Durban - Tala Game Reserve

Our original plan for Durban was to walk over to uShaka Marine Park, a hybrid aquarium/waterslide park adjacent to the cruise port. But after missing Mossel Bay we wanted to really lean into the game drives to give ourselves the maximum opportunity to see wildlife. There’s a game reserve called Tala that’s about 90 minutes (in theory) from the city that, while a more controlled environment than a true national park, offers chances to see African wildlife in their natural surroundings. We signed up for the latest of three different excursions out to Tala, leaving at 2:20. Our thinking was that later in the day was better (early is best, but we didn’t dock until 8:00, so there wasn’t an opportunity to do an early morning drive). We headed out on time but encountered horrific traffic that turned the 90-minute drive into a 2 ½ hour odyssey. We were supposed to be starting our drive at 4:00, but it was after 5:00. We all soldiered on, though, as we did want to see some animals.

We piled into several 4-wheel drive vehicles and almost immediately saw a white rhinoceros. Liz and I have been on two large African vacations and done numerous game drives and never once saw a rhino (just the way wildlife viewing goes). Now here was one just hanging out. DJ really, really wants to see an elephant in the wild, but Tala does not have elephants. Nor do they have lions, as these have been removed to a separate preserve. Outside of that, the environment is natural – the animals are on their own as to feeding and mating. We wound up with good looks at zebras, wildebeest, more rhinos, and giraffes. On the bird front we saw a flock of crowned cranes fly in and had a pair of blue cranes, which are South Africa’s national bird. As dusk was falling we watched a pair of hippos in a pool. It was getting well and truly dark as we headed back, so we couldn’t see a lot. The lateness paid off, though, as we had a spotted eagle-owl perched on top of a tree.

The drive back was uneventful and we hit the ship just before 9:00. We were informed as we were coming aboard that the Terrace Café, which normally closes at 9:00, would stay open an extra thirty minutes. That was nice, and we let the staff know how much we appreciated them staying late for us. That’s a very late dinner for us, so we didn’t eat a lot, but it was nice to have something.Read more