We left Lesotho and right away reentered teh world of fencing with every propoerty fenced to protect it. We headed towards Port Elizabeth and ended up driving for 8 hrs through 2000m mountain passes with really good roads so Chris oozed F1 driver attitude... Luckily no police in sight!
The mountain passes opened up to the planes of the northern cape - the astonishing fact is that there are 100s of kms of uninhabited land. Reminded us of Texas Hill country but with mountains... Very dry and rugged bushes....
We slept one night in Oudtschoon which is the world capital of Ostrich! Started out in the 1800 for its feathers ended up today for its meat... We then followed on and slept in Swellendam at a historical home.
4 days left, two more days in the winelands with 5 important regions to visit: Franschoek, Swartland, Stellenbosch, Robertson and Paarl.
We only have time to explore three and will keep Swartlandand Franschoek for our next trip. Interestingly enough a couple of days here have turned into a business opportunity to import south african wines to Texas - a practically non-existing offering today with Texans little or not aware that South Africa even produces wine....
The cape is definately alot more colonial in feel - with lots of European decents spending their money and the rest serving them....
We dined twice at the Bosman restaunrant which is part of the Grande Roche hotel - the chef, Christophe was inspiring. He is young and dynamic, someone we want to follow in the future, he is destined for grestness - we would not be surprised if he ended up running one of the top tables in the world.
Today on the menu : Rust en Vrede and most likely Klein Constancia wineries
Wednesday, 5 February 2014
Sunday, 2 February 2014
Islamangaliso Wetlands - Dutban and Lesotho
It's been a while since we posted but in Lesotho we have no cell phone reception and no Internet! What a horror!! We made an uneventful, for once, journey to St-Lucia, a very small village packed with hostels, lodges and hotels for tourists just like us that come to visit he world heritage site that is the Isimangaliso Wetlands! We did a quick safari that afternoon and saw plenty of Hippos up close, giraffes, black and white rhinos, Buffalos, water bucks and kudus.
We decided to stay two nights and reserved for the next morning at 8am estuary kayaking with a guide and sea turtle watch on the beach for that evening. We arrive for kayaking and the guide, Justin, quickly suggests we should rebook as the water was too turbulent which can cause for our cheap kayaks to topple over and there are too much ' danger ' in the water.... We agree and give him a ride back to the village asking him for some ' danger ' stories... He said : nothing bad except once a crocodile bit a lady and they had to rush her to the hospital... Another time, a hippo tried to flip them over by going under the kayak and pushing it up.... And regularly crocodiles bite the kayaks, but we should stay calm.... In retrospect we are happy we didn't go!
We ended up spending a part of the afternoon shopping for an animal skins ( kudu, zebra and giraffe ) were available and legal to bring back. But we ended up finding them much cheaper on EBAY! So no animal skin in our living room for now and to explain to the US customs.....
The turtle watching - an Isuzu Turbo Diesel picked us up at our lodge ( which by the way was stunning ) at 4pm and returned us turtle less at 11pm.... We saw no turtles, no hatchlings, just a few broken eggs.... We did see, however a huge amount of wildlife right on the road in the dark suck as hippos crossing the roads with young ones, Buffalos and plenty of waterbuck sans kudus... Turtles as well!!
We headed the next day to Durban and to our surprise, we loved Durban! Everyone said skip Durban - it's ugly and boring.... We stayed at the Concierge Boutique hotel and spent the day wandering the streets. 90% of all Indians live in Durban so it's the place for a curry and other evolved South African dishes. We headed to Ushaka Marine World and visited one of the largest indoor Aquarium in the world. We also tried to find the Indian market with spices, and meat hanging upside down... But we got here too late! We saw 'colored people' which are the mixed between Africans and whites which during Apartheid were considered second class above the Africans. Durban was surprisingly very evolved in terms of architecture, design and urbanism... We would come back :)
People here still refer to others by their races which is quite disturbing but it seems to be the way.
We left Durban around 8 am and headed for Lesotho!!! We did not gets topped by the cops BUT got flashed by a speeding camera :) the route to Lesotho was magnificent with curbs and mountains - took us 7 hrs and as so a s we entered Lesotho - it started raining!!!
Lesotho - the unfenced country ( meaning there are no fences ) is loved by motorbikes and hikers for its accessibility. You can hike and bike anywhere, anytime at no cost! It is also the least evolved country we have ever visited with little electricity and no water works. The Basuthu people live off the land us tilting donkeys to carry their bags, horses to travel longer distances, lamb for wool, sheep for food and cows for dowry. ( 12 cows buys you a wife ) they still live in traditional huts made out of cow dung and rocks... They eat Maize ( corn ), pumpkins and make beer and lots of Marijuana!!!! What a life!
We decided to live it up and do two days of Pony trekking ( it's a horse but they call it a pony??? ) with a half ass saddle and a very dirt and bing horse.... We had 6 hrs of ridding to go , sleep in a village and 7 hrs to return to the Malealea Lodge ( $29 a night is very luxurious in Lesotho ).
The scenery was the most beautiful we have ever seen and non accessible by car so we know it's special. The horses knew the way but it was quote scary at times near cliffs and going downs or up steep mountains with the horse slipping and hesitating... We saw thunderstorms coming around 3pm and had to stop in as mall village with Chris made the 20 kids believe he was Jet Li! We ended up staying isn't that village in a small round cow dung hut wit a tiny very dirty mattress, lice, ticks two large rats and the gastro for Isabelle , throwing up in the corn field in the back of the hut until 3 am ! We cooked a rougaille de saumon with a paraffin stove and a candle :) ahhh the adventures... We left the village with all the kids and adults waiting outside our hut wondering what tourists do.... It was good!
And now we are not he road again heading for The Cape our last week has started and already the bought a of heading back home are creeping in, thinking... It's too soon,,, wait... Make it last longer !!
We decided to stay two nights and reserved for the next morning at 8am estuary kayaking with a guide and sea turtle watch on the beach for that evening. We arrive for kayaking and the guide, Justin, quickly suggests we should rebook as the water was too turbulent which can cause for our cheap kayaks to topple over and there are too much ' danger ' in the water.... We agree and give him a ride back to the village asking him for some ' danger ' stories... He said : nothing bad except once a crocodile bit a lady and they had to rush her to the hospital... Another time, a hippo tried to flip them over by going under the kayak and pushing it up.... And regularly crocodiles bite the kayaks, but we should stay calm.... In retrospect we are happy we didn't go!
We ended up spending a part of the afternoon shopping for an animal skins ( kudu, zebra and giraffe ) were available and legal to bring back. But we ended up finding them much cheaper on EBAY! So no animal skin in our living room for now and to explain to the US customs.....
The turtle watching - an Isuzu Turbo Diesel picked us up at our lodge ( which by the way was stunning ) at 4pm and returned us turtle less at 11pm.... We saw no turtles, no hatchlings, just a few broken eggs.... We did see, however a huge amount of wildlife right on the road in the dark suck as hippos crossing the roads with young ones, Buffalos and plenty of waterbuck sans kudus... Turtles as well!!
We headed the next day to Durban and to our surprise, we loved Durban! Everyone said skip Durban - it's ugly and boring.... We stayed at the Concierge Boutique hotel and spent the day wandering the streets. 90% of all Indians live in Durban so it's the place for a curry and other evolved South African dishes. We headed to Ushaka Marine World and visited one of the largest indoor Aquarium in the world. We also tried to find the Indian market with spices, and meat hanging upside down... But we got here too late! We saw 'colored people' which are the mixed between Africans and whites which during Apartheid were considered second class above the Africans. Durban was surprisingly very evolved in terms of architecture, design and urbanism... We would come back :)
People here still refer to others by their races which is quite disturbing but it seems to be the way.
We left Durban around 8 am and headed for Lesotho!!! We did not gets topped by the cops BUT got flashed by a speeding camera :) the route to Lesotho was magnificent with curbs and mountains - took us 7 hrs and as so a s we entered Lesotho - it started raining!!!
Lesotho - the unfenced country ( meaning there are no fences ) is loved by motorbikes and hikers for its accessibility. You can hike and bike anywhere, anytime at no cost! It is also the least evolved country we have ever visited with little electricity and no water works. The Basuthu people live off the land us tilting donkeys to carry their bags, horses to travel longer distances, lamb for wool, sheep for food and cows for dowry. ( 12 cows buys you a wife ) they still live in traditional huts made out of cow dung and rocks... They eat Maize ( corn ), pumpkins and make beer and lots of Marijuana!!!! What a life!
We decided to live it up and do two days of Pony trekking ( it's a horse but they call it a pony??? ) with a half ass saddle and a very dirt and bing horse.... We had 6 hrs of ridding to go , sleep in a village and 7 hrs to return to the Malealea Lodge ( $29 a night is very luxurious in Lesotho ).
The scenery was the most beautiful we have ever seen and non accessible by car so we know it's special. The horses knew the way but it was quote scary at times near cliffs and going downs or up steep mountains with the horse slipping and hesitating... We saw thunderstorms coming around 3pm and had to stop in as mall village with Chris made the 20 kids believe he was Jet Li! We ended up staying isn't that village in a small round cow dung hut wit a tiny very dirty mattress, lice, ticks two large rats and the gastro for Isabelle , throwing up in the corn field in the back of the hut until 3 am ! We cooked a rougaille de saumon with a paraffin stove and a candle :) ahhh the adventures... We left the village with all the kids and adults waiting outside our hut wondering what tourists do.... It was good!
And now we are not he road again heading for The Cape our last week has started and already the bought a of heading back home are creeping in, thinking... It's too soon,,, wait... Make it last longer !!
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