Clarens/Golden Gate National Park - Days 8-10

Yet another iPhone update.

It was a quick visit to Joburg, but quite lovely. I basically only stayed for one full day and saw the Apartheid Museum and Soweto Township. My hosts insisted I take the tour because Soweto isn't safe to explore on its own. Perhaps that's true but the tour itself wasn't mindblowing and put quite a dent in my budget. Still it was nice to see a place of such historical significance and how some of the poor and middle class live.

That evening Darryl was kind enough to make a traditional South African dish called bobuti which was a baked minced meat dish with dried fruit and eggs. I, of course, found it delicious and swore I would make it when I get home. So Darryl's job in a few months is to translate the recipe from Afrikaans and email it to me :)

The following day was the epitome or travel. Got up at 5:30am to make the 6:30 bus to Harrismith. It is only about three hours from Joburg but took almost six because it's public transport and we had to wait at certain stops. In Harrismith the bus dropped me off at a gas station by the side of the road and I was clueless as to where to find local transport. After asking three people, I found the taxi rank and found a minibus taxi to Qwa Qwa (great name ay?) which I thought was close to the Golden Gate Hotel. Not quite. After a 30 min ride to the Qwa Qwa taxi rank I found myself stranded again. Taxi ranks are notoriously chaotic and known to be dodgy so I really want to stay there for long. A kind taxi driver helped me locate a minibus driver who was willing to drop me off at the hotel but I had to wait for two hours. Seeing as I had no other choice (except to pay 20x that price for a personal taxi), wait was what I did. So by the time I arrived at my hosts' place it was almost 4pm.

My hosts are Francois and his partner Gerrit. It's like a gay tour of South Africa :) They are the executive chef and hotel manager at a nice hotel in the national park, respectively. Their home is on the hotel premises and has a tremendous view of the park! I really lucked out because all I wanted after hopping from city to city was to get away from civilization a bit and relax. I couldn't ask for a better place and more laid back hosts.

Nearly by Clarens is the "art capital" of South Africa and is teaming with little independent galleries and shops. Got a glimpse of it last night when Francois went into town for yoga but most of the places were closed.

Today I plan to hike a bit, chilax, and take in the gorgeous scenery.