Nature's Valley

Storms River seemed to be mostly for adrenaline junkies, so I left everyone behind for a quiet night in the Hiker's Haven. The 5km stretch of beach at Nature's Valley is absolutely stunning. There was hardly a soul on the beach. I did some short hikes along the Blue Rocks on the coast to the Salt River mouth and back. Also went up to the view point near the end of the famous Otter Trail.

Storm River

I stayed one night at the Tube 'N' Axe so I can watch Jon, Paul, and Lisa jump from the highest Bungee in the world from the Blouklans River Bridge (216m). I did the bridge walk out there to the jump point and cheered them on. The walk itself was pretty cool. You walked along these grated flooring that you can see right through to where you could plunge to your death should you fall.

Hogsback - East London - Port Elizabeth

Baz stayed in Cintsa to do his own thing, and I went with Jon to Hogsback - the misty mountains said to have inspired the writing of The Lord of the Rings. Same was also said of Drakensburg but no one seems sure. Anyhow, a good day was spent here hiking with Jon through the forest to the five waterfalls - Swallow's Tail, Bridal Falls, Madonna and Child, Kettle Spout, and 39 Steps. We stayed in a hostel called Away with the Fairies. Very charming place, with the 3 Hogsback mountains in the background.

On the last day, we left Hogsback in the morning and arrived in Sugarshack in East London for a pick up by the BazBus in the evening. I spent the day roaming around East London and playing pool in the hostel. In the evening, we were dropped off at Base Camp in Port Elizabeth for the night before we moved on to Storms River.

Cintsa and Transkei Tour

A few of us who met in Coffee Bay - me, Baz, Jon, Yildez, and Belinda - also ended up together in Cintsa. We all stayed at the Buccaneers. The hostel was situated near the beach with a fantastic view of the river and bay. I spent most of the time relaxing on the beach or at the hostel. Also got some canoeing in with some people on the second day up the river. I ended up on a boat with another guy, but neither of us could row properly and we zig zagged up the river. The boat must've been f***ed up. We got a good arm exercise from it anyhow since we probably covered twice the distance of others. There is also a lady who runs a reflexology spa up the hill from the hostel. I booked myself in for an hour of full body massage - ahhhhh.

By the third day there, Baz, Jon, and I were the only ones left from the original group, and we booked ourselves on the one day Transkei tour. The tour took us through remote parts of the Transkei area - waterfalls for cliff diving, Work for Water project, shipwrecked beach, etc. There was a bit of 4x4 experience involved to get to some of the spots too. It was a beautiful tour, tho a bit pricey.

Coffee Bay and Hole in the Wall

Couple nights were spent here in the Coffee Shack. The hostel here had a good vibe at night, with killer pool competition each day. Everyone can play for free, so some nights you get up to 40 people playing. You can have 2 or 3 lives and everyone takes turn trying to pot a ball. If you miss or foul, you lose a life. Last man alive wins a free night of accomodation. Baz (Barrie), won the second night. Beware of the Buffalo Rules in the bar too. Rule #1: You must drink with your left hand. Rule #2: Do not put your drink on the pool table. If you break a rule, you have to down your drink. I'm not very strong with alcohol, but I got caught and had to chug a nearly full bottle of Smirnoff Spin (after I've already had a few) down a tube. I was playing really shitty after that at pool, and almost got 7-balled (losing with 7 balls on the table). The rule there is that you have to run around the pool table with your top off (or pants down for guys) if you get 7 balled. Fortunately I managed to sink a ball before I lost.

Baz, Belinda, and I did the 6 hour hike (there and back) to the Hole in the Wall. The hike took us up and over several hills along the seaside. We passed a variety of scenary - another very beautiful hike.

This is where Baz and I met Jon, from UK. He is also travelling alone, near the end of his year long trip through Australia/NZ and Asia.

Durban

Durban was a mandatory stop over on the BazBus. I didn't particularly care to stay here long but since the BazBus didn't run on Fridays down to Port Elizabeth, I had to stay here a day longer than I wanted.

I met Baz, from UK, here. Baz is travelling alone as well for an undetermined amount of time and just flew into Durban. We stayed at the Traveller's International Lodge which was overrun by local school children on a tour here. We moved onto the Banana Backpackers in the city center the next day. It was close to the beach, but it's still early spring here and not really that warm. We watched the surfers do their things and that's about it. One of the nights we went to a free art show in the City Hall about a 5 minute walk from the hostel. We were told to leave all of our valuables behind because there's a good chance we could get mugged. Nevermind trying to walk back the 5 minutes to the hostel after dark. Even with a group of 10, we had to cab it back (via a pub).

Lesotho

Lesotho is actually not part of South Africa, but a country surrounded entirely by it. It's a non-developed country near Drakensburg. The backpackers I stayed at took me on a one day tour of the country to see local schools, bushman painting, township, Sangoma, volleyball game with the Lesotho Defense Force, and local beer and food tasting.

Drakensburg

This is my first stop on the BazBus and first night in backpackers. Spent couple of days hiking around the Amphitheatre Backpackers, where I stayed, and in Royal Netal. I joined a Dutch couple - Florian and Marieke. The hike in Royal Netal took us to the Gorge (22km/~6hrs). A very beautiful hike, and not too strenuous - a steady climb up and down.

Last day in Johannesburg

Yet another early morning today, since I had plans to go to a Travel Expo with Phillip first thing in the morning. Somehow, I managed to get up, but I dearly wanted to take a nap all day. Never quite managed to tho, and I met up with Gerry again in the evening for a Casino visit. I should've known I wouldn't be so lucky as to win again, but it was quite fun.

Pretoria

The morning was quite an adventure for me. I managed to hop on all kinds of public transport for the first time - on my own. I didn't set my alarm this morning but I still managed to get up about 0730. A good thing because I had a lot to do today. I needed to get to Pretoria by 1230 so that I can get my Tanzania visa. Turns out by the time I got around to calling for bus times to Pretoria, I had missed the last morning one. As I wondered what to do now, Inga arranged for her friend to take me to the outskirts of Pretoria, so we rushed out and I was on my way. I got dropped right off the highway at about 1000. I walked over to the nearby Pick and Pay and hopped on the one minibus taxi there to take me into town. After lots of stops, I had to change over to another minibus taxi to get to Arcadia. I managed to find the second minibus somehow and safely arrived at the Tanzanian Embassy. The visa processing there was quick and painless but I now had to get to the bus station to get back to Jo'burg. Lucky for me, one of the workers decided to take me himself after I asked him the best way for me to get there. As soon as I arrived, the Greyhound bus to Jo'burg was about to leave. It was 1200 exactly, and they let me purchase the ticket on the bus. Had I missed that, I would've had to wait until 1500 for the next one. Once back in Jo'burg, I took a regular taxi back to Melville.

After getting back, I was desperate to get a haircut as I was tired of the look. I initially thought to not bother for the year but I couldn't stand it anymore. Inga knew of a fancy salon, Terenzo, so I went there and got a haircut I was really happy with, as well as a head and foot massage.

In the evening, Gerry and his friend Byon picked me up for a night out. We headed back towards Stanton where Gerry is for dinner at Franz. I had the best fillet of steak ever. We migrated over to Rhapsody's for a few drinks aftewards, and when they closed down, Gerry and I kept on to Suvudada(?) for more drinking and some dancing.

4 Day Safari in Kruger Nat'l Park and Private Reserve

"Who does your laundry Mr.Safari-man?" - redneck American asking as they are approaching the rare black rhinos on a previous tour that Karl guided

I went on a 4 day safari tour with Bundu Safaris. It was 2 nights camping in KNP and 1 night in a private game lodge. Although the KNP bit was not much different from Pilansburg safari (dry, brown terrain), we did see a leopard and lions this time. We even got to see the lions mating - for all of 2 seconds (I guess I can't complain about any 1 minute mans).

The best part of the tour for me was meeting the other backpackers on the tour:

• Joanie and Mark: From Dallas, TX, they are also on an RTW tour. SA is their first stop.
  
• Alison and Chris: From UK (near Wales), they are on a vacation in SA for about a month. Allison goes back to uni afterwards to finish studies in veterinary medicine.
  
• Gerry: From UK, he spent the last year travelling, mostly in Australia working as a semi-pro soccer player. He returns to UK after this trip to start uni. He is also the current "shithead".
  
• David: From US, he is on a 3 week vaca around SA. He will begin his doctoral degree in chiropractic when he returns to Cali.
  
• Carl: Swedish guy living in UK, he is also on a short vacation before returning to graduate school. He sports a posh English accent and cannot play 21 for shit.
  
• Kim and Rose: The anti-socials from SA and OZ respectively. They hid in their tents and lodges the whole time and didn't talk to anyone much.

On the third day of the tour, we arrived in a private game reserve. We had the afternoon free so we played frisbee around the pool. After tea at 1600, we headed out for an afternoon/night drive in an open vehicle with a stop for sundowners. The evening was spent in the bar where some of us played drinking games for most of the night. Gerry and I stayed up a bit later than others and spotted a giraffe (Gerry kept calling it a zebra tho - a little too much to drink, heh?) right inside the lodge complex probably about 15 feet in front of us.

On our last day we had a short bush walk in the morning to learn about the plants and such in the park. The morning started quite early (0515-0530), just like every other day of the tour. After last night's drinking tho, a few people were MIA for the walk. We headed home shortly after the walk and stopped at the Blyde River Canyon.

In the evening, Gerry, Carl, David, and I met up again for dinner and drinks in Melville. We ate at Spiro's on 7th St. and drank at Triple 6's also on 7th.

4 Wheel Drive Park

Phillip took me and his brother Andre to a 4 wheel drive park for the morning in his Land Cruiser. It was my first time 4 wheelin' and it was quite fun. Up and down steep slopes and over obstacles.... There were couple of times when we couldn't get up slopes and started skidding down backwards.

Land Cruisers seem to be big here in SA. Apparently they cost around US$100,000. We seem to be the only ones beating up our car in the park though.

Baz Bus booking from J'burg to Capetown was also made today.

Pilanesburg NP and Sun City

Phillip and Inga took me on a drive through Pilanesburg National Park to see some game. This park has the big 5 and we saw three of them - rhinos, herd of buffalos, and an elephant. I was only able to get a picture of the rhinos tho since the herd and elephant was a distance away.
On the evening of the first night, we also went to Sun City. A multi-million dollar entertainment complex built right in the middle of a volcano. We took a look around the really expensive hotel there - The Palace at the Lost City. Then we went over to Sun City for dinner and a bit of gambling. I played the roulette since I didn't know how to play the other table that was open and I wasn't much into slots. I went in with R100 and came out with R220. I more than doubled my winnings!! But R100 is only about $12.... I guess I have to play big to win big. The minimum bet on the table was like R5 - less than a $1.

On the way back from Pilansburg, we stopped in a market. My intention was to not buy anything on this trip, but things are so cheap I gave in and bought a few things (wall hangings, necklace, gobblets). I'll have to ship them back soon so I don't have to carry them around.

Horseback Riding in Krugersdorp

I got my first horseback riding experience today through a safari in Krugersdorp. The 3 hr journey took Inga and myself on a ride amongst wild animals. We saw white rhinos, zebras, giraffes, sabel, springbok, gemsbok, etc. There was one area of the reserver where many of the animals congregated near the water. We rode right in the middle of it all!

Soweto

Today I went on a private tour of Soweto with a guide and driver. Soweto is an acronym for SOuth WEstern TOwnship and is the center of South Africa's political history. We made visits to Sowetan housing of varying classes, Africa's largest Catholic Church Regina Mundi, Hector Peterson Museum, etc.

Arrived in Johannesburg

DPT Norfolk Int'l 1530 (-1) on Delta
ARR JFK 1645 (-1)
DPT JFK 1750 (-1) on South African Airways
ARR Johannesburg 1440

I left Norfolk after some teary good-byes to friends and family on August 31, 2003. At the airport and on the flight was our Virginia Beach Mayor. The last time I flew out of the Norfolk Airport, I ran into and sat next to Rudy from the 1st Survivor series. Wonder who I'll meet next time....

Once in Jo'burg and through customs, I saw my friend Phillip waiting for me. I will be staying with him and his partner, Inga, in their house over the next couple of weeks while in this area.
It is currently the beginning of spring in Johannesburg. It is warm during the day and cool at night. Hay fever season. But the skies are sunny and dry!

Above is Phillip and Inga in front of their house.

Flight Cost: $1300