adventures in Durban, wildlife in Swaziland.

After leaving the Southern Coast (including a stop at Chintsa):

and a stop at the highest bungee jump in the world (216m): http://www.faceadrenalin.com/ (no, neither of us had the guts to do it - but it was exhilirating to watch!!)

we headed up for another long drive to Durban, as a stopover on our way out of South Africa to Swaziland. We only spent the evening in Durban, but had a few laughs all the same. Durban is apparently 'Little India', South Africa; as such, we tried some local Indian snacks. Elaine tried 'bunny chow' which is essentially a hollowed out piece of bread with curry inside of it (tasty!!). Purvi stood in a 45 minute line to get Dinky Donuts, whose operation lived up to its name. One at a time...but they were delicious!

It was a lovely evening on the beach in Durban. We ran into some video-taping of a church choir, and the sounds were gorgeous. We also encountered the Durban Beach Party Scene...more like huge speakers in the trunks of cars, facing the beach and blasting out loud music, and people standing around drinking around the cars. Hilarious.





















above: some kiddies on the beach in Durban. below: the Durban skyline.

After that it was goodbye, South Africa! (for now).

Our next stop on Africa Road Trip '08 was The Kingdom of Swaziland. ! We woke up early and departed Durban for what was to be a drive anywhere from 4hrs to 12 hours, according to the various "reliable" "sources" we asked. Well, folks it takes about 5 hours to get to Swaziland from Durban for the record. After finding our hostel and situating ourselves, we went on a bit of a walk and called it a night. The next day, we went on a walk in the Mliwane Wildlife Sanctuary, the largest park in the country. And there, wildlife has the right of way:

Our hike concluded at the Hippo Pool, shown below. unfortunately we don't have any photos of the hippos, as we only saw the tops of their heads and heard them talking to each other for a bit. However here is a fun fact: the hippo is responsible for more human deaths per year than any other animal in Africa! (except for perhaps the mosquito, if that counts).










We're currently in Maputo, Mozambique after a very interesting border crossing experience, followed by an episode of local tranportation that we'll be sure not to repeat. We'll tell you about it next time...