Sunday and off to the Jozini forest
To say that we had been warned was most definitely an understatement and one that I should have taken more heed of. It is also true that when living and working with people of a younger generation I should have also been more aware of their carpe deim attitude to life and wanting to garner experiences that perhaps I am happy to let slip by. In any event this morning's trip most certainly put paid to any chance of me not having the full in your face, warts and all, life in Africa experience.
As the dala dala arrived it was already full with, I guess 2 or3, men hanging on to the back but, for some reason, being white always seems to mean that seats can be found even if it involves a lot of pushing and shoving and rearranging of the seating positions to accommodate us. Once ensconced in the bus, with 4 to 5 men hanging off the back now, you realise that for all its charm that it really is quite basic and uncomfortable. My first shock came when as I moved my foot a large squawk came from the bag the man was holding next to me. There was a live chicken next to my feet. OK unusual but also kind of quaint. However as the bus came and went with people getting off and on, more on than off though, a young lady with a child who could not easily find a seat for both of them squashed into a gap and promptly passed over the child to others on the bus with more space. For some inexplicable reason the child ended up on my lap for the journey. Now as you know I am fond of small children but not ones with runny noses and that dribble. However It transpired that not only was I to have the pleasure of this kids company and its flu like symptoms, for the whole journey, I was even expected to blow it's nose, wipe it's dribble and clean up anything else that came out. The girls thought the whole thing was very cute and were a bit jealous but I suppose that is female and youth again. A lethal combination.
The forest was hot, damn hot, but interesting. We saw the monkeys, both red and blue, and even managed to get quite close on more than one occasion. Lynsey and I had a shock when we saw a couple copulating (monkeys that is) but hey it's nature in the raw so to speak. We also took in the mangrove walk, where Ines became enchanted by the crabs with one large claw (Lyns and I could see the potentail for a cartoon character here and quickly called it Octo Grab). We then proceeded to the turtles and these creatures were great fun and we not only got to feed them but also in my case hold them. Yes you can be bitten but I listened to the guide and all was well. This is part of a new conservation programme where they are released back into the sea after 24 months. It seems a long time but they do live up to 200 years so not too much of inconvenience. By the way turtle soup is legal here but discouraged and we didn't like the idea of eating these anyway so I suppose you can say we were with the programme.
We had lunch back at the central forest lodge and then made arrangements for home. The girls all wanted to go back on the dala dala, I booked a private cab.
The afternoon became a quite affaire of lounging around sleeping and reading and the evening was pretty much the same. All in all though a day not to be forgotten.
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