March/April 2019
Last Hurrahs
Saying Goodbye to South Africa — At Least for Now
Our most recent message, about Lesotho, actually came out of the middle of this one. This seems fitting as just as Lesotho is a small country completely surrounded by the larger one, logically, our visit there was fully surrounded by time spent before and after in South Africa, and all in the same neck of the woods. Our main focus in returning to the eastern part of SA in April was to visit and enjoy the Drakensberg mountains region, and Lesotho is a part of that.
The Drakensberg area is huge, encompassing mountains and gorges, rivers and waterfalls; it is a spectacular area of gorgeous rock formations, lovely, vast changes in elevation, and endless opportunities for exploring. We planned to visit some of these areas, and see where our wanderings would take us.
Leaving Volksrust, where you might remember we’d been able to replenish our supply of medications (also known as scoring good drugs), we made a quick stop on down the road at the town of Newcastle. We quickly noticed big differences between the two towns, and we think it’s worth mentioning. Volksrust is a town that’s been left behind. The highway bypassed it years ago and there are no big employers in the area, resulting in many empty stores, more begging, and overall a sort of a grubby feel to the place. Newcastle, only 50 kms further along, is very different. Same highway, but the city is larger, with new malls, cleaner streets, lots of activity, and factories nearby. Up beat, and uptown. Such a difference, and employment opportunities are clearly what makes it that way.
Stocks replenished and new sandals found for Rick, we were back on the road and entering KwaZulu-Natal, home of the Zulu nation and the site of many a war between various groups back in history. We’d been here last year, visiting battlefields and museums right, left and center. Now, we enjoyed a return visit, not to redo the history, but to enjoy more of the scenery. The green-green countryside following the rainy season was so much more pleasant than the brown and tired scenes of September where the burning of the grasses had made the skies so unpleasant for us. Goody; it was just as we’d hoped it would be.
So on to Bergville, a good jumping-off place for visiting the national parks and nature reserves of the Drakensberg. We spent several days in the area, following roads that went up into gorges; squiggled around corners to come on marvelous views; camped in parks and met others doing the same. It was quite lovely: Royal Natal NP, Cathedral Peak NR, and our favorite — a lovely two days at Injisuthi Nature Reserve.
At Royal Natal we enjoyed watching workers installing a new thatched roof on the visitors center and were surprised to learn that such a roof can last up to thirty-five years if it isn’t overhung by trees. Apparently the key is to keep the thatch dry as much as possible, so lots of sun is important. Further on, we spent a lot of time at the Didima Rock Art Centre at Cathedral Peak; there was a very nice display of copies of work found in the caves, with good explanations of what was being shown. Right outside, there was a group of baboons establishing superiority — they were pretty interesting to watch. We always give them a wide berth, as their reputation for nastiness precedes them; but these paid no attention to us at all. Quite a sight.
We contentedly wandered the area, taking bunches of pictures and enjoying the views. We also were able to stop at Valley Bakery, which we’d visited last year (yummy) and to find a spot we’d missed before called the Tower of Pizza — also spectacular and well worth tracking down. Those who claim that we actually slither along the road are mistaken, but if you were to say instead that we travel on our stomachs… well, we’d have no argument with that.
Given the fine reputation of this area and the resultant quantity of tourism that it attracts, we were surprised by the generally poor quality of the roads accessing the parks. Some of them were pretty beat up; we got as far south as the turn off to Giant’s Castle, but after gazing at the zillion more potholes yet to come, decided to give it a rest. It was late in the day and we knew there was no camping at the end of the road. So we stopped for the night at a lovely private campsite along a stream, and declared ourselves done with the Drakensbergs for the moment. We still wanted to visit Golden Gate Highlands NP, but that was scheduled for after leaving Lesotho.
We chatted with the very pleasant owners of the campground about the condition of the roadways and also about possible places to purchase propane (LPG) in their area, and they were quite helpful. On the road maintenance front, they confirmed what we had suspected. Outside the actual National Parks and Nature Reserves in the area, the lands are under Tribal control. Whether the reasons are primarily financial or more a matter of contested jurisdiction we can’t say, but for travelers the results are poorly maintained road surfaces and resultant lengthy travel times both in and around the parks.
We were still in fine shape in terms of the LPG, as we only top up every six months or so, but we hadn’t gotten any since our arrival in Durban last July and thought this was a good time to begin looking. They pointed us to an area further south along the main road, and knowing we wanted to end up down in Pietermaritzburg, at the far end of that road, we decided to explore the possibilities there.
So on to Pietermaritzburg (PMB to the locals). Well, that was a bit of a fiasco, as larger cities often are for us. We were heading to a mall on the northern edge of this very large city, with the idea of taking care of some business, including looking for sandals for Kathy, along with normal shopping chores. We also hoped to visit the Ghandi statue in the center of town, together with a bit of a wander in the old town center. We’d even taken time to locate things on Google Earth - such a wonderful resource. Unfortunately the wide avenues and empty parking areas represented online were now buried beneath a sea of slowly moving and constantly honking (‘hooting’ here it seems) trucks and cars. Wow!
It took us several passes to find the one tiny, poorly marked entrance to the Mall parking lot that had no height barriers to keep us out; truly one of the banes of our existence in city situations. We breathed a sigh of relief as we shut off the truck, not yet knowing how enormous a problem it would be finding an exit. (Obviously we did, as we aren’t still circling the area looking for a way out and calling for help.)
Nice big mall. But it was the last day of school before the end of session — and Children’s Day. You can just imagine. Well hey, we survived, even managed to get our shopping done and other business taken care of (no sandals though, it just isn’t the season). Both entering and leaving, the roads were jammed, very confusing direction-wise, and a madhouse. Due to the really atrocious traffic, we abandoned the supposed-to-be-pretty old town area as well as the Ghandi statue — PMB is where Ghandi was thrown off the train for being the wrong color.
Unfortunately, we would be foiled once again later on in our search for a monument to the great man (sorry, old friend; we really wanted to see you). We also postponed getting the tires rotated and finding the LPG place. Maintaining as much of our dignity as possible, we tucked up our skirts and retreated to the nearby Midmar Dam, which has a nice campsite, and a lovely young lady in reception who turned out to be seeking adoption once we described our traveling life. There we licked our wounds for a day before heading on.
But we don’t give up easily, so on we went; we had one more spot we wanted to visit in this area — near the town of Howick is the museum and memorial to the spot where Nelson Mandela was captured in 1962. We stopped here for a couple of hours on a nice morning and really enjoyed ourselves. There is a new museum about to open, and the existing space is rather helter-skelter, but interesting anyway. There is also a new sculpture memorial that is quite dramatic and nifty. Well worth the stop and will be even better when they get into their new space.
The Howick area also served very well as a spot to take care of the things we’d thought of doing in PMB. We found a series of friendly, helpful people and got the tire rotation done, the exhaust realigned, and the LPG tank filled. All in good order at minimal cost and stress. Small towns rule! For those techies out there who may be asking, “They just bought two new tires last message so what’s with the bloody tire rotation?”, it’s quite simple really. We had no problem getting the correct size, make and model of tire, but only in a lower Load Range than we can get in the US. Thus Rick had discovered after the installation that the new tires would be fine on the front of the Tiger, but were overloaded on the back. Sigh…
Then off we went heading for renowned Sani Pass. We circled down around the eastern side of Lesotho until we reached our jumping off point near the town of Underberg, stared at the mountains for awhile, rested up and flung ourselves up the hill and into the mists the next morning. You can read about our adventures on the pass and beyond, in the Kingdom of Lesotho, by going to our Lesotho message.
* * * * * * * * *
Nine days later, we re-emerged back in South Africa, immediately wishing we were still in the mountains of Lesotho. There’s something about that place! But we really were ready to move on.
We rejoined South Africa in the Free State province, and over the next couple of days we circled in an arc along the western side of Lesotho. We were heading north, back into the Drakensberg mountains, aiming for Golden Gate Highlands National Park. As we entered the park, using our WildCard free entry, we realized this was probably the last time we would use it. We’d purchased it last July, and after all these months, it was going to expire soon. A quick check shows we used it in at least 14 different locations. What a good deal that had been!
At Golden Gate NP we were meeting up with an American couple, Patti and Bill from Oregon, who’d been touring southern Africa and who were now preparing to return to the Durban area to ship their rig on to England. We’d never met until now, but had been in touch for a very long time, with the hope we’d cross paths somewhere along the way. And here we all were.
Bill and Patti had just completed several months of wandering in Africa, partly on their own and partly with another couple. They’d been to some countries we were heading toward and we’d seen some things they hadn’t. We spent two days sharing information and books and what we’d all learned so far… and in the process made friends with two incredible, interesting travelers. It was hard to say good-by when we all quit our campsites and moved on. We love it that their home turf in the United States is on our regular route when back there. Lunch at Bee Gee’s in Rogue River!
While together we were in a beautiful location. Set in a gorge, the campsite had great hikes and lovely rock formations to enjoy. This park is a favorite here in SA. At sunset, the outcroppings light up dramatically, and this is what gives the park its name. We loved it; could have stayed much longer, but they needed to get to Durban to finalize shipping, and we wanted to keep moving towards Botswana. We had chosen a border crossing, Martin’s Drift, but had several places we still wanted to visit before we got there.
Possibly the most unusual spot we were heading towards was a dive camp set inside a nature reserve not too far from Badplaas (or Badplass; take your pick). So, Dive Camp did you say?? This may come as a radical departure from our usual pursuits, so….
You see, we were in Nelspruit last fall, and met this really interesting fellow who has this spot outside Badplaas; he suggested we might want to stop by. He was interested in talking about international travel in various kinds of vehicles, what happens when you stop working, the problem in South Africa of land reverting to earlier owners, how it works for them (he’s English, she’s South African), etc.
The skinny is that he purchased the property in the late 1990s. It is called Komati Springs, in an area set aside within a larger game reserve. (www.komatisprings.com) It has a deep abandoned mine pit on the property, with a natural source of water coming in and a spring that flows out as well, keeping the water fresh. It also has underwater caves that are actually the old mining shafts. Perfect for technical diving, which seems to include diving down and exploring caves while still under water. Clearly we are not the experts on this subject, but…
We spent a fascinating evening with Don and André. He teaches dive classes and leads parties into the caves and shows them how to get in and out safely. It turns out that he is very well known in the field and gives classes all around the world. It’s something totally beyond our ken, and we enjoyed learning about it. People come and camp and take a week’s classes — lots of people. They are very successful. But it all may disappear. At any time the land could be taken from them, in the general South African repatriation of land to earlier inhabitants of the area; perhaps with compensation, perhaps not. They are preparing for several possible eventualities, and seem remarkably sanguine about the whole issue. We admire them a lot.
While driving in and out through the nature reserve we saw elephants far away, and a wildebeest up close; he was standing tall on a hillside looming down on us — he looked like those bulls on the huge liquor billboards on the hillsides in Spain. We also could see zebra and antelope in the distance. Lions are around too, but we didn’t see any. Really cool place, and it whetted our appetite for getting to Botswana and the game animals there. Soon, soon, soon.
First we needed to spend a few days in and around Nelspruit, a great spot to get things taken care of, in part because there are at least two large shopping areas that have no height barriers to keep us from using the stores there. There was much to be done: car parts that needed finding, along with all the usual drill. Also, our buddies Petra and Win, whom we first met last fall in Swaziland, were back in town, so to speak, and heading our way. They’d been back in Germany for several months, but recently returned to take up where they’d left off on their own wanderings in Africa.
Lunch with P & W was a highlight of our time in Nelspruit (which is actually called mBombela now, as South Africa transitions back to more traditional place names). We laughed and carried on and traded notes on what to do hither and yon. And made possible plans to track each other down in the Victoria Falls area in a month or two. They are great folks and always a pleasure. We’ve met so many nice people on the road.
On a related topic, something we don’t think we’ve talked about enough are the fun interactions we have with the local people we come in contact with just traveling along: the guys, and women, at the gas stations; staff in stores and restaurants; and the ubiquitous parking attendants at the shopping centers. This has been true in every country we’ve visited here in Africa. Rick is forever having quality conversations with people in fuel stations; sometimes with other drivers, but more often chatting with the attendants who are filling the tank and cleaning the windscreen. They seem to be an interesting bunch and ask all kinds of good question about our travels. As they pump in the diesel, they are standing right in front of our world map and they often get really interested in what we’re up to.
And the parking guys… well they are a kick. Nearly all the shopping centers have them and of course they are there to keep an eye on things to prevent theft, so their presence is sort of a negative. But again, they are almost always bright, upbeat, friendly and enthusiastic. They try hard to get you to park in their section and then make a point of having good contact with you to encourage a good tip when you leave. Beyond this however, is the interest they show in where we’ve been and where we’re going. Sure they’re doing their job, but it often goes way beyond that.
In the grocery stores, Kathy can be seen interacting with the employees in a variety of ways, from working with them on the pronunciation of ‘tortillas’ to getting help finding things around the store. She’ll go off to find someone to help and then off they’ll both go all but arm in arm — laughing and giggling to beat the band. In talking to women she’ll often say something like “My husband can’t find it — what do you expect? He’s just a man.” Gets them laughing to beat the band. Instant bonding, and it works like a charm. Pretty terrific actually.
Ultimately, driving away from Nelspruit left us a little sad. We like this city; it’s more upbeat than many, and all the inhabitants, regardless of heritage, seem more positive about their futures than we’ve noticed in other urban areas. There’s excellent shopping and plenty of places to get things looked at and fixed. If we never return here, it will be a sadness.
But onward! We were heading to the Blyde River Canyon area, a huge gash in the surface of the planet that’s filled with beautiful rock formations, rivers far below, lovely waterfalls, high passes, and great views. We used the market town of Lydenburg as headquarters because Lydenburg has a small community museum that contains replicas of some amazing pottery heads that go back to roughly 400 AD. There are a total of seven in all, with the originals in a museum in Cape Town and replicas of three on view here. They were found on a farm nearby, back many moons ago. They are quite something; heads of warriors, swathed in something very similar in style to what we think of as medieval armor.
Lydenburg (now Mashishing) makes a nice, if slightly remote, base for visiting the canyon. It’s a bit off the beaten track, which we like, but reached by good roads and not far from other interesting places. After a night’s rest, we spent a whole day wandering in the Canyon area, enjoying the rock formations in general, and the Lisbon waterfall in particular. We found ourselves traveling in tandem for awhile with a large bus filled with high school students off on a field trip, so tended to duck in and out of some places rather quickly. (They were having a terrific time, and we enjoyed them, but they do tend to overwhelm a small viewpoint!)
At the end of the day, we decided to make a beeline back to Lydenburg for a quiet night. The whole area is quite nice, and cooler at about 1400 meters; we enjoyed our spot at the Laske Nakke Caravan Park so much that we decided to stay for a few days, working on pictures, tidying up loose ends on South Africa and planning for Botswana. The park staff were friendly and welcoming and took good care of us, and we had the camping area to ourselves. It’s lovely in the day here but chilly at night (end of April and definitely fall); everything is green and the dragonflies are out. On Sunday morning we were able to hear church services from a property close by — the drumming to get the service started was a special treat, and there was a vocalist who was quite amazing.
Leaving Lydenburg, we had one more stop we wanted to make. We were looking for the Kghodwana Cultural Village, supposedly near Siyabuswa (or maybe near Groblersdal?). We spent a fair amount of time traveling on small roads, poking around, trying to find this Ndebele village. Rick and I are enamored of Ndebele designs and architecture and this village is supposed to be nice. Never found it. Not even after getting bunches of info online and from the Siyabuswa police station. There simply was no signage. Period. Zero. We decided that it’s one of those things that you can see if you are with a guided tour, but it just wasn’t possible on our own, at least not with our resources. A really good friend had introduced us to the Ndebele art, and we were going to have to report back as unsuccessful. (Sorry, Carol!) We will keep looking.
Finally giving up, we moved on to Polokwane. This is the last major town on our path to the Botswana border, and we were returning to a nice spot we had stayed at before, the Boma in the Bush campsite north of town. We were going to stay here for a short while as we did some stock-up shopping, gathered in the mail that was waiting for us, picked up one last car part (only one? — never fret, it turned into several of course), then headed for the border crossing at Martin’s Drift.
As it happens, it was a Saturday. The roads were filled with people going places; some just into the nearby village for shopping it seemed, but others more formally dressed and in larger groups, crammed into combi-vans and riding stuffed into the bed of a pick-up truck. We may have been leaping to conclusions, but most were headed into the city, and we wondered if there were political gatherings later in the day. After all, the national elections were being held the following week, and there certainly seemed to be a tremendous amount of dissatisfaction with the current administration. But we were heading in the other direction, and won’t know how the election goes for awhile.
For us? On to Botswana and the Khama Rhino Sanctuary near Serowe, north of Gabarone. Go get your map — we’ll join you there!
Rick and Kathy and Tortuga the Intrepid
Go to the Photo Page to see more pictures from this story