Zululand

Natal Drakensberg National Park is in the state of KwaZulu-Natal, named after the Zulu natives and Portuguese colonists. I realized I'd been resident of Mississippi and Massachusetts, so maybe it isn't surprising that native languages can survive in major geographic names. 

While the DK hike has been almost 100% about coming to grips with nature, one of my personal reasons for visiting South Africa was to try to better observe the lives of black Africans living in such a culturally and socioeconomically diverse place. My observations are sadly limited to the stretch of rural Zulu villages lining the R74 into DK. 

- people living in very basic housing. The old house is the round thatch-roofed huts. 

The new house is a single-room gabled or slant roof built of bricks or cinder blocks. 

Some even have satellite (not to mention a great skyline):

I saw both types without doors, though huts without doors were far more common. I've seen a similar standard of living in parts of rural China

- people walk everywhere. That seems to be the default mode of transportation. Sometimes they wait by the road for a taxi or even try to hitchhike. I saw a few bicycles, including this one:

I've donated to World Bike Relief before, and it was cool to see these Water Buffalos in action, courtesy of Qhubeka. Two kids decked out in suit and tie were coming home from school on these bikes. 

Folks don't seem to ride quickly anywhere, but they don't seem to be in a hurry when they're walking, either. I saw

two people running out of hundreds of pedestrians.

- people are dressed immaculately. Generally, they choose bright colors and solid or basic patterns. Despite the clay that is everywhere, their clothes are always spotless. I've not seen that kind of fastidiousness anywhere else. I felt weird taking photos of the abundant walkers, so I don't have a lot of pictures for this. 

- I wonder how much these Zulus care about the lifestyles of other people from other societies, even from their own country, whose political boundaries probably have minimal effect on them. Darren said that apartheid was not a big problem outside of the cities. Many kids waves at us; Darren honked cheerfully past a few huts with resting onlookers; the majority of people walking along the road would acknowledge our presence as neutrally as possible, moving to the shoulder as we came around the bend.