When to go and Where to Stay at Zulu Nyala

I'll just start by telling you a little bit about how this trip came to be.  I happened to attend a fundraiser where a silent auction was taking place.  I offered a bid on a 6 day 6 night trip to Zulu Nyala in South Africa and won!  How exciting!!  Two years later, to the day,  I was actually there.   This Game Reserve is owned by Trevor Shaw,  known for the famous Shaw Diamonds.   His love for Africa and the preservation of the bush and wildlife is why Trevor acquired the land and built the lodges for what is known today as The Zulu Nyala Group.   

When I had received the paperwork at the fundraiser it included a brochure on the Game Lodge along with several pages explaining what was included in the trip, additional excursions and travel agents to help you.  As I have traveled several times a year over the past 10 years I had no problems in making my own travel plans.  

The first thing you will want to do is to determine the time of year you would like to travel.  Remember that they are located in Hluhluwe, South Africa.  This is in the Southern Hemisphere and therefore the seasons are reversed compared to the United States.  I was there the last week of August which is just going into their summer months.  The best times of year to travel to South Africa would be during their Spring or Fall season.  Their rainy season starts near the end of September and although it may not rain every day, it will rain all day when it does.  The summers there are extremely hot and dry.  Spring and fall will offer the best wildlife sightings as there are minimal leaves on the trees.  

Once you have decided on your dates of travel, you will next have to decide where at the Zulu Nyala Game Lodge you would like to stay.  They actually offer three separate locations.  The Heritage Safari Lodge, The Game Lodge and The Country Manor.  The Country Manor is actually located in Northern Johannesburg and not directly on the Game Reserve.  It is not included in the 6 night package either, so if you should decided to stay there it would be at an additional cost.  The Game Lodge and Heritage Lodge are just 8 miles away from one another.  However the road from town to the reserve is a very narrow, very rocky, very bumpy dirt trail that goes on for miles and miles.  So it will take a little time to go the distance.  Both properties are very nice, clean and have all the comforts of home.  

Now that you know when you will go and where you will stay it is time to contact the Lodge and make your reservation with them. Again all the information was provided in the packet and I was able to arrange everything via e-mail.  

Getting to South Africa and Zulu Nyala

You now have to decide which airline you will fly to get to your destination.  I use Kayak.com frequently as I find them to have the best comparison pricing.  I will individually visit each airline's website that I am considering .  They best days to check for flights are Tuesday and Wednesday as these are the times airlines will post sales.  Airline schedules are posted approximately 330 days prior to departure and seats cannot be booked prior to the posted schedule.  In the months that I searched for flights I didn't really see much of a change in price.  There are several options depending on where your flying from.  Some major hubs offer direct flights such as JFK out of New York and ATL out of Atlanta GA.  These flights will take 17 and 15 hours respectively.  There are many options for connecting flights through France, Amsterdam, Egypt, London and so on.  Many offer layover in excess of 12 hours giving you ample time to visit the city you've landed in.

We chose to fly from JFK through Paris on Air France.  Our dilemma was how were we going to get to JFK from Northern CT.  We considered driving and leaving our vehicle at the airport, renting a car one way and then renting a car upon return or taking a shuttle down to the airport.   Well we found the shuttle service time line would have gotten us to New York about 9 hours early so that was not an option.  Renting a car one way was approximately $ 125 to NY and $150 back.  Not an option.  Parking our car at a cost of $33 a day for 10 days was also a no.   What I then did was to check on line for flights out of BDL To JFK and happened to find flights that were perfect for us and I was able to use my Delta sky miles to pay for most of it.   It worked out perfectly.   We arrived in NYC and had a 4 hour layover.  We had a wonderful dinner at Don Pepe's and were back at the Air France terminal in plenty of time for our flight.

You will really want to consider upgrading to either a Premier or Business Class if the airline offers one.  Most transatlantic flights fly at night and will take a minimum of 7 hours flying time to your first layover.  Our second flight from Paris was over 11 hours.  We  choose to fly Premier Voyager although the additional cost over coach was approximately $1200 additional per person.  This was definitely worth it.  And lucky for us they actually over booked the Premier Voyager section from Paris to Johannesburg and for an additional $200 per person we were able to upgrade to Business Class on the second leg of our journey.   With these class of flights we were also welcomed into Air France's airport lounges.   This enabled us to shower, change clothes and grab a quick snack prior to our next flights.

What to do During Flight Layovers

When flying either within the 50 United States or across the ocean to another country you may have long layovers.  Depending on these lengths of time you may be able to leave the airport to travel around the city and catch some of the sites.  Determine how much time you will have after disembarking the plane, going through security, storing your luggage in a locker or holding room and finding your way out of the airport. Also include the amount of time it will take you to get back through security and to your departing gate.   Remember if you are traveling to another country you will have to collect your luggage and recheck it.  This takes time.  If once you've done all that and have 4 hours left you can safely say you will have time to leave the airport.  I will suggest that if you plan on doing this you have an agenda set before hand.   Prior to leaving home search for things to do during a layover in that city.  TripAdvisor offers many suggestions as far as dining and site seeing.  You will want to check on transportation options as well.  Is it best to take a taxi to where you've decided to go or will a public bus be just as quick.  Can you walk to one or more of your destinations.  Find out the cost of these transportation services and whether you will need to convert US currency to the local currency to pay for them.  Write everything down, the names of places your going to visit, addresses and phone numbers.  Also their hours of operation.  Also have a plan B just in case the restaurant you want to dine at isn't open or the museum your going to visit is closed.   Don't get stuck having to ask someone where a good place to eat would be, you may end up being sorry.  We had a perfect restaurant picked out in France to eat at after we had visited the Eiffel Tower and the Arch d' Triumph.  Unfortunately our driver had not heard of it and could not find the address.  After 30 minutes of going in circles and the fare going up and up we just asked him to take us somewhere he would recommend.  Wrong!!  Food and service were terrible.  So much for our romantic dinner at the street side cafe.  So it is always best to be prepared.  Another word of advise is to download a currency exchange app on your phone.  This will make conversion a lot easier for you.   I use XE currency and love it.  Another great app is google translate.  It will actually say what you want in the language you want it.   It can be a life saver.

Arriving in South Africa

Once you've landed in Johannesburg you will either take a flight to Richards Bay or have a shuttle pick you up and take you there.  You would have arranged this with the Game Lodge prior to leaving home.  Although the flight is pricey at slightly over $500 per person for an hour and a half flight on South African Air it is far better than the 8 hour plus ride to Richards Bay.  Your are almost at your destination.   Upon arriving at Richards Bay you have either arranged to have a shuttle pick you up and take you on to Zulu Nyala or you plan on renting a car.

Whether you go by shuttle or rent a car is your choice.  Here are a few things to consider before deciding.  This trip will be approximately 2 hours either way.  Three quarters of the trip is traveled on paved well kept roads.  However the last 30 minutes you will be on a very narrow, rocky, bumpy dirt road.  Should you choose to rent a car to travel yourself just be prepared as there will be times when you may meet another car you can't get around them, you may hit bottom a few times and its even worse in the dark.   We decided at the last minute to rent a car, or I should say my boyfriend did.  We both agreed after the fact it wasn't worth it.  Being that the drive to town was 30 minutes on this road we didn't venture often.  We were on safari twice each day which didn't really leave us a lot of time.  The one day we did take off and drive on our own we went to St. Lucia Beach to see the Indian Ocean.  That same day others staying with us took the excursion into St. Lucia where they were going to go on a whale watch and river cruise.  However, due to wind they didn't make the whale watch.  We could have jumped on the shuttle and just paid to get to St. Lucia.  On top of that I had made the rental car arrangements prior to leaving home and of course the price quoted did not include about $300 worth of extras!!   Oh don't forget you will have to drive on the other side of the road  as well.

Your Safaris and Stay at Zulu Nyala

Not that you have arrived at the Game Lodge you will be greeted by very friendly and attentive people that will show you to your room and provide you with information regarding your guide.  Your guide, whoever your assigned to, will be the driver you will be with for the duration of your stay.   All the guides were wonderful, very friendly and knowledgable.  You will be offered 2 safaris a day.  One in the morning and one in the afternoon.  An afternoon drive may be replaced with a night safari in order to see the nocturnal animals such as the leopard and the hippo out of the water.  The morning safaris went out at 8:00 am and lasted about 2 hours or so, depending on how much wildlife you saw.  The afternoon safari would go out at 3pm and again last 2 hours.  You will be riding in Range Rover vehicles with tops but no sides that seat a total of 11 people including your guide.  The guides stay in touch with each other constantly via radio to help each other in finding the animals.  I strongly suggest you bring binoculars and a good camera with a telephoto lens.  Ours was a 70/200mm which worked well but a 300mm would have been much better.  You will be amazed as to how close you will get to the animals.  There will actually be times when your guide will allow you to get out of the Rover and go on foot to get closer to some of the animals.  We were just yards away from a mother cheetah with her 3 cubs.  When taking pictures try to get on the same level as your subject whenever possible.  This positioning will give you the optimal photograph.  Many of ours were taken while lying on our stomachs in the brush.

There is a bar located in the restaurant area where you can find just about anything you'd like to drink and the prices are very reasonable.   You will be provided 2 bottles of water each day in your room at no cost.  However any additional water you will have to pay for.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served buffet style each day in the dinning room.  There were 2 days when lunch was ordered off a menu but this is only offered when there is a minimal number of diners.  The buffet offered is extensive and offers several different options from vegetarian to fish and meat.  The desserts are amazing so be sure to leave room for them.  A few nights our chef included bushmeat on the buffet.  Wart Hog and Impala which were both very very good.  I will tell you there is nothing offered between meals but given the array of food offered at meal times you really wont want anything in between.  You don't want to keep any food in your room either unless it is in an airtight container or you will be joined by ants.

There is a small pool right outside some of the rooms that over looks the valley.  Depending on the time of year you travel its a nice place to sit and relax with a glass of wine and just soak in the beautiful view.  This is also where you will find wart hogs and impala grazing on the grassy lawn area.

Offsite Excursions Offered

You will be given a list of off site excursions offered at additional costs when you check in at the Lodge.  I will say these excursions are on the pricey side.  If you choose to go on one of these trips it will take the place of one or two of your safaris depending on the length of the trip.  As Zulu Nyala has cheetahs and leopards on their property they do not have lions.  Therefore I would strongly recommend a trip to Phinda Game Reserve.  They have both prides of lions and large herds of elephants that if found are beautiful.  We went out late in the afternoon and didn't arrive back to the Lodge until well past dark.  Our guide and tracker had a wonderful surprise for us before returning.  They pulled the Range Rover over and took out a table and set it up with a full bar and snacks.  They had a cooler with beer and wine and we had a wonderful happy hour in the bush.  Our guide had a large spot light which he used to show us the different constellations in the sky as the stars were beautiful.  It was a night I wont forget.

You do have to determine which, if any of these excursions, you want to do as they have to have enough people sign up or you wont be able to go.  Many of these trips cannot be booked on your own but only by the Lodge.

We did take a day and venture to the beach at St. Lucia.  We could not be that close to the Indian Ocean and not take the opportunity to see it.  It was definitely worth it.  The day we were there the weather was beautiful as were all the days.  It was very windy but still warm.  The ocean water was a magnificent green blue color with rough and menacing waves.  They had a very dangerous look about them and after talking with the fishermen on the beach we found out why.  They had just caught a 9 foot Great White Shark and informed us this was one of the most dangerous beaches in the world due to the Great Whites that patrols the waters here.

So that's about all the information I can share with you on this incredible and once in a life time trip.  I hope that your time in South Africa and Zulu Nyala is just as amazing as ours was.