Central Northeastern South Africa

[Kyle]As we emerged from our cabin on the first morning in Richards Bay to get our first look at it in daylight, the first thing we noticed was a troupe of vervet monkeys patrolling the quay. They were searching for any food or ‘toys’ that had been carelessly left out. Well, I guess we really are in Africa now! {Maryanne: They are quite adorable, but once you notice that the males have sky blue/turquoise-blue scrotum - that's hard not to see ever again!}

'Cheeky' Vervet monkeys (many with babies) patrol the area in hopes of snatching some food from a boat (they will come inside and raid the cupboards; we're all advised to keep our windows closed if we leave the boat unattended). While we were enjoying their antics, the local Yacht Club had a hippopotamus in its waters! We are DEFINITELY in Africa

Before Immigration even showed up, we were hailed by Natasha from the quay. At some point in the past, Natasha decided that yachties arriving from overseas needed a friend with local knowledge, so she generously thought it might as well be her. She has a regular job and everything. She just fills the rest of her time by being helpful - as a volunteer guide to international arrivals.

Natasha couldn’t do any more than talk with us, since we were to remain aboard until Immigration had made their visit. (They were friendly). Once the immigration officer had left, Natasha gave us a brief tour of the immediate area and then took us in her car to the nearest mall, primarily so we could buy local sim cards for our phones but also for any other little thing we can find along the way that we might need. I personally do not like running errands, but at least at the end, I usually get something out of it. I can’t imagine how much fun spending the day watching other people run their errands must be.

Natasha took it in stride and actually managed to convince us that she really didn’t mind all of the waiting around in line with us. This was especially kind of her because South Africa has something called load shedding. The aging national electric grid is not up to the job of supplying the population, particularly during times of high demand. They solve this with rolling blackouts that are scheduled anywhere between every few days to more than once per day. We quickly learned that one of the most useful apps to have on our phones is the one that tells us the load shedding schedule in our area.

No sooner had the three of us stepped into the phone store behind busy weekend traffic than all the lights went out. We were told the computers were down, we would all have to return when the power comes back in two hours. It was the same with the ATMs and most of the other stores. Rather than give up and go back to the boat empty, Natasha agreed to join us at a restaurant for lunch while we wait. The restaurant had a backup generator. It was here that we learned that South Africa, like Australia, portions their food for miners who are famished after a hard day down the hole. I was so full afterwards I almost passed on dessert.

Once we were finished at the mall, Natasha drove us to the Richards Bay Yacht Club (RBYC) to introduce us to the people there and let us get started on the paperwork for the slip (South Africans call them ‘walk-on moorings’) we had reserved for next week. Since we were the only boat that had come in that day, she said she was more than happy to spend most of her day off helping us. She probably saved us three or four days doing the same list on the bus and in cabs - Natasha is an angel to us visiting boaters.

Now we are officially in South Africa - and we get a start on tasting some of the classic South African foods - in this case a 'Bubble Gum flavoured Smoothie'

While we waited another day at the quarantine quay for an empty slip at the Richards Bay Yacht Club (RBYC), we walked the basin and introduced ourselves. We ended up befriending Henry, a septuagenarian single-hander from San Diego. Apart from Sailing, Henry’s main hobby seems to be collecting degrees. He has five advanced ones in an eclectic range from Art History to Engineering to Chemistry. He says his lifestlye is mostly paid for from his teaching university and the technical manuals he has written. He also used to own a precision machine shop which he sold. I used to work at one of those a long time ago and it was fun to dust off some of the old lingo. He’s an interesting guy who kept us both entertained over long meals at the waterfront restaurants in the area.

The photos make the area look quite desolate, but there were plenty of restaurants in sight from the dock in the main harbour area, it was a thriving zone and we quite enjoyed our time there. We also picked up our flag for the Ocean Cruising Club membership

Once we repositioned Begonia to the RBYC, my morning check of the weather forecasts turned up an unusually long window of northeast tailwinds within weeks of otherwise gale-force headwinds. That was good. The bad news was that the window was coming up a lot sooner than would have been ideal, tourism-wise. Maryanne started planning a fast-paced Everything in Africa tour. I countered that we would be best to focus our efforts on things within a ten-minute walk of the marina.

And at the Richards Bay YC - we enjoyed a great meal and BYO BBQ (Braai) - it was very sociable.

From my offer Maryanne came back with the compromise of just touring sub-Saharan Africa. I countered with the greater Richards Bay area. Eventually, we arrived at the region at the title of this blog entry. Time was going to be tight and we would have to get up super early each day to make use of every photon of daylight, but her plan was not technically impossible, so off we went. Then I got to the rental car place right as load shedding started. Maryanne was not happy about the delay in collecting the car (we had split up so she could run other errands). She had us booked on an sunset safari a hundred miles away that started in two hours.

She paid online for the safari tour as we were driving. They agreed to meet us at our hotel. We needn’t have worried. We arrived with just enough time to dump our stuff in the room, fish out our remaining cameras (with a broken viewfinder) and go.

This particular region of South Africa is home to three national parks, Hluhluwe (pronounced as shlou-shlou-way), Imfolozi (pronounced Im-foe-low-zi) and iSimangaliso (pronounced as isi-man-gal-iso). Our tour started with the latter.

iSimangaliso is primarily lush wetland, with a dryer western side that we visited). Mostly, we saw buffalo, zebra and impala grazing in the valleys. As we were leaving, we also spotted two rhinoceros much closer than the single distant specimen we had seen in Tanzania back in Nov 2009. (I am so sorry about that sentence! Gees, we're so amazingly privileged).

Our Sunset Safari in iSimangaliso was great fun. The light wasn't so great for photos - but here is a taster of what we saw. The pics show: Greater Kudu (The Antelope), Hippo, Buffalo, Zebra and Warthog (my favourite ugly-cuties), beetles, birds and scenery

One of our favorite sightings was of a pair of dung beetles. The male rolls the ball with Sisyphean determination while the female rides along (after all, she got the work of laying all the eggs). When our pair encountered the hard tarmac of the road, gravity sent the ball careening downhill while the beetles held on tightly to their prize, being rolled over along the way. It’s not easy being them.

This is when we learned what must be my favorite driving rule: Dung Beetles have right of way. If you’re hurtling along in a five-ton steel cage with half a dozen people inside and you see one crossing the road, you must stop and let them finish. They’re actually pretty fast, so it’s no worse than waiting for a duck to cross, for example.

The other thing I had never really thought about was that Dung Beetles can fly. When you are riding back to town in an open vehicle, they ping off your forehead like a large and well-aimed pebble. This is where glasses are a must and any post-safari conversation is suspended for the duration.

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Our AirBnB in St Lucia was lovely, and we with a range of restaurants to select from. While we didn't find any hippo roaming the streets (common here) we were entertained by zulu dancers while we ate - pretty cool!

In the morning, we entered iSimangaliso with our own car. Oh, how much fun that was! We came to a dusty stop any time something interesting caught our eye and then lingered as long as we liked. My favorite moment was when we spotted a journey of nineteen giraffes gliding through the treetops as we crested a rise. As we were pulled over to take a look, they filled the road and became a tower (as a group of them are known when they are NOT moving).

Our return to iSimangaliso had us seeing way more in the early daylight. Stunning scenery and some up close encounters with the animals as we cut through the park to travel northwards.

...And so many giraffes

Giraffes are enormous. I know that technically elephants are more massive, but giraffes definitely take up a lot more volume/altitude. I realized just then that all of the other times that I have seen them, I have been on the raised edge of a sunken enclosure (in zoos), or at least standing up high on an open Land Cruiser. From seat height in an economy car, near ground level, you really get a sense of how ridiculously tall they are. Their knees are above you. Their heads are like parking lot lamps looking way down at you. Nearby zebras, which are basically horse-sized, and horses are big animals, only came to half the height at which the giraffes’ necks started. They were in no hurry, so we had no choice but to sit there and admire them until they cleared the road.

On the other side of iSimangaliso, we exited the park and went to the Emdoneni Lodge, which is not primarily a lodge, but a rehabilitation center for African cats. Most of their cats are off-limits as they are trying to limit human interaction to keep the cats feral enough to be reintroduced to the wild successfully. They do have a few others who have become relatively tame during their stay who are living out the rest of their days with the life of Riley. We couldn’t touch them because, you know, teeth and claws, but they played with their regular handlers like big kittens. They had four types: the African Wildcat, the Caracal, the Serval and the Cheetah.

African Wildcat - looks so much like a house cat, but you would NOT want to mistake the two

Caracal - and feeding time

Serval

Cheetahs

The first of the cats we saw is the slightly stockier version of the ones in many people’s houses that are descended from the same line: the African Wildcat. After that, they showed us the Caracal, which we had never heard of before. This amazing cat has evolved an ability to jump really, really high. They use the aptitude to come booming out of bushes to catch passing birds. It was apparent from seeing one demonstrate the skill that the high fence was not keeping them in so much as the regular feedings were.

Then we saw the Serval, who was so tame that we all had to keep backing away to keep it from cuddling us. It greeted the caretakers like a puppy celebrating an owner’s return after a long day.

After that came the Cheetahs. Cool! Those cats are all legs and bendy spine. Oh, and the giant jaw for crushing bones. They were mostly sleeping off the heat, but we were told not to be fooled. At one point, one of the caretakers was telling Maryanne where to go for a photo with one. As the other caretaker was taking a photo of her with her phone, I took a step to the side to get a clear shot with mine.

”Sir!” came the voice of the first caretaker. “What are you doing? You are walking toward that other cat. If you get too far from the group, he will think you are food and you can’t outrun him.”

All excellent points.

Then it was my turn to be photographed and they put me within arm’s length of one of them. I could have reached out and given it a scratch, but I’m told they can be a bit nippy. What on Earth are we doing at the far end from the gate of a fenced-in field with a pair of nippy, semi-tame cheetahs? They say it’s reasonably safe as long as none of us strays from the herd. {Maryanne: The guided tour through the cats was heavily supervised, but we were amazed how close we could be to these animals - it was a very memorable experience}

On our drive back through iSimangaliso, we saw most of the same characters as from the morning. Certain animals seem to prefer certain areas of the park. We were starting to get our first hint of the safari guide’s special sense for knowing where to look.

And another pass through iSimangaliso as we return to St Lucia

Another pre-dawn start had us joining up with an all-day safari through Hluhluwe and Imfolozi parks. These are both much more mountainous than iSimangaliso, with both long views at the mountain tops and narrow canyons at the valley floors. This area is where the only remaining white rhinoceros existed when they were close to extintion; since then all white rhino have been re-populated from this population to the rest of Africa. There are a lot of them here, and some of the black rhinoceros too (although we didn't spot them). Looking around at the rugged and dense forest, it was hard to imagine that there were hundreds of rhinoceros out there. By the end of the tour, we had easily seen dozens.

The bathroom tiles in the Hluhluwe/Imfolozi park - so very African!

The tour had us seeing plenty of wildlife, and included an amazing breakfast and braai(bbq) for lunch - way better than any picnic I'd have mustered

As it was becoming obvious that we were nearing the end of the tour and the guide was driving back to the park entrance, we were full with the glow of having seen so many things, but also a little disappointed that the only elephant we'd seen had been fleeting. The other tours with the same company that day hadn't seen any. As a last-ditch chance, we pulled off the road and up to a watering hole, where we found more rhinos trying to keep cool in the mud.

Then the elephants arrived. There were eleven of them, including at least three calves, each only about the size of a Volkswagen. The day was pushing 35C/95F and they were headed to the watering hole to cool down on the opposite side of the rhinos. Before that, though, they did something that showed just how special these giants are.

One of my favorite elephant memories from the past was also kind of a scary one. We were on safari in Tarangire National Park in Tanzania (again, we're reminded just how lucky we are!). They have had recent poaching there and the elephants remain wary of humans as a result. One big bull decided we were too close to his family, put himself between us and them, and then then let us know by kicking up big clouds of dust and lunging at us that we needed to GET BACK!

Today’s elephants took a few moments to pay respect to one of their fallen. We hadn’t noticed through all of the circling legs, but then our guide pointed out the bones. Each elephant was gently caressing the bones with its trunk. Sometimes they would pick one up and pass it to another elephant, who would manipulate it for a while and then gently put it back. Our guide explained that the bones were from an elephant who had lost his teeth and then starved a few years ago because he couldn’t chew.

The elephants, especially those visiting the bones of one of their family members were so touching to see.

Once they were done with the memorial, they filled their trunks and then sprayed water on themselves and each other to cool off. What an end to the day!

Except that it wasn’t. Once we got to our car after the tour, we drove back across the park to the far end at the Hilltop Lodge. The Hilltop was beautiful and would have been an amazing place to stay, except that we never saw it in daylight. It was too much fun to be in the park. {Luckily for us the organized tour had been all around the iMfolozi side of the park, our accomodation was on the Hluhluwe side - so we got to cover most of the available roads over the 2 days we spent there}

We continued to tour Hluhluwe with our rental car for the rest of the day before heading for our accomodation at Hilltop lodge

It wasn’t long before we crested a rise on a minor road and found two white rhinos wallowing in a puddle just a car length away. Holee crap, they are big! A group of rhinos is called a crush. A pair is a small group (maybe a smoosh?). They seemed unconcerned with us, but I was ready to bolt at a moment’s notice if one of them started to look agitated. I suppose it’s the same with all of the other animals.

Elephants blocked the road for a while, right around sunset - we were worried we'd be locked out of our accomodation, but made it just (!) in time

Just before Hilltop closed their gates for the night, we were on track to arrive with just fifteen minutes to spare when we crested a rise and found the road blocked by an especially big bull elephant and his slightly smaller mate. There was a cliff on one side and a steep drop on the other. Well, looks like we’re not going to make it.

The bull gave us that look. I backed up a bit, worried that we would have to keep reversing all of the way around the bend if it kept coming. It took a couple steps towards us and then somehow did the magic trick of disappearing down the embankment into the forest.

our accomodation at Hilltop was WAY better than we'd expected; when we booked we'd been told it was all full and we could only have a non-catering 1 bedroom 'hut' - but they seem to have given us a 2 bedroom lodge with kitchen all to ourselves - shame we didn't have the time to fully enjoy it

In the morning, on the way out of the park with the goal of doing the last of our Richards Bay boat chores, we got caught in several traffic jams. The first was a road full of zebras (a dazzle, of course). There was a moment where we thought they might stampede past the car close enough to touch. We stayed still and they slowly passed the car so close that we couldn’t have opened the doors without hitting one.

Next, it was buffalo. There were a lot of them and they weren’t leaving until they were good and ready. Just as we were starting to get worried about how much time we had left before we needed to return the car, we came around a corner to find a road full of giraffes. I’ve coined that one a giraffic jam.

With an early start we found our road delightfully blocked by Zebra, and then buffalo

And a few extra hours of touring Hluhluwe (and a few more animal blocking our way) we had to head back to Richards Bay and return the rental car

We got the car back late, but not once we added the correction for the load shedding delay when we picked it up. We got back to the yacht club intending to have a last meal there. We were told to put in our order now because there would be load shedding in fifteen minutes. Aw, jeez! As we were rushing back to Begonia to drop off our shopping, we spotted Henry and asked him to join us. What a day! Henry gifted me a cold beer, which has rarely tasted so good.

But wait, there’s more. Natasha also showed up to say goodbye. Maryanne had mentioned to her that she wanted me to try some classically South African foods. Natasha had shown up with a treat of koeksisters (with assistance from the YC Members too), which we had not been able to find on our own.

Oh...my...gosh! Koeksisters are amazing! They have the texture of a Danish, but are soaked in honey like a baklava. The closest thing I have had is the Indian dessert, Gulab Jamun. There is no way they can be good for you in any way. Each bite is like eating half a dozen glazed donuts. On the plus side, there’s probably not much room left in there for fat. Probably.

Well, that’s it for Richards Bay. It was nice, but it was a real blur. Perhaps that’s the beer and sugar talking.

{Maryanne: Oh - and the title of this Blog is all Kyle, those that get his sense of humor will chuckle, others can just accept ;-). Plus, for any of you that made it to the end of this blog post - WELL DONE, YOU!}