After Swaziland, it was back across to South Africa, and the St. Lucia area. No, we did not take a wrong turn in the Carribean, St. Lucia is South Africa's first World Heritage Site, and the home of an amazing landlocked estuary, that has many hippos, crocs, and some sharks trapped inland when the sea was cut off. It is also very close to Hiuhluwe-Umfolozi National Park, another South African gem.
At this point we have established a pattern when arriving at a new destination - are there upgrades available? As much fun as it is staying in tents, it is often very easy to get accomodation at the same location with real beds, air conditioning and the all important fridge - for just a couple of rand. No problem doing this in St. Lucia, so we were well rested before our morning game drive into the Park.
We drove about an hour on the highway in open air vehicles, before entering the Park. Just minutes after entering, we had a very close encounter with a group of lions. There was a large male, which is always a thrill. Dwayne's camera got the images, so check with him when he gets back. But the scary part was a beautiful female, up close, staring at us, growling, then doing a short mock charge at us! Yikes, everyone was thrilled, but Andrea and I got a little nervous. Another younger male crossed the road behind us with the other two - what an experience!
The rest of the day was viewing a variety of game, including hippos, elephant, giraffe plus a very rare Black Rhino.
That night we headed out on the estuary for some close encounters of the hippo kind. There were far more hippos than we have seen so far, and we were very happy we were in such a large boat. Again, Dwayne has some great pictures - 10X optical zoom rocks!
That night was also birthdays for our companions Andrea and Aida, so we celebrated with champagne with our hippos. That was also the night we hatched our "escape plan" to get away from the obnoxious elements in our GAP group.
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