KwaZulu N\atal Tour - Day 2

Our accommodation at Hilltop Camp

Amazaing views of the park

Hilltop Camp Reception

African Fish Eagle

White backed vultures

Baboons

Rob with Cheetah

Ugundi cow - prized for its hide

Warthog

KwaZulu N\atal Tour - Day 2

September 20, 2016

We were up early for a 8:30am departure to the Endomini Cheetah Centre which was located outside the game park. On the 15 km trip to the park gate we saw white backed vultures partaking in what must have been a kill the during the night, a lion, buffalo, zebras, baboons, impalas, warthogs, and white rhinos as well as a brown snake eagle.

As there are only a few leopards in the game park we are unlikely to see one, and the cheetah is rather elusive there as well. The Cheetah Centre takes care of Cheetahs who were injured and abandoned by owners who had them as pets. They are careful to keep the cheetahs wild and not try to domesticate them. It was surprising to see the difference in size from the smallest strain which looked like a large house cat, to the larger, more powerful, strain that one sees on TV. The cheetah  eats mainly small animals so is not a major predator for big game. It  is itself hunted by other large cats such as the lion and leopard. We found it interesting that the cheetahs can be kept in a quite low fenced area as they don't have the muscle strength to pull themselves up the fence to the top. At the same time they can run at a speed ot 120 kms/hr and can go from 0 to 60 mph in 3 seconds! We were able to enter the cages of some of the cheetah and pet then carefully, under the watchful eyes of two rangers.

In the afternoon we went back to the park and took another three hour tour with our guide, Welcome. We were pleased to see giraffes as well as an elephant up close. Again we saw many buffalo, rhinos, impalas, nyalas and warthogs.

We had another great buffet dinner at the Hilltop Camp and called it a night early as we have an early start in the morning.