We drove up on Friday from Durban to St Lucia, stopping for a spot of shopping in the upmarket resort of Ballito on the way. I drove through near torrential rain all the way from Ballito to St Lucia but we still made good time to arrive at our ‘luxury’ apartment near the town centre.
I’ve come to realise that ‘luxury’ is a rather subjective term. After the lush accommodation in Westville, this apartment has rather too many cracks in the tiles and a whole range of bamboo furniture. I’m not a fan of bamboo furniture, it belongs in conservatories and garden houses, not in ‘luxury’ accommodation. However, it was raining and so everything looked grim and so we put on a brave face and settled in. Apart from having to purchase nearly everything we need for the kitchen, the inventory being imaginary rather than fact, we’re doing ok here. The shower is fantastically powerful and there are nice big fans in each room to keep us cool. So, all is well.
On Saturday we ventured out into the town and up to the jetty for another river cruise. (I say another because we already did a lot of these activities in April). This time we were in a smaller boat and could get right up close and personal with the crocs and hippos. In fact a little too close for comfort. Nearly every single crocodile saw us and propelled themselves into the water heading in our direction.
As it’s early summer here a lot of creatures are ‘with young’ and the creatures of the water are no exception. We came across a 4-day-old-hippo with its mum (and about 12 other hippos keeping guard nearby). After a few minutes of photos and ‘aww cute’s from the people on board, Mummy hippo decided she’d had enough and made a funny noise at which point the rest of the hippos started making a big noise and turned round to face the boat. Could have been nasty, but we escaped unharmed.
During the course of the day we also managed to see 4 fish eagles, who are the most beautiful birds. Black and white, they swoop down over the water before returning to their treetops to survey the land. Definitely a top bird.
Today, Sunday, we ventured into the Eastern Shores of Lake St Lucia game reserve and up to a resort called Cape Vidal. We were blessed to see 3 white rhino grazing peacefully near to the entrance: Mum, Dad and baby. They were far enough away not to see us (they have bad eyesight) but for us to get a good view. During the rest of the drive I spotted a Martial eagle and a Wahlberg eagle. Amazing birds. I’ve never really been into bird-watching, but when there are so many interesting birds, it’s suddenly a great thing to do.
We spent a bit of time on the beach at Cape Vidal. It’s a beautiful wild coastline, where only a limited number of people are allowed each day. At night the turtles come up and lay their eggs on the same beach where we walked.
Much fun was had watching the locals drive their fishing speed boats up onto the sand and try to winch them onto trailers. One Toyota was having particular problems getting off the beach and had to drive really fast to get over the dunes. Later we watched the same fishermen gutting their fish at a specially prepared area. Bit smelly, but fascinating nonetheless.
No monkeys disturbed our picnic. Think Dad was a bit disappointed. But we did come across a light-coloured monkey who is different from all the others we’ve seen in the past; and on the way back we saw a mummy monkey with a very young baby vervet monkey. It can’t have been very old, it still looked like a gremlin. She wasn’t too pleased to see us, but did sit still long enough for some photos.
The weather has been hot, but a bit overcast at times with the odd rain shower. The sun is hot though, despite being plastered in factor 40 I am still getting red on a daily basis. Can’t go much higher in sun cream levels, but at least it’s developing into a great tan. Dad and I are having red nose competitions, but I think he’s winning at the moment…
Tomorrow, Hluhluwe game reserve. And a 4am start. Eurgh!
