My safari adventure is over!

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This leg of my journey has been the trip of a lifetime and I'm really sad it's over although if I'm honest, I will not be sorry if I don't see another tent for a long while! Although it was tough (and very basic) at times it has been really good fun especially as I've been with such a good bunch of people.

I'm now in Cape Town where the weather is not as good as you're having. Can't believe the temperatures you're enjoying! It was raining here when I arrived yesterday but much nicer today, thankfully.

We went on a Township tour when we arrived yesterday morning. It was fascinating to see but also a bit depressing, particularly when they took us into one of the communal living houses. These are concrete blocks of housing which typically have 6 bedrooms and a communal living/cooking area. Up to 3 to 4 familes share each of the bedrooms with only a curtain round the beds which they close for privacy at night! They invited us into the bedrooms to have a look, but I couldn't do it - it just felt too intrusive. There are no proper roads and it had been raining quite heavily for a few days, so the whole area was just a muddy mess which the kids seemed happy to play in. Our guide told us that when the ANC was in power they were working to improve living conditions for these people by building individual flats for each family but they lost the last elections and although the new government is continuing the work it seems a very slow process.

Somewhat conversely, I'm taking a walk round Cape Town city centre shops today, including, of course, the diamond wholesalers - very tempting!

Last night was the final night of our tour so we all went for a meal and then to a bar/club for drinks and a dance. We ended up in a bar that was playing really good music, only realising after a while that it was actually a gay bar. We decided to stay anyway as we were having such a good time!

Doing this type of trip really bonds you to people so it was really sad to say goodbye to some of the group last night who I know I'm not going to see again. We really have experienced a lot together and had such a lot of fun. I have also made some really good friends though who I will definitely keep in touch with.


I'm going to leave for Johannesburg tomorrow or Wednesday. I'm going to take the 'Baz Bus' which is a cheap way of travelling up the Garden Route and you can jump on and off at places along the route as you want. I've only got 9 days to do it so will have to be selective about where I stop. Think I'm going to focus on Port Elizabeth and Durban, which is supposed to be really good.

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