Zululand

Scenes in the Zulu village of Kwanyuswa.

The local traditional healer.

Our group posing with the healer and local kids.

Our Zulu homestay for the night.

The view out Mama's front door.

The room I shared with David, Henning and Colin.

Saturday, December 2^nd.

We woke up to a light drizzle, packed up camp and had our usual breakfast before heading off by 7:00. We drove for about five hours with one pit stop. We drove on a great dual carriageway to Durban and then beyond. We drove to an area called Hillside which is the land described as the 'valley of a thousand hills'. This is the heart of Zulu land and it is here where we are going to spend the night.

We pulled up at the Vic Africa Tours foundation office where we met our two local guides, Maxwell and Sipho. This is a foundation that is trying to enlighten people, mostly tourists about Zulu culture to bring some income into the village. They gave us some information and then we had a provided lunch of bbq'd chicken wings and drumsticks and bread.

We went for a walk through the village of Kwanyuswa, where we met a few locals, saw people doing there things, and saw a couple of drunks staggering and pushing each other around. We walked past cattle, small farms and a number of rondavels (round houses). Our first stop was at a traditional healers house. It was a rondavel and we sat around the walls, divided by male and female. She spoke Zulu and our guide translated what she said. She gave us some information about her job. Then she performed a short traditional dance, which was very stressful for her as it was hot and she was big. After that she performed fortune telling for four members of our group. We posed there for a group photo with her.

Then we continued our walk to another rondavel where our guide told us some more about their culture before we were entertained by a group of half naked nubile young dancers. We were told that we were not to take photos or videos because of the age of the girls, and three very young boys. They danced to the beat of one drummer and it was the same high leg kicking dance that we have seen before. They were energetic and enthusiastic and the youngest ones were very cute. They had most of our group dance with them one by one at the end. We posed again for a group photo with the view over the hills and three of the little girls. Then we walked back. This is an amazingly beautiful place of hills and stunning vistas.

When we got back to the office it started blowing like crazy. We went inside where we were to listen to a local musician. The wind had blown the power out and Jay had to run a cable from the truck to his keyboard. He played and sang four original compositions. They were good and he had a great voice.

Then we organized what we needed for our homestay sleepover and loaded up in the truck for the short drive. We were divided up into two groups and I wound up with the older group because one family could not host all 16 of us. We were welcomed by a large, friendly woman who wanted us to call her Mama and welcomed us 'home'. We sat and talked for a bit while Mama and her daughter laid out our dinner. It was a thanksgiving type feast with chicken, potatoes, pumpkin, a carrot salad, a spinach dish, a local type of rice and another of bread. It was very good. After dinner we sat in the livingroom and talked. I talked to Mama for quite a while: single mom, husband died in 2000 when she had 5 kids. Never remarried. Husband built her the house. Daughter is a teacher and helped her expand the house so she could host tourists which she does two or three times a month. Married in 79 (same as me and I divorced in 2000) we laughed about that.

While we were sitting there mating termites on the wing kept flying in. After they finish they lose their wings and the king and queen termite bury themselves in the ground and start a new mound. The local people used to eat them, the dogs still do.

It was a great night with some good conversations about South Africa and Zulus. We were all in bed by 9:00. I slept in a room with Henning, Colin and our local guide Sipho. The reason I opted for this homestay group was because of Sipho. He was a wonderful young man, easy to listen to, well spoken, very informative, and he had a great sense of humour.