Phinda Private Game Reserve and Sodwana Bay

So we decided to stay an extra day with Flippie’s parent’s, for a variety of reasons that I’m sure were important at the time but elude me right now. I finally managed to get out for my first run of this trip – well, it felt more like a waddle, but it was some sort of forward motion in any case. May well be the only time in my life where I can count the wild animals while jogging – for the record there were 14 impala and six warthog. Thankfully nothing bigger than that – the big cats can hit 80-110km/h, and I’m fairly certain I couldn’t quite manage those sort of speeds even with a hungry lion after me…

Jumped in the car and started the trip to Phinda the next morning, which took around six hours or so. We went through Swaziland to get there (much quicker), so had the inevitable border crossing to deal with – must be something to do with growing up on an island, I always find land border crossings just a bit strange. Not long after entering Swaziland a helpful truck flicked a stone up into the windscreen and left a nice big crack, so it’s going to be great fun having that conversation with the rental car people in Jo’burg in a few days…

Arrived in Phinda late afternoon, introduced to a few of the other people that work here, beers and bed, just for something a bit different. Well it was a bit different I guess, we were warned in no uncertain terms not to wander round outside after dark (we’re staying in the researcher’s hut that has been Vic’s home for the last however long, and there’s nothing between us and the wildlife – elephants regularly wander through and scratch their bums on the trees (or cars…) outside the house…

The great thing about getting up early here is the wonderful sunrises – it’s quite misty in Phinda first thing which gives the whole place a very ethereal quality. Sun coming up, birds chirping, insects coming alive, everything shrouded in mist … pretty special, I reckon. Oh, and I just have to include a photo of the webs left by some sort of funnel spiders – there’s literally hundreds of these as far as the eye can see every morning, dotted all over the ground. Not quite big enough to bring down an elephant, maybe, but I wouldn’t want to be a passing insect…

So anyway, yesterday was beach day. Which of course also meant that yesterday was the first day where there’s been any sort of wind to speak of since we arrived in South Africa. Never fear though, your intrepid explorers struggled on and braved the extreme conditions … I mean, we even had to occasionally wipe a few grains of sand off our books as we lay on the beach soaking up the rays. Yes, in the middle of winter. The water was cool rather then freezing – probably about the same as the Christchurch beaches in the middle of summer, now that I think about it – and the sun was lovely and warm without being harsh enough to strip the skin from your bones in a few minutes like it is back home. The beach (Sodwana Bay) is apparently one of the best in the area, and was less than an hour away – almost next door by local standards. We got back late afternoon and went for a quick game drive to try to find some leopards, but time (and light) was against us. Maybe another day. We did get to witness another great sunset though, so no complaints from me. You’ll never guess what the evening held. Braai and beer, I hear you say? Goddam, you’re good…