Thula Thula

I’ve done a fair bit of traveling in my life, but it really is rare when you can take a trip that checks off some things on your bucket list. I’m very pleased to report that this trip to South Africa is helping me tick off some things that I’ve always wanted to do. Thula Thula is one of the boxes I’ve checked off of things I want to do before I die.

Thula Thula is a private game reserve that is about 2 hours north of Durban. It was made famous by its creator Lawrence Anthony when he wrote his best selling book The Elephant Whisperer. The book chronicles his struggle to reintroduce elephants into this region of Africa. They are indigenous to this area, but they had been missing for over a century.

Before leaving the states, I knew that my Thula Thula experience was going to be the highlight of my trip to this continent. As I’ve written before, this is what I think of when I think of Africa. I think of wild animals roaming free through the bush. Animals you can’t see in the states. Sure you can go to a zoo, but there is something very different about visiting these creatures in their home. You get the full hospitality of the wild, and it is amazing!

After landing at the brand new Durban airport, we loaded a van for the 2 hour trip north. Northern South Africa is much more tropical than Cape Town, so the scenery was green with lush fields of sugar cane and forests of tall trees. After about an hour and a half we turned off the main highway, and the real country experience began. The first sign I saw for Thula Thula was at an intersection where we left the pavement for the last 10kms of our journey. The road was maintained, but I wouldn’t call it smooth. There were sections that had washed away from the rain storms they get in this region.

Like every game reserve, there is a fence surrounding the entire 4,500 hectares to keep the animals from wondering of the reservation. This is for their own protection, because people will hunt them outside the designated zone. The fence also keeps the unwanted poachers from harming the animals.

We were let through the main gate by a uniformed guard and we proceeded to the visitor drop off point. Here we met Tinus, Andre, Victor and some other staff that are assigned to making our stay enjoyable. This is a 5 star game reserve, so they take pride in doing their jobs quite well.

They loaded our baggage on one topless Toyota Land Cruiser and we climbed aboard another. Andre drove us down a primitive dirt road in the direction of the tented camp. Along the way, he answered our questions and gave us some information about what to expect while we were on the premises. The scenery was beautiful and we were all excited to see some African wildlife. We didn’t have to wait long. It wasn’t 5 minutes into our trip to camp, when we rounded a corner and came face to face with our first wild African animals.

Standing just off the road were 3 huge giraffes. They were casually eating the leaves on the trees as we approached. Andre turned off the truck and we all sat there wide eyed, appreciating the experience we were living. We had all come to Africa to see these incredible beasts and now we had.

We continued to the tented camp to get acquainted with our accommodations and we found them to be quite comfortable. Each of us is staying in a luxury tent. These “tents” are to my North Face camping tent as the giraffe is to a horse. Some parts of the whole are slightly out of touch with the norm. They have canvas walls, mesh screen doors and windows, but they are built on a cement floor, have a flush toilet and some rather nice wooden furniture. We’re sleeping on beds under white mesh mosquito nets and every tent has hot and cold running water and electricity.  The outdoor shower is located on the back porch, so the experience can be pretty primal.

We met at 4:30pm for our first game drive. We loaded up into the topless trucks and set off into the bush. We drove along the rough dirt roads looking for the Big 5. The Big 5 in South Africa are Giraffe, Elephants, Leopard, Rhinoceros and South African Buffalo. We had already ticked off the Giraffe, so we were all very confident we would see some more animals.

Victor is a tracker that sits on a jump seat on the front bumper of the truck, while Andre pilots the Land Cruiser through the bush. The 2 of them filled us in on some of the birds, plants and trees we encountered on our search. These guys know more about this area than you would ever believe. We rounded one bend and saw impala bounding down the road. Around another were some wildebeest. Things were looking good as we tried to capture photos of the fleeing animals.

Then we saw what we’d been looking for. Off in the distance on one of the hillsides, we saw several elephants making their way through the brush. They were too far away to get a good concept of the size of these enormous creatures. Then the radio cracked with news of more elephants farther along the same road. We headed east and saw them up ahead. Seven elephants popped into view as the truck came to a stop on a ridge. It was awesome to see them feeding on the trees around us. They are extremely quiet giants until they break off a branch to feed. Victor tells us that an elephant could sneak up on you and you wouldn’t even know it until he taps you on the shoulder. With that I think I stole a look behind me.

At one point one of the elephant bulls came out into the road and started walking towards our car. Andre was quick with the engine and we backed up as the beast continued to advance towards us. It really wasn’t a dangerous situation, but after all the crazy stories Victor had told us about these big guys it was quite exciting. We left the scene and continued around the corner to see if we couldn’t cut off the heard as they marched (and ate) their way through the thick brush.

We stopped on a straight road to make a pit stop and have some drinks. At this point the men walked forward a little to let the ladies use the “facilities” right behind the truck. Victor made me laugh by saying, “Watch out for anything you see bigger than the truck. If you see anything, yell but walk slowly away.” I told Victor you can have yell and run OR talk and walk, but you can’t have yell and walk. Those two just don’t go together.

It started to get dark and we headed home. We startled a few wildebeest on the way back to camp, but we didn’t see anything else for the night. We pulled into the compound with big smiles and appetites. We headed to our tents to freshen up and put on some warmer clothing. Even with the very hot daytime temperatures, it gets quite cool at night.

They served us dinner in the open air main tent, and we sat around reminiscing about the great time we were having. They lit a huge fire in the Boma, which is a common area around a fire pit designed for socializing. Van and I visited with Victor and Andre while watching the “bush television”. I had never heard that term used before, but I will use it from now on when I talk about the fire. There is something mesmerizing about staring into an open fire, regardless of your culture or language. I enjoyed the entire evening very much.

Walking back to our tent, we saw some of the most amazing stars we’ve ever seen. There is no light pollution this far out in the bush, so the sky is alive with stars. They twinkled and flashed with an energy that is appropriate for this enormous place. Sam and I fell asleep under our mosquito net listening to the bush radio (that’s my term). The sounds were amazing and it was fun to try to pick out as many different sounds as I could. I heard lots, but of course, I couldn’t identify many of them.

I have to say that this is a real thrill being here. It was on my bucket list and now I’ve checked it off. I wonder what will be next. It sure will be hard to top this.