http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , South Africa en-us Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:29:54 BST Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:29:54 BST Last week I faced down a charging lion I shouldered my rifle shouted clear instructions to my guests to stand still dropped to one knee and fired a brain shot quickly followed by an insurance shot. Gladly the lion was just a picture on a sled pulled rapidly towards me from 30m away. Itrsquos all part of our assessment for Trails Guide rifle handling which is a requirement for being able to http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Grahamstown/blog-334617.html ldquoTIA This Is Africa.rdquoDanny Archer Blood Diamond Early Thursday morning I boarded a Greyhound bus and made the daylong trek across the country to Durban on South Africarsquos east coast. The little red lines of the Indian Jones map dotted as we stopped at many small towns and large cities along the coast. We stopped in Port Elizabeth where they are building another stadium for th http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Durban/blog-334152.html After saying our tearful emotional goodbyes to the Acacia folk who were splitting up themselves and heading onto Cape Town or Jo'Burg via Botswana and Namibia on the gestapo truck we landed in Jo'Burg via the luxury of British Airways from an airport that resembled nothing more than a small council building with a bit of a road attached that planes used as a runway every so often. We were met my http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Jeffreys-Bay/blog-334059.html Irsquom sad that wersquore leaving already. Despite the fact that I bathe in a tub I feel dirty constantly and I use an outhouse thatrsquos a hike from the house I REALLY enjoyed my visit here. You just canrsquot beat the sunsets the lightning storms the stars and the hospitality love and kindness we have encountered here in Dongwe.Though I couldnrsquot be more excited about a http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/blog-333690.html Sunday we went to church with Mama. Church started at 1100 and we left our house to start walking around 1110. Clearly we were running on Africa time. We arrived around 1130 and paraded up to the front of course. There were about 40 people in the congretation including 6 other SIT students. Church lasted about 1 hours and was filled with singing and dancing. I loved it. We spent our da http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/blog-333689.html An ox is killed to honor the dead. Once the ox bellows or cries it can be killed. Unfortunately we missed the actual slaughter but we got to participate in the rest of the festivities We arrived on Friday and were thrown right into the Xhosa culture. Mamarsquos family was honoring her father who passed away a few years ago. Her family slaughtered an ox in his honor earlier in the afterno http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/blog-333688.html After a great reunion with the Greeffs we flew back to Johannesburg and made the 4.5 hour drive to the Drakensberg Mountains for Tammy's wedding. After making our way through the thickest fog and a long windy road through a shanty town where I might add the African people walk in the middle of the street ... drunk ... or drive cars without head or tail lights we arrived at the stunning Didima http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/blog-333633.html well i know cape town arrivals airport extremely well after spending the nigh there Then nearly went off with the wrong pick up person the finally the 3 of us who were for itoi werer all sat in the same place but the pick up women didnot have a sign with her and she was right next to us so we could of been away 10 mins earlier anyway i will quit moaning i just dont like airportsgot to t http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/False-Bay/blog-333482.html HiCan't believe it but am now done with Cape Town 10 weeks down and only 4 to go. It's been brilliant here in the Cape but am looking forward to Namibia. Finished on a high today literally Went on a helicopter ride around the bay and Table Mountain absolutley awesomeLove Helen xx http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/blog-333343.html i met a couple of americans carissa and liz and we decided to visit kruger national park on the cheap. we rented a car and bought groceries then headed to kruger. there we saw tons of elephants ungulates giraffes rhinos'black and white a huge black python some strange birds. not to forget lions warthogs no they werent dancing but we kept joking about it water buffalo and a hyena. we a http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Mpumalanga-/Kruger-National-Park/blog-332502.html Two weeks of waking at 5.30 and Irsquom still not used to it at least the daily commute only involves walking to the shower mind out for snakes and scorpions and then down to the main lodge. The resident bushbuck and its baby like to wait in ambush on the path which can be a bit disconcerting if you brave the walk to the toilet in the middle of the night. Rio swears she has a zebra stalking h http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Grahamstown/blog-332351.html Here are some photos from our last days in South Africa. After baseball in Durban and and saying goodbye to Thanda we rented a car and drove north to Hluhluwe National Park a game reserve several hours north of Durban. We spent a day there two nights and then headed back to Durban to catch our flight back to Europe. Don't forget to check page 2 of this blog for the crocodile pictures http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Durban/blog-332325.html SOUTH AFRICA SIDE TRIPOur group of five left Lesotho for three days at Hueglin's Lodge in White River South Africa to visit with Rotary acquaintances of the Olsons who own the four star lodge. Brian and Frances Hyson met us at Nelspruit Airport designed to appeal to the many safari tourists who land there. It is an impressive thatched roof log beam structure that feels like Ernest Hemingway http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Mpumalanga-/Kruger-National-Park/blog-332282.html Mum and Dad and Tyrone are getting ready to fly to Aussie tomorrow or like soon in NZ time for mum's 70th birthday so all the best whanau God's speed and blessings for you will phone you when we get home hugs n kisses to you all and watch those aussies n mozzies ayeMuch love Trish n Brian n Amy http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/Cape-Flats/blog-332041.html Molo everybodyWow we canrsquot believe how fast the time has flown. We are having such a great time in Cape Town God has been SOOO good. Just a quick catch up from our last postOn Saturday we briefly called in on our Barcelona friends who are becoming more like family now had lots of cuddles etc then we drove all the way down to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope. It was a beautiful sun scor http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/Cape-Flats/blog-332039.html This is a short blog and only really an excuse to load new photos on before i head to Singapore tomorrow i had a lovely evening tonight with Colin and the boys. My friend Alan dropped over and as it turns out he is traveling the same route as me for the next month on business but a few days head so we just miss each other in each destination shame but at least we got to hook up tonight for a cu http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/blog-331993.html As sort of a culmination of our work teaching the baseball and on our final weekend in South Africa we traveled to Durban to take part in the school youth baseball league. The league supported and organized by KwazuluNatal Baseball Association begins in July and runs for 8 weeks. It is sort of a preseason to the Club league that starts up after the completion of the school leaguemdashthe http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Durban/blog-331943.html Thank you all so much for your messages and comments you must understand i am as excited about reading them and receiving them as you are about reading my blog Unfortunately i cannot reply to them from this site so if you would like you can always email me at lucys.worldhotmail.comSo i made it to Cape Town on Sunday night and suffered a minor panic attack when i found my bank had stopped my car http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/blog-331861.html It can all be explained I've come down to Durban with Dr. Tim and Rob for a twoday AIDS conference. However that I find myself entering South Africa for the third time in a month is mindboggling. How I find myself staying in a old people's retirement community is comical to say the least but at least I have had some time to think.What do you think of when you think of viable destinations i http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Durban/blog-331855.html Some photos from our time with Thanda Afterschool. http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/blog-331585.html Hi everybody I just left Cape Town South Africa and am now on my way to India South Africa was amazing. I got the chance to do and see a lot of really cool things that I will probably never be able to do again. The first day there I was supposed to go visit Robben Island which is where the old prison that held Nelson Mandela is located but unfortunately it was too windy for the ferry to ma http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/blog-331559.html 2 updates in 3 days very exciting lol im back in civilization once more as I'm going back to Tuli today YAY stopped in j'burg overnight in a hostel which was kinda borin coz im too scared to leave it haha.....so im wasting all my money on the internet good news....i survived the big swing it was fantabulous although it was also the first damn day its rained since ive been here so there w http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Gauteng/Johannesburg/blog-331508.html We arrived in Cape Town on the morning of September 19th. It was freezing 8 degrees. Neither Lee or I had packed anything warm so we spent much of our first week shivering and cursing our insufficient summer clothing. We were blessed with a few days clear sunshine though which got us in the holiday mood. As we were approaching Cape Town airport we flew over a vast township it was quite shocki http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/blog-331503.html Lige en ny opdatering for at kompensere lidt for den lange tid som der gik sidst.Vi har haft vandproblemer igen det er ved at blive lidt en tilbagevendende gene Efter et par dage uden bad og i 35 graders varme kan man godt blive ret irriteret frustreret og ikke mindst ildelugtende. Men efter at have haft besg af vores udlejer som bankede p et par rr og skruede lidt rundt omkring mens hu http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Gauteng/Pretoria/blog-331481.html Nzanzi Fo ShoHow's itWell my first month has moved more quickly and at the same time more slowly than I ever could have imagined. Quickly in that I can't believe I have already been here a month and slowly in that I am enjoying every day at a pace I didn't know was possible before now. I am now teaching six classes a week at It's Yoga Cape Town. I find that I am falling gently into quite a nice http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/West-Beach/blog-331456.html