UmZumbe (Banana Beach)
Trip Start
May 06, 2008
1
5
53
Trip End
Apr 10, 2009
UmZumbe, South Africa
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
We arrived in Port Shepstone and rang our booked hostel, as per the pre-arranged instructions - no reply. We tried again - no reply. We waited five minutes and tried again - no reply. At this point we started to get a little nervous; bus drop off points are not usually the most frequented areas nor located in the nicest locations. We looked in one of the hostel guides we had picked up on our travels and tried a different hostel (that had also been recommended by some people in Coffee Shack). We got an answer, but it sounded like the phone had been answered by mistake and there were only distant voices audible. A re-try got an engaged tone. We decided to do some shopping for supplies in a nearby shop and then try again. This time success and we were on our way to the Mantis and Moon hostel!
The Mantis and Moon was unlike any hostel I think we will ever stay in. It had a jungle theme, but that meant it was actually based in a small square of jungle. We stayed in a little shed at the end of a boardwalk throungh the jungle, with an ensuite bathroom.... which was open air! To add further authenticity, we later saw the troop of local monkeys swinging through the trees. This was fun until they kept us awake for hours at night and then woke us up early in the morning, throwing things on our roof and jumping on it for added effect.
There is some bad news about our camera. While photographing our final surf lesson in Coffee Bay, the screen suddenly switched off and would no longer come on. We think some water got into it and after a call to someone in Olympus, we have sent it off for repair! We also decided to buy a second camera and while shopping for a cheap stand in, we convinced ourselves to get a good one (in preparation for the safari). We have ended up with a Nikon with an 18 times optical zoom lens, those creatures will have no where to hide! With luck (and some fast learning) there should be some great shots to show by the time we get home.
Back to the trip. We didn't do much in umZumbe, mainly because there wasn't a whole lot to do. This was pretty fortunate as it allowed us to heal from our first ambitious steps into surfing, but we soon got bored and decided to move on after four nights. Before that happened, we decided to go to Oribi Gorge, the local natural wonder.
Oribi Gorge is huge and has some stunning scenery, but it also holds other attractions, one that Nick found himself unable to resist. This was the (alleged) Highest Gorge Swing in the World: 110m to the bottom and two and a half seconds of free fall! It took some psyching up, but a wodge of cash and the longest swan dive ever gave us a mass of photos to treasure for ever! Chris declined the challenge, but we are tasked to find a chance to rind horses along a beach (preferably at sunset)..... we'll keep you informed!
There was one excellent feature to the hostel and that was the open air Jacuzzi in the jungle. We had a sun downer in there and ended up getting out two hours later. I don't think we'll get an experience like that anywhere else; alcohol, a warm Jacuzzi and surrounded by jungle!!
That's about it for this stop, next we hit Durban for a couple of days......
