LenaInAfrika

Hello,

its meeee again!

Its been a long time and a lot has happend! Here are some highlights:

One of the nicest things in the last weeks was a stop in Umtentweni, a little coastal town. We made a very challenging hike through the wildernis in order to reach this spot:

It was for sure worth the effort!!!!

After a lot of beach, ocean and alike, we decided that it is about time to see some parts of the inlands of south africa! Definitely one of the best decisions we made because we ended up in: Underberg, which is the most southern part of the Drakensberge. This is where the writer of "Lord of the Rings" found his inspirations - no doubt about it!

Overall, it felt like Ireland, really!! Unbelievable that we were still in the same country!!
We stayed at a farm called Khotso, which hosted 200 Horses, lots and lots of sheep, dogs, cats and anything you could possibly think of!! Of course, I adapted (as usual) fast into my environment:

I would have never thought that being in "that kind" of nature would make me happy but it turned out that I LOVE the lifestyle they enjoy. For me, it was the first place in South Afrika so far, where I would like to go back for a longer period of time - strange isnt it?!?! Lena with the Horses...

We stayed in Khotso for one week with the worst weather we had so far - we slept under 4 blankets at night and it was still freeeeeeezing!!
Thats why we decided the next stop needs to be at the beach, with sun, quiet and lonely. And this is what we found:

Coffee Bay was the sacret place! It is a dream there, not even funny!!
It takes about 1,5 hours from the "big town" to get there. "There" are two backpackers and further about.....5 houses and 1 restaurant. THAT IS IT!!! No supermarkt, no internet, no telephone, no NOTHING. Amazingly peaceful and beautiful.
And here are the images you enjoy on the way there: Streetlife und South Afrika

Such a different world, isnt it?!
We stayed in Coffee Bay for about 4 days and had the beach pictured above for ourselves throughout the whole time because there simply is nobody else around!!! Well, thats a lie actually:

We had to share with cows - even they know how to enjoy life here!!!
At night, we had one of the local people catch dinner for us:

Just a quick dive into the ocean and dinner is almost ready!!! Nothing more fresh or delicious for the price of 60 Rand (ca. 5,50 euro!!!!)
As a nice finish we visited another Sangoma (remember, the witchdoctor from Zululand a couple of weeks ago?!)
It was more for a nice talk and a couple of cigarettes, so not as exciting as the first Sangoma I met. But for sure much "closer":

Right now we are in Jeffreys Bay which is the Surf Paradise of South Africa. Since I am a professional Surfer as most of you know, I am enjoying the super-high-waves which almost kill you when you only come close to the ocean a lot - NOT!!! hihihihihi
Tomorrow we will travel further to Nature Valley which is then already part of the famous Garden Route which leads to Capetown. By now its only a bit more than 3 weeks left and the big adventure is already coming to an end....cant believe it!!!

But now, as a beautiful finish and to get you ALL jealous like hell:

this has been the view WHILE taking a shower for a whole week!!

Can you imagine how long it took me to get showered those days???

Well, as usual I hope you enjoy the pictures and stories!

I will go ride some waves now....Yiiiiieeeehhhaaaaaa!!!!

Hello Everybody in cold Europe!

...but no jealousy, I found the time to write again cause it is POURING down here in South Afrika as well. Not cold, but WET!!

However, what happened the last weeks!?
Well, after granting you some insights of what surrounds me here everyday last time, I can only use words to describe what has happened that last weeks, since pictures could not be taken of this adventure....

The last time I wrote you I was still in St Lucia, a beautiful but touristic coastal town. Not far from there, following the east coast of South Afrika towards Mozambique, is a little town called Sodwana Bay. It is known over here for being one of the 10 most exciting and beautiful diving spots in the world. Therefore, THE PLACE TO BE for me!!!

Getting there was a bit of a challenge since Sicko cant dive cause of ear-problems so he was not too excited to rent a car and spent a lot of money on a diving trip but, as most of you know me - I rented the car, I drove there and I did 2 amazing dives...!! Sometimes its got to be all about me... ;-)
Anyhow, it was worth every discussion I had to go through since the first dive (in 3 years!!!!) was with "ragged tooth sharks"!! Unfortunately, I dont know what they are called in German(maybe I dont even want to know...), but I can tell you that they are BIG and SCARY and AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL!!!

Without a cage, without security, without anything but air and a wetsuit we dropped down from the boat in the middle of the ocean to find a reef on about a depth of 10-15 meters. The dive was a bit unusual since the instructions we got were:

"Drop down til you hit the sand, lay flat on you belly, crawl forward using your hands in the sand, move as little as possible, dont stick hands or legs out or make sudden movements when the shark comes really close to you and DO NOT look the shark straight into the eyes! If you manage that, you will be fine!"

Hmmmm, let me think about this...OK!! I do it!!!

I am telling you, it was unbelievable. Those animals are sooooo BIG! And they come so close, they almost touch you with their fins. Fortunately, the sharks at this reef were pregnant females, which means that they do not eat for several months until their babies are born. So, no worries about the shark being hungry. However, we all met a pregnant female before - not to mess with!!!!
So I kept still, stomach flat on the ground and found myself in the middle of 2-3 shark ladies at once, circling over my head.
In that moment, you do not want to think about what "could happen", enjoy the incredible moment you probably wont ever experience again in your life - and pray that you get out of there alive ;-)
But no, seriously, it was not dangerous or unsave for one single moment, at least it didnt feel that way! So, if you ever get the chance: DO IT!!!

The same day we went even further up the coast towards Mozambique, to Kosy Bay. Almost untouched by tourists, the nature and beaches up there are just like the "bacardi-commercial". You remember what I mean, dont you?!

Bacardi feeeeeeeling, its never been so easy, when I dreeeeaaaaaming.......! ;-)

Up there, almost in another country, is where the huge turtles come every year to lay their eggs. We were lucky enough to travel "in season" with the turtles and got to see one HUGE turtle on her way back into the ocean after laying eggs as well as little hashlings (tiny tiny new born turtles) which tried to make their way into the ocean. Unfortunately, only 2 hashlings out of 120 (this is the amount of eggs turtles lay with EACH stop at the beach!) survives.
Really sad to see, since they are so cute at first and so impressive afterwards - a 2,5 meter turtle, you wont believe your eyes if you see one, trust me!!

Taking the rental car back to St Lucia, we decided to make the next stop towards the inner country, away from the coast. In Eshowe, a traditional Zulu-town (all the travelling so far has taken place in Zululand, which is a certain tribe here in Afrika still functioning under the old regime of King Shaka who had 121 wives....Here it is normal to have 3-5 wives, but you have to pay 11 cows to the family of each wife. 11 cows is A LOT of money over here, so you gotta be rich if you want to have the women, just like back home ;-) The Zulus are the ones who do the klik-klak sound when they speak, you know!?)

We stayed there at a beautiful backpackers and I decided to take part in a tour which was called "Zulu healing ceremony".
Unfortunately, I am not aloud to upload the video I made of this event on this computer but PLEASE remind me since it will be something you most probably have never seen before. I, for sure, never saw anything like this in my life before!!

We had to take a 30-minute car ride far out into the moutains where the Sangoma (the woman with the healing spirits) lives. There are just 3 huts made out of mud and sticks and you hear singing and clapping when you get out of the car. When entering the hut, you are FOR SURE, the only white person within the next 150 km and the chance that they never saw white skin before is very high. You bow your head, get on your knees and rob through the hut until you found a place to sit between all the others who came (walked!!!!) there. Mostly grandma's, mothers with their babies and young teenage girls. But also a couple of men were there.
For a long time, they sing together, calling the spirits, praising the Sangoma. The Sangoma looks like....do you remember the monkey of 'the lion king'?! The one who showed Simba the way back to the holy land?! With the stick and all the jewellery, the noises and screaming?! Thats a Sangoma!!! Thats exactly what she looks like and how she acts.
The singing gets louder and stronger and we have to get on our knees again to leave the hut in order to get our feet washed by a lady, outside the hut. Back on your knees (it REALLY hurts by now!!!!) into the hut and thats where the fun part starts - ALCOHOL! Just like we like it, they praise the spirits with lots and lots of alcohol which is first spilled in front of the "altar" so that the spirits are served first and is then passed through the crowd, drinking is a MUST, refusing not an option.

Fortunately, I was always the first one to be served.... ;-)

Also, they use the water that every single person within this hut washed their feet in as a sort of healing water - everyone drinks it (!!!!!) and they take it home to wash themselves with it etc. Lucky me, I was not offered to try it...I dont think I could have done it.

Right afterwards, the spirits take their part of the Sangoma and she starts screaming and moves her body uncontrolably. Several women within the crowd experience the same thing and it does get quite scary with all the loud singing, screaming, uncontrolled movements and alcohol....After a while it gets really quiet and every single person can go up to the Sangoma and ask for good luck, success, a good harvest, a new job, health or whatever else you could think of.
Unfortunately, I could not go since a Sangoma only speaks Zulu, of course.

Well, it was just an experience which is almost impossible to describe. So much power and strong believe in one little hut...It was an honour to be part of this, definitely.

Yes, that is more or less what has happened the last days.
Funny, when I started writing I didnt really know yet what to write about but it seems like there is always more happening then I am aware of ;-)

For the last week we have been hanging out in Ballito, a little coastal surfers-town right before Durban. 300 metres away from the ocean, very tropical, lovely hostel...all great. After the first very exciting weeks, I definitely needed some resting and chilling-time in order to keep enjoying it.
But I am definitely still enjoying it, everyday.

I hope back home is everyone doing ok?!
Would love to hear your stories as well!!
They might seem boring to you compared to mine, but letting me know the ordinary everyday happenings like drowning your kitchen when you try to make some tea or that you just do not get to move enough while you are working and thats why the lights turn off - those stories enterain me right now just as much as my stories might enterain you.
Because your life is just as far away for me as mine is to you at the moment!

Kisses from raining South Afrika!

Lena

Hello Everybody!

Back from Swaziland!! It was amazing!! Pure nature, no fences, no internet, no telephone connection - almost scary but VERY relaxing!

In Swaziland we stayed in a hostel which is located in the middle of a wildlife park. Nothing was fenced-in and we could walk around whenever and wherever we wanted to. GREAT.
However, the animals had the same right of course, therefore it just might happen that you will not take the quickest way to the bathroom if a big Pumba with his 3 little babies is waiting just around the corner from your hut...

Or we had to take a little extra walk to get to breakfast since an Ostrich (Strauss!) was blocking the door to the main building and did not intend to make some space for us - unfortunately I did not have my camera with me that morning. But it was amazing - they are not scared at all but will protect themselves if you come to close. Real nature!
The second day we took a strol through the park and guess who I met???

MARTY!!! With his new girlfriend ;-)

Not far from there was Gloria with her family...

Also many many crocodiles were in that lake and there was not more than a sign which said: no swimming!
Incredible!

After leaving Swaziland and heading towards the coast (finally ocean!!!) we made a little stop in Hluhluwe (try to pronounce that!!!) which is a little tiny village right next to a wildlife park. In this park you cant walk around on you own, have to take a car cause they have lions, cheetahs etc there. So too dangerous...
I however met this little fellow:

Should we name him Gloria's cousin, maybe??

AND, for me personally VERY exciting (and I know at least two of you people who would have gotten REALLY excited as well!!)

MELMAAAAAAAN!!!!!
Nobody here understands why I would get excited about seeing a Giraffe but...its Melman!!

Well, that was my exciting little animal action for now!
Really cool to get so close to the animals!

Now we are for the first time hanging out on the beach - here a little impression:

Its paradise, I am telling you! We are on the beach completely by ourselves, no other people. Absolutely fantastic!!

Oh, and one more picture -

Thats my new little friend Thembie! She was the sweetest girl, living at a hostel that we stayed at. I taught her how to swim and a bit of writing..beautiful smart little girl!!

As you can tell, I am doing fabulous!!! Everything is great - besides the weather! We have had rain for almost a week now!!! Hello????!!! What is that all about?? Is that what they meant with "raining season"??? NOT FUNNY!!!! Thats not what i paid for!!!!
It is however very nice that I am in country where it rains the whole day and we still go swimming in the ocean cause its warm enough for that....hahahahaha!!

Well, gotta go take a swim!

Kisses from the coast!!!

Hi Everybody!

Its me again ;-)

This is what has been happening the last week:

After a nice New Years Party with the Locals (South Africans Party Hardy!!!) Sicko and I finally met up to start travelling.
Jo'burg is not really a nice city and on top VERY dangerous to hang around so the plan was to leave asap!
The tour in the Bush didnt work out unfortunately because our guide Luis (who I had been partying with for 3 days) was definitely too wasted to survive such an exhausting trip. So we decided it was saver to go on by ourselves.

However, we were still in the mood for adventures and therefore we decided, against all recommendations NOT to do it, we were gonna visit SOWETO the biggest township in South Afrika.
Its is said to be very dangerous and no tourists should go there, especially not by themselves - however, there is an official backerpackers hostel, so we decided that it cant be thaaaaaat dangerous and took the chance...and it was the best decision!! Finding a home for the night in an absolutely beautiful hostel surrounded by nice people - awesome!!
We were even able to walk around there by ourselves - at least we dared the walk to the restaurant about 5 minutes away at night time and nothing happened. In fact, all the people were really friendly, warm and welcoming. Most of them wanted to touch us or our hair cause they thought we were painted ;-)
The next day we took a 3-hour guided walking tour around the neighbourhood (didnt dare to do that by ourselves since it was also not recommended by the Locals).
It was crazy to see how poor and rich live door on door to each other:
On the one side of the street you have metal shags with 5 people sleeping on one bed, no running water, public shared toilets and RIGHT NEXT TO IT is a beautiful large family house from bricks and stone - unbelievable!!

Unfortunately I cannot upload pictures on this computer otherwise I would let you see what it looks like.

The only thing left to say about Soweto is: If you EVER get the chance to go there, GO!!!
Its wonderful and impressive and the people are beautifully friendly and welcoming. Other than that you will appreciate your own lifestyle MUCH MORE if you saw what is happening over here....

From Soweto we wanted to stay one night back in Jo'burg and then travel further into Swaziland. Swaziland is an own country within South Afrika, with its own king and currency etc.. Its supposed to have impressing nature and lots of animals (I am gonna see Melman, for real!!!!! yeah!!!!!)
Over here, there is a company which is called the Baz Bus. Its a bus which takes you all along the coast, from one hostel to another to every little village. So also to Swaziland. However, it is more expensive than public transport and of course not as adventureous since only white tourists are using this method of transport.
Thats why we decided to try to get there ourselves by using public transport.

Well...what can I say?????

3 days later and we are still stuck in Joburg!!!
We have spent so much time in Taxis and the Central Station of Jo'burg that people already start greeting us in certain restaurants there...Which was good since Central Station is known to be the most dangerous area for tourists to hang out - of course with all your luggage you are an easy target to rob!

Unfortunately we had to find out today, that there is no bus or train going to Swaziland at all - at least not a safe one.
We were just about to get on bus with only Locals (we are talking about a bus tour of about 6 hours) for a really cheap price but when we saw the bus coming, we changed our mind and decided to be "tourists" and take the baz bus!!! You cant even imagine what kind of "buses" they use to transport people for 6 hours through the country....Have you ever been to Mexico and sat with 25 people in a bus for 8 people not counting any kind of animals like chicken, dogs or alike?!?!?! (does it ring a bell, hanna!?!?!?!hahahaha) Then you know what we would have gotten ourselves into. And since the mini buses are known to have a lot of accidents anyhow, we skipped out on that one.
So NO WORRIES we are all save and sound over here!

For the 3th time now we checked back into an Jo'burg hostel from the Central Station and now it is enough!!! We are taking the damn baz bus to Swaziland first thing in the morning - and Swaziland better be F$%*ING great!!! Otherwise I freak out over there - for all the trouble we went through the last days ;-)

Other than that not much has been happening so far - constantly trying to be safe and watch out, thats the most important lesson I learned!

Well, I think that is it for today...Gonna go sit in the sun and enjoy a beautiful cold beer!! (The local beer is very tasty, by the way ;-) ))

Ok, gotta go now!!

Kisssseeeeeeesssssss from Jo'burg (for the last time hopefully!!!)

I cant even explain all the things to you which have been happening the last three days!!

The first day (which started VERY boring) ended more exciting then ever expected:

Meeting Jed from Israel/Holland/China/Thailand and many other countries, Luis from Argentina but already 13 years in Afrika as well as Richard and Graham from good old England was an experience in itself!!!
With this group we went out to dinner in China town and had the greatest time!
Enjoying real chinese food in the middle of South Afrika, being tought that everyones soul is to be found in his or her nipple and getting involved into serious future business opportunities (Graham, did you sign yet??) are only little outlines of this evening...CRAZY, but FUN!!

The second day started as crazy as the night ended: Luis and I decided to visit the Mall in the city which seems to be quite famous. Well, as most of you know I am not the typical shopping-kind-of-girl therefore we actually didnt know what to do once we got there...hmmm...what do we do if we dont know what to do??? START DRINKING! No worries that it is only 10:30 in the morning, african alcohol specialties may be enjoyed any time of the day, I learned.
Creating a great base for the night, we partied into the New Year in our hostel and had a great night.

Right here: HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU!!!!
Sorry that I couldnt contact you via sms or call, but its a bit difficult from here ;-) But be sure that I thought about you!!!

The following day (I was the boring one who went to bed at about 5 in the morning, anyone else was STILL awake when I got downstairs at 11!) we kind of got in a fight with the manager of the place cause a lot of things had "disappeared" over the last days and when we noticed, that our beer was gone out of the fridge, we drew a line and checked out! (We can laugh about knives, telephone-chargers and diaries which are gone, but if you steel our alcohol it has to stop!!!! hahahahahaha) Fortunately, Luis and I met some great great Locals at the party and they offered to stay tonight at their place.
So we packed up our things and left the place.
Arriving at the house of Marna its absolutely unbelievable - its heaven!!! She has a build herself heaven into the city of Jo'burg!! I am enjoying every minute I got here!

Tomorrow we will leave Jo'burg and start travelling the counrty. Luis offered to take us to the real "bush" before we hit the coast, which I found a VERY exciting idea!!!

I will let you know how the stories continues...

Xxx