Whales, hijackings & Police bribery

We had a long journey from Ermelo down to the South Coast. We had originally planned to stop in Durban and see what that was like, but after chatting to someone about our terrible 1st day in Jo'burg, and being told that Durban was worse for crime, and specifically more violent crime, we decided to give it a miss. Instead, I found a little surf holiday apartment in the tiny coastal village of Glenmore Beach, just outside Port Edward which was actually just the tonic we needed. We arrived after a 7hr journey, but checkin was straight forward and we got settled quickly.

We only stayed for a couple of nights, but it was the first time we had been somewhere in South Africa where you could walk around and feel genuinely safe, so this was a revelation to us and we loved it. We explored the little village and found our way down

to the coastal path where we were met with the biggest surprise - we could see whales swimming and playing in the sea only maybe 150m offshore. I couldn't believe what we were seeing. Luckily Gaz had the binoculars with us and we were able to get a really good view. I felt totally goofy just sat on a rock with a huge smile on my face. I've never seen a whale before, and have always wanted to. I just never thought I'd be able to see something so amazing from standing on the beach. Wonderful madness. (no piccies mainly because I only have my mobile phone with me for snapping pics and that wouldn't have shown much. Gaz did play with trying to take a picture throught the binoculars, which did work but getting the picture while the whale breaks the surface proved to be too many variables and we gave up lol).

After wandering along the coast to the main beach and finding ourselves imminently cut off by the incoming tide, it was time to take off trainers and wade across the water to get to the beach and back up into the village. And of course there is something lovely about getting your feet in the sand and paddling, so it was no bad thing. We ended our mini-adventure at the local mini-market/Fish & chip shop with some takeaway fish and chips and it was bloody lovely!

Given the relaxed vibe of this sleepy village, Gaz decided he was long overdue a run and so used the opportunity to get some miles in. It's hard to get the exercise in when you don't feel like you can just walk/run around the neighbourhood. Some of this is our lack of familiarity with the areas we find ourselves in, but there is a genuine safety issue to be aware of. He was really chuffed that he had been able to go out.

Before we knew it, it was time to move on again and we knew this was going to be a mammoth drive down the coast to a big town called East London. it meant 8+ hours driving and given the warning that we should not drive after dark, we set off at 9am feeling confident. That confidence soon disappeared.

We had driven only a few kms before we found the main highway was closed. The policeman that spoke to us explained that protestors had hijacked trucks and set them alight on the main bridge only a little further on. When we said we needed to get to East London, he told us that wouldn't be possible today and that the road west was going to remain closed because of the damage and disruption.

Apart from being shocked, we knew we had to get to East London, so I looked at the map and could see that we could take a smaller road north and then west; it would mean a fairly big detour but we could do it, so that's what we did. We turned right and headed off. It was a small road but it had tarmac (not all roads do) so we made fairly good progress, until that it we hit a small traffic jam of a few cars. We quickly realised that a large tree was laying across the road and some local people were using a chainsaw to cut the tree and clear the road. We patiently waited and eventually the cars were able to get through.

5 minutes later when we came across another very large tree that had been clearly deliberately felled across the road, we realised that this was all related to the hijacked trucks. The protestors had been creating havoc all over the road network to ensure the disruption was significant. Reluctantly we turned around and headed back to Port Edward pondering how we were going to get to East London.

We arrived at the same Police corden and spoke with a different officer who was actually really human with us and empathised with what we were trying to do. He said not to try using the back roads as the risk of coming into contact with the protestors was high and that they could be expected to throw stones at the car or worse. He told us that we should travel East about 45km and then connect with a main artery road heading west and that it should be ok to get us to East London. So after a bit of banter where we explained "we just don't have this excitement in England" and he compared South Africa to the Wild West and laughed, we headed off with fingers crossed.

We drove past so much fire and collision debris on the roads from cleared incidents related to the protests, but made it on to the main artery road without incident. Unfortunately we did find that road had been attacked and closed as well, so took a detour on an unpaved back road for about 30km until we were able to pick up the main artery road again across the regional border.

We had lost a lot of time and Gaz was keen to make as much progress before we lost the light so put his foot down whenever he safely could. Unfortunately just when we thought nothing else would go wrong, we heard sirens and sure enough we were pulled over by the Police. The Policeman explained that Gaz had overtaken two cars on sections of the road that didn't allow overtaking. The fine was the equivalent of £80 and it was payable in cash at the police station 40km back the way we had just come.

This was the worst news we could have received. We were already running a couple of hours late and this would turn the longest driving day into an impossible day.

So I tried something. Cautiously. And with much respect in my wording and tone of voice. I apologised profusely and explained that we were having a terrible day because of all the protests and closed roads etc.... (he nodded) and given our destination was East London (he considered this) and we still had a long way to go (etc...), was there any way that he could let us off this time?

After thinking about it, he said that we could pay the fine in cash to him.

This was not ideal because we didn't have any cash really on us. I explained this and apologised. He rolled his eyes.

To cut a long story short, he basically asked us to give him whatever cash we had (the equivalent of £12) and he said we could go.

Realising that we just (only just) got away with that!

We couldn't believe we had gotten off so lightly and so we drove away cautiously and put some distance between us before it really sank in and we started laughing. Gaz said he just froze when he realised that I was attempting to bribe the guy and that if it had gone wrong we could have ended up in jail (and apparently he's too pretty to go to jail), but given the guy was clearly corrupt, I think we got off amazingly lightly. And as my parents have always said, if you don't ask, you don't get! I thought it was worth the cheek to give it a go. And it was! So, the lesson clearly is, in the face of adversity, be polite, but cheeky. you never know, it might just work out.

Gaz did a sterling job getting us to our next place, a farm, which was a little nerve-wracking given that we were driving in the country after dark and there were no street lights or cats eyes etc... But we made it safely and enjoyed a very large glass of wine to reward ourselves for getting through one hell of a travel day that totalled 13hrs behind the wheel!