We woke up, had a filling breakfast, and set off to Hlane Royal National Park to go on a game reserve trek. (http://www.biggameparks.org/3parks_hlane.html) “In the vast bushveld expanse of eastern Swaziland where the hot, still sun of Africa beats on the dry but life-giving soils as it has for thousands of years, and the rumbling roars of the lions are heard in the cool dusky evenings, lies Swaziland’s largest protected area, Hlane Royal National Park, home to the largest herds of game in the Kingdom.
Hlane, named by King Sobhuza II, with its adjacent dispersal areas covers 30 000 hectares of Swazi bushveld, dominated by ancient hardwood vegetation. Hlane is home to lion, elephant and white rhino, with an abundant and diverse bird life, including the highest density of nesting white backed vultures in Africa.
A network of self-drive game-viewing roads criss-cross the park’s flat terrain, weaving between the 1000 year old hardwood vegetation and shallow pans which attract great herds of animals during the dry winter months. Guided walking safaris, mountain biking and game drives in Hlane's open Land Rover's are also available.Head for the bush and experience the sights and sounds of Hlane against the roar of Hlane’s magnificent lions – the symbol of royalty and the pride of Swaziland.”
Usually you have to book well in advance, but luck was on our side. We set out at a little after 11am with Johannis. He said, “I have been working here for 6 years and no one has died.” Not the most confidence inspiring words but I trusted him nonetheless.
The Land Rovers they use are indestructible. Well, partly because they don’t have any of the ‘fix-ins’ typical civilian cars are cluttered with such as radios, air conditioning, windshields, doors with handles, etc. Instead they are bare bones go anywhere do anything type trucks. The sides of the truck have a mesh to protect its occupants from the passing brush. The front of the truck is completely open so any animal that is bold enough to jump on the hood, there is nothing stopping it from ….
All the animals at Hlane Royal National ParkPark are separated with fences to keep some semblance of structure. The antelope and impalas gaze pretty much everywhere freely; the rhinos are kept near to the main camp so that visitors can gaze at them as they eat their lunch; and the lions are kept in a certain area with a few fences between them and civil society just in case one of them get really hungry.
The park was setup by The Reilly’s. (http://www.biggameparks.org/conserv_thereillys.html) “Billie Wallis, formerly Reilly, came to Swaziland in 1920 at the age of fifteen and married Mickey Reilly in 1925… The Reillys witnessed the disappearance of Swaziland’s game and this had a profound impact on young Ted Reilly. Between the rinderpest (or cattle plague) in 1896, excessive hunting, the ‘wildebeest plague’ in the 1930’s, poison traps, herbicides and insecticides, and unenforced game laws, the slaughter and depletion of Swaziland’s game and flora resulted to remnant populations in some areas and totally disappeared from others by the 1960’s… The only area available for a sanctuary was the Reilly’s own 460 ha farm which was then a highly productive mixed farming operation. Where the Rest Camp is now was a productive mealie land and tin mining added substantially to revenues.
Having experiencing the spiritual values of wildlife, and seeing its escalating destruction country-wide, Ted Reilly decided to give up farming and turn over Mlilwane to provide a sanctuary for at least some of the Kingdom’s wild animals using limited personal resources and absolute dedication… Mlilwane has grown to 10 times it original size through the support of the Monarchy, international support and true individual dedication… “
The first animals we saw were impala and gazelle. Do you know the difference? Both male and female gazelles have horns / antlers where as only the male impala have horns. They were by the watering hole filling up their bladders alongside the vultures which were drying off after taking their morning baths. Then some exciting termite mounds (sarcasm), kadulu and lots of birds.
“What is it?” I asked as Johannis ducked down and stopped talking as he searched the landscape. “There an elephant.” It was an absolute beauty. Johannis told us the elephant was about 30 years old and had either had a shoving match with another elephant or escaped a poachers greedy hands and now only had one tusk protruding its’ mouth. We saw it by another watering hole which was like a mini oasis of lush vegetation. He filled his tanks and continued on filling his belly with a bit of everything he could get his trunk on. Did you know that elephant dung was some very versatile stuff? It can be used as fuel for a fire and burned, it repels mosquitoes, it helps ease the pain of pregnancy when boiled and ingested with water by expecting (human) mothers, and it is great for fertilizing land.
We continued on and saw another elephant, and some more gazelle of course. And then…I got a feeling…kind of like a sixth sense. At the back of the park near the outer fence, laying in the shade under some trees keeping their bodies cool were 4 lions – three lionesses and one lion. They truly are the biggest laziest cats you will ever find. Johannis stayed about 20 meters back for a few minutes so that they got used to our presence. Then he drove closer, so close in fact that the lionesses had to scurry out of the way. At one point, we got so close that I could hear their chests panting below us beside the truck. I whispered to Johannis, “Is this safe?” to which he replied “Of course! (like I had asked a brainless question) They are big lazy cats and they won’t jump on us during the day.”
Johannis explained that during the day the lions were quite placid, however, he never dare take a ride out at night when they were active. In fact, no vehicles are aloud out at night as a result of the outlawing of poaching. Any vehicles seen at night in Hlane Royal National Park are assumed to be poachers and can be shot at.
We concluded the excursion by riding out near the main watering hole next to rest camp and approached some white rhinos on foot. What a thrill.
No comments:
Post a Comment