{"id":19074,"date":"2024-09-29T17:43:54","date_gmt":"2024-09-29T21:43:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aleta.life\/?p=19074"},"modified":"2024-10-01T13:18:27","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T17:18:27","slug":"numbi-numpties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aleta.life\/index.php\/2024\/09\/29\/numbi-numpties\/","title":{"rendered":"Numbi Numpties"},"content":{"rendered":"
Position: 25\u00b009’20.4″S 31\u00b011’53.4″E<\/a><\/h6>\n

\"numbi-gate-sign\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Leaving Kruger National Park via the Numbi Gate<\/a> isn\u2019t recommended. At least not for foreigners. A result of its proximity to the hard-knock township of Numbi and the 2022 murder of a German tourist<\/a> in a carjacking gone bad. Blissfully ignorant of these facts, we drove through Numbi and its neighbouring villages on our way to Hazyview, just up the road.<\/p>\n

After a mile or so you are flanked by orderly rows of concrete bungalows. Smoke rises slowly from a thousand wood stoves. A dense web of electrical wires feeds power to each dwelling. Kids, handsome in their neat school uniforms, lined both sides of the wide streets, adding to the hustle and bustle of the place. Like kids anywhere, there was lots of chatting and laughing and dawdling taking place. And as soon as the uniforms changed colours from blue to red or green we knew we\u2019d entered another district. Looking in the rearview mirror I noticed we were being tailed by a rent-a-cop car. Turns out it was part of the local effort to make the area safer for tourists.<\/p>\n

Hazyview<\/h6>\n

Smoke clung to the trees and lay heavily in the valley around Hazyview. I wondered if smoke were the reason for its name, or if there were a more natural phenomenon in play. Like the terpenoid mist rising off the Smoky Mountains<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Adding to the sense of having entered a security compound, our hotel had a long list of Don\u2019ts in its welcome packet:<\/p>\n