Day 379 South Africa 16/11/2011, Hluhluwe – Budget Backpackers, St Lucia. 43.48miles/69.80km, 3hr43minutes, Av 11.6mph.

The weather was pretty warm again this morning and we didn't set off quite as early as we had planned. Heading out into a thankfully wind-free day, we rode the 5km of dirt road until we reached the main highway and then happily rejoined the smooth tarmac.

Our intention was to locate a dirt road short-cut that would knock about 20km off our journey to St Lucia. We had been given all sorts of advice last night about where the road was and we had checked the internet to get the exact distance. All of this was to no avail, as somehow we missed it. We did see several tracks leading into the forest, but none of them looked overly promising.

Instead we carried on to the town of Mtubatuba, bought some lunch and then pressed on, sadly into a strong headwind, towards St Lucia.

Despite the less than ideal wind conditions and a hillier than expected road, we still arrived in the town at 12pm. Budget backpackers was easy to find and it has a large shady camp-site.

Having settled in we went to get some lunch and then had a brief walk round the town. Debs fortuitously found a chiropractor and after a quick session is on the way, to getting her back sorted. While Debs back was being manipulated, I went to see about going on a whale watching trip. I know that we had said no more boat trips after the ill-fated whale shark trip, but this is on a much bigger boat. This is probably our only chance to see humpback whales in South Africa, as by the time we get to the Cape the whales will have already gone. The trip is pretty expensive but there are supposedly still plenty of whales and the chance of seeing a humpback breach is too good to pass up. Fingers crossed that Debs survives the trip, as she is really keen to go!

Back at the hostel we got invited to join a large group of people for a braai. We had already got food for dinner, but it will keep until tomorrow. In the end we had to go and get some food from a nearby takeaway as no one seemed in any hurry to cook and with a cycling day behind us we were obviously hungry! The food didn't actually get cooked until well after Debs had gone to bed. By then I had had quite a lot of beer and was ready for bed. It was a shame it was so late as the food when it arrived was very good. It was still a good night though, just possibly not the best preparation for an early boat trip!

Day 378 South Africa 15/11/2011, Mkuze – Bushbaby Lodge, Hluhluwe. 39.39miles/63.30km, 3hr37minutes, Av 10.8mph.

It is always the way, you have a nice room and end up having a rubbish night's sleep. At least I did, apart from aching from her falls and the exertions of fighting the wind, Debs had a good night.

Waking to a fairly calm day raised my tired spirits, although Debs spotting that she had a puncture in her rear tyre dampened them a little. Instead of fixing it there and then, we went to breakfast and decided to sort it out later. Having had a good breakfast we returned to fix the puncture. By now I am pretty professional at it and we were soon loaded and on our way.

There isn't much to say about the road to Hluhluwe (sort of pronounced shu-shloue) except that it was pretty rolling and fairly uninteresting. Riding on the N2 highway means that traffic is our constant companion, which doesn't make for the most peaceful of rides. Fortunately we are generally given plenty of room although, as I have previously mentioned, it is quite common to drive in the hard shoulder here.

At around midday we turned off towards and then rode through Hluhluwe, stopping in the local Spar supermarket to get some lunch and a few supplies along the way. Leaving the town we had a 8km ride along a generally good dirt road to reach Bushbaby lodge.

The dirt road went without incident except when we had to negotiate our way round a huge lorry that had clearly got itself stuck. We have no idea if the truck was supposed to be on this road, knowing Africa the driver probably just felt like a change. It may well mean that he gets a change of jobs as well!

The bush baby lodge is very nice and we are the only ones in the camp-site, possibly the only ones staying. The pool was a little bit cold, but we still braved a dip. Later this evening we should get to see the owner feed the resident bush babies and there is always the possibility of a cold beer to round off the day. Tomorrow we should make it to St Lucia wetlands park where we plan to stop for a few nights.

The bush-baby feeding turned out to be a total highlight. We had been told that the feeding would start at 7pm and sure enough as the time arrived several incredibly sweet bush-babies arrived. We were able to feed them pieces of chopped banana that, the older one at least, delicately took out of our hands.

The other younger ones were a bit more eager, but were still very gentle. Photographs were difficult, as they are obviously nocturnal animals but we did our best.

It is not every day that you get to feed bush-babies!