April 9, 2026
Today we took a safari at the Tala Private Game Reserve, which covers over 7,000 acres.
On our hour-long bus ride there, we saw a bit of Durban and of South Africa. Durban is at least semi-tropical, as seen from the palm trees.
Our bus went by housing provided by the government for the poor. These were on a hillside. The older houses were one room, and had electricity and water but no bathrooms. Our guide said that people simply went outside to relieve themselves.
What we saw of Durban was modern and clean. We went by a shopping mall that looked pretty upscale from the road.
Our tour of the game reserve was on a truck like this one. It was actually comfortable. Our guide looked like he came straight out of Jumanji. When Dottie told them that, he said that he hoped our tour would be a bit less risky than the movie.
We saw many acacia trees. We were interested because we’d read about them often in books about Africa, like The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency.
One of our first stops was to see white rhinos, here enjoying a mud pond.
These are all females, and their horns have been trimmed. The keepers trim them by using anesthetic darts, then covering the rhinos’ eyes and ears to make them less afraid, should they wake up. And that happens, because they can become resistant to specific anesthetics.
Once the rhino is under control, they cut off the end of the tusk with a small chain saw. Our guide said that the several inches that are removed would sell for about a million dollars on the black market, because of their rumored ability as an aphrodisiac. Our guide said that doesn’t work at all – a rhino’s horn is made of the same tissue as our fingernails, and you could get the same effect by eating your nails.
We saw zebras just walking down the road. Our guide said their stripes are like human fingerprints – no two are exactly alike. He said that when a female gives birth, she will go away from the herd with her offspring for a few weeks so it can learn her pattern of stripes and her smell, and be able to pick her out of the herd.
He said that zebras can sprint. They get an adrenalin rush and can outrun a horse over a couple of hundred yards. After that, they slow down and the horse will be faster.
We saw giraffes in herds and up close. The entire herd was looking in one direction, and we asked why. Our guide said that he’d thought about it, and that in his professional opinion, he hadn’t a clue. He did say that if you want to know what a giraffe is paying attention to, don’t look at its eyes, look at it’s ears. He also said that a female gives birth standing up, and the baby drops about six feet to the ground. The impact drives the fluid from the baby’s lungs and it can begin to breathe.
We also saw two hippopotamuses hippopotami one Hippopotamus and then another. The photo is fuzzy, but you’re looking at a mother and baby – actually, their eyes and noses. The baby kept trying to get on the mother’s back, and falling off. He seemed to be having a good time. We were told that the mother and offspring separate after about a year and a half, and the mother gets depressed. No, we didn’t learn how they found this out.
We also saw ostriches, impalas, and wildebeests.
Our guide told us that ostriches actually do stick their heads in the ground if they think they’re in danger. And predators are delighted with the opportunity of an easy lunch. On the other hand, if they run, they run fast, and if they fight, their claws can open up their enemies.
The preserve didn’t have any elephants or major predators like lions. Our guide said that there was a leopard, and several varieties of wild cat. The wild cats were small compared to leopards, but very large compared to domestic house cats, and they had attitude.
That evening we had dinner ashore. We’d hoped for some local dishes, but all the nearby restaurants had conventional menus. We did find one by the beach, and it served us a mixed fish, ribs and chicken platter that was more than we could reasonably eat.
We ate it all anyway,
Next stop, Cape Town,
Dottie and Mal
Durban (Zulu: eThekwini, from itheku meaning “bay, lagoon”) is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town. Situated on the east coast of South Africa, on the Natal Bay of the Indian Ocean, Durban is the busiest port city in sub-Saharan Africa.
Durban has a rich, diverse heritage, with large Zulu, Indian, White, and Coloured populations. Historically, it was a popular tourist destination domestically because of its beaches and warm climate,[9] but in recent years, tourism has declined.[10][11] Some notable places are the Golden Mile beachfront, Botanic Gardens, the Art Gallery and Natural Science Museum at City Hall, the Tudor-style Playhouse Theatre, uShaka Marine World, and the International Convention Centre.