Blogs from Sodwana Bay, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Africa

Why is it that the places you don’t plan to go to always turn out to be the best experiences? On a (planned) trip through the Drakensberg, we spent one night (unplanned) in a small town by the banks of the Tugella river. However pretty our camping spot, though, we swiftly realised that there was nothing to do in the town beyond gaze at the dilapidated shops and stock up on day-old pasties at the Spar. A quick Google search revealed a nature reserve nearby, so off we set. Much of the African bush looks the same, but that doesn’t stop it from being beautiful every time, with its long golden grass, green acacia trees, and red-brown earth. Spionkop was no exception, no length of time spent on this continent will take away the excitement of ... read more

On leaving St. Lucia, my next destination was Sodwana Bay. Again, this is not an easy place to get to without your own transport and I knew it might be a bit of an effort. Firstly, I had to take the return journey to Mthubathuba. I found a minibus, but they said it would cost me 250 rand, despite the journey a couple of days in the opposite direction costing 17 rand. I resolved to try hitch, but got no joy from the many holidaying white South Africans, who clearly would never dream of picking up a smelly backpacker. Funnily enough, about 20 minutes later, the minibus that had tried to charge 250 rand passed by, this time half full with passengers and this time agreeing to let me on for the correct price. At Mthubathuba, ... read more

Heute haben wir endlich mal ausgeschlafen und Bettina hat mich ert um 7 Uhr geweckt (da wir gestern aber auch schon um halb neun in der Kiste lagen, war dies durchaus genug Schlaf). Nach einem leckeren Frühstück mit frischen Mangos machten wir uns auf zum Kosi Mouth an der Grenze zu Mozambique. Hier dürfte Bettina wieder einen kleinen Offroadkurs belegen - diesmal im Fähren durch sandige Wege. Angekommen im Paradies wateten wir Badenixen durchs seichte Wasser und ließen und an einer großen Sandbank nieder, die wir ganz für uns alleine hatten - ein Traum.... nach ein paar Stunden und einem kleinen Schnorchelausflug kehrten wir wieder zurück - es war auch langsam Zeit, da ich schon mehr rot als braun war. Weiter ging's zum Sodwana Bay, wo wir unseren 5 Mann Bungalow in Strandnähe bezogen. Mit einem ... read more

Fired up the red fire engine and left at 5.30am, always have to leave in the dark, and always have to take egg sandwiches as well. It's something we used to do before there were Wimpys along the way and now both kids insist they have to have egg sandwiches or its not a real holiday. The drive was uneventful – which for us is a bonus as we normally manage at least one flat tyre – apart from the potholed road and the roadworks where we had to sit and wait for the traffic to pass one lane at a time. Arrived at Sodwana mid afternoon, very hot and sunny, pretty cramped pitch considering we had 2 large tents and 2 vehicles to park and of course deciding where to pitch the tents took the ... read more

So I decided to go down to SA to meet Jay (that did the divemaster with me in Tofo) for the Sodwana shootout. It took me 23 hours and 4 buses, 1 taxi , 1 normal car and 3 blown tires to make it almost all the way. The first tires blew so violently that the it slit a hole in the bus, injuring one of the passengers and making sure the rest of us were black with road dust by the time we got to Maputo! I took the road through Swaziland which is such a scenic route and I stayed at a lovely backpackers, the same one me, Jim and Suus stayed at in November. After 2 more buses and numerous hours at the border i made it to Hlue Hluwe (brilliant name). I ... read more