K - We are now in Kathmandu, Nepal and experiencing the usual cultural onslaught that is Asia - noise, traffic, dirt and smells coupled with vibrant colour, beauty and frenetic energy. We are staying in touristy Thamel - chockablock with shops selling fake North Face mountaineering gear, DVDs and other tourist "essentials" but it's very convenient and makes a good base camp. You see - here 3 days and I am using trekking terms already! Although wandering around the streets, people watching and snacking on momos and samosas is almost adventure enough we have forced ourselves to venture slightly further afield. On our first day we hired a taxi for the afternoon and headed off to a couple of temples. Pashupatinath is Nepal's holiest Hindu site (80% of Nepalese people are Hindu) but unfortunately despite the ... read more

K - This week we had our first unplanned travel adventure when, on our way to Coffee Bay on the Wild Coast our car broke down on a very remote stretch of untarred road. Basically a U bracket sheared off and our rear suspension fell off! Mmm…we had a spare tyre and loads of tools but spare suspension brackets – nope, we were all out of those! Apart from the fact that we were still 20K from our destination this was not an area where we would wish to leave the truck unattended and also not an area where we wanted to spend the night. It was also a road where, in the following 4 hours, we had a mere 8 vehicle pass us. Fortunately we had cell phone coverage and after a frustrating hour we ... read more

K - We have just spent a great week “killing time” as we wait for our Indian visas which we applied for in Durban last Monday. We were told they would take 5 to 7 working days so we headed off to the Drakensberg – a mountain region in South Africa. Absolutely stunning – yet again the photos don’t do it justice (have I taken any photos that do anything justice I wonder?!). We energetically did a couple of hikes in the beautiful mountains and treated ourselves to a lovely B&B on a farm where we were upgraded to a cottage. This was fortuitous as there was a big electrical storm that night and the tent would definitely not have been fun. As usual we managed to adopt a couple of stray animals – in addition ... read more

M – Take a look at this series of photos and find out. This little scene came as a little light relief after this Rhino’s mates had finally finished starring me down (see previous blog) and decided to move on into the bush or sat back down in the mud.... read more

M – There have been times on this trip when we have felt like we were either submerged in an episode of the Discovery Channel or, for those Brits reading this, sitting in the truck with Sir David Attenborough filming one of his many documentaries. The short series of photos that follows was taken from the car when a troop of Baboons blocked our path. It started when Kate happened glance down from the passenger seat and began laughing at the lack of endowment of the fellow in the first shot (see the photo to the right). The rest of the photos took less than a minute, the only missing shot was of the female offering herself to the male. My favourite of the group though is the two differing expressions on the male and female ... read more