Wednesday, Day 88 - Apr 4 - 7am to 5pm, Durban, South Africa

Durban is a bustling, subtropical city and Africa’s busiest port. Vasco da Gama is said to have sighted Durban Bay on Christmas Day,1497, naming the land Natal as a mark of respect for the Nativity. The name Durban was acquired in 1843 when Port Natal was renamed for Sir Benjamin D'Urban. Today, Durban delights the traveler with its colorful mosaic of ethnic neighborhoods and memorable excursions to game reserves and exploring the traditional lifestyle of the Zulu people. Durban is home to Old Market Square, the Golden Mile beachfront and Gray Street Mosque.

We were first here in 2015 for two days and stayed at the wonderful Oyster Box hotel on the beach. It is a fabulous hotel. We spent a very long day with a private guide touring the Zulu War battlefields of Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift. Today we are doing a free ship’s tour to the Tala Game Reserve. It leaves at 8:15AM and is five hours long. This type of safari experience can’t match the private, week-long game drive we did in Tanzania in 2009 or the self drive safaris we have done in Kruger National Park and Addo Elephant National Park during our past two visits to South Africa.  But we can’t pass up a chance to see the animals one more time!

We are scheduled to pick up our pilot at 6AM and to be docked at 7AM but the pilot’s union does its own thing and the available pilot decides to take a tanker in ahead of us. He then refuses to bring us in and goes off the clock! We have to wait until the next pilot comes on the clock and can bring us in! Consequently, the 7:15AM Tala tour misses their departure and we are still docking when our 8:15AM Tala departure comes around. 

The first tour to Tala does not get off until 8:30AM. Then the destination person tells us it will be at least 9:15AM before we can get our bus ticket and to compound matters clams up about the effects of the delay which turn out to be considerable. They just tell us to wait in the lounge while all the other morning tours leave, even ones that have departures later than our’s. The destinations person eludes to a Port Authority mess up, but neither the Captain or other staff members have told us anything and this causes a near riot in the theater since we have been sitting in there since 8AM or before with no information on why we are so late to dock and the effect of the vehicle logistics at Tala for the three group tours.

It turns out Tala has four trucks that hold 50 people total. There are three groups of 50 people each coming to do a two hour safari each. You do the math! It would have helped if the staff had shared with us all the problems.

This very unhappy bunch of passengers finally get away for the 1 ½  hour drive just after 9:30AM.  First we have a nice , but brief look at some of the interesting parts of Durban. It is a very interesting city. We drive by the turn of the century Victoria Street Market, broad modern streets with Victorian architecture, old cemeteries and various traditional street markets and the taxi stand for the long distance taxis.

Then we head northwest out of the city on the national highway to the Tala Private Game Reserve, nestled in the KwaZulu-Natal hills. The wildlife conservancy spans nearly 7,410 acres, and is home to an area of indigenous acacia thornveld, open grassland and sensitive wetlands that provide an exceptional environment in which to observe game and bird-life. The reserve features well over 300 bird species and big game that includes the rhino, kudu, hippo, giraffe, and the rare sable antelope. Several distinctive and remarkable plant species are also be found at Tala, including the fiery aloe, the imposing euphorbia and fragrant wild sage.
Illegal housing

 Legal housing

We arrive shortly after 11AM and are offered refreshments and a chance to “shop” while we wait for the first group to finish their scheduled two hour game drive in the four available safari trucks. But there is no place to sit and no shade while we wait until about 12:15PM when first group returns.

We then meet the rangers and board an open game vehicle for a guided game-drive. Along the way, we become one with nature, interacting with the animals, and experience the sights, sounds and smells of the African bush. It is a lovely reserve.

We see all the species they have and get touching close to the giraffe and zebras  and close enough to the rest of them.  As we are about an hour into our drive we see the third set of buses come in the gate and they will have to wait longer then we did! Thankfully it is a great game drive with super nice guides and we return to the lodge in very good spirits.
We unload, take a restroom break, get on the buses and head back to the ship.  While the temperature was fairly pleasant out of the sun, we are still hot, tired and dusty when we finally get back about 3:30PM.
Baby wildebeest

 Blesbuck

 Zebra

 Our jeeps meet

 Giraffe

 Impala 

 ostrich

 See my nice long tongue!

Babies!

 Water Buck with target on rump

 Wildebeest

 Hippos

 Nylan

 Rhino with baby on the right side

 Wart Hogs

 Rhino

The five hour tour turned into a 7 ½ hour marathon! Just a little bit of the truth from the ship staff would have made this a much more pleasant day. Ricardo, Head of Destinations, and the Captain or other staff should have shared the pilot foul up and the limited number of safari vehicles with us from the get-go instead of letting us stew and causing tempers to flare.

A shower, mixed nuts from room service and two cocktails and we are ready for dinner and talking about all the great sighting we had as we were in different trucks so saw different things!