Market Friday - Tala Collection Game Reserve, Enjoying Nature and Wildlife the Way it Should Be.

Today is #MarketFriday, a project initiated by @dswigle, and this post is my contribution to this project for this week.

To learn more about this project and participate, visit this post by @dswigle.

If I haven't said so yet...Happy New Year to everybody in the #MarketFriday community. Yes, it is January 13 and for all practical reasons, we are almost halfway through January. But today's post allows me to relive how we started the New Year...with a day-visit to Tala Collection Game Reserve.

We saw an abundance of wildlife and I was able to get enough photos to share in more than one post. For today's post, I will focus more on the smaller-sized animals and some Zebras.

Tala Collection Game Reserve is situated about 13 KM south of Camperdown in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa.

To get to Tala Collection Game Reserve from Durban (on the East coast of South Africa), you travel west on the N3 toward Pietermaritzburg for approximately 55 KM, before leaving the N3 toll route at Camperdown, turning away to the Tala Collection Game Reserve.

We decided to spend New Year's Day in nature, in the wild, watching free-roaming wildlife, while doing a day visit to the game reserve. In general, it was a cloudy but pleasant day. At times, it was as if the clouds would lift and we could enjoy a bit of sunshine, just to be overcast again within a few minutes.

According to a post I found on their Facebook Page, the Tala Collection Game Reserve is a malaria-free game reserve that spans about 3000 hectares.

Just a few meters after passing through the main entrance, before even arriving at reception or paying any entrance fee, we spotted this curious little guy right next to the fence.

We found the reception desk inside this neat little curio shop.

Seeing that we spent New Year's Eve with the kids this year, they spent New Year's Day with their in-laws. So, it was only me and my wife today.

We enquired about the entrance fees and ended up paying an entrance fee of R80.00 for our vehicle and R80.00 per person. That is a total of R240.00 for the vehicle and the two of us.

On the day of our visit, January 1, 2023, the exchange rate for the USD/ZAR pair was R16.97. That means that at a total cost of R240.00, we paid an equivalent of $14.14 to spend our New Year's Day inside the Tala Collection Game Reserve.

Haha...wow, $14.14! That's a bargain! Well...yes and no. Let's get things into perspective. Looking a the cost in dollars, it seems to be a bargain. Looking at it from a South African perspective, you need to start considering the cost of living, the price of gas, etc...

Yes, we also spent about R200.00 on petrol (gas) to get to the venue, drive around in the reserve and get back home again. At R16.97 to the dollar, that is another $11.78.

That adds up to a total of $25.92 (R440.00 in ZAR currency).

Well...we believed it was worth our while and it fits perfectly with what I am planning for my content in 2023 (more about that later).

So, let's get back to our visit for the day...

Inside the curio shop, there was no shortage of products to buy to remind you of your visit to the reserve.

From here, we went through a second gate, entering the actual game reserve.

We were barely through the gate when we saw some Zebras (and Rhino just behind them, but I'll get to the Rhino in another #MarketFriday post).

A typical scene with some Zebras right next to the road...

This youngster was so close to the car, it felt as if we could reach out and touch him.

There were quite a few cars with people admiring the scene with nobody making a sound, not disturbing this beautiful scene.

The next moment we suddenly heard thundering music approaching us from behind... A fully loaded taxi forced his way in amongst the other vehicles and people started jumping out, taking selfies with the animals in the background. Immediately, the young Zebra that was so close to us, became uncomfortable and created some distance between himself and the sudden chaos.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. When you enter the reserve, you receive the rules in writing and you are requested to not leave your vehicle at any time as there are dangerous animals in the reserve. Loud music is also not permitted...duh...obviously!

Talking about dangerous animals, from just behind the Zebras, some Rhinos were also looking at this spectacle.

I have to admit, I was furious. But I think these people quickly realized that nobody was impressed with them and things started settling down.

Fortunately, I was able to get some more photos...such as this one of this little family...

Moving on, staying in the moment and just losing ourselves in nature, the whole incident I mentioned was soon forgotten and we just enjoyed every moment...such as this typical scene, looking out over the open spaces of Africa, with some wildlife grazing just a couple of meters away from you...

We got nice and close to these two and they seemed to be equally interested in us...lol.

And what can be more beautiful than admiring this scene after all the rain we've had...?

With the rest of the herd in the background...

A little further down, we came across this ostrich.

It seemed like he was moving along with us and getting closer the road we were traveling on.

We were on a slight downhill slope, so I disengaged the gears and allowed our car to slowly, and as silently as possible, just freewheel down the hill to see how close we can get without disturbing him.

I didn't take too long. We got close enough to see that he had three little ones with him. He stopped and we became stationary as well...close enough too admire the scene with the three little ostriches, while being protected by the adult.

The next three photos are typical scenes while driving very slowly being on the lookout for some wildlife. In this area, the roads were in fairly good condition. In other areas the roads could get pretty hectic...but it was fun. That's part of the adventure...lol. At one point we actually found a warning sign not to continue on that road unless you have a 4x4 vehicle which is obviously properly equipped for serious off-roading.

But you have to be observant and pay attention, because without any warning, suddenly, someone is looking you straight in the eye.

Zooming in a bit with the next two photos...

A few minutes later, we were greeted by this view...

A little further down the road, we found a little family grazing right next to the road. I caught this one as he crossed the road in front of us while we were stationary.

With this post getting long, I think we can call it a day for now. I'll share some more exciting views and larger animals next week!

Thank you for reading my post! I do appreciate it!