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Published: November 10th 2009
On arriving at the hostel in St Lucia I was shown around and dumped my bags in my room. I was then taken on a free tour of the town and local area by the guide Darren. We drove down to the estuary where we came across a herd of hippos sat on a bank along with approximately 10 crocodiles. After a brief stop at the beach we then drove down through the town and he pointed out the al important supermarket, butchers, restaurants and bars.
After dinner that night Darren and the hostel manager Philip took us on a night safari. However their night safari didn't involve us going out into the reserve but driving around the back streets. Whilst this sounds mad we did actually get to see quite a few bush babies close up, a dwarf chameleon (Philip had ultra sharp eyes!), a dung beetle rolling a ball of dung along the road and quite a few monkeys.
Wednesday morning and I decided that I would take myself down to the beach via the walking trails and estuary in the hope I may see some more hippos. I was duly rewarded with a few hippos in
the estuary. I hit the beach and pretty much had it to myself so I found a nice spot and chilled out for a few hours before heading back to the hostel as I was booked on a boat cruise. Philip had got a discount on the usual 2 hour cruise and he was also throwing free beer in and so 18 of us headed out for the cruise. The cruise was well worth the money in my eyes as I got to see more than my fair share of hippos including a large herd sleeping on a bank with their young.
The cruise over we headed back to the hostel where they then gave us a free dinner which was a potjie cooked over the fire. Effectively a potjie is meat and vegetables cooked in their own juices in a big pot (looks a bit like a cauldron). This was served with rice. Whilst we were eating we were also entertained by a male zulu choir who were amazing. I then ended up going on a second night safari with a group of Czech tourists who spoke no English!! Basically I had been talking to their guide with
Darren (the guide from the hostel) over dinner and they got up to leave for the safari and so dragged me along with them (not that I protested too much). The night safari was pretty much the same as the day before although we actually saw a lot more crocs on the estuary and we also came across a hippo mother and baby wandering down the street. After we got back a large group of us ended up going to a local bar and I am afraid I have to admit to having a bit too much to drink....
Thursday morning I was rudely woken up at 8am with Oli an English lad from Blackpool banging on my door telling me that Darren was insisting that I did the morning guided walk and I had 5 minutes to get ready. The hostel provides a free guided morning walk everyday at 8am and I had got up the day before to go on it however there was no sign of anyone including Darren and so I had assumed it wasn't happening and later in the day when I had mentioned it to Darren it transpired that if I had asked
at reception they would have woken him up and we could have gone. So knowing that I had wanted to go on a walk he duly decided that today would be the day and so got the lads to wake me up.
After quickly dressing and sorting myself out I grabbed a bottle of water and we set off. We initially drove down to the edge of the wetland park and then set off on foot. St Lucia Wetland Park is a UNESCO heritage site and it has five distinct ecosystems. We were lucky enough to come across some zebras, hippos, weaver birds, dung beetles, and antelope. We didn't find an elusive leopard although we did pass a tree that one had been using as a scratching post! Once back at the hostel we all went next door for a good fry up breakfast. I then spent the rest of the day wandering around the town and relaxing by the pool.
Friday morning and I was up and about early as I had booked myself onto a snorkeling trip. I was joined on the trip by three English girls that had arrived the day before. We were driven
through the game reserve to Cape Vidal. The weather had taken an up turn and the sun was shining however the wind was also strong. The snorkeling at the beach was disappointing and there were only about 3 fish to be seen. I lay on the beach for awhile however the wind was strong and so whipping the sand up and blasting you with it. After a lengthy walk along the beach it was time to head back to the hostel. Every night the hostel lights the braai for people to use and so I called in at the local butchers and bought some sausage and steak. I had hoped to get myself some impala to try however he didn't have any.... another day hopefully!!
That night I had a couple of drinks but nothing of note however I did end up going out with a group from the hostel. I spent most of my night having to protect the three English girls from the preying locals as they were only 18 and too polite to tell these guys they weren't interested not helped by the fact that the guys were a lot older. At one point two of
the girls were cowering behind me whilst I told a persistent local where to go at which point he tried to eye me up which made me laugh but he got told politely no and thankfully his friend who I had spoken with earlier in the night and shaken hands with rolled up and took him away!! The locals were all friendly and non threatening just annoyingly persistent. I ended up joking with the Irish guy, Derek, from the hostel about being a protector at which point he laughed and told me there were no flies on me.
Saturday morning was another glorious day however the wind was still around and so there was no point in heading to the beach. Having done a few jobs around town I ended up heading to Fur Elise which is a cocktail bar/restaurant/swimming pool. I went, yet again, with quite a few of the people from the hostel and we had a good laugh mucking around on the slide and in the pool. That night I once again cooked on the braai and enjoyed the other half of the meat I bought the day before.
Sunday morning and it was time
to pack up and say goodbye to St Lucia as I was heading down to Eshowe for a few days. The bus rolled up and it was full. Everyone bar me was heading to Durban. I got dropped off in Eshowe and soon booked myself into the one and only hostel.
The hostel unfortunately was disappointing. It was expensive and worn around the edges, Sunday afternoon I wandered around the town however typically for a small town it was dead and everywhere shut up so I ended up chilling by the pool with a few of the locals. Monday morning I got up and walked to Fort Nongqayi Museum Village. The fort is a three turreted fort built to house the Zulu police force who were installed to help protect and enforce the British administration following the Anglo Zulu war. The museums contained within the fort area were interesting and the staff were more than attentive given I was the only person in attendance! I then walked through the Dlinza forest spotting various types of bird as I went along. As I was wandering back through the town I bumped into Alan a local who I had met in
St Lucia. After a quick chat we agreed to meet up in the Hotel bar that evening. A thunderstorm then started to roll in and so I headed back to the hostel. That evening I duly met up with Alan in the bar of the hotel, connected to the hostel, and I was introduced to the locals. A friendlier bunch of people you couldn't meet however they are all barking mad, including the local retired Judge, smoke like chimneys and drink like fish!!!
I had anticipated in staying in Eshowe longer however given the hostel is dead and without my own transport it is hard to get around I decided to make my escape and head to Durban....
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rachel
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Hippos
Hurrah!!! Hippos!!! :) (But still not as cool as warthogs!) PS impala is OK (and this is from fussy eater !!!) but Mcds is better!!!