http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , South Africa en-us Mon, 09 Nov 09 00:09:01 +0000 Mon, 09 Nov 09 00:09:01 +0000 Hello allJust got an email from Helen Holly Hoff this morning instructing me to write more often for you ... so strap on the safety harness cause here we go.Quick note I was up until 130 in the morning last night going through wedding photos so I may or may not make much sense ... and go on irrevelant tangents ... or just pass in and out of consciousness. I guess I should be the one getting the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Mpumalanga-/blog-451556.html Thursday 5th NovemberGot up and looked out the window athelliphelliphellip.. RAIN Just what wersquod come here to avoid. Luckily it started to clear later in the morning so we headed off towards False Bay on the eastern side of the Cape Peninsula. Conveniently the motorway out of Cape Town begins close to our hotel the downside being that the traffic noise can be a bit loud in the mornin http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Boulders-Beach/blog-451104.html Saturday there I was sitting in a loud smokey pub surrounded by farmers clad in shorts and safari shirts straight out of the movies really enjoy that though sitting there with Neil he is already drunk I think from the brandy he had been drinking all day. he has been out sick from workwhich just means he gets to drink more brandy the rugby match has started and everyone is yelling http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/blog-450900.html Well So I've been here for 3 weeks now... Feels like forever actually In a good way and kinda in a not so good way....I've been really homesick for the past 2 weeks. First week I had the usual homesick jitters but as I had to focus on learning the ropes it passed but it came back and has been pretty bad. Kinda made a week or so not so good to the point where I wanted to go home last week but I'm http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Limpopo/Tzaneen/blog-450243.html Ik ben nog geen maand terug en ik heb nu al weer de kriebels.Ik ben nog steeds bezig met de foto's van mijn reis naar Beijing Australi maar tegelijkertijd ben ik mijn volgende zomervakantie al weer aan het plannen.Ik zou menig korte stadstrip kunnen doen maar ik heb besloten om wat verder van huis te gaan.Zuid AfrikaKijk uit naar de big five en het schitterende landschap.Genoeg te zien e http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/blog-449984.html One thing I have learned during my time here in Africa is to plan on things not going according to the plan. My week long trip to Lesotho was a confirmation of this. With Erik a Swedish guy I have known since February Mary another CA girl who goes to school in Monterey and her friend Josh who flew out for the week we rented a car and drove the first day to Lady Grey South Africa a few hou http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Port-Elizabeth/blog-449957.html Well I can't quite believe I only have a couple of weeks left now literally 2 weeks today and I'll be back in the UK. It's been totally amazing with so many different adventures and loads of photos to bore everyone senseless withWell I'm now in Plettenberg bay at the end of my second volunteer project so very different from the first. This time it has been with an organisation called Orca http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Plettenberg-Bay/blog-449870.html HolaSo I caught the Intercape bus at 6am from Cape town and many hours and gorgeous scenery later I arrived in Wilderness well there is no bus that goes there so i had to get off in George and get a taxi... The weather was beautiful and I stayed in a little backpackers right by the beach. My balcony had the most amazing view and the first time I looked out there were 4 southern right whales bas http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Storms-River/blog-449743.html Well well wellToday's been quite a lazy day I've stayed at home all day with the exception of a quick trip to the Spar I woke up with an incredibly sore throat so decided I'd rather stay in bed and watch a movie than get up the luxury of a rare day without plans Today was a lovely warm day so I thought it might do me some good to sit outside for a while. A while lasted about 2 minutes http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Howick/blog-449730.html Come on South Africa hurrahCape town is just as beautiful and amazing as I remembered The weather was bad before I arrived but as I landed the sun came out and I had some gorgeous weatherThe week and a bit went far too quickly but I managed to do lots Scenic drive down all the way to Cape point passing everything from Hout bay Noordhoek Kalk Bay and Simonstown. We also managed to fit in s http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/blog-449727.html Hello all Last minute shopping and selling of a few things before tomorrow morning early rise and the groot trek begins wow must say these memory foam inner soles work well seriously feels like walking on pillows but anyway i need to shut down the pc now and pack up the last few things and then relax the legs b4 the walk ill try take pics as i go but my cell dont have such a good camera but il http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Gauteng/Edenvale/blog-449662.html It was my last day working at the Lion Park today. Since I spoke to Carolina on behalf of the rest of the group we have arranged a later pickup tomorrow so we can have more time with the cubs but today was our last day of work.I set of to the enclosures first thing this morning. The smell of lion poo in the morning is not pleasant and I have also noticed it is particularly bad if they've had fre http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Gauteng/blog-448585.html I was back to the usual routine today after my trip away from the Lion Park yesterday. I set off for the early morning shift and got to see the cubs first thing today as I now have enclosure cleaning duty. Glenn Tara and I quickly located the things we'd need for cleaning the enclosures in the hovel and set to work. I soon discovered that our cute little cubs are quite revolting creatures. We wal http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Gauteng/blog-448584.html well I found out there is an internet spot right here in camperdowngot all excited but i cannot upload photos.. aghso..I will have to try the one in Maritzburg again and see if I can uploadphotos from there..until then..take care..Susan i will try to get photos of the wild dogsanthony thanks haha. i miss you guys too.. reallylinda true that..SA is beautifully difficult http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/blog-448544.html Hello. long time ehsorry. I have had no internet access.So I arrived in Camperdown..which is about 20 minutes from PMBurg..it has been wonderful to be back in KZN seeing old friends and actuallymaking new ones..the weather has been a bit rainy but there have been some lovely days in between.. I am already a little more tan THANKFULLY I was looking a bit pale.. so things are not exactly as th http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/blog-448293.html The illness actually lasted for the entire week and I ended up taking the Monday Tuesday and Wednesday off sick but I went back again on Thursday due to extreme boredom more than anything else Irsquom not really sure what was wrong with me I definitely got my cold back that I had generously shared with the whole Family Centre in my first week but I was also feeling very breathless light he http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Howick/blog-448137.html The next week was all about ECD Early Childhood Development. I spent Monday morning at the mall putting all your donations to good use I bought lots of new educational resources for ECD including jigsaws flashcards matching games books and posters which I spent the week role modeling for the child care workers. The problem is that we often have 16 preschool age kids who are not used to bei http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Howick/blog-448134.html Apologies once again for the lack of blogging that has occurred. I fully intend to rectify this situation by giving you a brief overview of what has happened over the last few weeks so I will hopefully be up to dateMy second week here was school holidays again so the centre was quite manic for the entire week. We did lots of fun activities there was lots of singing and dancing we made play do http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Howick/blog-448110.html Only being in Jo'berg for 2 days I experienced a lot about the history of South Africa and how the Apartheid happened.The Apartheid Museum was very good and provided a ton of information on the history of South Africa. If you are interested about the history you can read more facts about it below.I also visited Soweto which was a large township in the world. This tour basically just consisted of http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Gauteng/Johannesburg/blog-448103.html Hi againNext we crossed the border into South Africa and after picking up a guy left behind by the tour group in front of us we headed to our camp at Orange River. We then headed down to Highlanders vineyard for night then onto Cape Town for our last night on the tour.Enjoy http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/blog-448099.html