 Rosetta Hotel |
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 near Balgowan |
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 near Decadence |
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 near Howick |
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 Contents SA 2008-2 Journey Satellite Maps |
 BLO fecit 20090111 |
SA 20081211ROSETTA to UMKOMAAS |
(right): Gail and Paul The Village Guesthouse Umkomaas |
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I left Rosetta at 09:30, odometer 21,579 km and repeated a good part of my 2004 journey, except that I skipped the falls in Howick.
I picked up three hitchhikers in a row, only one of which had a good command of English, while the other two spoke it much better than my Zulu I ran into trouble on N3, which was very congested, and I got stuck behind a line of trucks whose fumes added to the lack of AC in my rental car. "Fortunately", a traffic police told me only trucks were allowed to go on N3 at this time, so he directed me back to an exit and told me to take the old road to Pieter Maritzburg, Rt 103. This was much more scenic, but also crowded, and I had no chance to take photographs while trying to drive through exciting PMB with its University while searching for signs to Durban ...of which I found only one. Suddenly I was back on N3 again and past the congestion. I kept racing along, took some picts on the fly and ended up at a mysterious exit near Durban going to both North and South coasts... I took the next ramp to N2 south coast beaches, past the International Airport and the cutely named Amanzimtoti where - I think - I first spied the Indian Ocean. It was a delightful drive and I decided to turn off again at Umkomaas, where I could not find my previous 'digs" but soon found some others at The Village Guesthouse. Here I had some nice chats with 4x married (and divorced) Gail and her ex, Paul who cooked us dinner and complained about the lack of managerial jobs suitable for someone of his caliber who had opened more than 100 shopping centers and a successful fish distribution market. Umkomaas is known for humpback whales, the annual sardine run and diving on Aliwal Shoal. |
