Blog - Page 6

Finding your way to White Elephant Safari Lodge and Bush Camp is easy. We might be tucked away in the top northern corner of Kwazulu Natal, yet it is as simple as directly turning off the N2. In fact we are just a stone’s throw away from Swaziland Golela/Lavumisa border, putting us smack bang in the middle between Kruger National Park and Durban.

In a land where predators garner their prey, we find that only the strongest, fittest and mightiest of creatures survive the battle of life. There is an ongoing war between the great beasts which is essential for retaining the natural order.

By Reece Thornley, Operation Wallacea Dissertation Student at Pongola Game Reserve (June to August 2015)

There are many things about Africa that I will never forget, for as long as I live. Many things beautiful, mesmerizing and a few absolutely bewildering!
However, of all the things in Africa, there is one individual in particular that stands out in my mind. This individual makes me long for the windswept floodplains and dense thicket of Pongola more than any other thing in Africa.
He is staggeringly beautiful, and gargantuan in size. His thick grey skin tinged with copper orange soil and wrinkles that crossed his entire body like deep fjords. His eyes are something I will remember always, sparkling and wise, like a great amber sapphires. A tell-tale sign was his wonky left tusk that protruded inwards towards his long serpent like trunk. There has never been a more aptly named creature to grace this earth…Khumbula, Zulu for ‘Remember’. If elephants had second names, his would definitely be Ungakhohlwa…‘Never forget’.

This is a vehicle- based activity in which we set out to locate Black Rhino, and under appropriate circumstances, approach these leviathans on foot, to truly appreciate their size, power and majesty. From the vehicle, we use signals received from radio collars worn by certain individuals, and the natural signs of spoor, dung and other evidence, to find the rhino.

The twins were first sighted in November last year and cause for much excitement. Our White Elephant rangers' first sighting of them was in November on the north/eastern section of Pongola Game Reserve. The twins have to take many little steps to keep up with their Mother, Curve and the rest of the Orphan herd, but they are keeping up and doing well!