September 21st, 2008
Pulling onto the open road from Durban possibilities were looming. We decided to move up the east coast of S.A. and take the scenic route. The road was dotted with small rural villages made up of plastered houses, two rooms at most, each with a clothes line displaying colourful items blowing slightly in the breeze. It was one of the most beautiful scenes, especially with the greenery surrounding the villages.
We decided our destination would be Mtuzini, specifically a Nature Reserve called Umlalazi. This would be our first night in Africa living in our new home, the roof tent. Pouring with rain as we set up, we gave each other direction as to what the other needed to be doing. Although the honeymoon was not officially over, it had taken a slight pause. Eventually everything was where it needed to be, we were back in love and attempting to sort out our belongings and those of friends which were in very curious places (i.e. Lance your shirts were rolled tucked around our water tank, Gaye your handbag was covering our gas tank, and Raikko and Maverick your turtle and camel were safely strapped to our food boxes).
The much needed rains continued for the next day and night. Spending most of our time under our awning to keep dry, we played cards, drank tea and ate a lot of biscuits. In between the rains we did get to see some monkeys. I’m sure it’s not a novelty for everyone, but for a Canadian it’s fantastic. Luckily we had everything all packed up so we didn’t have to worry about a monkey raid. We watched with amazement as they picked up different things, brushed them off and popped them into their mouths. Also amusing was seeing two younger monkeys play fight in a tree which resulted in one free falling onto the ground.
The following day the weather improved. Making breakfast, we noticed the monkeys again. This time a monkey raid was imminent. One monkey was on the lookout, whilst another, looking at us the whole time, made a run for it. Karel tried to scare him, rather unsuccessfully, and he ran under the car making a grab for our brightly packaged laundry power. Thankfully the bag was too heavy, otherwise there would have been one very sick monkey. I tried my hand at scaring the next monkeys which approached. I moved closer to the monkey saying ‘no, monkey, no’ repeatedly while shaking my finger. On my defence the strategy usually works with dogs. As it was unsuccessful I upped the ante and shouted ‘oi, monkey, oi’ this time it worked. Karel couldn’t stop laughing and I can’t blame him. I’m not sure what inspired the ‘oi’.
Pulling onto the open road from Durban possibilities were looming. We decided to move up the east coast of S.A. and take the scenic route. The road was dotted with small rural villages made up of plastered houses, two rooms at most, each with a clothes line displaying colourful items blowing slightly in the breeze. It was one of the most beautiful scenes, especially with the greenery surrounding the villages.
We decided our destination would be Mtuzini, specifically a Nature Reserve called Umlalazi. This would be our first night in Africa living in our new home, the roof tent. Pouring with rain as we set up, we gave each other direction as to what the other needed to be doing. Although the honeymoon was not officially over, it had taken a slight pause. Eventually everything was where it needed to be, we were back in love and attempting to sort out our belongings and those of friends which were in very curious places (i.e. Lance your shirts were rolled tucked around our water tank, Gaye your handbag was covering our gas tank, and Raikko and Maverick your turtle and camel were safely strapped to our food boxes).
The much needed rains continued for the next day and night. Spending most of our time under our awning to keep dry, we played cards, drank tea and ate a lot of biscuits. In between the rains we did get to see some monkeys. I’m sure it’s not a novelty for everyone, but for a Canadian it’s fantastic. Luckily we had everything all packed up so we didn’t have to worry about a monkey raid. We watched with amazement as they picked up different things, brushed them off and popped them into their mouths. Also amusing was seeing two younger monkeys play fight in a tree which resulted in one free falling onto the ground.
The following day the weather improved. Making breakfast, we noticed the monkeys again. This time a monkey raid was imminent. One monkey was on the lookout, whilst another, looking at us the whole time, made a run for it. Karel tried to scare him, rather unsuccessfully, and he ran under the car making a grab for our brightly packaged laundry power. Thankfully the bag was too heavy, otherwise there would have been one very sick monkey. I tried my hand at scaring the next monkeys which approached. I moved closer to the monkey saying ‘no, monkey, no’ repeatedly while shaking my finger. On my defence the strategy usually works with dogs. As it was unsuccessful I upped the ante and shouted ‘oi, monkey, oi’ this time it worked. Karel couldn’t stop laughing and I can’t blame him. I’m not sure what inspired the ‘oi’.
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