Blogs from Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Africa - page 5

Tuesday 12th June It's finally happening. 11 months of planning, deliberation and gaining of logistical support is finally escalating to a wonderful climax. That climax is the reality of the South Africa Challenge; being in South Africa, helping others, learning about ourselves and learning about the world. I couldn't help but feel bubbly and excited from the moment I set foot in the Heathrow terminal 4 building this morning, only to be met by the enthusiastic team that I have come to know during the learning process of developing this project. As I write this, I am at 35,000 feet in the air and am current passing over the sahra desert. The immeasurable and vast and rolling sand dunes are almost hypnotic in effect. They have given me time to think amidst the flurry of excitement ... read more

After a great experience in Zimbabwe, the next stop on my trip was through Johannesburg again, to King Shaka International Airport in Durban. Durban is on the east coast of Africa and the main city in Kwa-Zulu Natal, historical home of the infamous Zulu tribes, among others. It's an oceanside town, with a much more tropical climate compared to most of South Africa and immediately as I touched down I felt the humidity. It was a change from the dryness of Zimbabwe's heat. I was picked up by the guesthouse I was staying at and realized I made a bit of a mistake when booking so last minute. Sadly, I was staying about 30 minutes outside of Durban in a suburb called Amanzimtoti, so making it to the heart of town was a bit of a ... read more

Traveling on, we arrived at Isimangaliso Wetland Park. It is here that we had our first view of the Indian Ocean. The park is bordered on one side by Lake St. Lucia, the largest inland body of water in South Africa, and the Indian Ocean on the other side. There are 200 meter high dunes- that have vegetation on them. While walking on the beach, we were amazed to watch a big- 35 ft power catamaran drive at full speed, straight up on to the beach in order to be dragged onto it's trailer. No idea what the driver did with the props- but it all seemed to be in order. They brought in a big tractor/trailer, and proceeded to winch the boat on. Of course, us trailer “people” found this all very intriguing! WE had ... read more

Our drive down to Durban was a bit of a spur-of-the-moment decision as we hadn't really planned our three days between our Kruger tour and our planned hike in the Drakkensberg mountains. We discussed the idea of driving through Swaziland, but we were told that it is very difficult to take a rental car across international borders. Durban was the next logical choice as we could spend two nights there, then drive back North to the Drakkensberg. What we did not anticipate was the difficulty we would have in finding a hotel. We had no idea that the COP 17 International Conference on Climate Change was taking place at that time (which shows how unobservant we are as there were huge advertisements in the Johannesburg airport on our way to and from Botswana). We called hotel ... read more

Hello everyone from Durban, We realize it has been a long time since you heard from us - that is because we have been in some pretty remote places and have not had internet access since I last posted from Johannesburg. We are sitting in the airport in Durban now - getting ready to fly to Cape Town for the last leg of our trip. I have been writing for the blogs all along even though we have not been able to post them - and Jeff has all the pics almost ready to go - so the blogs should be all posted for your reading pleasure tonight - be warned - you will be getting a lot of information all at once! We are having an AMAZING time and loving every minute of our trip! ... read more