SDayno

Rather than do a day or overnight trip to Stellenbosch we decided to rent a car and have the freedom to choose which winerys to visit. We rented a car from Avis for 2 days for $76.00. We originally only planned to spend one night in Stellenbosch but it was very quickly apparent we would need two. The wine farms, surprisingly, have very limited hours on the weekends. We arrived at our hotel around noon on Saturday and immediately left to get in a few tastings. Our first stop was the Waterford Estate. WATERFORD: For R70 (or roughly $7.00USD) we chose the 'Waterford State Experience.' This included 6 wines, 3 of which were paired with chocolates. The wines are delicious. The first was the Waterford Estate Rose-Mary. Absolutely delicious. It was very light with only a ... read more

Eggs and Bacon for breakfast! yippee. What a treat. Once again we packed up camp and loaded onto the truck. The morning we spent on the Panorama Route around Blyde River Canyon. We got off the bus at three different points with anywhere from 30minutes to an hour to explore. And of course souvenir shop. Before arriving at our campsite we stopped off at a mall to use the ATMs and buy water/snacks/alcohol. Then we arrived at Gecko Bushcampers campsite. It felt like Jurassic Park - electric fence surrounding the property. Of course the 8 year old girls with us got electrocuted. A few of us opted in on the night game drive through Kruger Park. And I am so glad we did. It was incredible! Many of the animals are nocturnal, or because of the ... read more

The delta was INCREDIBLE! I was very fearful of this part of the trip. I had read some horror stories online about hippo attacks and even one documented crocodile attack. But those are the 1 in 1,000,000 occurrences. (We can NOT live in fear!) The delta was sublime. From camp we boarded a speedboat, with our day packs, water, tents, and sleeping bags, for an hours ride to the mokoro point. Here we met the polers and loaded all our gear into the mokoros. It was a scorching hot hour and a half ride to our campsite but it was so beautiful and peaceful swooshing through the reeds and waterlilies. When we made it to camp we set up our tents and ate a pasta lunch. Because of the intense heat the day time is mostly ... read more

Today we are off to Chobe National Park in Botswana. We had a 7:00am breakfast and we are expected to have our tents and bags packed before breakfast. We woke up at 5:45am so we could hopefully shower. Luckily the water supply had replenished. After a quick breakfast of bland cereal and untoasted bread we were off to Chobe. It was a short drive from Vic Falls but we had to cross the Zimbabwe/Botswana border. It was simple enough. However we did have to take all of our shoes off the of the truck and walk them over a disinfectant mat which is supposed to protect from foot and mouth disease. Shortly after we arrived at our campsite. We quickly set up camp, made sandwiches and set off for Chobe National Park. Chobe has the highest ... read more

Africa has long been among the top destinations of my ever growing travel list. Fortunately my friend Amanda knew this and contacted me to plan a trip together. I have been told by many travelers the best way to see Africa is to do an Overland tour. Africa is a HUGE continent and not easily navigable. There's a huge array of overland opportunities and it was a bit overwhelming to choose the right one. When it came down to it we had 2 criteria. We had a very specific time frame and we wanted the most economic option. We ended up choosing Africa Travel Company and doing the Victoria Falls to Johannesburg trip. It is an 11 day camping trip. They are called "participation" tours because everyone is expected to pitch their own tents and lend ... read more