road. Yes life in the tent is fantastic. But sometimes to go to some places
you have no choice. You have to slum it in a lodge here and there. What else
can you do!
Sobhengu is a place that we had heard of, and seen pictures of, and quite
fancied a visit to. There has been a problem though. The lodge is situated
on Lake St Lucia but not in an easy to access place. To get to it according
to the details you had to park up and catch a ferry across the lake. All
fine and well for most people except us awkward ones with their whole house
on wheels! So we have never bothered. Recently though due to the ever
diminishing water levels in the lake it is no longer possible to run the
ferry so all visitors have to drive there. A road, why wasn't this mentioned
before? Anyway, to cut a long story short you can take the not so short
drive to get to the place via the town of Hluhluwe (S28.01711 E32.27088) on
the R22 and then after 26km or so take a right turn and head off on a dirt
track for the next 24km. Unfortunately we happened to be on the dirt road at
school out time and had seemingly endless numbers of young children to
contend with for most of the journey so progress was slow. Some were pleased
to see us and wave and smile, others more bemused and angry for not getting
anything out of us. Eventually we arrived at the gates to the lodge. The
main accommodation is the Nibela Lodge, the luxury hotel. We were staying in
the self catering sister lodge Sobhengu (S27.98733 E32.42920). After
negotiating the long bumpy narrow track to get to the reception parking
there was a short walk past the Nibela rooms along a raised boardwalk to get
to the reception itself. All very nice. Having checked in it was back to
Mufasa and then off into what seemed the middle of nowhere to get around to
the Sobhengu units. As it happens we drove quite a way but on foot back to
reception it was just a few minutes on another raised boardwalk. Well the
units are very nice indeed, wood built and thatched. Thankfully with a
parking spot right at the unit we have been able to gradually migrate most
of Mufasa's contents into the unit. Our single bedroom unit with a double
bed but also there are two singles tucked away up in the loft room. Lovely
high ceilings with open thatch. From the deck there is a lovely view out to
the lake, partly obscured by the edge of the forest. Our new home for a
week, sigh.
Life in the unit is tough. Early rise after the sun has come up. Tea out on
the deck. Perhaps a stroll along to the swimming pool up at Nibela late
morning. Lunch back on the deck with perhaps a cold beer to wash it down.
Lazy afternoon. Then dinner, perhaps a movie on TV and bed. Most of the time
spent just reading and attempting to identify the birds in the trees.
Attempting definitely being the word as most of the time they are heard and
not seen.
For the more lively visitors there are a few walks to do around the forest,
and some other local activities like quad biking. To be honest we didn't
fancy too much activity as it was damn warm up in the mid thirties all week
with high humidity, and unless you were on the edge of the forest in the
nice breeze on most days a walk would have been very a warm business indeed.
Up on our deck it was not too bad when the breeze flowed over us. We did
however have a nice walk out on the lake. As the water level is quite low
the high water line does not reach to the edge of the forest where we were
anymore. The 'beach' was pretty firm and littered with all sorts including
the high and dry old ferry. All along the new high water line was a fish
graveyard. Mostly just fish heads but there were a few almost complete
skeletons. What sort of fish I could not say, but probably about 20-25cm in
length. There were other spots where some beetles seemed to have a
graveyard, and also another area for locusts. All very strange.
As for wildlife in the unit. One morning whilst sitting comfy on the sofa I
must have had a gecko high up in the thatch above me as it did a poo every
now and then. Mosquitoes a plenty. Step out on the path in the forest
without any repellent on and you would be visited. Monkeys around a lot of
the time, most curious of me when I was braaing. Oh and not forgetting the
stink bug that fell down the back of my shirt one day and into my shorts.
Yep, they named them spot on!! Took several scrubs to get the stink of my
hands. We did offer a service to the local geckos though. The unit had
picture windows along one side and at the front and when the table lamp was
on in the evening one of the windows got covered with mosquitoes. The gecko
just sat and had his fill. Within the bounds of the lodges there are also
several different types of buck. Four of the Zebra came to check on us when
we were down on the 'beach', and I caught the odd glimpse of a duiker or two
in amongst the forest.
All in all a very pleasant week was had in our little world at Sobhengu, a
shame to have to move on, but a place that will stay on the 'must return to
someday' list. We recommend the place highly. And now, yep, back to life on
the road. Time for a safari park or two I think.
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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