Neater: October 2006

Our last day of work at the NMF was on Saturday, July 31st - the day of the NMF's Annual Lecture. The following Monday morning, Jill and I left on an eight-day road trip, which took us through eastern South Africa and Lesotho. The scenery was beautiful, the people were kind, and driving on the left was not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be...although I spent most of my week dodging cows, goats and minibus taxis.

The Nissan we rented.

Let's begin with Lesotho...dreary, oh man was it dreary. It poured rain the entire time we were there which did not help. Known for their weaving, we visited a shop to purchase some products from some local women in Hlotse or Teyateyaneng - can't remember which place. The weaving was beautiful and well done. Upon leaving the shop, we discovered a herd of cattle had surrounded our rental car! If it hadn't have been pouring, and if the weaving ladies had not dragged me back into the shop, I would have taken a photo. I wish I had as in retrospect it was quite funny.

These "public phones" were a common sight...

...as were donkeys wandering along the roadside.

Leaving Lesotho, we drove to the Drakensburg Mountains, which were beautiful. Professor Doug Thompson told us that we simply HAD to go hiking in the mountains and not just look from the car/bar. So, we did. We felt we had to and I must admit if it had not been for his email, I probably would have simply looked from the car. From the car though, it was still spectacular.

This was the view from our B&B in Underberg. We desperately tried to get up the Sani Pass with no avail. As this 'donkey road' was too much for our wee Nissan, we decided to take a tour. The Sani Pass takes you into Lesotho via the mountains and while there, we were going to go to the highest bar in South Africa. Mother nature must have sensed some Canadians were en route as the night before our trip it snowed to beat the band and the border into Lesotho had to be closed. Days later we heard that there were some South Africans were trapped there for days because of the snow so I suppose it was not meant to be. Next year the Sani Pass will be paved and it therefore would have been neat to go up while it was still a donkey road.

This is one of my favourite scenic shots of Kwazulu Natal, taken near the Valley of the Thousand Kings. The fields of sugar cane were so lush and green, which was such a nice contrast to the winter yellow fields of central South Africa.

St. Lucia was a wonderful little town on the east coast. It was a welcome relief from the hustle and bustle of Durban. The scenic shot above was taken in the St. Lucia Wetlands Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The other shot was taken out of the B&B we stayed at in St. Lucia, where we stayed in a "Leopard" themed room. This room even had a leopard carved into the door, which at the time seemed cool, but now, I realize was quite gaudy. Maybe it was an omen because within two days, we had a very up-close and personal encounter with a leopard in the Umflozi Game reserve. I think I now prefer the leopard carved in the door.

St. Lucia is known for its hippos that wander throughout the town at night, which we did not encounter. Upon leaving St. Lucia, however, we did come across a herd of elephants by the roadside. Apparently this was not a common occurrence as many locals joined the tourists in the mad frenzy of photo taking.

Visiting the Umflozi game reserve was a great way to end the trip. We saw tons of giraffe and zebra, my favourite, but there were two moments of the visit that stand out in my mind. The first was the EARLY morning walk with a ranger where we came within five feet of a leopard. The second were the monkeys that got into our tent, threw all of my cosmetics about and made off with my toothpaste. Little buggers. Although the leopard was too fast to catch a photo of, here are some other animals.