Well I was really hoping we were going to be able to give King Goodwill Zwelithini Zulu a bull today. Sadly it was not to be. Instead we find ourselves in the royal and spiritual capital of the Zulu people, Nongoma, here in the north eastern corner of the country as planned, but without an audience with the king, and minus one bull. There’s a chance we might have something arranged with the king’s brother, Mbonisi Zulu, in the morning, but will have to wait and see.
Rain has been falling off and on all day and the grey clouds over rolling green hills give the area a strangely English countryside feel. Clusters of colourful huts and thatch-roofed rondavels soon dispel the English feel though and transform the scene into something truly African. A beautiful sight it is. It must be even more picturesque when the sun comes out – as the forecast says it should later in the week. Hopefully things will have cleared up a bit for St. Lucia and our trip down the KwaZulu-Natal coast on Thursday/Friday.
The king’s brother did attend our braai tonight, held at Nongoma Inn just off the main street in the centre of town. I went heavy on the salad after another meat fest last night and, again following the festivities of Spioenkop, we’re all pretty much wrapped up for the evening and in bed by 21:30.
Another early start beckons in the morning – down to the palace to see what comes of our meeting with Prince Mbonisi Zulu. I say “˜the’ palace, but in fact the king has four palaces and I’m not sure which we’ll be visiting, if we’ll be visiting one at all. Frans has just told me that it looks like we’re on, but I’ll fill you in on the details tomorrow.
