memories of smooth roads...
When I get back to the UK I'm going to be pleasantly surprised by the smoothness of the road surfaces. As my Dad is into building good roads (check out Warwickshire for the sheer quality!), I'm looking forward to letting him experience the African-style road systems in a few months when the great family visit occurs.
The N3 is great, smooth, fast (except when there's an accident involving some truck driver asleep at the wheel, or in common cases of fog) and efficient. There are even convenient passing places at appropriate moments. It's great.
But to get to GGA you have to come off the wonder road that is the N3 and get on a minor road.
There's not too many potholes on this road, but at one corner, EVERY SINGLE TIME, I think my tyre has burst as the car shudders terribly and shifts slightly. It's just the road. I can't explain how or why.
And then to get up to GGA itself you have to come off the tar roads and go on a dusty track which I am now used to and so I can confidently dodge the biggest pot holes, but the dust that is blown up by passing vehicles is incredible. And when it rains, it's 2.5km of mud! Lovely.
To get to meet my friends in neighbouring Sankontshe valley, I have a quick route (when it's dry) and a long route (via the tar road, with only one major hairpin bend with sharp precipice to the left) That and about 20 speed bumps. South African road authorities love their speed humps, of all shapes and sizes. On one road I regularly drive there are no less than 10 speed humps all together in one place...
Yesterday I had to visit various people in Swayimane Valley. It's only about 20 km away, but to get there you have to drive along the ridge and down through the Valley of Kwa Ximba, along the river Dusi valley and up another mountain, then turn right at Nagle Dam and round another cliff to finally reach the start of Swayimane. It takes me about 1 hour to drive.
Crazy, but beautiful. Especially when the sun is out. There are no real junctions, just the odd cow or goat sitting in the road to slow you down.
The other thing is that no-one has road names, this is a farming community. People refer to places as to where they are near. I wanted to visit our preschool in this valley, to get there involved turning off the main road onto a dusty track, negotiating a herd of cattle and driving over a field to avoid serious muddage, before eventually stopping to ask for directions as we didn't know whether we needed to go along a muddy track or down a muddy track to the left.
But we got there in the end.
I was glad I'd taken Smilo with me, as everyone I had to see couldn't communicate in English and he had to do all the talking and interpret for me. I'm progessing with my Zulu and can now discern what the topic of conversation is, but still not really enough to contribute majorly to the conversation. Anyway, Swayimane is his home valley, so he knows it like the back of his hand, which was useful as we had some fairly major tracks to drive over to get to the houses we needed to visit.
As some of the GGA were re-integrated back into their communities in December, we had to deliver a couple of things to several children. The kids themselves were at school, but it was interesting to see what is now 'home' for them.
We also visited the fifth, and final (for the moment) preschool that GGA supports. We've just built a new building for the lady who runs it. But it's still literally a little building in the middle of a field. They still need water and electricity and then a toilet. The kids weren't back yet, but the teacher was encouraged by our visit...
But my car is still holding up despite the gruelling tracks I take it on. I knew I should have got a 4x4... My next car will be a Toyota Hilux (if I stay here long enough) - 'virtually indestructable' as one of my Jaguar friends once claimed... we'll just see...
The N3 is great, smooth, fast (except when there's an accident involving some truck driver asleep at the wheel, or in common cases of fog) and efficient. There are even convenient passing places at appropriate moments. It's great.
But to get to GGA you have to come off the wonder road that is the N3 and get on a minor road.
There's not too many potholes on this road, but at one corner, EVERY SINGLE TIME, I think my tyre has burst as the car shudders terribly and shifts slightly. It's just the road. I can't explain how or why.
And then to get up to GGA itself you have to come off the tar roads and go on a dusty track which I am now used to and so I can confidently dodge the biggest pot holes, but the dust that is blown up by passing vehicles is incredible. And when it rains, it's 2.5km of mud! Lovely.
To get to meet my friends in neighbouring Sankontshe valley, I have a quick route (when it's dry) and a long route (via the tar road, with only one major hairpin bend with sharp precipice to the left) That and about 20 speed bumps. South African road authorities love their speed humps, of all shapes and sizes. On one road I regularly drive there are no less than 10 speed humps all together in one place...
Yesterday I had to visit various people in Swayimane Valley. It's only about 20 km away, but to get there you have to drive along the ridge and down through the Valley of Kwa Ximba, along the river Dusi valley and up another mountain, then turn right at Nagle Dam and round another cliff to finally reach the start of Swayimane. It takes me about 1 hour to drive.
Crazy, but beautiful. Especially when the sun is out. There are no real junctions, just the odd cow or goat sitting in the road to slow you down.
The other thing is that no-one has road names, this is a farming community. People refer to places as to where they are near. I wanted to visit our preschool in this valley, to get there involved turning off the main road onto a dusty track, negotiating a herd of cattle and driving over a field to avoid serious muddage, before eventually stopping to ask for directions as we didn't know whether we needed to go along a muddy track or down a muddy track to the left.
But we got there in the end.
I was glad I'd taken Smilo with me, as everyone I had to see couldn't communicate in English and he had to do all the talking and interpret for me. I'm progessing with my Zulu and can now discern what the topic of conversation is, but still not really enough to contribute majorly to the conversation. Anyway, Swayimane is his home valley, so he knows it like the back of his hand, which was useful as we had some fairly major tracks to drive over to get to the houses we needed to visit.
As some of the GGA were re-integrated back into their communities in December, we had to deliver a couple of things to several children. The kids themselves were at school, but it was interesting to see what is now 'home' for them.
We also visited the fifth, and final (for the moment) preschool that GGA supports. We've just built a new building for the lady who runs it. But it's still literally a little building in the middle of a field. They still need water and electricity and then a toilet. The kids weren't back yet, but the teacher was encouraged by our visit...
But my car is still holding up despite the gruelling tracks I take it on. I knew I should have got a 4x4... My next car will be a Toyota Hilux (if I stay here long enough) - 'virtually indestructable' as one of my Jaguar friends once claimed... we'll just see...
posted by Caroline @ 8:54 pm
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