South Africa Driving Tour Part III (July)

After leaving Underberg where we had climbed the mountain (by car) to Lesotho, we headed for the coastal town of Port St Johns. Since we had been unable to get our GPS in Durban, we decided to drive the long way around and pick up our GPS at King Shaka International airport where one was available. That was a good move. While we didn't need the GPS too often because Anthony was an excellent navigator, it did come in handy on several occasions and we all felt better having it.

The road trip to Port St Johns was an easy shot out of Durban where we sped along on the N2, a mostly four lane highway with shoulders and passing lanes. This was followed by a rather lengthy loop that took us through the black African villages of Bizana, Flagstaff and Lusikisiki in the province of Kwazulunatal. What I came to understand after several weeks of driving through rural south Africa is that while the mornings are relatively calm, the afternoon is a time of frenetic movement in the more rural areas. Perhaps it is a confluence of factors between people completing their shopping before an early nightfall (remember we're pretty far south in winter in the southern hemisphere), kids leaving school in droves (and in well starched uniforms I might add) and those holding traditional jobs finishing work for the day. Whatever the case may be, not only was it very intense to drive through these towns but the roads out to the villages were full of people walking both directions on both sides of the rode -- shoulder-less roads I may remind you. I don't think I every really got used to it -- and I can hardly describe the intensity of it with all the descriptive words I'd like to share with you. But I can say that it was an experience I won't forget, and that I suspect most western tourists won't ever see as they enjoy their very delicate wine country tour through the towns of South Africa's very cushy wine country. We saw the real thing :)

PS In Port St. Johns, we stayed at a hostel called the Jungle Monkey. I had promised my travel companions that we would stay at a mix of places and not just 5 star lodges. Here's where I made good on my promise. Lonely Planet had described Port St Johns as a bit of a hippy town. Well, I think that was a wild exaggeration. What we discovered at the Jungle Monkey is that a bunch of hippies had developed some backpacker facilities some decades ago and likely had been living and smoking pot there ever since. But to their credit, they did have a decent place to grab a meal and a well-trained cook who had an authentic pizza oven much to our surprise and delight.