Idefix is Back!
With the small rental car we vacationed a bit more in the East Cape (EC) and kwaZulu Natal (ZN). In the EC Addo Elephant Park was the first Big Game park we visited.
We were not disappointed. Lots of animals. Especially the waterhole
near the main camp was an interesting place to go to. Here the herds of
elephants came one after the other to drink, bathe and socialize..
As we did not want to spend the night in the Transkei (one of the old
‘homelands’ in the EC), we decided to stay over in Port Alfred (the Big
Pineapple in this area is supposedly bigger than the ones in Australia 
) and drive the 8-900 km to Durban in one day. The drive itself was
fascinating as this area is very Africa. People walking every where,
huts, waterpumps for an entire neighbourhood. Lots of minibuses. The
state of everything, houses, cars etc. deteriorated the more we moved
towards the border of kwaZulu Natal . This is really a very poor part of
South Africa. As it was a Sunday we saw lots of churchgoers in their
best clothes. It seems that people spend more money on their clothes and
looks than their homes. High heels, handbags, suits and ties are not
uncommon.
In Durban we had to talk with our shipping agent about the unloading and clearing of Idefix. Because of the long Easter Weekend we had booked long in advance a B&B, Manaar House, in Umhlanga Rocks, north of Durban. This happened to be one of the more wealthy suburbs of Durban with a beautiful beach. As I had developed a serious throat and ear-infection we went to see a local doctor. Some injections and other medicines made me feel better almost instantly. The appointment for the collection of Idefix was made for the 22nd of April. This gave us the opportunity to first go further north in ZN.
We booked ourselves a simple cottage at bushbabylodge near Hluhluwe. Pim, who owns the lodge with his wife Thandie, happened to be a fellow Dutchman and traveller. As we could eat nice home-cooked meals at the lodge we spend a lot of time (until darkness) in the nearby Hluhluwe NP. All in all we spend three days in this park and saw lots of different animals. Rhinos were everywhere (see pic) After another two nights in a cottage in the Umfolozi NP we returned to Durban.
The 22nd of April was election day and therefor a public holiday.
Getting Idefix out of port had to wait another day. It was very
interesting to witness these elections. A very high turnout (about 80%)
and at some places long queues. That day we toured the 1000 Hills north
of Durban and drove through areas where only Zulus live. 
The
ANC won. Their slogan ‘A home for all’ was also a bit for us, we
enjoyed staying in B&B’s but were longing for Idefix and camping.
Getting the car out of port was a lot easier than in Australia.
Collin from Multiship had arranged everything. We took a taxi to his
office and went with Collin to Customs House to collect a Customs
Officer and then drove through to the container depot. Within 30 minutes
the formalities were over. With a duly stamped Carnet we could take
Idefix out of the container and put on the tyres. Other than in
Australia, the people here did all that work for us. Within two hours
after we arrived we were ready to go! The only damage we had was the
protective plate of the front differential as the ramp used to pull
Idefix out of the container was not very even. 
A final night in a B&B, fresh water and diesel for Idefix and we drove back to Hluhluwe.
We had to go back a final time to Durban to collect mail coming from Europe but it had not arrived yet. What better place to wait than Bushbabylodge and visit Hluhluwe again as well as St. Lucia and the Wetlands Park. Although we received notice(we could use the Internet in a Pizzeria!) that our mail arrived, we decided to spend a few days longer in this area and visited Mkhuze NP as well. Because Swaziland was just a stone’s throw away we crossed the border and went to the Mlilwane NP. The border crossing was without problems. The South Africans were very friendly and more interested in our ‘home’ than anything else. The Swazis did not even look at the car.
The Swazis are extremely friendly. Almost everybody waved at us when we were passing. Although it is very poor the people seem to enjoy life a lot. Swaziland is on the other hand also very hard hit by HIV/AIDS. Lots of orphanages. On the campsite at Mlilwane a large group of these children were camping as well as a group of Overlanders (Half of them Dutch celebrating Queen’s day, we had not heard about the tragedy either). We decided to move to a very nice campground in Ezelwini. April/May have been holiday months here in South Africa. As the 1st of May is also a Public Holiday it was quite busy. We saw also Mozambicans taking a long weekend of. Although a nice place, Ezelwini was not really much quieter than Mlilwane. In the Stadium about 1 km away a Reggae Festival was held and we could here the music and noise until deep in the night. The facilities on the Campground were at least a lot better and cleaner.
Speaking of which, in Australia we had to do our laundry on campgrounds. For whatever reason Australians do their washing much colder than in Europe. We always had the feeling that therefor our clothes were less clean.. Here laundry is much easier. For a small fee we give a bag of laundry to cleaning staff and receive it back clean, dry and folded. My car-maintenance-clothes are suddenly almost clean again!
Swaziland was even warmer than ZN. The country is also very hilly. In
terms of height we cannot speak of mountains but the roads are
sometimes very steep. When we drove from Ezelwini to the capital,
Mbabane, we had to stop just before the top as our motor was getting too
hot! As elsewhere the people try to sell curios to earn some money. To
us it seemed that the Swazis are even more creative than the South
Africans. Not only the more well-known shops (Swazi Candles and Ngwenya
Glass) but also the other places have beautiful things on display. 
Next time more as for me writing is like the work this Dung-Beetle has with the droppings of elephants and rhinos. 