From Evernote:

Day 1 - LA To Mtunzini,SA

So here I sit in my private room with only the sound of the ceiling fan whirring and the tree frogs chirping in the background.  Thirty-three hours of travel.  I am exhausted.  How wonderful after such a long and uncomfortable trip to be here alone in my little room.  This British Colonial Indianesque bedroom with its old mahogany wardrobe and drawing table, iron four poster bed, and mosquito net is part of the three bedroom guest house on a large sugar cane estate.  Surrounding us are sugar cane and various small groves of trees and not much else. 

Also belonging to the estate are four dogs of various breeds and sizes.  There's the old madame. Frail and skiddish she follows us around at a comfortable distance, squatting to empty her old bladder numerous times along the way. Then there is Jack the Serpent Slayer, a spunky jack russel terrier who hunted down a snake in the garden and shook it to pieces for our protection. Gentle Giant is a red mastiff mix who only makes an occasional appearance and the puppy, whom I have not yet named, is playful and friendly, but like most puppies, not yet civilized, jumping on us in happy greeting and venturing into our little house, which is against the rules.  

After settling into our rooms, Melissa and I walked to the end of one road.  We were rewarded by a beautiful view of the cane filled valley; the cane rippling in the breeze with the sun stretching across the northern sky heading to her bed, warm and sultry.  The tales of black mamba in the cane deterred me from going into the cane too deeply, but oh! it was tempting. 

After we were settled in we drove back down our cane lined dirt road and headed into town to find some dinner.  Deciding to take a short detour to see the Indian Ocean, just 5 minutes down the hill, we happened upon two zebra grazing on, of all things, the golf course!  Bryan, Melissa, and I walked right down to them, getting within about 10 yards of the zebra. Along our short drive to the beach we saw monkey chasing one another long the road and amongst the trees. 

At the end of the road we came to a small parking lot area then followed he wooden boardwalk which lead us through the forest and dunes to the shore of the Indian Ocean.  The dunes gave way to a long stretch of red course sand and the dark powerful waves and white foam of the sea.  Rolling up our pant legs we waded into the warm water.  I was so intent on taking a photo of my feet actually in the Indian Ocean that I didn't see a large wave come in.  Suddenly I was in knee deep water and soaking wet! That was the end of my wading.  

As the sparsely clouded blue sky began to turn deep indigo and pink, we headed back to our car and to find some dinner.  Winding back up the road a small deer-like creature that we could not identify, but I think is called a dykdyk, dashed across the road and into the cover of the brush and trees and we passed the zebra again who had moved on to the longer grass at the forest's edge.

In town we stopped at a restaurant called the Clay Oven thinking we might find some good curry.  They did have curry, but also nearly everything you could imagine, from hamburgers to pizza to subs and greek salads.  I chose barbecued chicken and a salad hoping for something easy on my jet-lagged stomach.  The chicken was tasty but the BBQ sauce was not like any I had ever tasted, fruity flavored with a jelly-like consistency. Not my favorite. Bryan started his apparent travel tradition of ordering chips (fries) with every meal, even with rice. 

Back at our cottage, I slept quite well, waking only once around 4am.  Waking refreshed ready see what adventures await me on day two.