We consider ourselves pretty lucky to have had the opportunity to go back to the Ngorongoro Crater during this trip. Although I have to admit, I think the first time through we had amazing luck with the animals, which we didn't quite have this time around. Although we did see a Serval hunting not too far from our vehicle, which was pretty neat. The Ngorongoro Crater is still by far one of the better places for viewing wildlife. The park is smaller, which generally means that the animals are easier to spot, and they tend to be closer to the road (better opportunities for photos). ... read more

This is probably the most spontaneous thing that we've done on our trip so far. We had initially planned a few days in the Hermanus region for whale watching and never even considered diving with the sharks. When we met a really nice couple at the backpacker's lodge in Oudtshoorn, they had just come from Gansbaai and they couldn't stop talking about it. We immediately went online and booked accommodation and a diving trip following their recommendations. We're so happy that we did, because it was one of the most amazing experiences that we've had (so good that we actually went two days in a row). It's not possible to describe the feeling when you're under water staring at the largest predator of the sea and it comes right at you bumping the cage with it's ... read more

We finally made it to the southern tip of Africa! Pretty much just a photo op here, but it was interesting meeting a couple of guys that were just beginning a trans-african journey on motorbikes (a-la Ewan McGreggor and his buddy in the Long Way Down).... read more

Since leaving the Wild Coast we've been working our way down the sunshine coast. Our stops have included East London, Port Elizabeth, Jeffrey's Bay, and Plettenberg Bay. East London and Port Elizabeth, although very nice cities, were just a couple stops to break up the driving and do some shopping and laundry. We stopped at Jeffrey's Bay on the morning of the 10th to check out the first day of competition for the Billabong Pro surfing competition that was going on at Supertubes beach. Much bigger waves and better tricks than we saw in Durban, it was good entertainment but the weather was super cold and windy. That afternoon we continued on to Plettenberg Bay along the Garden Route. For the past two days we've stayed here enjoying the relaxed atmosphere and whale/dolphin watching. We took ... read more

Now for something completely different. We've probably overloaded on the animal photos for a while, so the next part of our trip will not likely have much in the way of game parks. We will, however, be looking to photograph some of the ocean wildlife at some point. Durban was a nice place to relax and get used to the idea of having our own transportation. Okay, maybe it wasn't so relaxing at first. We arrived at the Durban airport at night and after finally tracking down the rental car desk we set off in search of our hotel. For some unknown reason, we broke from our normal trend of Kathie as the driver and Jordan as the navigator (which worked well in Europe and Florida). We have learned from this mistake and from now on, ... read more