Balito bay to St Lucia

Sunday, March 16, 2014   Ballito Bay to St Lucia – Sugarloaf Camp

We left Ballito Bay early this morning with the monkeys playing around us to say good bye.  We drove a couple of hours up the interior thru fields of sugarcane, bamboo, banana plants, and large forest of trees in rows which had been planted for lumber export. We drove thru some small towns and back roads and as we ventured, we realized it was Sunday and many people were in their Sunday best on the way to Church etc.  It was Zulu country and many people were Hindu.  In these towns the cattle run loose and we had a fantastic time... These are the poor people who have so little material things but seem so happy and contented.  We had to stop a few times for people, cows and goats in the road.

We drove a couple of hours to the Infolozi Nat Park where we did a self-drive in the park.  We saw Elephants, Baboons, giraffe, Rhinos, Impalas, Water buffalo, several birds including the crowned hornbill and the amazing dung beetle. Each dung beetle rolls Elephants into a ball and then buries it in the ground creating a home.  They are important as each beetle devours a ton of Elephant dung per year.  Australia came and exported them home to help with their Sheep excrement problem.

 As we drove the park roads that were extremely rough and full of pot holes, we suddenly had this very load banging under the motorhome.  We got out to check and found that the holder for our spare tire had dropped down and was dragging on the roadway.  Our spare tire was on the ground about 50 feet behind us.  While Gail went to retrieve the tire, I got out the plastic tablecloth to lay upon and the clothesline we had.  We put the tire inside the coach and tied up the spare tire holder to the trailer hitch.  We then called our tour leader to tell her what had happened and she asked if we were in a safe place.  Well, OH NO!!!  We completely neglected that we were in a Nat park with lions, cougars, leopards and all the other dangerous animals in the park..  I guess we were very lucky. They say the Lord takes care of fools!!!

During that same day and drive, two people had flat tires and they called for a ranger to come and watch over them as they changed the tires with an elephant looking over them.  Another couple who were riding in the park were stopped by an elephant in the road who would not let them pass.  He would wander off the road until they started forward and then he would come back to the road and come toward them with his trunk swinging back and forth.  They finally after an hour and 3 attempts had to turn around and go back the other way.

After spending 4 hours in the park we drove on to Sugarloaf Camp in St Lucia. Where we walked to the golf club restaurant for dinner along the water’s edge watching hippos in the lake,