Misto - November 14-22 2018: Enjoying the delights of Zululand

Over a week has flown by here in Richards Bay. We are delighting in being back in South Africa and seem to have slipped easily into the way of life again. We have enjoyed visits to Umfolozi and St Lucia. On a game drive in Umfolozi we saw elephants, 11 white rhino around a water hole, giraffes, zebra, warthogs, impala, kudu and Nyala all in one short day! Our first visit to St Lucia did not yield so much game and we went back a second time to do a river cruise and were rewarded with many sightings of hippos and a few crocodiles. We also visited a sanctuary for Africa cats and got up close and personal with Cheetahs, servals, African wild cats and karakuls.

On the boat front we have had Misto waxed and polished and measured for new sails and rigging. The latter two will be delivered and the work done in Cape Town. We also got our gennaker repaired - the sailmaker says it is technically a screecher so I guess I’ll have to call it that from now on!

The Zululand yacht club have been wonderful hosts and it has been a great place to stay and they put on many events. We enjoyed wine tasting, typical Zulu food, Zulu dancing and much more.

On a more frustrating note my old S.A. ID book needed to be replaced as it’s so old it has no bar code nor biometrics associated with it. I spent several frustrating hours making the application and have discovered I’ll have to return to Richards bay to collect it as it’s sent back to the office where one applied.

We will be departing for East London tomorrow. The weather is so strange that we are not sure when we will be able to get further, but hopefully to Cape Town by early December.