Horny animals with big teeth

It’s been a few weeks since Viv’s last post and about time for another update from the road…

We didn’t do an awful lot in Durban, just chilled out and spent a bit of time on the internet, got a visa for Mozambique, got lost on a bus and ate a curry in half a loaf of bread. We did manage to get lost on the bus and ended up with a long walk back through a fairly affluent part of Durban where the roads were lined with rather grand houses, each with it’s own security guard outside and the walls topped with electric fences. The streets were almost deserted. Crime really is a big problem here and this is reflected in the seemingly extreme measures that people will go to protect themselves and their property and that walking in city centres is almost taboo – everyone takes the car.

After Durban we headed for Eshowe and a dose of African culture that had been missing from the last couple of weeks. Oh yeah, that and FREE BEER! We arrived at our hostel when we went to have a nosey at the bar we were told that we’d have to wait until the bar opened at 12 till we could start drinking the free beer. “Free beer?!” we said in disbelief, but it was true we could drink as much of the beer that they brewed on the premises as we liked. It was actually very nice and as close as we’ve come to a proper British pint on our travels (still too cold and with too many bubbles for my liking) and it came in a pint glass rather than the poxy ‘continental’ measures you tend to get elsewhere – awesome!

Oh yeah, about the culture. We went to see a Sangoma healing ceremony up at a little Zulu village in the hills above Eshowe. We sat in this little rondavel hut with the assembled villagers and waited for the Sangoma healer to arrive and when she did the roof almost lifted off the place as she started a dance in front of the villages and they reciprocated with drums, shouting and dancing – an awesome spectacle to watch! After that we were plyed with whiskey, beer, a donut, some sweets and an apple. There was a group of blokes who seemed to be there just for the free booze, of which they helped themselves to copious amounts. After that there was much more dancing, chanting and drums during which a trainee sangoma woman went into a trance and seemed like she was possessed, it was a fascinating specacle to watch. The villagers then lined up to be healed or to ask the ancestors for help with court cases, money or blessings in marriage, one last round of drums and chanting and it was over.

Our time in Eshowe was rounded off the following day with a pleasant walk through the woods where we had to tread carefully to avoid stepping on these huge locusts that were everywhere and looked pretty disgusting. Apparently if you do stand on one they release an awful smell so I’m rather glad that we avoided them! Eshowe is a very pleasant low-key town, it was nice to get a taste of what South Africa is like in a smaller and untouristy town where daily life goes on unfussily around you.

Next stop was St Lucia where we took an excellent trip out to Hluhluwe/Imfolozi game reserve on an early morning game drive. On wildlife spotting trips we never expect to see half the exciting animals that you’re told live in a particular place but this trip we got very lucky with. It started with an early sighting of a white rhino up close and then loads of zebras including a really cute little foal. I then got my first sighting of the animal that I most wanted to see – a giraffe! Sod the ‘big five’ that everyone seems to go about I wanted giraffes and they were duly delivered! There was then a sighting of some lions who we witnessed prowling around a herd of zebras but eventually having to give up the hunt as the zebras had spotted them and wandered off. We were really lucky to see lions and even luckier to seem them hunting – it was an awesome spectacle. Another great sight was the fantastically quirky 2 foot tall secretary bird (yes, it looks like a secretary) prowling about the bush, eventually spotting a snake or lizard and going in for the kill by stamping on and then eating it. Secretary birds are ace and were one of Viv’s favourite sightings from the trip. We also saw the rarer black rhino, many, many antelopes, buffalos, warthogs, baboons, vultures and, eventually, elephants. We went all day without having seen an elephant despite numerous sightings and then when we had stopped for a toilet break a large bull elephant wandered right past us! On the way out of the park we even saw another two elephants. This day really was one of the highlights of our trip, we’d got so lucky with not only the variety of wildlife we saw but also how up close we got to see so much of it, not to mention the quantity too – it seemed there was an exotic creature around every bend. A truely, utterly awesome day and a far less touristy experience than we would likely have got had we chosen to follow the hoardes to Kruger game reserve.

The Greater St Lucia wetlands were also great and provided us with some up-close viewing of hippos chasing off crocodiles and abundant birdlife (there were also loads of exciting birds at Hluhluwe/Imfolozi too). We went snorkelling in the sea here where the water temperature was rather cooler than comfortable but I got to see a cuttlefish swimming around, changing colour and going spiky when I approached it. A little further out to sea we could see dolphins riding the surf and beyond them whales sailing by the coast. Unfortunately we had used up all of our wildlife spotting luck so our St Lucia night drive did not reveal any leopards, genets, hyenas or porcupines but we did get to see, and hold, an endearingly cute little chameleon. I’ve wanted to see a chameleon since I was knee high to a grasshopper after reading The Mixed Up Chameleon so it was fantastic to eventually see one. They’re a lot smaller than I had imagined and have these funny little two footed feet and goggle eyes. Chameleons rule!

From there it was to Swaziland and Mlilwane game reserve where we had a little thatched rondavel all to ourselves set in the most idyllic spot inside the game reserve with fantastic views of over the valley with warthogs, impala and zebra grazing right outside our front door. This is one of, if not the, most peaceful spot that we have yet stayed at, it felt indulgantly relaxing and was so peaceful. It was a pleasure to listen to the light twittering and squabbling of the birds, the grunting and chewing of the warthogs and the wind rustling the leaves on the trees. In the evening we ate barbequed impala around a bonfire and set the world to rights in chats with other travellers, our voices lubricated by cheap red wine in a box. We were even treated to a spectacular electrical storm over the hills, a real favourite of ours.

We went for a beautiful walk through the park on one day, again surrounding by all this amazing wildlife at close quarters. The real highlight for the walk for us though was the birds as we got to see almost all of the few remaining birds that we had not yet seen in our “Common Birds of Southern Africa” book – the ‘snakebird’ African Darter, a paradise bird and a bittern. There was a forest on top of the hill which had been almost totally flattened by the wind three weeks ago – it was quite a sight all these trees snapped like matchsticks and creating an obstacle course for us to clamber over.

Although we only saw a very little of Swaziland we very much enjoyed it and had such a relaxing time.

From Swaziland we caught a cramped bus to Mozambique and arrived in the capital, Maputo yesterday. Initial impressions are that it is quite a crumbling place, having suffered from a lack of investment for a number of years but that edge of tension on the streets that was palpable in South Africa is not apparent here and the locals seem friendlier. Tomorrow we head up the coast to Tofo beach where I’m planning my third bout of scuba diving for the trip, this time hopefully with whale sharks and manta rays for company.

One last thing to mention is that we have been playing copious games of backgammon, probably more than is actually healthy, after ending our long search for a travel backgammon set after Rightee got us thouroughly addicted to the game in Koh Tao. This infernal game has also brought out the worst bad loser streak in both of us, me after a continued bout of appaling luck resulting in me getting hammered almost every evening for a week and latterly Viv after the luck decided to even itself out resulting in Viv removing herself from the situation after exclaiming “ok, fine! you’ve double, triple, quadruple backgammoned me. I don’t care!”, which she clearly didn’t. It’s all good fun though and we always have a good laugh after one or other of us has thrown a tantrum after losing, at least nobody can accuse us of not playing to win!

And on that note I shall leave you after another rather mammoth post. All semblance of brevity appears to have deserted me of late.

Au revoir!