Princess Cruises - Richards Bay, South Africa.

Princess Cruises - Richards Bay, South Africa.

Again, mainly because of the strong currents, we are an hour late getting into our next port of call Richards Bay. The pilot, who will escort us into this port has to arrive by helicopter - so for safety reasons most people have to vacate their cabins – which makes very little sense as now everyone is out on deck 7 watching what is happening.

The pilot arrives in a helicopter.

The entrance to Richards Bay Port.

The sail into this large industrial port is very interesting and again we have a prime vantage point right at the front of the ship on deck 14. There are massive concrete breakwaters both sides of the harbour entrance that we have to pass through as we enter the port. The surf beaches look beautiful and there are many mangrove swamps as well as many coal loading terminals. When we eventually dock - in a very secluded part of the port - there are many buses waiting to take us on our tours and there are also lots of small craft stalls set up by local traders along the dock. The main craft items they are selling are carved wooden and stone objects – animals and native heads, weaved baskets, placemats and very colourful jewellery which includes necklaces and bracelets made out of beads - all with a very African feel.

The buses are waiting.

 

One of the craft stalls.

Me and one of the local sellers.

Unfortunately it takes some time for the ship to clear customs and then every passenger who is going ashore (at any stop in South Africa) has to have a face to face meeting with a representative from South African immigration. This then puts all tours back – ours is put back 2hours. So now instead of it being from 12.30pm to 6.30pm it will be 2.30pm returning after dark at 8pm. Needless to say there are a lot of very disgruntled and angry passengers. I feel very sorry for the vendors and bus drivers who have been waiting in the heat for over four hours.

Richards Bay is the gateway to some of the finest game parks in all of Africa and the tour we have booked is to Hluhluwe – Umfolozi Game Reserve which was established in 1895 and is the oldest game reserve in South Africa. This park is set in the heart of Zululand and boasts the largest population of white rhinoceroses in the world and also is where the Big Five Game still roam.

One of the many villages we pass by on our way to the game park.

Eucalyptus Plantation

Our bus journey takes 1.5 hours and after leaving the main City of Richards Bay we travel through some very interesting countryside. This area, as well as being a major port for the transportation of coal is also renowned for paper pulp and wood chips. To supply this industry there are plantation upon plantation of eucalyptus trees. We also see sugar cane and pineapple plantations and many Zulu villages.

 

The 4WDVehicles we travel through the game reserve in.

 

A warthog.

When we finally get to the game reserve we embark on our Wildlife Safari in a 10 seater 4WD vehicle with a very knowledgeable guide. We have no idea (or guarantee) of what we might see but no sooner do we enter through the Memorial Gate into the park proper than we come face to face with several warthog and their young.

We see many beautiful giraffe

This mother and baby rhinoceros walked across the road in front of our vehicle and then grazed close to the road. 

The largest elephant in a small herd of about 6.

This guy was just sitting in a tree watching us go by. He was just beautiful.

 

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A playful monkey.

An antelope looking out from dense undergrowth.

A herd of  Zebra  with one very young one.

A large male giraffe crosses the road.

Buffalo graze in the fields.

A large bull elephant eating the branches of a tree.

A family of three zebra.

he country we are travelling through has open grassed and scrub areas studded with graceful Acacia trees and surrounded by low mountains on one side and more jungle like vegetation on the other. It still looks very green and lush even though South Africa is in the midst of a very serious drought and even the some of the rivers in the reserve have dried up.

This is the type of country we travel through.

We see plenty of animals and every time we spot a different species of animal or one is close to the road the driver stops the vehicle turns the motor off and we can just sit and watch the antics of the animals and take our photos. We have giraffes, zebra, rhinoceroses and baboons cross the road right in front of us. We see small herds of elephants tramping through the jungle as well as a large male under a tree up on the hillside. There are many buffalo grazing in groups of twos and threes and we also see one very larger herd of about 100 buffalo in the thick vegetation. Most of the animals have young animals in their group and they are just a delight to see, especially as they are out in the wild. All in our vehicle are thrilled with what they see but would have liked it to have lasted a lot longer.

This baboon is very well hidden in this tree.

Our journey back to the Sun Princess takes 1.5 hours and on the way we enjoy a magnificent African sunset. The colours are truly remarkable – clear bright oranges with dashes of strong greens and blue turquoise colours. I hope we get to see similar sunsets (and more African wildlife) before we depart South Africa.

We enjoyed the wonderful colours of the sunset on our way home.