PC in SA: October 2006

Aah, where to begin? I think the appropriate place would be at 2:45 A.M. (yes, in the morning) on the 21st of Septmeber, when we were roused from our peaceful but short slumber to begin the journey to our host brother’s wedding. Why 2:45 you ask? I think that’s something I’m still trying to figure out. See, we had to arrive in time to purchase and slaughter sheep…so maybe that’s the answer. In any case, we piled into the combi (van) with the entire family and then some. And just when we were thinking that the van was packed to the brim and could not fit anyone else, we picked up two more people along with their giant suitcase and about 6 20-litre (5 gal) buckets full of cookies. It was so crammed in there we could hardly breathe, let alone get any sleep. But we made it safely to Bloemfontein in a record 9 hours (and I mean the slowest record– the trip usually takes about 6) and that’s all that matters. We bought some sheep and arrived at our sister-in-law-to-be’s house to the joyous singing and ululations of her family. The women went inside to have tea and cookies and a chat, and the men went out to start the slaughtering. We basically hung out in various villages in and around Bloemfontein for the next two days, and the wedding began on Saturday. Most of the time we didn’t know what was going on or where we would be dragged to next, but all in all it was a good time. The wedding was of course beautiful – both bride and groom looked exhausted but radiant. Photos followed at a park (anyone who goes to the wedding will go to watch the photos be taken), and then on to the reception, which was held in a giant tent at a soccer field. The reception includes about 10 speeches by various family and friends, a couple of toasts, some traditional dancing, lots of singing, and ends with a big meal. South African weddings are unique in that you don’t have to be invited to come. There were a couple of hundred people there, and the free food enticed a few more to join in. Later that night, we found ourselves exhausted and waiting for a bus that was an hour late, fighting to stay awake until we could make it to our seats. We slept on the bus and woke up in sunny Durban to begin our vacation.
There is a large Indian population in Durban and no one can get away without sampling some fine cuisine. So our first stop was to meet up with our two friends who would be joining us on our vacation at an Indian take-away joint and eat some bunny chow. Bunny chow? Yep. No idea why it’s called that, but it’s a hollowed-out ¼ loaf of bread filled with the curry of your choice with the middle part of the bread put back on top. It’s basically edible Tupperware – genius! And quite tasty. We rented a car and headed north, up the coast to a touristy town called St. Lucia. The town is set on an estuary where a big river flows into the Indian Ocean, and is home to many, many crocodiles and hippos. We hiked out to find some when we arrived, but discovered nothing aside from our fear of finding a hippo out of water as it was getting to be dusk.
That night we joined in a bonfire on the beach that our backpackers had arranged and I got to dip my feet into a new ocean (Indian) by the light of the moon and stars. The next day called for some hiking in a nature reserve. We were following the path through a big open field when we come to a huge electric fence with wooden stairs leading up and over and a large sign with this warning: “DANGER! You are now entering a dangerous game area. You could encounter animals such as buffalo, rhino, buffalo, hippo, elephant, leopard and crocodiles, which occur in this area and are very dangerous. Please note that you walk in this area at entirely your own risk.” So up and over we go! The path leads out to the river where we find a nice little crocodile basking on the bank and can see and hear a pod of hippos out in the water. Don’t worry – we kept our distance and therefore still have all our fingers and toes, and arms and legs. We spent that afternoon on the beach, playing in the powerful waves and then headed out on a hippo cruise in the evening. The river cruise was pretty cool – we came across about 4 different pods of hippos with maybe 15 adults in each. They were starting to get ready for their evening on land and we saw some younger hippos play-fighting with each other, jaws wide. We also got to spot some very cool birds – such as the goliath heron, the largest heron in the world, the beautiful and majestic fish eagle, and the malachite kingfisher that was repeatedly hovering over and plunging into the river in search of dinner. We also saw a crocodile on the bank that had to have been 8-10 feet long.
That night, we learned from the staff at the backpackers that if you drive around at night you can spot hippos out grazing and wandering around the town. So we piled into the car and drove off, but didn’t see anything except for the tail end of an otter. Our companions were tired, but Adam and I set out again a little later and just as we were about to give up, we come around a corner and our headlights catch the glowing eyes and massive bodies of three hippos out on the prowl. There they are, two adults and a juvenile right on the side of the road, chowing down on the grass! We followed them for a while but kept our distance – we were in a rental car and were a little wary of getting too close to Africa’s deadliest animal (hippos kill more people than any animal in Africa…don’t get between them and the water!!!). They ended up just grazing through some people’s front yard! Who needs a lawnmower, just get a hippo! They literally don’t stop eating – those big bodies need a lot of fuel. The next day held much of the same – hiking in the game reserve again where we saw impala, wildebeest, and zebra and then hitting the beach in the afternoon. We drove again that night in search of hippos and found two more, just grazing away in a river-side park. Insanity! Some locals said that especially in the summer, you will be just walking down the street after a night at the bar and see hippos strolling down the street too. There were signs all over the town – especially near grassy fields warning about hippos and crocodiles.
The next day, we headed a little farther north to Sondwana Bay, which is famous for its diving. We don’t dive (hopefully we are going to learn next trip), but thought the snorkeling would be good there too, but it really wasn’t. There were some shallow reefs right at the beach’s edge and we got to see an eel, some lionfish, and Adam saw an octopus, along with some colorful fish. The weather wasn’t great though so we didn’t really get our money’s worth, but it was still cool. The beach was beautiful with green hills fading into sand dunes and into the sea. We stayed a night there and the next day headed inland to Hluhluwe-Imfolozi (try saying that three times fast) National Park. We toured around in our car on our own and saw tons of rhino, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, buffalo, impala, nyala, elephants, monkeys and baboons. The first elephant we encountered was a large male just strolling down the road right at us. That made me a little nervous and we quickly reversed to safety. A little later on, we saw a few more elephants in the trees on the side of the road and stopped to watch. There was a noise that sounded like a dog barking and then the whole herd emerged from the trees, crossed the road right behind us and disappeared on the other side. There must have been 30 of them – all sizes and ages. It was really amazing to see all these elephants materialize out of the trees and then just disappear again. The park was really lovely with green rolling hills and those classic African acacia trees.
The place where we stayed that night has a family of bushbabies that lives on the grounds and they feed them bananas at night. They are these strange primates that look like a cross between a monkey and a squirrel with huge, staring eyes. Kinda creepy but cute at the same time. Unfortunately we had to head back to Durban the next day. We hung out on the beach for a few hours and came across the FIFA beach soccer world cup qualifying matches being held there. It was free to get in so we watched Cameroon beat Egypt. The next day we began the long, long trip home by spending 15 ½ hours in a combi to reach Kimberly. Now we’re back in the village. The last term of the school year is underway, as the holidays quickly approach. Can’t believe it’s already October! Well, those are our latest adventures. Hope you are all well and happy wherever you are.
Lerato