This is the last part of my post about the African adventure I did with my family this February / March.
The Namibia tour is over and the Garden Route done - even if there would have been so much more to see. On the last bit, we again followed the roots, visited our family in Pietermaritzburg, Mkuze and Pretoria and enjoyed their beautiful country with them. As it is quite personal, I won't write too much about our family stories and I will keep those photos for myself, but you can be sure: We had the most amazing time with them. They welcomed us as if we were best friends who had been apart too long. We were immediately integrated into the African family and in the end did not want to go home at all. They showed us their everyday life which was fascinating for us and taught us much about the country. I would never have thought it possible how much you could feel connected, even if you hardly know each other. Therefore at this point a huge thank you to our relatives who received us with so much heart blood, joy and cordiality. We will never forget this and are already very happy to give our thanks back in Switzerland!
But for now, back to the journey! :-)
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If you thought we Swiss were organized, you would have been amazed at what awaited us when we got off the plane in Durban. Our cousin (or Cou-Cousin or whatever that was with the family tree) was already waiting for us in the arrivals hall and hugged us warmly. Once again I remembered the "Welcome home"-quote that was so present on our journey.
With the rental car (for the third time a white Toyota Avanza. In South Africa 90 % of the cars seem to be white!) we drove to a town near Pietermaritzburg.
Everything was arranged when we arrived - when we entered the driveway, there were already our relatives there waving like wild, smiling at us and almost jumped into the car to hug us welcome. It was amazing and we immediately felt welcome. This feeling continued when we were served a delicious dinner and after chatting the whole evening, I had the feeling that I had known them all forever.
The next day, one of our relatives showed us around and we drove past some fantastic places. I was quite jealous of the beautiful boarding schools that they have - they reminded me somehow of Hogwarts. And to be honest, who wouldn't like to go to school in Hogwarts!!
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| A beautiful school |
Our family days in Pietermaritzburg were full of fantastic programm that our relatives had organized for us. The next day, another relative and his family took us to the "Long walk to freedom", a memorial for Nelson Mandela. To walk along this path and to read all the important milestones of Mandelas life was depressing and fascinating at the same time.
The next day we had to say goodbye to our relatives in Pietermaritzburg - which was very hard and ended with some tears. Telephone numbers were exchanged, travel plans forged, kiss here, hug there - then we headed off to our next journey.
Our relatives had warned us that after a certain place on the map the "wild Africa" or "wild driving" began. And indeed! When we crossed the river they had told us, suddenly a cow was standing in the middle of the road. We were very lucky and could stop just in time! From then on, we forgot about driving rules, because rules seemed to be guidelines, "survival of the fittest" seemed more adequate. Or how would you interpret pictures like this one? :-)
At some point, the highway was over - which was a relief. At least a short one, because the next challenge followed right after:
On the way to our lodge our white Toyota Avanza was confronted with completely different challenges. He probably would have wanted to be a 4x4 now! Nevertheless he mastered his task with bravura and we could enjoy the ride. Instead of cows there were now suddenly completely different animals on the road!
What an experience! We arrived at our "African Spirit Game Lodge" in Mkuze and were happy to hear that we were the only guests for one night. So we enjoyed our huge bungalow, the pool and the amazing views over the reserve even a bit more!
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| A savannah in the savanna - quite perfect! |
4:30 was it when our phone woke us up the next morning. At 5 we would start our game drive. Again, we were the only guests and had the opportunity to bombard our guide with questions.
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| Can you guess what it is? It's a footprint of an elephant |
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| Good moooorning! |
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| You could call it "picknick in the park" |
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| You could call it "picknick in the park" too
We came back to the lodge after noon, but don't think that we were tired already! Spontaneously, we booked another tour for the late afternoon and the lady at the reception was so nice to arrange it for us (I don't want to know what she thought in this moment...) . We were still in search of 2 of the "Big 5" (we had seen elephants, lions and rhinos, but were still missing leopards and buffalos). So soon later, we jumped into another safari vehicle and started to bombard another guide with questions.
To keep a long story short: After a few minutes on the way we saw what we had longed for: a herd of water buffalos in close proximity. They seemed to graze relaxed and watched us quite uninterested. Hard to believe that these animals are among the most dangerous and aggressive in the bush!
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| A wildebeest |
We were lucky again and spottet some more rhinos, a species that is very close to extinction due to massive poaching for their horns. Rhino horn is used in traditional Asian medicine but also used as a status symbol to show success and wealth and is sold for huge amounts of money. The poverty and unemployment in the country seduces people into poaching. I haven't known much about this before this trip and was and sad to learn those facts. Back home in Switzerland, the Rhino kept me thinking, I kept myself informed and supported some projects that seemed meaningful to me. At least for a while I could do something like that for the big, impressive and important creatures!
On our game drive we had an interesting encounter with an elephant who was busy pressing his head against a tree trunk until the whole tree fell over. Then the elephant began to pull the roots with his trunk and to eat them pleasurably. We asked the guide why he did this. "Because he can," he replied. And apparently roots are on the elephants' favourite diet.
Actually we didn't want to leave our beautiful lodge, but we didn't know what to expect next. We visited other relatives who lived on a large farm near Mkuze. They had a wonderful house with a big turnaround and greeted us warmly. It was a veeery hot day so we were very happy to jump into their pool!
With their off-road vehicle they showed us the surrounding countryside. I thought it was great to stand on the back of the Bakkie and drive around! We stopped at a lake. What looked like stones from far away were really hippos!
Hippos almost in the garden, a zebra almost in the house - we were really offered a lot!
Our relatives looked wonderfully after us and made sure that we didn't get bored. We didn't get bored anyway, there was so much to see here! In the evening they took us on a boat trip on the small river in front of their house. The sunset was breathtaking! We were almost a little happy that the crocodiles seemed to have gone out for dinner.
The next morning our relatives had another surprise in store for us. We could hardly believe it when they told us that we could take a short helicopter flight! What an unbelievable start in the day!!
The flight was unforgettable, the views from above spectacular. I could have done this for the whole day! Do you spot the animals from above on the photos?
The flight was unforgettable, the views from above spectacular. I could have done this for the whole day! Do you spot the animals from above on the photos?
Later, we visited a pineapple plantation. I had no idea how this can look like and how good it smelled out there!
Again it was hard to say goodbye to our relatives. We were so thankful for what they have done for us and how much we felt at home there! But we had to continue again and drove off to Durban, a town next to the ocean. We were lucky and had picked an Air BnB with a jacuzzi next to the beach and a fantastic seaview. Too bad it was raining (the jacuzzi was still nice and warm though! :-) ).
We only had one evening in Durban and went out with our relative and his wife. It was a great evening!
When we took the flight to Johannesburg the next morning, we realized that our journey was slowly coming to an end. How quickly time ran! In Johannesburg we picked up our last rental car (again a white Toyota Avanza, we didn't want to do any more experiments :-) ) and drove towards Pretoria, the capital of South Africa.
A highlight in Pretoria was our visit at the "Cradle of Humankind" world heritage site, famous for its caves and the fossils that were found here. Again, the "welcome home" quote seemed to follow us!
We were welcomed by some of South Africas most important figures - from Mandela to King Shaka to Mahatma Ghandi, they were all there - even if only as statues.
The museum was fascinating too and probably one of best ones I've ever see. Not often do you have the chance to do a boat ride through the four elements, right? A great, interactive museum that you have to see when you're there!
Another highlight was our trip to Hartebeesport. There you can catch the cable car and drive up the hill. From there you have a fantastic view over the surroundings.
One evening, we met our Pretorian family. It was a lovely evening again! The next day, one of our relatives showed us around in Pretoria. Its a very interesting city and a great mix of old and new. I especially liked the old buildings that somehow looked a bit European.
The last days were wonderful, but had consumed our energy, apparently we were slowly ready to go home after so many wonderful impressions. On the very last day in South Africa and only a few hours before the departure a last wave of energy came over us and we undertook a last excursion: our relatives lovely cleaning lady invited us to her home in a township. We had always been wondering how it is there and and must have been a little prejudiced. We were surprised how cheerful and well organized it was! What a great experience just at the end of this 5 weeks!
After this experience, we had to say goodbye to our relatives for the last time (at least this time). Now it was time to go to the airport and fly back home to Switzerland. We couldn't really realize that it was finally over, time has passed so far. We were full of unforgettable memories, full of joy and amazement.
These 5 weeks have taught me a lot - a lot about family, friends, culture and nature. I am overjoyed and even after a week with my head still a little bit in Africa. I hope it will stay that way a little longer.
See you soon, wonderful Africa!