Hluhluwe (Shoosh-looey) Game Reserve - by Nina

One day we got up at 4:45am and went to the hire car we had hired for three days.  The first day in the car we would go to Hluhluwe.  On the second day we would go to a cat park. On the third day we would go to another game reserve called St Lucia.  Today we were going to Hluhluwe.

A little while in the park we saw some zebra.  They’re beautiful animals.  In Imfolozi Game Reserve Anne told us that zebras used to be all black but they adapted white stripes to balance their body temperature.

Anne told us zebras used to be all black!

Then we saw a troupe of baboons.  The old males look very wise and royal.

I was looking out for animals and I saw a smooth rock in the ground with a trail round it.  Later we found out it was a warthog rubbing post.  A warthog would find a large rock in the ground and would run around it until the rock was smooth or he had no fleas.

Along the road there was a small patch of swamp.  On a dead bush was a tall beautiful crane.  Its throat was brown and it had a white splash under its eye.  We looked in the bird book and saw it was called a darter.

the darter

At the swamp there was also a Malachite kingfisher.  It was beautiful.  Next we saw a Mouse bird.  The name suits it.

We also saw a mummy elephant and a baby.  The baby was very small compared to the mum.

Mummy and baby crossing the track in front of us.

Today was a day for seeing mums and babies.  We saw mums and baby:

• elephants
• giraffes
• impala
• nyala
• zebra
• rhinos
• warthogs and
• baboons.

Two more mums and babies

All you could see of the baby warthog was its back and its little tail poking out of the long grass.

The baby giraffe was standing at a distance and at first we thought it was an adult.  Then we saw the body of a giraffe in the trees and realised the first giraffe must be a baby.  Then mum went over and stood just next to the baby.

Giraffes are so graceful.

Here’s a full list of the things we saw:

Birds
Martial eagle
African crowned eagle
Yellow-billed kite
Gray heron
Darter
Yellow-billed stork
Water thick-knee
Crested guineafowl
Egyptian goose
Malachite kingfisher
Blue-cheeked bee-eater
Little bee-eater
Burchells coucal
African hoppoe
Cape turtle-dove
Speckled mousebird
Trumpeter hornbill
Magpie shrike
Scarlet-chested sunbird
Blue waxbill
Green twinspot
Village weaver
Spectacled weaver
Southern red bishop
Cape glossy starling

Mammals
Burchells zebra
giraffe
buffaloe
White rhinoceros
warthog
Chacma baboon
Steenbok
Blue Wildebeest
Nyala

Bugs and Other
flies
dung beetles
millipedes
centipedes

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