some extensive coverage of december

About two weeks ago, on December 7th, Alexander and I boarded our flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg. Our last days in Cape Town were spent visiting various favorite spots and enjoying sunsets. Breakfast at Olympia Café, lunch at Empire. A day in the Winelands. Sunsets on Blouberg, Signal Hill and Camps Bay.

A combination of excitedness and nervousness overshadowed the fact that I was leaving away a place that I grew happy with and that began to feel like home. It still feels unreal and I try not to dwell on it.

So we left Cape Town on the 7th. My parents met us at the airport and we arrived in Hoedspruit much later that night. It was a long day and emotionally exhausting.

I showed Alexander around the town, which was a bit depressing. It has changed so much in 20 years and is still ugly. It is a pity, because the area is so incredibly beautiful. We got to see wild dogs, wild cats and cheetahs at the cheetah project though.

Alexander befriended my mom’s strange cousin when he discovered the cousin wants Hillary Clinton to be the next US president and is a huge fan of 7de Laan.

The next day we went with my family to Modjadji where the Rain Queen resides and where an ancient Cycad forest is. It was my third visit and I am still astounded by the sheer size of the cycads and what a beautiful place it is.

Sunday night we spent in an 80-year old farmhouse in White River. I missed out on a tree in the garden being hit by lightning when I went inside for a minute.

The next day we caught our bus from Nelspruit to Maputo.

We fell in love shortly after arriving. Over the past couple of weeks I was told what an unpleasant dump Maputo is. I was not sure what to expect, but I got the impression that I might enjoy it somewhat. The reality far exceeded my expectations. I think I fell in love with the city.

It is a charming old capital that was unlike any other city on the continent that I have been to so far. Massive flamboyant trees line the avenues and streets. People are friendly. Pastry shops sell sweet breads and good coffee. The architecture is varied and impressive. The food was super.

My highlights were the architecture, the Museum Of Natural History (an impressive piece- describing this old museum would not do it justice), the old train station and the tacky but fun restaurants we dined at.

I’m hoping that we can return to Maputo and see more of this city and the rest of the country.

Unfortunately we both suffered some heat/sunstroke on our last day on the island of Cathembe, so we did not get to go to the fish market for dinner and a rather restless night.

Thursday the fourteenth we took our early bus back to Nelspruit. We were stuck at the border for more than three hours. Ugh! We picked up the car in White River again and after a quick stop for coffee and some groceries in Nelspruit we head towards Swaziland. We arrived just before the border closed and arrived at our first destination just as the gate attendants were about to leave. Phew!

Our site at Mlawule was spectacular. Tented accommodation with an outside bathing area overlooking a river, bushes and sugarcane farms. We took a bath in a sink tub with water heated through an archaic paraffin ‘donkey’. It was by far the most romantic and beautiful bath that I’ve ever taken. I wish we could have stayed for much longer. We got to see some game, including what we suspect might have been a rare red duiker and loads of dung beetles working away. A young monitor lizard hung out in our bathing area.

The next day, after waking up at 4:30 and going for a game drive, we headed towards Mkhaya via the Hlane National Park.

Mkhaya was another spectacular experience. The campsite is set besides a dry river bed, the no-walls rooms underneath a natural forest of awesome trees. We were greeted at our lodgings by an nyala bull and later saw an owl swooping low over our footpath. Another place where I could have stayed for days.

At Mkhaya we saw loads of endangered wildlife including a black rhino cow and her baby. I saw more sable antelope than I’ve probably seen in my whole life. We were woken up at some point in the night by the call of hyena somewhere close.

Our last night in Swaziland was spent at Mlilwane in the company of my folks. We went for an evening walk to the dam/lake by the restaurant to see hundreds of birds getting ready to bed down in two large trees on the bank. Maybe I will become a bird watcher.

We left for Johannesburg the next morning. Stayed at a sweet guesthouse in Melville and over indulged at a mainly Vietnamese restaurant.

After a bizarre goodbye to Alexander I spent Monday night at home with Lorette in Roodepoort and realized that families are all pretty much the same. And an outsider will probably think you have the ideal family set-up while all you want is to get away from them.

And now I am tired of writing.