Drakensberg World Heritage Site, KZN, SA – 314 km

Wed. April 23 Zinkwazi Beach, Kwazulu Natal, SA – 286 km

In our travels we keep seeing women balancing HUGE bundles on their heads. We have been trying to capture a good picture. They also have a very unique way of getting their babies/little ones on their backs. We actually for the first time saw one getting the baby on. They heft them onto their back where the child holds on like crazy and then mom wraps a blanket thing around the babies bum and around her waist. It looks like a great way to carry the big load. We will keep trying to get a better picture.

It must have been wash day in the Zulu villages as at every water faucet, which seemed to be spaced regularly (they obviously do not have water in their homes) there would be women with huge bundles of laundry catching water in big basins and scrubbing away. You would then see the clean clothes on the fences and trees to dry. They have put speed bumps at nearly every road turn off as what they call “calming speed” to make drivers slow down. Some of them are pretty big!

Again lots of livestock on the road, only some accompanied by tenders. Many years ago Norma’s mom “bought a goat” for an African tribe for the grandchildren for Christmas. We were wondering if one of these is a descendent.

In St Lucia there are signs on the main street to watch for hippos crossing especially at night. There were also signs in the camp ground. We were told the other day that the biggest killer of people is the hippo as they have huge mouths and teeth and combat anything that gets in their way including large crocodiles which they can slice in half.

We did not think we would be encountering the warmth and high humidity in what is their fall. These areas must be oppressive in the high summer. Again yesterday it was 39 degrees. We are very grateful for the air conditioner in the motorhome. Having said that it only got to 21 today.

We are finding the groceries are really very cheap, e.g. large avocados 39 cents each, pineapples 69 cents each, and meat being around half to two thirds of what we would pay at home. Coke is still pretty expensive though at $4 for 6 cans. When you pick out your fruits and veggies there is a person standing there who weighs them, labels them with a bar code and ties the bag so it is easier for the checkout clerk to ring them through. Cell phones and service must be cheap. We see these people living in hovels but all with cell phones.

Diesel/gas is still expensive at $1.50 a litre and you are also expected to give the fill-up guy a tip. There are large fresh fruit markets along the road but we haven’t been brave enough to stop yet as we have been warned by the white Africans to be cautious.

We had read and heard how dirty the bathrooms are, etc. but have not found that so far. At some of the gas stations there will be a lady stationed outside wanting a tip for the use, similar to Mexico.

This morning we drove to Shakaland, a Zulu village, for a very entertaining day. We had wanted to see some Zulu dancing and had read about this place. It is the site of where they filmed “Shaka Zulu” in 1985, which was apparently a very popular movie. After the filming it was decided to make this village into a tourist interpretation area.

Shakaland

Zulu Artwork

We started out with our guide Bushla telling us some of the history and showing us around the village. The Zulu people are polygamists and the number of wives a man can have is decided by the number of cows he has, one per wife as a minimum. He must build a hut for each wife as well. You can tell which the married women are as they wear long skirts and red hats, which they have to sleep in using a wooden head rest so the hat isn’t crushed. The single women wear miniskirts. They tell stories with bead work using red, white and blue. The Zulu speech contains lots of tongue clicks in the middle of the word which is pretty amazing to listen to. Of course, they wanted us to say a few words which we could not do!

Zulu Dancing

After a very interesting tour of the village and entry into a few thatched roof huts – Doug almost couldn’t get in as the doorways are so low – we were entertained by 24 Zulu dancers, male and female while the “King” and two of his wives looked on from their throne. As this is their slow season we were the only two on the tour and watching the dancers. It felt a bit weird being the only ones in the large “grandmother” hut. We were then treated to a lovely buffet lunch with several Zulu items (nothing too exotic – no dried worms, much to Doug’s disappointment).

New Zulu King and Queen

Since our tour of the village we now know how the women can keep the jugs on their heads. They have a crown circle made of reeds that goes inside their scarf and the jug sits on this making it easier to keep it on their heads.

We are continuing to find it hard to judge times to travel. When we left Shakaland we headed off to try to find a camping place and ended up on the Indian Ocean in a very exclusive residential area called Tinley Manor Beach. There was an armed security guard stationed on the main road and he told us to just camp in the beach parking lot but we didn’t feel comfortable doing that so went to Zinkwazi Beach where he told us there was a caravan park. We do not have an accommodation or camping guide so each day we are just winging it. This is our most expensive stop so far but we are close to Durban and think it is probably an easy city escape so they can charge what they like – and no internet allowed either in spite of their wireless server appearing on our computer!

Thursday, April 24 Drakensberg World Heritage Site, KZN, SA – 314 km

Last night we experienced our first tropical downpour. About 7 pm the thunder and lightning signalled a deluge. Not surprising as we were camped in a rainforest. A previous storm had split a tree and part of it fell into the swimming pool.

 

Sunset Over a Lagoon

Today we find ourselves at the base of the Drakensberg (Dragons Back) Mountains in a very nice place (Mountain Splendor Caravan Park). Totally different environment than yesterday – deciduous trees turning colours, etc.

We had a very scenic drive today through lots of farm land, sugar cane plantations and small back country villages. We had planned to stop for some groceries in Greytown only to find we were the “only whites in town” and the area in front of the grocery store was a bit intimidating. There were a lot of people milling around selling things and generally just doing nothing but staring.

We continued on our way to the town of Estcort and were able to stock up there. We had heard some wonderful things about the Drakensburg Mountains so decided to head inland away from the coast.

One of our challenges with the roads, along with the livestock and people and potholes, is the placement of the road signs. Most of them are pretty faded or peeling and they all seem to be mounted under very leafy trees so if you aren’t really watching it is pretty easy to miss your turn off.

Doug thinks it would be a very hard country for him to drive solo in as complete concentration is needed to avoid road hazards (there was even a monkey that ran across in front of us today), never mind looking for directional signs in the trees.  We have been encountering numerous trucks loaded with harvested sugar cane. They seem to leave a trail behind them as they try to dodge all the potholes and speed bumps as well.

We will head southwest tomorrow toward the Eastern Cape Province and see how far we can get.

Drakensberg Mountains