South-Africa

Part 1 – Kruger Park, Natal and the Drakensberg.

Sorry for the long wait of this blog post.

So to get to South Africa from Ko Tao, Thailand we had to take a boat to the mainland, get a taxi to the train station for an overnight train to Bangkok, then a taxi to the airport and a flight to Abu Dhabi where we waited for about 10 hours to get another plane to South Africa JHB, it was a long 2 days travelling.

Now that we are finally in SA we can relax a bit and have some home cooked food and a proper house to stay in with a kitchen and a 4 x 4 to drive with and nice bathroom (and if you are a friend of Christina's on facebook you will know how desperate she was for a bath!!).
It is great to see the family again, we also met the newest member of the family my little baby nephew Alexander. He is very cute and very big for his age. Look at the photos. This was all on the first day after landing at 5am, me and Christina drove to a family Braai (BBQ) (also my aunt and uncles wedding anniversary) on the farm. There was more family and lots of food ie 2 sheep and lots of cake. We spent the day there and also learnt of a new movie that is out in the cinemas called “District 9” that is set in South Africa so we will try and see that while we are here.
During the week we also visited the Natural history museum in Pretoria which was very interesting full of kids on a school trip though, lots of information on the cradle of humankind, we also visited Melrose house. The house is a very old mansion that was owned by a shopkeeper from Durban.
We also did a lot of window shopping because Christina couldn't find anything to wear to Alexander's christening! We already had a present so that was one problem sorted, we got him a traditional silver christening gift in the shape of an elephant, we bought it in Laos (the land of 1000 elephants)

One weekend we also went to see the Swartkop airshow, which was very cool, lots of exciting old and new planes and motorbikes. This was also the same day we went to the Blue Bulls V Sharks rugby game so everyone at the show was in rugby shirts. South Africa supports rugby like England supports football.
I wore a Blue Bulls shirt and Sharks hat and Christina had a sharks shirt and Blue bulls hat!
We also had a family party at another aunt and uncles house to celebrate my other uncle's and cousin birthday (I have a large family, my mum has 1 brother and 3 sisters, my dad has 1 brother and 2 sisters and Patrick has 2 brothers and 2 sisters!)
Back at the parents place we started planning our SA trip with Patrick's help.
We drive to the Kruger National park via Tzaneen were we stayed one night in a very nice “rondavel”. The next day we drove around some more were we visited Debengeni waterfall, which was really lovely.
We also stopped to look at The Sunland ‘Big Baobab’ is in Modjadjiskloof in Limpopo Province, which is famous internationally for being the widest tree of its species in the world. Africa is symbolised by these magnificent trees. The Sunland Big Baobab is carbon dated to be around 6000 years old
Next stop was a very odd deserted town that was off the beaten track (what Herman means is he took us the wrong way!) this town was like a movie set. No paved roads and deserted old buildings and bars. Very weird.

In a town just before the Kruger park we stocked up on alcohol, some meat and other food for the Braai as the Kruger Park is a bit expensive when you buy there.
We drove on to the park and got there about 15.00. The park closes it's main gates at 17:30 and then you have to be off the road otherwise the animals will eat you! (you can get approval to drive after this time but that's another story.....to follow!)We signed in and went to choose our spot at a camp site called Letaba.
As this is late winter in SA the sun sets earlier and by the time we got to setting up camp it was nice and dark. We got the tent up made a fire and put the steaks on, NICE. Christina was a bit scared by this point of “THE WILD”. Our tent was about 10 meters away from the fence and maybe a bit too close for comfort for her. Even more so after we saw the first Hyaena patrolling the fence looking for scraps. The Hyaenas were there every night and I must say after the first couple of nights she loved them.
Our day to day itinerary in the park was as follows; Wake up early ie 4am, make breakfast and pack our lunch we made the night before. We put the chairs and food away so the monkeys can't steal it. Then we set out at 5am on our very slow day drive. We had a list of animals that's in the park and every time we mark off what we have seen. Luckily the car had aircon because even in the winter it can get hot in the park.
At the camp site we had an electric point but its a special kind of plug that does not fit the 3 point plug (Lynds you let me down with the plug situation!) so I asked our camp neighbour if we can buy them in the park and he said he has one spare in the caravan. Our neighbours were very friendly and we had a chat with them almost every night to see what they had seen during the day. They live like 5 miles from the Kruger Park and visit very often and they have a lot of luck seeing the animals, most days they saw lions and cheetahs and leopards.
On the second day of our drive the cars steering wheel went very tight. Its supposed to be power steering and it felt more like we had a flat front tire. So as soon as we got off the dirt track onto a proper road I made sure that there are no Lions about and I jumped out (yes I am an idiot!!)(shut up Christina) and ran around the car making sure all looked ok. I concluded that the power steering must be broken. We drove to the closest camp site and I had a look under the bonnet and all the power steering fluid was gone. We then phoned my mom to tell her that her brand new Mitsubishi 4 x 4 is broken in the Kruger park. She took the news well and was not upset about it. My mom said she will phone the dealership and see what they can organise as the car is under warranty. Then my stepdad Patrick phoned to make sure we are ok and I told him I think the power steering is broken. Patrick, my mum and us and I think one of my uncles as well exchanged phone calls for the next hour until we were phoned by the car company that said they will come and pick the car up. We said we are not at our camp and asked if we could drive it back there. They said it should be ok. I thought we could drive the car to the closest town about 1 and a half hour away to get fixed but only Mitsubishi can work on the car (due to the warranty rules) and they will come pick it up that day. We drove back slowly to our camp to wait for the van that will pick up the car. By 5pm the driver had not shown up and I phoned my mum again and she phoned the car company and they said we need to organize a late entry permit at the gate for the driver. We said we will find out. At our camp reception we explained our problem and they called the people at the main gate reception who will contact the ranger and he will escort the truck in, but they could not contact the ranger all day (apparently he was asleep??).
The pick up driver had to sleep outside the main gate as we refused to pay the £120 late entrance fee, so he arrived at 6am the next morning with the real hump, expecting us to buy him breakfast (the sad part was we actually had planned to but he was such an arse we changed our minds) We had expected the replacement car to arrive early, but by 9.30 it had not so Patrick was on the phone demanding it, as we where only there a short time visiting from England etc etc... after numerous calls the opal ie vauxhall arrived at 13.30 (so almost 24 hours of waiting I was not happy) the poor guys that delivered got a real earful from us, when I asked them what time they had been asked to drop it off and they said 2 hours ago so long after they had told us it was booked and on it's way!
As soon as the documents where signed we where out animal spotting. My animal spotting book is at my sisters so I cannot say how many and when we saw what, but we saw thousands of wildebeest , zebra's and impala, hundreds of giraffes, elephants and hippos, numerous warthogs, crocodiles and Kudo's. We got the 4 x 4 back the next day and it was a great feeling to drive the pick-up again, especially as it is so high and built for the rough roads. A couple of the highlights of the park was the hyenas walking around the camp at night, the herds of elephants with there baby's and hippos just chilling.

The last night in the Kruger Park we stayed in one of the most southern camps so we can leave the park early to drive to Natal and St Lucia were we will stay for two nights before we drive down to the south coast. It took us a whole day to drive down from our camp to the last camp. On the way there we spotted some rhino's close to the road so we had to stop and just stare. They are so huge. Patrick lent us a very nice big pair of binoculars and a small pair so I was stuck with the small pair while Christina was hogging the big pair!
We got to our camp again just before closing time and quickly found a camping spot under a tree and set up the braai and then the tent. Again that night there were hyaenas around our camp. The next morning we were out of the gate at opening time so we could have a quick drive around our camp area before breakfast. We stopped at a watering hole for a bit but no luck on the lions or big game that morning. Back at camp we made some breakfast and then folded up the tent. We went for a shower and then we set of to St Lucia via a couple of hours drive through the last stretch of road out of the park. Again no lions. :(
We drove most of the afternoon through Swaziland (interesting border control here, passports look a lot like money?!) at this point Christina suddenly started panicking that her visa stamp for SA was only for one entry and exit and now she would be stuck in Swaziland, but all was ok!) into the North of Natal were St Lucia estuary is located and finally arriving at our destination around 8pm and already dark. Christina did not want to set up camp in the dark in a strange place (what Herman doesn't mention is that the camp site is in the middle of the estuary with hippos wondering through town and the camp!) so we looked around for a bed and breakfast. We phoned a couple of places and drove a round a bit but everything was full. We were there over a summer holiday, but luckily one of the people at reception gave us a number and said they might have some space. We rang the b and b and they said they have some space for us. We drove to the bed and breakfast and paid around R600 for the night. To our surprise it was a very nice log cabin suitable for 6 people. There was a kitchen, lounge bathroom and own security gate. After unloading everything went out to Wimpy but it was closed. 2 Blocks down we found a nice pizza take-away shop. While we were waiting for our pizza we watched some Zulu dances in the car park. The next morning we had some cornflakes and checked out of our room. We drove straight to the parks board to see if we can get a camping spot. I decided that we should go camp at a spot were we used to go camping when I was in high school. Its a very nice green camp ground with huge trees for nice shaded cover. We stayed there for 2 nights and Christina was very worried about the hippos walking around by the river. Luckily the camp site is guarded 24/7.
The weather was not that great unfortunately as there was lots of wind and rain every night. Its really the wrong time of year to camp at the coast because South Africa is coming into summer and that time of year its windy and rainy. But that did not stop us from going out and walking on the very windy beach and looking for the hippos in the river. You can even see the hippos on the beach and I am not talking about fatties getting a sun tan. St Lucia is also well known for fishing but due to the parks board not clearing the waters edge anymore the fishing has died down. There was a time when fishermen would stand shoulder to shoulder on the beach to try and catch some fish. I even saw a fight brake out when one guy cut the other guy's line accidentally. I was just starting out fishing in the sea and Patrick (my stepdad) said he would cast the bait into the sea for me because he didn't want me to cast the line over the other people's lines. Those fishermen can get really crazy.
The morning when we packet up camp it rained and it was a bit cold. After camp we drove the 100m to the showers and got all cleaned up with a nice hot shower. We then set off to Rockie Bay in the south coast of Natal for a weeks camping. The drive was very slow although it was highway they were working on the road. We had to drive about 5 hours and on the way we drove past some roadworks and I got a speeding ticket for going just over the 40km road speed limit. We got to our second last campsite on the coast later that day. Again we got the braai (BBQ) going and then set up camp. This camp site is on the beach but next to a train line. Luckily the train does not come past to often but as we found out it starts every morning at 5am. We did lots of driving around the South-Coast. We visited Margate, a very typical holiday town were all the students head on there break and all the last year high school kids go when they have finished matric. While sitting by the beach we saw loads of dolphins playing in the waves, unbelievably close to the beach. We also was then while driving down the along the coast. The dolphins are everywhere.

We also drove up to Durban for the day to visit Ushaka Marine world and show Christina where we used to live but again the weather was not working with us and we had a rainy day walking around the marine park. Ushaka marine world was very cool and we got to see a dolphin show and the penguins at feeding time. The best I think was the big sharks swimming around the shark tanks and the huge sea turtles. Before we went to Ushaka we had a really nice breakfast on the main beach and the we drove around the Golden mile beach area. Unfortunately there was loads of building work in the area and beach and from the looks of it they are preparing for the football world cup. After Ushaka we drove up to Pinetown and Hillcrest. We had a look around for the 1000 hills lookout point but by the time we found it it was already to dark to see, so we drove to a mall just outside Pinetown and caught a movie.

The next couple of days we just drove around some more looking at all the sites and beaches. I also did a scuba dive with some sharks but the water was very cold and the visibility was not that great but I did see some big Ragged tooth sharks and from what I have been told they are not really aggressive to humans, but I was not worried as I was too amazed to be worried.

We set off on the last part of our 3000km trip and that was a couple days camping at the Drakensbergs a couple of hours drive from the coast. We did not have a place booked and we were just driving around looking at the sites and seeing if there is a nice place for us to camp. We finally found a really nice quite place at giants castle. The camp site was empty so we were the only people camping there. The toilets walls were made out of long thin tree branches and when in the shower you can actually see the outside, it was very back to nature but amazing. We had the best camping spot with the trees behind us and a huge mountain range in front of us. You get the best feeling when you sit at you camp with the fire on and a steak on the braai with a beer in the hand and looking at the amazing sunset. The mornings again have a bank of mist coming down the hills in the valley while you have breakfast. Have a look at the pictures. I was a bit worried for being the only campers there bit it was not to bad, I guess the danger is always on your mind if you are from South-Africa. We did some hikes around our camp and even read a sign/post that said if you are hiking and camping in the mountains and if you hear people at night and see people with guns wake everybody up blow a whistle if you have one and leave the area immediately. We did not go that deep into the mountain so we were ok. Basically what they say is that people from the neighbouring country of Lesotho comes over the mountains to rob the hikers.
After our 2 days at the camp we drove the 700 odd kilometres back to Pretoria for Alexander's Christening and a nice rest before we drive down to Cape Town. On the way back we had a really bad thunder and lightning storm. We had to stop at a petrol station for a rest and to make sure its not going to hail. While we were filling up there was a massively huge lightning strike and everybody on the garage forecourt hit the ground and trying to hide (ie was that a gunshot??!) The lightning lit up the hole sky constantly for about 3 hours during the night. It was streaking all along the horizon. Really crazy. All I could think of was that I hope it does not hail because we don't want to damage my moms car. We got back to Pretoria safely and brought the car back without a scratch. (apart from the very small Kruger park tree scratches and the broken power steering)

Chile earthquake (27 Feb 2010)
Today we experienced an 8.8 magnitude earthquake while in Santiago, we are fine apart from being in a state of shock.
The city is pretty much at a standstill at the moment but they are clearing the rubble very quickly, the electricity and even the internet was back up within an hour here.
So far there has been reports of 723 people dead and thousands homeless.
We have decided to leave Chile as soon as we can for Peru.