South Africa: The Sand Forest at Phinda

 

This tawny eagle was scanning the landscape where the woods ended and a grassy plain began.

       The last stop on our 2026 trip to Africa got off to a bad start. We flew from Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, to Johannesburg, South Africa, where we were to connect for a flight to Richards Bay, on the Indian Ocean coast of South Africa. Unfortunately, the plane at Victoria Falls was a hour and a half late, wiping out our chance of making the Richards Bay flight. Both flights were on Airlink, a South African carrier with a good reputation.  The airline put us up at an Anew hotel a half-hour or so away from the airport for a night that we had planned to spend enjoying our glass-walled cabin at Phinda Forest Lodge. At Phinda, we missed a dinner, one full night, breakfast and a morning game drive, all of which we had paid for months in advance.  But we still had three nights here. 

         The morning after the missed connection, we had to leave Anew for the Johannesburg airport before breakfast was availble. We did, however, make it to Forest Lodge just in time for a very late lunch and then an afternoon game drive. 

       Phinda (pronounced PIN-dah) is a private game reserve operated by the eco-resort company &Beyond, which also has properties from Antarctica to Asia to the Indian Ocean and, well, beyond. Forest Lodge, one of several &Beyond lodges at Phinda, dates to 1993 and was desgined to have a minimal impact on its unusual environment, a rare sand forest. Centuries or millennia ago, the sand formed beach dunes, but now the sea, the Indian Ocean, is kilometers to the east. The many buildings at Forest Lodge are spaced out, so that all 16 guest cabins have plenty of privacy despite having some all-glass walls. The several common buildings and the cabins share what I took to be a Japanese aesthetic. Everything is connected by sandy paths winding through what trees and other vegetation will grow in the white sand. I would call this an eco-resort with game drives.  There's certainly nothing camp-like about it. 

         In fact, it felt more like a hotel in that guests here didn't mingle and share dining tables as they often do at safari camps. We met two couples from Durban and a family with three children from Cape Town. I think Forest Lodge is a "White Lotus" getaway for some South Africaners, though everyone seems to go on at least one game drive a day.  The Duban couples were both on our first afternoon and then our first morning game drives. The older couple, who had lost count of how many times they had stayed at various Phinda lodges, left after lunch to drive the three-and-a-half hours home. The other couple and we continued to share a safari vehicle but that was about it.

        I know this is a very First World complaint: I thought the staff was friendly to the point of pandering. There's no reason we needed a "butler," who essentially was just our waiter every time we sat down in the dining area.  We did not need or even open the full-size bottles of Amarula, Jameson's, Tanquerey, etc., in our room. I think they're trying for a wow factor with the over-stocked minibar, fresh fruits, etc.  Forest Lodge's "tipping suggestions" of people who we were expected to tip was more than double that of our simpler safari camps. It all reminded me of our only other safari experience in South Africa.  In 2016 we stayed a few days at Simbambili, a luxury lodge in Sabi Sands, another private game reserve. 

      That said, the game viewing was excellent.  Our guide, Nick, was assisted by a tracker or spotter who sat in a seat bolted to the front of the converted Toyota Land Cruiser. Together, and often with assistance via radio from other Phinda rangers (as guides are called in South Africa), we saw elephants, lions, a cheetah, hyenas, giraffes, white rhinos, Cape buffalo, various antelopes and more. Every game drive produced several significant sightings.  And as I've said in other posts, there a few things better than a safari game drive. 

     Here are some photos:

A traffic jam in the bush. Elephants, rhinos and other beasts travel
on the same roads used by safari vehicles. 

Why did the elephant cross the road? 

Our vehicle inched along as we followed the cattle
egrets, who were accompanying a white rhino.

Even in a private game reserve, rhinos have to be protected
from poachers by having their valuable horns cut off. 
When poachers harvest the horns, they kill the animal
and take the horn's stump, too. 

A day later and on the other side of Phinda we came across this white rhino mom with
a calf that our guide said might be less than a year old. For some reason, the adult here
has retained more of her horns than usual. Although Phinda says it has black rhinos,
which are smaller, we didn't see any.

Our most memorable wildlife sighting at Phinda was watching a pride of lions
devouring an impala carcass. 

A trace of blood is visible on this lion's muzzle after
feeding on the impala. 

After eating, the lions ambled about 100 meters to a watering hole. 

This spotted hyena and her pups lived in a den just off a main trail. No tracking needed
to find them unless for some reason they weren't at home. 

We saw giraffes on every game drive at Phinda, 
sometimes close, sometimes in the distance.

Zebras were also seen on every game drive. 

Female nyala, almost as common as impalas at Phinda.

The male nyala is a very regal antelope.

I find the mongoose very hard to photograph because
they move so fast. But this one stopped for a moment.

Hippos seem to stay in the water most of the day and come out at night to graze.

This Natal red duiker was browsing near
our cabin at Phinda Forest Lodge. It's one
of Africa's smallest antelope.

We saw severeal lone Cape buffalo as well as a herd.

A crowned hornbill. Phina says it has more than 
400 species of birds.

On a morning drive we came upon a huge tree with families of baboons such as this
on almost every limb. They all seemed to be just starting their day.

Vehivles, rangers and spotters are ready for more game drives.

The time stamp shows that even before 9:30am Forest Lodge is ready to keep guests well
lubricated. This surprise brunch came in the middle of game drives one morning and
brought all the lodge's guests together.

The end of the day also means alcohol. Our ranger and spotter preside over a "sundowner"
bar that had been set up and waiting for us when we reached this scenic spot. 
 When we were done, they packed everything into a crate for someone else to pick up.