Amazing Rural South Africa

---

I seem to be getting nagged in all directions by my Dad to write another blog, and now that Ellie has gone to the orphanage and I have found the cheapest internet shop in the world (about 33p and hour!) I will finally settle down and write about South Africa, again in two parts otherwise this blog would be the size of my dissertation.
Way back in the middle of October, we landed in Johannesburg after a fantastic flight from Perth (which, by the way, is a very nice city but one which I didn't get to explore properly so will unfortunately just have to go back again!) and spent one night in a hostel there before leaving on the baz bus for Swaziland. The baz bus has been our mode of transport throughout South Africa and is a very good bus - takes you exactly to the hostel and we've met lots of nice people on it. After a full day of driving we arrived at our hostel in Swaziland which was right in the middle of Milwane national park and had great views of Execution rock - so called because that's where the bad people went for their punishments! The next day we headed off in a local mini-bus taxi for Manzini to explore the local markets, which was a lot of fun particularly the bus journey where as many people as possible are crammed in the bus and it's still not considered full! The next couple of days were spent walking around the national park and getting up close to many animals including zebra, wildebeest (they like to growl at Ellie, it's really funny!), bok, monkeys and a crocodile (not too close the that one!). We also went horse riding in the park which was a good way to see everything from higher up and be nice and relaxed, and a great way to ensure that you walk like an idiot the next day!
After Swaziland we went to KwaZulu Natal and stopped in St Lucia to go on a half day game drive which was excellent. We travelled in style in a safari-style car with a roof and no sides and saw an elephant, lions, giraffes, buffalo, zebra, wildebeest, babboons, a hyena and some rhino. Now that's good value! We spent the afternoon trying to tan ourselves, not that it worked, and then the next morning before getting the bus we went on a short walk through the St Lucia Wetlands and saw some hippo and crocodiles in the estuary. Our next port of call in Zululand was Eshowe where we planned a maximum of 2 nights stay and ended up there for 10 after meeting lots of nice people and deciding we liked the area too much to go! Whilst in Eshowe, as well as far too much drinking, we went on a couple of cultural tours. The first was to a healing ceremony in one of the local villages, where everyone sits in a rondavel (a circular mud hut with a thatched roof) and there is a lot of singing and the locals pay 5 rand to tell the healer their problems and ask for advice. There is also a lot of vodka and beer that gets passed around so you can sort of see why everyone feels better after the ceremony...or perhaps we were just being cynical! Another trip I took was to a Gospel Church where I observed some fantastic music and a really friendly atmosphere in one of the most basic of settings. I was even invited to get up and introduce myself, although unlike the Fijian Church service their was no singing on my part! Eshowe is a great place with lots of friendly people and great Zulu culture to experience right outside the town and luckily we made friends with the tour guide, who would take us when he had to go somewhere so we saw a lot more of rural Zululand than we thought we would.
We finally left Eshowe and after a night stop-over in Durban we travelled through the poor, rural and breathtaking Transkei area to get to Coffee Bay. Coffee bay is fantastic - it's miles from civilisation as we know it and instead surrounded by rural villages consisting of rondavels. We took a village tour here where we chatted to the locals and had some lovely traditional Xhosa food cooked for us, walked through the village to go to the sacred pools, walked to the top of a hill to view the area from above and visited a Sangoma, a traditonal herbal and spiritual healer, who chatted to us for a bit and lit some herbs for us. On our second day in Coffee Bay 5 of us hiked 9kms up and down lots of hills to get to Hole-in-the-Wall, a piece of cliff in the sea with a large hole in that has been made by the waves crashing against it for years. The walk was excellent and you can see why the area is called the wild coast with the rugged natural beauty of beaches and cliffs. On the way back from Hole-in-the-Wall we walked along the road for a while in the wrong direction then when we found the right road we decided we'd had enough and got a ride back in the back of a workman's truck going at a high speed and clinging on! And yes, it was perfectly safe to hitch-hike as we are with 2 guys one of whom was an older South African man. Our last trip in Coffee Bay was to the Mpuzi caves which again involved lots of hiking up and down hills and climbing around and up rocks and cliff faces! A bunch of crazies (Ellie included) threw themselves off rocks into the sea and I opted for the less scary jump off a rock into the river. I loved Coffee Bay - there is so much to do and it's so isolated that I felt very peaceful and enjoyed spending time in rural South Africa. Our shuttle back to the baz bus when we left Coffee Bay proved very interesting as 3 girls on it were getting a coach which was leaving just as we arrived at the stop, so our shuttle driver embarked on a high speed bus chase, overtaking like a mad man and when we caught up to the bus, waving his hands around to stop it! It was impressive (and slightly scary!) stuff!
We went to Chintsa next which we were told is a very pretty area however the weather wasn't great so were had a limited range of activities and went for a walk up the valley and down to the beach. Later in the afternoon we played volleyball with some other members of the hostel and got a bit tipsy as the losing team had to drink some wine (why is it always wine?!) and had a braai, which is a South African barbecue but so much better as the food is cooked over coals. On the day we left Chintsa the weather was glorious so we got some photos of the very pretty beach and then headed into the mountains to go to Hogsback. The hostel was right on the edge of many walking trails and overlooked 3 mountains, imaginitively named Hog 1, 2 and 3! We did lots of walking in Hogsback and saw many waterfalls and explored the forest quite thoroughly and it was nice to be inland for a couple of days and get back to hiking.
Next blog coming soon!

---

Comments

[SM]

oi!
oh my god (chav style)...you is well like mentioning me in your blog...is it that you miss me?! by the way....i would live to tell you off for your Afrikaans spelling. it is a BRAAI and not a braii. PS. LOVE YOU

[Dad]

Nagging??
Hi Cat, For the record I only nagged you in one direction - that was towards the nearest computer to get the next part of your blog written. Believe it or not, I find the blogs quite interesting and I look forward to reading them, even when you are rambling on and on and on and on......! Anyway, not long till you come home now so that will be the peace and quiet well and truly shattered. Speak to you soon. Love, Dad xxxxxx

[Cat257]

To Ellie
Well I kinda had to mention you, you were there after all (unfortunately...only kidding!)