Travels by Bus
See the world on bus, ON foot & on my own.
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SOUTH AFRICA and SWAZILAND
September 2008
The Big Five and the Whale
20
days
FLIGHT:
South African Airways
LAND Transport:
BazBus. Door-to-door, safe, direct
PLACES:
Johannesburg - Nelspruit - Kruger Game Reserve, Swaziland, St. Lucia Estuary, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Kynsna, Hermanus, Cape Town, Boulders, Cape of Good Hope
Jo'burg to Nelspruit to Kruger
Being on my own, I didn't want to risk being a target in Johannesburg thus I took a bus straight from the airport to Nelspruit so that I can arrange for a safari visit to Kruger Park. I was the only (Asian) tourist waiting at the bus station on a hot sunny day and watched all the (American) tourists being chaperoned into their tour buses that I wish I was on. After an hour wait or so, my bus came at the scheduled time and I got to the hostel in Nelspruit without any incidences. And the next day I was picked up to go to Kruger National Park for my first reserve adventure. It definitely was not cheap.
This is the Pretoriuskop Camp, the southwestern side of the Kruger National Park. It is the oldest Rest Camp and holds a large population of the white rhinos.
We were divided into 5-6 tourists in one of these "open-top" jeeps. It is hard work sitting in the jeep nevertheless as we drove around "hunting" to spot the animals.
Wild dogs are the easiest to spot. They are social animals and like to hunt together making them the most successful predators in Africa.
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Sunset against the backdrop of the lowveld or the baobab tree. One of the most charismatic representative keystone species in the
Kruger National Park. Spectacular. My camera does it no justice.
The wild dogs prey on giraffes!
Giraffes, to me, are very graceful animal. According to wikipedia, it is the tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant. They usually inhabit savannas, grasslands, and open woodlands. Their primary food source is acacia leaves, which they browse at heights most other herbivores cannot reach.
They do not have social bonds and it is the females' sole responsibility to raise the young. They have great hearing and smell and can run up to 30 mph in danger. The guide told us that they do not have a voice box but they are just silent mammals, communicating using infrasonic sound. Mother giraffes do whistle to their young calves and the calves bleat back to them,
Kruger National Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. Our park guide, Joe, is very knowledgeable and he was able to spot a lion from miles away. Later on we found out that they share information with other park rangers.
Safari Tour is pretty tiring. We got up early around 6 a.m. and try to go out before the sun comes out as it can get quite hot. Trying to remember, we don't stop that often. Maybe once in the morning for a toilet break, lunch and another time in the afternoon. But the days flew by quickly. We did see all the Big Five: the lion, elephant, buffalo, rhinoceros and leopard.
The lion sleeps tonight
Where the Elephants roam
Buffaloes' watering hole
Leopard doesn't lose its spots
Near-extinct white rhino
September is Spring time here which is quite a good time to catch the animals at the watering hole
Zebras remind me of "Life of Pi"
Female Kudus
Wildebeest
Giraffe looking lost
Warthogs feeding
Bush buck or Impala?
Elands?
Wild dogs
Waterbucks' stamp of "approval"
A lone lizard
Watchful Vervet monkey
Day 3 at the Park and we haven't seen half of it yet!
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Everyday different tourists join our "jeep tour" but Yuki and Motoko stayed the whole 3 days with me. Yuki and Motoko took a year off to travel around the world. He is a travel/photo journalist and they spent some time learning Chinese in China so we had very interesting (cultural) exchanges and we became good friends. They loved Kenya more and recommended that I go there.
We stayed in these comfortable "permanent" tents set up in the Pretoriuskop Camp. The crew were always joking around and having fun preparing meals for us. Sadly they do not speak much English as we would love to understand more about their lives and what it means being South Africans.
Coming to South Africa and spending time at the Reserves made me thankful of the wild life photographers and film makers for their patience waiting out for the animals to come out to feed. At some moment, I think my father was right to say "why travel when you get to see all on TV" but being there in moment is an undescribable feeling, a sort of excitement you can't get from watching TV when e.g. a leopard walked right up along side with our jeep out of the blue, spotting the white rhino on the road side, the elephants, the giraffe - they are my favourite - and the poor water bucks who got that name because of the marking on their butts.
South Africa is so alive and "bustling", sadly so much crimes. Each hostel is pad-locked with security number although someone I met told me how a gunman followed into a hostel and robbed the reception of all cash and passports deposited in the safe. I also met an American who got shot in his thigh in a Durban local market that his local friends said was safe. He was shot despite having given all his money and passport to the person who demanded it. The only reason he could think of is, he is tall and the perpetrator felt threatened.
Swaziland
My next destination was St. Lucia Estuary. To get there, I have to cross Swaziland. Sandwiched between South Africa and Mozambique, if not for the border/passport control, I wouldn't have known that I have reached a different country although that is not true. The minute we crossed into Swaziland, you see a lot of rural landscape and red soil BUT the people are the happiest people I have known. I cannot forget the genuine happy smiles on the children faces as the BazBus travelled behind the open truck they were travelling on. Made me think that people who have little (and do not know materialism) are the happiest persons alive. Money and materialism make you want more and greed makes you unhappy.
We got in on the day of the Reed Festival or Umhlanga as it is called in zulu language. I thought it was a dance and music festival but it is actually a day where tens of thousands of unmarried and childless Swazi girls and women, from age 5 to early 20s, travel from the various chiefdoms to Ludzidzini to participate in the eight-day event.
All girls are required to undergo a virginity test before they are allowed to participate in a royal dance. The girls wear traditional attire, including ‘izinculuba’ that show their bottoms. The young women dance bare-breasted for their king, and each carries a long reed, which is then deposited as they approach the king. The girls take care to choose only the longest and strongest reeds, and then carry them towering above their heads in a slow procession, up the hill to the palace. If the reed should break before the girl reaches that point, it is considered to signal that the girl has already been sexually active.
In the National Geographic report here, it is said that the king and his entourage jog through the lines of teenage subjects... weaving through all the maidens and kept an eye out for would-be wives for the king. In the impoverished country, King Mswati was seen wearing a diamond-studded watch and carrying a gold scepter. The girls shout in Siswati "This land is for the king, and people must not distribute it without his consent."
It was said that the official purpose of the annual ceremony is to preserve the women's chastity and produce solidarity among the women through working together but it is rumoured that this is the day where the polygamous 46-year-old monarch King Mswati takes another young, virgin bride to his collection of 15 wives. His father had 70 wives when he died.
60% of the land is owned by the king and roughly 70% of its 1.2 million citizens live on plots held in trust by the king with a network of local chiefs with the power to evict their tenants without recourse. Roughly two-thirds of Swazis, according to U.N. data, are unable to meet their basic food requirements.
Polygamy is practiced in Swaziland. No wonder it has the world's highest HIV prevalence: 26%! and a life expectancy of only 54 years and 43% chronic poverty in contrast to the King's mass of wealth with 13 royal palaces, fleets of top-of-the-line Mercedes and BMWs, and private jets.
The hostel I stayed at had notices of requests for us (tourists) to just pay visit to an orphanage. I didn't have time to do it but perhaps one day I will return as a volunteer.
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St. Lucia Estuary
On the Indian Ocean of South Africa is one of the largest estuaries in Africa. The St. Lucia Estuary. St Lucia Estuary is like a island as it is surrounded by fresh water on one side and sea water on the other. I stayed at the St. Lucia BiB. They have different "theme" every night like the Braai (South African BBQ) night which is actually very cool. They also provide tours and I joined their walking tour one day.
Aren't them Hippos cute??!
It was a sick joke someone told us when we were there that hippos ate dogs that's why you only see puppies in St. Lucia. Well, how do'y know, hippopotamus are mostly herbivorous. They are, however, highly aggressive so stay out of their way! They are supposed to belong to the same family of whales, and porpoises although you'd think that they belong to pigs. A male adult averages 1,500 kg!! but despite that, it can run up to 30 km/h. So again, stay out of their way!
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There are Nile crocodiles around and leopards too so we were told to be careful when we go out at night. It is the reason why you do not see (pet) dogs but only puppies around.
This area was proclaimed a world heritage by UNESCO in 1999. More and more tourists can coming here and it is nice to see the facilities even like this board walk being built so that we can explore the wild life in "comfort" here.
Spot the wild boar
Gimme a wild life, any wild ones
I did another game tour, the Hluhluwe Game Reserve from St. Lucia. The reserve is more hilly and spread out than Kruger Park and we didn't come to any watering hole so it was not easy to spot the animals. We managed to see some Wildebeests, Elephants and Giraffes. I guess next time I should go on a bush walk in a game reserve.
Durban
I only stayed one night in Durban and I didn't take my camera nor valuables with me because I was told not to. I was sort of followed by some guys but I turned to go back to the hostel so I "lost" him. This is when I decided I'd just stay in tonight and catch my flight to Port Elizabeth the next day.
Port Elizabeth
The only reason I stopped at Port E is to visit a friend, Warren, who was in the Eramus programme in the university where I did my MBA in Germany. He has a nice apartment not far from the beach but it isn't swimming weather so I just hang out at the small "mall" by the sea and catch up with him. 2 days later I went on the BazBus to get to Kynsna.
Kynsna
I was told that a trip to the Garden Route is not complete without a visit to the famous Knysna Waterfront so that's how I got there. I guess it would be better if I had dedicated more time here because most of the activities are outdoors and not in the town itself e.g. bungy jumping. We passed by this, the highest (car) bridge in Africa above the Bloukrans River valley on the way in. What do you do with the highest bridge in the world? Jump off it of course, bungy-way!
There is a nice marina to browse around, shopping and food.
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The hostel I stayed at was not right in the center but in a quiet residential area. It is actually very nice. I get the feeling that Knysnya is rather affluential and I did not have to watch my back here.
Hermanus
From Knysnya, I started my Garden Route, stopping at Hermanus to catch the whales, the Southern Right ones.
I stayed at the Hermanus Backpackers & Budget Accommodation which is a great location close to the cliff/beach. They were only selling tour packages to swimming with the sharks, in a cage and I didn't think it was THE place to watch whales. Thankfully on one of my walks around, we saw them playing, flapping around the waters: mother and baby.
I lost the original photos I took so I only have compressed ones to show here. It brought back a lot of memories, good ones for me and I want to go again!
Here, you can choose where you want to catch the whales. One day it rained but we didn't miss the whale-watching, we watched them swim in the comfort of the Cubana Latino Cafe. It was a great experience.
Other than whales, Hermanus is my favourite place in South Africa. I would and could imagine living here.
Cape Town
Finally made my way to Cape Town. As the BazBus rolled into Cape Town, the bus driver pointed out areas we should stay away from e.g. the CBD area after dark which is logical. I stayed at the Blue Mountain Backpackers on Long Street. It has all the securities like password protected gates and barred-reception. I met Charles, a Brit travelling with 2 friends and they met other guys while playing pool at the hostel so in the end we went out to have dinner with a party of 10 or so. It was nice. A young local boy "threatened" Chris with a small pocket knife while we were walking to the restaurant but we were much taller and bigger (also in number), nothing happened to any of us.
I reckon I can retire here.
I went to The Castle of Good Hope which is the oldest building in South Africa. It used to be a fort but today it showcase the Cape's early days although I only visited the external ground as it was closed the day I went.
Not far away is the District Six Museum. The District Six Museum shows how vibrant the community was before it was forcibly removed during apartheid when in 1966 the National Party government declared District Six a “white group area”. Thousands of coloured and blacks were moved to the Cape Flats with few facilities or means to make a living. All buildings except religious ones were demolished.
The City Hall and Grand Parade are also nearby.
Built in 1905 in Italian Renaissance style, the City Hall is one of the last Victorian-style sandstone structures around. I don't know why I did not enter it, possibly it was a hot day and I did not have much time left. Apparently it has beautiful interior, vintage stained glass and a 3 165-pipe organ. The clock tower is supposedly a half-size replica of London’s Big Ben.
Passed through this beautiful park on the way home.
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Victoria & Alfred (V&A) Waterfront in Cape Town has sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean, Table Bay Harbour, the City of Cape Town and Table Mountain. It is a very nice place to stroll around and have lunch.
The Table Mountain is the landmark of Cape Town, no doubt. In Afrikaans, it is written as Tafelberg which means flat-topped mountain. I took a cab from the hostel as I wanted to walk up the top from the Park. It was a nice crisp morning and perfect for walking as it is not too hot. I took the Platteklip Gorge route which gave great views. I was the only one walking which can be meditative at times but it was nice to see a few other walkers later on.
Enjoying a bit of peace in the morning sun without hardly any tourists/trekkers in sight.
View on the top.
You see Robben Island in a distance, where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of the 27 years he served behind bars before the fall of apartheid.
The Peninsula is where you can see the buttresses of the 12 Apostles (part of the picture on the left), the Atlantic Coastline and the Chapman's Peak (top) and the flower Protea below.
I joined a one-day tour of Cape Peninsula, stopping at Boulders to see a Penguin colony and finally biking around
Cape of Good Hope National Park to the end of the southern African continent.
Starting here at Hout Bay, we took a boat out to see the seals.
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After a short bicycle ride, we got to The Cape of Good Hope, the southern most tip of Africa dividing the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The final stop of my travels in South Africa. What a wonderful way to wrap up my visit of this beautiful country. I wish South Africa and South Africans all the best for its future and I hope to go back there again.
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