Blogs from Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa, Africa - page 43

OK so Joburg is known as the crime capital but to me it's just a really normal place to go. Feels a bit weird to be honest, I'm meant to be off travelling and here I am being greeted by Carlyn at the airport and staying in my Omi's old house in a double room with ensuite and balcony - I'm not exactly roughing it! From to moment I arrived I have been faced head on with all the crap that is going on here; the whole Zuma thing and I'm slowly trying to understand more of the history and culture which has to be honest slightly aluded me on previous trips (spending time with family is hardly condusive to learning abotu new cultures! We normally spend our time speeding from one family meal to the ... read more

Oh the irony 6 months ago the idea of meeting up with Tracey’s parents somewhere in Africa seemed great. They picked the safest country, Kenya, and everything was booked. Skip forward to Christmas and thanks to some questionable elections Kenya’s reputation as a tourist haven is ruined. Suddenly our trip through Zimbabwe and South Africa seemed tame compared to the violent images of Nairobi in the news. We predicted it would calm down in time for Sherrie and Ian to visit and luckily it did. No more trouble So, with the Foreign Office giving Brits the green light to return to Kenya the trip was back on. We arrived in Nairobi and got to our hotel without spotting a single sign of unrest. We enjoyed the pool bar and restaurant for a few hours, grabbed ... read more

Today was different from anything I’ve ever experienced. We woke up early for a relaxing morning on our patio, only to be greeted by vervet monkeys, franklins, several types of birds, warthogs, and more. It was pretty exciting without leaving the house! After a low-key day of some grocery shopping, grilled cheeses, and naps, we then hit our first safari ride into the bush in the late afternoon. Can I just say it was SO COOL! We were in this huge Land Rover-type vehicle that seated 20. At first the animals we saw were pretty far away: a baboon troop, a couple of lone white rhinos, some water bucks. Then the real excitement began with our first giraffe, a gang of wildebeests, some impala with another wildebeest, a pack of zebras (pronounced “zeh-bra” here in SA ... read more

Im at an airport backpackers right next to the airport in jo'burg getting ready for our flight later on today to singapore. Just got back from our safari yesterday in the Kruger National Park which is the size of israel! Amazing experience, we saw all of the big five, lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant and rhino amoungst hippos, crocodiles, giraffes, zebras, antelope and hyenas. on the first night me and shane were staying up late talking then a hyena just strolled past the fence of our camp about 50cm away! had a couple of shaky moments with some young male elephants aswell, hopefully try and get the videos up of that. before the safari we went to a small african country called swaziland, which is such a laid back cool little country. And i actually have some ... read more

Zaterdag 5 januari 2008 - Woerden Vanmiddag had ik Martijn aan de telefoon. Hij belde om te vragen of mama nog het e.e.a. voor hem zal willen regelen en om te vertellen dat de baan bij IBM in Johannesburg* zo goed als zeker doorgaat, maar dat hij daarvoor nog wel een heleboel moet regelen. Hij kan dan ook waarschijnlijk niet veel eerder als eind februari/begin maart aan de slag… wat mij natuurlijk aan het denken zet…. * Voor degene die lang niks van Martijn hebben gehoord: IBM heeft zijn helpdesk voor de ABN AMRO verhuist van Ierland naar Johannesburg. Ze zoeken daar dan ook Nederlands/Afrikaans sprekende mensen. Zaterdag 26 januari 2008 - Woerden - Amsterdam Eindelijk is het dan zover, jaja heb lang moeten wachten.. Om 11.30 uur brengt mama mijn naar Schiphol. Eerst een vlucht ... read more