South Africa 2024: Day 2

3 December 2024: KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

This morning I headed to Thula Thula Game Reserve, home to a private game reserve and wildlife conservation in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, run by Françoise Malby-Anthony. Thula Thula has over 11,000 hectares and began with a dream. Former co-owner/founder, Lawrence Anthony, who has since passed away, and Françoise dreamed of opening a game reserve in South Africa, where Lawrence was born. Plans escalated quickly once they learned of a herd of African Savannah elephants that were scheduled to be culled. Today, that herd lives at Thula Thula, and comprises two fair-sized herds, as well as bulls.

After the driver pulls up, he says, “There’s someone to greet you, but first, they need you to sign a paper.” AKA the indemnity clause, which acknowledges that if you are maimed or die, you can’t sue. Why? Well, this is the bush, and any number of things from mammals to reptiles to bugs can harm you.

When the paper is signed, I’m off to volunteer camp where I meet our team, get settled, and ID elephants. We spent at least two hours observing Nana and Marula’s herds and a group of males.

I am situated in their volunteer camp, which happens to be right near their rehabilitation centre, where a baby jackal is currently being cared for and will be released onto the reserve when he’s ready. Each night, I sleep in a heavy canvas tent on a raised platform with one other tent about 3 yards away. My tent has a raised bed, an end table, and a camping torch. We have an open-air/common area kitchen where Chef Sibi cooks us three meals a day, and all the large bugs like to slam into the light at night, flying across the kitchen. We have a main house with books and movies, and an open-air washroom with no door, no lights, and lots of visitors like snakes, geckos, red-backed frogs, and scorpions. It’s a toss-up what’s in there, and if it’s deadly. So, I cross my fingers for a shower before sunset with no daytime snake visitors, and thoroughly check where I am walking and what I am touching after sunset. I barely slept a wink that night with curious visitors near my tent all night long, but I know one thing for sure—I was born for this.

Birds I saw today: Weavers, Square-tailed drongo

Mammals I saw today: Elephants, Impala, Nyala, Blue Wildebeest, Zebra, Giraffes, Warthog, Southern bushpig, Cape buffalo, Cheetah (in the boma waiting for release), Vervet monkeys, Rhino, Hippos.