For more photos to go with this section - you may need to cut and paste it into your browser to get it to work: http://picasaweb.google.com/tree2222/SouthAfricaUmkomaasPiet ermaritzburgDrakensbergSaniPassLesotho

We arrived in Pietermaritzburg on our luxury bus at around 12.30pm and went to the hostel we'd booked. It turned out to be a bit of a dump so we left our bags there and went to find somewhere else to stay. We found a bed and breakfast just around the corner which was a bit expensive (250Rand per night - around 18pounds) but we decided to splurge and go for a bit of luxury!! I had my own room with a double bed and a TV and we had our own lounge.

We went to find the local tourist office to see what there was to do around the area and quickly discovered that Pietermaritzburg doesn't have much to offer in the way of entertainment!! We tried to organise a zulu 'experience' but it wasn't possible so after spending most of the afternoon in the info office chatting to our new friend Lynn - the most helpful info girl I've ever met (although she probably hated us!!) we ended up arranging a couple of days in the Drakensburg mountains near the Sani Pass.

Then we tried to find somewhere to eat and discovered that almost all of the food places in Pietermaritzburg close at 5pm and when we asked people where to go we got the same answer from everyone - Nando's or MacDonalds!!! Even the supermarkets closed at 6pm!!! Again the guy in the B&B and several people in shops warned us to be careful with our posessions and not to go wandering around at night so we went to Nandos, got some munchies from the petrol station and went and chilled out in our private lounge for the evening.

Friday 26th: Breakfast was served between 7am and 8am which was a bit pants, but we got up for it and then I went back to bed - lazy cow!!

We spent the day wandering around Pietermaritzburg which was interesting, there are some really nice buildings and we spent a while walking around the botanical garden. 


We managed to find the statue of Ghandi in the town which comemorates him being physically removed from a train here because of the colour of his skin.




We also found an alternative to Maccy-D's or Nando's which was a curry house where they sell bunny chow. Bunny chow is basically the end of a loaf of bread with the bread scraped out so the curry can be put inside - then some of the scraped out bread is replaced on top of the curry - it's a South African thing and it's pretty good.
We chilled out in our lounge again for the evening.