Blogs from South Africa, Africa - page 672

So, bin mittlerweile schon den zweiten Tag in Jo burg und hab schon so viel erlebt. Gestern hab ich meine alte Elective Officer getroffen und sie hat den Kontakt zu dem Leiter der Tauch-AG hergestellt, der gleich so nett war mir die Tauchausrüstung für einen Spottpreis zur Verfügung zu stellen und mir reichlich Infos zum Tauchen zu geben. Ich hab dann noch eine sehr nette Frau kennen gelernt, die mich morgen früh zum Frühstücken eingeladen hat und dann mit mir einen Tauchanzug kaufen geht. Heute hab ich dann einen richtig faulen Tag gemacht und in der Sonne gelegen und gelesen. Und ich hab meinen Urlaub in Sodwana Bay gebucht. Dann kann es jetzt ja losgehen. Und das geht es auch am Sonntag, da fahre ich dann nach Durban, dort treffe ich Britta. Sie ist auch zufällig ... read more

Stay tuned 'coz there's more to come, like: 14th November to 16th - Penguins, Cape Point + good hope, amberley in muizenberg, Dion. 16th to 18th - Hermanus, whales, dassies 18th - 21st Swellendham, hiking, Daniella, Cape Aughulas, bontebok, bbq in rain. 21st to 23rd - Oudtshorn, klein karoo, karoo soul, cango caves, cango wildlife ranch 23rd to 24th - Knysna, bloukrans gorge bungie 24th to 25th - PE and ado 25th to 26th - Hogsback 26th to 28th - Cintsa, canoeing, gecko poo 28th to 30th - Mantis and moon, snake in room, bat poo, oribi gorge, leopard rock, echo valley coffee farm 30th to 3rd - blue sky mining, diving aliwal, Durban shopping 3rd to 4th - drakensberg, inkosaana lodge, expensive 4th to 6th - Dundee, rourkes drift, isandlwana, evan 6th to 10th - ... read more

I have had a wonderful week in Cape Town. It was great just to chill out in a comfortable hotel for a few days without having to pitch a tent every day. I stayed at Parliament Hotel in the City Bowl. The hotel was very comfortable, reasonably priced and the staff extremely helpful and friendly. I arrived on a Saturday at lunch time just as everything in Cape Town shuts down for the weekend. The city is like a ghost town at this time and it was a bit eerie particularly as the wind was howling and it was quite cold. But it was a good excuse to do little as I needed the time to chill out, watch TV and write my travel blog. By Tuesday I was ready to explore again so took the ... read more

I´m in Chile in an internet cafe with Real Coffee. Wow! Guess its a good place to write an entry. From Rio we flew via Sao Paulo to Johannesburg for Kara and Andrew’s long anticipated wedding. We were quite please to be going to our new home for a short while as it gave us a chance to drop off some of the extra baggage we had accumulated. Our time in South Africa was exceedingly busy and we had very little time for anything not related to the wedding, such as recovery. First major event was Andrew’s stag do, which started off with Paintball which was fun until Andrew and I got a little bit out of control, followed by a Braai at Dave and Paula’s house and then some other stuff ……. ( No nothing ... read more

I couldn't leave South Africa without visiting Soweto. Since 1980, when a wave of uprisings was in the news, Soweto has been in my mind. Those events even inspired my first decent song (words and music) for my teenage band (the evidence currently resides in a green folder in my mothers attic, along with the rest of my erstwhile musical career). Soweto is big. In fact it is big enough to have its own suburbs. Driving in to the centre on a dual carriageway we passed a shopping mall and an enormous minibus station. It is ordinary. My first reaction was surprise at the ordinariness of the surroundings. Paved roads, brick buildings, football pitches, streets. It is even mildly prosperous with lots of well-dressed black people driving their cars and doing their thing. It is called ... read more