Sani Pass hotel to Hluhluwe

We woke to another beautiful cloudless day at the Sani Pass Hotel but with a long day ahead of us we were on the move by 8am. The journey to Durban was through lush dairying country with large farms the norm. The scenery through the South Drakensberg Mountsins was spectacular with tall grassy slopes giving way to quite deep broad valleys. After about 50 kms he extensive farms gave way to more intensive settlement and the poorer houses appeared. This appeared to be when the fertile red earths of basalt origin gave way to poorer soils. The round huts or Rondavel are very common throughout this province of Kwazulu-Natal. What has really impressed is the huge area planted out to pine and eucalyptus species. The eucalypts are often planted around 3 metres apart in both directions and are stripped of their lower branches, leaving a small crown of leaves. They grow straight and when about 180-200 mms in diameter they are harvested for timber. Many are also grown for wood pulp.

Durban is different to all the other cities that we have encountered and more similar to Australian cities in that there is a variety of architectural styles from old to new and considerable gentrification around the port area. It had a multicultural flavour with many religions being represented by large places of worship. We had lunch at a mall loosely styled along Zulu culture called uShaka.

We headed north along the coastal route and rejoined the N2 for our last 200 kms to Hluhluwe. At this point I should explain this is pronounced "shloo shloo we". The planted forests occupied much of this leg but it was interspersed with sugar cane, much of which is currently being fired and harvested. We did stop at a market close to our destination and the smell of fresh pineapples was really intoxicating. The photos will show it all.

The Protea Hotel here in Hluhluwe is an adequate base for the coming safari activities. There was a Zulu dance exhibition tonight with some frenetic gyrations of bodies and then an invitation to join in. Tour leader Dorothy took to the floor in style but the high kicks were a challenge.