Day 30 - Richards Bay (Day 2)

 

Date:  Feb 7, 2007

 

Location: Richards Bay, South Africa 

 

Next Port:  Maputo, Mozambique, Feb. 8

 

Quick Summary:  Today, Karen and Larry took separate ship’s tours. Karen visited Shakaland, a Zulu village overlooking Umhlatuze Lake. Larry took a 3+ hour game drive at the Hluhluwe Umfolozi Reserve.

 

Shakaland Report:  The school teacher in Karen decided to learn more about the culture and traditions of the Zulu people, indigenous to this region.  What a treat it was!  The beautiful drive to Shakaland included lush scenery in the foreground of picturesque mountains, rivers, aloe and mimosa trees, and orange groves. The ride lasted about an hour.  Our bus tour guide was a young Zulu who shared some of his life and culture living in the modern city of Durbin, about two hours from Richard’s Bay.  He was quite articulate and informative.  At the village, we were greeted by our Shakaland guide dressed in native dress. We viewed a short video about Shaka Zulu, the king who sought to unify the tribes of the area. We were also presented the essence of Africa through lectures, presentations and ceremonies that included tribal dancing, beer-making, spear-making, hut building, pottery-making, weaving and bead jewelry making. We also learned about their traditional dress, social culture, courtship etiquette and the communication with the spiritual world.  It was quite an experience.  We were then treated to a delicious traditional Zulu lunch at the nearby Protea Hotel Shakaland Restaurant.  It was a wonderfully enriching experience, and one that helped give a better perspective of this land.

 

Hluhluwe Umfolozi Reserve Report: It took us 1-1/4 hours to reach the reserve, the oldest and largest game park in South Africa. Founded in 1895, it’s the second oldest national park in the world; only Yellowstone is older. The park covers 237,000 acres and is actually three separate, linked reserves. It is a particularly scenic area of lush rolling hills, valleys, rivers and watering holes. We had a grand day for our drive – blue skies, puffy clouds and cool breezes in our open, but covered, Toyota land rovers. Built to hold 10 passengers, most only had 6.

 

The park is famous for its wide variety of bird and animal life and is the only one in this area where one has the chance to view the Big 5 of game animals: Leopard, Rhino, Water Buffalo, Elephant and Lion.

 

Larry only got to see three of the Big 5 – others saw 4 – but it still was a very successful day.

 

He saw impala, wart hog, Natal water buffalo, wildebeest, buck, baboons, dung beetles (!), crocodile, rhinos (at a distance), many different birds, giraffe and elephants. To Larry, the giraffe and elephants were the most interesting. The elephants were in three different groups…eating trees and moving through the brush at very close distances to the vehicle.

 

Follow-On Report: We enjoyed a late lunch and then an on-deck ice cream social just before the 4 pm sail-away. While watching our departure in the Observation Lounge before dinner, it was good to catch up with some of our new friends who left the ship in Cape Town for two nights to go on safaris at various South African game camps. All seemed to have had a fun and very luxurious experience. And they saw lots of wild game, too!

 

We had dinner in Compass Rose with Eddie and Phyllis from Marcos Island. They invited us to join them with Jenny and Alan from England and Helga and Siegfried from New York, folks we had not met before.

 

After dinner, we enjoyed Amy Baker in a concert of music made famous by Julie Andrews.

 

All in all, Richards Bay was another great stop and an excellent continuation of our African experience.

 

Karen and Larry

 

 

Photos of our cruise are available at the following web site:

 

picasaweb.google.com/larryworldcruise

 

Two albums of our second day in Richards Bay (including the visit to Shakaland and the animal drive) have been added.