Big South African Tour
The decision to travel to Africa was not spontaneous - they had been planning for a long time, because the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Latin and South America are partially covered. We considered mainly Tanzania, but only one thing stopped us - a lot of safaris for us - the minimum package was offered everywhere for 6-7 days, plus crazy mileage on crossings in jeeps. Animals, unfortunately, will not pose, and my youth (daughter, 21 years old and niece - 23) do not understand pictures in the form of "postcards" (without the beauties themselves and against the backdrop of landscapes) and there is logic in this - the best photographs, views of the visited places can be downloaded from the Internet. Helped, as usual, luck and my longtime travel agent Tanyusha / www. aqua travel. ru, tel. 8(495)626-30-00/. The result is South Africa! ! !
, but as usual “with perversions”: South Africa (Cape Town, Johannesburg and Sun City), Namibia (I have long wanted to see the highest dunes in the world and Welwitschia), Zambia (Victoria Falls), Botswana (safari, package for only 2 days) and we also decided to add 4 days of rest on the coast of the Indian Ocean (Durban, an analogue of our Sochi and at a price 2 times lower than the Emirates) to visit the mountain kingdom of Lesotho, because without South Africa it is impossible to get into this enclave. The most optimal flight was offered by the "British", the visa - without tension (but the embassy checked the data in the personnel department) and now the flight is on October 9!
We must pay tribute to the qualifications and pedantry of the host "Salute Africa" (tel. +2782-928-0674, owner Victoria and the girls Sonya, Katya) - the organization is at the highest level, even in an extreme situation (more on this below) - everything is on " five. "
First day: after the flight to London (5 hours) and to Cape Town (11.5 hours) - only 16.5 hours, this is not to Santiago - not 23.
5:00 am – meeting and half-hour transfer to the Westin Grand Cape Town hotel. It was declared 4 *, in fact 5 * and the hotel is just class! And the view from the pool on the 16th floor to the new football stadium that is standing? - there was still hope for participation in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In general, the Cape Towns are great - they combined the business center and the tourist area so that tourists do not rummage around the entire 90 km of the city and from each hotel they let free shuttles to Waterfront (the old port with shops, restaurants and evening parties), 15 minutes and you are on place. After lunch - a survey of the city, but Table Mountain let us down - fog. When visiting the Cape Town Fort, we got to the wedding of the “Cape Coloreds” - this is just a free show with songs of the local population, dances and rituals. For dinner, we visited a fish restaurant at Waterfront - on average, with a bottle of wine, $ 20 per dinner per person.
It should be noted that in South Africa, food prices are quite liberal (with the exception of Sun City, where it is completely unrealistic to eat less than $50), in contrast to clothes and souvenirs: a T-shirt - $30-35, with the symbols of the 2010 World Cup - $100 and more, elementary magnets and lighters from $12, with symbols - $25! We thought it was a tourist zone, but, as it turned out, they are similar in dutik, and in Johannesburg and Sun City it is even higher and the choice is much more modest. About the weather - the wind is brutal, jackets and sweaters do not save, people had fun: they should have taken a fur coat to Africa, + 17 + 25 (in the sun), but it penetrates to the bone.
Second day: a full-day trip to the Cape of Good Hope - it's cool to stand between two oceans, but the colony of penguins and the island of fur seals (in February we had already seen enough in Chile) did not impress. But the ostrich farm also pleased with funny birds (stinkers!
) and products made from their leather, very good quality at relatively reasonable prices for wallets and shoes (from $100 to $350, but they try to sell prices in euros at first), and handbags lack quality fittings. Toward evening, people asked for a jewelry factory - do not believe in a freebie for tanzanites (they must be taken in Tanzania) and diamonds - the prices for clean and large diamonds from 1 carat are similar to Amsterdam and Israel (all sales are at exchange world prices ! ! ! ) , we still hoped for Namibia, but there is the same thing - De Beers! with its prices. You can knock off up to 8-10%, but this is the maximum, do not believe in fairy tales about products or stones for 2-3 thousand dollars, a quality product with a good frequency really comes at the same price! Indeed, under the apartheid regime (until 1994), the freebie flourished, my father brought me “multi-carat” at absolutely reasonable prices.
If you have free funds, you can invest “for old age”, our two aunts from Nizhny Novgorod skimped on 1.5 million “green”, then drove how to return taxfree and import without duty.
The third, free day, we wanted to go to the “singing whales” - in October they approach the shore at a minimum distance and frolic, but we were given such a bill for the excursion that all desire disappeared. The problem is that public transport in South Africa is generally absent as a class (buses for the black population do not count, if you get out alive - consider yourself lucky, and whites only drive cars). Gasoline is expensive, within the city up to 2 dollars per 1 km, outside the city - from 3 dollars and more. So consider for yourself - 200 km one way per person, isn't it cool? , and renting a car for one day is simply not realistic (it was necessary to order in advance, but the hope for the Russian “maybe” is always stronger).
We devoted this day to shopping, visiting the aquarium of two oceans and the square of the Nobel laureates - hello, Nelson Mandella (the locals have a very ambiguous attitude towards him, as, for example, we have to Lenin and Stalin, in Chile to Pinochet or in Cambodia to Pol Pot) and finally saw Table Mountain without clouds.
Fourth day: flight to Johannesburg (3 hours) and further transfer to Sun City (220 km). On the way, the accompanying guide was “broke up” on an excursion to the village of Lesidi (all 9 tribes of South Africa are represented, their way of life, houses, dances and pinnies), because I didn’t want to lose the whole day on this excursion in the future and the price was $ 120 from a person lower - after all, the driver and guide do not need to return to Joburg (the slang name for Johannesburg) for an overnight stay and drive the entire mileage over again the next day. Recommendation: do all the shooting at once, because.
after the show it is already dark and the shots do not convey the full color, and you need to buy souvenirs here (you can bargain, but without fanaticism - 10-15% is the maximum, because they are not Arabs! ). Dinner is included in the price, ostrich meat (like turkey, only red), crocodile (tastier than in Vietnam), antelope (for the first time! ) and many local delicacies. We got to the San city 4 * hotel closer to the night, but we liked it very much (with our own personal casino), but the fifth star was taken away only because the more elite Palace was built. There are only 4 hotels in Sun City, the territory of the city is fully guarded and impresses with the scale and quality of services. Our hotel is a huge casino and the whole atmosphere is imbued with the spirit of the game: columns and fountains are lined with huge chips, there are tables and slot machines everywhere, but this does not interfere with living at all, and we, like persistent tin soldiers, did not fall for gambling at all!
The morning of the fifth day shocked us - at dawn, the impressions of the surroundings (a completely artificial city, everything was planted in the desert savannah to the last blade of grass by hand) pleasantly surprised, but not everything turned out so joyfully for us ...In the evening, we decided to go check the pool before breakfast, but the child balked - go maman yourself. I swim joyfully and watch the monkeys from the roof of the hotel jump across the balconies, the guards chase them with slingshots, but they don’t care - they are arrogant, like tanks. I return to the room and see my daughter shaking with horror: leaving, without an evil thought, I opened the balcony for fresh air, and the baboons burst into our room (truncated the flying curtain) - they stole the rest of the fruit and made a search.
The older baboon (like an adult man weighing 80 kg) conducted an operational search according to all the rules: he opened the minibar (but there was only swill and he didn’t like it), bedside tables, cabinets, and only in a suitcase he was “lucky” to find a block of cigarettes (painted with flowers , I thought, probably, grub). With joyful cries, he threw cigarettes to the second baboon, which at that time was “standing on the atas” and was vigilant about the situation on the balcony. At this time, the daughter came out of her stupor and went on the offensive, throwing beach slippers at the beast. The baboon could not withstand the onslaught and jumped onto the balcony, the daughter slammed the balcony (but did not close it with the latch! ) And cursed it for a long time, showing figs, but this did not take the animal - she pushed the doors apart and went on a new offensive. Even I quietly freaked out from such impudence (no one saw a warning about wild animals on the balcony door at night) - the freak does not react to the Russian mat, the tramp of 4 legs, screams, do not kick him - he can scratch and bite.
The kind daughter offered me to pick up cigarettes from the balcony myself (yes, this is a value, because it is simply impossible to buy your own abroad) - maman went into battle with a towel and a stool! and the bastards retreated in disgrace. She convulsively assembled the torn block and blocked the doors to death, cheers - VICTORY! During the entire subsequent journey, windows and doors, in principle, did not open - science is for us for a long time (and we read about similar problems in the stories of tourists). Baboons roamed in whole flocks throughout Sun City: a sacred thing is to steal oranges in a restaurant, bags or glasses from tourists.
After breakfast, we gathered in the Valley of the Waves (a huge aqua complex - a pool and every half an hour a tsunami is simulated, cool! ) to swim and sunbathe, everything on the beach is landscaped and clean. We got a strong impression from the Bridge of Time - every hour there is an earthquake on it, steam pours, a volcano erupts, the eyes of all the idols burn with red lights.
Separately, about 3 slides: the first is straight and the height of a 16-storey building, it’s even scary to look at it from below; two - screw (open and "pipe"). Here the daughter decided to recoup on her mother for the “jamb” with baboons: on a huge circle she let her well-fed body swim up the hill (it’s good at least on a closed one, otherwise they would later tell how huge jaguars “fly” over the jungle and swear in Russian) - skinned elbows, a bruised chest and full lungs of water when entering the water (they would have thumped - there would definitely have been no injuries! ), but she is alive and relatively healthy.
The sixth day was devoted to exploring Sun City (crocodile farm, black rhinoceros safari / very rare and we really have not seen anywhere else /, a lake with a built-in fountain, etc. ). They also wanted to meet the dawn in a balloon with champagne, but the cost let us down - $ 480 on the nose (lawlessness, in Cambodia a flight over Angkor Wat costs $ 25 only at sunset and without a glass of champagne).
We were lucky, in October throughout South Africa the jacaranda tree (otherwise called jacaranda) blooms with lilac flowers - during this period there is not a single leaf on the tree, a huge lilac cloud is very original. We swam in the pool under the canopy of these trees, delicious cocktails, the sun - what else does a person need to be happy?
The seventh day did not portend any problems: transfer to Joburg airport, flight to Namibia (the Atlantic resort of Swakopmund), but not everything is so simple. When registering for a South African airline flight, it turned out that 18 people (Brazilians, British, Swedes and four of us, Russians) would not fly (they offered accommodation in a 5 * hotel at the airport with full board for the day). The argument is “cheerful” - it’s very hot and the plane can’t take everyone, but when they formed the flight and sold tickets, could anyone have thought about this before?
It was then that the host staff showed aerobatics - they fought for the tourists, resolved the situation, because the whole next day we had a minute-by-minute schedule. We were previously warned about the stupidity of the “blacks”, especially in South Africa, you can’t ask two questions - they “hang” (the most funny thing in cafes is to ask for two to bring 3 mugs of beer, that’s all! All the staff are disabled for an hour / almost like the humorist Zadornov /). The airport employees, in a team of 5-6 people, SLOWLY tried to send us to Namibia (STUPID and lazy, probably waiting for the banana or coconut to fall from the sky). As a result, after 4 hours, we flew "Air Namibia" to the capital of Namibia - Windhoek (3.5 hours) and then 5 hours to the Atlantic coast through the Kalahari desert (actually a free tour !!! ). Everything was complicated by the fact that one of our tourists had a birthday - in vain they did not send us directly.
They forced the driver to stop at the store, bought drinks and snacks, for a long time the Kalahari desert did not hear Russian songs! ! ! We crawled to the hotel late at night without luggage (it did not fly out of Joburg, it was returned only a day later, but safe and sound), but we were not upset at all and continued to celebrate our birthday. The Swakopmund hotel 4 * (as it turned out to be the coolest in Namibia according to international ratings) is very decent: interior, service, and what breakfasts! – 3-4 types of sea smoked fish only, huge trays with the largest Namibian oysters, etc.
Day eight (Saturday). The morning was devoted to shopping (yesterday's birthday boy went ocean fishing) and buying alcohol, because almost all shops are closed from Saturday afternoon to Monday (except for souvenirs). Swakopmund and other Namibian towns made a super impression - mostly Germans live (they built up blacks with a soul!
), clean, but unpleasantly struck by the prices. On the day of our arrival, a cold current came from the Atlantic and it got colder to +18 with a breeze, since there was no luggage, we had to buy T-shirts and sweaters ($40-45 and $100-120 respectively). We were pleased only with seafood (Namibian oysters turned out to be just sincere), cool jewelry and semi-precious stones (we raked up a modest hill for souvenirs, taxfree - 17% on all purchases and issued without problems in 5 minutes on departure / keep in mind, a refund, unlike South Africa , carried out only on cards! /). In the evening, we ordered a seafood and champagne dinner on the ocean ($300 for 4). A ranger arrived in a jeep - 15 minutes and we are at the target. On the ocean shore, a tent (from sand and wind) will be stretched at the base of a 300-meter dune, a chic table with a waiter and very tasty and, surprisingly, of high quality! champagne and fresh oysters.
Although we were prepared guys (a liter of black fifty-degree Grands with us just in case), the ranger had to drive seriously to the store (we immediately saw it - the kid suffered from a hangover, because the day before it was also his birthday ). Namibian sunset, toasts to friendship between peoples, Russian songs (the kid once studied in Moscow, in my opinion, this has become the norm for travel agencies around the world, where we just didn’t meet them, former students of Moscow universities, especially graduates of our beloved Moscow State University : Cambodia, Cuba, Chile, Mauritius, etc. ).
The ninth day began with a deep hangover (the only one in the entire voyage, cheers! ), but on 9 a half-day excursion to the Namib Desert was booked ($ 35 per person) - 2 liters of mineral water and go! A guide came for us - a grandfather of about 85 years old, obviously an old fascist (probably escaped from Germany in 1945), he mocked us from the bottom of his heart, but periodically gave out ice mineral water from the freezer.
He spoke very interestingly about the Namib Desert - the oldest and it is the only one in the world where there are huge sand dunes - the highest in the world / dune A4.345 meters high - 7 sixteen-story houses in height! / and rocky part. I never thought that there was so much vegetation and a rich fauna in the desert - we went for a plant called "velvichia" (the oldest plant on Earth is 2000 years old, that is, almost the same age as Jesus Christ), and saw an ebonite tree (the hardest wood in the world), a pretty lichen that turns green before our eyes when splashed with water (used in exclusive cosmetology), many shrubs with fruits and non-standard flowers in the form of thorns, boxes, etc. , as well as a mirage for the first time in my life. In the evening, we bought postcards to send to friends and loved ones to ourselves (already a tradition!
) - it's so nice to return home and after a week or two from the mailbox a cardboard piece of joy.
The tenth day is unremarkable - a flight to Joburg (the administrative center of South Africa, but not the capital, as many people think, the capital is Pretoria). The city itself is good only as a transshipment base for one night - there is absolutely nothing to do there. When the black population received rights and freedoms, the city turned into a garbage dump (oh, how wrong Nelson Mandella was !! ) - the carrier blocked all the doors and drove as if Freddy Krueger was hunting him.
At first, it was a crazy idea to take a walk in a quiet area in the evening, but at the reception we met guys from Vladivostok (there was a world medical conference) and they completely dissuaded us: a couple of days before that, their friend had been robbed 5 meters from the hotel security (no need for vyzhivatsya border and carry the original passport with you, as many of our compatriots think - a copy is enough, otherwise the hemorrhoids are guaranteed! ) The hotel "Sannyside Park Hotel" is sympathetic, with a large territory, but thank God - for 1 night.
Eleventh day - flight to Zambia, Livingston (1 hour 15 minutes). Accommodation at the Zambezi San hotel (3 *, why it’s not clear, because it’s much cooler than the nearby “five” and the closest to Victoria Falls), a pool, a bar and complete relaxation from the surroundings with zebras and giraffes on the territory. At 16-30 a cruise on the Zambezi River on a two-deck ship, hippos, crocodiles and other animals along the way, sunset (super!
) and all inclusive (dinner and gin and tonic sea). By the way, about malaria - gin and tonic is a preventive measure only in the dry season, plus repellents and you don’t have to bother with brutal preparations like “Lariam” at all (plants the liver, kidneys and the guides told about cases of anemia / instead of rest - a hospital for 4-7 days / ). Preparing for the next day, 4 excursions are planned and conducted:
- 7.30 - Livingston Island (the most picnic place in the world, only 3 times a day for 12 people and only in the dry season, $ 35).
From the territory of the neighboring hotel (pontovitaya 5 *) on a punt boat (and then 2 times scooped over stones) in life jackets, we were transported in 15 minutes to the island, the monument to Livingston, pictures on a cliff with views of the waterfall (the opposite side is the territory of Zimbabwe and their tourists can only observe the full power of the waterfall, but not touch it in any way) and ford the Zambezi (there are no living creatures near the waterfall, only funny fish without teeth, but very unexpectedly pinch the skin! ). The whole group with two escorts, holding hands in close proximity to the safety rope (after all, 10-12 meters to a cliff of more than 100 meters !! ), wanders and in some places has to swim (those who cannot swim cling to the neck of the guides) to the planned point. This is the "devil's pool", a natural depression (like a jacuzzi) through the side of which tons of water rush down with a roar!
Our task: to go down into the font (or jump with a bomb) and sit on a stone side - the point of separation of water. One of the guides insures, and the second makes a video, photo shooting of the waterfall, multiple rainbows and our wild eyes. All the power of the waterfall drowns out the screams of adrenaline rushing out of us, but THIS IS COOL! ! ! 3 days before our arrival, the first rain had passed (the rainy season should begin in a week) and the tough shooting, when you stick out up to your chest and look over the edge of the waterfall (and the guide is holding your legs! ) could not be done, because the chances of flying off into the abyss are great, pictures of an unfulfilled dream can be viewed on Google (search for "photo of Livingston Island"). After a nutritious hot breakfast - the road back, against the current of the river;
- 11-00 tour of the Victoria Falls with a guide, went around all the nooks and crannies, filmed everything and went to the souvenir market (already in Zimbabwe, where tourists from both countries roam without passport control and try to sell them everything). The daughter was shocked when one of the sellers asked to leave an unfinished bottle of mineral water for her sick father - this is real African poverty;
- 14-00 - how a "kind mother" paid for a child jumping (a jump into a 110-meter gorge, and from a bridge in Zimbabwe you can also into a waterfall / computer calculation of your weight and wind allows you to determine the point of contact with water up to 10 cm /, $ 35) . When I myself saw the depth and width of the abyss, I almost fell into someone. They put on uniforms, insurance, explained everything and set off, but the baby couldn’t do it on the first try - it’s scary to the point of horror!
- 16-00 - flight over the waterfall on microlights (for 15 minutes $ 130, tiny airplanes for 2 seats, you and the pilot, a fan in the back, in short, a "crazy stool"). They allowed me to leave sunglasses, put on headphones and an intercom to communicate with the pilot, a helmet, fastened it with a regular belt and forced me to take off my shoes. Strict condition: do not yell into the intercom, because the pilot may not respond adequately. When the pilots began to cross themselves before takeoff, for the first time in my life I got wet with my whole body and we drove ...On takeoff, the whole structure was shaking and pounding with air currents, but then everything leveled out and all the beauty and power of the Zambezi River, waterfall and multicolored rainbows were revealed. The pilot showed me elephants, hippos, giraffes all the time, but I only had time to nod my mane and wipe my sweaty hands on my T-shirt. He, you see, was completely scared for me and tried to talk on general topics: we are flying at altitude 1.
5 km and he makes up to 40 flights a day - it would be better if he was silent, and it's so creepy! We ordered pictures in advance ($ 20 per disc), shooting takes place automatically every 30 seconds - well, we got faces, swear!
In the evening we had a break in the restaurant (the gin was bought back in a deutik, but it strained with tonic, there is only in the bar and the price bites - a can of 200 gr. for $ 4), but the kitchen pleased - a steak from a young crocodile was three times a success, fruits and ice cream are very decent quality (buffet for $40). At 20-30, a show began with local songs and dances, and then live music (the singer was smart, performed world hits very high quality).
Thirteenth day: transfer (2 hours) to Botswana for 2 days. A separate topic is the border crossing: from the Zambian side, everything is simple - they handed over the documents to the guide, smoked and drove on (I don’t advise on my own, people crowd in many kilometers of queues and there is absolutely nowhere to spend the night there).
Then on the boat you cross the junction point of the borders of 4 states - Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana, 10 minutes and you are in any country of them. Already in Botswana - stamps in the passport and registration in a worn out magazine, and when you leave the country, your names are simply crossed out, and then bacterial (antimalarial) control is carried out - feet are wiped on a battered rag and cars drive through a huge puddle with special staff. On the way, we stopped at a baobab tree - it is 1000 years old, 14 adult men in a girth take it into the ring! The hotel "Chobe safari lodge" (a 3-minute walk from the supermarket) on the banks of the Chobe River is very cute, a family of wild pigs lives on the territory, but you can only contemplate the river from anywhere, you can’t go down - crocodiles can gobble up hypoposhes (although vegetarians) can do nasty things, because even buffaloes and crocodiles are afraid of them. Both days of stay follow the same scheme: at 16-00 we have a safari on the water and at 6-00 - on land.
The water safari is carried out on a steamboat, the cap stops wherever there are wild animals: buffalo (buffaloes with round horns), hippos with whole families (water lilies crackle and roar in a wild voice), crocodiles, flocks of monkeys in the trees, many different birds. Crazy foreigners in tripods for equipment rush around the ship with crazy eyes and look for the best angle for shooting (buy drinks at a nearby supermarket, because everything goes 4 ways on the ship; money goes local, but converting and withdrawing cash from an ATM is - under 5%. The morning safari in open jeeps is held at dawn (take windbreakers, you can give oak at speed) and before the heat (by 9-30 we were returned to the hotel for breakfast, it was already +30.32), until the animals lay down in the shade to take a nap. Strict introductory behavior in the national park: do not shout, do not get out of the car, do not feed, etc.
, the ranger puts a mark at the controller (how many tourists have entered, so many should leave - pleased! , but what could be different? ) and drove off to look for animals. The daughter sat in the front seat and the young ranger began to ride out in front of her: at a speed of 120 km he entered turns, on the handbrake turn (almost a policeman), continuous turns - passengers whine (10 in total, including 6 Germans aged 60 and over). up to 80 years). Rangers stop at 7-30 for a halt - a mini-breakfast is served on the hood: coffee and tea in thermoses, cookies, chocolate, etc. , worn with every tourist, like with a child. We were lucky - both days we found wild cats (lion cubs, mothers with aunts on vacation, a sleepy daddy lion and then the whole brazenly sleeping pride), herds of elephants, hyenas, pumba (in the evening, soulful steaks are fried from them, in fact, our pork), herds kudo antelopes (emphasis on the first syllable, very tasty meat is also offered for dinner), giraffes, etc.
In principle, we didn’t see mosquitoes along the entire route, but in hotels there are “fumitoxes” everywhere and, just in case, they give body cream with a mild content of repellents. All supermarkets have products against this biting animal with a lower content of active substances than sold by us, so do not be lazy to buy supplies with you.
Fifteenth day: after a morning safari and a hearty breakfast - moving to Zambia (and they have Independence Day on October 24, everyone is in national clothes, airport employees in scarves of national colors, fun, music, dancing, fireworks everywhere), then from Livingston flight in Joburg. At the airport, farewell to the people flying home, and we are on the "British" - to Durban (local pronunciation, in Russia they call Durban). The flight is very difficult (1.5 hours, but it was raining over the Dragon Mountains, turbulence, it was shaking brutally! , but the crew plowed to the conscience), another hour around the resort and we are in the chic Umhlanga Sands hotel.
We were given not a paid standard room, but a huge apartment (two bedrooms with sex rooms, a fully equipped kitchen) with a full-wall sliding window and ocean views - they just treated the administrator at the reception with a pack of Russian cigarettes and presented a magnet. The driver warned us in advance about an early departure to Lesotho (at 5-30 a meeting with a Russian-speaking guide and an excursion for the whole day), ordered breakfast and drank a gin with tonic in the room (malaria prevention continues! ). Such an early rise is the norm for us, as I approach empty time on vacation with a business case - I got up at 6 in the morning (with an earlier sunrise, you can do at 5-30), swim, get hungry and only then for breakfast. The people who run for breakfast at 9-55 (and there are leftovers and lack of appetite!
) and already spent 4 hours on holidays in one day (multiply by the number of days and you get 2 or 3 days paid empty, depending on the country of residence, this is from $ 250 and more per person - are you so rich? ), I was always amazed: you can light up until 3-4 in the morning, and then sleep off on the beach, with serious tours with daily jumps in crossings and excursions, you need to sleep in planes, trains and cars. I trained my youth a long time ago - 4 hours of good sleep in bed is enough, active rest and parties are combined if desired, i. e. , high-quality use of vacation time is guaranteed!
The next day we visit Sunny Pas (by the name of the village and the border point from South Africa).
The road to Lesotho (emphasis on the syllable “so”, also in the name of the Bosoto people themselves, their language “Sotho”) 6 hours one way: 3 hours on the autobahn, and then a narrow mountain road (solid huge stones) on a military a jeep with a reinforced frame suspension, and the last 18 km drove for more than an hour with a rise to a height of 3 km - track "tongues" of 180 degree turns will give odds to the road near Tuapse and Dombai with a vengeance! Everything is complicated by brutal shaking in the car (the locals call it “African massage”) and cliffs without limiters (broken cars are lying at the bottom of the gorges, which no one is going to get for many years, because heavy equipment is not able to get there at all). But the views of the Dragon Mountains are worth it - the Swiss Alps, only everything is much more colorful, brighter and somehow primitive. At their tops, the mountains look like the contours of 12 apostles, that is, on both sides of the border there are already 24 of them - cool.
As soon as the guide didn’t scare us (a professor of biology and like all Russian-speaking guides on this tour from Ukraine) with stories about Russian tourists who were afraid to look out of the car window and lay at the bottom of the car, but after visiting the Chilean Tatio geysers (oxygen starvation at a height of 4 km, a night climb along a narrow path with only one-way traffic) - nothing is scary at all. In 2009, we were the first tourists (it was at the end of October - that's where the crisis came out! ), who bought this excursion - it's expensive ($ 481 per person), but only through the territory of South Africa can you get to this enclave state. At passport control, it turned out that a visa to Lesotho had to be done within 3 days in Pretoria, but the travel agency solves this issue in a peculiar way (the owners are from our kids! ) marks are not made - illegal immigrants go ahead!
Thus, within one day we left and entered South Africa, and where we visited is not clear, but everyone is happy. Filming a one-story rickety building of the border checkpoint with the information “customs and immigration. Welcome to Lecotho» is strictly forbidden, probably, they are afraid of photos in the internet; how can you wait, we have traveled so much and not even take a picture quietly? The landscape is still the same: pastures with sheep, not even a bush or a tree, round huts with sloping thatched roofs (similar to Caucasian huts) and gangs of local children dressed in local attire (multi-colored blankets are tied over their shoulders, almost like Greek togas), light rain and dog cold (+2, socks, windbreakers with hoods and sweaters after a heat of 30 degrees in the morning at the foot of the mountains).
They took us to a real village with 10-12 houses in the house of a local business woman: she has 3 huts (the adobe house is lined with stone, from the north / due to lack of wind / the entrance has no door and is covered with a six-bed blanket, in the center there is a hearth, wide sleeping benches around the perimeter), she rents 2 of them to shepherds, bakes bread and brews beer (our brew is 3-4% alcohol). Flags of different colors flutter at each house: white - bread is sold, green - vegetables, red - meat, yellow - beer, etc. The hostess was presented with a huge package of multi-colored candies for her 6 children and my child gave his sweater to a girl of her age. I was deeply moved when the hostess, in gratitude, began to shake her hand and tried to kiss her. Another package of sweets was handed out to local cute kids (now we understood Angelina Jolie and her love for African children /last year we also understood this in Cambodia/) - full mouths, hands and pockets.
Half an hour later, we were brought to the Sany top chalet hotel (normally, a ski resort in Africa! ), where the highest pub on the African continent is located at an altitude of 2874 meters. We warmed up by the fireplace and hung out with the owner (he respects our tourists very much! ), he served very tasty beer and decent trout (there are a lot of mountain streams in Lesotho, so fishermen come here from South Africa with pleasure). After lunch, the weather favored us: the rain stopped, the clouds dispersed and the bright azure of the sky burned our eyes - it was then that the beauty of the Dragon Mountains opened up for the sake of which we dragged ourselves here through half the world!
On the way back, our biologist guide got it right: we stopped at a herd of baboons (we also told him about their habits and our accounts with them in Sun City), told us about the uniqueness of the flora of these places - however, chic vegetation (over 30 species of protea were killed on the spot - the national flower of South Africa, it even happens in the form of trees and bushes, ranging from white to dark purple, the flower size reaches 20 cm) and about his favorite black mambas (the most dangerous snakes in the world, but we respectfully walked around each other side).
The remaining days are really rest and wallowing on the sand by the Indian Ocean. The attraction of Durban is the “golden mile” of hotels throughout the African continent, fish restaurants and luxurious ocean fishing with tuna and blue marlin (we already did this last year on Mauritius).
The return flight was thought out by the host very competently: from Durban to Joburg, then to London and Moscow - all by the “British” (connections are very convenient 1.5-2 hours), checked in the luggage immediately to Moscow (which is absolutely amazing, they received it safe and sound! ! ! ), bought home a huge bouquet of multi-colored protea flowers, stocked up on souvenirs in a dutik (slicing blue marlin in a vacuum, chic tea, coffee, chocolate, handbags made of wild animal skins at reasonable prices, etc. ), but we were NOT SOLD us alcohol at all ( sorry, madam you will have transit!! ! ). So we were completely sober and spent the night crossing the entire African continent. But since we girls have already been “brought up” by tourism, we bought South African liqueurs for souvenirs in a supermarket in Durban (in luggage! ) And were horrified by the prices of the same drink in London - 5-6 times more expensive.
Tour results for 21 days:
- received a complete shock from Namibia and Botswana (previously believed that this was a bare desert and savannah, and here is African Germany, sane people / not like stupid Yuarovtsy / and "picture" nature);
- 11 flights of 44 thousand kilometers (for us, after Chile, 55 thousand km is not a record! ), crossings of 3-3.5 thousand km, sea and river cruises, as well as a lot of hiking, i. e. if you are not have a shila somewhere - this tour is not for you; lie peacefully with a crowd of dear compatriots with their screaming children somewhere in Turkey, Egypt, etc. and rejoice at the established standard of typical rest!