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| SOUTH AFRICA TRAVEL |
MY RETURN TO SOUTH AFRICA
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Submitted by: Elizabeth Owen - 25
October, 2007
Cape Town, South Africa |
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I am a South African who has recently
returned home after spending just over ten years living and working in London. I decided
to spend my first few weeks on holiday, visiting friends and seeing parts of our beautiful
country that, I’m ashamed to say, I’d never really taken the time to see before.
My journey started with a weekend at the Hluhluwe Mfolozi Game Reserve. It is quite
incredible to think that this enormous conservation area, set in the heart of Zululand and
home to the Big 5 is only a few hours drive from a major city like Durban. We set off
early in the morning to ensure that we would get a fair amount of game viewing in before
the heat of the day hit and the animals retreated into the shade! Unfortunately for us the
weather had other plans and the mercury was up in the 40’s by about 8am!
We were however very lucky. The amount of game we saw was incredible. Rounding a corner we
nearly drove straight into a young elephant. The size of these pachyderms is overwhelming
- and he was just a baby! We sat for ages, just watching him as he stood under a tree,
flapping his giant ears to keep cool. Around the next corner was another ellie - this time
standing in a shallow pool and spraying himself with mud and water to protect himself from
the harsh sun. Thank goodness for digital cameras - I would hate to think how many rolls
of film I’d have gone through, just taking shots the young guy enjoying a splash!
I would recommend Hluhluwe iMfolozi to anyone. What a great park - we saw so much game.
From the treat of seeing not two but three elephants, we also saw zebra, hyena, rhino,
eland, baboon, warthog and crocodile. And all of this is just the space of a few hours. By
2pm we were exhausted - it had been an early start and the car air conditioning was not
managing to cool the day down at all. We drove to our accommodation which was a Lodge set
on a slight hill, giving fantastic views of the surrounding parkland. The self catering
accommodation was very comfortable with 3 double en suite bedrooms, kitchen, dining room,
lounge (with DSTV), bar area, deck and Jacuzzi. Not bad for bush living! On arrival
at the lodge we were greeted by at least 100 nyala grazing on the lawn. What a sight!
We had a late lunch and then an afternoon snooze before being collected at about 5pm for
our night drive. The drive is normally about two hours long but our driver took us out for
a bit longer and thank goodness he did - on our return journey we had the privilege of
seeing 5 lion; 2 lionesses and 3 cubs! What a magical moment. There are only about 300
lion is the 96 000 hectare park and we had managed to see 5 of them! Typically my digital
camera battery ran out just as we spotted the lion (perhaps there is something to be said
for film!) but I will remember that sight for a long time to come.
On arriving back at the lodge, a fire had been lit outside and the braai was just about
ready - what a perfect end to a perfect day. Waking up the next morning we breakfasted on
the deck with a giraffe feeding about 25m away from us. This is Africa!
As a ‘welcome home’ present I was surprised with a gift of a microlight flight.
This is not for the fainthearted but what an awesome way to see the beautiful Dolphin
Coast. After taking off we flew about 2kms over the sugarcane until we reached the
beach and then flew out beyond the shark nets. It was quite amazing to see how clear the
sea is - even from the height we were at; I managed to spot a turtle swimming! A bit of a
daredevil moment came when the pilot made a severe drop and skimmed down to fly at what
felt like centimetres above the golden sand! As I said, not for the fainthearted but well
worth it.
So, after spending a few days on the Dolphin Coast and in Zululand
it came time to move on to Durban. I spent a lot of my youth in Durban, and there is
something special about returning to a city that you are familiar with. Luckily for me I
was in town over a weekend so on Saturday we joined the thousands of other Sharks fans as
they made their way to the ABSA Stadium to support their local team. South Africans are
sports mad and are always pleased when their team is winning so the Shark Tank was a great
place to be as the Sharks took another step forward in their quest to win the Super 14
title.
Time was running out so I packed my bags and headed to possibly my favourite place in
South Africa; the Natal Midlands. A very
good friend of mine lives in Nottingham
Road, and it is just such a pretty part of the country. Notties has grown from a tiny
village to being a central part of the Midlands
Meander. I booked into Braemar Cottage which is set in stunning grounds and then
headed out to The Junction to some shopping. The Junction is a group of shops and
restaurants … there are lots of tasty things on offer, both to eat and to purchase.
My brother joined me at this point in my holiday, and unfortunately we only had enough
time for an overnight stay in Nottingham Road. We packed up and started on the short 72km
drive to Loteni in the Drakensberg.
We had spent many happy holidays in Loteni so this area always has a special place in my
heart. After stopping at the reservations office we checked into our self catering
bungalow and unpacked. The ‘Berg is just beautiful - the mountains are majestic and
it seems like life hasn’t changed there for generations. We’d arrived in the
late afternoon and because the weather changes so quickly in the Drakensberg, we thought
it wise to just kick back with a sundowner and enjoy the grandeur of the scenery!
The next morning we donned our hiking boots and took off along the road to our favourite
swimming spot; ‘Cool Pools’. You have to be extremely brave to jump into this
water! As the name suggests, Cool Pools is a pool - a very large, deep pool that has a
small waterfall cascading into it. Even in the middle of summer the water never has a
chance to heat up! I remember my brother jumping into this particular pool in the winter
about 20 years ago … we still talk about the look on his face when he surfaced!
However, we plucked up the courage and plunged in, as close to the waterfall as we could
get - and were spat out about 4 metres downstream. Then of course there is the tricky part
of trying to get out of the icy pool - where is the ladder when one needs it! As a child I
could spend hours in this water but on this day it was just one swim for old times sake!
We had another day at Loteni and spent the time hiking the various walks that are well
laid out and marked. It’s great to be out walking under the African sky - with no one
around for miles.
We left the Berg and drove back to Durban
in time for me to check in and board my Kulula flight to Cape Town. I
hadn’t been to the Mother City for at least ten years, so it was a real treat to be
back and to see the mountain! I’d planned to stay with friends while in the city and
we’d arranged a few fun filled outings. First off was a climb up Lions Head.
It’s a bit of tough climb, but the view over Sea Point
and out to Robben Island really is worth the effort. We had planned ahead and
had taken sundowners with us … so we sat and watched the sun go down over the
Atlantic before making our way back down again.
The next day we made our way to the Kirstenbosch
Gardens for a concert! I’ve watched concerts at Wembley Stadium in London - but I
think I far prefer Kirstenbosch! The gardens are just magnificent and the concert vibe is
great with people filling the grass banks that roll down to the stage, with the mountain
looming overhead. I will definitely be going back when the concerts begin again in the
summer.
My final day in Cape Town was spent driving up the West
Coast to see the wild flowers in the West Coast
National Park. What an amazing sight - the flowers were just beautiful and blanketed
huge areas of ground. After driving around the park for a few hours we stopped at the
beach and had a picnic lunch. To top what had already been a perfect day we spotted two
whales and a school of dolphins swimming in the bay. What a way to end off my holiday.
I am so pleased to be back in our beautiful Rainbow Nation. To see the blue skies and the
open spaces, the mountains and the sea. It is good to be home. |
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Additional info / Related Pages:
Here are a few links to places that are mentioned in Elizabeth's Trip Report.
KwaZulu Natal
The
Dolphin Coast
Drakensberg
Attractions
Natal
Midlands Attractions |
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Tours | South Africa Game
Reserves | South Africa
Attractions » |
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With 20 National Parks
(including two of the world's most famous wildlife reserves, the Kruger Park & Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park) &
numerous private game reserves, your trip to South Africa would be incomplete without
experiencing a South African wildlife safari .... |
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