29th May Lobsters And Sand Do Mix

29^th May Lighthouse Camping, Inhumbane.

The guide book gave this place a good write up, unfortunately it turned out to be a bit of a dive but with an amazing view. We look down onto a wild surf with an estuary off to our left. The last 6kms out to here was through deep sand with me having to use low range 4x4 to get through; this appears to be what is necessary to get to most of the nice resorts out on the coast. So far the main road north, the EN1 has been good seal but once you get off it there’s sand to navigate through, the last place was like this as well though not as deep.

Our first night in Mozambique had us turning up exhausted at Casa Lisa, that was after our disastrous trip out of Maputo. Cooking food was the last thing on our minds and gladly accepted a half chicken & rice. Bruce, an ex Kenyan, owns and runs the accommodation complex. Gaining from what he told us his was a story of disillusionment caused by events in Kenya where he had lived for 20 years. Rioting in Mombassa then the bombings of the American embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam had seen tourism die. He bought Casa Lisa and turned it into a good business yet can only claim two good friends in the ten years he had been there. He wants to go back to Kenya, the UK is out of the question, but you wonder what he has got to go back to. We have just finished a book written in the 70s about East Africa and what dreams and hopes people, both black and white, had then on where their lives and country were heading, you look back to see what has happened since and the corruption and despotism is still rife in many of them.

I digress. Mozambique is renowned for its sea food. The second night at Sunset Lodge we ate at their restaurant and were impressed by the meal served up: Joan had 2 lobsters, salad & chips for $9; I had a sea food platter with a whole fish, large lobster, dozen prawns & a good helping of calamari for $21. It was so beautifully cooked and presented, washed down with a Portuguese vinho blanco, a meal to remember.

At the moment we are trying to find a suitable place to spend a few days for my birthday, this is not it so will head north tomorrow.

Sunset Lodge, Mozambique

Have sorted out the modem for Mozambique. A post & a couple of photos. Gary

27^th May Sunset Lodge, Praia de Chidengule. Mozambique

The African Games are being held in Mozambique during September of this year and the local people are excited as the aquatic events are being held in a lake nearby. They had to cull all the crocodiless in the lake before the event.

We have travelled some 500kms up the country the last 36 hours and have experienced all driving conditions one could imagine: from deep sand immediately on crossing the border, rough partially formed roads then pot holed tarmac. But the section to beat it all was after leaving the capital, Maputo, due to me putting into the Garmin to seek the shorter route, not the quickest, the darling lady with the soothing voice on the machine proceeded to lead us over one of the most diabolical stretches of country we have ever encountered since the Marienfluss in Namibia. We should have realized something was wrong as on the outskirts of the city the road suddenly turned to dirt with wavy undulations which turned into mud-filled pot holes then country tracks where the grass between the tracks was over ½ metre high. The local kids were so excited to see Mzungu drive by. I think it was the first time some of them had seen a white man the way they tore off. It took us 2 hours to cover the 21kms before hitting the main road, in the mean time darkness had fallen. I must say the Nissan handled the situation amazingly. We have let it get over it today with a 230km stretch on good asphalt. During our venture we asked three different locals if we were actually on a road and in the right direction, only one could speak good English but were assured by all that, yes we were, and to keep going, shaking their heads in amazement. Today Joan found a warning in one of the guide books we had to avoid that road as it was only suitable for advanced 4x4 drivers, looks like I’ve made the grade.

This stopover will be the first where we can relax and take it easy. Up till now we have taken the bakkie out on game drives if we stop for a couple of days, and that is one of the few disadvantages of having your home on wheels, means packing up for a game drive. But tomorrow it stays put.

Two of the main road after crossing border

Last Post fron Sth Africa

24^th May. Mbomu NP

Something chomping near the van woke us this morning; Joan had heard something similar at the last park. I looked out and here were two white rhino a couple of metres from the van happily feeding on the short grass at the camp site. Unfortunately it was too dark to take a photo. The hung around for a good 15 minutes before heading off. This is an unfenced camp site where animals wander through at will.

Our short drive to the first of the hides this morning took us through a forest of giraffes, we counted 26, majestically nibbling at the high branches. The two hides we initially went to overlooked a large pan full of birdlife and many hippos and crocodiles. We counted 16 crocs on a stretch of bank a couple of hundred metres long. It was all most impressive.

Mbomu is a small park which is nice for a change. I think there were only three vehicles in the park today. Generally attendances have been down on quite a few of the parks we have been to and in both the last two we have almost had the park to ourselves

25^th.Near Mozambique border.

We will cross over tomorrow morning. It’s only 150 kms to Maputo where we have to get a couple of things but most of it is on sand. It appears the Mozambique authorities have kept it sand to give the SA city dwellers a thrill on their 4x4 vehicles.

An interesting day today; after leaving Mbomu we dropped it to Pembe Elephant Park for a few hours. We hadn’t seen an elephant on the trip so far, it’s a small park and restricted to 4x4s due to the sand. The pachyderms here are meant to of the most purest stock and also the largest on the continent. There is also a hide here that has a 24hr web cam to show the world the goings on at the pan. Not sure on the address but if any one is interested typing in Pembe Pan View might get results (this will increase your knowledge of elephants Ewen). The animals there were very impressive but still no elephants. At the next pan we saw one big one then not long after that we ran into one on the track. Not literally but almost. There’s only one thing worse than coming on a family of them on the road and that is to come upon one, but in this case three, coming towards you and there is nowhere to go except in reverse. This we did until they finally headed off towards a pan. Not knowing how many more were coming we decided to turn around and get to a picnic area another way. On our way back what was an empty pan on the side of the road when we drove by the first time now had at least 15 elephants around it and more crossing the road both sides of us as well.

The pamphlet the people give you when entering the park has a lot of info on what to look for when one is becoming aggressive, things like: swinging the front foot, coiling & uncoiling the trunk, throwing objects towards the vehicle etc etc. None of them were displaying any of these, but still, I find these behemoths quite nerve wracking to be near.

This will be the last blog until we get the dongle sorted out for Mozambique but I believe they have good cell phone coverage.

Road Block

At the Pan. Tembe NP

Of Dung Beetles and Hides

22^nd May uMkhuze MP.

It’s a bit of hit and miss on seeing animals in some of these parks. Like in Hluhluwe, 98,000 hectares of park and the visitor is restricted to the roads that traverse it. We saw the hyena with the impala but something else may have been happening just over the next hill that we weren’t aware of.

This park though has made it a little easier by building hides at some of the water holes where the animals come down to drink usually in the early morning and late afternoons. We went to the kwaMalibila hide first thing this morning and spent an hour or so there intrigued by the number of animals that came down. The interaction was interesting and also the pecking order. There are no lions in this park but there are leopards, cheetahs and wild dogs. The plains animals are very nervous as they are at their most vulnerable with their heads down and bums up. The ones that come in numbers like the zebras and wildebeest must feel a little safer than the impalas and niyelas that approach in smaller numbers. It is so interesting. The bird life as well is more concentrated at the water with the types ranging from Egyptian geese to the tiny blue waxbills.

From there we drove around to the Nsumo Pan which has a beautiful picnic area with the grass kept short by the hippo lawnmowers. It’s a big pan with many of them in the water though at a distance. The bird life here is also varied. We relaxed here for a few hours.

Tomorrow we head to two parks on the Mozambique border before crossing over.

As we could be out of mobile coverage range the next few days this may be the last post until we sort things out in Mozambique.

23^rd May. Mbumo NP.

In East Africa you will see at many of the national parks signs saying ’Animals Have the Right of Way’ which stands to reason especially if the are an elephant. Here you will see the signs ’Dung Beetles Have the Right of Way’ These critters do such a good job of cleaning up the environment and are unfortunately slow breeders, the authorities have taken it upon themselves to give them a helping hand. We came upon one hippo dung pile with about 30 of them getting stuck in to the heap. They were very impressive. I recall hearing not long before leaving Australia that the AU authorities have imported 15 different types of dung beetle to assuage the fly problem out west. Long may they find a plentiful food supply.

Our extended stay here in Sth Africa has been enjoyable but I think we have been a little spoilt in some of our other trips that have with them a slight tinge of uncertainty and what some would call adventure. We have met some great South Africans at the various camp sites and have experienced open hospitality. An example was the bloke today who refused payment for fixing a slow leak along the rim of one of the tyres, and I am sure there are parts we could go to that do test ones mettle a bit but we haven’t experienced it yet on this trip. Some of the scenery we have passed through has been breathtaking and in the parks we have seen a good array of animals, it just seems too easy for us. We look forward to see what Mozambique brings on.

A Common Sight

Dung Beetles Doing Their Work

A Quiet Moment at the Pan. uMkhuze NP

Niyala & Egyptian Geese at uMkhuze NP Pan

The Giraffe Family on the Road

Spotted Hyena with Impala

Hyena & Vultures at the Kill

Lots of Shit but no Animals

21^st May Hluhluwe-Imfolosi NP

There are no camping areas at this national park. The night before we slept at a camp nearby and was at the gate at 7am to do some viewing. Unfortunately the first three hours produced plenty of shit but few animals. White rhinos defecate in middens and seem to like the side of the road where they must spend their nights. There were heaps everywhere but nary a rhino in sight. Giraffes were another thing though and to get up close and personal to a giraffe family who don’t want to get off the road and you’ve been following for 10 minutes then think it’s time to squeeze past is quite an experience. The belly of the male was level with level with us sitting n the bakkie but to look up and see their head gazing royally down 3 metres above makes one feel quite small. They are such a beautiful animal with such a calmness about them.

Things improved later in the morning when we went to the Imfolozi part of the park. It was more open and the white rhino, impala and wildebeest were seen in large numbers. We saw a few niyala, an animal we hadn’t seen before. They are a long haired antelope.

The highlight though would be coming across a spotted hyena ripping in to an impala. A few seconds earlier we had seen two cheetah cubs running into the undergrowth and found out by another watcher that the cub’s mother had killed the impala only to have the hyena grab it, take it over the road, and take over the job. We know it is nature but to see the animal tearing out the entrails of the impala while it’s still alive takes getting used to. Later on we took a wrong turn and ended back at the kill, the hyena was still there but he had an audience of 50-60 vultures watching every movement and ready to duck in if the hyena gets distracted. Lappet faced, cape and white backed vultures were the species we could identify.

Last night we decided to splurge at a chalet inside the park for the night. Not as expensive as many of the resorts it still wasn’t cheap, and a little disappointing especially when there are no cooking facilities and a 5 course meal is all there is on offer, the last thing we felt like after 10 hours driving on rough roads concentrating on animal sightings. I tell you, this game viewing is hard work!

Well the local elections are over and the votes are still being counted I think. Most parties seem to be happy with the results though I think the ANC may have lost a few votes. I don’t read many papers and the radio can be a bit biased. I did read one incident where ANC voters in a local district didn’t like the person the ANC powerbrokers had picked to be their representative. The dug a trench around the polling booth, filled it with tyres, and set them alight. They said that only 6 voted were cast at that particular booth.

At the last election it appears one of the parties had promised outside toilets for constituents in certain areas. They connected the toilet and cistern (the cistern on two poles stuck into the ground) but didn’t put any walls around it! They weren’t promised. If you wanted to use it all the neighbours would have a great or not so great view. This time they are promising the walls, maybe the doors next time.

Some of the followers to this blog have mentioned difficulty on leaving comments. I think the easiest way to get over this is to open a gmail email address, it’s free and quite handy, and use that to sign in with. I appreciate the emails and comments (sorry Gil, I tried to get back to you)

Gary

18th May St Lucia

18^th May. St Lucia.

They are upgrading many areas of the St Lucia Wetlands NP: viewpoints, toilets, signage and cementing pathways. The last of these amused us today, walking to a new hide that overlooked a swamp we found embedded in the fresh cement the spoor of bushbuck, wild cat, and leopard. At home you would curse if a dog left their imprint but it was interesting to see the native animals leaving their signature. Good thing there were no hippos around while it was setting.

We took off midmorning to cruise around the park not expecting to see much in the way of wildlife as this park is known for it marine life. We were very surprised to come upon such a variety of animals from the diminutive duiker to the lumbering hippo. The first pan or waterhole housed at least 10 hippos, a few of them feeding on the vegetation a few metres from the bakkie. A large croc sunned himself on the other side while a couple of waterbuck grazed on the far end. Jacanas & cattle egrets surrounded the feeding hippos grabbing any insect that took flight.

Earlier in the morning, just on dawn, I went for a walk along a nearby boardwalk. I startled a group of at least 40 banded mongoose who loped away into the foliage. I then counted 15 hippos in a group in the middle of the estuary. These must have been the ones that serenaded us last night.

Tonight we walked along to the St Lucia Ski-Boat Club, a distance of about 400 metres for a bite to eat. I asked Terry the waiter whether we should be careful walking back in the dark as there was no street lighting. ‘Yeah’ he said ‘ hippos sometimes come up on this side but as long as you have a good torch. But keep an eye out for leopards, we saw one just outside our gates the other night when we went home.’ I don’t think he said it to scare us but a couple of the blokes tried to do it for him by imitating the hippo as we walked along.

Have added some photos from today.

Leopard Spoor set in Concrete

Male Waterbuck

Up Close & Dangerous. There are many around here.

Thye Magnificent Greater Kudu.St Lucia Wetland NP

Cooking the Braii in the Rain. Note Upside Down Chair. St Lucia

Morgan's Bay Camp site

Ellen the teacher, Joan the student in crocheting

330 Metre High Oribi Gorge

17th May St Lucia

17^th May St Lucia

This town is at the southerly end of the St Lucia Wetlands. A world heritage listed site renowned for its marine & birdlife and stretches 200kms to the Mozambique border. The campsite is part of the national park and overlooks an estuary where large signs warn not to get closer than 30 metres from the hippos and crocodiles. Personally I wouldn’t think of getting within 50 metres of the former. It’s quite nice to once more hear their grunting and groaning of a night. There is a wooden raised walkway to the beach from the campsite that suddenly drops down to sand level so the animals can pass over on their way to the lagoon. The hippos spoor are large, and as a Sth African said to us ‘If their paws are that big just imagine how big their mouths are!’

At Salt Rock we met Israel, the owner of my old Moroccan shoes, (I thought his name was Joseph) which by the way, were horribly savaged by some dog way back in Ruanda. He said that yes, he still wore them at night and no, he wouldn’t sell them back to me. We were going to stay another night there but the camp was pretty full.

Sometimes life can catch you out: we arrived at Salt Rock on dark. The sites are all tiered towards the ocean. Getting set up we felt we were being watched by dozens of eyes especially by a large couple directly above us. We were on the defensive and scoffed unnecessarily on how the Sth Africans come to a place like Salt Rock, set themselves up and ignore everyone around you. This is how they spend their holiday. Then in the morning Jan, the big bloke directly above us, came down and introduced himself. He was baffled by the Namibian number plate. We talked for 20 interesting minutes. In the mean time Joan had got talking to a bloke down from us that was admiring how we get around. We have been caught out before. South Africans are quite reserved, but break through that and they are the most hospitable people you can meet. That’s unless you are Stewart Dickinson, the Australian rugby ref. They hate him

The drive here started off through fields of sugar cane as far as the eye could see, then eucalyptus plantations started to become intermingled and before too long they had taken over the landscape. They look very healthy and I would say are grown for pulp milling. They are too close together for timber.

Tomorrow we will look around these wetlands then head to Hluhluwe-Imfolozi NP.

16th May. Kokstad & Salt Rock

15^th May. Kokstad

On leaving Reidar & Ellen at Port Alfred we headed further north passing through East London then started looking for a place to spend the night preferably near the coast. Morgan’s Bay was quoted in the guide book as a laid back cluster of houses not as up market or developed as its neighbour, Kei Mouth. Sounded good.

The camp site was right on the estuary with the wild coastline a short walk away. Sparsely occupied it was exactly what we were after. In fact our stay lasted a second night. The only building of note was a hotel.

This morning we headed further north after dropping in to Komga, a little village not far off the highway. Our friend Len was brought up in this area, we wanted to see what the place was like.

It was another 400km day though on a good road through what used to be called the Transkei but renamed the Wild Coast. An area of native settlements that cluster on many of the hillsides either side of the road. One wonders where these people find work as there is no industry in the area. Most of the places are well kept often with veggie gardens surrounding the house.

Reidar had told us about a camp site at Kokstad, took us a while to find it but well worth the hunt. Built on the edge of a dam which I assume is the local water supply, the sites are stepped down towards the water. Zebra and a type of antelope are a short distance away feeding on the young grass near the water. Ducks and other water bird feed on and under the water. Surrounding us are high grass covered hills. We are the only ones here, once the wind drops the silence is overpowering.

16^th. Salt Rock. North of Durban.

On the road for most of the day again but broke the journey at the Oribi Gorge Nature Reserve. An impressive gorge with cliffs dropping 330 metres to the muddy river below. I am not good at heights while Joan takes my life in her hands by wanting to see what lies over the rim. Bungee jumpers take off from the edge of the gorge and kind of go outwards then downwards. Very off-putting.

Local elections are being held over the country this Wednesday. Posters adorn many of the power poles with a tussle to see whose gets further up the pole. The ANC must feel assured of a victory as they have already head their victory celebrations last weekend. Such a mixed up country. On our arrival almost 2 weeks ago Len was telling us about the latest farmer to be killed, He was shot twice then dragged along behind a bakkie until it happened to flip over. At least the perpetrators were caught in that instance. It appears there are at least 2 farmers killed a week and yet nothing is heard about it outside the country. At least the last two places we have stayed there has been a lack of high walls, electrified fences and horrible guard dogs apparent. The people in the coastal areas must feel safer.

Them there’s the case last week of some mp saying that all mining ventures should be nationalized! Not the type of talk investors like to hear. It has so much potential but the future for it looks so clouded.

Tomorrow we head north to where there are some good national parks and will spend a week or so in the area before crossing into Mozambique.

11th May

11^th May Zebras & Reindeer Meatballs.

Mountain Zebra NP was inaugurated for the purpose of saving that type of zebra. Their numbers had dwindled dramatically as their habitat was taken over by farming. The stripes on the Mountain Zebra are more distinct, wider and don’t go all the way under the belly. They have a distinct dewlap which the plains ones don’t. There are now over 350 in the park. We have seen them in small numbers elsewhere.

Reidar & Ellen were waiting for us when we arrived mid afternoon. We had last seen them in Nairobi when we headed west to Uganda and they continued south. That was in 2008. It was great catching up with them and finding out the extensive areas they had travelled in Sth Africa in the mean time. They also leave their vehicle in SA and came back once or twice a year.

Unfortunately Ellen had a bad cold. That and the cold weather made us decide to hire a chalet for the 2^nd night here. As we were unpacking Ellen said to us that she was going to cook dinner tonight which would be reindeer meatballs in rich gravy. So here we were in a chalet in the park, a raging fire in the hearth while we sampled the unusual flavour of reindeer washed down with a sturdy South African shiraz.

Earlier we had spent the day in the park travelling the different loop roads looking out for the various animals. We saw antelope we hadn’t seen before namely the black wildebeest, blesbok, steenbok and grey rhebok, but seeing an aardwolf close to the road was a highlight. They are normally a nocturnal animal but this was in the middle of the day. Thought to be part of the hyena family they are the size of a large dog with distinct stripes running down their sides.

Echo Valley, Golden Gate NP, Joan & Choko, the lovable Dachsund

Echo Valley

Golden Gate NP 7th May

This place was not on our itinerary until Len mentioned it as a beautiful area and not far off our route. The trip down was not the best with us realizing I had not transferred enough info from the lap top to the GPS. This made it very difficult getting out of Pretoria.
We arrived here in the dark and woke realizing we were surrounded by ancient cliff walls with a stream flowing metres away. Baboons walk near the van while the sound of some distant eagle breaks the quiet. We are high here, about 2000 metres, it’s crisp when the sun disappears. I would assume they get snow here at times. We had intended spending the one night here but it’s a good place to sort a few things out in the van.
I went for a walk to Echo Valley along well maintained tracks. The land was tussocky at first but soon broke onto ancient rock falls sloping down from the cliffs. In places streams turned into showers as they fell from the great height and were caught by the swirling wind.
With Len & Ria’s help it had taken us only a couple of days to sort out the things that needed doing in the van. The first surprise we had after Len had picked us up from the airport was to see our van sparkling clean in their front yard. His three Maliwian workers spent a good while giving it a clean both inside and out. It looked wonderful. We had the new tyres fitted and Len sorted out a problem we seemed to have with the cigarette lighter plug. He ended up running new wires from the battery into the glove box with a double plug on the end. The old ciggy lighters are now so important running all sorts of equipment.

9th May
It was along drive today most of it skirting the western side of Lesotho. Scenery was impressive the road somewhat less so in places with many pot holes making the driver keep a wary eye on the road.
We wanted to get to Aliwal North some 400kms from Golden Gate, this would leave a shorter distance the next day. I knew there was a camp site there but three different Africans I spoke to shrugged their shoulders and said, no, there wasn’t.
I noticed an ambulance depot opposite with a CIB building next to it, they would be able to help I thought. At the CIB building there was no one in sight. I called but nobody came. At the ambulance station I noticed a face at the window. The place was typically barred off from the street but on calling this time the bloke came out. A friendly African who gave me detailed instructions on getting to the camp. He then asked where I came from, when I said Australia his face lit up, shook my hand and said “I have always wanted to meet an Australian.”
As it turned out the camping was in the grounds of the Aliwal Spa complex. Someone once had grandiose schemes but all that was left of them were stagnant pools, derelict buildings and an air of despondency. At least the mosquito overrun ablution block had plenty of hot water and the eucalypts gave us a supply of wood for the braai.