Before we left Dundee we checked with the people at the Royal Hotel
which would be the best route to take to get us round and down to
Hluhluwe, our next planned stop. They were really helpful and not
only told us the best way to go in KwaZulu Natal but also told us
lots of places to look out for all the way across to Cape Town. They
were really enthusiastic about their country and have given us lots
of food for thought.
At their recommendation, we took the road from Dundee to
Vryheid and on to Louwsburg. Here we turned off to make our way up
to the Itala Nature Reserve which they had said was very beautiful
and well worth a visit. It was a small and twisty road that led to
the park, passing through Louwsburg along the way. It was a very
small town and as usual had lots of people hanging about seemingly
not doing an awful lot. The road wound down through the village and
then down some pretty steep hills into the valley below.
Local boys dancing at Hluhluwe
Giraffe, kudu and nyala greeted us as we approached the park
gate. There we were met by a chap with one eye who checked that
accommodation was available before letting us go through. We asked
him whether we could drive ourselves around the park or if we needed
to go on an organised drive but he didn’t understand what we were
asking so we gave up and headed up to reception. At reception they
again confirmed they had accommodation available, seemingly unaware
of the conversation with the chap at the gate. The only drawback was
that we couldn’t check in for another hour and a half.
We decided to stop at the café for a drink and a bite of lunch
while we waited. A large family was at a table next to us with kids
ranging from a few months to about ten years old. One woman finally
stopped breast feeding her baby in full sight of everyone around.
She and her husband then picked up one of the toddlers, took it to a
different table and proceeded to change its nappy, which they put in
the bin near our table. Why they couldn’t go to the changing rooms
is beyond me.
After about half and hour Stef went in search of the food he
had ordered. He was told that they were very busy but from what he
could see they weren’t doing anything at all. When he persisted they
finally made moves to start to cook his food by which stage he’d
lost the will to eat and gave up. We finished our drinks and went to
the shop to get some food for dinner, only to find that they didn’t
have any meat left apart from a couple of very dodgy looking bits of
chicken. I think for both of us that was the final straw and we
decided that Itala was not really the place for us.
We hopped back in the car and made our way back through
Louwsburg to the main road. This time round we had more chance to
look at the town as we passed through it. Most of the houses were
what Pat had yesterday referred to as Mandela Microwaves.
Traditional building supplies have pretty much all been used up now
so new houses are built out of concrete breeze blocks. They are
small, little more than huts, with two rooms and a corrugated iron
roof. They must get uncomfortably hot in the summer, hence the
nickname, but must also be pretty cold in the winter months.
Surprisingly the town had a couple of almost colonial style
buildings, an old church and a low slung building that is now the
magistrate’s court. You can’t imagine enough happening around here
for them to warrant their own court. The locals seemed to shun the
Spar supermarket opting instead for the Khulanathi across the road.
Probably the Spar is more geared to the white visitors who go to the
nature reserve.
Back on the main road we headed up to Pongola and from there
started to make our way south to Hluhluwe. Generally the roads here
were pretty good with only a few stretches with pot holes. We made
it to the Hluhluwe park gate before 5:00pm only to find that they
were fully booked for tonight. It is a long holiday weekend but we
had bargained on most people heading for the coast rather than the
inland parks and had hoped accommodation wouldn’t be a problem.
A group of enterprising young boys were at the gate to the
park performing traditional Zulu dances. A man, no doubt one of
their dad’s, was beating out the rhythm on a drum. They put on a
pretty good show and were happy to pose for photos. They put loads
of energy into it and quite a few people dropped some coins into
their hat in the short time we watched them. The dances were very
similar to those we had seen at the Swazi cultural village a few
days ago.
At the park they had recommended we tried the backpacker’s
hostel a few kilometres further back down the road. We were given a
very friendly welcome both from the owners and from their dogs. They
had a large and very affectionate Alsatian and a very cute little
puppy that took quite a shine to Stef’s shoe laces. Coming from a
cat family rather than a dog family Stef looked a bit bemused about
it all. The people here kindly called around for us to check if
other places in the area had availability but both the local hotel
and the next backpackers place were full. So we headed out with
night drawing close to try and find a bed for the night.
Further up the road we passed the gates for the Tree Lodge. We
turned around, their gate man checked they had space and we went up
to reception to check in. Time had really run out to try and find
somewhere else but I think we were both expecting an expensive stay,
similar to the Protea Hotel we had had to stay in before we could
get into Kruger. Surprisingly the rate was reasonable, not cheap but
on a par for what we’ve seen of South African prices so far, for bed
and breakfast and I think we were both pleased we could finally
relax knowing we had a bed for the night.
Even better we had got there about ten minutes before a night
drive was setting off so we were able to join the drive. With us on
the drive was a family from Durban who had two small boys, probably
about five and six. They had just arrived today and it was the first
time that the boys had been to a wildlife park so they were eager to
see the animals and very excited at the prospect. They were at that
stage where they mimic other people and every so often one or the
other would mutter a phrase that they had heard one of us say a few
minutes earlier. They were pretty entertaining.
The drive was pretty good and we saw quite a wide variety of
different animals – giraffe, warthog, impala, zebra, nyala (male and
female), wildebeest as well as lot of different birds. There were
lots of warthogs all over the place. They are funny animals that
shuffle along on their knees while they are eating. You can tell the
males from the females by the number of warts they have on their
cheek. The females have one while the males have two. Our guide told
us that wildebeest and zebra are often seen together because they
have complementary senses. The wildebeest have a good sense of smell
while the zebra have better eyesight. Combined they are a good
lookout against predatory lions. He also confirmed that male nyala
start off the brown colour of the females and only change to grey
once they are about six months old.
Along the trail we passed through a clump of fever trees with
thin pale white branches. The name was given to them by the early
European settlers who thought that the trees were responsible for
the fevers (malaria) that they succumbed to. Further on we came
across sausage trees. These have long sponge like pods hanging from
them that make good food for elephants.
Back at the hotel we headed for the Safari Lodge reception
where we were met by a very flustered looking girl. She seemed to be
tazzing about all over the place but didn’t endear herself to us
when she said “ah, so you’re the walk ins”. We know that we hadn’t
pre-booked but that instantly gave us the feeling we were second
class citizens. We got our keys and finally made it into our
rondavel. It was pretty similar to the ones we had stayed in at the
national parks. All seemed OK until Stef sat on one of the beds.
They were incredibly soft and saggy and had obviously seen better
days. It was really a foretaste of what was to come. The in room
information booklet confirmed that it was a self catering rondavel
but all we had was a kettle and a couple of mugs and much as we are
both adaptable there’s not much you can cook with a kettle. There
was a frog in the kitchen sink, ants in the shower and the toilet
leaked.
When we checked in we asked at the main reception about dinner
and they had told us that chicken and lamb were on the menu tonight
and that dinner was from 7:30pm to 9:00pm. At 7:45pm we headed down
to the restaurant. It was very small with only about ten tables most
inside but a few outside. It was a buffet dinner and we were both
looking forward to the lamb (Stef) and chicken (me). When we got
there all that was left were the carcass of the chicken and the bone
from a joint of lamb with a few scraggy bits of meat on it.
We asked if more meat was on its way and were reassured that
it was so we had a bowl of soup while we waited. The minutes clicked
by and no more meat arrived. It was one of those situations where
the story kept changing. One minute there was no more lamb, then
lamb chops were on the way with more chicken but still nothing
arrived. I chased again this time asking a different lady who seemed
unaware that there had been a problem. A few minutes later a chef
appeared, slapped some food on the grill and then disappeared. This
turned out to be fish. Stef queried again about the lamb and was
reassured it was on its way.
One of the chaps from the restaurant finally came to say that
the fish was drying out and needed to be eaten so I went to get some
while Stef still waited for his lamb. They had to go and get plates
for us to eat off and while that was happening the chef appeared
again with t-bone steak rather than lamb. By this stage Stef was
totally exasperated and not a happy chap. He couldn’t be bothered to
wait for the steak to cook so he joined me in the fish. All in all
it had taken an hour from us arriving at the restaurant to getting a
meal. Thankfully they said before we asked that they wouldn’t charge
us for the dinner as I think Stef would have gone bonkers if they’d
tried to make us pay. It seems that the hotel is fully booked and
someone along the line somewhere has obviously cocked up on the
ordering.
Ah well. Despite it all we ended the day with both a bed and a
meal inside us, something that a few hours earlier looked like a bit
of a shaky prospect.
