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We flew to Durban and arrived around 2 pm at Durban airport. After landing we got an airport shuttle to take us to the Hippo Hide Backpackers, where we would stay for the night.
When we arrived at the backpackers, we were welcomed by the manager and after he checked us in he showed us the dorm, where we would sleep for the night.
After freshening up and settling in, we sat down with some cold drinks and discussed what we wanted to do these coming 2,5 weeks. We decided first to go the Drakensberg, but getting there was a hassle since the Bazbus didn’t go there. Luckily the manager of the backpackers knew a shuttle bus who could pick us up and drive us to the Drakensberg. We decided to do that, unfortunately, it would cost us more money. But ja, we really wanted to visit the Drakensberg, so we just went with it.
Late in the evening, we went out to Florida Road to get some food. We ended up at a seafood restaurant called ‘Everything under the sea’ and we ate a lovely seafood platter for 2. After dinner, we headed back to the backpackers, as we were very tired and went to sleep.
We left early in the morning, we got picked up by the NUD express shuttle to go to the Drakensberg. The drive took us about half a day, as the shuttle also needed to drop off people at the Durban Airport. We drove for a couple of hours, across some wonderful landscapes and with a few stops to stretch our legs and refuel with petrol or food.
When we arrived at the Sani Lodge & Backpackers, it was very quiet. The owner told us all the people were out on a trip in the mountains, while she showed us our dorm. After a quick shower to freshen up, we sat outside on the veranda to enjoy the immensely beautiful surroundings. Mountains as far as the eye reaches, flowers covering the area and birds flying in the air.
We had signed up for dinner at the lodge that night, so when it was dinner time, we sat down around the table and got some delicious lasagne with butternut and for dessert some homemade ice-cream with chocolate sauce.
After the lovely dinner, we stayed up to talk a little bit about what we would do the next day. We decided to do the Sani Pass tour before calling it a day.
We woke up early, as we were going on the Sani Pass tour, we signed up for the other night. After a good breakfast at the backpackers, we headed to the Land Rovers, which we would drive with for the day. We would drive up to the border with Lesotho and enter for a few hours and drive back. It started out as a beautiful sunny day, but there were some clouds hanging in the air and it seemed that these clouds would come to overrule the sky.
We drove up to above 3000m, to the border with Lesotho, where we entered. After getting a nice stamp in our passport, we headed off further into Lesotho. We stopped at a place, where we ate our lunch, there were sandwiches which we took with us. It was also the place where we would go and do a short hike, but since it was very cold and the weather was bad, the guide decided not to go through with the hike. Instead, we drove back to a small village, where we visited a rondavel hut where a woman let us into her house. Here she let us taste her self brewed beer and homemade bread, which was very good, very sweet. Our guide told us about her culture, how she lived and what she did for a living. We found this very interesting learning about another culture and we went off to go back to the backpackers.
On our way back, we made a stop in the Highest Pub In Africa to get a glüwein to warm up before going back. Down at the Sani Lodge, we could freshen up before dinner was served up. That night we ate chicken schnitzel with rice and beans and a desert-baked banana. After supper, we played some card games and chatted with each other about the trip we made that day, before ending up in our bunk beds.
Stay tuned for Anna’s next post…