Umfolozi and Saint Lucia

Next stop was Hluhluwe Backpackers and Safaris, right next door to the game reserve. We only spent one night here, getting up early the following morning and spending the whole day driving around the park.

I checked out staying at the main camp in the park, but they were completely full (lovely place though with a great short hiking trail through dense forest). This park had fantastic scenery, but not an abundance of game - still no leopard sightings.

That evening we drove the relatively short distance to Saint Lucia (Bib's International Backpackers), back on the East coast. Again we spent more time here then we first thought we would. We actually had our very first South African braai here (their word for a BBQ), whilst watching the first South African rugby game in a local bar. The atmosphere was good, but nothing compared to an Irish rugby game (but then we were in a smallish, touristy town).

Again we hired bicycles to explore the area, which has some amazing beaches. We visited the crocodile farm, which was very impressive (especially the baby crocs that were extremely feisty and would snap viciously when you'd approach them). The guide was actually originally from Ireland (O'Dell) and the tour around all the enclosures was very good - and yes, we did get to pet a baby croc while the guide held it firmly.

We took the evening cruise one of the days, just turning up and hopping onboard. The highlight of the cruise is meant to be the crocs and hippos you get to see, but by this stage we've seen what seems like hundreds of both, so I just sat on the upper deck and relaxed with a beer watching the sunset and the hippos, crocs and fish eagles drift past (all of the other people on board were down below eagerly snapping photos). In fact, I was strongly reminded of just cruising down the Shannon back home, it was such a lovely wee excursion.

I was tempted after seeing glimpses of whales at Sodwana to do a whale watching boat trip, but they were very expensive, and I knew I'd be diving again further down the coast so I didn't bother. Luckily I didn't either, since all you have to do is go to Hermanus at the right time of year and your pretty much guaranteed a fantastic show right from the shore.

Our last day in Saint Lucia we drove up the coast to Cape Vidal, through another game reserve. This reserve really doesn't have much game, it's more for the drive and the beach at the destination. Cape Vidal really was another great beach and we got to see lots of the really cute samanga monkeys - common here but endangered elsewhere across the world.

From St. Lucia it was off to Durban.