Blogs from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Africa - page 51

My last week at African Impact in Saint Lucia was lovely. We got five new volunteers…a few of which are also on the photography project. There was one day we were driving into Khula Village and I was looking at the homes and the roads, and while they are somewhat primitive it does not appear to be “third world”, however I will note that this is what I envisioned St. Lucia to be more like prior to my arrival. It seems to look like the times we are in now and maybe that is again my expectations playing tricks on me…it got me thinking about what it could have looked liked many years ago and I realized it may not have looked so different…I think what I was expecting to see was a picture in my ... read more

Happy New Year from St Lucia in KwaZulu Natal, a village at the heart of the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park. Or rather, as they renamed it last month, the iSimangaliso Wetland Park. We arrived here yesterday lunchtime. St Lucians seem to share with the Americans an aversion to the idea of going anywhere using those outdated contraptions at the bottom of your body called legs. The lady at our guesthouse looked stunned when she opened the electric gates to her property and we trotted in carrying our backpacks, rather than rolling in on four wheels. The stunned look turned to a look of horror from her and her husband when, after a walk round town, I arrived back later on in the day sans Gemma, who had decided to walk on to the beach. "But ... read more

Sunday was a day of rest…I slept in and walked to town to chill out and use the internet and had lunch with Gabi and Bianca…two of the other volunteers…Aussie and Dutch. We had a great time and as it turns out, it really isn’t all that inexpensive here…I think my lunch was like USD17. Came home to read my book and passed out for a few hours…not sure why I was so tired… Then we had a braai…or BBQ in American. One of the girls in the house…I feel like I’m talking about a real world house, its silly…but anyway, she is the most unsocial person. Eats dinner essentially in silence and then disappears into her room. She’s a little bit older so you would think she would be more in tune to being friendly ... read more

I left Zimbabwe Saturday morning with a gorgeous sun shining down for the first time in a few days…yes, I was sad to be leaving. I was heading to Zambia to catch my flight from Livingstone back to Johannesburg, South Africa and then another one to Durban. As it turned out I had a few issues this day and I’ll keep them brief cuz at the end of the day shit happens and cest la vie. The first was that my travel agent booked me to fly out of Livingstone and I didn’t know this was in another country and he never mentioned this to me…and this country apparently is not a fan of us Americans and charge us USD 100 for a visa…even if its just a transit visa to the airport…that’s a hefty fee ... read more

There are noe some pics of us doing the white water rafting on the internet, there isn't many but you can find them here... http://www.outrageousadventures.co.za/previous%20trips/as4dec07pt.htm So we are stil in Margate, near Durban, and there are so many nice beaches here! We had a gorgeous day on Monday when the sun was shining, but it was stupidly hot!! Even though it has been cloudy the other days it has still been really warm and the sea has been warm too! There are only certain beaches where you can swim because they put shark nets up (these should stop the sharks getting through! I hope!). There are always lots of surfers on the beaches as the waves are huge. Good fun to play in and try to body board! So we have spent lots of time on ... read more