Kathy’s Travels

November 23rd
Have finally arrived in Cape Town and am busy sorting out all the things I need to do for the festival. Am staying at Long Street Backpackers. Must admit, I never thought I wanted to stay at a backpackers that was in the center of things, but it is kind of nice.

Long Street Backpackers: 7.5/10 Nice atmosphere, beautiful old house with open courtyard in the center, little bit of a mission to find bathrooms and hard to sleep if you are not a party person. But on the whole nice and central, with a flea market just down the way and tons of shopping and bars.

Had to go all the way to the other side of CT to get some “Stage” magazines that had been sponsored then all the way back to pick up 12 bottles of sponsored Jose Cuervo from the Stage Mag co. Well it turns out that they gave us the wrong mags and the company only gave us 6 bottles rather than 12. Also the fliers they were sponsoring us and which were meant to be ready today went from 12 000 to 3 000 and will only be ready in a week or 2. Frustrating is an understatement.
Thanks a ton to my cousin for driving me around.

November 19th
Yup…. You guessed it, still at Bomvu
Have become part of the furniture, even joined the “tented” community (borrowed a tent since it is a lot cheaper than the dorms). A few days ago I hiked to Mdumbi and the African Pot hostel. Mdumbi beach is rated one of the best beaches in South Africa. The walk is a stunning 15km odd hike along the cliffs with many up and downs. I think I slept for 2 days when I finally made it, but it was definitely worth the trip. Tomorrow will leave for a 2 week marketing trip for a festival that is happening at the end of December. Have to travel to Cape Town and back to Durban and return to Coffee Bay, stopping at as many hostels as I can to let people know what is happening.

The festival is to raise awareness for AIDs and HIV in the Coffee Bay area and get a non profit organisation, Aids to Eden, off the ground.
Mark Russell the organiser of, A NEW BEGINNING, is a DJ from Cape Town and has been planning this event for over 3yrs. The festival will be held at Bomvu and include 2 DJ’s from the UK, as well as local DJs and some local bands. Already there are about 10 people here from countries like Israel, Germany, Austria and the UK that have heard about it and come to join.

To learn more have a look at: www.anewbeginning.co.za
This is the first of hopefully 7 festivals that will also challenge the world record for largest drum circle. It is planned to have 5000 drummers playing by 2010!!!

Well back on the Bazbus again. Choc-a-block full. Was about 3hours late for pick – up, so got to watch my dive buddy and the rest of the crew leave for the dive, and return. Could have almost made a 3rd dive (of course it was the one they saw everything on), but that’s cool, I got to see a lot and I don’t think my knuckles or muscles could take many more beach launches on those boats. The last one saw me land face first (feet still in the foot holds) on the bottom of the boat as we came to a VERY abrupt stop.

November 8th
The day I arrived was the start of a downpour. Literally! It rained solid for 5days. By the 3rd day we had no dry clothes almost no dry beds, had lost a foot bridge at the backpackers, could barely get to the beach and had no dry wood for fire.
But today, today was the 6th day and we have cloud failure!!!!!!!
5 days ago I arrived for a 2 day stay in Coffee Bay, former Transkei. But with the flooding up and down the entire South African coastline it wasn’t worth moving on, now that the sun was out I discovered just how beautiful it is. I even started doing Taekwondo on the beach in the morning, something I hadn’t practiced for a few years.

Bomvu Paradise Backpackers: 9.5/10, excellent food (thanks to Jenna), great staff, lots of trees and places to hide away in. 1min walk from a beautiful beach and a further 1min walk from a gorgeous beach. Good for surfing or body boarding. An amazing place.
There is even a tame green Cape Parrot named Joey, but be careful he has a toe fetish and will unceremoniously land on your shoulder and eat your food. He also likes his coffee with 2 sugars and milk (as I discovered at 5am one morning when he pulled the mug over and drank a few sips!!!)

Bomvu is the xhosa word for red, the river is named the Bomvu because when it floods the mud turns it red. Also there are 2 stories as to why it is called Coffee Bay. The first is that many years ago a coffee shipment was washed up on the beach after a shipwreck. The other, and probably more truthful, is that during the rains the red mud turns the bay a coffee color, hence Coffee Bay.

Every night a group of the local girls come to dance and the donations go towards their school fees. On Friday night the Amagogos (older generation) come to dance. Fantastic folks and I always dance the last dance with them when audience participation is encouraged.

October 31st
Sitting in Umkomaas at the dive lodge. Am diving through a company called “The Whaler”. Etienne the owner had promised to organise me a place to stay and got me a room at the lodge at backpacker rates. All I have to say is WOW!!! White sheets and accent pillows, almost felt guilty for sitting there. Umkomaas is home to an area called Aliwal Shoal, famous for the ragged tooth sharks that come to breed here near the end of each year and a very popular dive spot. After trying to get into 2 or 3 different full wetsuits (any diver who has had to use the old suits where the neoprene has been compressed knows my woes), and losing most of the skin off my knuckles, I finally said “look just give me a shortie, I dive in Oregon and the water here is much warmer!!!!!”. I was right, I loved diving in the shortie and feeling the water. It was warm enough to not feel cold but cold enough to keep you awake.
Most of the others after the first dive wanted hoods and gloves because they got cold. But I loved it.
All along the South African coast it is too dangerous to do a shore dive because of the strong onshore current. So you take out the boats and what a ride it is. Trying to get over the breaking waves is quite exhilerating and bone jarring at the same time. The first day wasn’t too bad, but the second day I was thrashed around quite a bit.
Unfortunately the vis wasn’t perfect for photos but I got a couple of good shots. There were thousands of fish and invertebrates and then we saw our first raggy. Only about 1m long but still long enough. It was beautiful and frightening at the same time. On that dive I also saw my first turtle and had a pod of dolphins swim with the boat. The second dive we saw a few more sharks including one that was 3m long (learnt to swim backwards very quickly), and about 3 or 4 rays (all different species). You could also here the dolphins “talking” as the clicks carried through the water.
Truly a beautiful place.
The Whaler : 10/10 for dive expertise and safety and lodge – 039-973-1562/3 , info@whaler.co.za , www.whaler.co.za

My dive buddy and I took the afternoon to go back into Durban and visit the uShaka Marine World. Very impressive. Their fish and shark exhibit is absolutely stunning. However I wish they had done as good a job for the penguins, seals and dolphins.

October 30th
Am in Durban relaxing at my Uncle’s house.
After St. Lucia, Erwin, Meika, Michael and I went to a small town called Gingingdlovu and the hostel with red mud.
Inyezane backpackers – 9/10. beautiful location in the middle of sugar cane fields and lemon grass. The owners are hippies and very into natural remedies. Very relaxing and with an excellent pizza oven (think that was the best pizza I have ever tasted). The owner, Brad has many stories to tell, some unbelievable but who can say for sure. Also on a cold miserable day you can relax and paint a sarong or bed spread to discover your hidden artistic side.
On the last morning it was mud time. All jumping into our swim suits we promptly covered ourselves from head to toe in red mud. It would take about a week to get all the mud out.
The bazbus arrived all too soon and we headed out. Now this is the only part about Inyezane that disappointed me. I forgot my swimsuit there and even though they promised to send it to my Aunt in PE they never did. Oh well…..

October 24th
Relaxing in St. Lucia. Turns out I wasn’t able to go to Sodwana, so now have some extra time. Spent the day with some friends at Cape Vidal beach, about a 30min drive from St. Lucia. Stunning area but when the wind blows you get serious sand blast action going on.
St. Lucia is definately the place to go to see crocodiles and hippos. Was amazing to see them just chilling about 40feet from you. Made numerous friends and had almost an international delegation for dinner. Went to a resturant called St. Pizzas, great food. Our group included people from Holland, Germany, Israel, South Africa and a few more.
Have decided to leave St. Lucia early and travel with 3 new dutch friends, Erwin, Mieka and Michael. Going to a hostel where they have red mud…. I love mud!!!!!!
Bibs international Hostel – 9/10. Great place. after arriving they pile you all into a van and drive you around showing you the town. They have great evening activities, including a night drive with about 15of us in the van, so squished we were barely able to see out. The driver is also one of those rare people who can spot a 3 inch chameleon while driving at 30km/ hr.

October 19th
Am staying at the research camp in HluHluwe / Imfolozi game park. This is the park I grew up really close to. Almost every other sunday my family would come and take a drive through. I was lucky enough to see and experience Africa’s Big 5 plus much more, every month, for the first 12 years of my life, until we moved further south. Experiences that included being charged by a rhino, having my dad switch off the car just as an agro young elephant bull started getting a little too close, having a german tourist we had given a ride to climb out to take photos of a rhino (bad idea) and having numerous animals sit in front of and on our car. It was great to be back. During my last year at highschool, I also spend 5 days hiking through the bush here on a “Wilderness Leadership Trail”, an experience I will never forget (but a whole other chapter in this blog would be needed).
I had contacted the head researcher of the African Wild Dogs, Dr. Szykman, while I was still in Alaska, about 4months prior. I wanted to come and see the kind of research they were doing and hopefully increase my chances to see these beautiful and elusive animals. For those who are wondering, the African Wild dog is NOT a hyena and it is NOT a dog. It looks like a dog but at some point early on in the evolutionary line, these animals took an entirely different path and branched off from the canine lineage.

October 21st
After 3 days of intensive searching and getting up at 4am, tracking for 6-7 hrs with nothing we finally have dogs. This morning about 2hrs into our search we got a very feint signal. We were able to get within 15feet of the pack. They were harrasing a herd of zebra, trying to teach the pups hunting techniques. It was amazing to see them and I can’t express how happy I was. There were 9 adults and 8pups.
Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to stay I had to get back to the backpackers, Isinkwe. This also meant some creative thinking on how to get back, there were no game drives that day from there and no-one was coming back to the reserve. However with some sweet talk 2 of the tour bus drivers agreed to take me the 20min drive back.
Isinkwe Backpackers – 6/10, beautiful setting, friendly staff (if you initiate conversation), good food. But they charge for everything and don’t try very hard to accomodate you. Some of us needed to go into town, but they wanted to charge us for a tour of the craft market, a local village and the town.

October 16th
Left Sani Pass and Lesotho behind 2 days ago. My last night saw 2 groups of British army guys getting very drunk and jumping….naked…. into the swimming pool. That part of the party ended when someone threw coffee on one of the guys because they were being so noisy, it was all rather amusing and no one was hurt… just have a story to tell. Will have to return sometime, truly beautiful mountain top kingdom and an excellent backpackers. Since the Bazbus didn’t go into Underburg anymore I had to get a shuttle back to Pietermaritzburg – Sani Pass Carriers. In PMB I met up with my dad’s cousin, haven’t seen her since I was knee high to a grasshopper… I spent a night at their farm, got my laundry done and had a fabulous dinner of roast lamb…….
And now we are marching to Pretoria, South Africa’s capital. Time to visit my gran. Haven’t seen her in almost 8years. She is an amazing woman and at the age of 80 has made about 5 trips to visit us in Oregon, USA. Thats a very long trip. She is planning to come for christmas again this year (2005).
Am starting to think about what I want to do when I get back to USA and am seriously thinking about trying to get a job in the UK for a year. That way I can earn pounds and visit new friends in Europe. But I will only get a job that has something to do with my degree, environmental education. So either at a zoo or aquarium or maybe even working for a country vet.

October 18th
I had planned to spend more time in Swaziland but then decided to try get to Sodwana to go scuba diving. Sodwana is one of the top 10 places to go diving, with rays, skates, sharks, turtles, whale sharks…… and good visibility for underwater photos (my new hobbie).
Swaziland Backpackers – 8/10, good feel, very relaxed, sort of a hippie feel. Great food! Little weird because a few rooms share the bathroom inside the dorm. But nothing too serious.
Bumped into Eelco and Annette again (they were going N and I am going S). Was great to see them and I can’t wait to go to Holland and see them.
Swaziland looked beautiful, the small parts I saw while driving through it. I would have stayed another night, but because the bazbus only comes every few days, I would have had to stay another 2 or 3 days rather than just 1.

October 10th saw me sitting on a couch staring at the Lesotho mountains with a one-eyed cat, waiting for my Lesotho tour to start. The day before my friend, Francois, fetched me and brought me all the way here. Just for shits and giggles we decided to go upto into Lesotho, get our passport stamped and come back. Now some might think this is an easy task, but let me warn you that the Sani Pass is hectic and nicknamed the South African massage. You need a 4-wheel drive and even then you risk the chance of getting stuck. Near the top you reach a section consisting of about 22 switch back corners. They have names like “suicide bend”, “whiskey corner”, “backwards bend” (so named because many cars have to do a 3pt turn to get around) and “ice corner” (this particular one is very trechorous in winter because the 3 little waterfalls flow over the road and freeze). When we reached the top we were almost blown away the wind was soooo strong. We made it back to the South African border with 10min to spare.
Sani – Lodge Backpackers is awesome. I give it a 9/10 rating. The setting is spectacular, the people friendly and the feel cozy and warm.

October 12th. Am back from my 2 day jaunt in Lesotho. Can’t begin to explain how good it was. We had lunch by a river and went swimming, in freezing cold water. Stayed with a local family, no electricity, running water or flushing toilets….. could have lived there for a year. The food was amazing and suprisingly tasty for having been cooked over a fire. I could barely finish it at every meal. My group consisted of Eelco and Annette, a couple from Holland, and 2 older couples from Ireland. Eelco, Annette and I bonded very quickly and they have invited me to come visit them in Holland. Our guide, Steve, was classic. A young chap from the area and with a wicked sense of humor. Ndade Thabiso was out host and an amazing gentleman to talk to. A former teacher, he has big plans to improve his country thru tourism. He took us to meet the chief of the area (his uncle) and even got to meet his parents. Some of the ladies danced for us, I loved it and clapped the whole time. At the end they encouraged me to dance, always willing and able (but in need of encouragement), I got up and danced. They were really amused when I also tried to sing and gave me big smiles and hugs at the end. Lesotho is the home of the Basotho people, and the language is called Sotho. It is a very poor country but the people are some of the friendliest I have ever met and always ready to give you a big smile. It is also the country with the highest low point…. give you a minute to figure that out. Yup you guessed it, Lesotho’s lowest point is still higher than any other countrys’.
Around the fire we watched the herd boys sing and dance and drank Maluti beer, the lesotho lager, not bad. About the only bummer that entire evening was the fact that a storm at around 10.30pm forced us to go to bed. Within about 20min the 2 irish getlemen starting snoring with the occasional in put from Steve. I finally gave up on sleep around 6am. After coffee, Steve and I headed down to the river for a morning bath….. or rather ice bath. The water was sooooo cold that it made your whole body numb within a few minutes, but then it become almost pleasant because you couldn’t feel anything. Before breakfast we headed into the opposite village to meet some of the locals. When the 2 irishmen (farmers) got sidetracked by the horse and plow the locals were using, Ndade stated very appropriately that “time was oppressing us”……

The visit to the school was great fun, but the quality of teaching and learning is very poor and I would love to go and teach. I joked with Ndade that if he built me a little hut I would return and teach. The kids would copy a word and draw a picture but were unable to tell you what they had just written. Then Eelco, Annette and I went horseriding while the others stayed at the school. The ride was fabulous and very relaxing, but all to soon we had to hurry back for a quick lunch and get back on the road to return before the border closed. However, there is always time for a drink, and at the Lesotho border we stopped at the Sani Pass pub, the highest pub in Southern Africa.

OK….. so I am back and can now sit and fill in more details more comfortably….

Going way back when to October (seems like a lifetime ago already). After a very long drive from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth, a brief stay with my aunt and another long drive from PE to Durban, start 6.30am, I arrived at my uncles at about 11.30pm!!!!!
During that drive we passed thru the former Ciskei and the former Transkei. The word “kei” is an old dutch word meaning stones and trans comes from the latin word for crossing. I am not sure what “Cis” means in Ciskei. As we entered Kwazulu / Natal from the Transkei we had to pass disease control. This involved all of us climbing out of the bus walking over a sponge soaked in pesticides and getting back into the bus. This is to try prevent “swine fever” entering Natal.

Kwazulu/Natal is my home province and I felt quite emotional coming back after 10yrs. It was as beautiful as ever and I was happy to be “home”.

October 8th was the night of my High School reunion and the whole excuse… I mean reason I came back to South Africa. It was really weird seeing everyone again. You kind of remember the faces but have no real memory of who they were in High School. Except for the few that you have a solid memory of, Like Gareth who used to threaten to throw me over the balcony….. it was a love / hate friendship. One thing had changed for sure, some of the biggest jerks had grown up into pretty decent guys and one or two even apologised. After a few drinks everyone relaxed and we were soon chatting and hanging out. Many even knew some of the things I had been upto, like university and living in Korea. All were fairly suprised that “Kathy – head library monitor” had become a world traveller.

Got home after midnight and promptly had to wake up at 5.30 am to catch the bazbus to Pietermaritzburg and then a friend was giving me a ride to Sani Pass Lodge and the foot of the Lesotho mountains.