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Walkers on a busy road. |
Drakensberg
Coming from Durban we took the N3 motorway north. It’s a
four lane truck road leading from the largest port in Africa in Durban to
Johannesburg a metro of 10 million. It has heavy traffic and winds through
steep hilly country. We stopped in Howick to shop at Pick and Pay. In the
parking lot we met a very friendly man who lined us out on some spots in the
Drankensberg Mountains and also recommended a stop for coffee on the “Midlands
Meander”, a byway of artists’ studios spread across the country side. Our
recommended stop for coffee was called Piggly Wiggly which was much better and
more upscale than the name implies.
We drove on until dark and stayed at
Insokana Lodge in the central Drankensberg Mountains (Dragon Mountains). Our
host Michel had three white German shepherd dogs to greet us. The lodge is nice and as a true luxury we had a heater in our room still it was frosty outside.
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Inkosana Lodge |
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People walking on the road at sunset. There are alot of pedestrians in South Africa. |
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Entrance to the Central Drakensberg |
Next day we hiked
in the “Monks Cowl” section of the Drankensberg, which is a world heritage
site. The mountains there reach about 3200 meters (10,500 feet). We walked up
to about 6000 feet to Blindman’s Corner, a nice walk.
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Mt Chaklin near Blind Man's Corner. |
Next day we drove up to
Royal Natal National Park and walked in the northern Drankensberg. We hiked
‘the Gorge’ to the Amphitheater. We attempted to wade through a slot canyon
called ‘the tunnel’ but when it came to a full swim we gave up, it was just too
cold.
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Royal Natal National Park |
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Sheri wading in the frigid "Tunnel". |
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The Amphitheater - Royal Natal National Park |
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Cheese sandwich on a warm rock after the "Tunnel" |
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Strangler Vine |
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Pedestrians near Royal Natal National Park |
HOWICK
After all this exercise we drove back south to a farm
outside of Howick where a good friend of ours in Bend connected us with Claire,
a friend and coworker. Claire set us up in her guest house (literally an entire
house), where we had a cozy fire and cooked up a good meal and took a bath
since there wasn’t a shower.
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Claire is quite busy but she carved out some time
for us. We walked on a beautiful warm day up into a patch of native forest on
her land with her dogs and a student she’s mentoring. Her place, which is
called Misty Meadow Farm, is also home to her parents, sister and brother who
all have separate houses, and also a bunch of black people who live and work
there. They raise cows, sheep, have greenhouses, and gardens. She says they’re
starting to create a community home school and have the goal of having the
whole place be self-sustaining. It was very nice and we really appreciated the
opportunity to stay there.
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Claire's house and friendly pack of dogs |
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Curtis, Claire, and Sheri at Misty Meadows Farm |