Spa http://falaza.co.za and Pakamisa Paradise http://www.pakamisa.co.za.
Both Falaza and Pakamisa own private game reserves. Both packages offered 2 daily activities with 3 meals. For each meal, there were different menu to choose from. Given that most visitors there are Europeans, they served tasty and nicely-decorated meals everyday! Except that after staying at Pakamisa Paradise, I realised that the food at Falaza is nothing.....read on to hear about that Paradise!!!!!
The first night at Falaza was extremely short. I arrived at Durban in the evening and took the 2 hours drive from Durban airport to Falaza. I arrived at about 9+pm and had dinner there and slept. The next early morning, I visited Falaza Private Game Reserve which is within the compound. I am fortunate to get a passionate ranger who knows absolutely everything about animals (but I forgot his unique local name...). If you click on the Falaza website, you will immediately see rhinoceros which is one of their main attractions there. We drove around in the rover and found the 4 beautiful rhinoceros grazing on grasses. Did you know rhino are almost blind? They cannot see but can hear and smell very well. They react to any sudden movement around them as well. I was invited to get down the rover to stand near the rhino. At the start, I was so worried that they may charge at me as I was less than a metre away from 4 of them! They look ferocious yet gentle and you can almost sense calmness standing next to them.
We also spotted giraffes and a herd of “running away” zebra which i caught a few glimpse before they disappeared. This private game reserve is only 600+ hectares, too small to contain any carnivores but a good orientation for me on the first day.
The second activity on 1st day is Big 5 Game Drive (Just in case, big 5 are the elephants, lions; buffaloes; rhinocerous and leopards) to Hluhluwe Game Reserve which is about 30minutes drive from Falaza. http://www.gamereservehluhluwe.com/. If I remember correctly, the size of Hluhluwee is about 96,000 hectares (as compared to the 600+hectares in Falaza Game Reserve). I was almost dumb-founded when I got into this huge and magnificent game reserve. There were sightings of more animals for sure. In this first trip, I caught the cute giraffes (so many of them, including the young, standing next to the rover!!!!). I also managed to capture a herds of zebras next to the giraffes as well. In the safari, you can see many impalas (small species of deers) as they are part of the food chain for the young carnivores like the lion cubs. I spotted the warthogs (which looks like pigs to me) as well.
One of the interesting games spotted was the hyenas. There were two of them, one asleep in the grass and the other keeping a close watch on us. The drive was about 3 hours long and all vehicles have to leave the reserve by 6pm. Sun sets very early during winter and it was almost dark on our way out at 5.50pm. We managed to drive through a large group of giraffe and zebras again. It was magnificent to see so many of them in the dark! Still no sight of my lions.. :(
It was almost impossible to get enough of the reserve so i returned the next day for the morning game drive. Departing at 5.30am, I arrived at the reserve at around 6am which was the opening hours. I was greeted by the spotted hyenas which I could not manage to get a clear look last evening. I managed to spot more giraffes, zebras, impalas and this time round, I saw the herds of buffaloes! Still no sight of my lions.. On the way back, there was a group of baboons (little monkeys with red butt which I call them) on the road! As more jeeps came along, they scuttled back to the trees and stared at us from there.
In the afternoon, I decided to go for the afternoon cruise at St Lucia lake. The jetty was about 30minutes drive away from Falaza. It was a boring 2 hours cruise for me with a group of tourists onboard. There were numerous birds flying in the sky (I am not a bird lover); a lazy crocodile on shore as well as hippotamus swimming in the lake. The only interesting thing was observing how big the hippotamus can open its mouth! I read that hippotamus show their dominance and power by the width of their open mouth! The one with smaller mouth usually gets intimidated and will move away.
The next day was at Hluhluwe Game Reserve again for the morning drive. Finally, at my 3rd visit, I finally saw the herds of migrating elephants! I heard that 200+ of them were spotted the day before we arrived and the ranger was searching for them during our first few visits and could not catch a sight of them at all. I saw about 4 of them at first and as elephants usually travel together, we knew there will be more around the vicinity. As the jeep drives on, there were at least 20 of them surrounding me! I was amused to see 2 baby elephant playing with each other but had a shock when one of them started to approach the jeep when it spotted us. My ranger said that animals get threatened when if humans get beyond their comfortable zone and they react to low pitch of humans, indicating that we are retreating and we are not afraid of them. True enough, as the baby elephant flipped open its ears and tried to charge at the jeep (luckily at a slow speed), the range mumbled something and reverse the jeep by less than a metre. Instantly, the baby elephant turned it back and continued playing with the other! Within the vicinity, more elephants were spotted on the hills and behind the trees. I sat and observed their behaviour and sound which was so incredible. It somewhat brought a sense of peace, despite the fear to be surrounded by so many elephants.
I spotted a few buffaloes on my first day but spotted more of them today. They were so close to the jeep and I observed that vicious yet somewhat calm faces. I took a few pictures up-close and attempted to sketch them. They ended up looking funny and animated in my sketch!!
Since it is so tough to spot cats ( I understand from the ranger that the toughest animal to spot is the leopard as they camflourage themselves really well among the grasses or on the tree branch), I decided to visit the cheetah camp which is 30 minutes drive from Falazza in the afternoon on the 3rd day. Besides cheetah, the camp also housed civic cats and caracals. The tour was about an hour whereby the guide fed the cats and explained their differences. I got to take some pictures with the tame cheetahs! It may not feel exciting to visit a enclosed camp in South Africa but I reckoned it was my only chance to view some cats!
I spotted a few buffaloes on my first day but spotted more of them today. They were so close to the jeep and I observed that vicious yet somewhat calm faces. I took a few pictures up-close and attempted to sketch them. They ended up looking funny and animated in my sketch!!Since it is so tough to spot cats ( I understand from the ranger that the toughest animal to spot is the leopard as they camflourage themselves really well among the grasses or on the tree branch), I decided to visit the cheetah camp which is 30 minutes drive from Falazza in the afternoon on the 3rd day. Besides cheetah, the camp also housed civic cats and caracals. The tour was about an hour whereby the guide fed the cats and explained their differences. I got to take some pictures with the tame cheetahs! It may not feel exciting to visit a enclosed camp in South Africa but I reckoned it was my only chance to view some cats!
On my last day at Falazaa, I requested for a last morning game drive at Hluhluwe Game Reserve, hoping for a last chance to spot my cats. I had to pay for the extra trip since the original activity and a sand walk (and get bitten by sandflies) which I was not keen at all. I continue to spot the usual animals like the giraffes; zebra; impalas; kudos. We drove to a different part of the reserve to follow the trail of the lion spotted early in the morning before 5am by some rangers. I prayed anxiously to see them as the ranger drove on. Every minute was a disappointment The closest I have to a lion was its paw prints left on the sand near to a river!! There were paws but no sight of any lions!!!! Lying lazily on the sand was a small alligator though.
The ranger had to send me back on time on the last drive as he explained that he has to assist to put down an elephant in the park. One of the baby elephants had damaged a vehicle (A damn silly white BMW!) which went to near to it yesterday. If you recall that I have mentioned that numerous elephant that I have spotted previously and how defensive they became when humans get too near to them. The baby elephant had apparently went towards the car and sat on it. The passengers were unhurt by the incident but the animal has to be put to sleep since it is capable to committing similar act again after doing it once. I am so mad with the silly driver who probably thinks that he is in an enclosed zoo! Some of these urban visitors, especially from Johannesburg which I understand from the ranger, do not understand simple rules in a park – keep a comfortable distance from the animals!!!!!I had to depart Falazaa on a sad note. The lady boss, Isabellea, from Pakamisa was nice enough to come over to pick us up from Falazza (FYI. Isabella is a Austrial Dutchness who has fulfilled her dreams of having her Pakamisa in South Africa) On our way, we stopped by few curator shops and I bought a bead bracelet. I was looking fo nice copper bracelets but could not find any. I heard that these bracelets are made using coppers from telephone cables stolen by syndicates. Hence, the reason that most homes or even hotels do not have telephone connection and that most of the people use mobile phones as the main communication tool.
Arriving at Pakamisa in the evening, it was time for dinner. We were greeted by a friendly dog at the lobby. The lobby was very impressive and well-decorated. It even comes with a fireplace area and a huge library. The room, with high ceiling, was grand & spacious. It was tastefully decorated as well. It comes with a lovely balcony where I could see the bright sparking stars! Food at Pakamisa was simply incredible and fantastic – this applied to all the food from Pakamisa in entire stay.
Isabella owns a stable within the reserve (She used to be a competitive rider and you can view all her trophies and pictures in the hall) and my first morning was learning to groom the house before learning how to ride it. I was assigned to a handsome white horse (oppss...I totally forgot his name, he was not nice to me for the 3 days as well!:P). This young lady who guided on foot is from Germany and stays in Pakamisa as a volunteer as she is a horse-lover as well. The one hour ride was exhausting as my butt hurts terribly and the weather was scorching hot! However, it was nice as I spotted the giraffes and impalas during my ride. The giraffes were staring at me as I rode past them!
In the afternoon, I went on a game drive at Pakamisa private game reserve. I spotted the usual animals such as the giraffes; kudos; impala and warthogs. It was nice seeing them again still but I missed my lions :(
The next morning was hiking on Pakamisa hill. It was extremely tiring but manageable. The view on the peak was spectacular. I was surrounded by hills and more hills! The guide pointed out to some animals down the hill but I could not see any at all! I almost “fell and died” on my way down as the slopes are covered with boulders and rocks! If not for my guide, I guessed I would not make my way down safely ..whew!
I had the 2nd ride in the afternoon and was assigned to the same horse. The reason why I said he was not nice to me was because he refused to let me handle him and kept resisting when I pulled the rope (my palms hurt when he did that!). I had the same 1 hour ride with the same nice lady on a different path this time. My butt still hurt but I begun to enjoy the ride in the woods with the lovely animal :)
On my last morning, the staff arranged for bush breakfast. I was taken to the picnic spot in the wild by my handsome horse and the staff, including Isabella joined us for breakfast. The coffee tasted so nice then and I still remember the taste now! After breakfast, I had to hop onto the horse on my own! I could not do so so I jumped and the 2 ladies had to push me up!!! It was so embarrassing - obviously, I have zero talent in horse-riding.
After lunch, I checked out for a 4 hours drive to Durban Airport. On the way back with Isabella, we stopped by few more curators shop for my copper bracelets but could not find any (I wonder why...no more copper syndicates or no more telephone cable???!!). I bided Isabella goodbye and ended my South Africa adventure. South Africa, I will return again!!! Perhaps Cape Town and Kruger National Park (One of the largest reserves in South Africa) the next time but I have to start saving first! :)
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