http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , South Africa , KwaZulu Natal en-us Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:08:42 BST Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:08:42 BST This morning we left the Hluhluwe Game Reserve and headed to the University of Zululand Science Centre. The Science Centre is designed to give primary and secondary students hands on experiences with science concepts. We participated in one such experience while learning about series versus parallel electric circuits. We then continued on to the University of Zululand where we were inspired by http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Richards-Bay/blog-313474.html We spent this weekend at the Hluhluwe Game Reserve. This is one of the oldest game reserves in South Africa and is home to a wide range of animals. Immediately upon entering we saw zebras and elephants. We saw even more animals when we headed out on the evening game drive. This morning I decided to get one last look at the animals on the morning game drive and wound up getting more than I ba http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Hluhluwe-Umfolozi-Game-Reserve/blog-308531.html We are now in Durban which sits right on the coast of the Indian Ocean. The view from my hotel room is AMAZING I can hear the ocean as I sleep. This week we heard from educational experts and community activists from KwaZula Natal the province where Durban is located. One of the highlights of the week was Wednesdayrsquos meeting with Ela Gandhi one of the granddaughterrsquos of Moha http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Durban/blog-308530.html i was dreaming full dreams then i was being woken... jordan. jordan was telling me the others were up. i blinked heavy eyelids open and tried to make sense of the situation despite my grogginess. ah. we were in the drakensbergs at Lily's house and the others were already up. which meant that i was being guilted into movement. not a pleasant thought given the warmth and comfort of the bed a http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/blog-308370.html so after over four hours of pretty hardcore hot and dusty hiking in and around Lesotho we were ready for hot soapy showers and hearty meals. Carson and Co had kindly hooked up with homestay style accommodations with yet another exgirlfriend of their flatmate Anatole I live in the adjoining cottage of another one. Anatole assured us she lived about 2 hours drive from the hiking sitehellip http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/blog-308357.html So I got to Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday morning after 30hrs oftravel and layovers and went straight to orientation.Pietermaritzburg is the capital city of the region of KwaZulu Natalwhich was home to the Zulu kingdom. Wednesday Thursday and Friday were spent pretty much just settlingin. There are about 20 American students here but only 3 of us arefrom Rutgers. There are also 3 Germans. We'v http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Pietermaritzburg/blog-308206.html Day nine July 12th Free Day in DurbanFree day in Durban which involved shopping our bus caught the shopping bug something bad. We were taken to the waterfront at the Indian ocean which I put my hands in people were actually swimming and surfing. We took pictures.We spent most of the day at the mall where wersquod dinned on the boat the night before and it was back to Sicarsquos guest ho http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Durban/blog-302445.html Day eight July 11th Greater St Lucia Wetland ParkThere was a lot of eating great for a foodie like me and a lot of driving on this trip Irsquove never napped so much in my life. I can only hope noone else got a similar shot of me.We took a cruise on lake St Lucia where we saw many a hippo and crocodiles and a few birds. We had lunch on board. More pictures to illustrate.Then we drove to Durb http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Saint-Lucia/blog-302444.html Day seven July 10th Swaziland Ezulwini Valley HluhluweWe had breakfast went shopping at the craft market then said goodbye to the kingdom of Swaziland. Some fellow travelers from our group got some hefty phone bills when they checked out that morning ranging from 1000 to 20000 rand for one phone call each. Hmmm I guess the king needs to support his large family somehow wink. Donrsquot c http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Hluhluwe-Umfolozi-Game-Reserve/blog-302440.html We drove from Margate to Amanzimtoti and booked into Blue Sky Backpackers on Warner Beach.Due to rather inclementshitty as hell weather we ate a nice meal at the backpackers had a few drinks and climbed into our warm bed in our log cabinloft type room.Blue Sky is very big with a huge swimming pool and garden and sun deck.The next day we set out to visit Ushaka Marine World in Durban which w http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Amanzimtoti/blog-300117.html After finishing antibiotics and letting Dave's toe heal and giving our livers a relative break we set out for Margate. Only about half an hour away from port Edward we stayed in the Seagull Holiday Flats on the beachfront. Once again the benefits of traveling out of season became apparent when we received a sea view apartment with 2 bedrooms a huge lounge and kitchen and balcony.With MNET an http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/blog-298353.html We left PSJ and arrived in far more civilized Port Edwardand found a doctorAfter getting proper medicine we booked into the Port Edward Holiday Resort which is right on the beach. It is HUGE it has self contained self catering units for all sizes1234 bedroomsa camping area a massive swimming poola restaurantsecurity and is very comfortable. You get several DSTV channelsall the spo http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/blog-298329.html Now for something completely different. We've probably overloaded on the animal photos for a while so the next part of our trip will not likely have much in the way of game parks. We will however be looking to photograph some of the ocean wildlife at some point.Durban was a nice place to relax and get used to the idea of having our own transportation. Okay maybe it wasn't so relaxing at fir http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Durban/blog-296871.html That bears repeating I'M IN SOUTH AFRICA3 days in and i'm enjoying it and planning my return eventualyWe spent the first two nights in a magnifiscent hotel loved it visited Pretoria drove past mandela's house which is now a museum closed for renovations thou pity visited Soweto the povrety is heart renching but the people themselves are lovely. The goverment is providing hous http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/blog-296658.html written Sunday June 22 At long last Viktorija and myself slept in a real room with a real bed last night. Since our arrival we had been sleeping on a mattress in the living room of the Thanda volunteer house where all of the foreign volunteers live. We used two bookshelves a line of string and a pink sheet to create walls. Every morning we were awoke by Mike one of our eagerest volunteer http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Durban/blog-292822.html Arthur our friend and owner of Khaya LaManzi which means lsquoOcean Homersquo in Zuluit is a bed and breakfast here in Hibberdene says that the recent storm was a freak of nature. It was created by a highpressure system that came in from out at sea unlike the normal weather patterns that should send storms up the coast in a lowpressure system. He says he has never seen this type of s http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Durban/blog-292818.html EN FRANCAIS PLUS BASMORE PHOTOS HEREHannah's croc pics here and more morning hike and kayak sunset trip picsOnce again as I am set to take the bus it rains. Lucky me. Saint Lucia is a small beach town or street rather surrounded by monkeys hippos crocodiles waterbucks impalas warthogs leopards buffalos elephants and the like all roaming around freely around the area. During the two mo http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Saint-Lucia/blog-291666.html I'm still in St Lucia for two more days.In the hostel here I'm in a different house from most people.This house has it's own kitchen.There's three dorm rooms in it and only three of us staying there so it's been pretty sweet.Unfortunately I woke up this morning and there was Cheerios ALL over the kitchen floor.I guess this morning some monkeys busted in and ate my cheerios and bread.So that w http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Saint-Lucia/blog-290010.html So my last night in Durban... I went out for fish with a dutch girl I had previously spent in Stellenbosch.Delicious.Early early wednesday morning I woke up and the bus came to get me at like 8am.It was STILL raining so the bus ran late and I didn't get in to St Lucia until about 130.An american girl two dutch guys and a japanese lady also got off the bus with me so the owner of the hostel Ph http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Saint-Lucia/blog-289637.html My last couple days in Umzumbe were nice.Currently the sardine run is underway.Supposedly a whole bunch of sardines migrate for no apparent reason. And they bring dolphins whales and sharks with them.it was in coffee bay while I was there as well and local boys were scooping sardines up with their hands and then carrying them around in shopping bags and trying to sell them to us.So after sp http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Durban/blog-288132.html Time has come for me to say goodbye to Maritzburg for good for now.. and get ready for my last big African hoorah for now... I finished my finals this week they were pretty intense they are taken as very important here moreso than in the US. If you haven't kept your grades and attendance up to par you aren't even allowed to take the final. And the finals count for a very high percentage of http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Pietermaritzburg/blog-287253.html Hi folks.... here's some notes from one day at Thanda. Our internet is very slow here so i am unable to upload photos. I will do so in a few weeks when i spend time in Poland our dance show will perform there on July 7 but for now just stories......hope they will generate images in your head of what it is like.We left the house early today earlier than normal. Viktorija and I left with the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Durban/blog-287162.html That last day in Coffee Bay was raining so the hostel The Coffee Shack organized everyone to go to the hotel and have a nice lunch. Then they took us to the shebeen which is kind of a local bar.Mostly it's a liquor store where everything including the lady working is in a metal cage and she hands you big bottles of beer or mickeys of liquor. Then you either stand around outside in the rai http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Umzumbe/blog-287123.html I have now been here for one week here are some reflections. Apologies if I jump around a bit. These are random fragments from my journal.....Monday first day on the job. We load up in the truck the truck goes straight to the sight and the van goes into town to run a few errands. The drive to ThandaSacred Heart School is breathtaking. A 40 minute drive straight away from the coast inland http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/blog-286581.html To my dear blog readers I am now in South Africa. There are so many stories to tell and the will surely be poured out on the pages of my blog. But Right now I have only a few minutes of internet time and so i thought I would do something different for a change. It is so amazing being here in South Africa I can not even tell you. There are some pluses I did not expect and some minueses that http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Durban/blog-285544.html Well i'm hereQuite honestly it hasn't quite hit me yet that I'm actually in South Africa on my own but i'm sure it will when i've got over the flight My movements in the last 48 hours have been a very hard to say goodbye at Heathrow an 10 hour flight next to a large south african old guy but I did have a window view I could actually see 4 because of my seat so got a great view of the engli http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/blog-285050.html Last week Thea and Brian came to Durban to spend the first five days of their 3week South African adventure with us before they move to Savannah from Hoboken. Needless to say I was looking forward to their visit. We rented a minivan packed it up with lots of food and drinks and headed off on the 3 hour ride to the Hluhluwe shooshlewwee Imfolozi game park the first game reserve area i http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Hluhluwe-Umfolozi-Game-Reserve/blog-281336.html Don't ask us how to pronounce this one we just call it the rhino park because that's the main animal you come to this park to see. It was great because until now we really hadn't seen many rhinos at the other parks and we were looking for some better photos. Well we had may opportunities to see rhino and other wildlife but again no cats as the grass is just too high at this time of year. We r http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Hluhluwe-Umfolozi-Game-Reserve/blog-280990.html