Collected Moments of Survival

Rather shockingly, a small amount of research about African animals reveals the following: There were once 100 000 Black Rhinos in Africa, now there are approximately 2700. In 1930 there were 5 – 10 million African Elephants and now we have less than 600 000. 100 years ago African Wild Dog packs numbered up to 100 per pack seen on the Serengeti Plains. Now a pack is usually 10 dogs and we have about 1 500 dogs left in Africa. The African Lion numbered 50 000 roaming free only about a decade ago. Now we have around 10 000. In 1900 there were 100 000 wild cheetah in Africa, now the number is closer to 10 000. Please note that the above statistics are unverified and should be taken as being approximate. On the other side of the scale the world population figures read as follows: 1800 - 1 billion 2000 - 6 billion 2012 – 7 billion Have you got out of your seat yet? The next statistic to look at is the land area of the earth. 150 ...

There is no doubt that the African bush has a magical quality that, once it has crept into your soul, never leaves again. Each visit beguiles one more and the yearning to return time after time drives a search for undiscovered places and new experiences. kwaZulu-Natal has only a smattering of destinations to explore and the most desirable of these is Phinda Game Reserve. A destination much vaunted for its Black Rhino, Cheetah and Lions this reserve has to be high on the agenda of the bush junkie. So it is that I find myself heading east towards the Indian Ocean. On our first sortie the familiar feel of the wind whipping through my hair is a welcome one while the discomfort of the bench on the back of the safari vehicle allows me to savour the moment of being back in the bush. We head for the open plains (referred to as the Marsh Area) to look for a lion pride that has been seen in the area. Without too much searching we find our target. A sizable pride consisting of tw...