Maybe I can download pictures! Let’s see.
Woo hoo! Here we are in a relatively out of the way place, Port St. Johns in Eastern Cape, and the connection is fast enough to upload pictures. Great.
One thing for sure, internet access may not be too good, especially after leaving South Africa. It was spotty before, even here, and only exists in Lesotho in the capital. I guess this will make me think a new way about what I blog. Before, I could talk about individual places we’ve visited. Now I think I’ll have to portray the big picture. I know I have way to many pictures to allow them to do the talking.
In short, we spent a few days in Nespruit while I bought a 4 WD pickup with a canopy and supplies for handling our trip without amenities. Myung didn’t want to take the risk of buying something and having a catasrophic breakdown resulting in loss of the investment, not to mention getting stuck in the middle of nowhere (and let me tell you, there is a lot of nowhere around here!). But it’s the only way to go anywhere without a LOT of hassle at best. So, it’s mine. It’s a ’92 Toyota Hilux, a famously rugged off road workhorse. It’s old, but it purrs and feels quite solid. It has lots of new parts, even belts and hoses and new seats.
That tent is where we spend most nights. Accomodation, when it’s available, is more expensive than anywhere we’ve been in Asia except Korea, so usually we’ve been campng even if rooms or dorm beds are available. That tent is really cool. You just let it out of the bag and it pops into what you see. Then it just winds back down into a circle in about one minute.
Myung had never camped before, but she’s adapting well, I think. We’re both getting good at cooking over coals. We’ve been comfortable most of the time, except when it’s been freezing cold in Lesotho. All our stuff goes nicely in the back or in the back seat of this double cab truck. All in all, this is probably going to be fine.
I know I put that picture of the wild animal warning at the top, but it’s pretty obvious that we’re going to have very many wild animal pictures. I’m going to forgo posting more pictures of them for now, even though we’ve seen many. We haven’t seen any big cats yet, but when we do and if I get good pictures, I’ll post them.
We’ve driven well over a thousand miles already. It’s hard to believe. From Nespruit we went down to Hluhluwe-Umofozi National Park in Kwa Zulu Natal, which was beautiful and had lots of animals. Then we went to St. Lucia Wetlands, an estuary on the coast. From there we went to the Drakensberg escarpment east of Lesotho, which is beautiful. Then we went to Lesotho for a week, whigh was beautiful. Now we are back on the coast, in Eastern Cape. I’m going to try to put a southern Africa map link on my home page, but I want to crank this out first.
Despite what I said about having a good internet connection, it’s still quite slow by most standards. Broadband is to be rolled out in south Africa on June 27. So, there aren’t as many pictures as I would have liked to have here. I’m going to skip the wetlands, that park and Drakensberg. Let’s start with the climb over Sani Pass from South Africa to eastern Lesotho. Lesotho is a mountain kingdom completely encircled by South Arica. The eastern part is isolated and the roads are bad, impossible to do without a 4 WD. Here’s the climb to the summit. That zigzag thing is the road.
Lest you forget, it is winter here. Here is the border post. There is very little traffic, for obvious reasons.
Lesotho is one of the poorest countires in Africa, so there are only a few paved roads, none in the east. We slogged across the mountainous middle of the country in two days. Here are some pics of the typical scenery, and one of a frozen hitchhiker huddled in the back seat.
At lower elevations, these are typical scenes.
Most people in Lesotho are subsistence farmers, and the main crop is corn. Many of them eat eat corn meal porridge day in and day out. Here are some villagers threshing the corn, which they allow to dry in the fields.
The climate is considerably more moderate in the relatively developed west. The capital, Maseru, is an absolute dump. I was going to try to use the internet which is allegedly there, but it was so bad with goofballs lurking all over the place, we just bought some supplies and went back out into the countryside, which is like a different country. One popular place, with what toursits there are, is Morijo. It’s a historically significant place, by Lesostho standards, and quite lovely. We went on several walks here and in nearby areas. Here’s a picture of one series on pools and the guide who took us there.
And here’s an artsy shot of some sheep just up the canyon wall a few hundred meters from the pools.
I could have gone for a few more days in Lesotho, but there really isn’t much going on there. And Myung was cold. So we went to here, Port St. Johns. Except for a little rain, the weather is quite nice this time of year. We’re staying in a typical backpacker’s place again, complete with a chill out bar and restaurant, though we cook ourt own food in the communal kitchen and have let the ganja crowd do their own thing. It’s like a tiny Goa here. There are trails and beaches, though you need a wetsuit to go in the water.
From here we are going to what looks like will be a similar place down the coast, Coffee Bay. The plan is to head west along the coast mostly, and wind up in Cape Town. I’ll do my best to keep you posted. There’s so much to say, this is so different. Here I am saying I’ll change to discussing the big picture, and this entry is about the same as most. I don’t know where to start. I’ll start next time. Maybe that plan will happen when I’m in Namibia or someplace where there is no hope of uploading pictures.
In general, we’re rolling along, singing a song. The experience of having our own vehicle is a big change for us. Africa so far has little in common with Asia where I’ve been for three years now. So I’m well entertaianed again. I have more bright, shiny objects than ever to play with. Myung and I are getting along pretty well. I can’t complain.
Until next time, be well, all of you.