Getting to Blyde River Canyon

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Nelspruit, South Africa is base for our Blyde River Canyon loop. See Blyde River Canyon photos

Nelspruit serves as the trade center for farming in Mpumalanga Province. We feel a huge weight lifted when we learn that it's OK to walk around after dark. This is especially important since the town is not so nice to look at during daylight. There are far fewer fences and more sidewalks, but most of the people seem generally suspicious and less friendly than in Joburg. The highlight of Nelspruit is a rich botanical garden with abundant, prehistoric cycads, cactus-like euphorbs, and fields of circuitous fig trunks.

An evening conversation with some Peace Corps workers (visiting the backpackers hostel from their nearby townships) reveals the dominant local pastime - funerals. Apparently, people feel obliged to travel huge distances to the funerals of friends-of-friends-of-third-cousin's-coworkers. And the family of the dead must plunge enormous resources into preparing huge feasts and extensive ceremonies. These customs have not changed, despite the fact that these days everyone attends multiple massive funerals every weekend. ...as if all this death wasn't causing enough problems by itself.

From Nelspruit, we take a couple minibus taxis to through extensive pine and eucalyptus plantations to Graskop, a small town crawling with mill workers in bright blue work suits. I experiment with Afrikaner pronunciation, but the gutteral Dutch "g" followed by gutteral Dutch "r" causes problems. After hearing my best effort...and wiping the spit off her face, Sarah resigns herself to an American pronunciation (as in, the guy who orders you to stay off the field after it rains). (jjk)

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