I'm a Terrible Blogger

 I'm a terrible blogger. I already knew that I'm terrible at journal writing but I thought the pressure of publishing for other people would make me better. It hasn't. I left Madagascar 12 days ago and still haven't completed my "Reflections on Madagascar" entry. What I have written is painfully boring. I can't even claim lack of internet since I've had excellent access in S. Africa and Mozambique (by Mada standards). So, I apologize for being a terrible blogger... but I'm having a fantastic time!

I arrived in Durban, S.Africa November 1st. It is now November 11th. I was a world traveler wearing dirty clothes for Halloween, by the way. It was culture shock for me arriving at the Durban airport, all bright lights/big city/flushing toilets and the like. I had to control my immediate urge to buy all the clean, cold, sterilely packaged food stuffs surrounding me. I hadn’t been missing Pringles but availability makes the heart grow fonder, you know.  It was a strange feeling to drive on a proper freeway with lines, lights and signs and without goats, zebu carts and potholes. People still walk along the road (yes, the freeway), though not nearly as many. I felt a little sad to return to “civilization” but a little excited too… internet!!!
We spent the next day getting our Mozambique Visa and exploring the beach area of Durban. My $7 lunch potato adjusted my wallet economy.  I was used to getting more food than I could eat for about $2. To be fair, we did have an ocean view (and a clean table cloth, and pretty dishes and clean drinking water and…). 
The next day I had the great honor to meet Jes Foord and volunteer for her foundation. She’s the girl next door, except that one morning she was out walking the dog with her dad and was raped by 5 men.  In the two years following, Jes has organized the cooperation of hospitals, police, counselors and volunteers to provide compassionate care for rape victims in the Durban area. She is 25 now and has already accomplished truly amazing things.  Please check out her website: www.jff.org.za

 I am traveling with my friend Lisa and her friend Pamela in Lisa’s truck Benny. Only 2 of us fit up front so one of us lays on the mattress in the camper/truck bed while en route. From Durban we headed north to St. Lucia for our first night (where Pamela discovered that she had already lost her wallet with all of her money and credit/ATM cards). Most of the next day (8 wonderful hours) was spent driving through the Umfolozi/Hluhluwe National Park on our way to Sodwana Bay. You are allowed to “self-drive” through these joined parks where the animals roam freely!  It was AWESOME! We saw white rhinos, giraffe, zebra, impala, elephants, buffalo, wildebeest, kudu, warthogs and some cool birds.

Sodwana Bay had a nice beach but unfortunately our attempts at snorkeling were foiled by... well, it just wasn't a good place to snorkel- surgey and shallow. I had hoped to dive but was congested from a cold I picked up on the flight to Durban. I particularly liked the thieving vervet monkies and packs of mongoose at our campsite.   By campsite, I mean our tent #5 in a row of 10 tents between two other rows of 10 tents. Oh yeah, and they had a big satellite TV where I learned that Obama is still my president. Yay!  Next up was Swaziland and our enormous 2 bedroom bungalow with kitchen, living room and loft inside the Hlane Royal National Park. Just outside of our palace was a watering hole where rhinos, hippos and warthogs were drinking and wallowing upon our arrival (the park office and bungalow area is surrounded by 2 strands of barbed wire for our protection- from 2 ton animals that can run 40 km/h. mmhmmm  Due to rain, we couldn’t self-drive in that park which is probably a good thing. Lisa and I did a guided sunset drive with “just do me” and at one point we were aggressively told to BACK OFF by a bull elephant protecting his females and offspring. Ndome (his actual name) found us a lion and 3 lionesses before the end of our drive. 

The next day we had a less than smooth border crossing into Mozambique. Portuguese is the official language and English isn’t so common, it turns out.  The stern lady at the counter took our passports, frowned and shook her head. No amount of hand gesturing or explaining slowly or in different tones or cadence could make her understand that the lovely gentleman at the Mozambique consulate in Durban had misdated 2 of our 3 visas.  Mine expires 1/1/13, theirs expire 1/1/12, 10 months before they were issued. At least I won’t be going to jail! Anyway, we worked it out and stumbled our way through the rest of the hoops into Mozambique. We spent a night in Maputo, the capital city, at Hotel Santa Cruz. It didn’t feel safe or all that friendly until I spent some time with the desk staff practicing some Portuguese phrases and pronunciation. Like in any country, they love it if you TRY. I get some good laughs when I accidentally garble French with Spanish to make Portuguese. Ugh. None of us really enjoy a big city and we all have these visions of snorkeling from sandy beaches so we left early for Tofo, by way of Inhambane (a nice enough town where residents party to bumping music til dawn). Tofo is lovely. Specifically, we found excellent accommodation with a kitchen right on the beach, next door to the dive shop, great food and wifi.

There are too many waves and jellyfish in the water for me to want to go swimming most of the time but the sand is really nice for walking and the weather is gorgeous. We have stayed 3 nights so far and are scheduled to leave tomorrow for Vilanculo. I have been on 3 deep dives and 1 shallow. I had a great encounter with a giant manta ray today, then saw 8 devil rays “flying” in formation. I have not yet seen a whale shark, which is why people come here. Which is why WE came here. There have been 2 separate sightings of one whale shark in the time we’ve been here. I have one more chance tomorrow morning...