Blogs from Drakensberg, Free State, South Africa, Africa

Day 6-11 Hogsback-Drakensberg-Johannessburg. After a wet night in Hogsback, and Simon having a few wins on the pool table we set off back in our big yellow truck for Lesotho (pronounced Les suit too). Lesotho is a very small kingdom of 2 million people completely landlocked by South Africa with mountains and highland. It is a constitutional monarchy and unfortunately the 3rd poorest country in the world, with unemployment between 30-50%. After making it through the border crossing with no dramas, the drive into Lesotho, with beautiful mountain views and waving village people made us start to feel like we were in real Africa. Settling into our cute and picturesque campsite in the town of Malealea we decided to go for a run through the village. Not an easy run in the heat, altitude, general lack ... read more

For my free weekend I decided to visit an area in South Africa called Drakensberg, and stay at the Cathedral Peak Hotel. The scenery here is easily the most beautiful I have ever seen and if you like the outdoors and activities such as hiking and mountain biking you have to come here at least once in your life. The Drakensberg mountain range is the highest in South Africa, and it has also been listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. It's located in South Africa but some of the mountains extend into Lesotho, which is a country that's actually located totally within South Africa. The area has developed quite a bit in the past 10 years or so and now has several resorts and hotels in the region. I decided to stay at the ... read more

Sunday 3-27 to Tuesday 3-29 Well, the honeymoon in Africa is over. The first few days were great and Kruger was amazing, but then we went to Swaziland and were thoroughly unimpressed. Nick Note: We went to some pretty poor countries on our trip; Cambodia, Nepal, etc., but none were as obviously poor as Swaziland. But while Cambodia and Nepal are beautiful and enjoyable in many ways there was little, if anything, attractive about Swaziland. Our accommodations were filthy and customer service seriously lacking. Add to that the fact that we were seriously ripped off by the travel agent we booked our trip with in South Africa and you have two very unhappy campers. We’re trying to work through it, though. We have two days in St. Lucia on the coast of the Indian Ocean. It’s ... read more

Shortcut's in Africa. What NOT to do Just thought I'd give a quick account of a great idea we had, when travelling from the Drakensberg mountains south east of Johannesburg, to Rustenburg, north west of Johannesburg. It was a Friday, and to avoid the renowned hectic traffic jams that stop the city everyday, we thought we'd drive along the R24, a national highway that cuts around the city. When we turned off the major highway, there was a sign that said 'Potholes, next 5km'. If you ever see this sign, please take it seriously. There were a couple holes in the road, but nothing too major. Not straight away at least. We stopped and swapped drivers, so I was behind the wheel, and as we cruised along, the road kind of fell away in front of ... read more

After yesterday's long drive, I was really looking forwards to today's 6 hour walk in the Drakensberg. Sadly, it wasn't to be as I was struck down with major leaking from both ends at about 19h00 last night. All through the night, I communed with nature being unable even to keep water down or in. Come morning, I lay there very sorry for myself but decided that a mug of Rooibos with two sugars would be good. Not so. I communed with nature again! Whilst the others went off for their walk, I sat in the sun attempting to drink water and, after being free for 3 hours decided to walk down to the entrance block where there was a shop. I took the scenic route across country and arrived at the shop totally exhausted. What ... read more

South Africa - Drakensberg Monday 15th March Our next stop is the Drakensberg Mountains, the range of mountains running down the eastern side of South Africa and including Lesotho. url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/whereissteve/4535542815/" title="The Drakensberg Mountains by WhereIsSteve"img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4030/4535542815_ff5e678b68.jpg" width="399" height="299" alt="The Drakensberg Mountains" / img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4004/4535543933_9303d42551.jpg" width="441" height="299" alt="Sungubala" align=right / url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/whereissteve/4535545297/" title="Night Sky From Our Campsite by WhereIsSteve"img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2756/4535545297... read more

Having left the Sani Lodge I was safely deposited at my hostel in Pietermaritzburg. Once again it was time to say goodbye to a fellow traveller however tentative arrangements were made for Paula and I to meet up again in South Africa. I was shown around the hostel and introduced to the owners two gorgeous and very placid Afghan Hounds. I soon fell in love with the hostel since I had a large double room to myself for a cheap price. The large bed, thick and pristine white bedding and comfortable pillows were enough to make me decide to stay longer than my intended one night. Also the fact that it was only a small place and was actually Andre's home that he had opened up made it all the more nicer and it showed by ... read more

June 20, 21, 22 For the past two days it has been cold and both Chris and I were walking around with closed up noses and feeling a bit off, so we have spent our days tucked under the blankets with boozing medicine. On 21 June we decided to try out the Pizzaria that we heard about and took a drive to the Tower of Pizza. We had the most fantastic pizza that I tasted in a long time. All the pizza names have been named after the different peaks found in the mountain range. Very original. They had shovels made into chairs and though it wasn’t as comfortable as a normal chair it was unique and gave the place a great atmosphere. The restaurant was built in an old colonial style, surrounded by big trees. ... read more