30th May Hluhluwe Umfolozi National Park
My only intention to go to St. Lucia was to see the Hluhluwe Umfolozi National Park. Many fellow travellers had told me that it was much better then Krueger NP and since I was short in time I decided to skip Krueger NP. Hluhluwe Umfolozi is a Malaria area, just like the Krueger NP, but since it was Winter in South Africa there were no Mosquitoes and the risk of getting an infection was pretty low. And as we speak - I wasn't bitten once during the entire three weeks in South Africa.

To get to Hluhluwe Umfolozi was an arctic nightmare, not only getting up at 3:30 am in the morning, but also sitting on an open truck and fully exposed to the wind with just a thin blanket to protect you, was a real pain in the a**. The freezing morning aside, the day in the park was breathtaking, with lots of elephants, water buffaloes, giraffes, antelopes, warthog, well, pretty much everything South Africa has to offer expect lions and leopards, which didn't show up at all expect on postcards.

31th May, Sanddunes and Crokodiles
What is a crazy bunch of people doing on a wonderful morning on the beach? Watching dolphins pass by, go snorkelling and catch crayfish, hell yeah. And - as I would call it, downhill-sanddune-running! It was on our way back to the hostel, when someone suggested that we should climb up the dunes and run down again. The dunes where quite high, maybe 60 to 80 meters and very steep. It took about 10 minutes to climb up and then you would just let go and start running downhill. Fortunately no bones were broken and we had plenty of fun.

In the afternoon we visited a crocodile farm, to see those nasty animals, which where only waiting for some stupid tourists to put an arm or leg within biting distance. There was a very funny and informative tour with a Steve Irwin look and behave alike, who would constantly use "as far as this species concerned, to explain things to the visitors.

1st of June, Ballito Bay
After a final visit at the beach and many "good bye's" it was time to leave St. Lucia, and get on the Baz-Bus for the last time. This time I was heading backwards, to get back to Durban. But I didn't want to stay in Durban and decided to stay at Ballito Bay instead. The hostel was realy small, situated right at the beach and even had its own shipwreck. The view out of my window on the first floor was breathtaking and at night I visited the "Gateway" which is the biggest mall in the southern hemisphere.

2nd June, Flight Cape Town
Alltogether it took me about 29 hours on the bus to get from Cape Town to Durban, not including the trip to St. Lucia. To get back to Cape Town by plane only took me 4 hours, with a short stop-over in Port Elisabeth. For my last days in Cape Town and South Africa I had chosen the "Ashanti Lodge", which advertises itself as the best hostel in Africa. I did not see all the other hostels, but I have to admit that this one was quite good. It is probably also the only hostel in South Africa where you have to enter a pin-code at the main entrance to get inside. The "no drugs on this premises" was nothing more then a joke. When I first walked into the TV-room I saw a guy who was rockin' the ganj, and that's about all I would see him doing for the rest of my stay. He never left the room, slept on the floor, even when I walked into the room at 7 am in the morning he would already be lying on the couch and "puff the magic dragon". That's what I call a flying vacation.

3rd June, Stellenbosch
I love wine, and Stellenbosch is an infamous wine region, so there was no way I was going to miss the opportunity to taste some South African wine. "Groovy Grape Tours" seemed to be the right operator, with such recommendations as "we sang our way back to the hostel" it was deemed to be funny. I ended up tasting around 20 different wine and even had some Champagnes, oop's - I mean Kaapse Vonkel, the South African version of Champaign. By the way, I did not sang my way back to the hostel, but I was indeed very pissed.
Stellenbosch is also home of some great Universities and has a six female to one male student rate. Perfect conditions if you are male, single, and looking for an gorgeous time, of course, that is, only if you are not too drunk.…

4th June, Victoria Waterfront, Lions Head
The Rand had lost more then 20 % of its value compared to the Euro since I arrived, which was very good in case of shopping. So I spent half the day at the Victoria and Albert Waterfront, a shopping mall in the centre of the city.

In the late afternoon I was joined by Liz and Jim, two English travellers who I met on the wine tour the other day, to hike up Lions head. This time I made it up the top and was rewarded with a breath taking few. The only bad thing was a very cold and strong wind which forced us to climb very carefully.

 

5th June, Township-Tour
My last day had finally come, and I wanted to end my trip with something special, so I decided to do a Township tour. The first stop was at the so called District 6, once a flourishing multicultural area, where all cultures and religious, black and white, would peacefully live together. But then came "Apartheid", and all races had to be "divided" and where moved to other areas, like Cape Flats for black and coloured people, 25 kilometres outside of Cape Town. The whole district, expect some churches and mosques was then bulldozed, with new street signs and new buildings, and white people who moved into that area.

But with the end of Apartheid there is a new history written for district 6. The government is allowing and funding former citizens to move back and District 6 is reconstructed, even the old streetnames. We also visited the museum of District 6, which offered lots of pictures and information. The history of District 6 reminded me of the history of the German people called "Sudetendeutsche" who where forced to leave the Czech republic after the second world war.

We then went to the Township, a very impressive place. And surprisingly strong organised. Every "street" has its own council and they decide for example f new people can move in and build a house. Our guide also told us a story about three guys who raped a little girl, the police wouldn't charge them because of little proof, so the local people brought them down to justice in their own way, by punishing them with whiplashes made with long wooden sticks.

Our first stop was a privately funded school. A local woman had taken education in her own hands and organised teaching for more then 600 kids, because government operated schools where to crowded. She showed us around the classes, it was amazing to see 40 to 80 kids in those little rooms. When ever she entered a classroom all of the kids would jump up and scream "Good morning teacher, how are you teacher?!" which was very funny. At the end of our tour, two classes even sang a few songs for us, including the South African anthem and a song about Nelson Mandela.

We also visited a hostel right in the middle of the township run by another woman and a kitchen to feed the kids who would life on the street, also run by a woman. I think the new South Africa is born in the streets of these townships, and it is built by strong woman.

After we finished the tour, my guide dropped me of at the airport where I said "Good bye" to this wonderful and interesting country.

South Africa, you will see me again!