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Blogs from Free State, South Africa, Africa - page 5
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November 20th 2007
The third week of our trip and the first of our proper tour started with the drive to Kimberley. We found a campsite right next to the Big Hole so stayed there, a lovely site, very grassy with lots of trees, it had a construction site on one side (a new convention centre) but on the other where we camped was some waste ground that was just teeming with birds. We visited the Big Hole and I was expecting just that - a big hole - which of course it was but it was also so much more. There was a reconstruction of the village with a lot of original items, there was also a bar complete with music, bar sounds etc, it was really well done and there was no charge to look at this ... read more
Mozambique - Swaziland - Drakensberge \ No. 2
Published: November 1st 2007Africa » South Africa » Free State » Drakensberg
November 1st 2007
Hallo zusammen Was haben wir nicht alles ueber Mozambique gehoert: Von "es war graesslich, nach einer Nacht sind wir wieder nach SA zurueckgefahren" ueber "am Kosi Bay Zoll gibts keine Visa" und "doch gibt es - aber die kosten doppelt so viel wie normal" oder "man wird fast mit Waffen von Polizisten gezwungen eine Autoversicherung abzuschliessen" bis zu "You'll love it up there!". Also haben wir entschieden es zu wagen. Die geteerte Strasse endet am SA Grenzposten. Jenseits des Zaunes und der zwei Zollhuetten gibts bloss Sandpisten. Der Zollbeamte ist aeusserst freundlich, und heisst uns mit einem Handschlag willkommen. Visa gibts hier sehr wohl und zwar zum normalen Preis. Natuerlich dauert das seine Zeit, dafuer gibts ein schoenes Kleberli mit Stempeli in den Pass. (Liebe Gruesse nach Peissenberg :-) Luft ablassen - 4x4 einschalten - und ... read more
Time to catch up... From the Coast to the Mountains
Published: September 21st 2007Africa » South Africa » Free State » Drakensberg
September 21st 2007
***I know, I know. I am already home- back in beautiful Canada, but I promised myself I would finish this blog even if it is from the comfort of home. I apologize that this is not authentically written from Africa, but at least I wont leave you without the ending of my trip. :) *** We left St. Lucia early in the morning and headed south down the coast to Durban. Durban is a beautiful coastal port town with quite the Latin and Indian flare. Durban has a large population of Indian citizens who are very proud of their culture and have established some amazing spice and goods markets. We arrived at our guest house "On the Beach" just before noon and scrambled for some lunch before our guest house operator sent us off to the ... read more
September 21st 2007
Woke to an amazing view of the Mountains- I didn't know how much I loved the Rockies until I haven't seen them for 2 months. Headed to the kitchen for breakfast where Cassidy was awesome enough to prepare us eggs and beans and bacon. Hot breakfasts are a rare occurrence around here, so it is a notable event when Cassidy does make them. After breakfast I headed for a walk with Steph and Liz (Ireland) and Emma (England). We walked a short way down the road to where there are about 4 families living in earthen brick houses and roundawels. There are so many amazing and beautiful things to take pictures of, the houses stand out against the brown dry earth and blue sky with such intensity and the scene of a young herdsman with his ... read more
August 19th 2007
An EXTENSIVE day's drive from Port Saint John to the northern part of the Drakensburg Mountains (probably 9 hours with a number of wrong turns in there), pulled into our guesthouse near the foot of Cathkin Peak near sunset. The Drakensburg Mtns (or at least the area where we stayed) have recently been deemed a World Heritage Site (c. 2001?), they form a good portion of the border with Lesotho (pronounced Le-soo-too), and they're pretty spectacular to look at. You can do as much or as little of them as you'd like: we did a couple short day hikes from near where we stayed, Jonathan, our friend from Capetown had recently done a 10-day hike in the Drakensburg! I keep being amazed at how accessible they've made these attractions all around SA (I have visions of ... read more
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August 8th 2007
This will be a short update, since i have already spend enough time on the computer today, uploading my pictures. so for any of you friends out there, is you are interested in seeing pictures, let me know via message or email, and i will forward you the album. thanks for your patience on that on other news.. i arrived in Dundee yesterday at the home of friends of my parents, who were able to pick me up from the Baz bus route through the Drakensberg Mountains. Spectacular scenenery, despite overcast skies... we actually had enough time to go for a little hike and then drove the additional hour to Dundee, which is in the heart of Kwa-Zulu Natal. Dundee itself is a quite little town, used to thrive during the coal mining days, but has ... read more
August 1st 2007
As they pictures paint a thousand words, and as at this point I can't be assed (or actually afford) to write up my blog I am going to publish the relevant pages with pictures only....then leave all you fans wondering about the stories behind them until I get home and spend a day updating them with stories...after I have updated my journal to remind myself what has actually happened...I look at some of these pictures and thought...what the hell!... read more
July 12th 2007
It was a relatively short drive from Dundee to the Central Drakensberg. We decided to do a day walk from Monk's Cowl to see the Nandi Falls. At only 6km and claiming to be relatively flat (relative to what we'd like to know!) we thought we'd have a nice gentle stroll. We must be seriously out of condition from sitting on our bums in an overland truck for weeks, because it was hard going at times and we are used to walking much further at home. The sun came out and it was rather hot walking around the mountains, especially charging up and down lots of steps. Jase was so hot he kept taking his t-shirt off, although he had to repeatedly put it back on as he was scaring the other hikers. The view of ... read more
February 27th 2007
Today we ride from the Cavern to Bloemfontein. Ok, I might have compared the regiment activity schedule of this resort to that of a penitentiary earlier but I’m really digging living in a building with a thatch roof. Having stayed earlier in one at Addo, I still can’t figure out how they put one together - yet. I was supposed to ride with Peter T this morning. We had discussed this earlier last night. As I’m waiting for Peter to walk by the reception parking lot, I hear the roar of Terry’s Harley down by the gate and I realize that they’ve already left. Bastard! Instead I rode with Peter C, Phebe & Patrick, Bob, Chris & Bruno and Fionnuala & Norm. I’m not sure exactly what route we took as I’m blindly following along and ... read more
February 25th 2007
Today we ride from Umhlanga to the Cavern. I’m a little weary before I start riding today because of what happen to Otto. I decide to exercise my demons and ride on my own but on the same route as everyone. We follow the coast to Stranger then to Kranskop and Greytown. Murray, Ellen and Dave catch up to me and stop in Stranger to gas. I continue on because there’s only one road to Kranskop. When the group catches up again, Dave is irritated that we’re not sticking together. From Greytown we proceed to Mooiirrvier after a detour around a dirt road. We finally arrive at the Cavern, Drakensberg Holiday Resort. It’s a hot day to be riding! We left the humidity of Durban and now we’re into intense dry heat high thirties. Believe it ... read more
