Advertisement
Published: January 22nd 2014
KwaZulu-Natal region was my first destination for touring in South Africa and of my world trip. Once I arrived at the airport in Durban on the 1
stday, I took my sandals out of my backpack and transform my trouser in a short -> I was now ready to explore Durban with its 27°C and to begin my long journey 😉
After spending half a day walking around Durban, I don’t think that’s the city I will prefer in Africa. It’s a bustling city, where everywhere it’s crowded – especially in the Indian district-. That district was the district, I was looking forward to visiting the most there, and I must say that I was disappointed. There, it was even more crowded than other city area and as it is a relatively poorer district, I didn’t feel safe there at all.
From my day there, I think that Durban is a city of contrast:
- the CBD with its high and modern building close to the marina but also a few blocks away from the street vendors from the Indian district
- the city center around the city hall with old nice buildings and nice parks
-
the beachfront
For lunch, I ate Indian food. Durban food is indeed full of Indian specialties and they are cooking it as it is in India, not as they cook it in Europe… So, my chicken curry was REALLY REALLY SPICY!! Clément, I am sure, you could not have eaten it, what we ate in Berlin in the Indian restaurant, was nothing in comparison to that dish!!
At the beachfront, where I went in the afternoon, I had fun looking around.
Firstly, when I arrived there, I heard some people shouting and saw a very big crowd on a part of the beach and in the ocean. I thought at first that a kind of competition was going on. It was indeed looking like in a swimming pool when waves are on and the swimming pool is then full of people jumping at the waves. The picture was really funny to see 😉 As I had no swimsuit and I was alone to keep my belongings, I just walk on the beach in the water to enjoy it a bit as well. At that time, I thought about my friends Lidia and Nastya, when we were in
Durban beach
Summer holidays in South Africa!Portugal last July, enjoying the beach and I especially thought about Nastya thinking “wow, that’s the first time I am seeing the Indian Ocean and that I am that South on Earth”. That’s not the most southern point in South Africa, so it was not like in Portugal with the different superlatives, but for me it was already great :D
Another funny thing at the beach was to see the women wearing a shower cap in the water! And last thing, which struck me when I was at the beach is that African people - in opposition to Europeans - know how to protect themselves from the sun. Except the people swimming, all the others were indeed sitting under the palm trees to avoid the sun, which was really strong at that time of the day. In Europe, beaches will be full of people sunbathing even between 2 and 4 pm, even though that’s the worst time to do it.
Near the beachfront, I found 2 nice places to rest for a while and just look around: the Amphiteather –a green place with some artificial rivers, benches and a big grass area- and the skate park. By the
way, those 2 places were the only ones, where I saw black and white people in the same place, playing together –at cricket at the amphitheater and biking/skating at the skate park.
After Durban, direction Ladysmith, where I’m gonna stay for a night before heading to Bergville to hike in the Northern Drakensberg 😊
After waking up with a great mood – being awakened up by the sun and the birds singing is great-, I took what they call “minibus/taxi” from Ladysmith to Bergville. Minibus/taxis are cheap vehicles, that locals are using to go from one place to another. You can really go everywhere with those buses – you just have to ask at the taxi rank or minibus station «which bus should I take to go there?“ and then you will find it. They are just less direct than the buses and before leaving, who have to wait for it to be completely filled up. In those minibuses, there are 13 people sitting and we don’t have a lot of place but it’s cheaper.
In that minibus from Ladysmith, the view was great and I could see how life is in SA villages. I saw for
the 1
st time their huts there and I saw a lot of cattle grazing in the grassland. –I am sorry but because of my former job in the animal health industry, I am looking at such details now 😉-. Looking at that view, I am so happy! And, to add to that great atmosphere, there is a guy in the minibus, who put some music with his cellphone. What could I need more to feel great?! I have the sun, great scenery in front of my eyes and music! In fact, I know that I have only one “thing” missing now for it to be perfect! –People, who know me well, know what’s missing 😉-.
Funny thing here:
how to do a roof and make it stay there? Put a metallic piece on the top of the house and put stones on it to hold it 😉
After a little hour, I arrived in Bergville, which is really a small town with a lot of small shops and street vendors. Like in Durban, I saw again those street hairdressers. You can thus get a haircut in the street and those people are heading you a sheet of paper
Hike to Tugela Falls
River where we got into the water and had "lunch" :) with the different haircuts they are offering. I like seeing that: it shows how lively life here is. Many things are happening outside in the streets. I waited at the terrace of a B&B in the shadow for the girl of Couchsurfing, I was meeting to go hiking. Sitting at the terrace, I can have a look at the local life here. It seems to be a good place in town. People are indeed coming and going all the time here, security guards are resting here drinking their own water –without even ordering something else-, some men and women are sitting here around tables having some sort of business meetings. It seems to me that everyone knows everyone here. It’s a nice and quiet feeling there!
When Marie –the girl from CS- arrived, we took a minibus to go to Royal Natal National Park together. Again, the view from the minibus was just stunning! We could see the Drakensberg Mountains closer and closer. I could also have a look at how rural can life there be: people sitting near the river bank waiting for their clothes to dry, children getting water out of the water well. In the bus,
The Amphiteather with Tugela Falls
Falls are still far away, let's continue the hike ;) I asked the girls next to me, whether they knew where our stop was. I was thus surprised when at the end of the bus journey, they talked with us and took us to the entrance of the National Park! They even insisted on carrying my small backpack up to there– a local custom, which reminded me of Burkina Faso, where children were doing the same with our bags-. Those girls were very nice, they taught us some Zulu words –that I forgot quite quickly unfortunately…-
We arrived then at the campsite, where we would stay for the night. I have to say that with such a beautiful scenery around us, I was hoping to camp in a more remote place and not with tens of families around… After walking around the campsite and having a small dinner, we went back to our small one-person tent to sleep before a long hike on the next day.
On that day, I woke up with a great mood again: the amazing scenery around, the sun shining and the birds singing gave me a lot of energy!
So, we hiked there for the next two days, staying camping near the
top of the mountains in a sort of caves for the night. Camping at that place wasn’t really planned but we got stuck by the rain late in the afternoon. That’s why, we took the decision to camp there for the night. At the age of 25 years old, I admit that it was the 1
st time, I collected firewood and lit a fire to feel warmer before going to sleep! Marie was the adventurous, outdoor girl, so she showed me how to do that. I was impressed by how much knowledge, she had about such things –according to her, growing up in Montana helps to become a pro 😉-.
To come back on the hike itself, it was a great hike. The scenery was amazing. The different mountains were appearing in front of us while walking forward. There was a big river there –Tugela River-. After the 1
st half of the hike, we arrived at a bridge crossing the river. We took this opportunity to freshen up inside the river and rested there, having lunch for a while J We, then, continued along the path, which went more inside the forest and then we crossed many times the
river in Tugela gorge and near Tugela Waterfalls. Even though, the 1
st part of the hike was difficult, as we were always hiking up the mountains; that last part was the toughest one for me. It was indeed a lot of rock climbing and crossing the river was perilous as the stream there was strong and we were carrying most of belongings with us. There, I almost lost a shoe –thank you Marie for picking it up!!- and my sleeping bag… This part was even tougher in the morning after the rain, as the river was higher and the stream was stronger because of it! However, as we woke up very early to come back on the 2
nd day, we arrived back at the park entrance quite early to continue our journey.
Even though, the hike was not always easy, those two days in the Northen Drakensberg were great: amazing scenery, got to know a great girl and I pushed myself to my limits –in terms of hiking and eating!-.
On my way to Underberg then–town near the Lesotho border-,I had a nice encounter: I met Carole, the National Park manager, who drove me up to a town
on my way. While she was driving me there, we talked a lot about our lives in Europe and South Africa and I even introduced her to Couchsurfing 😉 I also saw a lovely city on my way to the border: Pietermaritzburg. This city seems to be more relax than Durban, with shopping alleys with benches in the shadows of trees, nice old Victorian buildings,… I wanted to go to Lesotho on the next day, so I didn’t stay there, but I think that’s a city worth visiting for a day.
After visiting the beautiful region and making my 1
st impressions about South Africa, I went for a break in Lesotho. You can read more about my experience in that country in my previous blog.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.247s; Tpl: 0.018s; cc: 16; qc: 70; dbt: 0.0832s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Falling waters
Just lovely.