If it wasn’t bad enough that my Kindle went for a swim in the pool at Umzumbe, a glass of champagne somehow found its way into my Macbook Air on Monday whilst I was sending emails. This did not do it any good at all and despite taking it to the IStore at The Pavillion Centre in Durban and to a data recovery specialist, also in Durban, it has been declared well and truly dead. I was heartbroken but Mike was most sympathetic and insisted we buy a new one so I am back in business - but it has been an expensive few weeks!
Talking of The Pavillion Centre, it is one of many vast shopping centres in South Africa, covering many acres of land with every conceivable shop and restaurant within its walls
. BlueWater - eat your heart out! Shopping Malls are very popular in this country and are beautifully laid out. There is nearly always an ‘Ocean Basket’ (one of our favourite restaurants) therein, usually with lovely sea views.
We were initially bereft on leaving Umzumbe which was such a special place and it is unlikely that we will ever find some a perfect spot again. There was an almighty storm on our last night there with heavy rain and so it was a bit of a grey, blowy day when we arrived here in Clansthall, which didn’t help to improve our first reactions to our new home. However, it was as hot as ever the next day (up to 40 degrees) and it is a nice house with a lovely pool and nice sea views. We have to drive down to the beach (oh, what hardship - takes all of 3 minutes!) but there is a lovely garden (full of monkeys) and a roof-top terrace. Clansthall is a little village on the beach, a few miles from Scottburgh
. There is nothing here apart from lots of big expensive houses and a beautiful beach with a ferocious surf. Oh, and there is a rather basic but nice restaurant with a deck overlooking the sea. The prices are silly - about R50 for a main course (£2.50/3 euro), litre glasses of ice cold beer for less than a pound and a bottle of lovely Sauvignon Blanc for 3 quid. Here we sampled our first Mutton Bunny. Recipe for two Bunnies: Take a large white loaf of bread and cut in two. Scoop out the centre of the halves and fill each half to overflowing with a good, strong mutton curry. Serve with the scooped-out soft bread on the side and a small salad. Delicious.
On Wednesday we went to CrocWorld which is just around the corner and despite some initial misgivings, we were very impressed. It is set in a beautiful nature reserve and apart from lots and lots of horrible crocodiles, there are some wonderful birds - flamingos, birds of prey, fish eagles, owls and cranes
. The snakes were impressive too. Unlike zoos, you really can get very close to these impressive animals and we watched with interest as at least half a dozen crocs surrounded a crane, stranded on a tiny island in the centre of their lake. When the crane was within inches of its life, it took off and made a rather bad landing on the bank, where it was pursued by more crocs. However it escaped unscathed. You can’t help thinking maybe these birds enjoy a bid of croc-baiting! The place started as a crocodile farm where the animals were bred for meat and their skin but now it is a conservation centre. Its claim to fame is owning ‘Henry’ who was born in 1900 and is the oldest crocodile in captivity. He lives contentedly with his six wives in a large pond and sires at least 300 babies a year. It’s hardly surprising therefore that crocodile features on the menu at CrocWorld’s really lovely restaurant! Overlooking the ocean, you can whale watch from the decks and we enjoyed a delicious lunch there.
Tomorrow, Thursday, we are taking a taxi into Durban where we will stay the night before being picked up by our next exchangers who live at Ballito (about 60k north of the city). This will be our last beach house before we head into the interior to the Northern Drakensberg mountains and game reserves at Marloth Park and Hoedspruit.
Thank you all for leaving such lovely messages on the Travelpod blog - we do enjoy hearing from you and hope you will continue to enjoy following our adventures in Africa.
Techno-disasters in KwaZulu Natal
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Scottburgh, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
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Comments

2025-02-10
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peter & wendy
2016-02-10
There you are - I told you it would be expensive! Sauvignon Blanc at 3 quid a bottle - what spendthrifts you are! Drink a bottle for us please.
Denise and Frank
2016-02-10
Hi Gillie and Mike, sounds fantastic! We remember our visit to Croc World back in 1975, a much more primitive affair then! Just back from a very wet and windy Ireland and could do,with some of your warm sun. See you in April we hope.xx
gillie.bowen
2016-02-10
Frank and Denise, How amazing that you should have been to CrocWorld all those years ago! I guess Henry would only have been 75 and I believe he had many more wives then! Ireland is always wet and windy but the people make up for it. Hope to see you in April, too.
gillie.bowen
2016-02-10
Peter - we will do our best to drink a bottle for you but it's hard enough to trying to keep up with ourselves. Love to you both xx
mike farland
2016-02-11
what fun times! Amazing photos! thoroughly enjoying your journey albeit second hand!
Take good care
Mike x
gillie.bowen
2016-02-11
So lovely to hear from you, Mike! Yes, we are having a fun time. Let's hope we can do India together next year? Thanks for following our adventures...
Victoria
2016-02-11
All sounds lovely and you both look so well - you must have used your puppy dog eyes to Dad to get the new laptop! Good to see he still falls for that one! Lots of love xx
gillie.bowen
2016-02-12
Puppy-dog eyes? Who me? What do you mean Victoria? xx