Today I felt fine after yesterday’s strenuous activities on my 9 hour hike in the Drakensburg Mountains in South Africa, so I decided to squeeze in a bit of horse riding, as my bus doesn’t leave until the afternoon. I don’t want to waste a second here, and starting to wish I’d decided to stay here longer. I went horse riding for an hour, in some of the most beautiful surroundings I’ve ever seen. My horse walked mostly, did a bit of trotting, which I handled OK after my lesson in the UK, but cantering was a bit too much for me. It was so peaceful and relaxing. It was nice that the horse was doing the work instead of me after yesterday.
I then spent more time relaxing in the garden, and then unfortunately had to get on the bus to my overnight stay in Durban. (Not planning on staying at any cities other than Johannesburg or Cape Town but the bus stops overnight at Durban and Port Elizabeth so stops here are compulsory).
I arrived at Hippo Hyde in Durban. A lovely lodge with great décor, a rock pool and modern African furniture.
A couple came in and asked me to go for a meal with them which was very nice. Another girl came with us. The couple were American, and the girl was Indian, but had lived in Cambridge for the past 3 years. She had the most posh English accent I had ever heard. We had a great meal. We chatted about travelling and India. She said India had such a bad reputation because people always try to do it on a budget, hate it, and have a hard time. She said because everyone does it in this way it’s the only way to meet people. She said if people tried to do India on a similar budget to South Africa (£4-7) per night. They would be living like kings in mansions.
Durban makes me feel just as uncomfortable as Johannesburg did. We had to pay a guy to watch the hire car as he said something would happen to it otherwise. So many people have already told me they’ve been mugged in Durban, not just once but repeatedly.
We then went back to Hippo Hyde. Saw some big Geckos on the wall in the lounge.
I jumped a mile as I haven’t seen anything like that before. Supposedly they are normal here in all houses and they run over you while you are sleeping but are harmless. Sorry, but the thought of anything running over me while I’m asleep sends shivers down my spine.
I spent all night chatting to a girl who has been doing voluntary work for the last 2 years in a community in Swaziland. She works trying to help the AIDS community and lives within their community. It was very interesting listening to her experiences. She said she helps to educated them to give them social skills, but it’s hard as women are taken advantage of and promised money and gifts. About 50% of all people there have AIDs. It took her 8 months to enjoy it but she now feels at home, has a local boyfriend with AIDS, which must be hard. She lives in a hut on her own with electricity (rare) but no running water. She has to fetch water in the same way they do, on her head. She has bats and rats living with her which really scared her. I told her I wouldn’t mind doing some voluntary work next summer holidays, but not sure that I could live in the same conditions. Not really one for creepy crawlies. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep a wink that night. It is very humid in Durban, but mainly as I had visions of Geckos everywhere. When I did get to sleep, I had nightmares about being attacked by Geckos. Park imagination, part malaria tablets. Supposedly most people have weird dreams on anti-malaria tablets and swap funny stories.
Read more of my South Africa Blog here.
