around is all about isn't it? However, before leaving Durban behind we had
to take a drive past the new football stadium that has been built for the
World Cup. Wow, pretty impressive! It certainly dominates the skyline and
lets hope that all the money spent proves to be worthwhile even if some
think it may not. Many people are you could say not exactly whooping it up
over the coming World Cup and the money that has been 'invested' in it. They
feel, and probably quite rightly, that millions if not billions has been
spent on the new football infrastructure where the money could have provided
homes, sanitation, electricity, and all the other essentials that the masses
were promised when the ANC came to power. Threats of disruption hang over
the football and I guess time will tell whether it is a success for South
Africa as a whole.
Sticking to the M4 to avoid both the hustle and bustle of the busy N2, not
to mention the odd toll gate, we ambled our way north up the coast past
Stanger and ending up at Zinkwazi Village. Our stop for a few nights was the
glamorously titled Zinkwazi Lagoon Lodge (S29.27782 E31.43910) near the
mouth of the Zinkwazi river. Like most of these type of resorts it was a mix
of chalet accommodation and camping. Also like most of these type of resorts
the chalet accommodation seems to get the investment and the camping just
ticks along slowly decaying. The place was almost deserted and only us and
another pitch occupied out of the whole huge campsite. Well that is apart
from all the other residents as we found out. It is I guess you would say a
forest location, trees throughout the whole site, not much sun to gleam
thru, or you could say it was just dull and damp. We got our chairs out, I
had all but touched my bum to the seat and whoosh, a cloud of Mosquitoes
around my ankles. Perfect conditions for them to live and breed. Without a
second thought out came the Tabard repellent and was slapped on exposed
skin. Ah, it seems they like this and were still happy to nestle down for a
quick sip of blood. OK, time for the strong DEET repellent. Yep they don't
like that. Oh and for good measure we lit a mosquito coil to waft around us.
One place where we were mosquito free was down on the beach just a short
stroll away. Not surprising really as it was a tad breezy! On the beach we
witnessed what I can only liken to a Spanish Matador with his red cape and a
snorting sweating beast of a bull waiting to gore him. In this case the
brave Matador is played by a tall strong African. The cape is a red flag
held above his head to indicate to the beast where to strike. And the
snorting beast a small but powerful twin hulled fishing boat out to sea. The
intention being to beach the boat and drag it up the sand. Now the poor chap
with the flag really should take up bull fighting, I think it would increase
his odds of making it to old age. He stands, flag aloft, whilst the beast
circles out to sea looking for its opportunity to launch the attack. With
the right waves in place it is full throttle, bouncing towards the beach and
the brave flag holder. Now you can imagine that these boats don't come in
plumb straight especially on a choppy breaking sea, and he has just a split
second to move out of the path of the boat as it thuds into the sand. Rather
him than me!
Back at the site there was a swimming pool which although old seemed clean
and was most certainly refreshing, and we were most grateful for the covered
shelter offered by the 'games' area when the rain decided to introduce
itself. We spent two nights at Zinkwazi, and two was plenty. It was not the
cheapest place we have stayed and although the campsite was OK and quiet we
were happy to be moving on, well if nothing else to escape from the mosquito
pit! We did a quick lap of the 'village' to see what there was to see and
then made our way back to the main road.
We returned to ambling along the R102 alternative route to the N2 and
eventually arrived at our new home further up the coast at Mtunzini and the
Umlalazi Nature Reserve (S28.95815 E31.76800) a KZN Wildlife reserve.
Cheaper than our previous location this seemed like a good place to spend
another couple of nights. We set down in one of the two huge campsites, and
chose an open sunny pitch with a few scattered trees for shade. Being open
it seemed almost mosquito free, but instead quite ant infested instead, well
you can't have your cake and eat it. Thankfully though the ants although
hell bent on exploring both us and Mufasa they did not bite unlike the nasty
beast we encountered at Kilwa Masoko in Tanzania!! The reserve is home to a
few larger animals too that scamper around. The small Grey Duiker (red in
colour) and a few beautiful Zebra.
Once again there was easy access to the fantastic long sandy beach that
stretches as far as you can see in both directions. A great place to take a
stroll and paddle. Again being mid week the site and the beach were neigh on
deserted, can't complain about that. The reserve is not huge but is fairly
big. It contains forest, mangrove swamps and also access to the Mlalazi
river. Apart from the odd comings and goings of people heading into the
reserve to access the beach it was nice and quiet. The only issue with the
place was the ablutions. As to be expected they were old but seemed to be in
working order, well until I hit the showers that is. The 1st barely managed
a trickle of hot and cold water. The 2nd blasted out hot water but there was
no cold to join it. The 3rd had both working hot and hold but didn't drain.
Thankfully the 4th managed water and drainage. One out of four not bad! The
crazy thing is the cleaners seem to spend ages cleaning the showers and
disinfecting them, shame none of them can manage a bit of basic plumbing!
Overall I would say that Umlalazi turned out to be a good stop, and perhaps
one place we would revisit, except of course for the deficiencies in the
shower department!
As for time to get back to a camping lifestyle, we had had four nights on
the road so we needed a wee break and some feet up time! So off it was to
our next point of call, the luxury of Sobhengu Lodge on Lake St Lucia.
Internal Virus Database is out of date.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 8.5.435 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2702 - Release Date: 02/21/10
19:34:00
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