Monday, 18 July 2011

South Africa Highlights

Nelson Madela's House Soweto

Little Boy, Soweto

Waterhole Kruger National Park

Lions in Kruger, they've been mating, that's why they look knackered!!!!


Mummy Hipo, keeping an eye on her baby!!

Enterting Swaziland

New friends on my South African trip

Walking in the Drakensburg Mountains

6.30am Drakensburg Mountains, its FREEZING

Zebras, Addo Elephant National Park

Whale watching at Hermanus

Trisha and I loving the Whale Watching

In CapeTown, 4500 km from Johannesburg

Happy Birthday Mum!

Nelson Mandela's cell Robben Island

Hello All

Goodness, this is the last update to my blog whilst I am overseas!! I can hardly believe the time has pasted so quickly.

The last 18 days has seen me travelling from Johannesburg to Cape Town overland, some 4500 kilometres!!! We stopped in Kruger National Park for game viewing, Swaziland for walking, Drakensburg Mountains for walking, Hermanus for Whale Watching and onto Cape Town for sightseeing and shopping, plus visiting Robben Island. Whilst in South Africa I have been reading Nelson Mandela's memoirs, The Long Walk to Freedom and I have to say I have found it a compelling and humbling read, bought alive by the fact that I was visiting many of the places he talks about in the book. Today (18th July and Nelson Mandela's Birthday) I visited Robben Island which is the Island and prison near Cape Town where he spent 18 years of his life behind bars.  This amazing man, in my eyes, is nothing short of a hero / saint!! I have very mixed feelings about being in South Africa, I really struggle with the terrible oppression the black, coloured and indian population suffered during the Aparteid years and how they found it in their hearts to forgive the people who treated them so inhumanly!

Anyway, enough of my ramblings, suffice to say that I have found South Africa a very eye opening experience. Have also suffered from a horrible bought of Sinusitus (my first real time of feeling poorly in 7 months) so I had a few days of just sleeping in the truck just opening my eyes every couple of hours (thank goodness for the anti biotics I bought with me :-) And today is my last day overseas as I fly home tomorrow afternoon arriving home in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Words can't describe how much I have enjoyed and appreciated my time away, maybe I'll be able to express it more accurately when I get home.

For the time being, thank you for reading and viewing my blog, I hope you have enjoyed it, its has been fun writing it and now I will have a permanent reminder of my adventures!

Bye for now

Monday, 11 July 2011

The past couple of weeks!

Lion Cub in Etosha National Park!


Little Namibian Chap - of course we had a cuddle

Old Bull Elephant having a drink in Etosha!

Cheetas at a Cheetah Santuary Namibia

Yes I even dried my hair at 6.30am in the open air on a campsite in Namibia!! One can't let their standards drop too much!!

















A very very quick update today as I am in  the publci library in a tiny little town in South Africa! I have had very limited access and time on the internet for the past couple of weeks hence my lack of posts on my blog.  Hope you like the few photos I have attached!! Have spent alot of time on game drives over the past few weeks in Etosha National Park in Namibia and Kruger National Park in South Africa.  Have seens loads of amazing widlife but the elusive Leopard has not come into view yet!!

Only just over a week left of my travels now and I just can't believe how quickly time has flown.  better go the library is shutting ofr lunch and the beautiful wild coast of South Africa is calling me for an afternoon walk.

More when I have time and access.

A