20091214 – Changing Money and Traveling to Nelspruit

We woke up just about first thing in the morning. Our major goal for the day was to change the tremendous amount of Meticais that we had taken out of an atm machine before heading to Tofo back into “real” money. Ultimately, we had to stop at 3 banks before we found one that could perform this relatively simple task. This is Africa, and if there is one thing that I am constantly reminded of, it is that easy things often prove to be tremendously difficult. The first bank that we went to (Barclays) advertised that they were selling rands, but upon closer inquiry, they said that they didn’t have any. Our second attempt was at the BCI. I asked at the counter, and the teller told me that they did sell Rands. So, we waited in line for about 30 minutes. Once we got to the front of the line, we were politely informed that they didn’t change money for non-customers! Ack. Perhaps they could have told us that before we waited? The final stop was a simply currency exchange house. We knew that we would get rubbish rates from this place, but we had no more options left to us. We changed our money and then caught a cab to the taxi ring.

Fate was finally with me, and for the first time, we were given a mini-bus with an external luggage carrier! And, to top things off, Jeremy and I sat in the front seat! Let me tell you, the 4 to 5 hour ride from Maputo to Nelspruit was heaven.

When we finally arrived in Nelspruit, we were picked up by two workers from the “Big 5 Backpackers” hostel that we would stay at. It seems that, for some unknown reason, they had waited there since around noon for us. We arrived at 5. However, it was nice that they were there. On the other hand, this would be the start of our realization that things are not quite right at Big 5. The owner of the car who picked us up is a friend of Allen’s (the owner) son. Perhaps you have seen videos or simply have some idea of the stereotypical white guy who wants to be a gangsta. Well, this guy takes the cake. With the rap blaring, the strobe light in the back seat, the loaded gun in the front seat, and the lingo down pact, he was definitely interesting to be around.

We arrived at Big 5 and were introduced to the second oddity, the owner himself. Allen, at first glance, will remind you of an incredibly relaxed ex-hippie. That is decidedly what he wants you to believe. But in the end, he is neither bossy nor laid back if you want to deviate from what he wants you to do. He is very helpful when you are following his plans, but if you want to do something else, the help is quick to stop. It was very frustrating to deal with him, and to be honest, the experience did not get any better over the course of our stay.

With that said, we decided to go with his plan for visiting Kruger Park. It involved waking up at around 5 am for breakfast, touring the park in an open air truck for the rest of the day. At 5 pm, we would embark on a 3 hour night ride through the park. It did seems like an awful lot for one day, and we did ask if we could do the night ride on another day. Allen said that he would check this out and then call us the next day around noon. More on this later.

After making this decision, we went out to eat at Kuka. If you are near a game park, you probably should order game for dinner, and we did. I ordered the Kudu loin and Jeremy ordered the Game Espetado. This dish included Kudu, Ostrich, and Springbok. Dinner was delicious and we decided to go back if we had the chance.

The ride to and from Kuka was given by Allen’s son and the friend whom we had met earlier. Together, the two create a very odd couple. There was plenty of talk about the hizzle and shizzle and girls in Johannesburg. They informed us that they worked with undercover cops to bust kids in nightclubs who did drugs. This last bit of info was incredibly hard to believe. It was harder to believe this fact when they told us that the strobe light in the back seat was their “police light.”

That night, as we entered the dorm room, we were greeted by the final bit of proof that the two hoodlums were a bit off. On one of their beds was an inflatable pillow that resembled a woman’s naked chest. Yep, that’s right. A pillow that surely has no functional sleeping purpose was sitting in a hostel dorm room.