NORDLYS - Early experiences in south Africa

Early experiences in south Africa

NORDLYS

David and Annette Ridout

Fri 9 Nov 2007 10:57

First Game park experiences

Tuzi Gazi Marina

Richards Bay

9th November 2007

Village life is well under way here in the marina. The international contingent consists of over twenty boats with quite a few having been here for a year. As in any village social life is active and a walk around to a friend's boat on the other side of the marina takes a long time as stopping to chat is very easy to do. The amount of collective wisdom and experience is to use an awful 21st century _expression_, 'quite awesome.'

We teamed up with our American friends from Aquila and went for a three day trip up north towards the Swaziland boarder to see animals and to unashamedly wallow in a bit of luxury. We ended up doing both and all for a very cheap price. Imfolozi Game Reserve is only an hour and a half's drive north of here and provided us with giraffe, elephant, zebra, rhino, kudu, nyala et al. The animals were not frightened of humans and were obviously used to cars although we had been warned to be wary of the big ones as they could easily be irrational in their behaviour. An angry elephant on top of a Toyota Corolla would not produce the sort of result that Mr Avis would be pleased with. Lunch in Hill Top the beautiful hotel with a stunning view and we were off north to Esikoteni, a private game reserve with its own hotel. We there enjoyed three nights of luxury in our own chalet with gourmet food and two game drives each day. One of these drives we decided to forgo and replace with a three hour guided walk through the bush. This was a pleasant necessity due to the amounts of delicious food we were consuming. So back to Nordlys and marina life. We had then arranged to go to see the Zulu and Boer War battlefield sites but nature intervened. The heavens opened and the rain poured down. A telephone call to our booked lodge in Rorke's Drift and we found out that the thirty km of dirt was impassable for an ordinary car, not to mention the fact that walking tours of the Zulu War sites were simply not on. This will we hope be done another day. Meanwhile as I write Janet from Aquila is on the phone arranging a few days in the Drakensburg Mountains. There are a lot of options in this huge country and we are within fairly easy driving distance of many attractions.

We have also fitted in a drive to the outskirts of Durban and a visit to what is very definitely a 1st world shopping mall. Much retail therapy was undertaken and purchases ranged from new sandals to a high tech 3G modem to send and receive the internet while sitting at the nav table. Also I have managed to get new lenses for my glasses so that the old prescription lenses in epoxy repaired frames that I have been reduced to since our Seychelles mishap have been put back into our emergency grab box. Long may they remain there.

I am wary of making any judgements about this country yet. The poor housing of the blacks, the attitudes of some of the whites contrast with the pleasures of being in a country which in many ways is very prosperous. Tomorrow all the cruisers are due to have a braai, or a BBQ in English. There is going to be a whip round to buy a radio for the security guards on the marina gate. They do 12 hour shifts in a miserable little office. Their radio broke and the management did not consider replacing it. Yesterday we found that the car park watchkeeper outside a prosperous shopping mall was not provided with either a rain coat or warm clothes, just basic dungarees and shirt. It was wet and cold. To be fair we heard from our Afrikaans guide in Esikoteni how the white farmers were having their land taken. Attitudes need to change on both sides but I feel that unless the little things change the big ones that result will be nasty and in the longer term not good for South Africa as a Nation. Enough of politics. I will stop this and enclose some pictures from our travels.