Drakensburg Mountains

We turned northward from Durban and entered the Drakensburg Mountains just East of landlocked country of Lesotho. We stayed in a hostel at the foot of the Amphitheater, which I grabbed a picture from the internet because our weather was not that nice. There are no trees in this area because of a combination of elevation, rainfall and soil quality so the people are all animal herders. Above is one of the many waterfalls that run off the flat top of the range.

Below are pictures of the Tugela Falls. It is the world's second highest waterfall at 3,110 feet that falls in five steps. It was completely clouded over so the only picture that turned out was the one below where I stood right next to it looking down. I probably would not have been so brave if I could have seen the bottom. The second picture below I found on the internet that shows its size.

The time we spent on the summit was cold, raining and windy so when we made it to the opposite slope we were all a little tense about climbing over a cliff edge on wet ancient steel chain ladders with frozen hands.The weather cleared in the way down and all the wet rock faces shined in the sun warming our hearts and bodies.

Durban

On our excursion along the South coast we met two South African guys Gary and Justin who we became friends with over a game of King's Cup in a hostel in Wilderness. They had been studying accounting in Stellenbosch but were from Durban and were making their way back home along our same route before going to London to work for a year. Justin was kind enough to invite us to stay with his family when we got to Durban and we were more than happy to take him up on it. It was a pleasant suprise and a side of South Africa we would have never seen. His parents had recently retired and bought a large Catamaran they were planning to sail all over the world. They were being certified to sail it and we got to accompany them out into Durban harbor for some basic sea trials (above). They fed us a ton of amazing food and I thank them again for being so kind and hospitable. Above we got to drive around in Justin's mom's convertible Saab and see parts of the city. It was a few steps above riding in African buses. Another day we went to the Inanda Dam and went waterskiing on the reservoir. This is in an area known as Kwazulu-Natal and is historically part of the kingdom of Zulus. It's nickname is "A Land of a Thousand Hills" because of the accordian like geography. Justin brought along his small surfboard and gave us all a lesson in barefoot waterskiing. He sat on the board as the boat gained speed and made his way just outside the wake and when we accelerated to around 30 mph he slowly stood up. I had to try and the video at the bottom is my first attempt. Josh took the video sideways so you have to turn your head to the left.

Ouch, and my feet were itchy afterward!

Garden Route

Moving along the Southern Coast we entered the area known as the Garden Route. It is popular among backpackers, which proved useful catching rides and meeting people from all over the world. There is a lot of diversity in the landscape including some of the best beaches in the country and old growth forests. It also helps that it is part of the Indian and not Atlantic Ocean so the water temperature is ten to fifteen degrees warmer.

These pictures are from an area known as the Transkei. It is where Nelson Mandela is from and was a "homeland," which were areas that were set aside and given a degree of autonomy from the South African government to pursue their policy of "separate development." It was just a smoke screen because the local government was controlled by the South African government, there was zero development done and they used these areas to recruit cheap labor for the mines in the wealthy areas. Because of this these areas are the most behind the rest of the country and have a completely different feel. Beautiful but poor.
This was a hostel dog in Storm's River that turned into a statue when you held a piece of food in front of him. So we had some fun seeing how much stuff we could put on him. We gave him the biscut afterwards for keeping us entertained.
I did a little bungee jump along the way. They advertise it as the highest commercial bungee jump at 216 meters off the Bloukrans bridge and into the canyon below. It was my first bungee so I thought what the hell, no sense starting on the bunny hill. Willingly jumping off a perfectly sturdy bridge is a feeling that goes against every human instinct of survival. A middle aged woman went before me and as the two assistants' countdown approached one she crumbled to the ground and fell backwards toward the platform. Her second time she took a pathetic little hop and we could hear her scream go trailing off down the chasm. I was not honestly nervous at all until after I was strapped in by the bare ankles and standing on the edge did the gravity of what I was about to do occur to me. But when the countdown hit one I voluntarily took the suicidal leap and tried not to soil myself as the whistle of the wind increased during the four seconds of free fall and I watched the ground come rushing up at 120 miles an hour. This frightening, exhilerating, midlife crisis ending sensation was followed by the glorious feeling of my lifeline coming into affect to keep my forehead off of the earth below. The bounce up of a hundred plus feet brought all of the blood from my lower body into my skull to say hello. This was followed by another two seconds of free fall and so on and so on. I would have done it again in a second if I could have afforded it because the second time they let you jump off backwards...
Below is a waterfall in Tsitsikamma National Park Josh and I hiked to with a few Germans we had met. The coast line was so different than the white sandy beaches we had been at only the day before. This park is known for its unique tidal and fauna life.