So after the not so great start to my journey, the flight to SA wasn't too bad and I managed to sleep most of the way. As we got nearer to landing & I realised there wasn't much chance of getting my internal flight, I heard the couple next to me discussing the same thing, turns out they were booked on the same flight to Durban! So we decided to form a little gang of chancers and do our best to disembark, go through passport control, collect luggage and get to the next terminal in about 35 minutes. As you can imagine, that didn't quite happen. I got my bags first and since the couple had the option of hiring a car they said I should just go and try my luck with sorting out another flight as there were a lot of people in our situation and it might be first-come first- served.
After a slight detour around Jo'berg airport I eventually found the Kulula Airlines desk and managed to get booked on another flight. Every one of the other people at the desk or in the queue were from my Air France flight trying to do the same thing, and when I saw my new couple friend at the desk, turns out I had gotten the last seat on the next flight to Durban! I felt bad, but not that bad, I needed a change of fortune by this point! Managed to get this flight to Durbs no problem, but couldn't really understand why they said it was full as it was actually half empty?! Had a nice chat with the businessman next to me who was married to an English woman and they live in Ireland with their two kids but he works in Durban ten months of the year for a charity! I think that is probably the kind of marriage my sister would do well at (Matt, are you listening??) All the African people were as lovely and smiley and friendly as ever, though the man at passport control did tell me off for coming to visit friends and not bringing any presents!!
Durban
My first time in Durban since we visited when I was a kid about 20 million years ago, I wasn't too sure what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised. It was very hot and humid as expected, but very green and lush and clean (thanks to the World Cup there have been some big improvements all through SA). My driver who picked me up at the airport was a lovely local man who enjoyed talking and said it was safe for me to walk around near my hotel in the daytime. Since I was right opposite the beach, this was quite handy, as it was only 4pm and I didn't want to sit in my hotel room for the next 15 hours! So I had a nice swim on the rooftop pool, had a stroll along the promenade (I'm sure I heard a tannoy announcement when on the beach saying to get out of the water as there were too many sharks!) and then had a lovely dinner in the hotel restaurant with a very strong G&T and then to bed!
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| View from my Durban hotel room |
One of the other new arrivals was already there, Miranda, a Dutch woman who had volunteered on several projects before and at least seemed to have some idea what to expect. Last but never least was Tom, the US high-flying businessman who is one of the nicest, funniest most genuine guys I have ever met (calm down everyone, he has been happily married for 22 years!)
So off we go, all happily chatting along, secretly very pleased that mine is not the largest or heaviest suitcase (phew, didn't want to be The One With The Most Luggage!)
With Amanda driving the battered old Quantum we made the 3 hour journey to Thanda in record time, including an ice cream stop along the way. As we pulled off the tarmacked road onto the first dirt road (oh that lovely taste of red African soil catching in the back of your throat!) we soon saw a couple of giraffe hanging out in the road, as well as some wildebeest, impala & warthogs. Yay, good start!
First night at Thanda
Thanda Game Reserve is a luxury 5 star lodge that costs an arm and a leg just for a G&T; of course, we weren't staying there, we were at Intibane, the training camp.
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| Thanda Main Lodge |
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| Thanda Main Lodge |
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| My cabin |
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| My bathroom |
Intibane is a collection of about 30 thatched A-frame cabins, grouped around a communal area which housed nice big chairs (they were deceiving though, as nearly all were broken so you sat down at your peril!), our eating area, the office where we would do our data entry, and the swimming pool (home to a recent frog orgy after a massive rainstorm). We were the only people there as it was a Sunday and weekends are free time where you can go out on day trips, so all the other vols (as the volunteers are called) were off on various day trips, some to a Sangoma (SA witch doctor type thing) and some to Ghost Mountain Inn, a posh hotel nearby with the ultimate luxuries - running water and internet! So we had a bit of time to settle in to our cabins, I was very lucky that I had one all to myself as everyone else was sharing, which I was very appreciative of given the bathroom situation (as you can see from the pic of my cabin above, the bathroom 'walls' don't actually reach to the ceiling).
The others vols soon arrived back and there followed a rather overwhelming first night trying to remember everyone's name, work out exactly what was on my plate for dinner (bone stew, yum) and who's advice to follow on the debate about wearing closed shoes at night (keeps out the bugs) or open ones (its just so very hot), and ending with my first walk alone back to my cabin at night with just my torch (aka flashlight for the US friends!) intently searching the beam across the dirt path checking for bugs, rocks, snakes, scorpions and lions! (and yes, that did actually happen once, 2 girls came across a lion on their way back to their cabin one night! not during my time thankfully, that 2 foot high electric fence must be working!)
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