Family Christmas 2022
With the exception of Christmas 2021 because of Covid our family has been able to spend a few days each year staying at Phinda Game Reserve in Kwa Zulu Natal thanks to Simon, my son, who is Conservation Manager there. We stay at his house and use an identical house next door which is normally used by volunteers. This is a great privilege as the view from the house is stunning over grass land and the distant hills. One doesn’t even have to take a game drive , we see everything from the verandah and have resident cheetahs who like to patrol inside the camp in search of warthogs and impala.
Another feature of Simon’s house is that we have braais outside on his verandah and it was good to have the family all together. To be a Naylor you have to be prepared to have your leg pulled; big, small, old or young.
On the first day’s drive we easily saw the big 5, from a huge herd of buffalo, elephant bulls, young lions watching over proceedings from their perch, rhinos close up. In the afternoon we heard there were leopards about and went up the nearby mountain to see if we could find them. We walked to the top with strict instructions not to eyeball a leopard if we passed it by in the long grass. We had a drink up there and then started down the hill. Within a couple of minutes what do we see but the swishing of a white tipped tail walking round the corner. This leopard has two grown cubs somewhere and she evidently was hunting to find them something to eat.
We left her and returned to the same spot the next day and sure enough there she was with her two grown male cubs. They were relaxed and walked right by the vehicle. This is a tremendous sighting for Phinda as leopards are normally shy and nocturnal and do their hunting at night. The mother started hunting, leaving the cubs behind but was unsuccessful in catching a baby warthog. We followed her through the bush and then lost her until Lisa shouted out ,” There she is “ ; in a tree directly above us yawning and relaxing. We watched her hunting for awhile and then left her to it.
We drove under a large tree and there was a sudden flapping of wings and dark shadow passed over us, it was the rarely seen giant eagle owl.
Later in the day we came across hundreds of swallows catching flying ants as they appeared from the ground, floating up into the sky until they were gobbled up by the birds.
We came across a large female lion who was searching for something in the long grass.. Suddenly she dived down and appeared with a struggling jackal in its mouth. One bite and it was gone. The lioness dropped it and continued on her way. She was just killing competition.
I still don’t understand animal’s reaction to game vehicles. Lions will walk past the vehicle and eye ball you and then just carry on their way.
In the dark we came across two bull elephants eating grass just outside the camp. One came up to our vehicle , Simon shouted at it and backed off and then drove forward at him. We watched this battle of wills with our hearts in our mouths. Eventually after a long staring match the elephant flapped his head and moved away.
We took a drive to an old abandoned farm house from the 1930’s, now just foundations left and parts of an old tractor. We tried to imagine what it must have been like in those days to settle in what was once deep bush in Zulu country , build a house and successfully farm cattle. I only have admiration for their bravery , skills and determination. Brett has a metal detector and we found some bullets and other artifacts. All of Phinda was once farm land , even in my time of visiting the area from the 1970’s I’ve seen a huge change in the land. We used to stop and pick cotton near Mkuze , now much of the land has reverted to bush and used either for hunting or safaris . It’s a big return to the wild.
On our last game drive, we were conscious that a thunder storm was forecast but we carried on regardless. We went once more to the top of the hill and saw the black clouds, flashes of lightening and rain fast approaching us. We quickly dashed down the hill in the open Land Cruiser but we were too late and got caught in it. It just poured down with lightening around us and crashes of thunder. The rain in our faces stung us and in no time we were soaked. I just remember careering down the road which had turned into a river of mud crouched down under the seat in front of me. Simon drove with sun glasses to protect his eyes from the stinging rain. What an end to our safari.
This may be our last get together at Phinda. I’ve been coming here for 25 years to see Simon and have relished all I have seen and done and count myself extremely fortunate to have had the experiences. Phinda I will miss you. Thank you, Simon, for everything.
