ekuThuleni Underberg

... of a scare for Paul... about 10kms out from the restaurant the traffic was bumper to bumper, here we thought a truck had rolled over which apparently is quite common (as the drivers over here are absolutely insane!). Rather than an accident, after waiting 1.5hours we then discovered it was actually a road block – here Jono had just finished telling us South Africa had recently lowered their drink driving limits even further (0.25 I think). Now Paul was driving Elize's ...

... back in the lodge, we settled in for another few Dexter episodes and tried to creep each other out. <br><br>The next day we booked a 2 hour ride on the Khotso horses. There was also a Mexican couple on our trek. We were an adventurous group, so the guides let us gallop the horses through the grassy plains. We soon learned that the Mexican couple were amazing horse riders, and Lindsey Sarah and Brittany were holding on for dear life. After a few ...

... s front with a patio looking out to sea from where we could enjoy the spectacle and the unceasing background soundtrack of roaring thunder. We enjoyed some good walks around the coastline here, and drove west<br> to Plettenburg Bay to spend the afternoon walking around the Robberg Peninsular. A stunning and varied walk, we started out with views of the beautiful sweeping bay behind, looking across<br> the ocean to a horizon filled with mountains, and watched seals playing ...

After 10 hours of driving, a Wimpy lunch and a couple of awesome thunderstorms we arrived in Underberg. Yes hot and sweaty and guess what - No Water!!!! Well it was Shower ala Speedstick for me and Brut spray for Scott and we were off to the local restaurant for a tasty dinner. Next morning we still had no water so decided to do it the local way and headed down to Cobham nature reserve which has a few nice self guided walks along a small stream. Unfortunate for ...

... one we went on a day trip to Lesotho. The road up to Sani Pass is not that long but it took quite a while to drive up to the top as the road was in, how should I put this, bad condition. There were massive bumps and rocks on the road as well as steep curves called all sorts of imaginative names such as "Oh My God" curve (in this one you couldn't even turn on one go but had to reverse and then turn again). There's no way we could have driven there with our rental car but ...

We finally ventured inland for the next part of our trip to the Drakensberg Mountains. We spent 4 days hiking in this huge national park - all in the central and northern sections. The mountains were gorgeous: offering scenery we have never come upon before. Grass seemingly covered the land to the mountaintops, which, for the most part, were flat across and lacked definite peaks. In ...

... it was nice to be able to get above the hills and get a birds eye view. They showed us the rock that is founded in Patagonia, and Australia, also the sand lines of when this area use to be covered by water. We had lunch at the 2nd highest point of Lesotho. We were approached by sheppard's, and smugglers for food and photo opportunities (for a tip). Lesotho was very barren, small little Sutu villages set up, mainly to support ...

... his township. Was invited into his house and met his son, a 21 year old waiting to get his driving license. Not having a license didn't prevent him from driving me around in the township to show me the different areas. This was not among the poorest townships, many had small houses and not shacks like in many others. But also within the township there are hierarchies. One part of the township had big houses, like in ...

... and had us back at the house in no time at all. He refused payment, and even gave us some liquid steel putty to try out a repair!! I was amazed at the helpfullness of that chap. hopefully we can return the favour sometime. After that, there was nothing left to do but go out and have a drink at the himevile arms. but it was awith a subdued heart that we returned and headed off to bed...

... our usual budget basement. We soon got directions to a short hike that took us to two lovely waterfalls, Sterkspruit and Nandi. It also took us through Hlatikulu forest and gave us some fantastic views of Cathkin Peak and the escarpment. WE also saw a huge caterpillar along ...