The last week in Zimbabwe has been very busy and very interesting. I think I'll start with what I did first and then I'll talk about my impressions of the people and the country Chimanimani NP In the Chimanimani Mountains I undertook two of the hardest hiking days of my entire life. These two days made the hike up John Garner Pass in Torres Del Paine seem like a walk in the park… or at least very close to that. My hiking in Chimanimani started with a relatively flat, 17k road hike from town to the park (ok I got a [View Full Entry]

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Well I wasn’t going to tell anyone I was going to Zimbabwe until I got back to Mozambique; I know how some of you worry. I’ve been here since Saturday and it is so different than what anyone could have expected. It is really the first place I’ve been in Africa that really feels safe to walk around at night. The people really do seem genuinely nice. They offer help and don’t expect anything in return, or at least don’t ask for it blatantly like they do everywhere else. It is nice. The last couple of days, Ben and I spent [View Full Entry]

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Escape from Tofo Yes, I finally left Tofo, though it was tough and not 100% of my own accord. I was aided by the kindness of very nice stranger. But even that took some effort. It required much debate between Helen and myself over breakfast; should we change hostels in Tofo, go to Vilankulo, or do nothing. In the end we decided to mission to Vilankulo. I think this decision was aided by the intense ridicule I took at Tofo Scuba for not being gone yet. After packing up I thanked Helen profusely for providing me with the initiative and inspiration [View Full Entry]

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"You can check out but you can never leave." (thanks Eagles) I was sitting around the bar in Tofo the other night chatting with some of the Dive masters and such. I mentioned that I keep seeing people arrive here and never see people leave. She said, "Yes, this is like Hotel California." I agree. The other song lyric that comes to mind about Tofo is "Stayed here all season, don't know the reason, nothing to show but this brand new tatoo." That is Tofo. It seems to just suck you in. I've been planning on leaving in a few days [View Full Entry]

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I left S. Africa via Swaziland about a week ago. And then I beelined up to Tofo in Mozambique. why? The Diving of course. So far the diving has been great. Well the diving is actually so/so but the snorkeling has been amazing. After our first time we surfaced to find about 20-30 whale sharks around our boat. For the next hour or so we snorkelled with, around, chased and were followed by whale sharks. This was totally special and insane. This is just a special, special event. I can't really explain it. Other than the dive master on our trip [View Full Entry]

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I have returned to Khotso Backpackers in Underberg in the Southern Drakensberg Mountains. I first arrived here on March 21. In between now and then, good times have been had. Readers Digest Version I left Khotso on horseback and rode into Lesotho. Two days were spent riding to or around Sehlabathebe National Park in Lesotho. After that a few days were spent in the capital Maseru. From Molumong Lodge I did another two days of pony trekking. After Molumong Lodge we hiked down the famous Sani Pass back into S. Africa. So I arrived in Lesotho on the back of a [View Full Entry]

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I spent the better part of the last week on the Wild Coast in the Transkei. This is a very rural area that was/is very poor and often forgotten in the Apartheid era. Simple local Xhosa farming villages dominates it. The landscape is rolling green hills that come right down to the beach. I stayed at Bulungula. This is a small backpackers that is 40% owned by the local community. I only intended to stay about 3 days but ended up there for more like 6. I guess some of it was the effort to get there. They have a shuttle [View Full Entry]

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I just finished a beautiful trek on the Otter Trail in Tsitsikamma National Park. It is a 42km trail that takes five days. Why five days? You are required to stay in huts along the trail, and can't skip huts. The huts only sleep 12 people and that is how many they allow on the trail each day. Pretty regulated huh? I'm told that this trail is one of the most popular in S. Africa. Sometimes booked up a year in advance. I called <1 week and found a space. What is even more amazing is that there were only 4 [View Full Entry]

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Cape Town is my favourite city in the whole world. There is something about this city that just feels alive. It has a pulse that one can see and feel. I dare anyone to come to this city and not feel something. You will be touched by the water and the mixing of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans around the Cape of Good Hope. If that doesn’t inspire you, how about Table Mountain. Table Mountain is a 1000meter plateau of rock that comes up from the ocean and hugs the city center of Cape Town. But maybe it isn’t the aesthetics [View Full Entry]

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Sorry this has taken so long to get written. I have been waiting on my editor to get back to me, but she has decided that work is more important than travel blogs... uggh. Anyway, here is my version of the events in Namibia. I'm sure my editor will chime in some time with her version. Namibia is the only place I’ve ever been that makes “Nothing” seem like so much. I have pretty much been driving around the desert for the last two weeks, seeing “nothing.” This has been the most interesting “nothing” I’ve ever seen. And while one might [View Full Entry]

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