Wednesday, August 19 Cape Town

On Sunday, we returned from the cold, dirty bush country to warm, balmy Durban. Then on Monday, flew to serious winter weather in Cape Town. It reminds me how huge and diverse the country is. We would start out the morning in tropical Durban, lunch in an elegant colonial plantation restaurant and by mid-afternoon be tromping down a rutted dirt road deep in rural Zulu country to the home of a basket weaver living in a little round hut with a thatched roof and no running water or electricity. We’ve stayed in three places with authentic thatched roofs. It was quite cold at night, 30s and 40s and our huts were warm and cozy even with no heat. And only one spider in the way of bugs.

Saturday, when we left the game reserve, we drove far into nowhere to Simunye Zulu cultural village. We left the bus and went four miles by foot, horseback, tractor or oxcart deep into a river gorge to the village. We stayed overnight in the Zulu village in a traditional rondavale (see picture) and attended their cultural program. It was outdoors and really cold. We had seen on the BBC News about the fire at Big Basin and took note of the instructions on what to do in case of fire there in the wilderness. Assemble at the bridge it said. Quite ironic, wince there is no way in hell to ever get out of here if there was a fire. One way out and an hour and a half minimum out of the gorge. It rode the oxcart out on Sunday morning. It was a beautiful, if jolting ride on the rough and deeply rutted road. The oxen handler constantly sang and whistled to the oxen to cajole them to haul us up the hill. He did stop briefly to answer a call on his cell phone.

After arriving in Cape Town, we drove to Stellenbosch in the wine country. Again, another world completely. Vineyards, orchards and Dutch Cape architecture with huge white manor houses surrounded by white walls. It was cold, windy and pouring rain. We had a mega-electrical storm in the afternoon and some of the rooms in the historic hotel were leaking.

We’ve eaten some traditional South African food such as bobotie,as well as some things I didn’t know existed, much less could be eaten, like ostrich, kudu, gammon, impala and gamsbok. There is butternut squash with every meal it seems.

Today, we drove down the coast to visit the penguin colony and the Cape of Good Hope. We are staying at the luxurious Vineyard Hotel in Cape Town for the rest of the week until departure. We have a gorgeous view of Table Mountain from our glass wall.

Thursday, August 13 Hilltop Camp

How’s this for a view at breakfast!!?? We were sitting on the deck and the zebras ambled over to the water hole below us for a drink. We’ve been in Hluhluwe (pronounced Shuschluwee)-iMfolozi Park in KwaZulu-Natal for several days. Hilltop Camp is like being on top of the world – you can see forever. It has been extremely windy until tonight, but the wind finally blew away the haze caused by fires. There are always fires – caused by burning sugar cane fields, cooking, heating, wildfires and controlled burns.

We’ve visited several wonderful museums focused on Zulu culture, traditional dress, beading and basketry. Yesterday we trekked down several deeply rutted dirt roads where the bus couldn’t go to visit Zulu basket makers. They were happy to see us and our purchases made a significant contribution to their local economy.

We’ve been on a number of game drives, both day and night. There is quite a variety of animals, but so far the lions have eluded us. There are many white rhinos in this park. At one time they were poached nearly to extinction and it was the conservation program developed by Dr. Ian Player (brother of golfer Gary Player) who is credited with returning them to healthy numbers at iMfolozi and repopulating all of Africa. Today we encountered a herd of grazing elephants which was a delightful sight.

All the guided hikes were booked during our free time, but after encountering this puff adder last night, I wasn’t too disappointed that a hike through the bush wasn’t an option.

Today we had a traditional braai (barbecue) in the bush. This sign was posted at the beginning of a trail leading out of the picnic site. I wonder if the same sign was posted at the trail leading in so the animals would know they weren’t supposed to enter or exit the picnic area.

Sunday, August 9 – Durban

Back to civilization tonight. We’ve spent the last few days in the majestic Drakensberg Mountains. We drove southeast from Joburg all day to get there. We covered lots of terrain that didn’t look like what I thought Africa would be. There were miles and miles of farmland and sparse Zulu villages and farms. They still live in beehive mud huts with thatch roofs. We finally arrived at Camp Didima in the Drakensberg. The mountains are very rugged and beautiful. In the camp, we stayed in spacious, yet cozy cottages with real thatched roofs. It was quite cold at night, but in the 70s during the day.

The area is famous for cave paintings done by Bush people thousands of years ago. The Bush people are long gone from the area or intermingled with the local Zulu. We headed out on Friday morning for what was described as a moderate two hour hike with an archeologist/guide (and I use the term guide loosely) to see cave paintings. Hiking at 6000ft elevation is already challenging for those of us who are used to sea level and this turned out to be a very difficult day. It was very rugged terrain, not moderate, and the “guide” took several wrong turns. After climbing up and down 1500 ft three different times, we finally found the cave. Five hours later, we returned to camp. I passed up the “easy” afternoon walk which the “guide” was surprised to find required crossing a waist-deep river. I don’t think he’ll work for this group again!

Saturday was a much needed recovery day. Larry and I took a long walk in the evening into the hills with our target destination being a bridge over a stream we could see in the distance. We didn’t quite make it as it was occupied by baboons and we didn’t think we wanted to quarrel with them over it.

Today, on the way to Durban, we stopped at the world reknowned Ardmore Ceramics Studio. Nathaniel, one of our tour organizers, studied there for a year in 1997. Most of the artists he knew then, have since died of AIDS. Unfortunately, AIDS has reached epidemic levels here in Natal. At one time they feared the whole studio would be wiped out. Nathaniel said when he was here, the topic was never discussed and people just died from “unknown cause.” Now it is discussed more openly and they have created a foundation to focus on treatment and prevention. The work there is amazing. Believe me, the photos, do not do it justice. A piece recently sold at a Sotheby’s auction for over $30K. I am coming home with a very small little pitcher. All I could afford.

Wednesday, August 5 in Joburg

Wow! And this wasn’t even a game viewing day. We were on our way to the Cradle of Humankind to view an archeological dig where they have uncovered skeletons of hominids about 2.5 million years old. We saw rhinos, zebras, baboons, springbok, rare sable antelopes, blesboks, orynx and hartebeast. It blows me away that this was only about an hour outside Johannesburg and about 15 minutes away from heavily populated areas.

We nearly froze the first two days, but now the weather is gorgeous. We’ve had very full days and visited many places. Monday we toured Johannesburg which is probably the biggest, most spread out city I’ve ever seen. The traffic is absolutely horrendous and there is construction everywhere trying to get ready for the soccer World Cup next summer. We toured the township of Soweto which has gotten a bad reputation over the years, but is actually a vibrant, thriving community with housing ranging from thrown together shanties to very elegant homes. We visited Nelson Mandela’s home and a monument to Hector Peterson, the first child who was killed by the police in the 1976 student riots in Soweto. There are still many social problems, but it is hard to believe that it has only been 15 years since apartheid was outlawed when you see all the progress that has been made and the healing that has occurred in such a short time.

We visited several projects that support women’s empowerment where they have learned a craft and business skills so they can improve their economic situation and help support their families. For those of you who contributed baby and children’s clothes, they were greatly appreciated.

We also visited the Ndebele Cultural Village where we saw the homes decorated by the Ndebele women. It is a signature style that is known throughout the world. Our phone and internet access has been surprisingly sporadic for such a metropolitan area. Tomorrow we drive all day to the Drakensburg Mountains to spend several days, so I suspect we will be out of touch for a while.
Judy