Feb 06

Now nearing the end of our exploits in South Africa we wanted to leave on a high, and what better way than to spend three days in a big game reserve?

By now Kruger was beyond our reach, but only 90km away from St Lucia suitable accommodation (a bush hut!) was to be found in the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi reserve.

I could write pages on our 3 days here but I'll try to keep it brief. Our first taste of things to come occurred 5 minutes into the park - two giraffe sauntered across the road just in front of the car!

Several encounters with likes of Bok, warthogs, deer etc later, we arrived at our compound which was unfenced, with animals free to wander through - we were warned to watch our barbecues as hyenas had been known to steal meat from them...

To give you an idea, this was the standard morning view from our window:

Electricity was turned off in the compound at 10pm, thus trips to the communal 'facilities' during the night could be a real adventure!

Starting February 8 with an early morning drive (05:30), we covered various road 'loops' in the park, sighting plenty giraffe, zebra, a couple of hyenas and even a tree full of monkeys but, strangely, no elephants. Oh well, maybe later.

The afternoon was spent on a guided walk with a park ranger, who took us off the beaten track in search of as yet unseen animals. This was hard going - the temperature was at 38'C - but we were rewarded with a sighting of a white rhino.

Another early start (05:00) on February 9 as we'd opted to do another guided walk. As it was still pitch dark we drove down to the Umfolozi river first and began there. Before long the guide found some fresh lion prints and tactfully routed the walk in another direction! He also showed us an area of the reserve where wild dogs (a very rare sight normally) were being conditioned for release into the reserve - a necessity since there are only around 500 wild dogs remaining in South Africa.

Somewhat knackered after a 3 hour walk in the heat, we grabbed a nap in our hut in preparation for a night-drive that we had booked. However, a small afternoon rain shower gradually became a big shower and finally a torrential deluge! The night drive was rained off and we were requested to return the next day...at 05:00! Thus ended the second day, and still no sight of an elephant. Surely soon? I mean they're not exactly small?

The morning drive on February 10 was great (very refreshing after another hot night in the hut) but once again we spied no big cats and NO ELEPHANTS). And so the afternoon came, and it was time to take the long drive to the western exit of the park and onwards to our next stop in the Drakensburg region.

We took our time in the hope of seeing just one elephant before we left but as we approached the last few kilometers to the gate we gave up. Until...

this fella stood squarely in the road in front of us, blocking our way for 20 minutes until he decided to snack on a tasty looking shrub. We left, overjoyed.

FOOTNOTE: The considered opinion of our Zulu park ranger and guide was, I quote, "Elephants are bloody sh*ts!"

Somewhere along the route as we were deciding where to go and what to do next, fate intervened and pointed the car in the direction of St Lucia. As mentioned previously, it had never been our intention to stop at this little town, and as such our expectations weren't high.

How wrong can you be?

St Lucia is quite possibly the best place we stopped at; it has everything you could want as a travelling destination without being in-your-face 'touristy'. Everyone we met was friendly, there were plenty of interesting shops and restaurants to visit and we stayed at yet another great hostel (BiBs).

We spent Sunday 6 February settling in and exploring the town, saving further adventuring for the following day.

On a whim, early on Monday morning we drove to the St Lucia Wetlands Game Reserve. We didn't really expect to see much, but once again were taken aback to witness waterbucks, rhinos and zebra. We took the road to Cape Vidal which is described as the natural 'jewel in the crown' of the St Lucia area. And we could see why. Cape Vidal has perhaps the most stunning long, white, sandy beach we have ever seen. As if to top this, we were further amazed by the enormous birds of prey (they looked like eagles) which calmly strolled along the beach oblivious to holidaymakers.

For the afternoon, we had planned a sunset cruise along the St Lucia estuary; we had been promised that this would be the best time to spot crocodiles and hippoptamus, and we weren't disappointed!

Not only did we see these creatures in abundance, but also pied kingfishers, a Goliath heron (as big as it sounds!), grey herons and vultures.

In terms of our South African experiences, we thought it just couldn't get any better than our brief stay in St Lucia. We were wrong...

East London

From Port Elizabeth we travelled to East London, staying at a very nice hostel virtually on the (inexplicably deserted) beach. Whilst here, I made a simple request to use the internet terminal, which was situated in the owners office, which was locked. On trying to unlock the door, the lock broke. Luckily, the manager was resourceful and came back with a kitchen knife to open the door. When this failed, he found a small crowbar to force the lock with. No joy. Increasingly angry with the door, he tried a hammer, a swiss army knife and sheer brute force. Nothing. Finally, in desperation he returned with a heavy garden spade and battered the door frame into submission! The lengths people will go to so that I can update this blog...

Port St Johns

The next day entailed a four-hour drive to Port St Johns, and setting off early we arrived by early afternoon. The last 10km of the journey is particularly picturesque, and was further enlivened by the livestock blithely wandering across the motorway; having avoided cows and donkeys, we actually made an emergency stop to avoid flattening a goat!
Port St Johns is a charming, bustling little town and the hostel we stayed at - Island Backpackers - was very welcoming and provided a fantastic Khosi chicken curry for our evening meal. Once again we spent the evening getting outside of a couple of cold beers and looking out over the Indian Ocean.

DURBAN

Although not in our original plans, the evolution of our journey through South Africa suddenly necessitated a couple of days stopover in Durban.

The journey from Port St Johns to Durban was memorable to say the least, since the preferred route - the R61 - seemed to consist of a huge number of huge potholes loosely connected by tiny bits of normal road.

Shaken but not stirred, we arrived in Durban which is also huge. However, the hostel we stayed in (Gibela) was quite luxurious and close to all essential amenities (pubs). Thus we spent our time here on a trip to the beach - very hot, very pleasant then watched England drub Wales 43-13 in the Six Nations rugby and finally went for -another!- great curry at a restaurant called Vintage.

The next day, we headed off toward another unexpected stopping point... St Lucia.