Adventures of an American in SA

Aug 26th... Steve walks through the doors at Durban International, after a very long 6 weeks of anticipation and excitement! All i will say about his arrival is that my heart skipped a number of beats! :)

We spent the first 2 days in Durbs. Landed up at Warwick's (my flatmate) parent's house in Ballito the first night and a fantastic evening was had by all, esp Steve, who was introduced to the great hospitality of a true South African family and a braai... i kicked ass at pool as well! The second day's activities were dominated by a Cessna flight down the south coast to Margate and back piloted by the cousin, Shannon! It was a beautifully clear day and we could see for miles... amazing stuff! :)

Greatest house bar in the world!

On the Monday we picked up our rented car, Super Tazz and made our way up the north coast on the N2 towards Hluhluwe. We stayed at Isinkwe Backpackers Bushcamp... a beautiful setting and location right in the bush! That afternoon was spent at the Emdoneni Cheetah Project up the road from the hostel to watch and participate in the feeding of Cheetahs and a few other wild cats... it was wild!

5am wake up call the next morning... safariing we shall go! After a very cold 30km ride on the back of an open safari truck we arrived at the entrance of Hluhluwe Game Reserve for a full day of wildlife watching! Within the first hour of the safari we saw Rhino, Zebra, a variety of buck, Wildebeest, Buffalo, Giraffe, Baboons and i'm sure there were many more! Steve was loving all the photographic opportunities as he is a very keen photographer and very good at it i might add! The rest of the day was a bit of a disappointment, all the wildlife seemed to go into hiding and our tour guide (nicknamed potato head by Steve and i) seemed to go to sleep! As the afternoon rolled on, the clouds rolled in and so did the rain! Another cold 30km ride back to the lodge lay ahead of us but this time with a few rain drops. It was a great and tiring day, great photos were taken and every animal except Lion, Leopard and Elephant were seen! We spent the evening enjoying a few drinks, a good meal and a game of darts (which i won... again!)


Wednesday morning dawned, we packed up the Super Tazz again and made our way to St Lucia! I was really looking forward to this part of the trip because i'd never been to St Lucia! We arrived and checked in at Bibs with gale force winds blowing us to all parts (later heard that the Durban Harbour had been closed because of the wind and swells). Because of the winds all 'normal' St Lucia activities had been cancelled so after enjoying a cup of Illy coffee, much to Steve's delight, we took a drive up to Cape Vidal! What a beautiful beach, even with the wind blowing like it was it was amazing! The drive up to Cape Vidal is made through a game reserve, we saw a few buck and a lonely Rhino. On the way back Steve decided to take the now famous 'loop road' which just seemed to be this endless road of nothingness... you had to be there!

Me outside Bibs in St Lucia

Cape Vidal... ain't it beautiful

Our night in St Lucia was spent with the fellow travellers staying at Bibs, we spent the evening drinking beer and whisky, watching the local church group sing a few traditional songs and then made our way in the pouring rain to the local pub, i think it was called the Cheeky Monkey... an awesome evening was had by all, hanging out with fellow travellers rocks! Next morning we awoke to pouring rain and headaches! After another cup of Illy coffee and a delicious breakfast we took a drive down to the estuary and watched a large group of hippos and a couple crocs frolic in the waters... very entertaining! :)


We arrived back in Durbs later that afternoon and Warwick took us out for a good ol Durban curry! It was another early morning the next morning as we made our way to Cape Town! To be continued... :)

Just to end off, I have to apologise for the over use of the word 'and' and thank Steve for all the great photos!