Rambling On in Tzaneen

Well I am still in Tzaneen!  The car is ready to go, but the funds transfer from Australia still has not cleared.  While Hotel@Tzaneen is fantastic and it has been nice to live with a bit of luxury, it is starting to bite into my money.  One advantage is I will be able to watch the next Australia match at the World Cup (hopefully we will do a better showing than against Ireland last week).  I will do Kruger NP and Mapungobwe NP (don’t ask me how to pronounce it) and then I have decide to go down through Swaziland, one of the last kingdoms left in Africa, to the coast.  I am itching to get started on my travels.

I have also started buying bits and pieces for my trip, such as cooking gear and tools.  I am sure the hotel staff are wondering what is going on as my room is filling up with this stuff.  One of the big advantages is that everything is much cheaper than in Australia, and of course the Aussie dollar is consistently going up against the Rand.  It was about 6.8 R to the dollar when I arrived, now it is pushing 8 R to the dollar.  Interestingly enough, I withdrew R 3000 yesterday and it came to $395.30, and today I took out another R3000 which came to $389.10, a difference in six dollars in 24 hr (in my favour).

Limpopo is apparently the poorest province in South Africa, but you wouldn’t think so by being in Tzaneen which is like any reasonable sized town with quite a large middle class.  However, a bit like the Northern Territory in Australia, the poverty seems to be hidden a bit I the bush and tribal homelands.  Many of the people live in ‘apartheid era’ compounds which seem to be fairly short on for amenities, and if they are lucky enough to have jobs it tends to be as farm labourers which by our standards seem to be very low paid.  Notwithstanding this most of the people are the same as anywhere else in that they are friendly, interested in where you are from and make the most of their life.  It will be interesting to see if what I have come to accept as normal in Limpopo is reflected throughout South Africa.  I have a strong suspicion that it won’t be.

I was showing some photos of SANWild to a friend the other day and when I mentioned Umfumu’s name, she laughed.  Her first language is Tsonga (the local language) and she said it means ‘Royal’, so my first thought was ‘royal pain in the bum’.  Anyway, just to make sure I don’t forget him, I now have Umfumu as my wallpaper on the laptop.  I will miss being chased through the bush in the middle of the night by him.

Anyway, my apologies to those who are following this blog who are not my friends and family, but I promise once I start travelling it will get a bit more interesting again for general consumption.