Tremisana Lodge Oh wow, I also stayed at the Tremisana Lodge this summer - fancy that! Sorry to read that the big cats continued to elude you, I say bring on the rehab centres to fill in the gaps!
The Big Five The leopard continues to elude me of the Big Five too, despite several safaris in several countries... Fingers crossed as I read your next entry on your proper safari in Kruger 😊
Geographical Extremities Wow, I'm honoured that our online conversation on Cape Agulhas may have inspired you on this trip to stay in the highest pub in England! It was just awful what those idiots did to the Sycamore Gap tree, sorry you didn't get to see it... Yorkshire is a wonderful part of England that I've barely scratched the surface of myself, despite being from there. I may leave that for my retirement years. Great to read about your short trip there, and Wensleydale and Wallace in particular! 😁
King of Swaziland Wow, you got to see the King of Swaziland! I got to see the King of Lesotho as he was on my flight there from Johannesburg! Together, we got to see them both then, yay! :D
St Lucia Yes, there must be something about travel agencies on the continent - every French, Italian, Spanish and German traveller I met in South Africa seemed to have been to St Lucia, yet I knew nothing about it prior to my trip. Glad you got to see some wildlife. And you saw wild dogs - amazing!
St Lucia It was without doubt, the place where we felt safest on the whole South Africa trip. However it isn't everywhere, that you can meet a hippo on the way to the corner shop after dark .... they might be the most dangerous animal on the continent, but you can smell them before any encounter. Let's face it, how many other places would you even think of going to the corner shop after dark? The Hluhluwe Imfolzei Park was up there with the places that will always be special to us.
Battlefields Ah, I didn't get to see the battlefields, though I would very much have liked to. I'm glad to have caught up on it with your blog entry here, thank you! It must have been quite amazing to have been in Rorke's Drift. Great that you were able to celebrate a birthday in style, and Durban being a cross between Miami and Redcar made me laugh - very true!
Battlefields When my sister and I were very small and left in the care of my Dad, he used to take us to the "pictures". My 2nd film apparently was Zulu. It subconsciously stayed with me and I was never going to miss Rorke's Drift. As a football fan, Spion Kop - the battle which named many a steep standing terrace in a football ground - was always on the list too! Durban : Miami : Redcar - perhaps I was being unfair ..... neither Durban nor Miami can boast a vertical pier.
Lesotho Yes, definitely a marked difference between South Africa and Lesotho! I loved the Mountain Kingdom - friendly people, and it felt like stepping back in time a couple of centuries. Always very interesting to visit a school, and to try the local brew!
Lesotho The memory of Lesotho that allways makes me smile was being proudly shown "the satellite dish" ...... attached to the house with no TV and no electricity!
Drakensberg Oh wow, you climbed the Amphitheatre! Well done! I was content with just admiring it from the bottom. It must have been an amazing achievement to have done it. And well done also on the ladders and abseiling - not for the faint-hearted...!
Drakensberg The Amphitheatre and Tugela Falls were a highlight. The chain ladders down a sheer rock face were super scary ..... it worries me to think about it, even now!
Urban Areas and Bunny Chow I also learnt after passing through PE, that urban areas require caution and general avoidance in South Africa. And public transport there was a big no-no. I'm sorry you didn't get to try a Bunny Chow in Durban though, that was an experience for me.
Travels at Home It really is quite amazing how much the traveller can see when travelling at home. In just a small corner on the border between England and Wales, there is so much history and beauty to take in. I love your comment on how Yorkshire folk are difficult to please when parting with money, very true! And Vera just loves to have her photo taken, lol!
PE and the Wild Coast Gosh, even nearly 20 years apart, our trips were so similar! I too gave PE and East London a wide berth, and headed straight for Chintsa. I also felt the huge difference heading through the Transkei. I get, and love, your humour by the way - Moss Side comparisons, and "We want to be together!" - hilarious! 🤣
PE & The Wild Coast Thanks for the kind words. The PE comparison with a suburb of an industrial city in North West England derives from 3 years at Uni in the early 1980s ... a comment that some of the reading audience would 'get", but my late parents would not (and therefore not worry)!
Garden Route I also visited Knysna, Wilderness and J Bay - I guess that's what you do when you do the Garden Route, lol! The security situation hasn't changed much, and I also aimed to ensure I was behind an electric fence by the time darkness fell. How unnerving to have had a break in in your hostel... Great photos - windswept and rugged!
Garden Route The hostel break in would not be the last on trip, but at least the next time The Other Half did not lose her Savannah cider from the fridge 😉
The original purpose of the blog was the 20th wedding anniversary trip in 2006 / 2007 - Ashes cricket in Oz, setting off early in April and going the long way round!
The trip came to an end in February 2007 and for a while retrospective blogging was the only option (for reasons that you can find in the Road to Freedom).
There are still two to travel and the passport is now back in use in 2009. We get distracted in more than the odd football ground along the way, but it is all part of the journey.... full info
alex waring
Alexander Waring
Tremisana Lodge
Oh wow, I also stayed at the Tremisana Lodge this summer - fancy that! Sorry to read that the big cats continued to elude you, I say bring on the rehab centres to fill in the gaps!