After about a week and a half of being driven around, we decided to rent a car. It was a wonderful little thing, the Toyota Tazz. And driving on the left side of the road was an adventure in itself.
We took a long drive up into the mountains close by. About an hour away from the Lewis Farm is a town called Tzaneen. It is a bustling city, the largest in the nothern province, with lots of shops and all the major services you would expect. Stopped at a gas station/quick mart on the way out of town. We continue to be amazed at the cleanliness of everything. You could eat off of the bathroom floors anywhere down here.
The appearance is that most of the white Afrikaneers (descendents of the Dutch white settlers) live quite well and many of the African (blacks) live in abject poverty and work in very menial positions. The have/have not divide is quite astonishing, from the admittedly small slice of South Africa that we visited.
Once past Tzaneen we entered the foothills. Very lush and beautiful, but all farmed, not a stick of indigenous plants left. It was beautiful, but odd to look at after all the “natural” beauty of the Lowveld (the savannah area we’ve been staying). Lots of tree farms, big patches of trees side by side with stripped bare earth. Huge forests full of trees, all identical in height aligned in perfect rows. We stopped at a huge tea plantation. Tea is grown on the steep hillsides, in lush green plants/trees. We drove and drove up a windy road to the top, where they have a beautiful restaurant, a large patio/deck with a spectacular view over the valley. We all had tea, of course! An interesting thing about that tea plantation is because South Africa has just instituted minimum wage requirements, the tea farmer decided he couldn’t afford to pay min wage and make a profit so he stopped production. All of the workers were let go and the plantation is quiet. Sort of SA economy in a microcosm. A painful transistion in slow progress, but so necessary for the (native) Africans!
Our next stop was gorgeous hotel hugging the mountainside. Felt very European. Again, guests were all white, service all black. The Africans are all so friendly, with bright huge smiles (no matter how dumb the questions we asked). This spot was the first sense we got that Spring was in the air. Cherry trees were starting to bloom, along with lots of flowers. And, as every spot we visited, it was pristine.
On we went to Haenertsburg, a town – more like a hamlet up in the hills.
On our way back to Lewis Farm, we stopped at an organic cheese farm: the Wegraakbosch Dairy (amazing organic cheese in the middle of nowhere – more on this later), a hidden garden, called the Cheerio gardens. Chris and Natalie hiked around looking at all the beautiful plants. They shot a video of huge grasshopper – about 4 inches long!
And, sorry, no pictures on this amazing day as we left the Compact Flash card in the computer at the farm!
The Next South Africa Entry: Tshukudu – Meeting the Cheetah
The Whole Trip: South Africa – The Summary