Monday, April 22, 2019 - Flew to Durban, Game viewing cruise on the St. Lucia Estuary

We flew from Cape Town to Durban in the morning and then drove to St, Lucia Estuary  It is home to Nile crocodiles, hippos, and other animals.  We saw crocodiles and a lot of hippos.  Last time we saw hippos in Serengeti, they were in a mud pool, therefore the hippos we saw were pretty muddy.  In St. Lucia Estuary, the hippos looked much cleaner.  We were pretty lucky to see some of them in actions such as fighting and chasing each other.  It made the sighting more interesting.

Tuesday, April 23, 2019 - Game Drive in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve

We got up very early to start our game drive in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve.  

Right after we started the game drive, the guide told us that he spotted a couple of lions far away.  After a very concentrated effort, some of us with good eye sight could see them.  However, I couldn’t see it.  After the guide used my camera to shoot a couple of pictures with tele-lens, I still had to enlarge it to see a small image of these two lions.  One thing we were sure is that these guides do have an excellent eye sight. Then, we started to see elephants and rhinos close by.  There were a lot of rhinos in this game reserve.  Last time we saw rhino was in Ngorongoro Crater.  It was in a very far away distance, even my tele-lens camera can only catch a very fuzzy image.  This time we saw a lot of them in close distance. It was exciting and somewhat makes up what we missed in our last Africa trip.  During this game drive, we also saw warthogs, cape buffalos, kudus, and nyalas.

Then, we drove to Kingdom of eSwatini.  However, our guide kept mentioning it as Swaziland.  As we learned that eSwatini is Africa's last absolute monarch had marked his country's 50th birthday in 2018 with a rather unconventional gift: a different name. During Golden Jubilee celebrations, King Mswati III announced that from this point henceforth, the land formerly known as Swaziland is now to be known as the Kingdom of eSwatini.  However, most of their signs, even in their border crossing, is still Swaziland.  In eSwatini, cows are worth their weight in gold.  If you want to get married, you have to pay the bride’s family cows.  Depending on the bride’s status, there is different number of cows you have to pay.  

We stopped at a handicraft market for shopping. 

Laster we arrived to Mountain Inn in Mbabane of eSwatini.  It is a nice hotel on the mountain top with beautiful views.  After we checked into our room, we came out and tried to take photos while there was still enough sun light.  It was a surprise to find such a wonderful establishment in eSwatini.  

Wednesday, April 24, 2019 - Visited Ngwenya Glass Factory, Matsamo Cultural Village

After breakfast, we visited Ngwenya Glass Gactory to see talented glass blowers creating a range of enchanting African animals, birds, and fishes, as well as tableware, made from recycled glasses that is collected by children of eSwatini.  Quite a few of us got souvenirs there.  

Then, we visited Matsamo Cultural Village where you can learn more about the Swati traditions and customs. Enjoyed traditional dance and song performances with authentic African instruments as well as traditional Swati cuisines. 

Thursday, April 25, 2019 - Game drive in Kruger National Park

Today is the most exciting day of this trip.  We got up very early and drove to Kruger National Park around 6am.  We started with our game drive by spotting giraffes putting on a beautiful post for us to take pictures.  Then we saw many elephants and impalas.

Then, we got lucky to see a couple of lions.  After seeing lions, our game driver told us that people from another game drive jeep spotted a leopard further into the park, and he wants to make sure we want to drive over to catch a glimpse of this leopard.  We all agreed, and then we took off.  After we got to the right spot, we were lucky to see the leopard on one side of the road and then crossing the road to the other side.  Cameras were clicking to capture this wonderful sighting. It completed our sighting of Big Fives.

Then, we saw a couple of elephants fighting in the middle of the road with jeeps around them.  It was an unbelievable moment to see these elephants in action.

After lunch, we went out again trying to see more animals.  We saw a couple of elephants in the middle of the pond with actions.  Our guide told us that they were mating.  

We also saw more elephants near a pond and walking like in a parade.  

It was an exciting and exhausting day of chasing/watching Big Fives and other animals.  The animals we saw here were in smaller quantities in comparing with our Tanzania trip.  However, it was still very exciting.