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Published: November 7th 2007
Our Journey started on Oct 14th from London Gatwick, after goodbyes with the family we were headed off to Dubai. Stopover in Dubai gave Lynda a taste of home many years ago and three stopover hours later (that included lots of coffee, people watching - a real global melting pot, some long-leg watching, and some snoozing) we were finally headed for Africa!
We arrived at Joburg airport tired and with slight trepidation of what was to come... the usual headaches of immigration and bags were fine and we went through where our friend Tanya was collecting us. She was delayed and we realised that we didn't have her phone no, her address and our lovely new global roaming phone wouldn't work. Perfect...so a few interesting minutes waiting until she appeared, we were very glad to see her.
Whisked back for a very pleasant evening in Pretoria, a very nice appartment (not something for us to get used to!). The following morning we picked up our car for the next couple of weeks. That was perhaps our first taste of things to come, it took a couple of hours (African time) and cost rather more than we expected...nonetheless we were
on the road at last!
Tanya had booked us into a place in an unpronounceable place in an unpronounceable region (gotta love the Afrikaan's)...it was about 3 hours drive from Pretoria en route to the Kruger in a fabulous location just off the A37 (what a road!), rolling hills and loads of colourful Jacaranda trees. The drive was uneventful other than Lynda's first reaction to the malaria tablets that involved her throwing up in a pot plant by the window of Wimpey in a service station (the diners were thrilled by the display!).
Next day we drove into the Kruger National Park for 5 nights of solid animal watching...we basically did a route from the middle of the park and worked our way south before exiting into Mozambique; staying at several of the rest camps (Olifants, Setara, Lower Sabie and Crocodile Bridge). We were pleasantly suprised by just how much of the park we could explore with our little hire car (a white Toyota Corrolla - why are all cars in SA white?), this meant that we just did two organised drives (one morning and one sunset) otherwise it was a DIY safari.
The weather was quite
overcast much of the time which seemed to be lucky as a)we didn't stink quite as much and b) the animals seemed to come out in droves. We were very lucky we felt with the things that we saw...basically we saw everything that we wanted to, and pretty much everything that moved in the park, the only miss was the Cheetah...hopefully we'll spy one of them later on the trip. There were numerous highlights too many to mention here (you'll all be very glad to know!), but tops for us were
> Lions - we saw a total of 24 Lions in our time there (yes we are accountants and like to count these things!). In particular we caught a pride of 11 during a sunset drive, watching them play around for ages right by the side (and in the middle) of the road.
> Leopard - saw one in a tree which was great as they are generally pretty elusive
> Rhino - quite a few of these beasties in the south of the park and a fabulous sight
> Elephants - although they seemed to be everywhere we had a very close encounter with a family on
one of the organised trip....Lynda thought one was trying to join us at one point, scurrying off to the back of the bus....they were fun to watch especially the babies. Also managed to catch one elephant knocking over a tree for no reason, amazingly powerful
> and finally hippos and wart hogs...basically any sighting was good to watch...stupid things.
A great trip - managing to see the SA big five in one afternoon (Elephant, Buffalo, Rhino, Lion and Leopard) which summed up our fortunes. We left Kruger delighted with our trip, and looking forward to Mozambique..we were on our way! immediately noticed we had a puncture, which a local chap helped us fix (not my forte!)...finally we were on our way, again!
Mozambique.
Clearing immigration wasn’t much of a problem, our first African border navigated without too much problem. We were heading along the main highway into Maputo, the road was excellent condition, the scenery was naturally similar to southern Kruger flat bush scrubland, and we were able to watch local life pass by the roadside.
Maputo will live long in the memory largely due to the officialdom, gotta love the friendly neighbourhood bobby!! More of
that later.
Traffic in Maputo was pretty crazy, you really needed all six senses in working order. Without access to a decent map stretched the Markwell navigational skills to their fullest and four of five circumnavigations of our hostel we realized that the map was incorrect! And of course once we knew where it was the road we needed was closed which meant another loop around.
Hostel was behind tight security - wasn’t sure whether that was to stop thieves or the inmates getting out!
Our plan only allowed a couple of hours of exploration of the city, and that was enough really. A good stroll around the central area (the Baixa) gave us a good flavour of the city; within 100m of the hostel we were greeted by a gentleman pissing on the pavement, strolled around the litter strewn bombed out buildings, and breathed in the aromas of sewage and rotting fish. Welcome to a very impoverished African capital. It was still an enjoyable walk, street life was very interesting particularly when a group of ladies selling fruit on the street corner, wearing colourful local outfits were being chased by the police, mangoes flying all over
the street; it was clearly a common event and all ended in great smiles, and the ladies back to work. City Hall, the Cathedral and train station were nice buildings, and various other dilapidated colonial buildings gave a taste of days gone by.
Fortune favours the brave, so they say, and I think that sums up our great dining experience. We dined at a local place called Fereia, a very small street eatery with locals there, the verbal menu was “chicken or fish” (no we weren’t back on a plane)….one of each washed down with a few 2M’s (“doichem” beer), a great way to end our exploration and all for about US$5.
Left Maputo and headed up the coast to some good beaches south of a town called Xai-Xai. Upon leaving the city (we were very familiar with the road lay out by now), we had our first brush with Mozambiquan authority. Stopped at a police checkpoint and asked to see our papers….”big problem, big problem” (bear in mind the day before we had been stopped at the same point and given the all clear!). Anyway it appears to some that a crossing out on an immigration form
requires a “negotiable fine”…after some negotiation he was happy with a small monetary fine….our first ever bribe! Pulses up slightly, but none the worse off really, although rather peeved.
The drive north along the highway was about 3 hours and as we left Maputo behind the traffic calmed down, we were able to absorb life go by (overloaded buses, pots on heads, children playing, cattle crossing etc), all the while nervously approaching any town which may have housed police road blocks - fortunately we were not stopped again.
Turning off the highway we had 35km along a sand road (we had been assured that our little Corolla would be fine, and it was just), this gave a great insight into life away from the highway as we passed through several tiny communities. The end of the road was worth the effort, a lovely luxury resort where we were camping by the beach. All great until we got stuck in the sand 100m from our campsite…so near!
We were dug out and spent three nights of relaxation in the lodge, full board…very nice. Weather was great for a day or so explored the fabulous beach (and the bar);
on day 2 the locals were delighted that they had their first rain in 3 months (lucky us) including an incredible electrical storm which was interesting in a tent! Rather than waste the final day we did an afternoon cruise on the mighty Limpopo river, which was pleasant although an alarming lack of wildlife (all eaten in the war years and still struggling to rebound). Most pleased that we cruised up a river with such a cool name…just wished I thought about doing some limbo dancing on deck (next time perhaps).
Next morning left…got stuck leaving the campsite again! After being hauled out by a tractor (in African time again!) we were on the road. All went smoothly until the outskirts of Maputo, another official road block…this time dude in green with a very large gun. “Paper di car, paper di car” “ahh very big problem, big fine for no paper di car!”…here we go again!!! I was unable to pay the initial fine, very strangely the police would not accept credit cards…back to the old ‘negotiable fine’; he got away with more than arsehole number one mainly because he had a large gun, but
we won’t be starving! Git!
The drive to the border was hassle free, and as we ascended towards Swaziland the scenery changed into lovely rolling hills and more obvious farming. The border was amazingly smooth and we were into Swaziland….pleased to be out of Mozambique, mainly due to the cops and added concerns over the security of having the car, but we had both enjoyed the country and the people and next time want to get further north.
Swaziland
Batted most of the way across the country in a couple of hours; including seeing an elephant by the fence of one of the national parks. Our place of stay was in a small animal sanctuary called Mlilwane; a lovely friendly hostel in a fabulous location.
After some admin had been sorted out we spent the following afternoon exploring a bit of the park including a very pleasant unguided walk amongst loads of animals (there are no predators so they let tourists head out alone), we saw plenty of wart hog, impala, bush buck, kudu and some other horny stuff, hippos and a couple of large crocs, and lots of birds all amidst great scenery…. Over some
tasty impala stew that night we decided to do an even longer walk in the morning; the scenery was again beautiful, saw broadly the same animals except did come up very close to a herd of zebra.
After lunch we headed to another national park (Malolotja) for some hiking action. Stunning low mountain scenery in the north of the country (reminiscent of Snowdonia we thought); did a lovely 2 hr hike to a waterfall - scenery was gorgeous, baboons seen from a distance, lots of beetles and other creepy crawlies, and at the waterfalls the odd looking bald ibis that was nesting there (we knew what they were because that was why the trail was closed!!!! But hey the information guy had recommended it, so we ignored the sign). Nice walk, nice birds!
That night we slept in a stable…very nativity I know, but it was genuinely a converted stable (only just!). Slept like a horse that night!
Border back to South Africa was smooth, as was the completely straight highway back to Pretoria through a predominantly farming landscape. Tanya once again was great and supplied transfers back to the luxury of her place. Very nice evening
out in Pretoria with her flatmate (well owner of it) Janet. Interesting to find out about real life in SA.
Admin day before our flight from Joburg up to Zambia (Lusaka)……phase one of the trip complete.
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joools
non-member comment
slept like a horse??
Meerkat, come on! If you're going to make lame gags they have to at least be founded on well known terms or phrases and I don't believe "sleep like a horse" is well known. Unless you literally meant you slept "like" a horse, i.e. On your side in a pile of straw with mounds of your own excrement not far away! Anyway trip sounds amazing and I hope I'm not being too uncharitable when I say I'm definitely on the side of the leviers of the negotiable fines!