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Saved: November 30th 2021
Natal Sharks Board Durban
Laini cage diving with the sharks. Note the lack of diving equipment.We were told all along in Cape Town that the weather in Durban is the best in winter time. Hot and sunny, but not too hot to handle. We were looking forward to a little sun, surf and sand time. Unfortunately, as our luck would have it, it rained buckets the entire time we were in Durban. Well, that's a little exageration ... we did get a reprieve on the Sunday, but it was still windy and cool. Even though it chucked rain all day on Saturday, we did venture out to the beach to watch the surfers (apparently the water was warmer than the air) and tried to imagine what the beach front must be like when it is warm and sunny. We got soaked to the skin and were very happy that our room at the backpackers was really warm. On Sunday our main priority was to visit the Natal Sharks Board and see the shark dissection. As that wasn't happening until the afternoon we decided to check out an IMAX film on the annual Sardine Run up the Eastern Coast of South Africa. We didn't really even know about the sardine run until we were in Durban and
Sharks Board
The small Great White Shark waiting for dissection. started seeing brochures about it. Now that we know more, it sounds like a fantastic sight and we would love to witness it one day.
The Sharks Board manages shark nets that run up and down the Durban coast line to provide safe swimming beaches for the public. They remove the nets during the annual sardine run and warn the public that they swim at their own risk. The nets unfortunately do catch all manner of sea life. They are checked every morning and the live sea animals are cut loose and released. Those that are dead are brought back to the Sharks Board and are used for the public dissections and other research. They are also researching many other less harmful ways of keeping the beaches shark-free. The shark that was up for dissection was a small Great White Shark, just a juvenile according to the presenter. It was somewhat morbid and gross, but also very interesting and entertaining. They have done a very good job of presenting the sharks as peaceful mammals of the sea, rather than cold-blooded killers. One of the best ads that they ran was of people running out of the sea screaming (a
Family in Pietermaritzburg
From left to right back: Uncle Basil, Laini, Jeremy, Stormy, Noah, Roxanne, Jeremy, Peter
From left to right front: Jade (standing), Leanne, Sharon, Auntie Gladys (standing) la 'Jaws') and then the camera focusses on the culprit and it is a common dining room chair. The screen reads: "Chairs killed over 1000 South Africans last year. Sharks killed two." An excellent advertising team came up with that one!
From Durban we headed to Pietermartizburg, which is inland about 50km from Durban. Our purpose here was to see more of Peter's relatives. His Uncle Basil, Auntie Gladys and cousin Sharon are living here and we wanted to stop by and say hello. We spent most of the following day with them, Peter got caught up with his uncle and aunt after not seeing them in over 20 years. We were also very lucky to get to meet all of Sharon's family, her husband Stormy, her two daughters Leanne and Roxanne, their husbands and Leanne's gorgeous little girl Noah. Even though we spent such a short time with them, it was hard to leave as we felt as though we had known them forever. We had to leave to get to Jo'Burg as the car was due back soon.
Driving into Jo'burg was definitely a little nervewracking, but not as bad as we both had thought it
Scenery on N3
Between Pietermartizburg and Johannesburg. Very dry. would be. We had images of hi-jackers on every corner and it is just not like that at all. You definitely have to be careful, but it is not like every person is trying to steal from you.
We found a backpackers brochure that had directions, so we chose that place to stay. We knew when we arrived that it was not in the best area of town, but at least we had a place to stay. It wasn't until we were settled at the backpackers and checked our email that I had heard from Roger, a friend of mine in Jo'burg. Now it is not Roger's fault, I didn't email him until we were in Durban that we were on our way to Jo'burg. He was away as it was the weekend and only emailed when he got the chance once he was home. I was hoping that we would get to see Roger for coffee or drinks and have a chat, but Roger had other plans for us. He picked us up at the airport, where we had to return The Tick, and took us back to his place to give us the keys to his VW
citi golf so we would have transport. He then took us for a drive and lunch and then to meet his partner Hildriette. They both were very curious as to where we were staying and when I mentioned that the neighborhood Alexandria was close by they both exploded!! Hildriette demanded that we stay with her. She has the room and she would not have us staying "in Alex". Turns out, Alexandria is one of Jo'burgs townships. We were not staying in the middle of it, and we were not frightened to be there, but we certainly felt somewhat isolated by our location. Without further ado, Roger took us straight back to the backpackers, packed our bags into his Xtrail and drove us to first to his place to pick up the car and then we followed him to Hildriette's house in a far nicer (read: LUXURY) part of town. Roger always introduced us as the Canadians he rescued from the Township!
We went from a fairly seedy backpackers to 5-star luxury at Hildriette's beautiful house. It was a very relaxing time, chatting with Roger, Hildriette and her good friend Ruann. We knew we were leaving soon so we did
a little shopping to stock up on a few things and replace some torn or worn out clothes. At this point, we were still determined to leave Jo'burg, travel the entire length of South Africa on a bus and head to Namibia. We were also sad, but sure we would not be able to visit Kruger Park. Roger is very convincing and after a couple of days we had changed our plans completely. We now had a two day trip to Kruger planned, and would be exiting South Africa into Mozambique.
Roger's friend John joined us on the Kruger trip, and it was like having two rangers in our vehicle and a personalized tour of the park. John grew up in the park as his father was a ranger. His knowledge of birds and wildlife is remarkable for a young man of 22 or 23. Roger loves the bush and gets to the park at any opportunity and is quickly gaining as much knowledge of the park and it's birds, animals, trees, plants etc. as John and his father have.
Our first night was spent in Nelspruit at the home of Roger's cousin. This was a wonderful beginning
Nile Croc
Kruger Park, Waiting for lunch to our Kruger trip as they live in a nature reserve. We walked out to nearby pond in the dark to listen to all the toads croaking and crickets chirping. Peter and I had a Nyala visit the french doors of our room in the early hours of the morning as he munched on the nice green grass surrounding the house. The best part was the 4 meercats that Roger's cousin has house trained. They are so cute!! They were pretty disoriented at being woken up by us, but they warmed up and all came out to check us out and cuddle with us.
I can honestly say, that if I had visited Africa and went home without seeing the Big 5, I would have been sad, but not disappointed, because there is so much more to this beautiful continent than just the Big 5. However, when we started ticking off the Big 5 sightings before lunch, I couldn't believe our luck! We had seen Buffalo, Elephant, Lion, and Leopard all before lunch. Shortly after lunch we completed our Big 5 list with Rhino sightings. But we saw so much more than the Big 5. We saw hyena, hippos,
Water Buffalo
Kruger Park. Looking out for the Lions. impala, waterbuck, bushbuck, nyala, kudu, large-spotted genet, giraffes (the camel horse is my new favourite animal!), crocodiles, turtles, and birds, birds and more birds! We were only able to see a small part of the park but we were very impressed with the way it was set up with accommodations and camping. It was fantastic and both Peter and I will tell you it was worth overstaying our South African visas for.
Having Roger and John as our personal guides was awesome, and they have succeeded in whetting our appetites for more adventures in the Kruger. Look out boys - we'll be back!!
We spent two nights in Nelspruit before leaving for Maputo in Mozambique, wondering what our punishment at the border would be. Our penalty for overstaying our visas by 2 days was a 1,000 Rand fine for each of us. We did not have to pay leaving the country, but we will have to pay when we return to South Africa. We decided that the fine was better than detainment or jail and we wouldn't trade our Kruger experience for anything, so we'll pay the fine if and when we return to South Africa.
We
Ground Hornbill
Kruger Park. A face only a mother can love. And check out those eyelashes! are now in Maputo and will be leaving for a beach resort area to enjoy some of that sun, sand and sea that we have been looking for. It is VERY hot here, and muggy too. We are having to acclimatize to the hot weather again.
We will travel north through Mozambique and then cross over into Malawi, travel up Malawi and into Tanzania. Next will be Kenya and Rwanda and then where is anyone's guess! The plan as it stands now (and we all know how often this changes!), is to come back south via Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and back into South Africa. We'll see!
So, we're on the road again! We have heard that internet cafes are harder to come by the further north we get in Moz, so we'll try to update as often as we can!
Lots of love,
Laini and Peter
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Roger
non-member comment
Our pleasure
It was a pleasure to have you guys here with us. Come back and we will show you the rest of this amazing place. You forgot to mention that you were standing 30 cm away from a hippos back. Greenbacked parrot is a Brown Headed Parrot and the Wahlbergs Eagle is a Dark Chanting Goshawk. Everything else is right, well done. See you guys soon.