![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/DSC_0475.jpg\")
<\/a>Julie and I enjoying a cruise on the St Lucia Estuary on a hunt for hippos<\/p><\/div>\n
In terms of wild game viewing in Africa the ultimate prize for any keen traveller is to see the Big 5. I don\u2019t know the criteria for the selection of the Big 5 or who decided which animals made this elite club but all you need to do is check any T shirt, game park sign or advertising slogan and you know what the Big 5 are. They are elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion and leopard. The first three are relatively easy to see, the last two much more difficult. But if you don\u2019t see the Big 5 while you are in Africa you haven\u2019t been there. Or so they say. And so we\u2019re on a mission to see the Big 5.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>In these parts you have to watch out for hippos in the water and crossing the road<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n
In the meantime, and a long way from seeing the Big 5, we\u2019ve\nbeen marvelling at the diversity, majesty and oddity of African animals. For instance, did you know that even though\nhippos live in the water they can not swim? \nWe learned this and much more on our morning cruise along the St. Lucia\nEstuary where we saw some of the 1,000 hippos that live in its shallow\nwaters. But because we\u2019re in Africa we\nsaw many other new and old animals \u2013 including some of the Big 5 \u2013 in the\nnearby iSimangaliso Wetlands Park, and also drank in its long beautiful beaches\nand wonderful scenery. Another day in\nparadise!<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a>Hippos sit around all day in shallow water just to stay cool and then in the evenings they wander around eating tons of grass<\/p><\/div>
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<\/a>Okay, its not much but this is the most we saw of the strangely cute if not gigantic hippo on our first day in the wetlands area<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
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The iSimangaliso Wetlands Park was the first UNESCO World Heritage location in all of Africa, protecting the largest wetland and estuary system on the continent and the home to countless aquatic, birds and mammal species. The vast area is now a national park and our drive through and around the preserved area uncovered many fabulous new creatures as well as some of our old favourites. In particular we found three gigantic white rhinos wallowing in a mud hole, their signature horn cut off to protect them from poachers. Sad but that\u2019s the reality these animals live in.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a>The indignity of it all – this magnificent beast has had his horn cut off to protect him from poachers<\/p><\/div>
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<\/a>Not all African animals are huge – this little banned mongoose was one of a pack of about 50 that roamed a beach area<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
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<\/a>And what a beach! After a great game drive we popped out at the beach at Cape Vidal and found this virtually uninhabited beach.<\/p><\/div>
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<\/a>We loved warthogs – yes, they look a big ugly and ornery but they are also strangely huggable and this mum is keeping a close eye on her two babies<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
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We camped up the coast in another section of the park and the next day made our way further north to the border of Swaziland, a small independent country that straddles the South African and Mozambique border. Swaziland is an absolute monarchy and the long-reigning King Mswati III rules all aspects of life in the kingdom, not always to the best effect.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a>Our first stop in Swaziland was for lunch in the parking area of this small grocery store called Thanks God Grocery<\/p><\/div>
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<\/a>It was stinking hot and this cow took over the local bus stop to enjoy the shade<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n\n\n
As we started our drive through the country it was obvious\nthat Swaziland does not have the relative prosperity of rural South Africa, as\nlow as that standard may be. But as we\nnegotiated some of the worst potholed roads we\u2019d seen for ages we admired the\nlong vast fields of healthy sugar cane, standing tall in the stifling dry heat\nof their rolling hills.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a>Luckily our tyres (or tires) are in no need for any service right now<\/p><\/div>
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<\/a>Northern Swaziland featured vast fields of corn, full rivers and richer soil than we expected<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
After passing a few villages that clearly struggle with any\nmodern comforts we entered the Hlane Royal National Park, the country\u2019s premier\ngame park. Owned by the King and\nprovided to his subjects for their enjoyment, the park provides a place in this\nsmall country to see most of the large wild game with only buffalos missing. <\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a>Hlane National Park in Swaziland is the King’s playground saved for his subjects – but maybe its best not to walk or cycle through the park<\/p><\/div>
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<\/a>We’ve learned that most game parks in southern Africa are actually fenced to keep the animals in and the poachers out. You sometimes have to pass through these electrified fences and on this fence Julie accidentally touched the electrified wire and gave herself a terrible jolt.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n\n\n
We checked into the campsite and went on an afternoon drive through the park, guided only by a handwritten and photocopied map that fell short of most standards for accuracy and detail. It was about 35C\/95F, far too hot to see much wildlife, but we did catch a dozen white rhinos (which are not white at all) wallowing in the mud and looking warily at Tramp as well as many other more common critters. Rhinos are an amazing beast, a single long horn, super thick layered skin, short legs and an enormous girth that from behind makes them look like a walking garage.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a>Rhinos are very cool and a little scary if they turn towards you and take an interest. Luckily this sizable herd showed only passing interest in Tramp.<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n
The temperature didn\u2019t drop much overnight but we could hear\nthe lions roaring in the not-to-distance while we tried to sleep, safely\nknowing they were on the other side of the campground compound fence. Or at least we hoped so.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a>This is a male eland, a beautiful creature from head to toe<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n
The next morning we were ready to push further north through\nmore endless sugar cane fields and back into South Africa. We had enjoyed our brief passing through\nSwaziland but even as a small country it probably deserved more time. Maybe next time.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a>Another huge rhino after a mud bath – these guys are deceptively and threateningly huge<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n
Our next goal was Kruger National Park, one of the most famous parks in the world and the best place to see the Big 5. Bring it on!<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a>You don’t get this kind of road sign in most countries but you don’t want to hit a warthog in Swaziland!<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In terms of wild game viewing in Africa the ultimate prize for any keen traveller is to see the Big 5. I don\u2019t know the criteria for the selection of the Big 5 or who decided which animals made this elite club but all you need to do is check any T shirt, game park sign or advertising slogan and you know what the Big 5 are. They are elephant, …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[73,75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-south-africa","category-swaziland"],"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/DSC_0564.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13748"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13934,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13748\/revisions\/13934"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}