Out of Africa

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Leaving dusty Australia behind, we flew to the surprisingly lush green South Africa. It's very European looking and in places a little like the land of my fathers (Wales). I actually met my first Welshies since November but that’s another story.

On arrival in Jo’Burg we soon realized that the stories about how dangerous it was were probably true. The city was very intimidating, security guards with guns, high security fences and lots of razor wire and no wondering around at night. Our plan was to head down the coast to Durban and finish in Cape Town.

Although Durban was less slightly scary, we were stopped by a local who informed us that as we were walking down “the most dangerous road in Durban” maybe we would like to get back to the beach - who were we to argue!

The smaller towns and villages along the Wild coast and Garden route were beautiful and a lot safer to play in. One of the villages we stayed at was Coffee Bay. On arrival we were greeted with a free beer and then later led through a river (!) to our hut - very back to nature. We decided to venture out with six others on a “cultural day” with the lovely “Silas” a villager……one of the funniest days yet unfolded.

These are some of the things that happened (please refer to pictures below). We set off in flip-flops for what we thought would be a short stroll around the village. However, 2 hours later we were staggering and slipping up steep muddy hills getting gradually more covered in mud. We then arrived at Silas’ house which was full of young kids and his family. Looking at the youngest baby of 9 months we wondered how small kids cope without nappies? Our question was answered as the child promptly pooed in front of us on the floor. The child continued walking and then to make it worse the family’s dog whom we had all been stroking came along and then gobbled it all up!

Next up, Silas wanted us all to fit into the villager’s way of life and so he painted red clay over our faces - which seemed to make us stick out even more! As the afternoon went by we stopped at a dodgy looking shack at the edge of the village. As it turned out this was an illegal pub that served dodgy pink beer in 5 litre paint tins!!

That evening we were dragged along to a hat party and we hurriedly did our best, me with a lovely floral princess hat and LJ with a leafy jungle style hat!

Arriving in Cape Town we have had gorgeous weather so far, and Table Mountain is towering above our hostel at 1,000m. Liz and John (friends of LJ’s parents) kindly showed us the nightlife of their home area of Simons Town and a guided tour of the Cape of Good Hope (the end point of Africa). This included breakfast in the National Park which confirmed that my eyes are definitely bigger than my belly by choosing the biggest omelet in the world. I was warned! We did some animal spotting including an array of birdlife, ostriches, some wild antelope and a tortoise! The best find of the day though were our purchase of Jerry and Gurty our new giraffes who hopefully aren’t too upset with us for sending them home by sea in a cardboard box!

We have decided to travel from Cape Town to Vic falls in a truck and LJ is already planning the wine boxes we need to take. As preparation we are to embark on a wine tour in the next few days!

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