Sawubona! Welcome to South Africa.
Africa was an amazing trip, we first met our tour leader Darren, a tall guy with dreads and it was his birthday the day of the tour starting.We started in Johannesburg and the first night we went for a group dinner at an authentic African restaurant, they had live jazz/blues musicians there and the waitresses would come around and paint your faces with a tribal design, the servings were huge and the food delicious! We got to know a few people but it was an early night cause we had to be up by 4am for the long drive to Kruger national park.
It was a long drive and you soon work out which are the best seats on the truck to sit. At the front was very hot and at the back was extremly windy. We drove through the Mpumalanga Province and made a few stops at some breathtaking spots. First was Blyde river canyon, it was so beautiful it almost didnt seem real. We were very high up on a cliff face and had the most incredible views as far as the eye could see. We hopped back on the bus after loads of photos and headed to Gods Window, another incredile viewpoint. After lunch we checked out Bourkes Luck Potholes. We cant even begin to describe how amazing these places are I guess you can see from the photo's or you will just have to go there yourself. Luke had his first attempt at trying to speak Zulu to one of the ladies behind the counter but it didnt pan out too well, she just looked at him like he was kinda weired. At least he tried though haha. After a long day of sightseeing we finally arrive in Kruger national park and began our game drive straight away. At first everyone was super excited to see Impala's but after an hour of game driving it wore off quickly cause they were everywhere. The drives were so cool, and to see these animals in the wild, how they should be just made it that extra special. We saw The big 5 all except for the leopard, well a few people on bus managed to get a good photo of it but it was very shy and didnt want to hang around. We set up camp and I think someone cooked up bolognaise that night It took a bit getting used to the hard grounds camping, the early starts and packing up tents every morning but I would have to say that the Africa tour we did has been the best so far. Everyone got to know each other really well and it was cool to bond over a couple beers by the campfire, cook dinner with new friends and play what turned out to be some fierce card games. Game of spoons anyone??
Born dia! Today we discover Mozambique.
Arriving at the border into Mozambique we had to change vehicles cause our truck wouldnt make it through the sandy dunes to our campsite. We all loaded our camping gear into the trailor which was attached to this cage carriage, I guess thats the best way to explain it. All 13 of us all piled into the cage and Darren opted to ride ontop of the trailor with all our camping gear as there was not enough room in the cage. The ride to our campsite was hilarious, everyone was being thrown about cause it was so bumpy and Darren was being covered in dust from riding on the trailor. By the time we made it to our campsite Darren was almost black. Driving into our campsite was stunning I never realised how beautiful the landscape could be. We quickly set up camp then we went to book our dive for the following morning. For lunch a group of us went and found a local cafe/ hut to eat at, we arrived an hour early from when we actually wanted to eat as Darren said thats how long it will take for the food to come out. Luke ordered the pregga sandwich (kinda like beef stroganoff in a bun), we had some laughs and drank some beer. That night our driver Collin got really drunk and told us lots of stories about Lions and how many wives he supposibly had, when he decided it was time to go to bed he started walking in the opposite direction to his tent, he had no idea where it was it was a crack up to watch.
The next morning we got up early to go for our dive, we went to have some breakfast to find that a troop of monkeys were going through it all and one ran off with the box of cereal into the trees, little shits. We headed off on our dive to a site called "cloudbreak", we thought this was funny as that is the name of the minesite we used to work on. The dive wasnt as great as we were hoping as the current was really strong and visibility not too great either but we saw lots of cool fish but not much else. Oh well least we can say we have dived in Mozambique now. We just chilled all day on the beach swimming and getting knocked about, it was so rough and exhausting in the waves but really fun at the same time. That night we went to a local guy named Paulo's bar to try his special blend named RnR (Rum & Rasberry). Was really sweet and delicious so you didnt really notice all the alcohol that was in it, before you know it we were having a blast singing and dancing and somehow we saw Jesus on Bec's leg. Was such a great night but all good things come to an end. Luke carried on with Darren and in the morning the inside of our tent was covered in sand from Luke telling and acting out his stories for Darren down at the beach. We woke up early to pack up all the gear as we were off again for our next adventure. I was so sick during the ride back to the border in our cage I actually vomited in my mouth and had to hold it in till they could stop the truck and let me out of the cage. I rode the rest of the way with Darren. Today we make our way to Zululand and Lake Snt Lucia. When we arrived we had the option to go on a boat cruise in the estuary to spot some crocodiles, hippos and birdlife which inhabbits it. We got to see hippo's up close, there were so many of them it was awesome to see them interact with their distinctive calls or chuckles to each other. We saw Nile crocodiles, got to hold some hippo teeth (huge!) and a large eagle which was all pretty impressive. That night a local group performed for us by campfire singing, dancing and stomping. This night I couldnt avoid eye contact cause one of the guys had grabbed me by the arm before I knew it and I was crouched down in front of everyone with a few of the others from our group who had been chosen. All the locals took it in turns of doing an impressive solo dance for everyone then looked at us to show it was now our turn. Shit, shit, shit I was thinking hmmm what can I do, I think in the end I busted out a really retarded river dance which I couldnt quite co-ordinate cause I was so nervous. It was alot of fun though. I really loved all the singing and dancing and spirit of the African people.
The next morning we left for the Valley of a Thousand Hills and to our traditional Zulu homestay. The drive there was breathtaking.
