Travels in April Part IV

Swaziland

After Hluwhluwe, we drove on to Swaziland. Despite being almost entirely surrounded by South Africa, Swaziland has a different feel to it. This was first noticeable at the border crossing; the SA side was modern and the Swazi side was much more rural and laid back. Although with that being said, there was a group of people with a wagon and an ox stopped on the Swazi side as their wagon was being searched by customs...although it was packed to the nines with everything imaginable. So I suppose the relaxed feel is a superficial thing, as it probably should be at a border post.

We stayed at Mlilwane Game Reserve which was beautiful. On our way through to the reserve we stopped at a typical Swazi market on the outskirts of the city of Manzini (the 2nd largest in Swaziland) because our guide wanted to buy us corn prepared the traditional way.  The fresh corn cob is roasted over an open fire and the corn ends up cooked and warm...sometimes a few kernals will go like pop-corn but it was really delicious. Corn is a staple in both Swaziland and South Africa.

Here is the market and the ladies cooking the corn at each of their stalls. The kids running around were really excited and happy to see us and kept trying to sell us fresh pineapples. I wanted to buy some because they looked so delicious but I didn't really have the place to store and then cut a pineapple (not the easiest fruit in the world to eat). I ended up dancing with some of the girls. I asked one if I could take her picture and she said that I should take a picture of their King.

Swaziland is a monarchy and King Mswati III is the king of the country. The girl I danced with is wearing (as you can see in the picture) a sarong with the King's portrait. These are for sale all over Swaziland and many people, both men and women, wear them in their daily clothing. Also, at the traditional Swazi village we went to, these King's sarongs are the traditional dress and are red, black and white. The girl was so proud that I took a picture of her King, and I had a lot of fun dancing with her after!

Here is the traditional village we went to (everyone was outside the fence at this point but I wanted a photo). You can see the traditional woven grass bee-hive hut to the right and the kraal around the sides is made of sticks (wattle I think it's called). While in rural South Africa (at least the parts of KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape that I have visited) these types of huts are not common, but in Swaziland I saw many as we passed homesteads on the highway.

One final note is that the Swazi and Zulu people are very similar and the language is very close. I'm told most words are just pronounced slightly different. At the village I had to practice saying various greetings and clicks, but I'm afraid I haven't yet mastered the many different click sounds to the language. Still it was a lot of fun to try!

I really enjoyed Swaziland and everyone I met was very friendly. Definitely a place I would like to see again!

Travels in April Part III: The Big Five

After we left St Lucia, we went on an early morning game drive at Hluwhluwe-iMfolzi which is the oldest game reserve in Africa. It originally was conserved by the Zulu people during the reign of the Zulu King Shaka who set the grounds aside as his private hunting reserve. The King and his people realized that certain animals were becoming less common and so they decided to conserve an area and the duel parks of Hluwhluwe-iMfolzi were created.

So although this post jumps around a bit as far as the time-line of my trip went, because the photos are from Kruger and Hluwhluwe. I'm putting it in now for two reasons. First, everyone likes and wants to see animals and the Big Five are what most people really want to see when they go on a safari. Second, because the Big Five do not refer to the five biggest animals, the five most beautiful (although some might say so), the five most dangerous, or anything like that.

The Big Five include the Rhino, the Elephant, the Lion, the Leopard and the Cape Buffalo. They are called the Big Five because for a Zulu warrior to advance to the top in rank, he would have to successfully hunt and kill each of the Big Five. I put the Cape Buffalo at the end of the list because the Cape Buffalo is actually considered to be the most difficult to hunt and kill.

This is a small herd of Cape Buffalo that we could see in the distance. Unfortunately of the Big Five, the Cape Buffalo is the only one that I didn't get a really good photo of, so this will have to do. Cape Buffalo are considered the most difficult to kill for several reasons. First, they have very tough hide and piercing it with an arrow/spear is nearly impossible. Second, they do not seem to be terribly affected by pain and will fight until they are dead. This isn't an animal that gives up. Also, they are very, very smart.

For example, inexperienced hunters would come upon a single Cape Buffalo and the buffalo would run away. The hunter would pursue, expecting that the animal was running scared and he would try to wear it down and then kill it. In reality, the animal is leading the hunter into an ambush of the herd. And Cape Buffalo do not bluff charge; when they charge, they mean it. Another interesting fact is that they are very territorial when it comes to their migrating routes and will remove anyone, or animal, that dares to hang out on their trails. So quite dangerous but interesting animals.

Here is one of the first elephants I saw in Kruger. This is a female and the short legs you can just see under her belly are those of her baby! Elephants are also very smart animals and can be quite difficult to enclose. In fact, Hluwhluwe and iMfolzi used to be separate parks; however the elephant's traditional breeding routes were between both parks. Many years the park's board would try and keep the parks fenced and separate only to have the elephants break through. So after a while they gave up and merged the two. Elephants are actually over-populated in Kruger and there are almost 14,000 of them. Still, very beautiful and majestic animals.

This was the only male lion I saw on my tour and he was with a cub hiding in the bushes behind him (you can't see in this photo). He's an older male and the scars on his hip and eye suggest he's fought long and hard for this position. He actually wandered across the road in front of the car and laid on the ground. To give you an idea of the size of him, the top of his head came up to the side mirrors on the Range Rover driving in front of us! And this would be one of the many reasons you are forbidden to get out of your car in Kruger.

And here are three White Rhinos. We actually came up on them while they were sleeping in a Rhino pile next to the road! White Rhinos live in the more open grasslands and are gentler than their Black Rhino cousins. Black Rhinos are highly endangered and the only one I saw was a rescued baby at a rehab centre (more on her later!). White Rhinos have been saved from extinction but they are still under constant threat. 97 rhinos were killed in the fall in Kruger alone last year by poachers who are hunting them for their horn. It's quite sad and hopefully someone will be able to come up with a better way to protect them soon.

And here is the last of the Big Five and one of the rarest animals to see; the leopard. I was incredibly lucky because I saw THREE leopards on my trip. Most people go their whole lives without seeing one. This guy was the only one who I was able to get a photo of. He (or she?) was lying in the tree having a nap. Leopards are solitary (lions are the only big cats who are social) and are known for their tree climbing abilities. They hide their kills in trees to prevent the lions from getting them.

And that's the Big Five! I cannot imagine how one warrior armed with just a bow, arrows and a spear could possibly kill all five of these animals, but apparently it happened. I'm just so glad I had a chance to see them!

Travels in April Part II

Finishing off from Part I, on Saturday we went to Durban where my friend and I stayed at the Happy Hippo Hostel down on Mahatma Gandhi Road and next to uShaka Marine World.

The hostel was actually really nice and my first time staying in a real hostel. Up until this point I've only ever stayed in guest houses or hotels nothing with a true international hostel vibe. But Happy Hippo was really nice and there was a huge communal kitchen and even a bar on the top floor with a great view of Durban at night.

We had a few hours and decided to go to Victoria Market, which is the large more Indian-style market in the city. It was a really great place to buy souvenirs and my first real opportunity since I've been here. One of my favorite stands was a spice stand where this really nice Indian fellow sold my friend and I some of the best spices and so much cheaper than for what we would pay in Canada. I bought some authentic garam masala which I've wanted to cook with for a while. Also, as we would later find out, the prices for most of the typical tourist-y souvenir type things were a fraction of the price in Durban than they were at other places. Good to know if you ever go to Durban.

Actually I really liked Durban although we didn't spend much time there. Sunday morning we joined our official tour group and drove north along the coast to the Greater St. Lucia Wetland park. St. Lucia was South Africa's First Natural World Heritage Site and it was stunning. Unfortunately, the rain that started Saturday night in Durban continued and worsened Sunday so it was very cold and wet.

Our tour included a boat trip of the St. Lucia estuary (well former estuary) which was incredible. I say former estuary because due to an oil spill a few years ago, the government decided to try and reduce damage to the estuary by plugging it with sand. What they failed to take into account is that the oil spill was down current from the estuary and therefore there was little to no risk. So the formerally brackish and highly saline water is now more freshwater and the estuary is in a period of adapting. Hopefully nature will be able to correct herself!

And the first official animal photo on my safari! The animal I think I was most excited to see before coming to South Africa was the hippo. They are really fascinating and interesting animals. Above is a family pod of hippos! Our tour guide had lots of facts about hippos. Hippos actually can't swim; they walk/jog through the water. So the estuary isn't that deep as these hippos are standing and sleeping on each other.

 I call this photo "Hippo Hug". While in the water, hippos will doze their heads on each others backs so that if one gets startled and moves, the other one will wake up and the hippo on his back will wake up and etc until the whole pod is alert. Not much really bothers a hippo though. Most people know that hippos are responsible for more human deaths than any other animal in Africa, including crocodiles, lions, leopards, etc. Hippos when on land are looking for food and also can run fast, up to 40 km/h! So they may look fat and stupid but they are actually fast, territorial and sometimes a bit aggressive. So that's definitely not a hug you want to be in the middle of (still so cute though!).

This bird is a Goliath Heron, one of the largest heron species in the world. He stands almost 2 m tall at full height which is quite impressive. Being wading birds, they aren't found far away from water. St. Lucia has a large population.

This is a male South African Fish-Eagle. One of South Africa's indigenous eagle species, they eat fish (obviously). He was one half of the mated pair we saw; the female was sitting in the tree on the opposite side of the estuary. Fish eagle's mate for life and should one bird die, the other will starve itself to death. But the fact they're here means there is lots of fish for them to eat.

I also saw other birds including Egyptian geese. We did see glimpses of crocodiles too but they dove under too quick for me to get a good photo. St. Lucia is definitely a place I would love to return too; hopefully it will be sunnier next time!

Travels in April Part I

Yikes it's May 3rd and I"m just updating now! Big apologies for the delay but I have been travelling 97% of April so perhaps you`ll forgive me.

Well, at the beginning of April I spent a week up in Nelspruit attending the 4th Forest Engineering Conference which the university hosted. I was on the organizing committee so it was lots of work but also a lot of fun. Mostly we were running around the hotel so I don`t have too many nice photos but it was a nice hotel and the conference was a great success. I made many new friends and learned a lot which was great.

After the conference, I was back in Stellenbosch for three days before going to Weza plantation to work and gather more data for research. Weza is in KwaZulu-Natal province and about 3 hours north-westish from the Indian Ocean. The surroundings reminding me a lot of Calgary actually, although the cows apparently don`t deal with fences.

We had many a slowdown/full stop for cows as you can see. The nice thing about all this incredible rangeland is the best Biltong ever! We stopped in Kokstad and bought really good, really cheap biltong. In case I haven't mentioned it before, Biltong is South African jerky. Usually made of beef, it can also be made of Kudu or Springbok or other game animals. Anyways, it differs from jerky in that its usually quite soft and chewy. Super delicious! Anyways, if you want the best biltong, Kokstad is the place to be.

After a long week of getting up early (4:45 am for me) to track trucks and skidders, we took Friday afternoon off and went to the seaside town of Port Edward.

Here we are at Leisure Bay enjoying the afternoon sun and the sandy beach. Port Edward is just behind that ridge. It wasn't warm enough to swim but we walked on this beautiful sandy beach. I also put my foot in the Indian Ocean for the first time which was pretty neat.

After the beach though, we went to see the Mtamvuna Canyon. The Mtamvuna river divdes KwaZulu-Natal province from the Eastern Cape and Transkei.

 The canyon was really incredible. It's hard to get a sense of scale from the photos but it's huge. In the photo above, you can see the Eastern Cape and the start of the Transkei which is beautiful rolling planes. I haven't been there yet, but hopefully later during my stay here in South Africa.

After our stop at the canyon we had a nice dinner and early night before heading the Durban the next day...but more about that next post!