29th August 2015 - to St Lucia and the hippos.

Africa 29/08/15

For more photographs see: Zulu-Nyala Photographs

and click Snapshot

Today we were to go to see the hippos at St Lucia. We had an early breakfast and set off in our car towards St Lucia which took us via route N2 and Hluhluwe, ( don't even try to pronounce that) and Matubamatuba, to the small village of St Lucia. On the way we passed an overturned truck and the usual array of wandering animals, school children and people going about their business. We arrived at St Lucia at about 9.30 am in time to buy tickets for the 10 am hippo estuary cruise. We boarded the boat at Sunset Landing and were soon under way. Our Captain, Natasha, who was accompanied by her very young son, gave an interesting commentary for the whole two hour cruise. We saw several pods of hippos in the water and a few crocodiles either hiding in the reeds or lounging on a sandbank to warm themselves. We also saw a number of birds including a Goliath heron, a fish eagle and other herons and wading birds. Natasha explained how the estuary used to be connected to the sea and contain salt or brackish water but that the entrance had now been blocked and the water was fresh. The original reason for the blockage was to protect the estuary from leaking oil from a wrecked ship. A couple of years ago, a large storm sent water cascading over the entrance and gave a ‘salt injection’ to the area. There are plans to open the estuary up to the sea again but these will need to be carefully orchestrated to ensure that the wildlife is not adversely affected.

We learnt a that hippos are related to whales and porpoises, that they can stay under water for up to 20 minutes???? At a time, they can walk fast underwater, they do not swim, they can run as fast as 40 kph on land. They are the most dangerous animals in Africa and kill between 2,500 and 3,000 people each year. Getting close to a hippo is very unwise. We also learnt that crocodiles can jump quite a height and we were encouraged not to lean over the side of the boat when in their vicinity.

This was a very pleasant and gentle two hour cruise giving us a good impression of the large estuary and its wildlife. On our return, we were lucky enough to spot three waterbuck in the mangrove alongside the estuary. All in all a very nice experience.

After we disembarked, we made our way to a restaurant called the Ski Boat Club. There we had a nice lunch by the water.

Then we walked along the boardwalk to the beach, sighting a small red duiker (deer) on the way. At the beach there were a lot of monkeys. Mac, Bill and Paivi walked across the large expanse of sand to the ocean edge where they promptly got caught by a wave and got their pants wet. Being more cautious, I sat things out on the edge of the beach and watched the belongings while they traversed the sand dunes.

After leaving the beach, we rejoined the car and drove through St Lucia, a small town with some hotels and resorts but not a lot else except a small fruit market. Seeking more action, we drove to Matubamatuba where we found a much bigger market and many people shopping and meeting. There were many things for sale including food and other merchandise. The town was bustling with Saturday activity. As well as the market, there were several supermarkets and the usual array of other shops and fast food establishments including KFC and Wimpy.

From here we drove back to Zulu Nyala, passing the crew that were righting the truck from this morning’s accident. We arrived back to Zulu Nyala at about 4.30 pm from a good day out.

We rested, swam, had tea and generally wound down from the day in our own ways as the sun slowly set over the reserve. Tonight is forecast to be a ‘super moon’ so we are looking forward to clear skies.

We had dinner and then early to bed for we have a 6.20 am game drive in the morning.

28th August 2015 at Zulu Nyala

8/28/15

For more photos of this game drive and others at Zulu-Nyala go to:  Zulu-Nyala Photos

and click Snapshot

This morning we rose at 5 am to go on an early morning game drive. We left the camp at 6 am and went into the bush in the gloom. Pretty soon we saw rhinos up quite close. They could smell and hear us but their poor eyesight did not allow them to see us. There was a bull and a cow with a five year old calf.

Not far beyond were three elephants. We were able to get down from the vehicle and walk about in the brush. Chris, our guide was armed with a Rigby rifle and some very heavy duty looking bullets just in case we got into trouble. We got to see the rhinos and giraffes from the ground instead of from the vehicle. We also saw Greater Kudu, Impala, Brindled Gnu, Warthogs (they are everywhere) and the wounded hippo in the waterhole. It was quite something to be in the bush during sunrise when the animals were stirring.

We were back at 8 am and straight to breakfast. After a hearty breakfast, we lounged for a bit. I posted some blog, took a swim in the pool, transferred photos from my camera to storage and relaxed a bit before having lunch and a post-prandial nap.

At 3 pm we went on another drive. This time we saw the elephants up really close even so that they that they made threatening noises at us. They are majestic beasts but don't take too kindly to being interrupted in their feeding, drinking and play by large vehicles full of tourists. Can one blame them?

We also saw a herd of Cape Buffalo with a bull with a magnificent horn, a kudu buck with a great set of antlers and again, we missed out on seeing the cheetah.

One thing to note, August and September are the end of the summer here but they are quite windy months. Especially during certain periods of the day the wind can blow quite strongly and the tents can get a bit noisy as the canvas roof flaps in the wind. There is also a considerable amount of rustling in the foliage of the palm trees in the hotel grounds. This is not enough to disturb sleep but it was a phenomenon we were not aware of. This also makes the whale watching trip offered by the park a rough adventure.

The grounds of Zulu Nyala Heritage are very pleasant, there are zebra, Nyala, guinea fowl, Impala and monkeys roaming close to the tents. There are seven crocodiles in a small enclosure that we pass on our way to and from the restaurant. There are two swimming pools, a bar and a lounge where one can sit either inside or outside. Nearby, there is a Zulu village and the occupants come to the hotel to dance and entertain a couple of nights a week.

Meals are served buffet-style and are good if not gourmet. There is adequate food and the staff in the restaurant are friendly and helpful and the chefs obviously proud of their work.


The tents are comfortable and have adequate storage space, large bathrooms with tub and shower. The beds are comfortable. There is a ceiling fan for cooling.

In the evening e went to dinner. We have decided to go to St Lucia tomorrow in the car. There, there is a boat ride to see the hippos and other aquatic creatures, a small town and some other sights. This will give us a break from the game drives which we will resume on Sunday.

Our ranger guide Chris is 6ft 2ins tall and good looking in a racy sort of way. He has a laconic humor but a very good knowledge of the wildlife, conservation and the management of the property. He is not above playing practical jokes as he did with one of our younger number by trying to persuade her to eat ‘sweetberries’ actually Impala dung!!!! He is still studying for various qualifications and speaks both Afrikaans and Zulu. He knows where to find the animals and where to give us good photo opportunities. He has been a ideal guide for us on this trip so far.

African Adventure 27th August 2015 - Into the bush and amongst the animals

For more photos of Zulu-Nyala, follow the link: 

Zulu-Nyala Photographs


Today we were to take our first game drive. So we got up early and went to breakfast at 7 am. Then we joined Chris in the car park and got into the vehicle that would take us to the game park. The vehicle an Isuzu, which has been converted to carry nine people in rows of three and possibly a. Tenth up next to the driver. We set off for the Lodge to pick up three more passengers over the rough tracks of the park. We arrived at the Lodge in about 15 minutes and had time for a quick tour of the grounds before taking off for the drive.

The drive took us over rough terrain down narrow tracks between thorny bushes. We either caught glimpses of or good views of giraffes, warthogs, Impala, Nyala, ( after which the park is named), zebras, some baboons and deep in the brush, under a tree the lone cheetah in the park. There were also hippos in the pond at the watering hole. We also saw vultures circling overhead. Chris showed us the bones of a rhino which had been poached some time ago and told us how, at full moon the poachers manage to get by the barbed wire and electric fences and enter the reserve to kill rhino for their horn which fetches huge prices in Asia. Despite the best efforts of the staff of the reserve, the anti poaching conservation staff, the police, etc. the poachers can still outwit them and succeed. Aircraft and helicopters are used and drones are being tested in Kruger Park to try to thwart the poachers’ efforts. The numbers of white and black rhinos will fall to endangered levels if the poaching is not stopped or severely limited.

We came back to the camp at about. 10.15 am and spent the rest of the morning doing the blog and chores. Lunch was served at 12 pm and after that we had a rest prior to the drive at 3 pm.

This drive covered much of the same ground but did include a red duyker a small antelope and a rhino as well as the most majestic animal of Africa the elephant. We saw the first one in the bush browsing on a tree and soon she came out of the bush with her two friends and we got some great shots of them all. We did not manage to see the leopard and her. In which are in the reserve but maybe tomorrow.

We returned to the camp at around 5 pm and rested  until dinner at 7 pm. Tomorrow’s drive is at 6 am and will involve walking in the bush.

African Adventure 26th August 2015 - Leaving Johannesburg

This day it was time to say good bye to our wonderful hosts in Johannesburg. We were up early
 and finished packing in time for an ETD of 9 am for the drive to Zulu Nyala.

We had  breakfast and then said our goodbyes. The stowing of the car was an art in itself but we got everything in and waving goodbye to  Helene and Ruben, we set off. The GPS and some preplanning allowed us to make good progress onto the motorway and we were soon leaving Johannesburg suburbs and hitting the open road. The scenery was fairly flat and without much in the way of trees or inter set for quite a long way. We stopped for gas at Amerlo and pressed on on narrower roads to Piet Retief where we stopped for lunch at a restaurant called Mama Mia. Here we had a pleasant if leisurely lunch and then pressed on again. We arrived at the Zulu Nyala reserve at about 5.30 pm which consisted of about six hours driving and two hours of stops and traffic hold ups. Not a bad run at all. The scenery in the last part of the trip when the road skirted the border of Swaziland. Was much more hilly, green and interesting. We saw monkeys beside the road, school children walking along the side of the road from school, cows, goats, horses pigs and other domestic animals beside the road.

We checked in and found our rooms. We unpacked a  bit and then found the bar for a drink, then to dinner. We sat at at a table marked with the name of our Ranger Guide, Chris. We met three of the group who will be with us, all Americans. Dinner was a Braai and was very nice. We were tired and soon to bed.

African Adventure 25th August 2015 - Johannesburg

Today we are going to take the Big Red Bus tour of Johannesburg. So after breakfast we set out in the car for Sandton station to to take the Gauteng train to Park Station in the city. We found the station OK and bought our Gold Cards for the trip on the train. 

The Gautrain - this is the project for which Arnaud works.

The very spacy station at Sandton where multiple escalators are used to take one down deep to the train.

The tracks are very deep underground and require three long escalators to access them. The train soon came, modern smooth and comfortable and in about 15 minutes we were at Park Station where the kiosk for the Big Red Bus tour is situated. We bought tickets for the day tour and the bus soon departed with us on the top deck. It was a lovely day and very pleasant riding on the bus. We traversed the crowded streets lined with stall of vegetables, fruit, clothing and other merchandise.the streets are narrow and the buildings on each side seem to lean into the sidewalks.

The bus had an audio system and each passenger has earphones with which to access the commentary. This described how Johannesburg is only about 150 years old being founded by three men who discovered gold in the area pulling in many people first to speculate and then when the mines began to operate more formally to work in the mines. People came from all over Africa and other parts of the world to try to make a fortune and many did. The city soon started to spring up around the mines for the mineral deposits in the area d became a prosperous and thriving metropolis extending over many acres of land. The site was hardly propitious as there was little water in the area and the city sits on the high veldt at an altitude of 1,750 meters or 5,750 feet. Thus the air is thinner and the climate is more equable.

Mahatma Ghandi came to Johannesburg from India and stayed for over 20 years practicing law. His experiences being thrown off a train because he was not white soon after he arrived framed his later search for human rights. He is commemorated by a statue in Ghandi Square in the city center. Our tour continued on past modern buildings and great Colonial edifices. Johannesburg cannot be described as a beautiful city but it does have a ‘vibe’ that resonates. We stopped at the building which houses the Tower of Africa and got off the bus to go up to the 42nd floor to the viewing area. Sadly the windows were not so clean so that the view was not as good as it might have been. Still it did give us a perspective of the sprawling city and its environs.

From here we wended our way through the city streets to the Palace Casino where the bus stopped for a short period. Then it was on to the Apartheid Museum. This is, of course a very powerful reminder of the cruel and turbulent history of South Africa and its march to the present day. Your ticket to the Museum is marked, randomly 'White' or Non-White and you have to use the appropriate entrance. Bill and I were rated White but the girls rated Non-White. You can see examples of the 'passes' for the different races which were so contentious for the blacks as they were not allowed to go to many areas. Pass laws and ther separate areas legislation was one of the pernicious effects of apartheid. They started off fairly loose and soon tightened up restriction black and coloured people to smaller and smaller 'ghetto' areas. There is an extension of the museum which houses a collection of photographs, videos and other memorabilia of Nelson Mandela whose presence one can almost feel in the museum and even in the country. In the main museum were relics of the apartheid era such as the passes required to enter certain areas, pictures of the townships and their squalor, photos of protests and demonstrations and their suppression and much, much more. Even  a large yellow police truck which was used in various ways to intimidate and suppress the people in the townships. There were extra at from speeches by the white Government before the liberation which now seem almost comical in their reactionary rhetoric against any change in the stars quo. The idea of ‘good neighbor ‘ policy seems farcical now but it was espoused not so long ago.

The exterior of the Apartheid Museum

One of the old 'Whites Only' benches

This is an amazing sign which shows how people's races were changed by Government edict. Check out the last 'bullet' point!!! Some changes were NEVER made.

We had lunch at the museum and then completed our tour. The museum has much to read and digest and we did not have enough time to do it full justice.

We are off on our open-top bus tour

Streets and buildings of Johannesburg

In Johannesburg.....................???

Scenes from 'The Top of Africa' building

All around Johannesburg are these mine dumps, relics of the past mining frenzy. The dumps are sandy dust and when the wind blows, they blow dust into the environment. This dust has been proved to be damaging to health. The mining companies are 're-processing' the dumps with a view to recovering remaining gold and other ores. The dumps are a major eyesore and blight on the surroundings of Johannesburg.

A monument to the mining past of Johannesburg

So we returned to the bus and completed the tour without further disembarkation. We drove through the streets of Braamfontein where Witwatersrand University is situated and which is becoming a hip district with bars, restaurants and nightclubs. It is, perhaps, the epitome of the urban revitalization of the city.

We returned to Park Station to catch the train back to Sandton which went well. The on,y two slight glitches in the day were Paivi losing her decorated Peruvian water bottle holder and our fiasco with the parking system at the station which required MAC to have to run to the office to get us out of the parking garage.

From the station we drove quickly to a shopping mall at Benmore Gardens and bought a few things and then it was back to Helene’s where she had prepared a great dinner and had invited her friends Gail and Al. Arnaud, a Braai chef par excellence, cooked up some chicken and sausage and we had a very convivial evening together. Gail works with Helene sometimes in a volunteer capacity. Both she and Al to,d stories of their travels do experiences in a lifetime in South Africa. Late in the evening, Gail and Al’s daughter called and wanted to be rescued from a party so we said good bye.

It was also time to say goodbye to Arnaud as he would leave for work early in the morning before we were up. Arnaud had been a superb host together with Helene and we are most grateful to both of them. I am sure that it is not easy to have guests when you are working and also have a 7 month old baby!! But they did it with such grace and kindness that it was a wonderful experience for us.

So we went up to finish packing and went to bed to prepare for our departure in the morning.

Day 2 of the African Adventure 24th August 2015 - Soweto

Today we would visit Soweto  (which stands for South West Township). This is a very evocative area full of the rich, often violent and turbulent history of modern South Africa.
After breakfast our guide NK  a day driver Brian arrived in a small mini- bus to collect us for our tour. First of all NK explained a few language necessities such as Sani Bonani which means ‘hello’ to multiple people, Sau Bona  which is the same but to one person. Ye Bo means ‘OK’, and ‘chapchap’ is used when greeting children.

NK explained that during the years after independence from British rule in 1948, apartheid which had been somewhat in effect during British rule became codified in a series of regulations one of which, The Group Areas Act, had the effect of herding black citizens into townships  the largest of which became Soweto. This became the home to 4 million people who lived in often squalid conditions. The area became the center of the movement for change in the country and many of the leaders of the Freedom Movement lived there. It was there in what is now Freedom Square that the 10 Principles of a Free South Africa were proclaimed in 1954 but it was many years until in 1994 when these principles could even start to be put into effect. Many very brave men and women took part in that struggle and many died in the process.

We toured the upper class part of Soweto which is a far cry from the images we have of Soweto. Neat houses redolent of the affluent white areas occupy the streets but it is not long before you can also see the hostels where the mining employees used to stay. The middle class area is also full of neat homes which are not as grand as the upper class ones but still pleasant. Sadly, as the South Africans have  over up, the vacuum has been  filled by immigrants from all parts of Africa who now occupy the shapes to towns on the periphery of the township. On the outskirts of Soweto are the mine dumps of yellow soil which are reminders of the past. These dumps are now being reprocessed to extract any residual ore from them but when the wind blows the dust blows with it. Also on the edges of the township is Soccer City which was the home of the opening and  closing ceremonies of the 2008 Soccer World Cup. It is now called FNB Stadium and is the home of the Keyser Chiefs team.


We visited an orphanage called Little Rose which is in a very poor area of Soweto. NK  helps out there and introduced us to Petronella who runs the place and who showed us around. It was full of children ages 3 to 5? Some were sleeping, some having lunch and some playing on the equipment in the yard. We were introduced to a charming young girl whose name was Princess and who told us she wanted to be a doctor. She also recited the days of the week and the months of the year to us. We resolved to try to keep in touch with her.

We were taken around the narrow muddy alleyways which separate the improvised housing and saw the one water faucet which serves many people as well as the PortaPotties which serve as communal toilets. It was relatively dry when we were there, it must be a nightmare in the rainy season. Petronella complainer that politicians came looking for votes at election time, promised much but never delivered improvements. This is somehow a sad reflection  on South Africa’s development but also a reminder that as the country has seemed to start to prosper it becomes attractive to immigrants at a rate that the country cannot sustain.
So we to has seen much violence some black on black and some black on white. The black p I it I can parties started here, INKATA, the ANC and the Pan African Congress amongst others. The Soweto  uprising  in loved youths fighting miners, but there were also a lot of times when the white police attacked the black residents. The hostels which housed the mine workers were a hot bed of radicalism. We passed the Chris Ani Hospital named after a prominent activist who was shot and killed by a white supremacist.

We went to Freedom Square where in 1954 the 10 Principles for a free South Africa were proclaimed. The square hosts a structure under which are tabulated the 10 Principles. The square also has statues of many of the activists who fought apartheid including, Mandela, Sisulu, Tambo and others. Strangely there were not states of Winnie Mandela or Desmond Tutu.

We had lunch at a small restaurant which consisted of meat and pap. Pap is a sort of type of grits. While at the restaurant we heard on the radio of a huge drop in the value of the Rand.
From here we went to Hector Pieterson Memorial which commemorates the day June 16th 1976 when thousands of school children marched in protest against the introduction of Afrikaans language in schools. Reports of what exactly happened are unclear but the outcome was that a 13 year old boy Hector Pieterson was shot by the police and the picture of someone carrying his dying body went around the country and the world and ignited the flame which initiated sanctions on South Africa and strengthened the movement for change within the country.

We passed the place called 4 Points and saw the statues which show the hand signs for attracting the small taxi vans.
We saw the houses of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu on the Vilacazi Street.
We returned to Sandton full of information  and much tutored on the struggle for freedom in South Africa.

In the evening we went to Browns Restaurant where we had a very nice dinner with Helene, Arnaud and Ruben.