Hi Everybody; We've made alot of stops since our last entry. We don't have any pics posted this time because backpackers won't let you download into their computers. We'll have to do it at an internet cafe next time we're in a bigger place. After leaving Swellendam we went to Oudtshoorn. Beautiful drive. At times I'd swear we were driving through New Mexico. This spot is labeled "The Karoo". There are big ranches here, but not for cattle, they're for Ostrich. Ostrich are here naturally but started being farmed back in the 1800's when European and American high society women felt [View Full Entry]

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After an early start we arrive at Buccaneersbackpackers in Cintsa. This backpackers takes up one side of Cintsa bay, overlooking a quiet lagoon and a lovely long quiet beach. The backpackers is made up of dorms and doubles as usual, and it has safari tents with double beds and family lodges that hold 10 and more. The trees and bush have grown up around the compound so from the beach you can only see a few roof tops but from all the windows there are perfect views sun filled beach and lagoon. A great little spot and I recomend anyone to [View Full Entry]

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Back to early morning surfing, beautiful clean waves...what a life. I am finally off the 7ft board and onto Craig's 6.6ft shortboard (glad to be rid of the tanker). Camping is still cool...but at Buccaneers they gave us a patch of land (down hill) in a forest on an ant hill. The first night was not comfortable but we moved the next day to a camping platform which was good. The board bags came in handy and we used those as mattresses. We did a lot of surfing and some canoeing (to keep paddle fit) and attempted to play volley ball, [View Full Entry]

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Hiking to the Hole in the Wall . . . The main sight I wanted to see here in Coffee Bay is a spot called “Hole in the Wall”: a hole in a cliff naturally formed from the ocean’s crashing waves. Apparently my hostel doesn’t offer daily trips there, but I hooked up with the hostel across the road to go on their trip. Initially, it was frustrating - I kept being given different departure times and every time they’d roll around there’d be more people who just decided they wanted to go on the trip but have ordered breakfast first [View Full Entry]

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Today a group of 7 of us staying at the hostel, signed up for a Mountain Bike/Cultural Tour. We were first driven along the main roads and then dropped 2 kilometres outside of the Xhosa village of Ngxingxolo. Xhosa is one of the native groups in South Africa (Nelson Mandela is a Xhosa) and is also one of the eleven official languages in the country. Thousands of Xhosa villages dot the area known as the Transkei or the Wild Coast. In Ngxingxolo, we were welcomed by a group of women and children who played a drum and sang a song to [View Full Entry]

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I am still at the hostel in Chintsa. It is beautiful here. Set on a hill, overlooking the lagoon and out to the ocean. As soon as we turned off the highway, something about the trees, the hills, the water perfectly captures “The Wild Coast”. My dorm has a porch with a perfect view. I’ve spent time there - reading, knitting (as part of a hostel project to make a blanket for AIDS orphans), chatting or just looking out to sea. This morning I woke up early, for no apparent reason and sat out on my porch reading a bit. Kevin [View Full Entry]

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I could not be happier, simply being out of Port Elizabeth and on with my trip. I am now in Chintsa, a teeny village on a bay on the Wild Coast. In fact, I’m staying at a hostel across the lagoon from the teeny village of Chintsa. The bus turned off the highway, then off a regional road, then off the paved back road onto a dirt and stone drive. A few kilometres along, we reached the hostel. Only half an hour after getting here, I was off. The hostel had a free trip to a nearby school: Bulugha Farm School. [View Full Entry]

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Blimey it is hot here. We are staying in safari tents on a little wooden platform in a banana tree planation looking out over a lagoon to teh Indian ocean. As it was sunday we got a free breakfast at our hostel and managed a walk along the beach before hand. We had to retreat for teh shade by 10am!! There is a pool here so we read and relaxed in teh shade with monkeys jumping over over head's until l;unch time when it got even hotter. So we had to come inside to cool off. At about 3pm we headed [View Full Entry]

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Hi All, Sorry it has been so long since my last blog, I have been too many fantastic and wounderful places however the internet is not brilliant! (thats my excuse). Since my last entry in St Lucia I have made my way down to Zulu territory in Eshowe where I experienced the real Zulu way of life. I spent a day in a Zulu village and went to a tribal healing ceremony, belive me this was a real experience, I hadn't realised they passed vodka around in a mug! But an unforgetable experience all the same! I played with the local [View Full Entry]

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So the touring portion of my trip is over and I am in the midst of a week on my own. It has been quite a difficult transition, actually, as I made some excellent friendships in the past few weeks. Nonetheless, I shall survive. Here's what I've been up to for the past few days. July 20 was rafting day in Livingstone! 8 of us from the GAP group went and we were happy to be put in the same boat with a guide named Davis. The training was interesting (i.e. what to do if you fall out and are beside [View Full Entry]

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