Wake up at 0500 – coffee & cigar and head off into the Reserve with Dale Wepener and Zama Ncube – Black Rhino ranger & tracker respectively. There are just 3,500 Black Rhino left in the world … I was going to hopefully see one in the wild and stalk it ON FOOT!
On the way we met some graceful Giraffe
My opening piece-to-camera to the show. Thankfully a couple of Zebra agreed to appear in the show – only after I had paid their agents!
We stopped in several places as Zama spotted tracks and poop … some sadly belonged to the White Rhino. There are around 20,000 Whites left … and I have seen a few on the Reserve … I needed a Black one!
The footprint showed us Black Rhino was around & about … by the way, we had been searching for 2 hours by this stage!
An hour later still and we were still searching! Zama on the front of the vehicle was getting concerned that we would not find one.
Yuk! Spiders! I HATE spiders!
An hour later still and we were still searching! Zama on the front of the vehicle was getting concerned that we would not find one.
Yuk! Spiders! I HATE spiders! 
Suddenly Zama saw one in the distance. We stepped out of the vehicle and carefully & cautiously approached the Rhino! It was a cow – big & grumpy. Black Rhinos can charge people and kill if they get upset or feel threatened. We got our shots and left … being as quiet as possible. My heart was pounding as I knew one noise could get her to charge as us. Just as we backed away, she DID hear us and started walking towards us! The stalkers were being stalked! She came within 30 metres of us … and the vehicle was still around 100 metres away. We just froze for 10 minutes until a plane flew overhead and distracted her! She could smell and see us … it was VERY, VERY frightening!
We ALL celebrated on returning to the vehicle because we got the shots AND we didn’t get charged! WHAT AN EXPERIENCE! It took over four and a half hours to get what we needed … it felt like four and a half days!
After lunch we rejoined Jono and Thembinkosi to find the game that had so far eluded us! We drove for around 30 minutes and found a shallow watering hole that had a crocodile living in it. He was rather shy!
There are simply hundreds of species of birds, insect and trees in South Africa .. my favourite being this “thorny acacia”. It is the tree I picture when I think of Africa … 
Impala
We carried on driving and suddenly at a corner we bumped into 3 cheetahs – all brothers sitting in the sun! They have been introduced into the Reserve and 2 still have tracking collars. They mewled at us … but generally ignored the fact that we had a camera on them! 
Suddenly one of the cheetahs jumped onto a tree stump – less than 1 metre from me! He did a wee and a poop (marking his territory), mewled at me, smiled and wandered off! I was in total awe of him! He was so close that I could have given him a tummy tickle! I was only marginally tempted! Ha! 
A herd of Zebra were just 20 metres away and while they could see the cheetah, they carried on munching on grass.
A herd of Zebra were just 20 metres away and while they could see the cheetah, they carried on munching on grass. 
As we left the cheetahs, another of the brothers headed into a tree to check out the view of the plain. They all looked full of food so maybe they were checking for female cheetahs…
From there we went in search of the “king” … and on the way met some hippos keeping cool. They can’t swim … and walk on the floor of the river or lake they are in. A hippo can hold its breath for up to 7 minutes! Not bad …
Finally under a tree on the plain, we found 3 lionesses having an afternoon nap.
From nowhere another lioness wandered into the picture and plopped herself with the other three and soon all were snoring with their tails flicking away!
It was a fantastic sight!
Finally – the end of show piece to camera! As you can see, a giraffe was rather interested in what was going on and joined in …
The afternoon & indeed this part of the show in Phinda has been an enormous success due to Jono and Thembinkosi. Bravo boys – take a bow!Tomorrow I leave Phinda, ZwaZulu Natal and indeed South Africa. This makes me VERY sad …
