Blogs from Limpopo, South Africa, Africa - page 6

Hello all, I am nervously watching the news about the election tomorrow … perhaps it has been decided by the time you read this. It is all over the news in South Africa and people are, for the most part, hoping that Obama will win. He has been a popular candidate, somewhat because of his African roots, but also because he is more competent in international affairs. I am entering my 3rd week at University of Venda and feel pretty comfortable with the place. I can find my way to the cafeteria, which is an accomplishment! Univen has 11,000 students (both undergrad and grad) and is a former homeland university. This means it was terribly understaffed and underfunded during the apartheid regime. They have since attempted to improve the campus and faculty with more money and ... read more

Hello all, Update from Thohoyandou ... I know, difficult to say, but it is well worth the trip! I arrived Sunday afternoon and found my university guest house in a nice area north of town. My roommate is a woman from Kenya, working here as part of a volunteer organization on community development. Yes, we have lots to talk about! The place is comfortable and the neighborhood quiet. It is a verdant area with lots of mango, banana, and jacaranda trees in full bloom - it is spring after all! The house has 6 bedrooms so I had a big choice since there are only the 2 of us for now. TV, kitchen, bathrooms, and (hot) water most of the time. Colleagues and students at the university are making me feel very welcome. It is a ... read more

Geo: -24.4296, 27.6086This morning we treated ourselves to a little sleep-in, packed up our tent and left camp at about 8am for our game drive. The only animals that we could see from the campsite were three ostriches. From the main road we drove along Tsessebe Loop and along here we had an amazing sighting. There were three adult white rhinos on the road. Then two of them started to play fight. They held their heads low and knocked each other's horns for a few minutes. It was really gentle and amazing to see them from a few metres away. Once they finished play fighting, the three of them walked around eating grass.We continued on and came across another great sighting. It was a couple of Dwarf Mongoose running around on a termite mound that they ... read more

Geo: -24.4071, 27.6031At around midday we arrived at Marakele National Park. We decided to come here after hearing our friends Tony and Nicola speak highly of this national park. It was also on route back to Madikwe Game Reserve. It is situated in the south western section of the Waterberg Mountains. The national park is divided by a fence into two sections, one area for general game which included white rhino and the other area was the Big 5 area. We were camping at Bontle Campsite, site number 10 on Rhino Loop (which is one of three loop roads) – the only campsite in the park. It was about a five minute drive from the entrance gate to the campsite and is in the general game area. The campsite is unfenced and has a great view ... read more

Geo: -24.6495, 28.6867We have spent the past few days in Johannesburg with Paul's parents. For the rest of our leave we were visiting Nylsvley Nature Reserve for two nights and then off to Marakele National Park for two nights. We left early this morning, stopped along the way to buy food and a few other supplies. The whole journey took us a few hours. Nylsvley Nature Reserve is not a big five game reserve. It consists of the Nyl River Floodplain, which is one of South Africa's largest floodplain system. The floodplain is not always under water. This reserve is well known for its large variety of birds, about 380 different varieties. There are also quite a large variety of mammals, but nothing too dangerous. Here we can either go for game drives or do unguided ... read more