Did anyone see a turtle?
Sand Tiger Shark (aka Raggies) approx 3 meters (10 feet)
Crusin Africa!
A Lesotho village
Botsoela Waterfall
Peacocks mating
Kudus fighting
Juvenile elephants playing in the water
Domala!
This past week has been so full of interesting experiences that it could easily have been a month for us; not to mention, having travelled 1800km (1100 miles) in our rental car. As we are in South Africa for the next two weeks, I'll tell you a bit about Lesotho. Lesotho unfortunately does not have much to offer. Yes it is one of Africa's smallest countries and has the least to do from what we have seen, however and this is a big HOWEVER; the scenery is possibly the best in Southern Africa! Lesotho is a mountainous country staying above 1000 meters (3300 feet) allowing stunning views. We attempted to see almost every place in our guidebook for Lesotho and on most occassions, left saying you must be kidding. The towns, while dumpy, which we are fine with, do not really offer anything to a tourist. The way to enjoy Lesotho is to experience its nature!
As mentioned for Swaziland, the houses and agriculture is far more developed than in the other countries we have visited north of here. The farms we have seen in the countryside are all very small and run by a family. The families do not need to buy the land to build a house or farm, however, submit a request to the village chief who would typically approve it. They grow corn, wheat, potatoe, beatroot, cabbage, and squash. Most will use cattle to till the fields, however some will rent tractors. The chief will teach the new farmers about agricultural techniques.
As a result, the people of rural Lesotho, seem better off than most we have seen. The huts they have, will often be made of brick, sometimes have tin roofs, and also have windows. The huts in the poor villages for example in Malawi would not have these luxuries, using reeds for a roof over the mudhut. Another surprising thing about Lesotho's villages are they seemed much more clean than other places in Africa, and the Malealea villages were completely void of trash.
Our path: Durban > Clarens (SA) > Lesotho (everywhere) > Addo
Sunday - Brai Party: Durban is a great city - such a fun time and we were very happy to be back in the first world enjoying the amenities of life! We stayed just off of Florida Street, possibly the coolest area in Durban. That night, the hostel organised us a Brai - which is Afrikaans (one of South Africa's languages) for BBQ. We just needed to buy our meat, so we walked up Florida Road and bought nice steaks and had an excellent feast that night, partying with a heap of South Africans.
Monday - Bunny Chow: Monday was our tour around Durban. After visiting the Lesotho embassy working on how to get Marina a visa, we headed to the Indian area and enjoyed a local Durban Indian speciality - called Bunny chow. I've never seen this anywhere before, including India, but its delicious - essentially Curry in a loaf of bread. I bought the half loaf thinking I was hungry. This was a HALF loaf of bread, with chicken curry dumped in it! Oh how delicious this concept was - but all too filling. I had trouble walking later, but thankfully as we walked about 20km (13 miles) that day, I felt better! Our tour took us around City Hall, to the Ushaka marine area where we saw the spider and reptile enclosure, we also walked to Durban's new stadium and had a tour even getting to walk down to the field! As we walked along the beach going to Ushaka - we saw several humpback whales surfacing in the distance! Amazing!
Tuesday - Lion Park: We rented a car for the first time on our entire trip and the first stop was the lion park, only just north of Durban and well worth the one hour drive for the sole reason; you get to sit in your car, alone, with 11 lions! They are not wild, being in an enclosure, but they are just as likely to eat you as a wild one and we were within touching distance! The lions were very playful and two even mated! A few times we had to drive off as they came close to my window which was half opened for pictures. Later we drove to Umkomas and partied with our dive master - Chucky who was the exact replica of St. Louis' Scott Nevins!
Wednesday - Raggies Cave: A top 10 dive site of the world! We left our hotel room to a hard rain and dark grey clouds - not perfect diving weather, but hey, its what is under the water that counts. Due to the current and dumb luck, the visibility was substantially better then the day before - at around 12 meters or 40 feet. We had two dives and the second was the real deal. We dove with Ragged tooth sharks (called raggies) or also known as Sand Tiger sharks. These things whilst timid and not aggressive are MEAN (looking) with a capital M E A N! Most were about 3 meters (10 feet) and the teeth are all protruding so you see these huge shark teeth as it swims right for you, only a few feet away! Such an amazing time! We even made it to the boat with all our fingers, toes, hands and feet! During the dive we also saw turtles, cat sharks, and eels.
Thursdays - Lesotho's Highlands: We started from Clarens very early and by 08:30 we were crossing successfully into Lesotho. Our aim was to drive to the east and hire a 4x4 and guide to take us to this famous mountain pass - Sani. After two hours of driving, the road became horrendous - we continued on the gravel road for some 45km (30 miles) and even after it was one continuous pothole, we thought our 1.6 litre Kia could handle it - as this was the middle of nowhere, no phone signal, no people, well no civilisation for 45+ kilometers (30 miles), my mind wandered back to the time in Iceland with Kyri, Gabi and Matt where we were stuck next to the glacier. TIA - This is Africa! So not the best idea on where to get stuck or have two flat tires! So we decided to turn back - which is and was very painful for Marina and I, but in retrospect, a smart decision. Nonetheless, we crossed several passes over 3,000 meters (10,000ft) which I'm sure were close to as magical as the Sani pass. Our first stop in Lesotho was to see rock paintings and walked around a few huts showing the ways of life in Lesotho's villages. Our next stop was to see dinosaur footprints in a very rural area. We were able to see what we looked to be T-Rex footprints in stone - however cut the visit short for safety reasons. The rest of the day we went to the places in our guidebook, each time thinking, you must be kidding me. These places were all in towns, which as we now know, is just pointless in Lesotho. Thankfully and being slightly nervous with the night coming, we made it to the Malealea Lodge in a gorgeous countryside area.
Friday - Pony Trek: You should know me very well by now after reading this blog and firmly know I would not take a PONY ride! Well, I admit - I did, and liked it! Well it was kind of a Pony ride. If you have noticed, Pony has a capital P; why you may ask. Well the most common horse in Lesotho is the Pony breed; smaller than a normal horse, but bigger than a Mongolian horse. This Friday morning Marina and I went for our horse ride heading to the Botsoela waterfall. These horses must have been the best thus far of our trip; very obedient and fast when we wanted. Such a joy compared to the insane Colombian horses we had last May. The Malealea valley area is gorgeous and the ride provided our eyes with such colorful and mountainous scenes. The recently plowed red soil added to the spectacular views. Later in the day we arranged a walking trek through a nearby gorge and learned a lot about the Sotho people from our local guide. He was very proud of his grandfather who had lived to what he thinks is 92. Whilst this number may not be accurate by 15 or 20 years (birthdays were never kept back then in much of Africa and still is not even kept today sometimes); nonetheless, this is amazing and I think also shows how the Sotho people of Lesotho or at least in this region are living well. That night locals came to our guesthouse to play music. The instruments were interesting and inventive. They made guitars from wood with a large can on the end for a percussion. The drum was a barrel with rubber on the top and the drummer used pieces of tire for the drum sticks! They were very creative and a lot of fun to watch.
Saturday - Addo Elephant Park: We had a long long drive yesterday - the middle of Lesotho, far down a gravel road - driving to southern South Africa! Just look at Google maps! We made it to Addo Elephant park by 1:30 - maybe a land speed record! haha, just kidding mom! Addo Elephant National Park, just outside Port Elizabeth is outstanding. Armed with our own car and lots of independence, we were on our own with the animals. This park, whilst not as densely populated with big cats like the Serengeti or Kruger, was spectacular. A few of the scenes: 23 elephants by a lake, several play fighting in the water for a good hour, two young elephants charging each other, 3 lions sleeping, 2 lions on the prowl looking for dinner; a puff-adder snake crossing the road (one of the deadliest in Africa), hartebeests, zebras, kudus fighting, warthogs, and as we were leaving, worried about only having 1/8th a tank of gas, the sun bearing down on the windshield making it hard to see; a water buffalo walked from the shadow of a tree right in front of our car! I can say it was a near miss - I heard later that if you kill one with your car (I would be more worried about it killing us) you have a 450,000 Rand fine; the rate is 7 Rand to $1 so you can work it out - ouch. Thankfully we found a gas station and our guesthouse and relaxed after a long long day!
So what is next in South Africa; Storms river, Plettenberg Bay, and Knysna.
Until next time,
Dan and Marina
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