South Africa
- SPAM
First
off, we climbed to the top of Table Mountain today and Leigh is feeling
a little worse for wear.
Anyhoo. Here we are in South
Africa. We flew into Jo'burg on Monday morning, arriving at around
7 am. Of course, with careful planning we were out of that god foresaken
city by 1pm the same day. Phew!! Talk about prejudiced!
We left on the train and came straight down to Cape Town. The ride was 25 hours and we had our own little cabin all to ourselves.
The trip was great, we had a shower on the train with hot water and a nozzle that was attached to the wall. The toilet had a seat and even had toilet paper. Oh, and the view from the shower window was spectacular. Of course, a close second to these highlights was checking out South Africa (the Karoo in particular) slowly roll by our window. It was great.
Secondly, Leigh had his Oakleys stolen while we were on the metro train. Not from a bag or anything, but whilst they were covering his eyes!!
So what she is trying to say is that the little "bugger" reached over behind me and pulled the things off my face and then jumped out the door. In my defence, I knew that if we were to get something stolen, it would be on the public transport system. We both always have eyes on each others stuff, and an arm or leg wrapped around the strap of our bags. Who would have thought the little pricks would actually steal the sunglasses off my face. That's why we have paid NRMA a bundle I guess! *grin* It's just a pain I have spent all the time since squinting (more than usual).
So far, the "Big Five" has eluded us nicely. Of course, we haven't heard of them being in suburban Cape Town, even if we try to pretend that huge mountain in the middle is "Deep Dark Africa" (it was fun to go Safariing in the bush!! Safer than the goddamn trains anyway). We have of course seen our share of insect life, birds and a few furry rodent type animals. Not the trophies we were hoping to get, but our stay here is young.
This weekend we head up to Worcester to do a couple of weeks work there. We should be able to get a nice handle on the Flora of Southern Africa. We think we may have internet access there so you might get a visit from us soon!!
After
that we have discovered that we head along the coast towards Durban and
then head into the Mountains near the Lesotho, Zwazulu border. We
are doing work with an NGO in Matatiele, a very small town hidden up there.
We will be helping out with a "Working For Water" project up there which
is basically working on a control strategy of exotic trees and so on that are
sucking all the water. We will apparently help develop plans and
monitor (and report on) the progess of work underway. We are fairly
excited about it all, it should be good. The best part being, we
don't have to teach english!!
Not much else to say really.
We have enjoyed doing the touristy thing here, loved wasting the time of
the local constabulary and dragging our sorry arses up the side of a mountain
(we got the cable car down by the way. The 1000m descent was a lot
quicker, and easier than the ascent).
We are, however, a bit saddened by the continuing anemosity between the blacks and whites - of course mainly because of the whites. Most of them are still bigots, though you find one here and there who are not like that at all. We met a woman yesterday who is a regular icon for abused children and so on. She was wonderful, she does a lot of work with the victims and trying to stop child prostition and abuse, both of which are rife here in SA. We are sure that when we get back her name will be glaring out at us everywhere we look, she is very much "in your face" *grin* and doing wonderful things. The stories she has to tell are horrific, and you know it's an ongoing drama. I guess that's why travel makes you appreciate home huh? (*sniff* "I still call Australllliaaaaaaa hoooooooome")
So, once again we go bush, but you can always hope that we will be in contact soon.....
Love and kisses from Nicole and Leighroy.
Our names are Bill and Ben (the Flowerpot
Men) and we had the good fortune to meet Nicole and Leighroy when they
came to the Karoo Botanic Gardens in Worcester. We stayed with them
while they were in Worcester, though they have left now. They asked
us to write to you on their behalf to keep you informed on their travels.
We are Bill and Ben the Flowerpot
Men and this is the story of Leighroy and Nicole.
As we said, they have left Worcester now, and are back in Cape Town - where there is no bloody free email.... They hate that.
They hope that you all had a great Easter (even though you are still having it).
They
spent some time up in the hills clearing some paths for the people here
at the Gardens. This way, noone will get lost like they did when
they went up there the first time. They also got to play with a Brush
Cutter - and everyone knows that small internal combustion engines make
jobs more fun for boys - Leighroy had a ball.
They had a lovely picnic one day - munching on boiled eggs and sipping some great local wine - it was all very decadent, we weren't alowed to come along however, more's the pity. They also had a barbecue (we call it a Braii here in South Africa) where they had some fish and kebabs. Scrumptous they tell us!
There was lots of wild babboons on the roads when they went back to Cape Town, as the hills were burnt. They hung out of the car like honky tourists - it was quite a spectacle. They said it was different to Australia as People weren't swerving to hit the animals.
We
have made it to Matatiele, about 30km east of Lesotho and the Drakensberg
mountains. It is quite high, about 2000m. We are doing office work at the
moment as it is the end of financial year and then we will start up our
projects again hopefully next week. The fieldwork strangely coincides
with the start of snowfall. Apparently it should be snowing here by the
end of the month and it settles about a foot deep.
We went and looked at a couple of the project sites on the weekend. We had to take a 4X4 to get there, as the roads are quite bad, and end up being a little better than cattle tracks. It took us nearly 2 hours to get near the Lesotho border. A couple of sites are right below the Drakensberg range and is quite spectacular. We took a picnic lunch, and as usual it started to rain as soon as we opened the lunch box. But very nice.
We are going to go to a concert on the weekend. At Underberg (under mountain) on this guy’s farm he has been holding this folk gathering every year for ten years. Apparently the folk is getting more rock. The place is about an hour’s drive north and is right under the cliffs near the Sani pass. It goes for 4 days, and apparently you should watch for what might be placed in your food that you buy from the stalls. We know a lawyer who had to bail a few of his friends out of court when they were picked up for possessing dagga on their way there.
It seems that every place we stay at here puts on a BBQ for the Aussies. It is fantastic. The guy’s place we had the BBQ on has some escaped prisoners on it a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately they weren’t home, but they stabbed their dog right through its leg and tied their neighbor up.
We passed through some villages on our way to the sites and the people there are a lot friendlier than most, waving and smiling (and asking for money). Some did need some prompting with us waving first. There have cool patterns painted on their rondavels (round houses, as apposed to squaredavels) and patterns on the walls printed in the clay.
We have decided to do the tourist thing and go to Kruger N.P. as we would be mad to be here and not do it. It’s a quick 4 day round trip from Jo’Burg (So we will have to stay there an extra few days, as the bus time table does not let you do it any other way. The trip goes Mon, Wed, and Fri, and the bus doesn’t run Sun, Tues, and Thurs. Scammers). We trip around in the park in a car and we get to go to a private sanctuary, which will be cool.
Timon and Pumba
Yebbo everyone, Howzit?
Our names are Ig and Ook and we had the good fortune to meet Nicole and Leighroy when they came to Matatiele. We decided to play with them whilst they were in the area. They have asked us to write to all of you on their behalf to keep you informed on their travels.
We are Ig and Ook, and this is the story of Nicole and Leighroy. (we are South African so we apologise for some of our colloquial expressions)
Well, here they are for their last few days in Marvellous Matatiele. Quite soon they will be going to Durban, then to Johannesburg, and then to KRUGER NATIONAL PARK. They are fully aware of the tourist status of Kruger, but they don’t care, they MUST see a Rhino. We will, however, briefly outline all the beasts they have seen whilst by their little old lonesome whilst either walking through nature reserves, riding a pushy through nature reserves, driving a car through nature reserves, or running really bloody fast on account of fear through nature reserves..
All manner of Wildebeests (Black and
some others)
Buffalo (they saw them out where
they roam. Actually, in addition the deer and the antelope were at
play)
Elan
Springbok (not the football team)
Impala
Heaps of other brands of bouncy mammals
Baboons
A variety of monkeys
Zebra
A trout
Lots of birds (Black Eagles, Kites
and so on. You know, real birds, birds of prey)
Nice Lizards
Cute little Frogs (mostly Ranidella
(sp.?) Mick)
OK. That last one was from Leigh. We thought he was a bit strange with his affection of frogs, but that has nothing to do with us.
During their time at Matatiele Nicole and Leigh were well looked after (it’s starting to sound like an obituary) by Maluti Water people. Every weekend they had a vehicle so that they could gallivant off around the countryside. They were both suitably chuffed with the notion that for the first time they could say they just “ducked out of the country for the weekend”. International travel has never been so easy (in fact, passport control at the border is only an optional extra).
The first weekend in Matatiele was spent lazing around the temporary residence they had acquired thanks to David and Cindy. Two lovely rondavels connected with a hallway, totally self contained (and a quaint thatch roof). A quick trip into the Bhundu (bush) was also taken that weekend.
The
following weekend was the giant Lesotho expedition.
Climbing into their weekend’s vehicle (Toyota LandCruiser Troopy) they
headed north(ish) towards the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho. This country
has the highest lowest point in the world, not a bad effort. The
views from up there are Larny! (that means good). They did a lot
of walking that weekend, with the possibility they accidentally walked
back into South Africa, so they can now also add illegal immigration to
their list! They walked all day and say some nice things, including
a stunning waterfall that had a 60 foot sheer drop. It was nice.
Lekker Waterfall. (nice waterfall). They
inform
us that the best part of this weekend was the fact that after humping a
cumbersome tent around the place for two and a half months, they finally
got to sleep in it! And they remembered all the bells and whistles
for it. A very happy moment.
So back to Matatiele they went for
another weeks work. This work, by the way, involved mapping, modelling
and research. Anyway, work is dull, we’re here to tell you about
the good stuff.
The following weekend they hopped
in their Land Rover for the Hippy Festival in Underberg. This was
a music festival on some guys farm. He has been running this thing
for a while and this was the tenth year, it just keeps getting bigger.
There were three stages and lots of music
from 10 in the morning until really quite bloody late. The music
was actually pretty good, and of course, there was plenty of beer.
One bartender asked them where they were from and of course, they said
“AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE!!!! OI! OI! OI!!!!!”. After the guy got up
from the head butt, he asked which part of Aus, and was informed they were
from Wagga Wagga and Temora. So to their surprise this guy said that
an Aussie Oke (bloke) snotted him one in some pub in Wagga about 5 years
ago. He couldn’t remember the name of the pub but of course by default
the two little Aussie drinkers said simultaneously (in good old fashioned
Ocka Drawl) “Reckon it mighta bin Rom’s MATE! OI!” yep, he
was a giving an Aussie Oke some cheek and actually got head butted for
it. And that is how Wagga Wagga is remembered in South Africa.
After the music died, the two of them jumped in their Rover and sauntered up Sani Pass, this time entering Lesotho (pronounced lah-soooo-toooo) for merely the morning. They enjoyed a rather larny cup of coffee in the highest pub in Africa before heading down the pass again. The pass is a 4WD only pass so we think Leigh got his fill of testosterone activity, whilst they both enjoyed absolutely stunning views. After that, lunch in the Coleford Game reserve and back to Matatiele.
The next weekend was the beautiful South African Wild Coast where they went to the Mkembati Nature reserve. There was 70 km of the most disgusting dirt roads in the world to get to the coast, but both agreed it was well worth it. They stayed in a private little cottage on a point right on the beach and enjoyed some walks on the Saturday. David and Cindy also came (Hello to the new subscribers) with their pushies. On Sunday Leigh and Nicole had a couple of hours ride to some stunning waterfalls that fell into the ocean after a 40 or 50 foot drop. Lovely stuff. It was at this reserve that they saw a lot of bouncy four legged dear like things, and of course, their first siting of bona fide Wild Zebra.
Then there was the ride back along that damned road.
So, then they had another week at work, with a few exceptions.
The Working for Water Project they were working on (as it is in the past now) had a gala opening in the Madlangala Village. There was a feast, beer drinking, a visit by a helicopter carried minister, and lot’s of singing, dancing and that high pitched LALALALALALALALALALALA that the women seemed so fond of doing.
In order to get a real good feel of rural life in Southern Africa, and in the true spirit, the two little Aussies bustled two REALLY fat sheep onto the back of a tiny Nissan 1400 and headed off into the bush. When they drove into the village there was quite a bit of that LALALALALALA business, and we think they both blushed furiously.
But anyway, their two sheep were carried off to be slaughtered with the other 6 sheep and the cow and they floated around taking photos and generally being harassed. Piles of meat, gizzards and skin were lying everywhere, and the dogs were having a field day with the blood but amongst the macabre gore the people set up a couple of tents and cooked the meat (and gizzards) for the next day. The elders snuck off into their tent to gorge on their prised liver bits as it is the most lekker bit if all (best bit).
All of a sudden Nicole and Leigh were thanked once more for all they had done for the project and the opening and were told to sit at a special little table. They were told by the chief type person that the livers were savoured by everyone and usually eaten only by elders. They were then told that in order to thank us, they had a special sheep that was a gift from the chiefs daughter killed in a special way and the special liver removed and cooked (only partially it seemed) in order to graciously give to the two Aussies.
So when the liver was placed in from of them, without a moments hesitation, with the zeal of long time liver lovers, the Aussies tucked in and devoured the lot. Well, Nicole gagged on the second mouthful, Leighroy got half his plate down before Nicole asked him to eat some of hers so her plate looked empty. Lucky he’s a Pig!
So that was the slaughter. The next day they made their way out to the actual feast and sat through dull, poorly disguised politically aligned speeches and ate roast meat off the ground (it was on trays though) until they were content. They even tried UmQumbothi (pronounced with a click where the Q should be), a traditional Xhosa beer made from mealy meal (corn). They likened it to drinking a thick liquid that is corn, burnt wood and dirty water, mixed together and allowed to rot in the sun and then consumed with gusto. Pretty vile stuff, but they were happy they tried it. It was apparent why it was suggested they line their stomachs with milk and fat before they drink it – possibly a tad conservative however, perhaps corrugated tin would be a better insulator against this stuff.
So
then they danced, took more photos, and eventually left with a little regret,
it was a fun place with fun people.
This weekend just gone…. What did they do… We hardly saw them. They slept. They took the dog for a run. Rode the motor bike up a nearby mountain for fantastic views during lunch (they didn’t even fall off, they said something about Myles being proud) and slept some more. The hammock they bought in Thailand was strung up and well used. Oh and they slept some more.
Tomorrow they get on a bus to go to Durban. Then to Jo’Burg for a couple of nights and then four luxurious days in Kruger National Park where they hope to see some American Tourist get mauled by a Warthog or something exciting like that. Shortly after, it’s off to Amsterdam and the rest of Europe. It’s be sad to see them go, we wish we could go to…
Love,
Ig and Ook.
We departed Matatiele, and headed north towards the infamous Jo'burg. This place was much better the second time around, we were a lot more comfortable with our fear. It is strange come from a country where a concealed weapon is an offence, to go to this country where it is an offence not to have the Magnum '45 tucked under your jumper. A lot easier to Police this law we guess. We stayed in the flash new part of town where we were allowed to 'comfortably' walk around at night. We took off after a few days and checked out Kruger National park. A bit quiet on the animals behalf and the grass was incredibly long from the rain. A bit difficult to see the animals, but there were lots of Impalas (sometimes called AFI....). It was a camping trip and we had to help with cooking and cleaning. We saw a Zebra that had been attacked the previous night by a cat. It had a huge slash in it's ass where the cat had been hanging off.
Lots of Huge birds everywhere, Monkeys,
elephants and so on. One night we stayed at a private reserve and
got to drive around in an open 4WD. First thing on the agenda was
to check on a couple of lions that had killed a female giraffe that morning
-her offsping was hanging around and
was likely to be taken by the hyenas that smelt the kill. It was
amazing to be only 5m away from these fat cats taking it in turns to gorge
on meat they had no room for in their fat, fat bellies. It was sort
of cute how an animal that big and scary would grunt like an old man sitting
down in from of the telly when it was their turn to have a snooze.
Excellent to be there.