Searching for Grub-Round 2

Last week the Bond’s left you wondering whether they had chicken heads or eggs in their Bobotie. Fortunately the locals took pity on the silly Americans and understood what the poor soles were trying to communicate. The bobotie was a big success and a treat to eat. The next day (last Saturday 13 Jan) we attempted to hike to the site of commerce in our very rural small community, and purchase eggs and a tube of toothpaste.

Our mountain home consists of the AIDs/TB hospital high on a ridge overlooking a rural valley with small kraals (ranches). The mountain is also home to a deserted tea plantation, timber mill, Catholic shrine, indigenous nature preserve, and liquor store/tuck shop. We decided to take a short cut to get to the store, rather than traveling 4km down the dirt road to the tar road and hiking up and down the busy highway 3 km to the store.

So what’s it like to take the shortcut cross town to the store? Our coworkers had advised us that there was a great shortcut to the local tuck shop and to head to the right past the neighbor’s farm. So with that extensive guide map, we headed out the dirt road, over the bare rock section, past the high plain for grazing to the intersection with our neighbor’s farm. (The neighbor has a lumber trucking business and cattle enterprise and has been friendly when he passes us hiking down the track.) We walked down his long drive to his home where 3 dogs started barking and protecting their master’s estate. We hurried past the gate where the 3 dogs were ready to lunge and waved hello to the workers who came out to see the commotion. Thoughts of being accosted or arrested jumped through our minds but the adventure beckoned. Just past the gate we ran into mud on the track and several abandoned buildings. There were large vines and luscious overhanging flowers. This certainly was the tropical side of Mountain High. The track twisted around the neighbor’s estate until we reached a T. The left track went up the hillside away from what we thought was the direction of the small store. The right track headed into a dense forest of beautiful yellowing deciduous trees and ferns. The track grew smaller into a narrow path. Ahead I saw something in the path- a beautiful grey duiker and then another duiker headed the other direction. A lover’s spat? We headed down the slope on a narrow grassy footpath and were rewarded by a view of the water source for all of our mountain population-two lovely pristine lakes surrounded by virgin indigenous forest. The footpath crossed the isthmus between the small lakes.

Water is as scarce as transport here so the sight of these beautiful lakes was a treat for the eyes and soul. Many years ago, the NGO we work for sold grazing land to the neighbor in order to obtain access to the clean water in front of our view.

After crossing the small lakes we headed up the hillside, losing the obscure trail. After a short ways we came to a small pond where cattle were grazing. At the top of the hill above the pond a tin roofed farmhouse and kraal came into view. As we walked past the pond, a water monitor three feet long raged across the path into the pond. Of course, we jumped back and thought that crocodiles were part of this ecosystem. But a water monitor was pretty exciting to Southern California folks who get excited about geckos. We hiked past the pond and cows and headed towards the farmhouse. By this time we were completely lost with no indication of where the small settlement was located or the roads. We looked back at the pond and saw three makotis (matrons) following in our footsteps. We stopped to wait for them to catch up so that we could ask for directions. In my best Zulu I asked them where the tuck shop was located for the timber mill, and the women burst out laughing. They pointed to the farm house and said Lapha (There). We followed them through the kissing gates and up the small trail to the small store, which did have toothpaste and eggs. Success!

The small store was fixed in a former time with two styles of shoes, bags of mealies, watchbands, school supplies, cans of deviled meat, sewing notions, soap, eggs, tomatoes, onions and ice cold sodas. We asked the proprietor about the lizard and he laughed when we mentioned crocodile. No, he said in his best English, the lizards are varan.

So at last we had come to Mountain High central trading and were able to purchase needed items. I believe that getting there was at least half the fun!