Jo'Blog: Nelspruit

This past weekend I got to visit another part of the country, primarily a town called Nelspruit and the Panorama Route nearby. Nelspruit is about a 4 to 5 hour drive east of Johannesburg, close to the Kruger Park. I went with my colleagues and friends Catherine and Eliza since they went to high school there and have friends there.

We left Friday after work and had a good, uneventful drive there. I drove all the way on the left hand side! Unfortunately we arrived in the dark so I couldn't see the beautiful scenery, but that made it all the more beautiful in the morning. After checking into our guest lodge (the norm here, hotels are the more expensive option) Friday night, we went out with Cath and Liza's friends. We went to a couple bars, but my favourite was the last where I got to see some traditional Afrikaans dancing. It's basically just a man and woman holding hands on one side and holding waist/shoulder on the other and dancing around the floor really quickly. Not so weird I guess, but they were playing club/pop music that people would be grinding to in America.

On Saturday we drove to Mac Mac Pools. We were also planning to go to a view site nearby called God's Window but apparently it is under construction. So we just went to the pools, again with a group of friends. Liza and I decided to go for a walk to see the Mac Mac Falls, apparently just a two kilometre walk from the pools. We had a great walk, saw lots of bugs, valleys, mountains, and eventually made it to the falls. Unfortunately one of my flip flops (called slops here) broke on the way so I had to finish the walk there plus do the walk back with only one sandal. It was quite uncomfortable but it was worth it. Liza and I have vowed to be prepared next time with running shoes (called tekkies here), water, and sunscreen. After arriving back at the pools we had some lunch (a boerewors roll, a popular South African sausage) and then headed back to Nelspruit. That evening we just hung out, watched some rugby, and had some pizza.

On Sunday we decided to drive to the Three Rondavels since we missed God's Window on Saturday. I asked my friends, and for those of you who don't know (like me), a rondavel is a small round hut with a thatch roof. Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy so we didn't get perfect pictures, but the mist covering the mountains and then revealing them again was amazing. I took a movie but won't be able to post it until I get home for Christmas because of the slow internet here.

It was an excellent weekend and can't wait to go on another weekend trip to see more of this beautiful country!