So diving is turning out to be another expensive habit. We paid a lot of money to be able just to get to Umkomaas, the town near the Aliwhal Shoal. And then there was more money involved, including gear rental and paying for the dive and the room, which wasn't cheap by our travellers budgets standards.
Now did we mention this freak storm that has hit the coast? So, it really was kind of a fluke, not only did it hit on the spring equinox, but on that day they were due to have the highest tide in over 20 years, these two factors, combined with a storm in the Indian Ocean brought giant swells to the coast, erroding the coastline, pulling roads and buildings into the ocean. The shoal has been desimated and the visability under water was next to nothing. Not the best time for a dive for beginners. We were with a large group which multiplied factors and were given inproper weighting. A lot of things combined to make half of the group have to abort the dive, while those who remained underwater saw next to nothing.
sigh.
So with that we retreated to Durban and are now in Jo'burg. They say Jo'burg can be dangerous, and when we arrived in the bus station, immediatly people are trying to "help" you. One of the guards said he was "tipped" off that people could be following us. So we had to wait for our hostel to pick us up under the watchful eye of bus station guards. Hard to say if there was real danger in the bus station, and one never likes to believe rumours, but it was an interesting introduction to Johannesburg.
Tomorrow we head out on our whirlwind tour to Nelspruit and onwards for 4 days in Kruger National park. We are renting a car and driving ourselves around, so wish us luck figuring out a standard on the other side of the road!
As a note the drive to Jo'burg was beautiful with huge cliffs and dry mountains spread out among dry plains. It was what you see of Africa in the travel books, just no wild animals, only cows and huts. We will probably see more of the "stereotypical travel book look" in the coming days, get our fill of zebras and lions and then move on. (Easter weekend is more like two weeks here, so we were rushing to Kruger to avoid the crowds, only to find out they will be there in full force anyway... hopefully not another Machu Picchu style photo fest of avoiding humans in the photos)
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2 comments:
I remember when I was in Richard's Bay South Africa, every parking lot was staffed by an "attendant" who you paid a few rand to "watch your car". I always had the feeling that you were simply paying the attendant not to steal your car himself.
Actually, we had to do that today. Pay them to bascially make sure we weren't ripped off. Kind of like in Peru, where you had to pay an anti-robbery fee. Pay a toll, for protection, so they themselves won't rob you.
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