Hakuna Matata

April 18, 2023

Wow, Mesmerising, freedom, pure nature, unreal, overwhelming, so fortunate to have been a part of it.

That is the only way we can sum up the list 2 days of our safari experience.

We went to Hluhluwe game reserve, the oldest park in Sth Africa. Too give you and idea of size (especially those at work) it is 40 times the size of Stonnington. About 1000 square km.

This is truely an experience you can't compare with anything. You slowly drive along and all of a sudden you are eye to eye with an elephant.

A herd of zebra crossing the road, a rhinoceros the size of a 4WD that is sunbathing in his mud pool. Baboons swinging from tree to tree. Warthogs ( Pumba from the Lion King) with his little babies running through the bush, huge impalas with horns a meter long gracefully strolling along, giraffes stripping leaves of trees, huge herds of water buffalo.

It is unreal and will take days to mentally process.

Especially once we go through the photos and videos of a herd of elephants bathing in the river with the sound of blowing their trumpets, or a stampede of buffalo, or the Rhino standing up out of his mud pool 3 meters from the Jeep.

The busride to get there was 1.5 hrs so we also learned some facts about the country.

Very rich in resources, coal, diamonds, gold.

Lots of sugar cane similar to Australia. High unemployment of 35%, crime rate through the roof, very unreliable public transport, if any. Average worker earns between 200 and 280 African Rand an hour, which is equivalent to $2 to $2.80 unless you have a government job which pays approx $70.000 per year. You only get a pension if you contribute to it yourself matched dollar for dollar by the government.

On a positive note, middle class is growing which slowly closes the gap between the rich and the poor.

Please note that whatever I write about are my personal views or via stories I have heard. Please do not feel offended as views may differ.

Being out for the last two days in pure nature also makes you question the life we lead in the middle of such a big city like Melbourne. The constant chase for more, more, more on a daily basis, the disharmony between people.

A piece of land with a hut and a thatched roof on it, or a mansion in Toorak, I wonder who is happier?!?

I would write a lot more, but my eyes are slowly closing.

Tomorrow is an early start as we are going to a traditional Zulu village first, then a 3 hour bus ride to St.Lucia for a 2 hour boat cruise looking for hippos and other wildlife, 3 hours back, a Zulu dancers fairwell after dinner, so another packed day.

Below some quick photos I took with my phone, 100's more on the camera and video.