2/21 thru 2/23

We visited the battle sites of the Zulu tribes, the Battle of Blood River won by the Boors, a big battle won by the Zulu's on the day before Boerk's Drift and the Battle at Boerk's Drift. These are located in the province of KZN Zulu Natal. Doug had wanted to see where the battle took place in the Michael Caine movie made several years ago called "Zulu." The movie was actually filmed in another part of South Africa, but it was interesting history to visit these sites as well as the Zulu museum honoring their tribe. As we drove around, we noticed people walking everywhere, on the main roads, across fields. In fact, it appears the children may walk 2-3 miles each way to school everyday. We stayed in Ulundi, a major city in the Natal province, at a Holiday Inn. They call it the "Garden Court" hotel chain in SA. We were late getting into town and nothing else was available. However, in the process of looking for a place, we went off the road into a ditch, at a very slow speed. No injuries to us, but the left front tire on the car ended up with the rim bent back on itself. We changed the blown tire and drove around looking for an open tire shop. It was after 6:00 p.m. so every place was closed. We found a guy selling rims and tires in his front yard and he sold us a rim and put it on for $9. Doug tipped the guy and we also had to tip the guys who told us about the place-enough for them to buy a few beers! Total cost to fix the rims was only $13. We felt pretty lucky to get such good service at such a cheap price!

On Thursday, we went to Hluhluwe-Infolozi Park, a large nature reserve with lots of animals. We rounded the corner and 5 zebras were galloping down the road toward us. We stopped for a "cheese toastie" sandwich, a popular lunch item, and two elephants were protecting our car when we returned. We had to wait until it was safe to get in the car and drive off. We drove to St. Lucia Estuary, a beautiful area on the Indian Ocean. Ate lunch in St. Lucia at a Greek restaurant-R110-okay, but not very Greek. We drove on to Durbin, a large city, where a Formula One Race was going on for the weekend all around the city. It was difficult to get a hotel room. We ended up staying at the Royal Hotel and paid $230 for one night of lodging. It was a classy joint and is where Nelson Mandela stays when he is in town. But, the air conditioning (they call it aircon in SA) did not work very well. It was a long day and it was very hot. The weather has been pretty good-average temperature around 85, hotter in Kruger. At night, it cools off and is very comfortable. The sun is bright, of course, but I used plenty of sunscreen to protect my skin.

On Friday, we drove 70 km to Himeville on a gravel and clay road. They said we needed a 4-wheel drive, but that just wasn't so. The scenery was spectacular through the Drakensberg Mountains. We didn't see many vehicles on the road and none as small as our little Clio. South Africa is so fantastic-one minute you are in the tropics, the next you are in the mountains-all within a short drive of each other. We had dinner at Mike's in Underberg, a very small town. Very good and enjoyed two appetizers with mussels. Like the beer here-Doug likes Castle and I like a Nabimbian beer called Wind Hoek. We stayed at a very nice B&B for R500 (about $70) in Himeville. An interesting note, almost all establishments in SA have a sign over the door that says "Right of admission reserved." Still seems like apartheid is not gone in many places. The black people hold the low level jobs of cooks, maids, gardeners and generally are not seen eating out as they don't have much money.