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Johannesburg
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Graskop
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Kruger NP
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Mozambique
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Swaziland
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St Lucia
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Durban
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Bergville
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South Africa - Bicycle Tour Adventure, Day 11
Pictures and Stories About Bicycle Adventures
Morning Boat Trip St Lucia Lagoon
(Crocs, Hippos, Eagles, Herons, Storks ...),
Self Guided Tandem Bicycle Ride about St Lucia,
Guided Tandem Bicycle Ride into Zulu Village
(Mat Maker, Medicine Woman, Dancers);
18 Nov 2014
Photographic Highlights of the Day
Above: Doctor Mbuyazi meets Doctor Struck. Doctor Mbuyazi is a certified Zulu Healer and Shaman with a Doctorate in African Medicine. Is it a Coincidence that Terry decided to wear her only Yellow Top on this Day? Yellow is the Healer's Color.
Above: Traditional Zulu Tribal Dance Performance (Warrior, Fun, Ceremonial ...) in a Zulu Village.
Above: Hippopotamus Yawn.
Above: A Weaver Bird lands near his Weaver Bird Nest.
Above: A Baby Hippopotamus is by itself in Crocodile infested waters. The baby is perfectly safe from crocodiles, every crocodile knows that the Mother would go on a croc killing rampage if any harm came to her baby. Crocodiles fear and respect Hippopotami, they live together and crocs stay out of their way.
Above: Yellowbilled Kite - They breed in South Africa and migrate to Northern Africa for their summers [Jannes Kruger].
Above: Green Backed Heron.
Above: Purple Heron.
Above: A of Crash (Herd or Bloat) of Hippopotami.
Above: A full grown Water Monitor suns itself on a pier.
Our Lodging in St Lucia, South Africa
Above Left: Terry in the morning.
Above Right: Red Trumpet Flower (my name).
Above Left: A collection of Walking Sticks.
Above Right: Twisted Wire wine bottle cover decorations. The wire comes mainly from computers.
Above Left: Zulu Short Spear and Baskets.
Above Right: An original ballet used to elect Nelson Mandela in South Africa ('X' Marks the Vote).
Tour boat ride on the St Lucia Estuary
Above: St Lucia Estuary (Estuarine) Bird Information.
Above Left: We're facing due south; the southern most craft will be ours.
Above Right: The Captain and Crew.
Above Left: There are 3 things in the water that can kill a person, pick a way to die.
Above Right: Tour Boats at the ready.
Above Left: Cabin Area.
Above Right: Gift Shop.
Above Left: The Captain.
Above Right: The Rules.
Above: Water Monitors.
Above: Weaver Birds and Nests.
Above: Crocodile(s).
Above: Hippopotamus Baby.
Above: Hippopotamus Tooth (up to 22"/55cm).
Above: Stork(s).
Above Left: Purple Heron.
Above Right: Green Backed Heron
Above Left: Yellowbilled Kite.
Above Right: Egyptian Geese.
Above Left: Map of iSimangaliso Wetland Park (aka Saint Lucia Estuary).
Above Right: Observers, Terry in Yellow Biking Gear.
Above Left: We were heading back to dock and I noticed this bird pattern in the trees.
Above Right: Flowering Shrubs.
Self Guided Tandem Bicycle Ride about St Lucia,
Above Left: Our bike was at the docks, we made quick pit stops, and tourist trinkets are available.
Above Right: As we are departing, I notoced that the tourist boats have already off-loaded, re-boarded, and are away with the next set of estuary tourists.
Above Left: There is a nice bike path through town, through a jungle tunnel beside the estuary, to the ocean, and back to town. It was pleasant and for the most part, we were alone (very romantic).
Above Right: Terry was a happy stoker riding through the jungle canopy.
Above: A nice jungle tunnel bike path.
Above Left: Lake St Lucia Estuary and Beaches Council, Thank You.
Above Right: Hippos are the leading wild animal killer of man in Africa and the killings happen mainly at night when people unwittingly walk upon a land grazing Hippo at night.
Above Left: We greeted a group of bike riders.
Above Right: We're at a boat access and it has a good warning sign.
Above Left: We decided that the boat ramp and park area would be a good place for lunch, we just happen to have selected a Marula Tree for shade.
Above Right: A White Dandelion.
Above Left: They are like crepe flowers in a tree.
Above Right: African themed sheets for sale (tourist stop by which we biked).
Above Left: Another tourist setup.
Above Right: The hiking path continued. We rode our bike a little ways but realized that we were going to meet people on the boardwalk and there may be other safety issues (like snakes) so we decided to walk the bike.
Above Left: Terry manned the bike while I took pictures.
Above Right: We were correct to assume that hazzards may exist on the boardwalk and that riding the bike may get us there in a hurry.
Above: That's the Indian Ocean and it has Crocs and Sharks here.
Above Left: Dennis walked the Bee.
Above Right: We almost missed it, a young female Bushbuck (we think).
Above Left: We're out of the estuary area and onto the main ocean beach.
Above Right: A view of the ocean from the same beach spot.
Above Left: A flower is growing in the beach sand.
Above Right: Now we follow the coastal road.
Above: We are now following and cycling upon the coastal road.
Above Left: We're at a T-Intersection, the road back to the town of St Lucia is behind us.
Above Right: Speedbump and Vervet Monkeys.
Above Left: The same monkeys as previous.
Above Right: Cycling in South Africa.
Above: This Whale Watching Tourist Booking building is on the north end of Saint Lucia's main street, we passed by it on our way westward to the Estuary Market/Tourist Center.
Above Left: We had crossed through St Lucia on the south side of town and we were about to cross the estuary bridge and we snapped a picture of this gentleman walking his bike in our direction (uphill for him, plus I think that is a rental bike). Now we are heading for the Estuary Market/Tourist Center which is located on the river just behind this cyclist's head (across this river bridge).
Above Right: A picture of the river/estuary where we were boating just a few hours ago.
Above: Segment pictures of a mosaic floor map of the St Lucia area.
Above Left: Terry poses with a young Zulu Dance Performancer - We do not know it yet, but we will see this young man again in a Zulu Dance Performance in about 3 hours.
Above Right: Ice Cream Man in St Lucia.
Above: Tourists Bazarr on main street, St Lucia.
Guided Tandem Bicycle Ride into Zulu Village
(Mat Maker, Medicine Woman, Dancers)
Above Left: This is our guide for a pre-arranged tour of a Zulu Village (which we think is called Khula Village). Every Village that we will have cycled through has NOT had a sign, in fact most roads are not named, and navigation cannot be performed without asking questions. Furthermore, while 100% of anyone asked will give directions, they have proven to be about 50% accurate.
Above Right: We have seen groups of ladies in Orange before and too our knowledge it was always in Zulu country. We do not know the actually significance but I suspect they are members of a Christian Service Organization (just a guess).
Above Left: Sipho Zungu Clinic - We have observed that all Schools and Clinics are in fenced compounds with one controlled entrance.
Above Right: Zulu Village Entrance and Signs.
Above Left: Zulu Village Entrance.
Above Right: We have been led through many back country dirt roads and were are arriving at our first host's home, in a Rondavel of course, our first real rondavel home visit.
Above Right: The lady on the left represents the Village Chief and she wants to insure that our visit is meaningful and meritous. We suspect that she is related to the Chief but her effort is very professional. We suspect that she is one of many with a college degree in a country that has with a 50% unemployment rate. We were lucky to have her as a liason.
The young lady to the right is a niece of the Mat Maker that we are about to visit (in this same lodging).
Above Left: This is the Mat Maker, she has 3 or 4 weaving blocks in the dwelling. She recovers Mylar bags from the trash dump, cleans them, and cuts them into strips. She then wraps the Colored Mylar Strips around straw like sticks from local flora. She has the ability to randemly mix colors (seen on the right) or to weave color patterns (seen on the floor to the left). All of her good stuff is sold.
The Story: Were were told that the Mat Maker is a widowed grandmother who is providing for her extended family. We beleive that story but it felt like the Village Contact for the local Tribe went out of their way to find a hardluck case for us to meet. Furthermore we felt a strong obligation to buy a mat and no good ones remained in the lodge. We felt used.
Above Right: A close up of the same mat.
Above Left: A quick photo of the rondavel.ecause we are all curious; there is electricity in this rondavel.
Above Right: New cabinets, no running water, no stove but yes on hot plates.
Above Left: Displayed is a sample mat that we will, buy but more importantly a Mat Weaving Board (Loom?) is being set up.
Above Right: Terry tries her hand at weaving in a pre-made stick.
Above Left: Terry weaved in a stick.
Above Right: Grandmother demonstrates how to select and make a Mylar strip from a bag.
Above Left: Grandmother demonstrates how to wrap the Mylar strip around a stick (to be the next woven mat stick).
Above Right: Terry wraps a stick with Mylar. This is our last photo in the Mat Making rondavel.
Above Left: Kids had gathered to check our bike.
Above Right: We see a beautiful rooster on the fence.
We Visit a Zulu Shaman
Above Left: Our Hostess and Doctor Mbuyazi (bent over) using a mortar and pestle to grind a substance into a fine powder. Doctor Mbuyazi has a house (to the right-hand side) but she does all of her work in a little beehive rondavel.(in center view)
Above Right: The roof of the Shaman's Beehive Rondavel.
Above Left: It took me a while to understand but these are leggings for dancing, they are flashy in daylight and firelight and they make a rattle like noise.
Above Right: There is a customer there for medicine for her Dad (I cut the customer out of the photo). Doctor Mbuyazi is folding the medicinal powder (ground up in a previous photo) into a newspaper envelope. Then Doctor Mbuyazi gave the powder to the Daughter with precise instructions. The customer left the dwelling and Doctor Mbuyazi gave us her undivided attention.
Above Left: Various compounds and substances of medicinal value.
Above Right: Doctor Mbuyazi and Doctor Struck.
Traditional Zulu Tribal Dance Performance
(Warrior, Fun, Ceremonial ...)
Above: The multi-seat truck was originally meant for us. It could travel in the sand and our bike could not. However, we pedaled and pushed our bike around the village (following our 100 pound guide, ahead of us in the picture).
Every time we stalled our bike in the sand we would here laughter from kids somewhere. Well, today we provided the "ungulu" entertainment to the village kids! Ungulu, in Zulu, means White People and it has no derogatory meaning.
Above Left: Our Hostess led the way to the Dance Corral. We did not understand this Ceremonial Dance at the time but there are 2 appreciable custom changes happening here.
1 - Girls were allowed in the all Men's arena.
2 - Non-Zulu People were allowed to watch at the Men's Dance Corral.
Above Right: First everyone is in a warm-up mode. The drummer is finding his beat and dancers are just strutting and sort of just showing-off [which is what boys do].
Above Left: A young man in sort of a supervisory role (and drummer) is showing the boys that he still has 'it' and 'it' is appreciated.
Above Right: Now we are into tow-heel movements (BTW, all similar with Native Americans).
Above Left: Terry was drafted to dance with Zulus.
Above Right: Terry was shown some steps.
Above: Terry is performing Zulu dance steps in a Zulu Village.
Above: Terry has inspired advanced dance motions.
Above Left: Terry is holding her own.
Above Right: The next Dancer does his individual routines.
Above Left: The last Dancer in the line performs his individual routines.
Above Right: When the individual performances are completed, it is customary for the dancer to fall to the ground. This ended the performance. We were honored and gratefully thanked our hosts.
Above Left: The Bee has another admirer.
Above Right: They have big appetites around here.
Above Left: It is a home made and steerable commercial truck. I am thinking that someone has a cool uncle.
Above Right: Here's the driver.
Above Left: Hippopotami grazing on land during the cool of night, unbeknownst to a late night or early morning person about, are the leading cause of human killings by animals in Africa. The Zulu Village that we just visited is near the river estuary, Hippo killings are a big deal around there.
Above Right: Our tour guide is making sure that we make it back home safely.
The shadows were getting long as another wonderful day was coming to an end.
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![Sipho Zungu [Zulu] Clinic.](Africa/2014-11-18 114.JPG "Sipho Zungu [Zulu] Clinic.")
![Our Rondavel destination [Zulu Village].](Africa/2014-11-18 118.JPG "Our Rondavel destination [Zulu Village].")
