This trip was back when I did not have a digital camera. So everything was taken by my trusty automatic camera and developed into pictures that I placed in my album. I finally had time to scan the pictures from my album and post it on this blog for easy sharing.
Friends, those who had heard me rave about South Africa, you can finally see all the gorgeous views from this really beautiful country.
Sunday, July 28, 2002
South Africa 2002 - Day 1Johannesburg - Northern Province
After an ultra long flight, we finally reached Johannesburg airport. I couldn't sleep much in the plane so, I was a kind of in a trance when we reach SA. The temperature's about 18 deg C, and you can smell the petrol/gas in the air due to the dense air and Jo'burg being so high up above sea level, the low stable layer.
We immediately boarded the bus, so I didn't really felt the cold, and we headed straight to Soweto (South West Township). It is one of the places where the majority of the black people in Jo'burg live. We were actually given a choice whether to see th CBD or to visit the place where the lower income people live. In the end, most of us voted for the latter. I was quite surprised to find the shanty town weren't as filthy as I imagined, or as seen in some of the footages on TV, like those in Asia.
The shanty town in Soweto
One of the "Elephant"Houses
Since we reached there on a weekend, there weren't so many vehicles on the road. On the bus, Gerhard, our guide, told us that in SA, there are 3 types of people namely the white, the blacks and the coloured people. The coloured people represents peopel of the mixed races. On our way, we visited the memorial for the first youth that was killed in the youth uprising in 1976.
The memorial of the death of the first youth
We soon left Jo'burg and the upper veld to the low veld. On our way, we visited several scenic spots: The Blyde River Canyon, the God's Window, the Three Rondavals, and Pilgrim's Rest. The scenery here are truly spectacular; and it makes you feel like you are really in heaven and appreciate mother nature's wonder.
Three Sisters Rondavals
God's window - I can spend the whole day here gazing at the view and that's what a bunch of Italian tourists was doing
The Bourke holes.
Some locals trimming hair at Pilgrim's Rest
Finally, we booked into a chalet style lodge in Adventura Blyde Canyon. By the time we went for dinner, it was already 8 pm (2 am in SG). Worried about not phoning home, I asked the souvenirs shop owners for help to change notes to coins. They were very helpful and a friendly old couple. Finally phoned back, sis picked up the phone and demanded if I know the time was
2 am in the morning...hehehehe...sorry sis.
We immediately boarded the bus, so I didn't really felt the cold, and we headed straight to Soweto (South West Township). It is one of the places where the majority of the black people in Jo'burg live. We were actually given a choice whether to see th CBD or to visit the place where the lower income people live. In the end, most of us voted for the latter. I was quite surprised to find the shanty town weren't as filthy as I imagined, or as seen in some of the footages on TV, like those in Asia.
The shanty town in Soweto
One of the "Elephant"Houses
Since we reached there on a weekend, there weren't so many vehicles on the road. On the bus, Gerhard, our guide, told us that in SA, there are 3 types of people namely the white, the blacks and the coloured people. The coloured people represents peopel of the mixed races. On our way, we visited the memorial for the first youth that was killed in the youth uprising in 1976.
The memorial of the death of the first youth
We soon left Jo'burg and the upper veld to the low veld. On our way, we visited several scenic spots: The Blyde River Canyon, the God's Window, the Three Rondavals, and Pilgrim's Rest. The scenery here are truly spectacular; and it makes you feel like you are really in heaven and appreciate mother nature's wonder.
Three Sisters Rondavals
God's window - I can spend the whole day here gazing at the view and that's what a bunch of Italian tourists was doing
The Bourke holes.
Some locals trimming hair at Pilgrim's Rest
Finally, we booked into a chalet style lodge in Adventura Blyde Canyon. By the time we went for dinner, it was already 8 pm (2 am in SG). Worried about not phoning home, I asked the souvenirs shop owners for help to change notes to coins. They were very helpful and a friendly old couple. Finally phoned back, sis picked up the phone and demanded if I know the time was
2 am in the morning...hehehehe...sorry sis.
South Africa 2002 - Day 2/3 Central Lowlands - Safari - Mpumalanga and Kruger National Park
We had to wake up at 5 am in the morning for some walk to see something on SA have. Derek and Gerhard wouldn't tell us what it is. Luckily I was too tired last night and concussed the moment my head hits the pillow.
A morning picture right outside our lodging. Look at the the view right behind us....
It felt kind of good for a morning walk, especially with the fresh air and all. After about 15 mins of hiking downhill, Derek finally told us to look at the waterfalls. He said that it was one of the three waterfalls in SA that instead of being eroded, it was growing. Something to do with the high carbonate content in the river water. Then it's another uphill climb. This sort of introduces us to a series of seemingly innocent walks that turn into hikes that are to follow for the rest of the trip.
The "Largest growing" waterfall
After breakfast, it's back to the bus. We're now traveling on the lower veld (plateau), as opposed to the upper veld we traveled yesterday. Here, the vegetations are sightly different, due to the altitude. It's the savanna tree vegetation, where trees aren't very tall because of the climate and forest fires. Once again, Derek and Gerhard wouldn't tell us where we were going, only that it would be very cold that night....
On our way, we did a short stop at the humongous tree which is supposed to be the biggest and oldest tree around, which is quite rare due to the climate.
See how many of us can fit into the width of the tree trunk
Soon it was lunchtime and we'd a picnic in some national park. We passed by the biggest tree plantation ever, think the trees are meant for paper or building materials. Since our bus was really too huge to go up the narrow winding road, we had to get down and sit on the back of the pickup. All of us on the pickup was wondering how Daniel, our driver, was going to u-turn the bus on the narrow road between the mountain and valley.
Had the bumpiest ride ever and we had a really close encounter with SA's most venomous snake the Black Mamba...good thing none of us was hurt and it didn't drop from the tree it was hanging onto..Finally reached our picnic site and some of us were conned into having a dip in the river. Good thing I had the sense to test the water, which is as cold as melting ice. Anyway, after Felicia and Debra hopped into the river and sacred us out of our wits, as they were shivering like cold turkeys. Nobody, except Megan and Grace wanted anything to do with getting into the river. They insisted in doing the rope swing into the icy river and David, being such a wonderful father had to jumped into the river to catch his daughters as they jumped in. talk about sacrifices and the girls did it 4 times.
Picnic was over too soon and we are back on the bus. Surprise! Daniel actually managed to turn the bus around and we could see the evidence of the tire marks on the ground!
Finally by 4p,. we reached our "secret" destination. It's actually a private owned safari and we're going to sit in a 4WD and camera hunt for animals. However, the first thing everyone did was to rush to the toilets, then to the souvenir shop for shopping...After satisfying ourselves with our purchase, we went on the the 4WDs. Our guide, Flippy, took us out to the Safari...
Vavavroommm... and we are off...
We've seen quite a number of animals. I thought I was watching Discovery channel the whole time. I can't believe that I was this close to the wild animals and I really mean wild. You can see the whole lot of them in the collage
There's jackals, ground hornbill, white rhinos, lioness, zebras, elephants, warthogs, antelopes, impalas...we even witness a lioness kill.
Happy and glad we are safe and sound after the super cold ride
A last photo with our guide, Flippy
Day 3
We continued our search for the Big 5, which is named so because they are the top 5 most dangerous animals to hunt. We arrive at a cheetah rehabilitation centre and had an intensive course in animal biology. We later left the centre to head for Kruger National Park. I didn't get to see as many animals as yesterday, but we did managed to see some giraffes, more impalas, zebras and lions. Well, i guess that's because Kruger is really huge and the animals are all scattered around the park. One interesting fact seen along teh way is that many workers who are repairing the road are women, while there are only a few men. We stayed at the National Park for the night. As the park is a malaria zone, we were told to be careful of mosquito bites.
A morning picture right outside our lodging. Look at the the view right behind us....
It felt kind of good for a morning walk, especially with the fresh air and all. After about 15 mins of hiking downhill, Derek finally told us to look at the waterfalls. He said that it was one of the three waterfalls in SA that instead of being eroded, it was growing. Something to do with the high carbonate content in the river water. Then it's another uphill climb. This sort of introduces us to a series of seemingly innocent walks that turn into hikes that are to follow for the rest of the trip.
The "Largest growing" waterfall
After breakfast, it's back to the bus. We're now traveling on the lower veld (plateau), as opposed to the upper veld we traveled yesterday. Here, the vegetations are sightly different, due to the altitude. It's the savanna tree vegetation, where trees aren't very tall because of the climate and forest fires. Once again, Derek and Gerhard wouldn't tell us where we were going, only that it would be very cold that night....
On our way, we did a short stop at the humongous tree which is supposed to be the biggest and oldest tree around, which is quite rare due to the climate.
See how many of us can fit into the width of the tree trunk
Soon it was lunchtime and we'd a picnic in some national park. We passed by the biggest tree plantation ever, think the trees are meant for paper or building materials. Since our bus was really too huge to go up the narrow winding road, we had to get down and sit on the back of the pickup. All of us on the pickup was wondering how Daniel, our driver, was going to u-turn the bus on the narrow road between the mountain and valley.
Had the bumpiest ride ever and we had a really close encounter with SA's most venomous snake the Black Mamba...good thing none of us was hurt and it didn't drop from the tree it was hanging onto..Finally reached our picnic site and some of us were conned into having a dip in the river. Good thing I had the sense to test the water, which is as cold as melting ice. Anyway, after Felicia and Debra hopped into the river and sacred us out of our wits, as they were shivering like cold turkeys. Nobody, except Megan and Grace wanted anything to do with getting into the river. They insisted in doing the rope swing into the icy river and David, being such a wonderful father had to jumped into the river to catch his daughters as they jumped in. talk about sacrifices and the girls did it 4 times.
Picnic was over too soon and we are back on the bus. Surprise! Daniel actually managed to turn the bus around and we could see the evidence of the tire marks on the ground!
Finally by 4p,. we reached our "secret" destination. It's actually a private owned safari and we're going to sit in a 4WD and camera hunt for animals. However, the first thing everyone did was to rush to the toilets, then to the souvenir shop for shopping...After satisfying ourselves with our purchase, we went on the the 4WDs. Our guide, Flippy, took us out to the Safari...
Vavavroommm... and we are off...
We've seen quite a number of animals. I thought I was watching Discovery channel the whole time. I can't believe that I was this close to the wild animals and I really mean wild. You can see the whole lot of them in the collage
There's jackals, ground hornbill, white rhinos, lioness, zebras, elephants, warthogs, antelopes, impalas...we even witness a lioness kill.
Happy and glad we are safe and sound after the super cold ride
A last photo with our guide, Flippy
Day 3
We continued our search for the Big 5, which is named so because they are the top 5 most dangerous animals to hunt. We arrive at a cheetah rehabilitation centre and had an intensive course in animal biology. We later left the centre to head for Kruger National Park. I didn't get to see as many animals as yesterday, but we did managed to see some giraffes, more impalas, zebras and lions. Well, i guess that's because Kruger is really huge and the animals are all scattered around the park. One interesting fact seen along teh way is that many workers who are repairing the road are women, while there are only a few men. We stayed at the National Park for the night. As the park is a malaria zone, we were told to be careful of mosquito bites.
South Africa 2002 - Day 4 Swaziland - KwaZuluNatal
Today we will be going to Sawziland. It's a small land-locked country totally surrounded by South Africa. Nowadays, its probably famous for its practice of polygamy and high peneration of Aids.
In the bus, we were given a brief introduction about the Zuluz on the bus by Gerhard and Daniel. The Zulus live in extended family groups and is patriarchal. They mostly practice subsistence farming. Zulu means heaven. However, these people from heaven are having in an increasing difficult livelihood. Interestingly, Derek says that what the Africans are in shortage of is no, not food, not water but firewood. Talk about an irony, got food but no fire to cook it. So nowadays, locals have to walk further to get this necessity.
The border between SA and Swaziland
Next detination is the Capital of Swaziland, Mbobane. We alight in their bus station and headed straight to their mall. It's quite good actually. While depositing our bags (we have to exchange our bag for a basket in order to enter the supermarket), we chatted with the lady at the counter and she told us that in Swaziland, they speak Swazi instead of Zulu as in South Africa. Another warm lcal lagy told us that they are in very good terms with Malaysia, on the account that all their stamps are printed there and their king had visited Malaysia 4 times. I did some souvenir shopping and we ate pizzas for lunch. Seems like only Derek did any major shopping and many of us were late. Gerhard dis a maor protrayal of "I am pissed" look. Finally, after some waiting, we're on our way to the village where we will deposit some bags collected by Derek for the villagers.
6 girls and a pizza place
On the bus, Derek elaborated on what he had learnt from the lady. Derek commented that despite the situation she'd described, he couldn't help but doubt the severity of her situation, since she appeared to be rather well-fed. He believed that she must have received some help along the way, which is good I guess.
We passed by the Big Bend, which is actually a big bend of the Pongola Rover, and soon exited Swaziland and back into SA. Drive straight to our lodgings for the night which ended with a Zulu dance performance at dinner.
In the bus, we were given a brief introduction about the Zuluz on the bus by Gerhard and Daniel. The Zulus live in extended family groups and is patriarchal. They mostly practice subsistence farming. Zulu means heaven. However, these people from heaven are having in an increasing difficult livelihood. Interestingly, Derek says that what the Africans are in shortage of is no, not food, not water but firewood. Talk about an irony, got food but no fire to cook it. So nowadays, locals have to walk further to get this necessity.
The border between SA and Swaziland
As soon as we pass the border (easily compared to the SG - JB one), the first thing to greet us is two young kids, kicking their feet high up in the air, dancing to the beat of the drum. According to Derek, the older ones must be in school, thus, there are only the babies performing. In any case, we were allowed for some photo taking.
Next detination is the Capital of Swaziland, Mbobane. We alight in their bus station and headed straight to their mall. It's quite good actually. While depositing our bags (we have to exchange our bag for a basket in order to enter the supermarket), we chatted with the lady at the counter and she told us that in Swaziland, they speak Swazi instead of Zulu as in South Africa. Another warm lcal lagy told us that they are in very good terms with Malaysia, on the account that all their stamps are printed there and their king had visited Malaysia 4 times. I did some souvenir shopping and we ate pizzas for lunch. Seems like only Derek did any major shopping and many of us were late. Gerhard dis a maor protrayal of "I am pissed" look. Finally, after some waiting, we're on our way to the village where we will deposit some bags collected by Derek for the villagers.
The bus station at the Capital of Swaziland
6 girls and a pizza place
The village is a typical Zulu one. It housed a total of 12 people from one big extended family. Teh lady of the "house" told us about her situation that her husband had passed away and this year's harvest wasn't good. Before we know it, we were confronted by children, mostly boys for money. I have mixed feelings about the visit as I wasn't sure if we're helping them by giving them stuff or we are destroying them by allowing them to be dependent on help. I didn't take as many pictures as I intended as I felt like exploiting their situation for a picture.
The village
A group picture with the villagers
The visit ended with a happy note, when Gerhard distracted the children by playing football with the young ones. Finally, we heard some genuine laughter and emotions. I am glad that children are still children despite all. Gerhard later left a ruby ball with them. Guess that's how human spirit is, very versatike to the hardship that is life.
On the bus, Derek elaborated on what he had learnt from the lady. Derek commented that despite the situation she'd described, he couldn't help but doubt the severity of her situation, since she appeared to be rather well-fed. He believed that she must have received some help along the way, which is good I guess.
Soon we reached our next stop, which is a row of shops selling curious. Thinking back, I believe Derek was trying to lighten the mood by saying what he had to make us feel better about the visit. Before long we were all in shoping mode and before the 30 mins of shoping time was up, soem serious shopping and hard bargaining was done.
Some curios being displayed
We passed by the Big Bend, which is actually a big bend of the Pongola Rover, and soon exited Swaziland and back into SA. Drive straight to our lodgings for the night which ended with a Zulu dance performance at dinner.
South Africa Day 5 St Lucia - Day 6 Drakensberg
This morning, we went into a Zulu village for a cultural tour. We were taught the famous Shozholoza (sort of like their national anthem), and I must admit we're not bad at it. Learned a few Zulu greetings but the only one I remembered is "sawubona" - I think it meant hello. We saw some of the traditional lives of the Zulu, which was revealed by erhard that most are no longer practiced but kept for the sake of tourism. I was kind of sadden by this but glad that at least some are kept for the time being. Then we watched another round of dancing by the Zulu wariors and we were offered their local brew, which tasted a little sour and it's murky.
We left soon after for a very long bus ride (again) to Drakensberg. En route, we did a little detour to St Lucia, which was initally dropped out of the itinerary but found its way back. We board a boat, and spotted quite a number of hippos, a crocodile and eagles.
On the boat along St Lucia
Layers and layers of hippos
Then it's back onto the bus. I totally agree with Joyce that this trip is hell on bladders and that Grehard has a thing against stopping for rest. I later heard from Joyce again that he even requested Daniel to top up the petrol every morning at our lodgings so we need not make any petrol stops, aka bladder stops.
After like 6 hours of non-stop driving, we get to stop at a small town to relieve our bladders and refil ourselves with food at Wimpy's (something like Macdonald's)...We finally reach Drakensburg after a couple of hours on the road. I read later that this is the place where J.R.R Tolkien got his inspiratons for Lord of the Rings.
Day 6 Drakensburg
It's until this morning that the fac that we're to unpack for two nights hits me. I rushed to do my laundry, finally can wear fresh jeans. I heard at breakfast that horse riding and a hike up the mountains were in the schedule. We're split into 2 groups for the activities. I lazed about in the lounge reading magazines and talked to Peter, the owner of the place, enjoying the magnificent view and imagining i'm one of the rich and famous someday....(hehehe). This is one o the rare chance I get to enjoy a fireplace and it was fantastic. Then it's off to horse riding. Mine is a black/brown one with an agenda of its own other than a ride - food.
Wonderful view and a fire place - what more can I ask for
A horse with its own agenda....but a wonderful horse ride nevertheless
The rode was a nice, relaxing one but it's the view that's spectacular. After that, it's a dash through the a path infested with horse dung to the restaurant for a quick lunch before we are off for ur hike with Peter and his two dogs as our guide .
One of the rare photos I managed to take between my pantings uphill
We went to the Cannibal cave where the cannibas and bushmen used to live. I could faintly see some images of the paintings on the cave walls. Then, it's another mad dash down the moutain before it gets too dark to see.
At the cannibal cave
Dinner was fabulas and we had urselved some after dinner entertainment of slideshows about Drakensburg. After watching the slide show was a game of table tennis. Gerahrd and David against Chris and Debra. It was great fun. I played a little and learnt some pool, courtesy of Ruth. We had a little episode of finding a pair of guy's shoes in pur room. Turns out to be a misplacement by the laundry.
We left soon after for a very long bus ride (again) to Drakensberg. En route, we did a little detour to St Lucia, which was initally dropped out of the itinerary but found its way back. We board a boat, and spotted quite a number of hippos, a crocodile and eagles.
On the boat along St Lucia
Layers and layers of hippos
Then it's back onto the bus. I totally agree with Joyce that this trip is hell on bladders and that Grehard has a thing against stopping for rest. I later heard from Joyce again that he even requested Daniel to top up the petrol every morning at our lodgings so we need not make any petrol stops, aka bladder stops.
After like 6 hours of non-stop driving, we get to stop at a small town to relieve our bladders and refil ourselves with food at Wimpy's (something like Macdonald's)...We finally reach Drakensburg after a couple of hours on the road. I read later that this is the place where J.R.R Tolkien got his inspiratons for Lord of the Rings.
Day 6 Drakensburg
It's until this morning that the fac that we're to unpack for two nights hits me. I rushed to do my laundry, finally can wear fresh jeans. I heard at breakfast that horse riding and a hike up the mountains were in the schedule. We're split into 2 groups for the activities. I lazed about in the lounge reading magazines and talked to Peter, the owner of the place, enjoying the magnificent view and imagining i'm one of the rich and famous someday....(hehehe). This is one o the rare chance I get to enjoy a fireplace and it was fantastic. Then it's off to horse riding. Mine is a black/brown one with an agenda of its own other than a ride - food.
Wonderful view and a fire place - what more can I ask for
A horse with its own agenda....but a wonderful horse ride nevertheless
The rode was a nice, relaxing one but it's the view that's spectacular. After that, it's a dash through the a path infested with horse dung to the restaurant for a quick lunch before we are off for ur hike with Peter and his two dogs as our guide .
One of the rare photos I managed to take between my pantings uphill
We went to the Cannibal cave where the cannibas and bushmen used to live. I could faintly see some images of the paintings on the cave walls. Then, it's another mad dash down the moutain before it gets too dark to see.
At the cannibal cave
Dinner was fabulas and we had urselved some after dinner entertainment of slideshows about Drakensburg. After watching the slide show was a game of table tennis. Gerahrd and David against Chris and Debra. It was great fun. I played a little and learnt some pool, courtesy of Ruth. We had a little episode of finding a pair of guy's shoes in pur room. Turns out to be a misplacement by the laundry.
South Africa 2002 Day 7 Sani Pass - Umkomass
At the border of Sani pass, we board a few 4WDs to go up to the top. We heard from the guides that due to rain in the past 2 days, we may have a chance to see snw at the top.
Sani Pass is the way to another country, Lesotho. Similar to Swaziland, it's another country totally surrounded by SA. It used to be inhabited by cannibals, had some war with SA of which its economy was totally cut off by SA. Gerhard was reading this really gross poem by the cannibal.
After a really treacherous and cold ride up the mountain (on the way we passed a guy cycling up the mountain and cheered him on but we all silently thought that he's mad), we stopped by this village and enter this nice lady's hut. We had an introduction on the lives of these people, who are mostly shepherds, and ate a delicious bread and head up the mountain again.
Nice and warm delicious bread
The many huts we see in Sani Pass
A picture with the cold wind blowing
Then, we head further up th emountain. Up there, it was really cold but the snow was perfect. The rest has a snow fight, which Iwas lucky to managed to escape untouched at all (self-satisfied grin). I have only one word to describe the landscape - barren. I wonderd how do people live up there and I was really glad that we left most of Derek's bags there for them. It must be a very difficult life.
Some pictures with the snow
Later we'd lunch at the highest pub in the world. Well for such a hard to reach place, the pub is really packed by people, probaly hiding from the cold. After being defrosted a little and it's down the mountain.
Then, we headed straight for Umkomass, a small town near Durban by the coast, again, a super long bus ride awaits us. When we finally reached there, the hostel that we are putting up with looked liek an animal graveyard. There's animal, animal and animal everywhere and they are most definitely no longer kicking. I think the owners must have took the safari theme too much to heart.
Sani Pass is the way to another country, Lesotho. Similar to Swaziland, it's another country totally surrounded by SA. It used to be inhabited by cannibals, had some war with SA of which its economy was totally cut off by SA. Gerhard was reading this really gross poem by the cannibal.
After a really treacherous and cold ride up the mountain (on the way we passed a guy cycling up the mountain and cheered him on but we all silently thought that he's mad), we stopped by this village and enter this nice lady's hut. We had an introduction on the lives of these people, who are mostly shepherds, and ate a delicious bread and head up the mountain again.
Nice and warm delicious bread
The many huts we see in Sani Pass
A picture with the cold wind blowing
Then, we head further up th emountain. Up there, it was really cold but the snow was perfect. The rest has a snow fight, which Iwas lucky to managed to escape untouched at all (self-satisfied grin). I have only one word to describe the landscape - barren. I wonderd how do people live up there and I was really glad that we left most of Derek's bags there for them. It must be a very difficult life.
Some pictures with the snow
Later we'd lunch at the highest pub in the world. Well for such a hard to reach place, the pub is really packed by people, probaly hiding from the cold. After being defrosted a little and it's down the mountain.
The Highest Pub in the World and the name card in case anyone is interested
Then, we headed straight for Umkomass, a small town near Durban by the coast, again, a super long bus ride awaits us. When we finally reached there, the hostel that we are putting up with looked liek an animal graveyard. There's animal, animal and animal everywhere and they are most definitely no longer kicking. I think the owners must have took the safari theme too much to heart.
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