Blogs from Eastern Cape, South Africa, Africa - page 65

Wow it's been a long time since my posting, but the most important news of all - my trip plans are finalized! I'm flying from PE to Jo'burg (Johanesburg) tomorrow, then off to Nairobi, Kenya on Saturday the day before my 14 day tour starts! We're headed over to the Masai Mara, which is universally known as that place where the great masses of herd migration take place (i'm sure you've probably seen something to that effect on TV and in movies - ie. a million wildebeest running up and down big valleys). After that, we head into Uganda and over to Bwindi National Park were we get to hang out with Mountain Gorrillas for a day (if we find them that is!). After that tour ends in Nairobi, i'll be spending 5 days just hanging ... read more

The title, that means Merry Christmas in the shona language, which is what all the guys we work with speak because they're all from Zimbabwe (or Zim as they say). We spent Christmas eve just hanging out with a couple of the guys we work with, Cleytus and Sheldon, and we watched Christmas with the Kranks on sateliete tv! lol Sheldon made us "mealie pap" which is basically this bland sticky stuff... kinda tastes like rice but i'm pretty sure its made from maize (corn). Mealie is the staple here, its like the equivalent of rice in asia or bread in europe. And we brought over a cake and chocolates for christmas presents! We woke up Christmas day, and wandered over to the Anglican church next door. It wasn't a fantastic service, but we did get ... read more

Hello all This last week was a very short work week! We went back to the reserve on Sunday night, worked Monday and then headed off on tuesday for our trip to Cape Town. We got to go on the Lion walk with Colin and Annetti on Monday morning alone so it was well worth all the good pictures! Just got back from Capetown yesterday so now I am back in quiet old PE. We went there for our Christmas beach party which was okay but a bit boring. We all ended up leaving early and sitting on the balcony at Zula in Cape Town for hours listening to live music and drinking. I have to say that I couldn't be happier to be where I am right now. I am having a hard time thinking ... read more

It is so hard to decide where to begin when i think of all the memorable events! I think i'm going to go with whatever pops into my head, so please excuse the randomness and lack of organization, but enjoy the stories! I bet you guys have never thought about this, but if you pay attention to what you do when you're crossing the road, you'll notice that you ALWAYS look to the left, and then to the right. Because the traffic to your left is immediately in front of you, and traffic coming from the right will be coming down the other side of the road. Well. Traffic here is like the UK, they drive on the other side (the right side) of the road. And Shona and I have noticed, that we have a ... read more

The last port-of-call on my 2006 trip to southern Africa was the Eastern Cape. As I mentioned at the end of my last blog, I’d met the inspirational Dianne Lang on the train from London to Edinburgh in June this year and was so overwhelmed by her work with AIDS orphans and abused children that I’d arranged to visit her Children’s Home for a few days at the end of my trip with a view to seeing whether or not I could “handle” coming back to work there for a longer period next year. First stop was Port Elizabeth where, for a number of reasons, I really did stop and wonder what on earth I was doing. The fact that PE had yet to switch on its summer weather didn’t help: the cold, grey, wet skies ... read more