Category: South Africa

Lesotho, South Africa

Another Day, Another Country

Joel

We drove through a national park full of springbok, zebras, and some leopards on our way into the mountain kingdom of Lesotho. The drive was beautiful and appeared similar to desert areas of Utah in the southwestern U.S. Lesotho is a very poor country with few resources other than water and some diamond mining. The border crossing was much busier than the two we encountered going into Swaziland and Mozambique due to the fact that we were arriving in the capital of the country, Maseru.

Inside, the place seemed poorer than other countries we have visited. Not sure about Mozambique though since I only saw a sliver of it. In Lesotho the landscape was barren and void of much agriculture. It appeared as though some people were scavenging through harvested fields of corn to find any loose ears that may have been left behind. We drove for about an hour before reaching our resort at the end of a long bumpy dirt road.

The resort is very nice and full of thatched roofed cottages with private bathrooms. There are no ceilings. When you look up from your bed you just see the underside of the thatched roof. There is no electricity except for what is generated between the hours of 5pm and 9:30pm. It will be a very cold sub-freezing night, but I do, thankfully, have my very warm sleeping bag with me.

Every evening the resort is entertained by a few local African bands. There were two that performed tonight: a choir and a traditional African music band that played on homemade instruments. I missed the choir, unfortunately, but the band was great and very enjoyable. It was great to hear their homemade instruments and see their unique dances while that sang in the local Lesotho language.

South Africa

Drakensberg Amphitheater Hike

Joel

We had two days in our spectacular digs for the first time on this tour, so with a full day free I signed up for an all day hike along the crest of the cliffs representing the Drakensberg Amphitheater. Normally people take several days to hike the whole way up and camp overnight on top, but our hostel was offering a single day version in which they drive you most of the way up. There were about 15 of us in total, including several Germans, Canadians, Americans, and Australians.

That being said, it was still a pretty gruelling hike! The elevation climbed about 800 meters along switchback trails that just skirted the edges of very steep hills and cliffs. The views were amazing and there was a few inches of snow around from that storm we encountered while in Durban. Our route was somewhat unconventional because it suddenly left the trail to make a scramble up a rocky ravine for a 250 meter incline.

At the top of the scramble was a lunch spot where we could sit with our legs dangling over the edge at 3100 meters above sea level and enjoy the views while we nibbled away. After lunch we hiked along the rim for a little while until we got to the source of and top of the first the waterfall and took another break. Then it was time to hike back across the plateau to get to the side of the mountain we initially hiked up on.

The descent was very scary because in involved climbing down a 30 meter and another 50 meter chain ladder down the side of a cliff. We were warned about this so I knew to expect it. I just focused on each rung in front of me and didn’t dare look down or up and I finally made it to the bottom of both ladders.

This was the route most hikers take up to the top. We encountered about 27 students and their university lecturers who were ascending the same ladders with full packs! They were all studying emergency rescue techniques as part of their university degree and were planning to camp up in the freezing cold mountains for three nights.

Once at the bottom of the ladders, we found our original trail and followed it back to the van. On the long drive back to the hostel, we may well have seen our first leopard crossing the road. On one long straight stretch that dipped down to a river, we saw a pair of red eyes on a long low body slowly cross the road. By the time we got up to it it had disappeared into the tall grasses.

South Africa

Drakensberg Amphitheater

Joel

We left Durban bright and early to get to another spectacular UNESCO World Heritage Site near the border of the mountain kingdom of Lesotho. This was a really spectacular place known as The Drakensberg Amphitheatre because the crest of the mountain cliffs surround you down in the valley. Our hostel was really quite lavish with pool, sauna, jacuzzi, and individual accommodation units private kitchens and baths that were built out of clay and sticks with great views of the mountains and surrounding valley.

The day we arrived we headed up to one section of the national park there where there is a series of waterfalls descending from the mountains. It was a pretty nice little walk, but nothing overly strenuous.

Durban, South Africa

Deserted Durban

Joel

We said goodbye to our host family early in the morning so we could get ourselves into the coastal city of Durban and spend the day. This was officially the last day of the first part of our tour, and a few of our fellow travellers were splitting off for other pursuits or heading home from here.

While the weather was very warm and sunny and beach-like yesterday, today was much colder, cloudy, and very windy. Not a great day to be on a beach! While Durban is considered the beach capital of South Africa, its beaches were deserted today. It appeared as though it might be a nice place in summer with long bike paths, lots of piers, surfing lessons, sailing, and other activities about.

We stayed in a funky hostel just a few blocks from the beach and a few blocks on the other side from the port. It was built out of an old warehouse and had lots of big open communal areas with rooms on the sides.

A group of us went traipsing off to explore the city and find a decent cafe for some coffee. I found one in a touristy mall near our hostel, but after that it was endless walking to find anything worth stopping in for. After blocks and blocks of walking, we finally ended up at a seafood restaurant near the marina and had some lunch – giving us a chance to warm up a bit.

That evening we had a farewell dinner for our departing travellers at a restaurant near an aquarium not far from our hostel. It was deserted and quite cold, obviously built for the summer months. I never bothered to take off my coat the whole time I was there. I had a lamb stew that was full of sharp bones I had to keep picking out. Not the best meal I’ve had, but everyone else seemed happy with theirs.

Durban, South Africa

This Zulu Life

Joel

Today we made a beeline south along the coast and up into a beautiful area northwest of Durban, South Africa’s second largest city. The area we went to is called Botha’s Hill and it was located among a thousand other hills (allegedly) known as “The Valley of A Thousand Hills”. Most of the region seemed to be occupied by Zulus and the place we went to that hosted us for the day was an organisation meant to introduce outsiders to Zulu life. Our tour even included a homestay overnight with a local Zulu family.

After arriving around mid-day, our first activity was lunch as a local restaurant. As with all our visits throughout the day, we walked through the neighbourhood up and down hills and in and out dirt paths to get from place to place. Everything we did was meant to be a real Zulu experience, and this included the food that we ate. I have had many good experiences eating South African food in years past so there weren’t too many surprises for me. Lunch was indeed very tasty and everyone I ate with seemed to enjoy it. There was a seasoned beef stew, heavy bread, and lots of vegetable dishes.

Afterwards we walked down to a traditional Zulu healer for what turned out to be a somewhat disappointing photo-op. She rocked up a bit late, wearing her traditional clothing, and then invited us into her hut. The hut was round with a corrugated steel roof, like a lot of traditional Zulu structures. On one side she had a collection of plants and other concoctions to use in her therapies. None of our Zulu guides seemed to believe in any of it, but it was interesting to see. She did burn a few dried plants at the beginning of our meeting but never really performed any kind of demonstration for us or explain much after that. Instead she seemed most keen on testing our knowledge of the Zulu language for which we all had cheat sheets. My fellow travellers got somewhat of a kick out of the fact that she claimed she could cure colds and flu while her daughter sat sick with the flu right next to her.

After the medical visit, we walked up to the top of a hill with a pretty spectacular view over a part of the valley of a thousand hills to hear some Zulu music and watch and participate in some Zulu dancing. Along the way we stopped in a local shop for snacks and a chance to see how typical local life was. It was a very unseasonably warm day smack dab in the middle of winter here, so we were enjoying being outdoors very much. Once at the dance place, we were initially invited inside a hut to see how married Zulus dressed in traditional clothing with various animal skins, feathers, beads, etc. This included dress up time for a few of us. Then we went outside to watch some of the local children perform some dance routines for us.

The setting was really quite spectacular with a great view overlooking the valley of a thousand hills and the light just starting to head down for the night and give off a beautiful golden glow. The kids were very cute and ranged in age from about 4 or 5 all the way up to older teenagers. This was the part of the day that everyone seemed to enjoy the most. Of course, we were all individually invited to dance with the group and make fools of ourselves trying to get our feet up above our heads (a common Zulu dance move). We thought the dancing was finished when all of the sudden an adult dancer showed up out of nowhere to step through his moves. Did he oversleep? Not sure, but I think he was meant to be there a lot earlier.

After the dancing we continued walking through the neighbourhood to get to a children’s orphanage. This place was seriously depressing! I would try smiling and joking around with the kids a bit but none of them seemed to have any capability of smiling or having fun. They gave us a dry tour through their house room by room and all you could see was that there was no joy anywhere. Some of my fellow travellers suggested that creative activities should be done with the children instead of just going their to invade their privacy and look at them like animals in a zoo – which is probably a good idea.

I was told the children were there primarily due to their parents dying from AIDS or due to being abused by alcoholic relatives. Overall, the neighbourhood was very poor and allegedly quite dangerous. One two separate occasions while walking between stopping points the guy who lived in the neighbourhood and was touring us around made mention of the fact that a ‘hijack’ (robbery?) could happen at any time and we should really all try sticking together as a tight group. It was a little unnerving.

Once we finished our Zulu neighbourhood tour, which was a good, important experience even though such an idea may not work its way into too many tourism brochures, we headed to our host family’s home for our overnight stay. Like everyone else we had encountered in the neighbourhood so far, our host family was very warm and friendly and eager to learn as much from us as we were to learn from them. Like virtually all houses in the neighbourhood, it was quite poor. Although it had a roof, it lacked a ceiling. We were lucky to be there on a nice warm day, but you got the impression it would be a very cold or very hot place on other not-so-pleasant days. It also lacked any kind of running water – other than a single tap back behind the house. That meant toilets had to have water scooped into them to flush and dishes had to have their dishwater brought in and heated up before they could be cleaned.

We slept on mattresses laid out on the floor, but not before they served up a big Zulu feast and performed some singing and dancing for us. They were very friendly and very generous about everything while we were there, insisting that we all think of their home as our own. It always amazes me how some of the poorest people you meet can be the most generous!

Saint Lucia, South Africa

Hippos and Crocs

Joel

It was time to say goodbye to Mozambique and start heading south back into South Africa and along the coast. In most cases I’m finding us moving on a bit too quickly, but then again, there is a lot more to see and not much time. The beach and neighbouring camp in Mozambique where we stayed was really very beautiful and the swimming was perfect, temperature-wise, even though we’re in the middle of winter here. Nevertheless, it was time to venture south again, along the same track we drove up on from the South African border.

Instead of giving us the the rusty old pickup truck that we had to cram into last time, we were given a big military-type all terrain vehicle that looked like it didn’t even have to rely on roads of any kind to get around. They threw our gear in another trailer on the back of it and we all piled into a caged back area to sit on milk crates. I’m not sure which drive was the more comfortable of the two, north or south, but I at least felt more safe and secure in this one.

The border crossing was painless. I can now say I’ve visited South Africa 3 times – even though I have only been here a week! We transferred all of our gear back into our normal two-wheel drive vehicle (which was left at the border) and made the 4 hour drive south to Africa’s largest estuary, Saint Lucia, where we pitched our tents behind a local hostel.

The Saint Lucia Estuary is famous for its population of crocodiles and hippopotamuses, but it also has many of the other animals we’ve been seeing and looking for like leopards, buffalo, and a wide variety of birds. We all went out for a bit of local seafood lunch and then headed out on a 2 hour hippo spotting tour just before sunset.

Evidentially it is common for the hippos to roam through town at night to graze for food. They are nocturnal, hide underwater to keep cool during the day, and are responsible for the deaths of more humans than any other wild animal in Africa. Hopefully we’ll be okay sleeping outside it our tents!

The tour was nice and we did see a far few hippos, but it probably wasn’t quite as good as other river wildlife cruises I’ve done in Australia. We did see one crocodile and one buffalo, as well as several fish eagles – that look very similar to bald eagles.

At the moment the weather here is very unseasonably warm, which has been great. They are warning us that is all going to change, however, on Sunday when a big winter cold front moves through.

We might even see snow! But not until we move up into the mountains.

Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland

Three Countries in a Few Hours

Joel

After a night of listening to a variety of big game animals making loud noises just over the fence from our campsite, we got up early (yet again) to pack and start making a move for Mozambique.

In order to get to Mozambique we had to drive through rural Swaziland for a while and pass back into South Africa briefly before we got to a useful border crossing. On the way down to South Africa we had a chance to see quite a bit of rural life in the Swaziland countryside. There were lots of school kids making their way to their village schools and lots of locals confusing our van for one of the taxi vans they use for public transportation between villages.

In theory we could have crossed straight into Mozambique from Swaziland, but it was quicker to drive back into South African for a while. Mozambique is a country still recuperating from over 20 years of civil war so much of the infrastructure is very poor and many roads are dirt – requiring 4wd vehicles. Because of this it didn’t make sense to just cross into Mozambique directly from Swaziland, but rather to ride as close to our destination as possible in South Africa, which has better roads.

Of course, this required that we make two border crossings in a single day – one back into South Africa and another into Mozambique. The South African crossing is the most modern and efficient of the three, but I was scrutinised when they found too many stamps in my passport. Sure enough, after flipping through every page, I was asked to present my Yellow Fever immunisation certificate due to my recent swing through South America.

We stopped for lunch in the last town in South Africa before arriving at the Mozambique border. The customs officials were much nicer than in Swaziland and even gave us all a steep ~50% discount for our required visas because we only planned to be here a few nights. US$30 instead of US$60.

The drive into the beach camp we stayed at from the border was very much an adventure in itself! We had to change vehicles at the border and shuffle all our gear over into a 4wd pickup truck with trailer because the road to the camp was little more than a very sandy track. It was a very slippery trip with lots of and swerving and dips and crests. At one point our driver gave up trying to get through a stretch and backed up and turned around to pursue another track in order to find enough momentum to punch through the slippery sand dunes.

The camp is very nice and right along a beautiful beach on the Indian Ocean. The water is a perfect temperature and great for swimming. Our tents were pitched just behind some dunes and under some nice shady trees. There are no lions or gibbons to worry about, but there still are snakes and scorpions to keep an eye out for we were warned.

We all enjoyed a beer down at the local pub, overlooking the beach, just before dinner. Every place we visit has a different selection of local beers to try, which keeps things interesting. We looked into snorkelling and diving options for the next day, but none sounded like very good value.

Kruger National Park, South Africa

That Elusive Leopard

Joel

We were awoken bright and early again for another safari ride around the area of our camp. Unlike the one the night before, this one was during early morning daylight hours which made for great photography. We saw lots of animals including hippos, giraffes, rhinos, elephants, zebras, and more and in beautiful morning light.

After we returned from the safari to our camp, we had just enough time for a quick breakfast and a gear pack up so we could get on to our next destination on the other side of the national park. Along the drive there we kept our eyes out for wildlife, but most were sleeping in the middle of the day. The speed limit throughout Kruger National Park is only 50km (30mph) which makes getting from one side to the other a bit time consuming. This speed limit has to do with both the animals crossing the roads at any times and the behaviour of the tourists when they see the animals and slam on their breaks.

Once we arrived at our camp we found another oasis behind a high electrified fence. This time we had a big pool nearby that we couldn’t pass up. Unfortunately, the water was very cold. So cold that I had to wonder whether it might be spring fed.

Oddly, along my walk to the pool I encountered a couple of white kids who asked me something. I couldn’t quite understand what they were asking, but it sounded like they were asking what my name was. So I told them. Then they asked me something else that I definitely could not understand and it became apparent they were Afrikaners kids. What struck me as being the most odd was their inability to understand English as long term residents of South Africa.

We were warned by our guides when we arrived in the park that Afrikaners were common in the park and could get very arrogant and territorial about non-Afrikaners on what they considered to be their turf. They would complain to the management about the slightest bit of noise. Fortunately, we were a small quiet group who were out on safari’s both evenings, anyway, so there wouldn’t have been that much to complain about, anyway. Of those other campers we did communicate with, they were very nice and helpful in guiding some of my fellow travellers how to pitch their South African made tents.

And speaking of safari’s we did head out for a second safari in hopes of finding an elusive leopard, which were supposed to be more common in this part of the park. Overall the safari did not yield as many exciting animals as the night before and we never did get that glimpse of a leopards in the wild.

Johannesburg, Kruger National Park, South Africa

Kruger National Park

Joel

The Holiday Inn was a bit plush and included a free breakfast, but unfortunately there would be none of that for us! Instead we were instructed to rise at 4:15am so we could be downstairs with our stuff by 4:45am to pack the van and get on the road by 5am. Ugh!

I hardly slept anyway. In fact, I hardly slept since arriving in South Africa. Jet lag? Altitude? Johannesburg isn’t that high at about 1500 meters, but it is significant enough to possibly play a role. Not sure what was keeping me awake, but I ended up sleeping in the car much of our long day of driving on our way out to Kruger National Park.

Along the way there we stopped to see a few of the big sights. Blyde Canyon was pretty spectacular and purported to be the 3rd largest in the world. We also stopped to see some natural pot holes along a river with waterfalls as well as some overlooks including Heaven’s Window (?).

I sat next to one of the Germans on the drive. She had lived in Australia for about five years so she was familiar with the place. When I mentioned to her that in some ways South Africa was somewhat disappointing because it was so similar to Australia she agreed with me. Of all the countries I have been through on this trip, South Africa seemed to be the most developed and modern – sans the U.S. and South Korea. It has a dry landscape very similar to Australia but, of course, the wildlife is completely different.

Kruger National Park is very nice, huge, and quite impressively maintained. There is a huge fence around it to keep the wild animals from chomping on the neighbours. Overall there are about 50 campgrounds in the park, each protected by electric fencing, but only 5 or six of those include shops and other modern facilities. Each of the big camp grounds were surrounded by an electric fence and electric cattle grid at gate to keep vicious animals out. We ended up pitching our tents along one of the border fences and saw hyena prowling right along fence line right behind our tents just a few feet away.

The gear our tour company has provided is less than impressive. Obviously purchases for long-term use and bought on the cheap from South African companies, everything seems heavy and clumsily designed. The tents are all made of heavy canvas and steel poles held together awkwardly by rope and hooks that will create some hefty calluses on our fingers by the end of this trip. All of the cooking gear is make out of cast-iron metal and the plates and cups burn your skin because they are also make out of metal. Definitely old school camping.

Some meals are cooked for us by our tour guides (who are good at it) and others are cooked by us or purchases by us while we’re on the road. We all help in cleaning up and doing whatever other responsibilities need doing.

One of the Germans complained to me at one point about how expensive the trip was and I totally agreed, based on what we were getting. I’ve always shied away from these prepaid trips due to the costs because you know half your money (at least) is going into the pockets of corporate executives / offices in expensive Western countries.

I’ve always known that it is much cheaper to just rock up in a country and plan your tour with local tour companies from there, but I was always a bit concerned with security in Southern Africa and thought it would be safer to visit this part of the world with a group. Johannesburg is, as we know, birthplace of the carjacking – and there have been plenty of other gossip from other travellers and government warnings about the place over the years. I do think it is getting a lot safer than it use to be.

South Africa does seem a lot safer than I was expecting, but one of my fellow travellers did get done by a ATM con artist. He was an older house painter from New Zealand who obviously didn’t read all the government travel warnings about the place because they all seem to focus on the ATM scams as being the biggest thing to watch out for. He was even offered assistance by someone to help him with his transaction – part of one of the big scams.

It all happened on the first day on our way out to Kruger National Park when we stopped in a small town for a break. The scam works by having a criminal tamper with the ATM by inserting a plastic device into the card slot that traps your ATM card so you think the machine has eaten it. Instead, the criminal knows how to get your card out by pulling his camouflaged plastic device out to release the card after you give up and leave. The card won’t be of any value to the criminal without knowing your PIN number, so they have to hover around the area to watch you type it in before they step in to retrieve the card. Sometimes they will offer the victim ‘assistance’ when they’re really trying to get a better look.

In the end, our fellow traveller lost about $300 before he was able to call his bank and cancel the card. Unfortunately for him, now he has no access to his money without his ATM card and has been forced to make expensive credit card cash withdrawals. The safest ATMs are those inside banks and malls that heavily used and are guarded by uniformed guards, so that’s what I look for. So far for me, no problem.

Once we arrived in our camp site and pitched our tents, we had a short time to get ready for an night time safari. The night time safari’s happen when all the nocturnal animals are up and about, which are most of the big famous ones, but require viewing with spotlights which can make photography a bit tricky. We saw all kinds of great things on our safari, including elephants, zebras, giraffes, monkeys, zebus, and buffalo. Perhaps the most impressive, however, were the pride of lions we found lounging out on the road. They didn’t seem too phased by our safari bus and hung around quite a while for pictures before they were coaxed to move on out of our way. When they did they would walk around the back of the bus where I was sitting and give us a death stare from only about three meters away as they passed. It was really quite chilling!

Johannesburg, South Africa

The Other Side of the Tracks

Joel

Moved from my nice downtown hotel with huge room, full kitchen and bath, and free shuttle service anywhere in town to a more expensive colder Holiday Inn in a wealthy suburb with a smaller room and half bath – just in order to link up with my tour group. The Holiday Inn had a few advantages (namely fast wifi in the rooms), but was much more corporate and less personal than the center city hotel I was staying in earlier. Generally speaking, Holiday Inns overseas are more upscale than the ones in the U.S.

I had to get a few things done to get ready for the trip including finding a few safe ATM machines to withdraw the $630 cash we were supposed to hand in for our “kitty” that evening. The kitty is used to purchasing food and other incidental expenses along the way. There are lots of warnings about ATM scams in South Africa, so I have been trying to be extra vigilant about security.

I also wanted to get a local SIM card so I could use my phone and iPad for calls and Internet access while I was in the country. I tried getting a SIM card earlier with the assistance of my other hotel, but it never worked. They are required to be registered with a local address but even though my chauffeur offered hers it was never accepted as being registered properly.

The Holiday Inn was just around corner from Nelson Mandela Mall. Of course, that wasn’t the original name in this once white neighborhood, but it is now. I was advised by my hotel that was the place to go to get my errands done. Sure enough, I found the place to be pretty safe and full of very publicly guarded ATMs. I was also able to find a phone company that could get me fixed up with a working SIM card. I had to bring a letter from the Holiday Inn stating that I was staying there one night, and for some reason that satisfied the residency requirement.

By the end of the afternoon it was time to meet my fellow tour participants and trip leaders. The trip leaders were both black South Africans and they happened to be related. The main tour guide was about 24 and lived in Soweto and his uncle, obviously older, was the driver. Both seemed very friendly and social, although the younger spoke English a bit more clearly so he was easier to understand.

The rest of the group was smaller than their usual size and consisted of an odd collection of people in their 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s – with one in her twenties. 2 Germans, 2 Australians, 1 New Zealander, and one Canadian. They seemed to represent a mixed bag of professions and educational backgrounds, but all seemed nice and eager to make for a good trip and focus on being a good team and getting along for the duration.