• Check out the photos at http://rego.site.shutterfly.com/ or
• View the videos at http://www.youtube.com/sueregodc

Enjoy. See you next trip!

It was our second day at Zulu Nyala Lodge, and Sue was trying to find a place to get a massage. The massage therapist at our lodge was at a 2 week offsite training, so they gave us directions to a local spa instead. I decided to go with Sue to the spa in case they had time to do two massages, and also brought a book to read in the event they were all booked and I just ended up waiting for Sue. Figuring I wouldn’t have any need for a camera at a spa, I decided to leave it in the room to re-charge before the next game drive.

When we arrived at the spa, it actually turned out to be another local game reserve with a one room “spa” and one massage therapist. She only had time for one massage so Sue took that slot, and I was escorted out to the pool area where I could read. As they pointed me in the direction of the pool, the massage therapist casually said, “oh, and there’s a rhino sleeping out there under the tree, so you can watch him”. Ok, that’s pretty cool, I thought to myself - I’ll read and watch the sleeping rhino. Nothing out of the ordinary here.

I flipped the lawn chair around so the back was facing the pool and the front was overlooking lawn and sleeping rhino who was about 250 feet lying under a tree. I never did get a chance to read my book; About 5 minutes after I sat down and was still squinting to try see the rhino in the distance lying down on the opposite side of a tree, I saw three warthogs wander up onto the grass, munching as they came, seemingly indifferent to my presence. Another 5 minutes passed, and I saw some impala (small deer-like animals) scurry hurriedly away from the area. Wondering what they were running from, I watched in the distance and saw two dark, bulky masses moving out of the wooded area and slowly moving towards the lawn. (The lawn area was a little like a flat, grassy orchard although the trees weren’t as organized into neat little rows.) As the two masses moved closer I realized they were a mother and baby rhino walking right towards me.

I sat perfectly still as they walked onto the lawn and paused to scout out the scene. One of the things I’d learned from the game drives was that Rhinos have very bad eye site and rely mostly on their sense of sound and smell to size up danger. Because they can’t really see, they will charge if they don’t know what you are. I figured as long as I didn’t move, they’d see me as part of the scene they just walked up into and feel comfortable.

And I bet you know what I’m thinking right at this moment! That’s right - I can’t believe I left my camera in my room!!! Ugh - a mother and baby rhino right in front of me and no camera!

So I watched them for about 10 - 15 minutes in complete awe at the whole scenario. Here I am with two rhinos in front of me, no car, no fence, nothing between me and them. It was very surreal. Everyone was very happy and peaceful until a gardener came flying around the corner on an loud ATV. The noise really seemed to upset the mother rhino and she started over towards the ATV. At this point, the guy has gotten off the ATV and bent over on the lawn playing with the grass - but the noise of the ATV is still going and upsetting this momma rhino who has now stopped about 30 feet away from the ATV and is staring at this guy trying to figure out what is going on.

At the same time the sleeping rhino has risen and is also disturbed by the ATV. That is when I notice that this one sleeping rhino is actually two, another mother and child pair, and both are now also staring at the guy and the ATV. So this guy looks up and notices four rhinos staring at him, and one is very close and not looking very happy. I wanted to shout, “get out of there, are you nuts” when they guy stands up and actually takes a step forward and tries to shoo the rhinos away! Well, the closest rhino took a small step back, then stood her ground and sort of threw her head, but it was enough time for this guy to jump back on his ATV and boogey out of there and around the corner of the building.

The rhinos seemed placated by his departure, and now turned their attention back to munching on the grass and wandering around the field. Meanwhile, here I am sitting by a pool watching four rhinos, two moms and two babies, wandering around within 200-250 feet of me. At one point, the rhino mom who recently woke up looked in my direction and threw her head and kicked her foot as if to charge! My heart went up in my throat, and I quickly scoped out that I could either jump in the pool, climb a nearby tree, or maybe just run to the other side of the pool for safety. Again, as I remained perfectly still, she seemed to be satisfied with her mere threat, and turned and walked the opposite way and started munching on the grass again. Phew.

Where is the staff to this lovely game reserve, you ask? There were a few people standing around and walking about, but no one seemed concerned, so I figured this might be pretty normal, and decided to continue sitting there to see what would happen.

After another 5 or 10 minutes, two of the rhinos wandered about 100 feet away, directly in front of me, and kept staring in my direction. At this point, I decided it was time to move back to the other side of the pool. So I very slowly got up (and they did watch me closely) and backed out behind the pool to a safer distance.

Then, the baby rhino decided to take a little rhino nap, and layed down on the grass with momma standing right behind him. It was a, you guessed it, picture perfect moment, and of course I didn’t have my camera. Again, I berated myself - never ever leave the camera in the room!! Ugh!

Just when I think it can’t get any better than this, two more rhinos walk out of the woods and up on the lawn! Six rhinos, and this newest pair has the tiniest rhino baby yet - he barely even had a horn and was still tiny enough to be playful, somewhat nimble, and flexible! And he was play charging at nothing - he’d stomp his foot and pretend to stare at something in the distance ready to charge. He was very playful.

Then he gets a little hungry and actually starts to suckle milk from his mother. Need I say it again - another picture perfect moment, and of course, well you know, the stupid camera is in the room! I berate myself one more time to never, ever, leave it no matter where I think I’m going!

Finally, Susie comes out of the massage room. I ran over to her and just said “give me your camera”, grabbed it from her and ran back to snap a few photos of the rhinos.

So, the next time I left my camera in my room, Zulu dancers came into the dining hall and performed for us. Fortunately I was close enough to run back to the room and grab it. Finally, I learned my lesson and the following day brought my camera to breakfast. Boy was I glad, too, because there were monkeys on the deck peering in watching us all eat. I got pics of them!

So, hope this long story helps you remember to always take your camera, no matter what!

Cheers.
Jenn

PS - I’ll be posting pics, including of the rhinos, and will send a link out later this week. It’s going to take a long time to get them uploaded and labeled.

Today we visited a Zulu village, homestead and high school. Our game reserve guide Norman is Zulu and has been telling us about his culture and beliefs all week. By the time we arrived at this rural village Jenn and I were both very interested in how the Zulu people live. But we soon found out that this tight-knit, family oriented, and very proud group of people reside on the hillsides, on land owned by their tribal Chief, in complete poverty. These people are really really poor!

Eighty percent of their village is unemployed. We were told that some villagers farm the land and raise milk cows, others find work in the local communities and game reserves. Some have simply left the area entirely to find labor in Joberg. Most of them, even the ones employed, live below the poverty line (for South Africa).

Our guide for the day was one of the village residents, Mdue (pronounced hmmm-due) . Mdue explained that most of the villagers live on government subsidies but its not enough to cover their basic needs. Also, while the government provides minimum medical care for all South African residents, they do not pay for medicine for people with HIV and AIDS. Twenty five percent of the Zulu population has HIV, and no way to get the medicine they need to survive.

So the first thing we did upon our arrival in this rural village was to walk from the central area of the village (there is no town center) to their “general store”. In fact this store was the ONLY store in town and it did not carry much more than flour and corn products, and trinkets for the tourists like us who wander through once in a blue moon. There are no other stores in this town.

Along the walk, Mdue told us that none of the tiny huts in the village have running water (except for one elderly woman) and they do not have electricity.

Later on in the visit, we met the one elderly women (71) who has running water. She lives in a very small homestead with two huts and is raising six grandchildren on her own because the parents have died. Since she is the only one with water in her hut, everyone else must walk 5km to retrieve their water.

Leaving the village, we noticed there was a small fire up on a hillside not far from us. An electrical line had fallen and set alight the grass not too far from the elderly women’s homestead. Since there is no fire department, there was only a few boys up on the hill trying to put the fire out with brooms.

As we departed, I asked Mdue if he ever thought about leaving the village. He told us that yes, his dream was to leave the village and become a Ranger at a game reserve (just as our Game Reserve ranger Norman had done). But his dream was on hold because he did not have a driver’s license, and he did not have the money to pay for one. In South Africa, the government fee for a driver’s license is approximately $90 US. Mdue didn’t have that kind of money. (The average Zulu worker only makes $200 per month.) So he was saving the money he earns as a teacher at a local school, and sometimes tour guide, in the hope he will get his license within the year, and then start on his path to becoming a ranger.

The High School

When we arrived at the high school we were handed over to their biology teacher, who continued our tour. He told us that the high school had 1500 kids total, 14 classrooms, and 60-75 kids in each class. Since they don’t have enough space in each room, the kids sit two to a desk He told us that the land for the school was donated to their village by their tribal Chief, but they had to find the money and resources to actually build the school itself, which still has not been completed because they’ve run out of money.

The kids have to walk 12 km to get to their high school in the morning, and they must carry buckets of water with them because the school does not have any running water. They only have rain water that they can catch off the roof when it rains, but after a few days it becomes very parasitic and nobody is willing to drink it.

The only bathroom for the school is a giant disgusting outhouse that does not have a septic tank. It also has no doors so privacy is out of the question (see picture below). The teachers refuse to use it and the kids do the best they can.

The high school does has a library but there are no books in it. In fact the school does not own one single book outside of a few textbooks that the kids share. They cannot afford to buy book, or even activity workbooks, because neither the Zulu king nor the government gives them any stipends for supplies. The school did have a computer lab but its outdated by at least 10 years.

But the kids were AWESOME… with their boundless energy and a desire to learn, their spirit is inspiring. When we drove up they were outside playing soccer (boys) and singing songs (girls).

The kids loved having us visit and wanted us to take their photos 50,000 times. So we all have a ton of photos to post, and you’ll get to see them all online soon! For now, here is one shot of the kids.

We spent most of our time talking to the teachers on our visit. They seem to really about the kids and it is obvious that education, even without proper resources, is the top priority at this school. But to really educate the students, the teachers have had to come up with some creative solutions as they are outnumbered 75 kids to 1. So these teachers have developed cooperative relationships with the kids to help them learn. As part of this cooperative relationship, the high school kids are called “the Learners” and they are held responsible for educating themselves, usually in groups of students, and use the teachers asssistance when necessary.

The teachers admitted that this teaching method is not the best way for the kids to get an education. But they have no choice. Giving students individual attention in the classroom is almost out of the questions because of the sheer size of each class and total lack of resources.

One more thing before I go… Academics is not the only lessons they teach at this school. Their school flag says “.. For an AIDS Free Life”.

Jenn has come to fetch me for dinner… have a great night!

This week I’ve also met a young Zulu woman who, for reasons unknown to me, took me into her confidence and told me the story of her childhood. She was abandoned as a baby, and grew up without parents at a local Children’s Center.  But she doesn’t tell anyone because, In the Zulu culture, it is shameful not to have a family. Instead she keeps her background to herself. Knowing this is how the Zulu people feel about orphans, I felt honored that she would entrust her story with me.

Norman and this young woman (who I promised I would not name in my blog) are two of the most engaging and warm-hearted people who we’ve met on our trip.  As Zulus they come from a culture that is completely different from the rest of South Africa — where family, community, honor and paying homage to their King is the most important aspects of their lives. But the Zulus are impoverished because decades of neglect and abuse by the S African govt has driven their nation into poverty and left their people to survive without any resources or education. So both Norman and this young woman have had to leave their roots and find jobs in the (same) South African economy and culture to survive. Yet they have a resilience and spirit that cannot be broken, and you can see it in their eyes when they speak of their families and their traditions, history and culture.

To give you a little background about the Zulu people, here is what little I know… The Zulu people are indigenous to South Africa, and along with one other indigenous group, have lived here independently for thousands of years. When the British colonized South Africa two hundred years ago, the drove the zulus north into the midlands area of South Africa, where they now reside, and divided the Zulu Kingdom into 13 provinces. Once defeated the Zulus never regained their independence.

After WWII the Afrikan government granted the Zulu people rural lands to own and live on. Today that land is owned and operated by a Zulu king and his tribal chiefs. The Zulu people themselves can never become landowners unless they buy the land privately — and outside of any Zulu village.

There are nine million Zulu people living in South Africa today. In the past few decades, much of the Zulu’s land has been re-taken by the government to setup national parks and wildlife reserves for conservation, which in turn helps build the tourism industry, but did nothing for the Zulu people except destroy many of their villages. More of their property was taken when the Zulus were swindled out of their land by private rich Afrikans (formerly the dutch).

The Zulu people were once again left alienated from the rest of South Africa. Our reserve guide, Norman, is Zulu and has been telling us stories about his culture this week. He also confided that he used to be a poacher before becoming a ranger. He said many Zulus turned to poaching (even today) for food and to make money for their families when they were forced off their land by the park service. He also admitted that he and his friends didn’t just poach to make a living but because they were resentful, like many Zulus, that they had been kicked off their land (again) by the government when the parks were created and never consulted about the use of their lands.

The government is now trying to work with the Zulu people and help them find jobs through subsidized programs. It was through a government program that Norman became a ranger and stopped poaching.

When I get back to the states, I’ll post the video of Norman telling his story, and why he stopped poaching, so you can hear from him yourself.

Jenn and I left the coastal village of Umhlanga on Friday morning and drove north thruogh the mountains to  small town called Ladysmith where the Nambiti Game Conservancy is located.  It took us 6 crazy hours to drive this sometimes treacherous route through the mountains.   I say ‘crazy’ because that is what the South African drivers ARE… they are all crazy when they get behind the wheel. And I say ‘treacherous” because the mountain roads are somewhat cluttered with people and animals walking down the windy streets, all either heading off to do their daily chores or go to work, or just plain meandering.  So we spent most of the drive either avoiding giant potholes in our path  or people, goats, horses and cows. All this whiie sitting behind the wheel of a little Honda Jazz (which is like a Civic) and driving on the left hand side of the road (which was on purpose because that’s what they do here, drive on the left.)  But while it was bit treacherous, the drive was also kind of daring and fun!

We knew our six hours on the road was well worth the effort once we pulled into Nambita Game Conservancy. This game reserve is a gem in the rough. We were met inside the gate by our guide Steve,  who led us to our room in the Elephant Lodge (one of four lodges on the grounds). Our room turned out to be our vey own little thatched-roof zulu style hut with a huge bathtub and an outdoor shower.  Our eyes lit up when we saw the beautiful stone carved outdoor shower because we were weary and filthy and dying to take a shower.

There were four other people (South Africans) also staying at our lodge, each in their own little Zulu style huts.  All six of us went on each game drive together, which occured twice a day. Actually we spent mornings, noon and our evenings with our new Elephant Rock family.  We bonded with Andrea and Mark, a couple from a town close to Durban, and I want to give them a big shout out “hello” before I continue.  We also owe them a big thank you, as it was only with Mark’s help that we managed to drive ourselved out of the mountains and to our next destination, Zulu Nyala (it took about 5 hours. Thanks Mark! :)

For those two days we were at Nambiti, our guide Steve mamaged our lives.  He woke us up at 6:30am sharp each day to start our brisk morning game drive through the park.  Oh… and it was cold!!! But we hardly noticed when we saw our first few animals, a a pair of giraffes fighting!  Now watching a pair of giraffes fight is a lot like watching a cricket match… it can take hours and nothing seems to really happen. But these two giraffes were clearly near the end of their fight because only one of them kept swinging his head into the neck of the other giraffe and also into the belly of the poor guy.  We watched this for about 20 minutes, hoping the 2nd giraffe would pull some kind of slick ‘giraffe move” that would make the first one think twice about whacking him in the neck, but no such luck… the poor little guy had no moves and ended up walking away.

During those two days we saw hippos, giraffes, impala, nyala, cudu, rhinos, jackals, worthogs, zebras, lions and other animals i can’t think of right now - all beautiful, all in their own natural worlds.  It was amazing.  I’ve taken so much video of these animals that I could start my own National Georgraphic of South Africa, but I can’t help myself. Up close, these little (or big) creatures are so graceful and natural that you have to love them.

I am so glad we took our first game drive through a nature conservancy, a place dedicated to saving animals that would probably not have a chance of survival otherwise. The animals at Nambiti all have a history.  Some were rejected by their mothers. Others came from a ‘canned hunting facillity’ where they are raised to be tame, only to have some horrible hunter shoot them through a fence (so they can tell all their friends back in the states they killed the animal while on some big hunt).  These places are actually illegal and the people who use them should be shot! But it goes on anyway.  Other animals are at the reserve because their species is decreasing in numbers and Nambiti helps protect their population numbers.  We certainly have seen a lot, and learned even more on this trip.

Not only were the game drives amazing, but we were treated well to boot! Steve would stop in the middle of each drive and pull out drinks or coffee and muffins for us to snack on while we stretched our legs.  After each game drive, which lasted about three and a half hours, we’d pull up to the lodge and the zulu staff would be waiting for us with a hot towel and a small glass of cherry.  They also prepared our meals three times a day and kept us warm at night by building a beautiful bon fire. 

We’ve since left Nambiti and moved on to Zulu Nyala Game Lodge, but I think we will both carry fond memories of our first game reserve, and this particular conservation reserve, forever.

PS - I won’t be able to post video or pictures until i get home as the internet access here is awful! But I will as soon as i can.

We’re off to breakfast now, and then heading up north to stay at a lodge in the bush at the Nambiti Conservancy (in the elephant safari lodge). They have the “big five” which is buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion and rhino. They also have giraffe, hippo, hyena, impala, springbok, and zebras. Check them out at http://www.nambiti.com/.

So I went to a health clinic today and saw an M.D. (although he has a homeopathic slant to treatment which i like). He made me switch RX’s because I can’t stay on Malarone. I have already lost 8 lbs and I’m really dehydrated (NOT that I’m complaining about getting a little skinnier - hehe:) but staying on this drug would put me in the hospital very quickly.

I already feel SOOOOO much better.

Now that I’m on the mend, and thanking my lucky stars that we only lost a day of our trip, Jenn and I off to plan our today tomorrow. Hope all is well at home.

How’s my boy Charles doing???

Susie seems to be having what the homeopathic doctor strongly believes is a reaction to the anti-malarial medication she and I are on (I’m fine though). She woke up last night with strong flu-like symptoms that are indicative with the side effects of the drug. He recommended she immediately stop taking them and gave her two other homeopathic anti-malarial prescriptions which is what they use here - and it’s low malaria so the risk is pretty low (actually there is no malaria in Durban, it just “may be” in the areas north of here where we are heading next week). Susie was too sick to make the 2 hr. drive up to Simyune Lodge (and the one hour horseback trek to the Lodge after the 2 hr drive). We may go up tomorrow or the next day, but we’ll see how she feels. Either way, we’re in the lap of luxury with an extremely attentive staff - so no worries there.

I’m heading out to read on the beach while Sue rests in the room. See you all later, and I’ll let Susie blog more about her own experience!

Cheers,
Jenn

Forgot to mention last night that we do not have cell phone access.  The world phone I brought is not “unlocked” for networks outside of ATT. I haven’t used this phone in so long, that I forgot about this.  Hopefully in the next day or two, we’ll connect with a guy.. who knows a guy… etc.  that will unlock the phone for us for $5.  Thanks to Fasil, our guide from yesterday. He knows everyone here.

But until then, no phone. Also I don’t have access to my gmail account at this hotel. But we are moning to the next hotel and we’ll see how it pans out.

Blog more later. Love to all,

 Sue

I drove the first half of the drive but my eyes were too bleary from jet lag to continue, so Jenn drove the rest of the way. Except for the fact that we drove by a few wild fires, and our car died and Budget had to deliver a new one, we arrived at our hotel without any problems. HA! OK that sounded much worse than it was… the car actually broke down at the hotel so we didn’t have to do much once the hotel staff got involved. Later we walked the rocky beach, dipped our toes in the Indian Ocean and sat outside drinking wine and eating oysters.

The view from our hotel room is beautiful. We have a balcony overlooking the beach and a lighthouse. I’ve posted some pictures to the photo gallery so you can take a look. Jenn and I spent a lot of time sitting out on our balcony last night watching huge waves roll in and listening to the roaring sea.

Durban Area Tour
Today we hired a local guide who took us on a tour of the city of Duban and the Valley of 1000 Hills. His name is Fasil, and in only 12 hours, Jenn and I both came to adore him. Fasil is a South African born-and-raised muslim Indian whose thoughtful viewpoint of his local community and South African politics helped us better understand a country full of complexities and contradictions.

Fasil picked us up at th safari tour office in a 4×4 and immediately told us he’d be taking us to some dangerous areas of Durban but that we shouldn’t worry because he’d brought along his handgun, a colt-45, which he showed us holstered to his belt. Since he was hired by the hotel and came highly recommended, we weren’t too concerned by the presense of his gun, but I think it was at that point that Jenn and both wondered where exactly he might be taking us!?

We didn’t have to wonder too long.

As Fasil drove us around the city and outlying areas of Durban, he gave us our first real introduction to this culturally diverse and mutli-ethnic nation and its rich history of Afrikan (originally Dutch), English, Black, Zulu, and Indian roots. First he took through the newly built areas of Durban that were the product of an recent IT boom. He showed us beautiful ” sunken gardens” near the waterfront, previously built by the govt during a civic project. The govt fed the local unemployed in exchange for their labor building the gardens. He took us to the fishing pier, the Indian markets and the shanty towns. He showed us the segregated villages and beaches, that are still segregated today.. not by law but by choice. He drove us through the valleys and rivers of the 1000 hills. We saw crocidiles and watched a traditional zulu dance. One of the young zulu warriors offered 200 cows as a dowry for Jenn’s hand in marriage as his second wife. Don’t worry Dad! I wasn’t going to give her away anything below 250 cows!!

Fasil also took us to see his own mosque. Much to the dismay of his fellow muslims, he walked Jenn and I right into the mosque, and through their ritual “washing room” and into their prayer room where several men were praying. He walked us through the entire procedure and explained exactly what occurs when muslims pray 5 times a day. During the tour, one of the mosque elders (and Fasil’s friend) saw us talking, came right over to us and happily took over the tour to help Fasil out. He said he wanted to take away the ‘mystery’ Americans have of muslims and the percieved secrecy behind their prayer sessions. I think hHe must have spent 30 minutes talking to us - much of which I must admit, we couldn’t understand because of his accent. But he was so kind to us. Back in the entranceway, as Jenn and I were putting our shoes back on, we looked at each other and smiled. We knew were had just witnessed a once in a lifetime occurrence. Heck, muslim women aren’t even allowed in the mosque! Yet Fasil had just proudly taken us there.

As we left the mosque, Fasil pointed out to us that the mosque sat next to a christian church, and the two had co-existed as peaceful neighbors for decades.

After a full day of good solid mental stimulation we finally settled down in Fasil’s favorite Indian restaurant to try some delicious curry dishes and meet his friend Allen. Fasil and Allen both spent their childhoods growing up under apartheid, but had drastically different experiences because Allen is black, and Fasil is not. This topic isn’t something I am going to blog about tonight, but it is a conversation that will stay in my mind for the duration of this trip, and I will think about the things Allen said as we continue our tour of this beautiful country and its endearing people.