Thendele Hutted Camp and the Drakensberg Mountains

After spending a week in Cape Town, we flew to Durban and rented a few cars to drive the 5 1/2 hours or so to the Drakensberg Mountains in the Royal Natal National Park. On the way there, we had to pass through what we now call the infamous Bergville. I can't think about the Drakensberg Mountains without thinking of this random town in the middle of nowhere. I was following behind Cody in our car at night when I swear we starting to see people popping out from the sides of this deserted road! They looked like zombies. No side walk, no buildings, nothing...just random people walking alongside the road in the dark. Where did they come from? No idea. Then low and behold we come upon Bergville. You see, we were going to stay in the "self-catered" chalets in the Thendele Hutted Camp in the Royal Natal National Park, right next to the Amphitheatre. Bergville was the last stop to load up on supplies before heading into the park. Apparently this is where everyone resides. But it was the scariest, creepiest place on the trip. We drove around this little town trying to find a decent place to get out of the car. We settled upon the gas station, and made everyone buddy up when getting out of the car. Posted on the wall of the gas station was a sign. On this sign was a photo of a scary looking dude in sunglasses wanted for human trafficking in the area. Uhhh...time to get our food and get the heck out of dodge! We decided, if there was anything the opposite of "Ayoba", it would be Bergville. Bergville = NOT Ayoba.

Not quite sure what to expect at this chalet, we bought some firewood, bread, soup, etc. Everyone had me second-guessing myself on what it meant to be "self-catered." Did that mean that there were no beds, and we were supposed to bring our own sleeping bags? Would it be so basic that there would be no running water or even a fridge? We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived to beds, shower, fridge, stove, fireplace, and even a living room! We were not in the mood for anything primitive after passing through Bergville.


We woke up the next morning to a great view of the Amphitheatre! The Royal Natal is home to some of the most spectacular scenery, and the Amphitheatre is the main feature. It is a rock wall approximately 5km in length and 1000m in height (I'll let you do the conversion) between the Sentinel and Eastern Buttress, with a number of domes rising from its relatively flat summit plateau.


Outside of the chalets were a ton of the guinea fowl. These were definitely one of my favorite little critters that I'd seen. It might have to do with the fact that I grew up with chickens in the back yard. I thought it was funny that they had this big body and a really small little head that was blue. They have dark gray or blackish plumage with dense white spots. They are typically monogamous - mating for life - and are quite social. That's probably why we usually saw them in numbers.



We only stayed 1 night in the chalet and went for a long day hike to the Tugela Gorge. It was a nice hike along the Tugela River with views of the Amphitheatre, alternating between stretches of protea veld (grassland in southern Africa with scattered shrubs and trees) and forest.


When we reached the gorge, we picknicked and climbed up the ladders on the side of the gorge for alternate views. You had to climb these one person at a time, and that first rung down was a doosy!
The hike back wasn't bad at all, but we still had to make the long drive to Umzumbe for the night. Since I was sick this entire time with a fever, Juli was nice enough to drive the 2nd car the long trek while I crashed out in the back of Cody and Nicci's car. I still hear stories about a a flying Dassie.

Cape Town - Part 1

It’s been a few months since I updated my blog, and I’ve been home since July…but I’ve had some requests to finish it…so I’m going to try my best to remember everything!!! I’ll also try to encourage Courtney to post her account on the shark dive that I didn’t go on. All the dates will be off since it lists the post dates, and I’m writing it in retrospect.

Cape Town was an awesome city. Out of all the cities I went to on my trip, this was by far one of the best. First off, this place didn’t seem as dangerous and isolated as it felt when I was in Jo-burg. The hostel we stayed at in Green Point was within walking distance of the stadium and nightlife, and we were actually able to walk to most places, which was really nice. In Jo-burg, I had to take a cab to get anywhere, even down the street. With all the police presence, I didn’t see any fights or felt threatened in any way.

We went wine tasting to a few different wineries in the Cape Winelands just outside of Cape Town. We went to the three main areas – Stellenbosch, Franschoek, and Paarl. This was supposedly a must-do when going to Cape Town, so of course we had to check it out. Come on, who doesn’t want to drink wine?

The first one was Villiera. To simulate one of the WC games, Aneka (The Germans) fought the Dutch (Netherlands) after a winemaker opened the bottle of champagne with a sword. If you do it fast enough at a specific point, the top of the bottle will come right off leaving it smooth yet very sharp!

Zorgvliet in Stellenbosch was our 2nd stop on the wine tour. This place had delicious food, great wine, and was very beautiful. Zorgvliet, when translated, means having your worries fly away.

Kimmie wants to retire here someday!

Juli and Courtney remind us, Alcohol is Addictive.

The last stop was at Fairview, where the goats roam! This place, unfortunately, was a sad stop on the trip for me. When I had called my mother in the States to wish her a happy birthday, she told me that my great uncle passed away. :'-( He was a great man and will be surely missed. (I swear, anytime I talk to my mother when I’m with Nicci, I seem to get bad news. I lost 2 dogs, 2 cats, 6 chickens, a duck, my Grandmother, and now my Great Uncle when I was with my old roomie. Wow.)


The Cape Point tour was a lot of fun. The others had to reschedule their shark dive because the water was too choppy, so Courtney was able to come with us on the tour. Nicci and Cody had already gone a different day. We went on a boat ride to see the seals at Seal Island in Camps bay, visited with the Jackass Penguins at Boulder’s Beach (I love their name!!! hahahah), and went for a bike ride down to the Cape of Good Hope.

A lovely view of Camp's Bay

One type of African penguin is the Jackass Penguin. No, I am not making up their name! They were named this because of their donkey-like braying call. However, I like to think it was because they act like jackasses. j/k There were a ton of them at Boulder's Beach. They actually are pretty small (about 2 1/2 feet). The pattern of their spots are unique for every penquin, sort of like human fingerprints. Also, their distinctive black and white coloring is like a form of camouflage–white for underwater predators looking upwards and black for predators looking down onto the dark water. Pretty cool.

The bike ride down to the Cape of Good Hope was pretty fun. We stopped riding at lunch because of the rain. However, one of the guys on the tour borrowed Courtney's jacket and rode all the way to the Point in the rain. He ended up with a raccoon stripe up his backside from the water spraying up from the back tire!

The Cape of Good Hope marks the point where a ship begins to travel more easternly than southerly when travelling along the western side of the African coastline.

Most people don’t know that you have to go a little further south to Cape Point to get to the most South Westerly point of Africa (18 deg. East. Lat, 34 deg South Long).

Cape Town - Part 2

Since Cape Town was so freakin' awesome, I actually have my blog in a 2 parts. Here is Part 2...

If anyone knows anything about Cape Town, Nelson Mandela's name must come into play. Of course, before I came to South Africa, I had to check out his autobiography ("Long Walk to Freedom") on audio book from the library in order to familiarize myself with his endeavers. Any how, we toured Robben Island, an island in Table Bay, where Nelson Mandela spent decades imprisoned during the apartheid era. If you didn't know, he became the first president after the end of apartheid and received the Nobel Peace Prize.

This is the rock quarry where Nelson Mandela spent decades of his life working on Robben Island. After giving a speech back in 1995, he placed the first rock on the "reunion cairn". Other fellow political prisoners followed suit. Now, at each 5 year reunion, the rock pile is enlarged.

Mandela's cell was pretty small. It's about 5 square meters (I'll let you do the conversion). I'd hate to really have to stay in that cell!

Although I lost half of my group to a logistical error (they got on the wrong bus!), I still had an educational experience with the rest of my friends and the former inmate who guided us around.

Table Mountain was pretty cool. I really wished I could have hiked up to the top of it instead of taking the cable car...although the ride on the cable car was pretty cool in itself. I made it to the top just in time to see the climbers taking down their ropes. So much for "abseiling" or rappelling down!! That would have been an awesome photo op. :-(

There were a ton of Dassies everywhere, if you paid attention and focused your eyes in the foreground. Sometimes people would just look at the great view and miss them! It is believed that the Table Mountain Dassie is the closest living relative to the African elephant. Apparently they are going by an analysis of their teeth in the skull to prove it. Interesting. Definitely got the short end of that stick in the gene pool! lol

We stayed up on top of Table Mountain to check out the sunset. Of course, we had to bring some of the wine and cheese we bought in the Cape Winelands. And in case you didn't know, that little island off into the distance is Robben Island.

Go USA!!

Finally made it to Cape Town, although we were 30 minutes late to our first WC game - Italy v. Paraguay. The atmosphere at the World Cup is just so amazing. I didn't get to put on any face paint for this game, but at least I got to sport my new Italy jersey.

Although we weren't at the half line, we had awesome seats in the front row on the 2nd level near the corner flag. This was just perfect. It was still pouring, and the people down below were getting pelted by the rain. We were all cozy and dry with no one in front of us!

When not in a stadium, we watched the other WC games on big screens out on the waterfront, in a pub, or in our backpackers (hostel). The most fun was when South Africa was playing. We watched their second game out at the V&A Waterfront. It was so packed that we had to stand on a table and watch through a tree so we could see the screen over all the people.

We watched the USA vs. Slovenia game in a pub at the waterfront before going to the England v. Algeria game that night in Cape Town. The English were so mean to us and gave us a lot of shit when we were down 0-2 at halftime. However, USA came back to score 3 goals, although the 3rd one was taken away from us unfairly. We tied 2-2.

The England v. Algeria game wasn't as exciting though. They tied 0-0. The English weren't as much talking trash afterwards. Kimmie wishes we could have gone back to the pub to see those Engligh guys. I mean, at least we could score!

I guess the vuvuzelas have made a big name for themselves in the news over in the US. They are all over South Africa. Although the horns are all you can hear on television, it isn't so bad in person...except for Cody. I swear Code wanted to shove a vuvuzela up the hoo ha of the next person to blow one in his ear. They are difficult to blow and make sound. People say that you blow it like a trumpet. I can't really comment because, well, I kinda suck at blowing the vuvuzela myself. (yes, I bought one for Danny)

Ostriches anyone??

I almost got to meet up with the other girls on the way through Jo-burg to George since their plane was delayed a few hours. But, of course, they had already closed the gate and darn SAA wouldn't let me on the plane. I swear Jo-burg just wants to keep me there!

Anyhow, the next morning I flew to George and was able to hire a taxi to take me to Oudtshoorn to see the ostriches. These birds are pretty funny looking, have a scary bite, and kick hard straight ahead. The males are the ones that are aggressive (typical!!), so I had to make sure not to get in front of one. I didn't want to get kicked in the head!

Ostrich eggs are so strong that I was able to stand on top of some without breaking them! (yes, my pants are long, so don't make fun! I'm product testing. lol) One ostrich egg is like eating 18-24 normal chicken eggs.

Ever since I saw the movies "Scavenger Hunt" and "Swiss Family Robinson," I've wanted to ride an ostrich. It was high up on my list of things to do. Random, I know. So while Courtney, Juli, Kimmie, and Aneka were at the Cango Caves, I convinced the guy to let me ride the ostrich...twice!! I had to wrap my legs around the big bird, grab a hold of the side of the wings, and lean way back!




I finally met up with Aneka, Kimmie, Juli, and Courtney for the long drive to Cape Town. It was now pouring rain, and I got to drive the rental car...on the opposite side of the car...on the opposite side of the street...with a left-handed stick shift. Nice.

Life in the Okavango Delta

I am very happy to have done the luxury safari in Botswana. The food was excellent (not sure how our cook could have made all of the cuisine on a fire???), our accommodations were great, and our guide was the most amazing ever! We would have sundowners out in the bush and have hot water bottles in our beds at night.

Our second and third days in the Delta were spent on the water. We went on a mokoro trip on one day and a boat trip on the other. The mokoros are usually dug-out canoes, but the ones we went on were made out of fiberglass. Mokoros are very relaxing, and Oats had to yell at me to stay awake. He didn’t feel like going for a swim. ;-)

Amanda - we did see a bunch of painted-reed frogs!! :-)

I was really interested in seeing the hippos up close, but apparently hippos are very dangerous creatures, and more people die from hippos than from any other creature (ex. Lions). We saw a bunch of hippos from far away in the boat, although we cruised right by a croc that was not happy to see us. He opened his mouth at us, hissed (well, not really, but it looked like it), and then jumped into the water.

On our last night in the Delta, we did have a little scare. No worries, because as you can see, we are still alive. We were on our way back to camp when we had to stop to pick up some people that had gotten stuck in at one of the bridges. They happened to be the mechanics that were coming to fix on one of our vehicles. Well, we continued on our merry way when we stopped to check out something. When we tried to move on, our car wouldn’t start. The starter had been acting up all day, and of course, because it was getting dark and we needed to be in camp by 7PM, it decided to act up again. Luckily, we had 4 mechanics now in our vehicle. We set them to work. In the meantime, it was getting darker and darker, and we could hear the hippos off in the distance….well, actually just off right next to us. We could hear them with their deep laughter…heh, heh, heh. We had just left some lions recently (yes, the elusive lions were not so elusive anymore), but luckily they had just eaten a big dinner and were snoozing. Our guide could not find his flashlight, and of course my flashlight and headlamp were back at camp. Code did have his headlamp, and I had the light on my cellphone. Fast forward, the land cruise is still not starting, it is a 1 ½ hours later, dark, and no one is answering the radio. "Midume, Midume, Midume, do you copy?" Don’t worry, we are not freaking out yet….no time to freak out, just need to stay positive and not think about being stranded in the bush with meat-eaters all around you with no flashlight but a headlamp and a cellphone with no reception. Last resort, our guide and another got out of the car, and were going to walk the 1 km back to camp. We were to stay in the vehicle (remember, there are no doors or windows) and not get out even if elephants or anything come by. Armed with my Mini Griptilian and Code’s arsenal of knives, we wait it out. Luckily, 5 minutes later, we could hear the sound of an engine. Midume from camp was coming to look for us. We loaded in the other land cruiser and made our way back to camp. Lessons learned – always have your flashlights with you, matches, and all your survival stuff!! Also, make sure you have reinforcements coming to look for you.

Stay tuned for a guest blog from Courtney. :-)