We had been to the area previously to visit the Hsuhsuwe Game Park and to visit Illala Weavers, a shop that sold the Zulu baskets and other African crafts.

On this trip we also planned to visit St. Lucia, a very small tourist village bordering the Indian Ocean on one side and the St. Lucia estuary on the other side. The three-meter deep estuary (which connects Lake St. Lucia with the Ocean) is home to hundreds of hippo, crocodile, and lots of birds including fish eagles and herons.

The six hour drive to the Hsuhsuwe area was very scenic especially the route which ran along the border of Swaziland. This area was very hilly and included a drive through Pangola, a Zulu village which had the beautiful traditional Zulu rondavels with thatched roofs perched on the side on the hills.

We had seven cars and about twenty people. This was necessary because some people had to return to Pretoria on that same day, some the next day, and some the following day still. We all met in the village of Hsuhsuwe. The trip was bogged down between Hsuhsuwe and our exit on the N2 highway due to three separate sections of road construction that left only a single lane road for several kilometers each. The 30 kilometers took about 1 1/2 hours to complete. On the side of the road, at each delay, there were several women selling baskets of pineapples, cleaned pineapples, lemons, avocados, and other fruits and vegetables. The cleaned pineapples were unbelievably sweet and juicy. Even though the weather was hot and a bit humid, several of these women covered their bodies in heavy material, one even wearing a black leather jacket over traditional Zulu clothing. Several of their faces were painted in a white greasy looking lotion, which protected them from the sun. They would walk up and down the highway (parking lot) carrying their goods on their heads stopping at each vehicle to try to make a sale. When done, they would go off to the side of the road and rest under the shade of a tree.

From there we traveled west along a heavily potholed road where thousands of uniformed school children were walking home from school. We then traveled through a corridor that separates the Umfalozi-Hsuhsuwe Game Reserve to get to the village of Habilisa, which was on the other side of the park. This trip was on a dirt road that was about 50 km long.

Along the way, one of our cars, skidded out of control and ended up on its side in the middle of the Umfalozi-Hsuhsuwe Game Reserve. Luckily the two passengers were unscratched and no predators happened to come by. A dented door and a de-rimmed tire were the only casualties. Turning the car over was very quick so we were on our way quickly. (No one in our group, which included about five video cameras and about seven still cameras took any pictures of the overturned car.) Our caravan proceeded through the village and up a fairly rough mountain road. The artisans were waiting for us at the top of the mountain.

There were about twenty women each of whom had several baskets to sell. There were also several children present who were as fascinated with us as we were with them. While we knew no Zulu words except hello and thank-you, they had a variety of skills with the English language, some speaking whole sentences and some speaking/understanding a few words. The act of buying a basket included some negotiation. Several of the women would try to sell their baskets to several people at once, trying to get the highest price. Others would ask very high prices, maybe R1200 ($150 USD) for large intricately designed baskets and then allow the price to be whittled down through negotiation.

In the end, I believe, all of the their baskets were sold. More fun than buying the baskets was the interaction with the women and children, being in their village, and seeing their rondavels along the side of the hills. I am not sure if they know that they live in a beautiful part of the world. They got a kick out of viewing the pictures of themselves that Russ Jucovics was taking on his digital camera. They danced and made merry whenever a video camera was pointed at them. They really got excited when Sandy Buchwald pulled out a bag of candy and started distributing them. They also asked for and got several pens and pencils from us. We had forgotten that pens are in short supply and are much sought after by the children. We felt bad about not buying a large supply of BIC pens and giving it to them. Maybe next time!

The children were also very interested in Keiko and Chopper, our dogs. They came very close to them but would not touch them. The children formed a small tight circle around the dogs. When Keiko made a quick darting move to try to catch a fly that had landed on the ground, every one of the children immediately jumped back two feet increasing the size of the circle uniformly. I felt a bit helpless trying to explain (unsuccessfully I think) that Keiko was going after the fly and not their feet.

Nothing eventful happened as we traveled back through the Game Reserve, luckily! We arrived in St. Lucia a short time later, where several of us had rented a house. We would have stayed at a B&B but could not find any that accepted dogs, of which we had three in our party. The house we rented was nothing special but only cost the eight of us R60 ($9USD) per night each.

The next day we traveled up the Easter Shore of the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands Park, to Cape Vidal (rhymes with Bridal). Through the park, there are several wild game animals including Kudu, Nyala, Rhino, Hippo, crocodile, zebra, impala, and Red Duiker, a small deer-like antelope.

The park supposedly has leopards and unofficially, lion although sightings are extremely rare. The park is adding 30 elephants in another couple of months. This will make the park, which consists of five different ecosystems (Lake, Ocean, Forest, Savanna, and Swamp), a very interesting and unusual place to visit, and maybe even more dangerous. Cape Vidal, consists of camping sites and a beautiful beach with forested sand dunes, on the shark infested Indian Ocean. Driving on the beach, all around the St. Lucia area is allowed.

Fishing is very popular in both St. Lucia and Cape Vidal and driving 4x4 vehicles on the beach is allowed. Both areas also have several hiking trails although care must be taken due to the possibility of crocodiles, hippos, and mosquitoes. This is considered a low-risk malaria area. Twelve cases of malaria in the St. Lucia area were reported last year while, this year, there have been no reported cases.

Later in the day (of our Cape Vidal trip), we traveled on a two-hour boat cruise up

the St. Lucia estuary. Here we spotted several herds of hippo (mostly in the water), lots of fish eagles, some herons, and some crocodiles. This is an extremely dangerous section of water. Hippos kill more people than any other animal in Africa and can outrun a human being. They can stay underwater for six minutes at a time. We saw some enormous hippos frolicking in the water and were surprised at how quickly they could move, jump about, and change direction. They can open their jaw so that their upper and lower jaws are a full 180 degrees apart and they can tear a twenty-foot crocodile in two.

Crocodile are also, of course dangerous and can stay underwater for hours waiting for their next victim.

On the boat trip, there were about fifteen top-of-the-class students from Parkland High School in Jo-berg who were being rewarded with a trip to St. Lucia. They got along famously with Sandy, taking pictures of themselves with her. She bought them each a can of Coke and at the end of the boat trip, the high-school group got together and sang her two songs, completing just as the boat was docking. This was a truly memorable experience.

Before we left the area we visited the Illala Weavers store in HsuHsuwe village.

To avoid the road construction we had a choice of going through the Game Reserve or traveling on a dirt road that may not be well marked. Because we had the dogs (which are not allowed in Game Reserves) and we had very little time, we decided to test out the 30 km dirt road. We made an error and ended up on a bay on Lake St. Lucia. The detour allowed us to pass trough another interesting out-of-the-way Zulu village where we were continually greeted by the local people who were walking along the side of the road.

We eventually made it to Illala Weavers where we purchased several more baskets and visited the small Zulu village exhibit behind the store where the making of baskets, bead works, and wooden statues were shown. The chief of the village exhibit also played some music for us on an interesting Zulu instrument.

All of the major roads in the area are paved. The major roads are the N2 highway and the roads that lead from the highway to the villages. Roads in the Zulu villages or roads that connect the villages directly are gravel.