South Africa part 2

Hi everyone! This is probably the last posting of South Africa until after Tanzania. We leave to Tanzania tomorrow, March 9th and will most probably not have access to the internet until we get home on March 25th :-(((((. We still owe you our final trip in South Africa which is Eastern Cape and CapeTown (and of course Tanzania), so stay tuned!

We also want to take this opportunity to congratulate our friends Fernanda and Jos on the birth of their daughter: Julia! We're looking forward to seeing her when we get back!


Kwa-Zulu Natal
20-24 February

From Nelspruit to St. Lucia

We had much deliberation about our next destination as it was rainy in the Drakensberg area and would therefore not be able to enjoy the views. Our initial route was through the Drakensbergen, then drive to Cape Town via Freestate (Kimberly, Bloemfontein). But we decided to drive down through the west coast. First stop: St.Lucia Wetlands. The road towards St.Lucia was long and tedious, and although at first intrigued by the many zulu villages and "wildlife" (see photo) we passed along the way, even that got boring after a while. So boring that we missed a turn and ended up on a dirt road along Swaziland! Small detour which added an hour to our drive and probably ruined the car's suspension, but hey, we got to see a bit of Swaziland. Yet another country to add to our list (no stamp in our passports, but our cellphone proved we were there).



After Swaziland it was just a short trip to Amsterdam.. :-)

St.Lucia was nice, we stayed at a B&B run by a rebel that used to fight alongside Walter Sisulu in the battle against apartheid. After this era (and some time in jail) she then found her passion in preservation of the Wetlands, a.o. by closing the titanium mines. She met Nelson Mandela during this struggle.
St.Lucia is famous for its landscape and.. hippos.. yes even MORE hippos. Lisette was wondering if it was possible to eat them and solve world-hunger. They do make nice pictures though..

photo: ..... Lisette: " can you eat hippos?".....

St.Lucia also has a lovely beach at Cape Vidal where we could cool off as it was HOT HOT HOT!


Lisette was charmed by the zulu children and donated to a group that teaches them to maintain their traditions and making some money whilst doing that.

From St. Lucia to the Wild Coast

We drove down to the Wild Coast via the coastline, passing Durban along the way. We drove through Durban as quickly as we could, as it is not at all a nice city to be in. They where building the stadium for the World Cup 2010 (one of many), but we were wondering if they would be able to fix up the town in time as well.

The road through the Transkei and through Kwa-Zulu Natal (after Durban) was lively and there was lots to see along the way. Marcel summarised pieces from Nelson Mandela's book which gave an interesting insight on the South African people and what they've been through. We actually passed by the village he was born and the village he was raised and also passed the house he is currently living in (no photos). Word is Mandela is not well and they fear for his health. We hope he makes it through 2009.

10 years ago when Lisette travelled through SA, everyone was afraid to drive through what was formally known as the Transkei. They were even warned at the time to drive from Durban to East London (675 km) in one go, without stopping. They were stay on th main road and not to stop for ANYTHING as stopping would put you in danger of being robbed or worse.
Now everyone speaks full of praise about the Wild Coast and its people. It was a beautiful drive and we did NOT stay on the main road. We travelled the small roads and enyojed the spectacular scenery and met interesting people. Unfortunately the weather was not too great and we did not see much of the coast waters. We did pass some large towns along the way, which looked a bit threatening, as they were crouded with people and cars wiggeling around the streets like a mixed colony of ants ready for a meal :-).



Lisette unfortunately witnessed something traumatic which has kept her awake for a few nights: a horrible car crash of which we at first only saw the wreck on the road. It had just happend. People were standing around the heavily damaged car, discussing. But what we did not expect was that a little way behind the car-wreck lay a girl in the grass beside the road, bleeding and obviously very dead. The sight of her was probably so horrible, people had decided not to stay around the body. She had obviously either been hit by the car or thrown out of it. It was all very shocking. By the way, the photo was not made purposely, but during photographing other scenes.

We stopped making photos during the rest of the trip through the Transkei as Lisette was not feeling too well after this.