Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Drakensberg Mountains
(Remember, click on images to enlarge). About 5 hours south of Johannesburg, on the Lesotho border, is an area called the Drakensberg. My sister, Jackie, and I decided to take a weekend roadtrip. So we loaded Jesse James and Sahara into the car and off we went. The area is absolutely stunning and I would live there in a second. It is much more rural and 'real" and non-touristy than Johannesburg or Cape Town. The most common housing are a few buildings in one little area called kraals. The buildings themselves are often round and are called rondovals. They used to be made from rocks and mud but now are often made with foundation blocks then covered with mud. Here's an example:
South African rural is very different from southwestern Ontario Canada rural. While there is electricity for the most part, many homes wouldn't have indoor plumbing or even wells. So, people must fetch water from a community pump and the women take the laundry to the local river to wash.
The pictures below show just how different it is as well. While the odd time we might see goats or the like at the side of the road if they get out of the fence, it is very common in South Africa, outside of the cities, to see animals all over the place.
On the way to Cathedral Peak, which is the main draw in the Drakensberg, we saw several monkeys at the side of the road and also a very large lizard lying in the road. It was maybe four feet long. We circled back and managed to get a picture of it walking off the road. Absolutely no fear from this one...some cars went by and it just laid there in the sun and let the cars go around.
It was absolutely stunning. It turns out that the backpackers we stayed at has trips into Lesotho. We didn't go that weekend, but we went back a couple of weeks later to try to take the trip. We got to the border and of course, it was raining. It is a small little outpost on a dirt and gravel road. The weather got worse as we went and it turns out the road was at risk for being washed out so we turned around and didn't go into Lesotho. Hopefully another time.
South African rural is very different from southwestern Ontario Canada rural. While there is electricity for the most part, many homes wouldn't have indoor plumbing or even wells. So, people must fetch water from a community pump and the women take the laundry to the local river to wash.
The pictures below show just how different it is as well. While the odd time we might see goats or the like at the side of the road if they get out of the fence, it is very common in South Africa, outside of the cities, to see animals all over the place.
On the way to Cathedral Peak, which is the main draw in the Drakensberg, we saw several monkeys at the side of the road and also a very large lizard lying in the road. It was maybe four feet long. We circled back and managed to get a picture of it walking off the road. Absolutely no fear from this one...some cars went by and it just laid there in the sun and let the cars go around.
It was absolutely stunning. It turns out that the backpackers we stayed at has trips into Lesotho. We didn't go that weekend, but we went back a couple of weeks later to try to take the trip. We got to the border and of course, it was raining. It is a small little outpost on a dirt and gravel road. The weather got worse as we went and it turns out the road was at risk for being washed out so we turned around and didn't go into Lesotho. Hopefully another time.
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