Emily and I are currently in South Africa combining our friends' wedding with our Easter break. Over the last few days we have been mainly based down the coast in the seaside town of Margate - Bini is from here and we have been staying with his parents.
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| Highest gorge swing in the world! Oribi Gorge, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa |
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| Don't fancy it... |
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| Highest gorge swing in the world! Oribi Gorge, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa |
The other day we visited the
Oribi Gorge and the Oribi Gorge Nature Reserve. As well as being a truly stunning natural feature in the landscape, Oribi Gorge is also home to
the world's highest gorge swing - which I was keen to check out. Bini's folks had given us a lend of their courtesy car (their car was in the garage being fixed) for the day; a classic VW City with no A/C! As we left the built up areas of the coast and headed further in land, we passed quite a lot of townships and got an idea of what the real South Africa was about. It was quite an intimidating experience at first but we soon realised that it was just a different way of life. We left the main road and the road quickly turned into a dirt track - we noticed that all the other vehicles we met were 4x4s and there we were in our wee City... hilarious. After about an hour we arrived at the main gorge entrance, parked the car and got out to explore. It was now midday and the sun was beating down on us from the clear blue sky. The gorge was an amazing sight and it was certainly unlike anything I had ever seen before. As for the swing... it looked like a bit of a cowboy setup and the gear (harnesses, crabs, etc.) all looked a bit old school and looked like it could do with a safety inspection! Because of this, I didn't fancy it - I had also been told that there was a new bungy swing that had opened in the new football stadium in Durban which sounded much more appealing than what I was currently looking at!
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| Oribi Gorge, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa |
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| A typical South African road... |
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| A typical South African car... |
After deciding against the swing, we explored the gorge - there were a couple of trails around the top and a couple of rope bridges to cross. We then headed down the road again to explore the main game reserve. We paid our entrance fee and were simply given a map of the reserve. We spent some time exploring and spotting some of the animals. It was good fun but the animals weren't that exciting to be honest. The highlight was certainly the viewpoint with the viewing platform out over the side of the gorge. Standing there we really got a feeling for just how massive it was and the scale of the whole place.
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| Oribi Gorge, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa |
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| Oribi Gorge, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa |
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| Oribi Gorge, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa |
After we had told everyone back in Margate about our great day out, it was recommended that we go on a 'real' safari. To be honest, we hadn't even considered it because we didn't think we had time. But when we looked into it we realised that we could hire a 4x4 and drive there ourselves and still make it to Pietermaritzburg for the big day.
So yesterday we hired a brand new dual cab Toyota Hulux 4x4 and made our way up to Durban. We checked into the
Blue Waters Hotel and went to explore the brand new
uShaka Marine World. It's a really great place, especially for kids, and would recommend it to anyone visiting Durban and the surrounding area. It would seem that the South African government has spent a great deal of time, money and resources getting Durban ready as one of the main citys to host games in the Fifa 2010 World Cup - and it looks fantastic!
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| Oribi Gorge, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa |
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| Impala. Oribi Gorge Game Reserve, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa |
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| Durban Beachfront, South Africa |
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| Durban Beachfront, South Africa |
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| Clown Fish, uShaka Marine World, Durban, South Africa |
