(I will fully complete the write-up for my two visits to South Africa - once with my family, and once on World Challenge - when I locate my travel journal. I know I've seen it recently!)
Cape Town
Johannesburg
KwaZulu-Natal
Durban has a lot to offer. One of the first things we did on getting there, was to go on a guided walking-tour of the city, to find out more about it and get to know our way around a little bit. We also went to a flea market, where we stocked up on beaded souvenirs. It was also there that a friend and I found ourselves talking to a scary man at a weapons stall, and found ourselves walking away having bought two knives each. Thankfully, these came in useful later, on our trek through the Drakensbergs.
|
Not far from Durban, we spent a week at a local school, building the students a netball court and some benches. It was while we were camping in this area that monkeys stole lots of our food - my monkey hatred flared up once more (see Cambodia and Germany). Going on safari at the Hluhluwe Umfolozi Game Reserve was definitely one of the highlights of the entire trip, even though one of our team threw up all over one side of the van so we couldn't see out the windows for much of it. |
|
Part of doing World Challenge, whatever country you're in, always involves a project phase. Ours was done in a local school, over the course of a few days and saw us building benches, buying equipment for the school, and building an amateur netball court. This was an incredibly enjoyable few days, as we got to know some of the local children, negotiated with the headmaster (who also happened to be the village chief) and spent our free time wandering around our campsite which seemed to be populated more by zebras than people. Unfortunately, there were also plenty of monkeys around - goodbye food. Grrrrrrrrrr.
|
|
The Drakensberg Mountains
|
|
What do I remember most about this trek? That it was hard. Really hard. We were dropped off by pick-up truck (minus one of our team who was ill) and began a five-day trek through the mountains, armed only with what we were carrying. Happily, on this trek we were staying in little huts on the trail every night, so we didn't have the extra work of putting up a tent after a whole day's trekking. Despite the aching legs and the surprising heat given that it was winter there, we all enjoyed ourselves. The scenery was constantly stunning, throughout the whole trek. Actually managing to make it to the pick-up point is probably one of my proudest moments. |
St. Lucia
|
We spent a few days here as part of the Rest and Relaxation phase of our trip and oh - how we needed it. After days and days trekking, we were well in need of a break, and this was the perfect place for it. Almost upon arrival, we went on safari by foot (without rucksacks! amazing!). Walking in amongst zebras and impala while trying to avoid nearby hippos is quite the experience. I got to hold a dung beetle too - which is...nice? Or gross.
A few of us also went on a boat tour to see more hippos and some crocodiles. The absurdity of it kept making me laugh. We were boated over to quiet crocodiles, just doing their thing on the river bank, and suddenly they had this boat load of tourists all up in their grill. They barely even blinked at us. It just seemed bizarre. I think I was more afraid of the hippos, especially after the boat driver passed around a GIANT hippo tooth and kept going on and on about how dangerous they are and how many people they kill every year and so on. Gulp. |
|
Our glorious (and emotional) return home:
TOP TIPS
- BRING - clothes for both freezing and boiling weather, if you're going when it's winter over there.
- HIKE - in the Drakensbergs, but (and I cannot stress this enough) get in shape first.
- ENJOY - safari, and try not to throw up.
- VOLUNTEER - in a local school.
- AVOID IF - you can't deal with extreme temperatures and freaky insects/snakes.
