In an effort to reestablish CiCiUsisi just before the World Cup (when, I’m guessing, South African spirit and soccer madness will hit an uber-blog worthy level and I will force myself to use my sparse amounts of free time for blogging purposes), I’m going to give you a mostly-visual tour of some travels I’ve taken around South Africa in 2010.
I’ve only taken a few trips, and all of them have occurred within KwaZulu-Natal. I also planned them to coincide with visits from Stateside friends. So, please enjoy this random compilation of travel photos!
A Weekend Jaunt to Port St. John’s
My friend Jenny visited back in February. We took a long weekend and headed down to Port St. John’s, a hippie beach town about four hours south of Hibberdene.
A thunderstorm in one of the rural towns we drove through on the way down.
Caught in the rain on our walk back from dinner, obviously having forgotten about the thunderstorm we saw driving down. Oops!
Jenny making her way down the slippery rock cliff we encountered on our jungle hike. (Yes, she’s hiking in a dress and converse -- in true Jenny fashion!)
The waterfall we hiked to...and then jumped off!
Nope, that’s not Ireland. It’s Port St. John’s! Looks like it could be Never Never Land, too, huh?
Jenny navigating the rocks on the shore with her new canine friend.
Huts on hills on the drive home.
A Quick South Coast Fix
Another friend passed through Hibberdene for a day in March, so we took a few hours and drove down to Margate (which, by the way, is where Algeria’s soccer team is staying during the World Cup).
The view from the sea up the river.
Ummm, is that pier safe, considering it looks like it was ripped in half by the rough waves? Or was that meant to stand out in the middle of the ocean unattached to anything onshore? Hmmmm...
The Drakensburg Mountains
Rumor has it that the Drakensburg Mountains will survive the Apocalypse in 2012. Or maybe that’s just what the movie said? Either way, I picked out my end-of-the-world-cave when my friends Shannon, Shiri, and Hugo visited at the beginning of May. And, let me tell you, it wouldn’t be a bad place to hole up in as the rest of the world collapses into complete chaos! So, where will you be on 12/21/12?
Before we even reached the Drakensburgs, we had a little mishap with the license plate. Thank goodness for donated three-ring binders (which can double as license plate shelves) and free World Cup stickers from the gas station (which work well as window adhesives)!
The beginning of our 15-kilometer hike in the ‘burg. Horses on the trail!
CiCi, Shiri, and Shannon together again!
Part of the hike looked like an enchanted forest! It’s no wonder the Lord of the Rings movie looked like it did, considering the author was born near the Drakensburg Mountains.
That’s my cave, right in the middle! We dubbed it the mushroom cave because it looks like a mushroom-shaped hut.
Shiri and Shannon crossing a stream. Shiri was pretty bad at it... 
What a spectacular view!!
“Drakensburg” means the dragon’s back. Can you see why?
Cool rocks. Apparently only nature can dwarf Hugo’s height.
The perfect hiking snack: rusks! They’re South African, and I’m addicted.
Shannon and I went on another hike the following day to see some bushman paintings. Looks just like those cave paintings I remember from my middle school text books!
More bushman paintings!
And that’s it!
More adventures will definitely be had in the coming weeks, so stay tuned! In the meantime, if you’re looking for more Thanda-centric posts, check out Amathuba in Thanda and Thanda Zulu Talk!
