Today we docked in the town of Richards Bay in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It has an impressive harbour from which is shipped large quantities of coal and aluminum. In 2009 it had the worlds largest coal export facility, interestingly a crown now held by Newcastle NSW. Unfortunately, and I am surprised by this, we did not provide any photos of the port or city. I guess that is because we were both too captivated by the images we collected from the days visit to the Hluhluwe Game Reserve.

The bus ride from the harbour to the Hluhluwe Game Reserve was about 120 km and took almost 2 hours. Along the way we passed by a large number of plantations growing Eucalytus Trees. Our guide pointed out that these trees are considereed an invasive species because they consume a lot of water and take over from local vegetation. None the less the unbelievable number of plantations and trees we saw today are a testament to their commercial value as a crop. They are used for wood pulp, firewood and building material.

The purpose of the days outing was to see some of the animals for which South Africa is famous and as you can see from the photos below it was a successful day; rhinoceros, elelphants, water buffaloes, zebras, various grazing animals like impalas, warthogs, and a couple of very attractive birds. We also saw baboons but did not get any good photos.

A very successful day.