Pr Umfolozi River Richards Bay

Shakaland tows the line between tradition and commercial tourism very closely. And why not? The traditional Zulu lifestyle is a thing of the past and this tourist spot brings it back to life, carefully preserving the culture and identity of it's people whilst making money and creating jobs. Entry is R265 inc. lunch. Whilst walking around a recreation of a traditional Zulu village your group stops at various points and observes demonstrations of Zulu ...

... steady so instead of seeing the light reflect off the animal's eyes, we generally saw illuminated grass and sky. Despite this amateur performance we did see a pride of lions on the hunt, stalking through the long grass toward the bush. This was my first ever lion sighting even after visiting the reserve twice before, such is the unpredictability of game viewing. To see them was truly a pleasure. We also saw Hyena, Hare, Buffalo ...

... team visited the local hospital and reported that 'many of the patients are lying directly on the metal bed frames, as the mattresses have been stolen. The hospital has no computers, so patients have to re-register on every visit as their files cannot be found.' Not exactly breaking news, is it! But no telephone number. Apparently, if you go to Richards Bay HA, and you are a Swazi citizen, you will probably automatically either go to jail, or owe the (drunk ...

When we arrived in J'burg we had no real travel plan or route for South Africa, just knew we wanted to head towards Cape Town. This turned out to be good as we were open to destinations that were recommended to us by other travelers etc. We looked at the route the Baz Bus takes and decided to go to Northern Drakensberg to brake up the bus trip. We didn't know where it was and what you could do there, just randomly picked it. We laughed ...

... den svalnat, sager han. Jag har bara en dryg liter! Tittar lite mer noggrant nu nar det slutat ryka. Oh-oh, lang spricka i kylarens plastskal! Kort! En liten pick-up, en rostig Toyota, svanger av just framfor mig. NU blir jag rad dpa riktigt. Vem ar det? Vad vill han/dom? Slar numret till D igen. En liten suck av lattnad slipper ur mig nar jag ser tva medelalders indier kliva ur bilen med bekymrad min. Jag kan ocksa lugna D, som ar beredd att ringa efter ...

... region. There were many bushfires started by the locals as they practice slash and burn style horticulture, and produce a lot of charcoal for cooking. Not too sustainable. We only stayed one night in a tent there before starting the long road back. It was my first night spent on land since I took to the sea. I was shocked by the amount of birds that were singing in the morning. There were also some rather annoying roosters, and I am very glad that roosters aren't sea birds! Otherwise the ...

At 47 degrees Celcius, we are melting at the top of the hill. It is hot. Too damn hot. As we sit and contemplate how on earth we are going to have the energy to move any time before the beginning of the next millenium, the sun laughs higher in the sky. It is hot. It is too damn hot, and today I have no option but to go in to town.

For the last few nights I have been woken by the sounds of bones being chewed. It's hard to mistake the sound of gristle and splintering. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't quite see the culprit. It didn't sound large, but it was not a rodent either. Then last night, as I left my hut in the forest, a flash of light caught a cat in mid flow. It was hunting along the path to my tweedy, and wasn't expecting the intrusion. As I normally walk around ...

It comes to something when you have to be reminded of things that the greater population remembers instinctively. It made me realise how important it can be to check in with the real world from time to time. 'So Claire, we must talk later about tomorrow night' said T "Tomorrow night?" I replied, racking my brain. Was it someone's birthday? A braai perhaps? A national holiday? But all that my searching returned was a big 'We can't find ...

Sometimes I love living here. Perhaps it is the smiles of people I know, and those I don't. Perhaps it is that the smallest gesture can make someone happy - sharing a toffee, making a cup of tea, waving when you could so easily ignore their presence. Sometimes it is the glinting of the sun on the waxy leaves of my new neighbouring trees. I like to walk up my new path, observing the new shoots of vine tangling the way, and noticing the flecks of light hitting the ...