Not long enough in Durban!

We didn't plan very well. Actually, what happened is that we spent too much time on "the Garden Route" which is overrated as a tourist destination. Sure, it's nice enough, but we should have driven through a little quicker and allowed for more time in this area.

So, we only had one full day in the city of Durban, but it gave us enough of a feel for the city that we know we want to return one day!

Arrived in the city of Durban!

We'll squeeze two days into one post here, simply because most of it was taken up with driving! We left Wild Lubanzi backpackers lodge on the morning of the 4th, and arrived in the tropical port city of Durban on the afternoon of the 5th.

Here's how it all happened...

Drizzling, but still a great day...

Our regular readers might have noticed that we're trying to play catch up from our six days away without much internet. We did have enough connectivity to check emails, but definitely not enough for a blog post, especially with pictures. So check the prior posts to make sure that you didn't miss anything because we're trying to do some extra posts until we're caught up!

On Monday February 3rd, we went for a hike. Rain or shine.

Bulungula to Wild Lubanzi

We enjoyed our time at Bulungula, and we're glad we made the effort to go there. But the lodge itself could be a little more organized. It takes them forever to make up your bill, so if you want to get an early start you should settle up with them the night before. When we went to pay our bill in the morning, the girl was off having a shower and we had to wait around for a half an hour. Not that big of a deal, but there were other people waiting too.

Our bill for 4 nights was R1,685 ($177) and that included one dinner meal, parking, and a few bar drinks. Not bad. We had brought food for self catering so we made our own meals the rest of the time.

How many cows did you pay for your wife?

On Saturday February 1st, we did the Village Tour offered by Bulungula Lodge. The idea of the lodge is to have the visitors interact with the community as much as possible, and vice versa. This tour shows you a lot of local customs and it was certainly the most interesting part of our stay in the community.

Canoeing and pancakes at Bulungula

Our second full day, we decided to go canoeing. The activities at the lodge are run by locals, with part of the proceeds going to the community, and the rest going to the person running the activity. The excursion cost R80 ($8.40) each. This particular day, it was a young guy named Lindo who was running the trip. He was 24 years old, and this is his only job.

Bulungula - A walk on the beach

We had a goal on our first full day at Bulungula. To relax!

They have a lot of activities to take part in if you want to, and they're very reasonably priced. We eventually did the canoeing and the village tour, but they'll be detailed in upcoming posts. For today, we went for a walk on the beach. We've never seen so many different seashells!

Arrival at Bulungula

This post goes back to January 29th. We did a 257 km (160 mile) drive from the East London area to the Bulungula Lodge located on South Africa's "Wild Coast".

The drive took us into an area where there aren't many tourists, and really the only tourist accommodation is a few remote backpacker lodges along the very scenic coastline.

But first, you have to get there!

Our Tilley Hats!

We are experts on Tilley hats.

Well, maybe not experts, but we sure do have a lot of experience with the two hats that we own! We have accumulated a lot of hours wearing our Tilley hats, so now we think we are fully qualified to tell you about them.

Heading into the wild!

The Wild Coast, that is.

This section of South Africa isn't really "wild" although it is one of the least inhabited, as well as an area where many locals live traditional lives. It's also supposed to have some gorgeous scenery, and we're looking forward to taking some great photos for you!

Only downside is you might not see them for a while!

Driving Day

Yesterday was a driving day. Hard to believe that we've been in South Africa for almost four weeks. When we look at the map though, we really don't seem like we've made much progress! And so we needed to do some driving.

Because of Ruth's accident with her hand on Sunday, we never made it down to Port Elizabeth's beach area. We wanted to have a quick look though.

A visit to a South African hospital

This is not how we planned on spending our Sunday!

We were actually kind of taking our time yesterday morning, and Ruth had made some delicious gluten free pancakes for us all. I was in the process of writing yesterday's blog post, and our couchsurfing hosts Kurt and Leizel were getting their kids ready to go to a birthday party. Ruth was in the kitchen, tidying up.

Then we heard Ruth calling. "Kevin! I've cut myself. And it's bad!"

Knysna Self Catering Holiday Flat

We stayed a couple of nights at a self catering holiday flat in the Knysna, Garden Route tourist area. It was a nice place, and we wanted to tell you about it!

It's a private rental, so you don't have to pay any administration fees or anything like that. And for what you get, it's a very reasonable price.

Apartheid's Leftover Problems

We've been in South Africa now for over three weeks and we wanted to tell you about some of the things we've seen and heard regarding race, which still plays a huge part in South African society.  Of course the news of Nelson Mandela's death on December 5th brought South Africa into the forefront of the world's media again, and so we were very curious as to how life since the end of official Apartheid has been for all races who call South Africa their home.

Glow in the dark waves

Port Elizabeth currently has a "red tide".

A red tide is a strange phenomenon caused by the rapid growth of a microscopic form of plankton. During daylight hours, the water close to shore has a reddish brown shade to it, but at night when the waves come in, the white caps glow in the dark. And they glow blue!