Autor: giovanniaureel

What is a crazy bunch of people doing on a wonderful morning on the beach? Watching dolphins pass by, go snorkelling and catch crayfish, hell yeah. And – as I would call it, downhill-sanddune-running! It was on our way back to the hostel, when someone suggested that we should climb up the dunes and run down again. The dunes where quite high, maybe 60 to 80 meters and very steep. It took about 10 minutes to climb up and then you would just let go and start running downhill. Fortunately no bones were broken and we had plenty of fun.

In the afternoon we visited a crocodile farm, to see those nasty animals, which where only waiting for some stupid tourists to put an arm or leg within biting distance. There was a very funny and informative tour with a Steve Irwin look and behave alike, who would constantly use „as far as this species concerned, to explain things to the visitors.

My only intention to go to St. Lucia was to see the Hluhluwe Umfolozi National Park. Many fellow travellers had told me that it was much better then Krueger NP and since I was short in time I decided to skip Krueger NP. Hluhluwe Umfolozi is a Malaria area, just like the Krueger NP, but since it was Winter in South Africa there were no Mosquitoes and the risk of getting an infection was pretty low. And as we speak – I wasn’t bitten once during the entire three weeks in South Africa.
To get to Hluhluwe Umfolozi was an arctic nightmare, not only getting up at 3:30 am in the morning, but also sitting on an open truck and fully exposed to the wind with just a thin blanket to protect you, was a real pain in the a**. The freezing morning aside, the day in the park was breathtaking, with lots of elephants, water buffaloes, giraffes, antelopes, warthog, well, pretty much everything South Africa has to offer expect lions and leopards, which didn’t show up at all expect on postcards.

One of the activities offered at the hostel was a two hour morning walk with „Zebo“, a guy from the Transkei. But only for those who survived the drinking competition from the pervious night. It was a nice walk but we didn’t get to see lots of animals except the very common antelopes and a few zebras from the distance. Not to forget about the skeleton of a hippo. Afternoon was beach time, including the usual beach-games, some swimming and plenty of exhausting tanning in the sun.

St. Lucia was a save heaven in terms of getting mugged at night but instead you could easily loose your head if you would get into the way of a hippo. Hippos might look nice, but you better run when you feel that they don’t like you. Not to mention that 90 % of the crocodile population of South Africa live in and around St. Lucia. So going for a swim in the river behind the hostel also might not be a very refreshing idea.

What a day! Fist I thought it would be just another boring day on the bus, but boy I was so wrong. As I previously wrote, usually there weren’t lots of people on the Baz-Bus, but this time was different. When we left Durban, all of the seats where already taken and almost everyone was heading for St. Lucia Backpackers. An American girl (Katherine) was supposed to leave the bus just outside Durban but decided to stick with us since we were already having great fun just after 30 minutes on the bus.

A group of eight complete strangers from around the world who didn’t know each other when getting on the bus. So the whole bus ride. was just a „Where are you from, what are you doing etc. kind of thing. Soon after my arrival in St. Lucia I realised that they probably picked the wrong name for the hostel since I would rather call it St. Weed Backpackers then St. Lucia Backpackers. But that’s about all I’m going to write about this subject since I don’t want to get into legal troubles.

The hostel was an excellent choice, not only the location was great and the facilities were in good condition, but they also offered different activities during the day and some times also at night . Right after our arrival they took us to the beach and organise a volleyball game. And at night you could hang out at the bar and „get pissed“ as Katherine called it. And there was braa (South African for Barbecue) every night. You just had to buy some steaks (incredibly cheap) at the local supermarket and grill it.

Another day on the Baz-Bus, this time for 13 hours in a row, I passed some really nice beaches and sometimes I just wanted to jump out of the bus to join the others that where leaving. But lucky me, about half way through I met a Australian girl, Kim from Cairns, again, who was travelling with me on the Baz-Bus when I first left Cape Town. She had been in the Transkai for a couple of days to teach at a small school and now was also heading for Durban. We where the only passengers on the bus, so we had plenty of space and lots of time to talk and watch movies.

The Transkai is a very hilly area, with little round huts virtually everywhere. At one point of the trip, Kim and I where just jumping around in the bus, filming and taking pictures of the beautiful scenery. She had a video-camera and a Rexlex-camera just as me and we started laughing at each other because we felt like Japanese tourists. The driver (Jetty) was very friendly and since neither Kim or I had made a reservation he called Banana Backpackers and made the booking for us.

Funny little story upon my arrival in Durban:
Can you tell the nationality by someone else’s shoes? A German guy thought so and when I entered the Banana Backpackers claimed that I’m Scandinavian. Well, I might be tall, and at the time I was in South Africa I even had bleached hair, but that doesn’t make me Scandinavian.

27th May, Durban
After the 13 hour trip on a bus on the previous day there was nothing to keep me away from spending the day on the beach, doing nothing but watching surfers riding the waves and catching a tan. At night I went to cinema with a South African girl. First the bar-keeper told us to not go to the cinema and take a taxi instead, but then the receptionist told us that it would be fine and we should just carry the money for the movie’s. I guess thats kind of a South African paranoia… Instead of taking a 2 minute taxi-ride we decided to run to the cinema. We left the hostel and started running when a truck stopped next to us and offered us a ride to the cinema. We hopped on the back and arrived at the cinema in no time. Since there was no one selling tickets at the cinema, we just walked into a movie called „Half Past Dead“ (I did not talke that as a bad sign) and didn’t pay at all. That’s what I call a cheap night out. Unfortunately, two English travellers got mugged that night at 4 am in the morning, just outside the hostel. But they where also lucky, the robbers where friendly, told them their names and asked kindly for their money and even gave them back their drivers licence.

Addo Elephant Park was 1,5 hour drive away from Port Elisabeth, and on the way our tour guide stopped at a township and told us about Apartheid and how it affected his live.
He was a „coloured“, which for example meant that he had to live in a designated area and the education-opportunities were bad compared to the education a white person, still better then those of a black person. Out of 10 Rand, 1 Rand would be spend on education for a black person, 3 Rand for a coloured person and the rest would go into educating a white person.

But as we all know, Apartheid-laws are gone so things have changed. The problems are still big in this country and it will take many years to solve them, but its much better then it was before.
My personal feeling is that South Africans are very proud of their country and there is one person everyone is looking up to, and that’s Nelson Mandela. They are going to change the name of Port Elisabeth into Nelson Mandela Bay, with a 25 meter high statue of him at new harbour they are currently building.

But on to the Elephant Park. Unfortunately for us we didn’t get to see a lot elephants and the tour guide told us that it was one of his worst days. Usually visitors end up seeing hundreds of elephants, whereas we only saw about twenty to thirty the entire day. But since it was my first game-drive ever, I didn’t mind at all and was fully satisfied to see Zebras, Antelopes., Giraffes and yes also a few Elephants.
A little advice: When driving around in the park you are not alowed to leave the car, so keep in mind that lots of drinking will fill up your bladder and then you will, just like me, pray for a stop.

To watch Dolphins is a „Must do“ of South Africa. And Plettenberg Bay is a great place to do so. They have an very unusual launch method known as the „dolly trailer system“, where the passengers remain on the boat while it is pushed into the sea. It is kind like a roller coaster ride and the way how you get back on the beach is even more exciting, full speed towards the beach and pray no one gets in your way! On the three hour boat tour we saw hundreds of dolphins, jumping out of the water and mating around. It was beautiful to see those peaceful creatures in their natural habit. We also tried to see whales, since their season had just started, but unfortunately no Moby Dick showed up. We finished the boat-ride with a visit at the robe-colony at the Robberg peninsula.

I left Plettenberg Bay after the amazing dolphin tour and took the bus to Port Elisabeth. I didn’t use the Baz-Bus this time since a normal Bus looked cheaper, but after my arrival in Port Elisabeth I had to pay another 40 Rand for the taxi- to get to my hostel, the PE Backpackers, which equalised my savings. At night I went bowling with an English couple (guess what, on an around the world trip for one year…) and Peter, a guy from the Czech republic who was running the hostel as part of his pratical training. I also booked a tour to the Addo Elephant park for the very next, to keep me busy and not waist to much time just hanging around on the beach or at the hostel.

I spend most of the day hiking around the „Robberg, a peninsula about 15 minutes away from the main city. There are three hiking trails to explore the Robberg, a 20 minute walk, a two hour walk and a five hour walk. It wasn’t the best weather and the cliffs get slippery during rain so I went for the 2 hour walk. The cliff and the vegetation was very interesting, and sometimes the trees and bushes would grew high enough to create a natural roof that would keep away the train.

Side-Note: Robberg is about to become a world natural heritage. If you are on Robbberg and look at Plettenberg Bay, you realise that, like in every other bay, a big chunk is missing. Well, the big chunk that is missing and makes Plettenberg a „bay“ is actually the Falkland Islands close to South-America. The rocks that you find on Robberg are exactly the same rocks you will find on the Falkland islands and that is one of the major proofs that there once was one big continent called Gondwana or Pangea.

The day ended with an typical South African Barbecue, organised by the owners of the hostel. Plenty of steaks and „Borkworst“, some kind of sausages, accompanied by my favourite drink, a cider called „Savana“.

Unfortunately Knysna had very little to offer, the beach was out of range and there were no hiking trails or other activities I was interested in, so I decided to switch over to Plettenberg Bay by Minibus. The Minibus was an experience of it’s own. I had to walk from the hostel (Knysna Backpackers) to a market, and plenty of small busses where already waiting to pick up people to go to other villages. The real bad thing about my „Minitaxi“ was that the driver wouldn’t leave until the bus was full. So there where 9 people on the bus, waiting for almost one hour, sweating, in very uncomfortable position (two woman even had all their wooden dishes with them), including me. The driver was gone most of the time, I guess to find the 10th person. But to do myself a favour I finaly paid the price for the 10th person and we were able to leave.
I spent the rest of the day, expect a lunch break at the local Mexican restaurant (excellent chilli) on the beach, a „blue flag“ beach, as the owner of my new hostel assured me.. I stayed at a Backpackers called „Nothandos“ (which means „love“ in Zulu), a very nice and clean place, owned by a white couple. I had two bedrooms on my own (no snoring like in the previous nights!!) including a bathroom and hot shower. The hostel was located next to an shopping mall and it was only a 15 minute walk to the beach.

After four fabulous days in Cape Town, it was time to leave. So I just spent one long day on the Baz-Bus to Knysna, with lots of movies and some fellow travellers. Baz-Bus wasn’t like I expected it, instead of a big coach it was a small Mercedes Bus with space for about 12 people. All of the people got out of the bus earlier then me, but I ended up meeting them again later on my trip. Knysna was actually bigger then I expected, with a small shopping centre at the so called „Waterfront, lots of shops at the main street and even a small cinema. The best thing about Knysna was that it was save, I was able to go to cinema at 10 pm and walk back at midnight without having to worry of being mugged.