December 15 – Goodbye Nelspruit, Hello Hluhluwe-Umofolzi

We had said our goodbyes to our friends at ACS computers, our hosts at Old Vic Travelers Inn, and our work-holiday friend Kagiso, but it was terribly difficult to leave our home for two weeks in Nelspruit. While our unanticipated two week pit stop came at the cost of other adventures, namely Southern Mozambique which we realized would have cost us a lot of money and effort, it was exactly what the doctor ordered. We managed to have several site-seeing adventures but much more importantly we managed to meet people who so kindly and thoughtfully answered our many questions about South Africa and also very practical questions, like where to get my hair cut! In two weeks I managed to read three large books and stacks and stacks of South African Getaway Travel magazines. We planned the next three weeks, cooked ourselves some nice meals, swam, ran errands, found a great church, went to the podiatrist, and just rested. Nelspruit will be remembered as a place of rest but it will be missed because of the friends we made.

So despite the sense of adventure ahead it was with sadness that we left. We had a long drive ahead of us to Isinkwe Bush Camp, a backpackers close to Hluhluwe-Umofolzi game park. After 6 hours we exited off of the highway to a dirt/gravel road and after a kilometer we turned off to the entrance of Isinkwe, another kilometer of heavy sand brought us to the backpackers – truly a bush camp!

After getting settled we decided to check out the activities on hand. Isinkwe offered several activities for free that we were quite excited about – one a guided night walk and the other bush baby feeding. The night walk was advertised as 'come see all the creepy crawlies and animals on the property with our guide' and having participated in a guided morning walk at Kruger Park three years ago, we knew how much information we could glean from the local guides. We signed up and met our group including four other people and our guide.

After no introductions whatsoever, Jenny, our guide (we only found out her name later that evening) walked us outside the electric fence and to the beginning of the trail. She said, 'this is our nature trail, it hasn't been serviced in some time so the bush is thick, the walk will probably take us 1.5 – 2 hours.' Huh!? The reception staff had told us the walk would be anywhere from ½ hour to an hour, dependent on what we felt. They made it sound down right leisurely.

Jenny took off at quite a clip down the trail, the other four followed and we brought up the rear. It immediately felt like an obstacle course. We ducked and dodged branches, thorns and vines and tried not to let them smack the person in the face behind us. It was a sweaty, hurried race along the path trying to keep up with Jenny and often only arriving in time to hear the last couple of words of what was probably a brilliant soliloquy on the varied plant life. Here's the sample transcript of the walk:

Andrea (to Duncan): (huffing and puffing) 'Are we in the Amazing Race? Why are we running?'
South African Woman in front of Andrea: (holds a branch for Andrea to push back) 'Be careful, it has. . .'
Andrea: 'Ouch!'
South African Woman: '. . . thorns'
Jenny: 'Hmmm, the path is blocked, wait here until I find another way.'
Duncan: 'She is so going to leave us here. . . '
Other Participants: (nervous laughter)
Jenny: 'Okay come this way, just crawl until you can stand up.'

Silence is observed for the difficulty of this task and the subsequent catching of our breaths afterwards.

Jenny: 'You see this vine (she breaks off a portion) and this milky white substance inside. This is highly poisonous. The bushmen would put some in the river to 'fish' and the fish would 'rise' to the top. Nasty stuff it burns quite badly, don't get it on your skin.'
Andrea: (shows Duncan the layer of milky white poison she has accumulated on her jacket sleeves by pushing through the bush).
Duncan: (locates a Kleenex to wipe the poison off of Andrea).

Several minutes later. . .

Jenny: (pulls out a large spotlight and shines it on a tree).
Other participants: (looking around for mammals or birds).
Jenny: 'You see this shiny film substance!?'
Other participants: (nod yes)
Jenny: 'We don't know what it is! But it looks like tiny bugs are underneath the film. It's been my research project for the last couple of months.'
Other participants: 'Oh.'

Several minutes later back on the trail, Duncan and I catch up to the stopped group in front of us to hear. . .

Jenny: (to a Dutch girl) 'You have one on you?'
Dutch Woman: 'Yes.' (looks uncomfortable)
Jenny: 'Oh, I do too (points to a large tick on her arm). Oh, isn't it lovely, so amazing how it just latches on and digs its head under you skin and then gorges itself on your blood.'
Dutch Woman: (quickly picks off the tick)
Andrea: (to Duncan) ' I think it was a good thing that we weren't in the front of the group.'
Duncan: (to Andrea) 'Just keep your feet moving all the time.'

Group continues on the walk, only to stop every five minutes to remove ticks from the participants in the front of the group – including one on the Dutch man's head.

South African Woman: 'Can these ticks give you tick fever?'
Jenny: 'No. If you get a bite just try to remove the whole tick and then wash with some sort of disinfectant. Did you ever have tick fever?'
South African Woman: 'Yes, just three weeks ago.'
Jenny: 'You know, there can be up to 20,000 ticks on a giraffe.'

Andrea and Duncan's eyes widen.

Duncan: (to Andrea) 'Just keep moving.'
Andrea: (to Duncan) 'I think that the night walk is free because we're doing trailblazing for them.'

And that was the culmination of the one hour race-walk. We were quite sweaty and dirty and a little banged up. All we saw on the nature walk were ticks and a shiny film on a tree, which was quite amazing because as we learned later our guide, Jenny, had just spent the last seven years in Zambia studying bugs. You think we would have seen something other than the ticks that saw us first. . . :)

Andrea

December 8-11, Nelspruit

So we are into our second week at 'Old Vic's.' I think I mentioned that we simply needed some down time to plan the rest of our time but also to rest, read, reflect. Old Vic can hold quite a high number of people whether in double rooms or dorm rooms, but we are in a little wood cabin at the back by the pool surrounded by green so we don't see people if we don't want to. We are usually in bed early and wake up early, the sun rises at 4:30 and so do all the birds that live in a large extended aviary right next to us. Dave and Bella run this place with Dave doing tours into Kruger Park and surrounding areas while they both raise their three kids. They are both gracious hosts. Dave is always on the move, suggesting places to go see. Last week he came bounding over telling us to look up in the sky. There was a crescent moon with Venus and Jupiter on either side. I guess this is a relatively rare occurrence – next time it happens is five years from now. (We posted the picture but you have to click on it to see both planets.) On Sunday, Theo, Bella's 17 year old son showed us the birds and his growing snake collection. Already he is a savvy herpetologist. He's previously caught a Black Mamba (SA's most deadly snake.) He was able to quickly name a large pink crab like spider that chased me while we were camping at Sodwana Bay – not a true spider, not a true scorpion - he rattled off the scientific name. On Friday, Dave asked if we wanted to go on an already scheduled day tour with him as he was taking guests so we readily agreed. You will see some amazing photo's (well the scenery is amazing, the photos might not be) of several areas we visited including the Blyde River canyon (third largest in the world after the Grand Canyon and the Fish River Canyon in Namibia), Bourkes Potholes (named after a lucky miner. - this was quite the gold mining area at one point.) God's Window, the Three Rondavels and several towns and waterfalls.

We have also managed to spend considerable time at ACS Computers where we have used their internet. We had found them before we went to Kruger Park and have returned almost every day as their internet rates are cheaper than at Old Vic and we have spent upwards of three hours at a time on the internet. Michiel the owner had initially suggested another beach place for us to stay. Anyway, since we have become frequent customers they have greeted us every day with open arms – now even bringing us cold drinks if we are their in the afternoon and coffee in the morning! We have been able to ask them many questions and they have been so kind to us. Talk about seeing a stranger and offering a drink or something to eat. Ottilie, has been so gracious, she recommended a church to us which we went to on Sunday and Leonie has drawn us maps and referred us to a doctor for a story you will read about in the next post titled “The tale of three toes.” We are so grateful and again this has been a very tangible sign of God's continued care and grace for us.

Duncan








Bourke's Potholes
















Forest Falls