After staying with John and Mary, the best hosts ever, we went to the Pick'n Pay and Woolworth's before leaving Tzaneen to head north into Venda and other areas we hadn't seen. That night's stop? The Vivisa Lodge (cheapest nightly rate we could find in Lonely Planet) in Thohoyandou.
Along the way, just outside of Modjadji (home of the rain queen), we stopped at Sunland Nursery and saw the Sunland Baobab. It's huge! Carbon dated at plus or minus 6,000 years old, this puppy measures almost 47 meters across (a little over 51 yards). A few years back, when some farmworkers were trying to rid the tree of a snake infestation, they ended up burning the inside and ultimately hollowing it out. The owners of Sunland decided to turn such an accident into something more positive and built a bar within the trunk of the tree. When we were there it seemed to be quite the happening place with chalets, a pool and deck, and even a quads track, but the bar wasn't open for business.
We kept driving north to the town of Thohoyandou and, although, as usual, there were a few wrong turns, we made it in good time... just in time to find the taxi rank and see about finding some traditional Venda material. We parked and went into a PEP store (cheap clothes and other miscellaneous things) to ask if anyone knew where a fabric store was and if we could find some traditional crafts. After an hour of walking around with two guys showing us the way, the fabric shop being closed, and the taxi rank being too busy for me to make any decisions about buying traditional beading from a woman, we headed back to the car and called the Arts and Culture Center. Yep. Thohoyandou is like a lot of towns... has it's share of cheap clothing stores, cash and carry's, a ShopRite, and a huge taxi rank, but it's different when it comes to this building, most towns don't have such a place. The building was full of arts and crafts and Keri and I showed our support by buying a full Venda traditional outfit... she has the skirt and I have the matching top wrap. Beautiful red, white, blue, black, yellow, and green striped material with accents of embroidery in black and white thread and light blue and yellow polka dotted material on the edges. Truly a find.
As we were leaving the Arts and Culture Center, as soon as we turned right, there on the side of the road was the Vivisa Lodge. It looked to be under construction and, in my opinion, sketchy, so I suggested we head back to the taxi rank to check out the big casino across the street. Aw yeah. We sprung for a room and spent the night watching satellite television and eating grapes, hummus, crackers, cheese, and carrots for supper. In the morning we enjoyed a full breakfast buffet with unlimited coffee drinks. Yes!(You don't have to twist my arm!)
Like many things in South Africa, it was pretty extreme. On one side of the road you had the taxi rank, on the other you had this pretty nice hotel with a casino, 24 hour security, beds with top sheets, and breakfast included. The view of the Eastern tips of the Soutpansberg Mountains was beautiful and were calling us West.
After staying with John and Mary, the best hosts ever, we went to the Pick'n Pay and Woolworth's before leaving Tzaneen to head north into Venda and other areas we hadn't seen. That night's stop? The Vivisa Lodge (cheapest nightly rate we could find in Lonely Planet) in Thohoyandou. 
Along the way, just outside of Modjadji (home of the rain queen), we stopped at Sunland Nursery and saw the Sunland Baobab. It's huge! Carbon dated at plus or minus 6,000 years old, this puppy measures almost 47 meters across (a little over 51 yards). A few years back, when some farmworkers were trying to rid the tree of a snake infestation, they ended up burning the inside and ultimately hollowing it out. The owners of Sunland decided to turn such an accident into something more positive and built a bar within the trunk of the tree. When we were there it seemed to be quite the happening place with chalets, a pool and deck, and even a quads track, but the bar wasn't open for business. 
We kept driving north to the town of Thohoyandou and, although, as usual, there were a few wrong turns, we made it in good time... just in time to find the taxi rank and see about finding some traditional Venda material. We parked and went into a PEP store (cheap clothes and other miscellaneous things) to ask if anyone knew where a fabric store was and if we could find some traditional crafts. After an hour of walking around with two guys showing us the way, the fabric shop being closed, and the taxi rank being too busy for me to make any decisions about buying traditional beading from a woman, we headed back to the car and called the Arts and Culture Center. Yep. Thohoyandou is like a lot of towns... has it's share of cheap clothing stores, cash and carry's, a ShopRite, and a huge taxi rank, but it's different when it comes to this building, most towns don't have such a place. The building was full of arts and crafts and Keri and I showed our support by buying a full Venda traditional outfit... she has the skirt and I have the matching top wrap. Beautiful red, white, blue, black, yellow, and green striped material with accents of embroidery in black and white thread and light blue and yellow polka dotted material on the edges. Truly a find. 
As we were leaving the Arts and Culture Center, as soon as we turned right, there on the side of the road was the Vivisa Lodge. It looked to be under construction and, in my opinion, sketchy, so I suggested we head back to the taxi rank to check out the big casino across the street. Aw yeah. We sprung for a room and spent the night watching satellite television and eating grapes, hummus, crackers, cheese, and carrots for supper. In the morning we enjoyed a full breakfast buffet with unlimited coffee drinks. Yes!(You don't have to twist my arm!)
Like many things in South Africa, it was pretty extreme. On one side of the road you had the taxi rank, on the other you had this pretty nice hotel with a casino, 24 hour security, beds with top sheets, and breakfast included. The view of the Eastern tips of the Soutpansberg Mountains was beautiful and were calling us West.
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