The date of my 3rd blogiversary hit me by surprise this year. (Honestly, I’d totally forgotten about it!) I was doing a little site maintenance last week and noticed the date of my first post – November 29th. Right away, I knew what I wanted to do – show some of my favorite photos of the last three years but there was no way to weed through more than 2,500 images in two days and decide which ones to use.
I registered my blog about 3 years before I started blogging. Even though I was traveling, I couldn’t seem to get the writing part going. That is, until two of my friends and I made it to southern Africa. Three weeks in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Lesotho and I returned with so many wonderful and memorable experiences, I could hear myself telling the same stories over and over. I needed a medium that would allow me to share my stories and photos – my usual travel journal wouldn’t do. Then I remembered the blog I registered and never used.
Shortly after I returned home, I looked up my blog, downloaded my photos – almost 1000 images – and began writing. Surprisingly, the words flowed and even more surprisingly, they haven’t stopped.
My blog and I have grown considerably since those first tentative moments three years ago. I’ve met and befriended readers and bloggers and can proudly say there’s no group more supportive. It is because of you that this 3rd blogiversary is possible.
In Take One, I’ll go back to where it started – that trip to southern Africa. We visited Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, Victoria Falls and Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, and Sani Pass, Lesotho.
If you can only visit two continents in your lifetime, visit Africa. TWICE! – R. Elliott
Entrance to Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls RainbowVictoria FallsLunchtime at Makalolo Plains, Hwange National Park, ZimbabweLone bull elephant at Mbisa, Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe
Hwange Elephant
Zebras
Giraffe
A lioness too full to move
Elephants playing at a watering hole, Hwange National Park
Elephants and Cape Buffalo, Hwange National Park
Mandela House, SowetoIconic Soweto WatertowersView from Table Mountain, Cape TownTable Mountain TableclothJackass Penguins at Boulders Beach, Cape TownVineyard, Stellenbosch, Cape TownM’hudi Wines’ Oupa Rangaka
On the ferry to Robben Island
Mandela’s Robben Island cell
The bars that couldn’t hold him
Overcome by emotion
Photo of Mandela on a banner at Victor Verster Prison
Mandela statue outside Victor Verser Prison
Durban trees
With the chief
Replica of a Zulu kraal
Zulu hut, Zululand
Zulu girls
Zulu woman and child
The dance
It’s my turn, Zululand
Sani Pass Hotel
Sani Pass, Drakensberg Mountains
Sani Pass, Drakensberg Mountains
Sani Pass Switchback, Drakensberg Mountains
Rock Paintings, Drakensberg Mtns
The other way to get up the mountain
Drakensberg Mountain
At 9000 ft, Sani Pass, Lesotho
Lunch at the Highest Pub in Africa
I had the Gluhwein
My lunch at the Highest Pub in Africa
Durban RickshawMorning on the Golden Mile, Durban
Some of the people we met…
Hotel worker, Durban
Our travel agents, Durban
A braai
With Thandiwe Klaasen, a SA jazz singer & Mercy, a dancer
Teachers at Peter Claver
Students at Peter Claver School
with the Prince
The Irreverent Sister at Mama Africa
With Lebo, M’Hudi Wines
With Prince Charles, Giant’s Castle guide
With Don, our tour guide
It’s been a while since I saw some of these photos so that made it even more difficult to decide what to include. But it was great looking back at the wonderful time we had.
I still keep in touch with several of the people we met in South Africa and Zimbabwe. The first time I visited Africa, a friend told me it would change my life. It took the second visit for it to happen.
Coming up tomorrow, Take 2: London, Paris, Toronto, and New York.
Linking up this week with Travel Photo Thursday, which Nancie at Budget Travelers Sandbox organizes. Be sure to head over and check out more photos from locations around the world.
A year ago, my friends and I traveled to South Africa, Zimbabwe and Lesotho. When I was researching the Durban leg of the trip, I saw a photo of a rickshaw on Golden Mile Beach and decided I had to find one when I got there and go for a ride.
Rickshaw, Golden Mile Beach, Durban
On our way to the airport, I spotted this one near the beach and asked our driver to stop. We had only a few minutes but each of us got to sit in the rickshaw and have our photo taken.
The rickshaw was brought to Durban from London in 1893 by sugar magnate, Sir Marshall Campbell. At that time, there were only a few cars in the city. By 1902, Durban had approximately 1,700 rickshaws for more than 24,000 pullers who came to the city to work and returned home to the country with their earnings. Now, there are only about 20 registered pullers left.
Run by the Zulus, beautifully decorated rickshaws can be rented from pullers, who are dressed in colorful, handcrafted beaded headdresses and are usually stationed on the beach. They not only transport, they entertain in true Zulu fashion.
Rickshaw Rides on Golden Mile Beach cost between US$2 – $50.
This is my submission to this week’s Budget Travelers Sandbox Travel Photo Thursday series. Be sure to check out other photo and story entries on their website!
As we exited, we noticed Stefan looking anxiously towards the arrivals gate then at his cell phone, as if trying to decide whether to make a call. We shouted his name and he turned and smiled widely. It was wonderful to see his familiar face.
As soon as exchanged hugs and settled into the jeep, we – Sandra, Judith and I – began chattering all at once, like giddy teenagers tripping over each others’ words eagerly trying to get the stories of our adventures out to Stefan as quickly as we could.
Stefan had some news of his own. While we were gone, Shepherds Court, the guest house he owns and where we had stayed when we arrived in Johannesburg, had seen a flurry of new arrivals and was fully booked so he decided to put us up for our last night in Joburg at his pool house. He dropped us off then left to do some shopping.
We settled in and made our way to the kitchen of the main house and opened a bottle of Tall Horse, a local wine we had fallen in love with. The door bell rang unexpectedly. It was Thope. She had several bottles of wine with her and told us that Stefan planned to have a braai – a kind of a barbecue – for us before we left. A braai? We were excited!
In our two weeks in Southern Africa, we had not been to a braai. We hadn’t thought about it — it wasn’t even on our must-do list.
Finally, Stefan returned and more friends arrived. The men went about setting up and cooking ribs, pork, beef and boerewors (sausage) while we women remained inside drinking and chatting.
Once everything was ready, we moved outside to the covered porch area where the huge braaier was located and the party began.
We had eaten so much beef in Southern Africa, we’d joked among ourselves that we’d have to take a vacation from meat when we returned to the States. But what’s a braai without meat? The beef was surprisingly tender and flavorful and hours later, almost all of it had been washed down with several bottles of South African wine.
After the braaiAnd several bottles of wineJust before dawn
If we didn’t have plans to go to Soweto later that morning, we would probably still be there, chatting and laughing. We had a fabulous time. It was about 3 a.m. when we finally stumbled into bed on our last night in South Africa.
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Our last morning in Durban began with us watching the sun as it rose over the Indian Ocean.
Golden Mile Awakening
And watching as the area known as the Golden Mile, Durban‘s popular stretch of beach came to life with vendors, tourists, swimmers, people out for their morning walk and workers cleaning up the beach.
Golden Mile Morning
One of the things we wanted to do was dip our toes in the ocean. The sand was almost golden brown and soft under our feet. It was our only time in the water since we had been in South Africa.
We waded in, stepped back and screamed almost at the same time when the water hit our feet. It was a nice, bracing cold. But just wetting our toes wasn’t enough. We walked further in as the water lapped our calves. It felt great.
The water was a little brisk!
When we returned to our room, our clothes were wet and flip flops full of sand. Disappointingly, I didn’t get any shells on the beach.
Near the street, a few people had gathered to admire this artist’s rendition of a cheetah
Golden Mile Cheetah
and a lion made from sand.
Golden Mile Lion
Durban’s artistic flair.
Garbage?
What’s DSW doing on the side of this garbage receptacle? Sorry, Sandra, it’s not the shoe store.
Sculpture
During our last drive through Durban, we came across these sculptures that I just loved.
Golden Mile Sculpture
Before we left the U.S., I had seen photos of Durban’s rickshas and the drivers online. I knew I had to see and ride in one.
And as Don drove us around, we spotted this one. I was so excited, I started to jump out of the car before he even came to a stop.
Golden Mile Ricksha
The driver obligingly put on his elaborate headgear but we didn’t have time for a ride. I could only take these photos.
Ricksha ride?Color infected even the fence of this buildingAnd this treeThis cube caught our eyeThen we saw this tree in Sandra’s favorite colorMoses Mabhida Stadium
Named for a former general secretary of the South Africa Communist Party, Moses Mabhida Stadium, played host to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Another view of the stadiumCoastline and highrisesSibaya Casino from the highway
On our way to the airport, we noticed this building from the highway. It was the Sibaya Casino & Entertainment Kingdom. It looked impressive, if a little out of place.
Sibaya Casino Entrance
This would be one of my last photos of Durban. It had been a whirlwind three days. We had done a lot, racked up several thousand miles and made friends.
Compassline Africa, our travel agent in Durban, had taken fabulous care of us. If you ever plan a visit, send Tanya or Alison an email. They left us in the capable hands of Don “How’s ya Granny” Botterill who proudly showed off his beautiful province and shared personal and family stories, including the one that a distant relative was one of the first people to open the Sani Pass route through the Drakensberg Mountains to Lesotho.
Our goodbye to Durban was bittersweet – it meant we had just one more night in South Africa.
Goodbye Durban, till next time.
Back to Joburg.
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It wasn’t until I was sitting in the dining room of the Beach Hotel on the morning of our last day in Durban that I finally realized what I’d been missing during the two weeks we traveled around South Africa.
SA Jazz singer, Lorraine Klaasen in traditional beaded collar
At a table close to ours, a group of nattily attired women in dresses made from African fabric, sat engaged in lively conversation. In this room of business people, young professionals and tourists, they were beautiful and regal and easy to spot.
Nowhere in our travels had we seen a display such as this. Most of the women we had seen had coats on, the others – hotel employees, etc., wore uniforms.
Years ago on my first trip to Africa, as I waited to change planes at the Leopold Senghor Airport in Dakar, I watched, mesmerized, the Senegalese women dressed in riots of colors and patterns – no two women looking alike.
That’s what I missed, I thought to myself.
To me, more than anything else, seeing women in traditional African dress is an unmistakable statement of cultural reference, connection and identity that always makes me feel proud of my African heritage. I didn’t realize how much until then.
I’m still not sure what it is about Durban – I can’t quite put my finger on it exactly. But whatever it is, it creeps under your skin, sneaks up to your chest, grabs hold of your heart and just doesn’t let go.
Could it be the sunrise?
Alison at Compassline Africa had booked us into the Beach Hotel and the room we had gave us front row seats to the most spectacular sunrise we’d seen in a while. And as we watched the sun rise slowly above the horizon, I thought of this version of Bob Marley’s Lively Up Your Self. (Bob would have loved Durban too.)
Sun peeking over the horizonPinkish yellow rays of the morning sunSlow riseComing upSky with a golden sunBrilliant sunrise
The thing we looked forward to doing in Durban was to dip our feet into the Indian Ocean. So following the sunrise, we got dressed, had breakfast and went down to the beach.
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When we began planning the Durban leg of our trip, we knew nothing about the rock paintings at Giant’s Castle but once we did, they quickly became a must-see.
Created approximately 5,000 years ago by the first known inhabitants of South Africa, the Bushman or San people, and most of it located in the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park, they are the largest group of rock paintings to be found south of the Sahara.
We arrived at Giant’s Castle just before the mid-afternoon tour would begin and nearly had to sprint to the Main Cave, about a 30 minute hike from the Visitor Center. We were met by our guide, who told us his name was “Charles, Prince Charles.”
We couldn’t help laughing.
Prince Charles told us the story of the San people and the history of the paintings, as much as had been gathered from research. Signs like this provided additional background.
Main CaveReplica of a San village
I had expected that we’d be going to an underground cave to see the drawings. Instead, these were right there on the overhanging rocks and exposed to the elements. However, a barrier now surrounds the rocks to prevent people from getting too close to deface them.
Drawings at Giant’s CastleSan (Bushman) DrawingsMore San (or Bushman) paintings
The drawings represent a rich historical record of daily life — some show animals (eland, buffalo, etc.), children, men with spears, groups of women, etc. They were made from a mixture of grounded colored stone which was held together with fat and rubbed onto the rock. But they weren’t done just willy nilly. Specific areas of the rocks were chosen to lend depth and contrast. I was surprised that after so many years, the colors remained so vibrant.
There are 500 known areas of San drawings in the uKhahlamba Drakensburg Park, which UNESCO has declared a World Heritage Site.
At the end of the tour, which lasted about 30 minutes, we spent some time photographing the drawings and learning Zulu words from Prince Charles. An amiable man, he told us he had been a guide at the cave for nearly 30 years and was looking forward to retirement.
I wondered what it was like for Charles being there every day. Between tours, it is a peaceful place, with only the sound of an occasional bird, but I got the sense that there were people all around.
with Prince Charles
When it was time to return, Prince showed us a different way back. While the route to the cave was a punishing climb over rocks, up inclines, over streams, and a path in some places, just wide enough for one person, the return was a breeze. And the view was breathtaking.
Taking the scenic (and leisurely) route with our guide, DonGiant’s Castle Sign
A reminder that this is a Heritage Site.
By the time we returned to the Visitor Center, it was time for a relaxing lunch. We left Giant’s Castle for the 4 hour ride back to Durban. It was our last full day in KwaZulu Natal.
Driving around Johannesburg, Cape Town and then Durban, we realized very quickly how astoundingly beautiful South Africa is. Each city has its unique charm, its own unmistakable landscape.
Located on the eastern coast, Durban is the location of South Africa’s busiest port. It enjoys a balmy, subtropical climate.
These trees are just so majestic
As we drove higher up the Drakensberg Mountains, we were enveloped by clouds. If Don, our driver and guide, was nervous, he didn’t let on. I took this photo as soon as it cleared
Magnificent clouds
and revealed these spectacular views.
Mountain shadowsShadows on the mountainAnother face of DurbanA river flows down thereDwarfed by the mountain
And then we saw this sign. Don had to slow down so I could get a photo. I knew no one would believe me if I didn’t have proof.
How polite!
I wonder what we can infer about Durban from their pothole signs. Tell me what you think.
When I spoke with Kieron Audain, the student and author who contacted me from Durban, he asked if we’d be visiting the Drakensberg. I had no idea what he was talking about. All we had been thinking about for Durban was a visit to Shakaland, a tour of the city and Umhlanga Rocks, and finding some good Indian restaurants. It was going to be a leisurely two days.
But when I Googled it, I knew we’d have to go.
At more than 11,000 ft., the Drakensberg Mountains is the highest range in Southern Africa. It is also home to Tugela Falls, the second highest waterfall in the world and the location where several hundred rock paintings done by the Bushmen, the indigenous people of Southern Africa, can be seen.
I was even more excited when I saw the Sani Pass, the dirt road that zigzags 9,400 feet up the Drakensberg Mountain and connects the Kingdom of Lesotho to the province of KwaZulu Natal.
We wanted to do all three: visit Tugela Falls, see the Bushman’s paintings and venture up the Sani Pass but dropped Tugela Falls when we realized we’d have to climb a chain ladder to get to parts of it. In addition, there really wouldn’t be enough time.
So following our visit to Shakaland and our overnight stay in Ballito, we checked in to the Sani Pass Hotel located at the foot of the Drakensberg Mountains just before lunch to begin our drive up the Pass.
Sani Pass Hotel
I just love these thatched roofs.
After checking in, we began the climb up the rugged Sani Pass, a kind of no-man’s land between the South African and Lesotho border control posts.
Leaving South Africa
The nearly 14 mile road up the Sani Pass is so dangerous, only 4-wheel drive vehicles (or 4-legged animals) are allowed.
4-wheel drive vehicle needed
But the views are spectacular.
Sani Pass road
In the early 1800s, King Moshoeshoe and his followers settled in this remote area to form what is now the Kingdom of Lesotho rather than being co-opted by King Shaka Zulu.
View of the mountainThis is a remote area
There’s no way to drive straight up.
Zigzagging up the mountain
The best way to climb the mountain.
Sani Pass SwitchbackSnow on the MountainYes, that’s where we just came from
While we waited for lunch, we visited the Sani Top Chalet.
Sani Top ChaletSani Top WelcomeSandra
Yes, we actually travelled 9,400 feet up the Drakensberg Mountain to have lunch at the Highest Pub in Africa.
My lunchThis bread was delicious!
I had heard so much about gluhwein, the wine, rum and sugar mixture served warm at the pub, I had to try it. I guess it’s better on a really cold day.
Sani Pass GluhweinFlying with the birds
Since the Sani Pass route is so dangerous and is unlit, it is closed at 4:00 p.m. daily. Shortly after lunch, we began the drive back down.
Under the setting sun, the mountain is breathtakingly beautiful.
In the shadowsIt would be suicidal to drive here at nightDrakensberg rocksMore stunning viewsFire on the mountain
During winter, the vegetation becomes brown and dry. Burning off the dry grass to promote new growth.
Smoke on the mountain
Before we arrived at the South African border control, we ran into a few people climbing the mountain on horses and donkeys.
4-wheel drive or donkey?
Before the road was cut, this was the only way up the Pass. Residents would travel down to Good Hope, a now defunct trading post at the foot of the mountain, to trade blankets for supplies.
Almost everyone we spoke to before we left the U.S. said we’d love Durban, although they didn’t say why exactly. The largest city in KwaZulu Natal, Durban is also an important manufacturing hub and port. It boasts a sub-tropical climate and some of South Africa’s best beaches.
I didn’t know much about the city when I decided to plan that leg of our trip. And apart from a visit to Shakaland, a Zulu homestead near Durban, the only things we wanted to do was watch the whales, get some good Indian food and enjoy the city.
Alison, Marcia, Sandra, Tanya and Judith (stooping)
Then I received an email out of the blue from an author in Durban who suggested his book for my book club. When I told him of our plans to visit Durban, he suggested quite strongly that we had to visit ‘Drakensberg.’ When I asked what that was, he said he had no idea (he had just moved to Durban from the UK), that I should search online. Once I did, it added a whole new dimension to our trip.
Through a friend, we found a travel agency, Compassline Africa, that took care of the details and Tanya, Alison and Don from Compassline met us on arrival at Durban’s Shaka Zulu International Airport.
Don would be our driver for our three days in Durban and not too long after we arrived, we had loaded up the car and were on our way to our first stop, Shakaland.
Don Botterill was a combination tour guide, driver, loveable uncle and a proud South African who was enthusiastic about showing and sharing his beautiful country with us.
We were driving along to Shakaland when he received a phone call. Instead of saying, hello, he asked, How’s your granny? We looked at each other and burst into a fit of laughter.
Once we heard that, we knew we were in for a treat with Don. And boy, did he deliver!
