Etosha National Park

Not exactly the camping grounds i would expect in a national park, with luxury apartments. It is totally different to when i was in the Serengeti & Ngorongoro Crater. Etosha is kinda made for the tourists whereas Serengeti is real bush camping with the animals roaming around your tents.

I felt kinda of hard done by as well with the lack of animals, 3 game drives and hardly anything, mainly Zebra and various kinds of antelope. Maybe, it was the time of year or the wrong waterhole. There are 3 waterholes amongst the huge vast of park land. Night viewing was good, would have been much nicer had certain people stopped talking.........

Swakopmund

Stayed in the 3rd largest city in Namibia for 2nights. We had free time to ourselves and loads of activities to keep us occupied. I took up Quad Biking among the sand dunes, such extreme riding...........had a semi - automatic this time, took getting used to but soon managed to control it.

The majority of our group visited Napolitana Restaurant on the first night. Big Portions, you have to ask for a doggie bag. Good wine and good service, that good me & 2 friends went there the second night, while the others went to a traditional family Braai ( BBQ ) which didn't turn out to be as good as they'd hoped. But we certainly had a good time, taking the uneaten pizza home with us !I would highly recommend this restaurant !!!!

Surprisingly it's a bit of a ghost town in the evening. Going out at half seven, the town was so still but coming back after ten, still no one about on the streets . There weren't many bars about, think the main one was on the beach. It's more of a quiet town ............

Namibia

Such a vast place and so little population. As it is mainly Desert & Dunes, you only see people in the main towns of Swakopmund and Windhoek, the Capital. And of course the small villages we stopped at for refreshments, fuel etc.

We camped at a couple of bushcamps, the first being just private open space, by the side of the main road, with a long drop toilet. The second was actually an official campsite, where we had our Desert Walk to the bushman paintings.

Visited a huge Seal Colony, Cape Cross. Some people didn't think it was worth the $10 for a half hour visit but it is protected therefore you can't walk amongst them and the money helps in lots of ways.

Walked amongst the sands & Dunes of the desert Sossusvlei, parts of which were featured in the Jennifer Lopez Film " The Cell "

Fish River Canyon

Had Dinner on the rim of the second largest canyon in the world, after having walked along it. It is forbidden to walk down it........

Don't know quite what to say about it, as the Grand Canyon definately tops it !!!!

But it was a nice night, except for a slight wind chill......

Townships of Cape Town

We visited 2 townships on the first day of the acacia tour. First to Langa, where we tasted their local brew while sitting in a Shebeen ( illegal drinking tavern ). Interesting, made from sweet potato which i love but unfortunately didn't like the taste.

Next was Guguletu, where we visited a local home, viewed some crafts and had lunch which was included. spicy chicken wings, veg, pork.

Both were very interesting, was taught some local language and was followed by local kids who were very cute indeed.

Camping

I love Camping especially when i have a tent all to myself.......
Most times i had help from others putting it up, but couple of times managed to do on my own, which is easy.
although it was camping we had 2 nights in Swakopmund, accommodation was at a backpacker. Good beds etc and was a relaxing time.
People seem to take camping in the bush for granted, too much..........

Cape Desert Safari

Cape Desert Safari with http://www.acacia-africa.com, 11days camping from Cape Town to Windhoek. Guide Kathryn was from Windhoek herself, Paul the Driver ( a masaai ) and George the trainee. 21 of us, mixed nationalities from South america, Ireland, Canada, Australia & N.Zealand, Uk, Holland, S.Africa and South Korea. There was supposed to be 2 more from the uk but got stuck due to the Volcanic Lava Saga !!!! Four Couples, 2 Cousins and the rest singles.
Good weather, not many days were spent driving long distances, average day was about 4/5 hrs. but stopped every so often for drinks etc.
Fun !

Community Project

The hostel i have been staying at, offers an opportunity to see the other side of Cape Town. They help out by fundraising, collecting unwanted items & money from the guests which all goes to a local community which is run by a group of former gang members who encourage kids to stay on the straight & narrow. The tour includes a visit to Bo-Kaap, a muslim area, and District 6 a place which has been turned into waste land after people were forced out of their homes in the 60s.
Then we visited, although i was the only one until lunch time at the eastern food bazzaar, the 3 of us including the guide went to a local school. we read, skipped and played footy with some of the kids. Good fun, hadn't kicked a ball for at least 20yrs till now ........!!!!
Good experience, worth doing !

Winelands

Started sampling wines at around 10am and an hour later had bought a really nice bottle of Port for 6quid. There was only 6 of us on the tour, 2others from uk, one from S.Korea and a couple from the usa but living in Montreal. Really nice nice, too warm to be drinking lots of alcohol but made sure drank plenty of water too !
visited some really nice places, drank lots of wine and had a really nice lunch. sampled good chocolate and cheese.
Most of us met up in the evening for local african food, even james the tour guide joined us. Live music and a R10 door charge ( 1quid ) Good day Out !!!!!

Penthouse on Long

Not quite what you would expect with a name like that but hey.......
Didn' t really get upto much. Went on the City sightseeing bus, which i know my sister will call a tourist trap. But some of the places on the blue route, you can't get to unless you have a car. So i visited the Botanical Gardens and the World Of Birds all in the rain !!!!
Managed to gain R9 ( 90p ) which i found in the gardens.
Wondered around the town lots and read in the evenings. Met a 71yr old english guy who'd recently retired and had been in South Africa since christmas, he'd just done the 2 Oceans Marathon.....

Cape Town

With me leaving Durban early, i obviously had to change my flight and this is where my voucher would have come in handy, had i not given it away. oh well, these things happen ! anyway, arrived in Cape Town to an airport being refurbished. I was supposed to be picked up by the backpacker bus which i had booked through my hostel but no sign which meant i ahd to contact them to find out what was going on. i ended up taking an airport shuttle which didn't cost much more.
arrived at hostel later than hoped,l whcih was on the 6th floor of a building which was also being refurbed in some places for the world cup. Odd thing is, is that they have only just started all these roadworks, refurbs to airports and hostels and with only 2months to go before the whole footy fun begins........

Durban

Arrived at the hostel, Gibela Lodge later than expected due to the mishap with Kulula Airlines. Was met by Cyril, one of the hostel workers. He is so sweet !! small and quiet hostel, only holds about 30 people. extremely small kitchen but the best thing about the hostel were the beds, sooooo comfy.......
Nothing really to do about the city, except get incredibly lost. Was trying to arrange some tours to do but most companies were requiring a minuim of 2passengers or i would have to pay an extra R400 as a surcharge. so i decided to leave Durban after 5days, 3days earleir than planned as i wasn't waiting for a whole week with nothing to do waiting for someone else to do the same tours as i . The weather was really good though, sun sun sun..........

BA Lounge

I was supposed to be flying to Durban with Kulula Airlines, no frills etc but the seat i was on was broken. Therefore i was put on a BA flight instead, as the seat was by the emergency exit. I was one of four passengers to have a broken seat and were all allowed to stay in the BA lounge as the flight wasn't for another 2 hours. So i lounged reading my book and sipped orange juice and had a few small chocolate brownies. We were also given a R400 voucher to use towards our next flight, i wasn't gonna use mine so i gave it to another fellow passenger in the same situation as me. Little did i know i would need it later......

Soweto

Morning was spent on a tour to Soweto which Joan & Bob had sorted out for me with thier prefered tour. Jabu was excellent, drove through Johannesburg and passed the stadium purposely built for the world cup. told all the history of johannesburg, what things were and joked non stopped. Cursing the bad drivers !!
Got to Soweto and had a volunteer show me the streets of the area and a families home, gave $10 in donation and was ambushed by youngsters. had taken some small bouncing balls with me, they were like a pack of hungry animals. luckily the volunteer calmed things down.
bought a couple of souvenirs and then went on to Hector Peterson's Museum, passing Winnies & Nelsons' & Desmond Tutus' Homes.
arrived back at hostel slightly late as had been picked up late due to traffic. was a lovely personal tour. another downpour of rain.......

Johannesburg

Arrived safely into j'burg after spending a 10 and a half hours on a flight, sitting next to a lady who is such a devout christian..... watched Couples Retreat and had a decent enough dinner, but no breakfast as it was too early.
Picked up by Bob of Bob's Bunkhouse Hostel and was only a short distance from the airport. Nice homely feel, and only 3 others staying. 2 english girls and an english guy living in Mozambique. had breakfast of toast and then after having freshened up went to the supermarket to buy food.
returned and waited until 1pm when i was supposed to be picked up for my Pretoria City Hald day tour. Three quarters went by and nothing,So Bob phoned them to find out what was going on. It had been cancelled due to lack of numbers and had sent me an email which i hadn't seen having not looked at email for a week...........
So instead, watched tv and sat through a thunderstorm. watched a very good true story film " The Truimp " with Matthew Perry.
Had my microwave meal and yoghurt, read and then an early night, 8pm.In a 8 Dorm all to myself !!!!

No more Work

I am no longer working. There was an unexpected change to my working week, so i am now a lady of leisure with an extra week off. No More Cappucinos, no more rude customers !!!!

1wk at work

Ony 1 week left at work and then i am a lady of leisure with 2wks to fill before going off to the wilds of Africa. one weekend will be with sister and mother and the other with uncle, aunt & cousin and hopefully catch up with some good friends. The rest of the time will be chillin out at home, seeing friends and getting packed.

So can't wait !!!!!

Lovely weather here i come............

54 days & counting

The time is almost here for me to fly out of this tired old country..... everything is sorted now with the exception of planning my time out there with day trips galore !!! Can't wait, need some warmth. i mean we are getting snow in February.......... just like last year ...........!! will we have a proper summer this year ????? bring on spring !!!!!!