Wednesday morning, the Griesemer's and Markum's came out to our boarding and we caravaned to the resort village of St. Lucia. This charming little town was first known as the River of the Sand of Gold, a name given to it by the early Portuguese explorers. The name fits because the area is known for its golden beaches. St. Lucia is unique in that it is situated within a nature reserve. After settling in our rooms at the Avalone Guest House Bed and Breakfast, we all headed down to the wharf for our 2 hour hippo and croc boat cruise. The skipper was very informative and he even had a “first” in all his years of traveling up and down the estuary-a sighting of a Cape Buffalo. These animals are not normally found in this area and he stopped the boat, got out his camera and took a picture to document the sighting! The waters hid our hippo pods pretty much, except for their backs, eyes and twirling ears, but we could see several crocs sunning themselves along the banks. Upon docking, the sun started to go down and we were able to enjoy the stunning sunset. The guesthouse has a woman who comes in and caters the dinnermeal, if the guests want it, and so we took advantage of being able to dine without all the restaurant noise. The food was great and she even shared two of her recipes with us for a fantastic brown bread and cherry cake pie.
Thursday, we were up at 4:30 am, so as to be ready and waiting out front for our tour guide (Rick)/transport to whisk us away on our game drive. (Next week, we will post pictures of the drive.) The vehicle was a 4-wheel drive Toyota pickup that had been converted into an open air, three seater (9 passengers) transport. Rick had blankets and jackets if needed and we did need. First time we can say we were cold since coming to Durban. Never really did like convertibles and hair blowing in the “breeze” but we experienced 8 hours of it and just came to accept the natural look! It was dark when we were picked up and driving out to Imfolozi/Hluhuwe Game Reserve, numerous women's faces came into view of the headlights. Rick explained that once a year, for one week only, this particular area was opened, under restriction, for the women to gather grasses for the weaving of baskets, bowls, etc. They were lined up along side the road waiting to enter and we noticed it was only women. Rick filled us in-the men stay home while the women work! It was an hour's drive into the reserve and immediately saw and smelled two spotted hyenas having their breakfast-a zebra, which at this point all we could see were the legs sticking up in the air. The drive starts early so that we might have the chance of seeing the cats, but they were not to be found this day. At 9 we stopped for breakfast and Rick thought we would all appreciate a hot cup of coffee/tea, since the air was so nippy-he was very surprised when the only takers were the newlywed couple sharing the tour with us. Out came a cooler with little ham and cheese sandwiches, yogurt, rusks, and muesli. He reminded us to visit the facilities because for the next 3 hours there would only be trees available! Driving up hill and down we saw zebra, impala, baboon, white rhino, warthog, nyala, wildebeest, cape buffalo and giraffe,elephant and birds of many varieties. Our instructions were to call stop, if we spotted animals, except for impala, zebra and wildebeests because we would see lots during the day. Rick really had no use for the ugly wildebeest, calling it the most stupid animal around. We were on a half-day drive with lunch, which turned out to be a braai-steaks and boerewors (brats), potato and green salads and chocolates for desert. We ate out in the open, on metal plates and silverware-not much disposable eating ware over here. The entire experience was made so enjoyable because we learned so many little tidbits of great knowledge from Rick about the animals, locale and the vegetation. For those of you taking calcium, be glad for the little tablets. Giraffes get theirs by eating the hyena dung because it is so full of ground up bones! As we left the reserve, we noticed no smell and saw no remains of our poor zebra and were told that between the hyenas and vultures everything was gone. A truly marvelous first time game drive adventure!
Friday morning, before leaving for Swaziland, we walked the beach, felt the warm ocean waters, and enjoyed the beautiful clouds. The Swazi Wilson's provided our hotel accommodations again which is always fun for us to visit with them. It is winter now and the tourists are not in abundance, so dinner at Woodlands Restaurant we were the only customers. It was a nice, quiet visit with a warm, cozy fire in the fireplace near our table.
Saturday and Sunday, we met with many of our PEF students, all in different stages of the loan process, and this is always such a pleasure. They joke and tease with us and share hugs and handshakes. Our return trip was uneventful, just the way we like, and the stop at the border was the smoothest and fastest ever.
The Avalone Guest House bed and breakfast in the resort town of St. Lucia where we stayed for two nights. Although we reserved a standard room with bath, we were given a luxury suite which took up the entire second floor seen in the picture. Our hostess said she wanted us all to have a room with a view of the pool. We had a large setting room and large bedroom with two large full baths - his and hers. Life can be tough in South Africa!
Our first order of business was a two hour boat ride up the estuary to see the hippos and crocs.
Our group minus the photographer. The couple on the left is Elder and Sister Markum from Laramie who are CES missinaries and next to them are Elder and Sister Griesemer from Indianappolis who are employment missionaries.
African fish-eagle - love that zoom lens.
There are over 800 hippos in the estuary and Lake St. Lucia. We probably saw over 100 - all in the water - they come out at night to graze and find fresh water to drink. We are told you sometimes see them walking down the streets of St. Lucia at night looking for a swimming pool to drink from.
One of the over 2000 crocodiles in the St. Lucia Wedland Park.
Couldn't pass up the opportunity to photograph a beautiful sunset. This is looking out over the estuary at the end of our boat ride.
We checked out the beach before we left. Because of Indian Ocean tropical currents the water at this beach reaches 30 degrees C (86 degrees F).
The beach was not very crowded for a Friday morning - only a handful of fishermen.
Zulu arts and crafts market in downtown St. Lucia. Abundant fresh fruit is piled out front.
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