We decided that trying to get close to Swaziland and spending the night, so that we could drive into and around Swaziland and get back close to Durban the next day, would involve just too much driving, pressure, etc. and not allow the leisure we wanted to enjoy.  So we decided to drive up into the Drakensburgs and see what we could find.

We walked over to another hotel and got our hire car, checked out of the Balmoral and headed up the Comrades route NW on N3 through Pietermaritzburg. After going through the Mooi toll barrier, where I got a shot of a real township, we got in a pretty serious traffic jam, for about 15K. But it was just a lane reduction for construction.

We got off and asked directions, having decided to visit the Drakensburg Range. We got off the highway at Colenso, and went west through Winterton to Bergville. There, as it was getting dark, we saw a sign for the Sandford Park Lodge, and having no other information about a place to stay, we followed the signs. Driving up the long path to the parking lot, I was having serious doubts, as I feared it was a tourist trap. In the parking lot, there were only two cars, but we parked "prettily" as the sign said and went to check in. The ladies showed us our rooms, which were huge, 4 beds each, and wanted to help us carry our bags.

We decided to shower and meet for dinner in the bar. I got there first, and was amazed to find Guinness, good Guinness, on tap. With a coal fire in the fireplace, and 5 people at the bar, Tom and I took a cozy and drained two pints each. The drums called us to dinner. This was beginning to get surreal. We were nowhere we knew, in the middle of the bush, in a lodge with thatched roofs, Guinness on tap, playing Roy Orbison on the sound system, with Zulu drums calling us to dinner. We were shown into an elegant dining room, and consumed the most scrumptious dinner you could imagine – smoked salmon appetizer, French onion soup, and I chose the sirloin fillet with "homemade monkey gland sauce." It was out of this world. A bottle of wine, and dessert was vanilla ice cream with hot chocolate sauce. The owner welcomed each table of guests (there were four groups now – Tom and me, a young couple, and older couple, and a family of 3). After dinner Tom and I went to my cabin, NCONCOSI, to make a few Father’s Day phone calls. After that, we decided to go back to the bar and Tom bought everyone a nightcap.