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.