Phinda Lodge

Leon reading while monkey breaking and entering through sliding door.

Sitting on the comfortable couch in our resort chalet, I hear a familiar sound, but do not immediately recognize it except as familiar.  I see the curtains by the door moving oddly, and suddenly see a small gray, hairy leg under the curtain.  Moving more quickly than I can imagine, the full body of the monkey emerges from behind the curtain running along a counter top.  Reacting with the incredible reflexes of a trained test pilot, I immediately stand and yell at this intruder.  Just as quickly he is moving back across the room and out of the door.  Barb comes quickly into the room when she hears me yell.  I tell her of the surprising invader and of his quickness, and then how he seemed to run out as soon as I yelled.  Barb looks around the room.  "Where's the bowl of pineapple?", she says.  " The one that is usually right up here on the shelf?"  I look and agree it is not there, but why it's not there has yet to dawn on me.  "Maybe the staff forgot to leave us some today?"  Barb gives me the look.  The one that says she is just not sure how to politely respond to such an idiotic statement.  Without another word, she goes outside and sees the bowl on the deck.  It is empty!  It turns out that this particular monkey is a master thief.  He goes around, finds an unlocked door, quickly slides it open, runs in using the curtain as camouflage, grabs the food and runs back out.  He was way ahead of me.  By the time I was standing up to yell, he had the goods and was headed out the door.  Test pilot reflexes were no match for this distant cousin of mine.  (There are days when Barb might say he was not so distant).

I didn't know where to begin this story.  But the monkey story seemed to capture how different this place is from home, and how normal it is for Africa.  We have spent the last two days at Phinda Game Reserve on the far NE corner of South Africa.  It is located in a region known as Kwa-Zulu Natal, just east of Swaziland, and just south of Mozambique.  The game reserve is enormous, and is filled with African animals of all varieties.  We were greeted by giraffes when we drove in, and surprisingly, when we drove out also.  One of them is the tallest Giraffe I have ever seen.  We saw lion and cheetah, warthogs, zebra, wildebeest, crocs, hippos, both black and white rhino, nyala, impala, etc., etc.,.. and there were frogs and birds and bugs.  The African Dung Beetle is one of the most fascinating creatures ever.  It rolls large balls of elephant and other dung, and uses it to keep its eggs alive.  It is incredibly fast to be rolling something larger than its own body.  Then later, you will notice a bug the size of a hummingbird flying past your head as you go down the trail at 30 km/h.  That's the dung beetle also.

Phinda's Welcome Committee

Mom and baby

The lodge itself is older but very nice.  We felt very lucky to be able to get a room for two nights (thanks to Cousin Cate, again).  Surprisingly, Barb and I managed to find this obscure turnoff from a major highway, and then the entrance gate itself without getting lost.  The entrance into the reserve is very controlled.  It feels like a border crossing with its electric fence, automatic gates, and the guard confirming that you are on the approved list.  He then calls the lodge itself, gives us a pass to show the management, and finally allows us to proceed. 

On the first day, we arrived in time for the afternoon game drive.  This is scheduled to start at about 4:00 pm, and then run until about 7:00 pm.  That gives us all a chance to see both the day and night creatures.  Our driver and guides are Dumi and Sibo.  Both are locals that have been trained by the lodge.  Dumi is the older and more experienced, and Sibo has the younger set of eyes and ears.  While Dumi is driving, Sibo will sit in a special chair mounted just over the left front hood of the truck.  From there, he continually scans and listens for game.  Together, Dumi and Sibo are a great tracking team.  The vehicle is an oversized version of the Toyota Land Cruiser, but with an open cab and three rows of passenger seats.  It is the preferred setup and vehicle for most game drives.  With the passengers sitting high, it is easier to see the game over the normal low trees and shrubs.

The drive that first night is one of the best we have seen.  Only in Chobe (in Botswana) have we seen more game.  Here, we see a greater variety of game.  It will not prove easy to find the game due to abnormally cool weather.  It is late Spring here, and the summer heat should be approaching.  But the weather has brought storms off the Indian Ocean.  These storms have brought rain, wind, and unusually cool air.  The rain is desperately needed since they are in a year's long drought period.  This area seems much more lush to Barb and I than other parts of South Africa.   Because of that, we were surprised to learn of the drought.

While Barb thinks that the monkeys, and maybe baby anything else, are the cutest African mammals, we both agree that the warthog and rhino are probably the ugliest.  But their mothers probably think they're cute.

The male warthogs have two 'warts' on each side

Black Rhino baby

Black Rhino (heads are shorter than White Rhino)

White Rhino is a grazer because their head is long and heavy - hard to lift it to eat bushes.

Mom and baby White Rhino

Elephant dung covered in Dung Beetles

Dung Beetles fighting over some dung.

Our companions for this drive, and for the morning and afternoon drive tomorrow are two other couples.  One is from Austria, and the other is from Australia.  Barb thinks we are grouped together because we are from America, making all of our countries begin with an "A".  It is a congenial group in spite of the language difficulties.  As you might have guessed, it's the two versions of the English language that cause the most linguistic difficulty.  Throw in occasional lapses into American Southern by me, and there's lots of opportunity for humorous misunderstandings.

As planned, the first game drive continues until well after dark.  And as we have been told to expect, there is an abundance of African game to see.  Toward the end of the drive, when it is dark, and the air is cool, there is an unexpected treat.  Dumi stops the vehicle, and says that it is okay to exit.  He jokes that the lions are not hungry and we should be okay.  Working together quickly, he & Sibo pull out a table and place a cloth on it.  Then he opens another box.  Inside is a portable bar providing us all with our choice of drinks, plus a little food.  It is a very surprising and quite civilized interlude in our drive.  Within an hour of our break, we arrive back at the lodge.  Our hosts greet us with warm, wet towels to refresh ourselves, and a light lemonade-like drink.  Dinner will be served at 7:30 in the "Boma" .  The Boma is an outdoor eating area that is surrounded by wood pole fencing, much like some of the small communities we have seen.  Inside, it has an outdoor kitchen with multiple fires glowing brightly as our food for the evening is cooked.  The food is buffet style, and quite good.  But the highlight of the evening is the a cappella singing by the staff, combined with an example of local, tribal, dances.  Even the chef joins into the dancing and singing, flinging his foot high above his shoulders before slamming it down to the earth with a very loud slapping sound - just like the locals.

The next morning there is a 0500 wakeup for the early morning drive.  Barb and I will begin the drive as usual, but around 0900, we will be dropped off at the airport.  We have arranged for an hour's flight over this interesting area.  When we arrive at the small landing strip, we meet with Tiann, our pilot.  He is tall, with blondish hair, and an earnest, concerned look.  His concern today is for the weather, and for us.  It will be windy, he tells us.  There will be some rain showers, and the air might be quite bumpy.  It seems okay to me, but reacting to his concern, I ask him if he thinks it is safe to go.  Oh yes, he assures me.  Safety will not be an issue.  His only concern is comfort.  Barb was delayed and did not hear our conversation.  Independently, he also asks her if she still wants to go.  And independently, she says if it is safe to go, she would like to do so.  Tiann relaxes and begins our briefing.

Flight over Indian Ocean coast north towards St. Lucia

In  the beginning of our trip, we might not have chosen to miss a part of the drive.   Our flight will take take us north towards Mozambique, then east to the coast, down the coast almost to St Lucia, and back to Phinda.  Tiann, our (very young) pilot, is also an excellent tour guide.  He tells us of the geological history, and of the terrain features we see.  In the small communities we pass, he tells how a man will typically have up to 5 wives.  The first wife gets a very 'nice' rondavel, and the subsequent ones get smaller contemporary structures.  He points out such places as we fly over.  Once off the coast, whales are sighted.  This is typically the "right" whale.  I don't know the distinguishing characteristics of a right whale, but it is very much larger than out Northwest Orcas.  As an aside, our pilot is an impressive young man.  He is flying a small single engine airplane, doing the same tour day after day.  Yet, he briefs and flies with a professional discipline that airline training departments strive to maintain in their crews.  He is the kind of youngster that we need in aviation.

Typical home compound with enough space for all of the wives and families.

After our flight, our group picks us up at the airport and we head off for the continuation of the morning's game drive.  We came upon a lioness and two cubs. The cubs were quite playful rolling around and playing with each other.

The lioness

One of the cubs

They left when they were bored with us.

Our evening game ride will provide us with more game sightings, and an adventure.

In the evening drive, we depart the lodge about an hour earlier in order to go to an area in the far northern section of Phinda.  It is here that Dumi hopes to see lions and other cats.  There is also a greater chance of sighting the elusive, nocturnal Leopard.  Due to our speed over the rough roads in the beginning of our drive, Subi is seated in the cab of the truck, and is not seated forward as is usual.  We are flying low over these rough roads.  It is totally disorienting, due to the twisting and turning of the roads.  But we do seem to be generally heading north.  At one point, the vegetation and, even the feel of the air, change.  It is a softer feel, and more moist.  Dumi explains that we have crossed into an area that is fenced from the elephants, allowing many types of trees to to survive that otherwise would not.  Before it was fenced and replanted, the elephants had knocked down or eaten most of the vegetation.  Now it is recovering in a way that does not hint at the previous problems.

In the far northern section of Phinda, we find two well fed lions.   They are lying on the ground, barely able to move.  One of them cannot even be awakened.  Their stomachs are so full that they are obviously protruding.  The kill is a young wildebeest lying over in  a thicket.  The lions did not make the kill, though.  It was made by a pair of young cheetahs.  Cheetahs usually hunt alone, and do not usually attack large animals such as wildebeests.  But these are brothers who have hunted together since birth.  They made their kill, but were no match for the lions who heard the wildebeest scream.  The opportunistic lions chased off the cheetah and claimed the kill for their own.   It is incredible that we are able to get so close to these enormous and dangerous predators.  We are able to see their scars, and the bugs that live on them.  But they literally could care less that we are there.  Our driver repeatedly starts our engine and moves the vehicle to get a closer, or different, look at these young male lions.  Only once, when the vehicle went between one lion and the only partially devoured carcass, did one of them seem concerned.  As we moved away, he put his head back down and appeared to go back to sleep.  Their breathing in this situation is a rapid, yet deep, panting.  We are told it is normal for after they have exerted themselves.

He woke just long enough to roll over and fall back asleep.

The oldest of the two lions, this one protecting the kill.

He's been in a few fights - and blind in the right eye.

As if the lions were no enough of a treat, Dumi and Sibo now find the cheetah twins who had made the kill.  I would never have spotted these cats without our guides pointing them out.  Lying together in the grass, they are motionless.  Their color blends so well, and the grass is such a perfect height, that they can see well, but are difficult to detect.  A family of Zebra are coming up to look at the cheetah, as if they are idle observers wondering what the cats are doing in their neighborhood.  The cheetahs however are very intent on something farther away.  Beyond the shrub plants, about 500 yards away, is another herd of wildebeest.  These two very cool cats intend to make another kill tonight.  Dumi explains that if they succeed, the neighborhood lions are too full to contest them for this new meal.

Very slowly and very patiently, the two cats move toward a set of shrubs that are very close to the herd.  Every motion of these brothers - their bodies, their heads, their legs, even their breathing - seems to be synchronized.  They are positioned downwind from the wildebeests so that there will be no scent.  And the way they move, there is no sound.  It is dusk now, getting too dark for good photography.  Even as compulsive a shutterbug as Barb is about to give up on taking any pix or video of the coming kill.  This seems as certain a kill as can be.  The herd has numerous young ones that are the right size for these cheetahs, and they seem completely oblivious to any danger.  Once the cheetahs have positioned themselves directly behind the bush, the cats are not more than 20 feet from the wildebeests.  The brothers wait patiently together.  They are practiced killers.  The wildebeests begin to move away.  If there is a kill, it will occur very soon.  The cats are waiting for the herd to string out, hoping that one of them can be separated from the others.  Without moving, the cats seem to exude more energy.  Now, there are only three wildebeests left behind the shrub.  And one is the right size.  But suddenly, the animals begin to move more quickly, and the youngster is now positioned between the larger beests.  Again, without motion, the cats seem to relax.  There will be no kill tonight.

Cheetahs watching the wildebeests (photo taken at night in dark)

Heading back to the lodge, we are now aware of the intense lightening occurring in the east.  The same thing happened last night, but never came near us.  Tonight, it seems to be much closer, and more intense.  We have a long way to drive to return to our lodge.  It is now quite dark.  Dumi is driving with headlights on, and Sibo is using a million candlepower lantern to illuminate the woods and road for animals.  The lightening is lighting up the sky with cloud to cloud lightening.  Soon, however, there are lots of strikes that are hitting the ground.  And they are very close.  Now the rain begins.  Dumi stopped just before the rain starts and passes out heavy duty ponchos to us all.

Barb through a rain splotched camera lens - b4 drenching

The rain begins in earnest.  It is striking as if it is from a gale force wind.  That is a combination of the storm itself and the speed with which our driver is racing through the dark woods on these marginal roads.  The ponchos are not enough.  We are all getting soaked.  And with the speed of the vehicle, the stinging rain makes it almost impossible to see ahead.  I do not know how Dumi is doing it, but he continues to drive skillfully at this rapid pace.  Several times, we slow suddenly to avoid animals who seem a little erratic in their motions.  Is it our lantern, or the storm?  The truck slips side to side on the wet, muddy tracks.  This race to return is hard for me to understand.  Is it a fear of the lightening that makes it necessary to drive so fast?  The rain will only make us wet, so there is no rush for that.  I tell Barb how to hold the seat rail through the poncho, and warn her that we might roll over at these speeds.  And now the old conundrum arises - do I say something?  Do I say to slow down?  Dumi is still driving very skillfully, but even skillful people run out of luck someday.  I stay silent.  We arrive safely.  The other passengers thought the return trip through this frightful storm was an exciting lark.  And the driver is very proud of himself.  Good judgment would have cut the safari short and returned before the storm.  Better judgement would have driven more cautiously on those roads.  But skill and luck prevailed and we all have a great story to tell. 

Barb and I are wet and cold.  Our friends go to their rooms to shower and change.  We cover with warm towels and sit by the fire.  By the time the others return, Barb and I are finished with dinner. 

The next day, as we are driving out, many of the animals are there by the side of the road as if to say good-bye.  The giraffes are particularly noticeable. One stood guard right by the lodge and seemed to nod at us as we drove by.  Another, the tallest giraffe I have ever seen, trotted along the road with us for hundreds of yards.  It was a fitting end to a great stay.

Leon & Barb in Phinda, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa