So the younger brother( the youngest of us is still trudging through the last year of high school) and I got invited to a wedding taking place on the 20th of May at the Lake Eland Game Reserve in the Oribi Flats(east). Which can be a bit of a nightmare if you have children and work for a traditional employer. Thankfully we have neither of those. It was held out in the boonies where cell signal is a thing that happens to other people and the scenery was gorgeous.
Both MJ and I are seasoned travellers ( between the two of us we have the U.K, Switzerland, France-3 times, Germany, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Jeddah, Bahrain, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Mauritius, I may have forgotten one or two). So preparation for this escapade was done and dusted in approximately a week. We decided that a long weekend was in order since we have been fairly lackadaisical about exploring our home country.
First the hunt for accommodation. Lake Eland themselves were not particularly helpful, frustration with being messed around and running out of time I looked further afield.
I found the Oribi Gorge Hotel, a charming hotel set in gorgeous surroundings and copious amounts of sugar cane(as we came to find out) and booked our stay with them. Which turned out to be a blessing really.
Thursday the 18th of May we loaded the 2006 VW Caddy, switched on the Targa, loaded all the addresses I could scrounge up for Dive shops from Richards Bay to Shelly Beach. I needed scuba diving soft gear so thought it would be the perfect opportunity to have a nose around and maybe get a few things.
Our first stop was Umhlanga Scuba, Vinayak Maharaj is an interesting character with some very interesting experience with rebreathers and has so many certifications that it's a bit of a mission to even remember them all. The man definitely has some very high standards when it comes to scuba training. He was particularly helpful in the mask department as I am fairly myopic and I really don't like the idea of needing to change my lenses every time my prescription changes. It turns out that there are stick on "lenses" that are affixed to the mask and wallah, you get to see things under water.
Our second stop was at the Dive Factory, where I found the perfect mask(since it has an attachment for a GoPro) that is actually really comfy and does what it's supposed to. The guys are fantastic and their service is stellar. We're actually thinking of getting our custom wetsuits done via Dive Factory. I walked out of there with my mask, snorkel and a few clips. They are also very flexible about actually finding the stuff you want and need for you. Words to the wise: Don't judge this shop by its outer appearance like I did, you'll live to regret it. Additionally, try not to get lost. One wrong turn in that part of Durban will have you confused and 3/4 irritated GPS be damned ;)
Our last stop in Durban itself was Underwater World. We were interested in purchasing booties and fins(my feet are freakishly small so, that often causes a problem) and of course the wetsuit odyssey.
The woman that "assisted" us was fairly hostile and unpleasant all the way through our visit. All was well with selecting a pair of Reef booties and then things took a turn for the worse. I didn't like the fit of the pair of fins that she was intent on flogging me. They didn't fit(read: too big), it really felt like my toes were being weighted down. She got very negative indeed after that. Just showed us a Mares Set they had on display and that was it. Trying to get decent information on dive torches from this woman was like pulling teeth. I'll be damned before I support their business again. She was rude, snobby and her "superior" attitude didn't do them any favours. Very disappointing. Something like that could easily switch off a new diver.
After the awful visit to Underwater World, we decided it was time to make a break for the South Coast. We made our last destination on the list fairly late in the day. Aqua Planet Dive Centre & Charter, is a charming dive centre with fantastic staff in attendance. As a side note: The shop is manned by a Dive Master that doesn't get a commission on any of the gear they may sell, so the advice is about as pure as it is possible to get. The lady on duty was very friendly, knowledgeable and frankly has an awesome attitude and personality. Her advice on the wetsuits was great( she actually explained the difference between open cell and closed cell suits) and she managed to find a pair of fins that actually fit my feet. I also walked out of there with a cheeky T-Shirt.
After our visit to Aqua Planet Dive Centre (seriously, they are great and their service second to none) it was time to find our hotel. Which was literally out in the boonies. I’m looking at their website and there are two very different sets of GPS co-ordinates. The first one we try tells us we are almost 150km away from our destination. That can’t be it and dumb iPhone’s battery is starting to flag. We try the second set, the Targa tells us it’s about 24km away from our starting point in Shelly Beach.
We end up taking the P55(nameless road), it turns into dirt road and sugar cane as far as the eye can see... and it’s getting dark. I call the hotel to find out if we are at least heading in the right direction. They don’t know, because we don’t really know where we are anyway. Sign-boarding and dirt roads don’t mix. They tell us to set the GPS to the N2, then follow the directions from their website. You know, the same one with the bum GPS co-ordinates.
Just to make things more interesting my battery decides to give up the will to live and dies. It is probably time to invest in a new one, besides I hate Apple products, they get on my nerves. We drove along this donga ridden dirt road, blowing Offspring into the night until we hit tar and an almost obscured sign proclaiming Paddock to be in the opposite direction. What followed next was essentially a guessing game. We found a sign for Lake Eland Game Reserve and tooled down there. We should’ve known as soon as we saw the sign prohibiting trucks that it wasn’t a main throughfare.
It was a surreal experience driving the Oribi Gorge in the dark. The road is a single lane, shrouded in the very best of horror movie creep factor. The bends in the road are vicious and the trees... man the trees appear to be trying to reclaim the road by hook or crook. In some places it looks like someone has been at them with a chainsaw, creating an almost perfect arch. Apart from the white knuckled bends we did pass a surprised antelope on our way down. The uphill part of it wasn’t much better, the bends in the road aren’t sweeping or relaxed, they are tight and ragey. If I’m honest I’m glad my brother was driving. The dark and the thickness of the trees made it particularly hard to see what was to either side of the driving surface.
We finally found a sign for the Hotel and went shooting off into more sugar cane and dirt roads towards the place we planned to put our heads.
The staff at The Oribi Gorge Hotel are genuinely lovely and the service is excellent. We were shown to our rooms by the denizens huddled by the fireplace. Quick note... This time of year it is quite cold around there. The rooms are incredibly spacious and the furniture fairly robust. The ground floor rooms have a set of French doors that open up onto a small paved area with benches and then rolling lawn. The bathrooms are really nice and contain a decent bathtub and a shower. It has a clean rustic feel with the “log” style furniture with a touch of luxury with the soft furnishings.
The A La Carte Menu at the Oribi Gorge Hotel is actually really lovely. We sat outside, where they had some comfortable seating. Be warned, their portion sizes are enormous. The food was definitely fresh and wholesome. Our server was an exceptionally nice lady.
And then the bad news came. The water pump(the hotel relies on their own water supply and are not connected to the mains) had gone down that very afternoon. Apparently the pressure switch ruptured its diaphragm. All I could think about was that I wouldn’t be able to introduce myself to that bathtub in my room. Turns out I was wrong though, they kept the water running until 10pm damaged diaphragm and all. The manager stopped by our table to ask about our schedule the following morning to make sure the water would be switched back on in time.
This was when we found out that the road we had taken to get to this place had sheer drops on either side in some places and waterfall crossings in others. Apparently not even the locals travel that road at night. We were wondering why it was so very quiet. The man looked positively horrified to know we’d taken the road in the dark. So the road turned out to be creepy, dark and dangerous. It would appear that we were lucky to come out of it alive.
The beds in this place are amazing, spacious and excellent quality. It was quite nippy for us poor spoiled Zululanders, so the extra blankets housed in the built in cupboards came in very handy indeed. The bathtub was divine, if anyone is interested. It actually prompted me to hunt down some foam bath when we went to Shelly Beach for all the stuff we inevitably forgot.
The only downside to the accommodation was that the wooden floors are fairly noisy. I woke to someone stomping about and talking far too loudly above my head at 7am. It sounded like an invasion of Huns up there.
Breakfast(which is included in your room rate) consisted of a cold buffet or (if that didn’t blow your hair back) a cooked breakfast. It’s literally the first time in years I’ve been that close to marmalade, but they do have a nice variety.
After breakfast we went on our merry way to see just how badly we could scare ourselves.
