SOUTH AFRICA, Drakensberg Mountains

Drakensberg Mountains

2/14-2/17

My most anticipated stop on the route from Cape Town to Johannesburg, the Drakensberg Mountains. Our home for these 3 nights was the highly recommended Amphitheater Lodge. It was beautiful but not in the mountains but at the base instead. The first tour involved going to the small but highest country in the world, Lesotho. It is the highest country because its lowest elevation is 1000 meters (3200 feet). It is completely surrounded by South Africa. We drove up to the border, got our visa stamp and headed to a local school to meet the teachers and children. Afterwards we hiked for 1.5 hours up to view the back of the Amphitheater Mountain and surrounding valleys. Then we hiked down to a local village where we drank the local beer that had been fermented for 5 days. Okay. Then we visited a local medicine man and had some local food. Enjoyable day.

The next tour involved hiking to the highest waterfall in Africa , the Tugela Falls which fall for 3100 feet, claimed to be second highest in the world. We began our day of hiking in the rain and it rain, not hard but constant, for the entire 5 hrs. We finally made it to our summit of 3121 meters or about 10,000 feet and were able to stand near the top of the falls. Unfortunately we were not able to see but a few hundred feet of the falls. The highlight or low light of the trip was when we had to climb down 2 steel ladders in the rain on the edge of a cliff. The first one was about 25 feet and while scary, it was not too imposing. However, the second one was 75 feet long on the side of a very steep cliff. The only other way to get back down was to go all the way back by yourself. Not really sure how I did it but concentrated on the moment and making sure my feet and hands were secure at all times. Did I mention it was still raining.  

SOUTH AFRICA, Durban (Aquarium, largest in Africa)

Durban, South Africa

February 13, 2013

Spent the night in Durban on a mandatory Baz Bus stop. Durban is one of the largest cities in South Africa with a large Indian population. Beautiful beaches and the largest aquarium in Africa, which I took advantage of. The aquarium that housed all of the sea animals was built inside a huge ship that now on land and had been refitted to house the aquarium. The outside venues included stadium pools for dolphin shows and seal shows. There were also other exhibits such as the penguins.

SOUTH AFRICA, Bulungulu

Bulungula

2/10-2/13

Took the Baz Bus to Mthatha to catch the shuttle for the 2.5 hr bumpy road to the tribal lodge of Bulungula. Upon arriving at the Shell station we were pointed to small pickup truck with a cab on the back. 8 of us climbed into that small truck and our patience was tested over the next 2.5 hrs on some of the bumpiest roads I have ever encountered.

The lodge itself was in a beautiful location on a hill overlooking a river that runs into the oceans at least until high tide when the ocean runs into the river. The lodge runs on solar power completely and we even had internet. The bungalows were either private or dorms. We had 8 beds in our dorm. The toilets were concrete and of the outhouse variety, but 6 stalls , no wait. The shower were unique and involved sticking toilet paper up a metal tube, pouring parafin in the tube and lighting it. The fire would last 6-8 minutes and that is how long u would have warm water.