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Wednesday, November 22nd, Spy Road, Pine Town, South Africa
We arrived here on Sunday afternoon, making the 420 Km hike from Swaziland to here by 3:00PM. Our flight back to UK is confirmed for Saturday 25th. Nov - 3 weeks earlier than our original date, for which S.A.A. demanded an additional $C700.00 from us (this "penalty", was written on the tickets, but it's still $C700.00!) Where have we been since our Kruger departure? Well, firstly, as we were leaving the park, last Friday, 17th, what do we spot, but a leopard, taking his time to cross the road. We tracked him just off the road for about 20 - 30 minutes. Hey, it seems that you can have enough even of leopards! The park is only about 50 Km from Swaziland, and we exit out, grab some cash from the ATM, and set out. I was hoping that the atmosphere would be somewhat less than I remembered it from a few months back, but no, antipathy dulls those surrounding the bank machine, blank and aggressive stares permeate the town. I pocket the cash and get out. On the way, I'm stopped by a police check point. I have no license disk (mandatory for SA), so I'm pulled over. No big deal, once they know that it's an import, and we are on our way again. With so much firepower here, I'll be glad to get to the relative safety of Swazi. The border is again a breeze, and we pay $C1.00 for our Swazi road tax. Customs actually asks us about what we are bringing with us - this is a first of the trip!
This is where I should have a refresh of my Economists at Post Restante, but good old Swazi know how, decides it's not to be - not yet anyway. Oh SHIT! There is a good e-mail hut here, and we clack away for an hour or so before we head out to Mlellane Game Park, about 10 Km away. It's part/ affiliate of WWF so we assume that it's fairly legit. Once there, it looks like it was based on principles and good management once, but is now a bit degraded. I follow a track just outside our log cabin into the dense woods, only to come to a small valley where all the plastic, cans and other detritus of people staying, has been dumped over the edge awaiting the rains to wash it past the park border and out of there concern. (If even that). The main camp and restaurant is packed with Germans and a few Flemings (Dutch/ Flemish is a very close relative of Afrikaans). The service is terrible, and the food worse. The couple next to us tell us that absolutely everything they got, was not what they had ordered. The camp is run down and has the African look about it - no or very low maintenance, piles of junk lying around, areas cleared of trees/ shrub just left with scattered oil drums spread around, slowly rusting. However, the staff put on a display of traditional Swazi dancing, and this is very good. It starts to rain, and we head back to the cabin, 9 Km away. As it's dirt tracks, I actually put on the 4 x 4 drive to get back! Come morning, Saturday 18th and we head back to Mbabane to see (Ha! Fat Chance!) If my Post Restante has arrived) - of course not, so after a breakfast, we depart for the rest of the trip across Swazi. It's only about 250Km from top to bottom along this road, not a big country. The Swazi's seem to be very relaxed, Mbabane is truly multi everything, there are young men in traditional kikoi draped garb, rubbing shoulders with a multiracial group of trendy teens in the middle of a smart downtown mall. Everything appears to be very relaxed and accepting here. Friendly smiling people always around - reminds me of Zim. The local paper has stories about strikes and how the King (yes, still a monarchy here), deals with it: pretty much along the lines of Ivan the Terrible, with a bit of socialisation thrown it to leaven the potential bloodbath.
One option we have, is to stay in the traditional village huts. The manager is leery of the weather as they may leak in the rain. "We're tough" we tell her (but as it turns out, not waterproof). Looks good on paper, and we retire to the bar/ restaurant for a bottle of wine and a braai dinner. It starts to rain, complete with the electrics of a thunderstorm. There is a Dutch couple, and a South African family here. We all chat about our travels. Just to set us at our ease, we are once again regaled with truly horrific stories of travelling in SA by the SA folks. We have not heard of this apocryphal violence for months, and we realise that we have done full circle and, even if this is very over the top, we should be extremely careful when travelling in SA again.
Not very easy, so we load up the van in rain that is still pouring down without stop, and turn south for our last leap. By 7:05AM we are at the border which has just opened, and pass back into SA. Rain, rain rain. It goes on all day. There is an incredibly long piece of road that has nothing on it between the border and anything more than an African village. The rivers we go over look as if it's been raining for weeks: they are very high and fast. There is nothing but nothing on the road (a main highway), and we need two pee stops on the way - this in a veritable deluge. It is VERY remote here, and travelling at 40KMPH up some of the hills, I have visions of highjackers leaping out of the rocks. As if reading my thoughts, the missus says "well at least the hijackers won't be out today"...... Seems that she's right. After about 300+ Km, we finally turn off into a small town that boast a restaurant. Water drips through the roof, but we can sit down to a view and eat in some form of comfort. With a newspaper and our cell phone, we pass a couple of hours in relative comfort. On leaving, I get through to Kerry, and no problem, we are off to Pinetown to conclude our trip, not as lots of people call it "of a lifetime", but simply "for this year".
We are re booked to fly out Saturday 25th to London arriving at some unknown hour in the AM at Heathrow, from there to France to (maybe) catch up with the kids lingual directions, currently missing. God, it's been fun. We all have lots of things that we are looking forward to once we get back to Canada, but we all have wonderful memories of Africa and the wonderful people we have met and the fantastic things we have done, seen and experience etc etc here. Hey all you readers out there, in closing our African diary I have only one thing to say: "Don't dream it, be it" Richard O'Brien (Rocky Horror) Watch for our "Travels To Europe" and Comparative Countries of Souther Africa Supplements available closer to Christmas. Distance travelled this entry: 810 Km. Distance moved on trip this entry: 850 Km Total distance travelled on trip: +/- 18,000Km, Total maintenance on trip: 4 services, 2 tyres, 3 fuel filters, occasional nuts, bolts oil, brake fluid and grease. Bits of pipe for 4 x 4 and brakes. Multiple fuel bleeding - I'm down to 75 seconds for a fuel bleed, and resume now! Not a bad tally for a total techo dick head. Approx 30 photo films, 15 video tapes. We also of course, have many new friends, a total multiplicity of adventures and beautiful, breathtaking and tight spots to recall at our leisure. A far better understanding of southern African cultures, and a veritable mass of stories and times to relive with the kids. |
Our newly found friends, mike & Kerry who foolishly invited us to stay here when we met them back in August, have supplied us
with a perfect departure pad, place to stay, shop and pack our hard travelled goods and equipment.
The road to Mbabane goes across two 
By 1:00PM, we are at a game park/ traditional village at Nkolo, about 35 KM from the SA border. Being Saturday, and this is not
Zim, there is no room. They have 
By 9:00PM, it's been pouring for 4 hours, and we get back to the "bee hive" rondavels and into our beds, literally, just as the straw
roofs start to allow the rain through. We all have a damp night, and are 
It's both wonderful and really sad to
