JodockWorldTravel

We have spent the last several days zig-zagging our way along the southern-most coast of the African continent.  The map below shows our route.  We began in Cape Town, traveled north on the Atlantic to Walvis Bay, back south through the Cape of Good Hope to Port Elizabeth, and   then further northeast to Durban, where we find ourselves today. 

Throughout the entire journey the captain has been challenged with rough seas and strong crosswinds that have slowed our progress and tossed us to and fro.  As Aunt Dori has said, “You don’t have to be drunk to walk on this ship, but it might help!”  During one weather report he warned that we should be prepared for a day full of waves twenty or more feet high.  This is Pam’s kind of cruise – she loves breaking things up a bit.  We’re hoping the pictures below give you a sense of the experience.

Cruising conditions have caused us to be late arriving in our last two ports, but today’s delay was totally worth it.  It gave us the opportunity to see a pod of a dozen or more Southern Right Whales playing in the distance just as we were finishing our breakfast.  We were too far for pictures, so Pam is relying on the internet to give you an idea of what we witnessed.

Each year Southern Right Whales migrate from the more frigid waters of Antarctica or other areas to mate and birth their young in the warmer waters around Africa and Australia.  These whales are considered the most social of their species; they love to swim and play along the surface of the water and are often seen interacting with other marine animals, like dolphins and humpback whales.  Females can be up to 49 feet long and weigh in at a whopping 47 tons (94,000 lbs.)  Males average 52 feet in length and on average weigh 60 tons (120,000 lbs.).  This explains why we could see these beauties from a distance and not be able to photograph them for you.  They are so much fun to watch.  What a great start to our day!

We have been looking forward to today’s tour since the day we booked it.  After a greeting at the port from a group of native dancers, we took a short drive to the airport where we would board our helicopters for a flight over the Umgeni River Valley to a mountain-top picnic.

There were three helicopters in our group, two carrying five passengers each and one carrying four.  Denvir was our captain.  He’s been flying for about five years and his “real” job is being a paramedic, so we felt especially safe.

As we flew over the city of Durban we could see its Golden Mile, the name given its beautiful beaches because of the golden color of the sand.  Just beyond the city limits are the shanty communities (“informal housing”), and just beyond that the more traditional homes of the Zulu.

Durban is located in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal.    KwaZulu means “place of the Zulu.” It has been home to the Zulu tribe for as long as anyone knows and during Apartheid, when tribes were forbidden from intermingling with other tribes or with white people this is where the Zulu lived. You may notice there are no formal roads in this area, yet most of the homes have running water and electricity, and the communities are well-established, with their own markets and schools. The round structures are traditional Zulu houses.

We shared our picnic spot with a herd of grazing cattle. We were treated to 360-degree views overlooking the Durban Heights Reservoir while our pilots set up an informal picnic.

The return journey was as beautiful as the outgoing one had been. We passed over the one waterfall on the river, and in the third photo in the group below you can see where the river empties into the Indian Ocean.