After leaving Addo, Mum and Dad dropped me in Port Elizabeth, where we said goodbye before they began to drive back towards Cape Town to fly back to Ireland. We had spent one night in Port Elizabeth before going to Shamwari, but it wasn't a place that we particularly warmed to. The first issue was that there was no running water in the city, but, with some difficulty, we found one B+B that had the water working. Other than that, it rained the whole time we were there. There is not a whole lot to do or see in P.E. anyway. If it was summer time, the beach would be an option. We visited the Location Apartheid museum, which was very difficult to find and seems to be in the middle of a township. It is ... read more

After escaping the storm that was passing through the Garden Route, it was time fro Mum and Dad to do what anyone who comes to Africa must do - go on safari. I had been on a number of different ones at this stage but it is not something you tire of doing. I had met some people on my travels who were of the attitude "once you have seen an elephant, you have seen one", but I disagree entirely. Every safari I had been on offered up something different and there is something special about just being out there in the savannah, not knowing what you will see, if anything. After passing through Port Elizabeth, we drove to the Shamwari Game Reserve, not far from Grahamstown. Shamwari is a private game reserve and one of ... read more

On leaving Hermanus, we took the scenic Route 62 towards Outdshoorn. This was a wonderful, windy route that took us through a number of passes with magnificient views into valleys and of a multitude of mountains, through a region known as the Little Karoo. It was completely different to the landscapes we had driven through up until now. We again got lucky with the weather as it was very pleasant. We stopped in a town called Barrydale for lunch and arrived in Oudtshoorn, late in the afternoon. This town is well known for the many ostrich farms around it. Unfortunately, it wasn't the season for eating ostrich eggs so I was deprived of having an ostrich omelette, so I had to make do with an ostrich steak. I beat Dad in some more games of pool ... read more

Having checked out of our apartment in Cape Town, we drove our of the city towards the Winelands. On the way out of the city we passed Khayelitsha, the notorious township, which is reportedly the largest in South Africa. The highway out of Cape Town en route to the airport cuts through the township and a brief glance inside revealed living conditions from a different world to where we had spent the last week. Before long we reached Stellenbosch, a pretty little town, which is the second oldest European settlement after Cape Town. This area of the Western Cape is a world renowned wine producing region and there are hundreds of wineries scattered around where you can taste some of their wines. We left Stellenbosch in the direction of Franschhoek, but en route stopped at the ... read more

Windhoek to Cape Town is approximately 1,500 km and was the longest bus trip I took so far in one go. It took 21 hours, but wasn't actually so bad, partly because I was so tired from my trip to the Sossuvlei and slept quite easily. This was until we reached the South African border at about 3.30 a.m. and all had to get off, get stamped out of Namibia (where the official asked me 'How's Bono?') and into South Africa. This would have been straight forward enough if the South Africans hadn't kept us over an hour as they checked everyone's laptop, for I don't know what. I woke up on the bus as the sun came up and admired the scenery as we passed through the Northern Cape. I had fallen asleep again as ... read more