The final morning of our trip was glorious. The weather had turned overnight and cloudy with showers was replaced with SUN! Having had a reasonably boozy evening in the hotel bar with some locals we met there, I think being up and running by 8:30 was pretty good going! The chaps in the bar the previous night had introduced us to the local take on a shooter called a Bob Marley. Traditionally this is made by layering Grenadine, Crème de Banane and Crème de Menthe. Here it was being made with Amarula instead of the Crème de Banane. All I can say is it’s good…
We intended to set off straight after breakfast but, due to a slight hiccup with the hotel’s card machine, a short return trip to the nearby town of Bergville in search of an ATM was required. Once all bills had been settled we set off for the Royal Natal National Park. Deb was driving which meant I got to play navigator (badly) and admire the view. The closer we got to the Park the more impressive it became.
Having been here and to Rorke’s Drift itself I can understand why they chose to film Zulu in the Royal Natal rather than ‘on-site’ as it were. The scenery is magnificent and, once you are in the park proper, there are many places where the only signs of the outside world are power lines and the road through the park itself. We spent a good few hours here and I hope the photos I’ll be uploading will do it justice. We think we may have seen a Bearded Vulture (the Drakensburg is one of the main places to see them) but I can only be about 80-90% sure that it was. (I’m claiming it anyway!)
We also took a walk up to ‘the Cascades’. This is a series of waterfalls which it turns out are very popular for bathing and swimming in good weather. After a couple of klicks walking up the gorge we found the place rammed with people sunning themselves on the rocks or bathing in the pools at the foot of the several small falls. It looked wonderful, especially during the heat of the day but sadly I’d left my costume at home so no swimming for Dave.
The highlight of the day for me however was seeing a mal Pin-tailed Whydah in full plumage feeding on seeds at the river side. Many years back when my Dad used to keep an aviary this was one of the Afican birds we had in it. It has black and white plumage, a bright red bill and a long (c. 20cm) black tail. To see one of these birds in the wild made my day.
After several hours in the park it was time to head back to Joburg to plan our next trip. We stopped for lunch at a place called the Coyote Café where the food was good, although the service took a while. It was fine though as it meant I had time for 2 lime milkshakes! (Lime milkshakes are now my second favourite over here coming a very close second to peanut butter milkshakes – both of which we could really do with being available in the UK.) Once that was done it was a case of hitting the highway and breaking the back of the journey home.
I think we were about half way back to Joburg when we clicked that it was New Years Eve but by the time we actually arrived back around 8:30 I think both Deb and I were too tired to really be bothered. I did manage to sop up till midnight, nursing a rum and coke, and watch the fireworks over Joburg from the window but that was pretty much as far as my New Years went!
Still, I hope everyone else had a top night and I’ll take this opportunity to wish every one of you a Happy New Year.
