South Africans Love the Colonel

One of the most jarring aspects of my trip to South Africa was the fact that no matter where I went, I was haunted by the ghost of Colonel Sanders. Nowhere was this more poignant than in the town of Eshowe, KwaZulu-Natal which has a population of just over 14,000 people.

On one of the main streets (Osborn Road), there is a KFC that always seemed to be doing brisk business the several times I passed by.

But not even a kilometer down Osborn Road is there another KFC that also does very brisk business as well!

South Africans love their Kentucky Fried Chicken almost as much as we Americans love our Starbucks. There is one on every corner!

Zulu Hymns

I had the opportunity to spend time with a church in Eshowe, KwaZulu-Natal where they have a dual language service in both Zulu and English. I recorded a few of the Zulu songs that were sung while I was there. Zulu has sounds that are not present in English that sound like clicks. You can catch a few of those in some of the songs. You might also be able to recognize an old familiar hymn or two in there as well.

Even More Kruger National Park

Baby Warthogs

While in Kruger National Park we came across some baby warthogs that were butting their heads together (as male children often do). I took a small video with my camera. Sorry for the quality.

More Kruger National Park

Venda Song

Here is a brief recording of one of the songs sung at the Venda services I mentioned in a previous post. It wasn't recorded with the best of equipment (being out in a rural area with no electricity), and I tried to clean up the audio as best as I could. This recording does not do the song service justice, but I hope it gives you at least a taste.



I think you can probably pick out the woman I was talking about. I don't know her name, but I absolutely love her enthusiasm!

Lone Creek Falls

Kruger National Park

I visited Kruger National Park for a day, and came back with many many pictures. There are too many to put into one post, so I will spread them out over multiple posts over multiple days.

It was overcast, and rained much of the time I was there (but truth be told, I was thankful it was not unbearably hot, which is how it can get when it's not raining). Of the "Big Five" as they call them (elephant, rhino, African buffalo, lion and leopard) I only saw elephants and rhinos. But I immensely enjoyed the trip, and I got to see some amazing scenery and animals up close in the wild.

South African-isms: Hey

Hey is a fairly versatile word in American English, but on the lips of a South African the word hey takes on transcendental qualities where it no longer is simply a word. It is the word. I have compiled a list of the meanings I have discovered hey to have in South African English. I am sure this is by no means an exhaustive list.

• Isn't it?
• Don't you know?
• Well, that's what I think anyway.
• Don't you think so?
• Whatever.
• Well, that's just the way things are.
• Et cetera.
• Somebody tell me I'm wrong!

Mpumalanga Province

I traveled from Louis Trichardt in Limpopo Province to White River in Mpumalanga Province. Here are a few pictures I took while traveling through Mpumalanga.

A lot of the roads in South Africa are paved (or tarred as I've heard them say it), but many are not. After a hard rain, dirt roads tend to get pretty bad. I wish this picture was in 3D so you could see just how bad it was.

I'm beginning to think that Colonel Sanders is the President of South Africa. Seriously.

School's out!