SOUTH AFRICA, Durban (Aquarium, largest in Africa)

Durban, South Africa

February 13, 2013

Spent the night in Durban on a mandatory Baz Bus stop. Durban is one of the largest cities in South Africa with a large Indian population. Beautiful beaches and the largest aquarium in Africa, which I took advantage of. The aquarium that housed all of the sea animals was built inside a huge ship that now on land and had been refitted to house the aquarium. The outside venues included stadium pools for dolphin shows and seal shows. There were also other exhibits such as the penguins.

SOUTH AFRICA, Bulungulu

Bulungula

2/10-2/13

Took the Baz Bus to Mthatha to catch the shuttle for the 2.5 hr bumpy road to the tribal lodge of Bulungula. Upon arriving at the Shell station we were pointed to small pickup truck with a cab on the back. 8 of us climbed into that small truck and our patience was tested over the next 2.5 hrs on some of the bumpiest roads I have ever encountered.

The lodge itself was in a beautiful location on a hill overlooking a river that runs into the oceans at least until high tide when the ocean runs into the river. The lodge runs on solar power completely and we even had internet. The bungalows were either private or dorms. We had 8 beds in our dorm. The toilets were concrete and of the outhouse variety, but 6 stalls , no wait. The shower were unique and involved sticking toilet paper up a metal tube, pouring parafin in the tube and lighting it. The fire would last 6-8 minutes and that is how long u would have warm water.

SOUTH AFRICA, Cintsa

Cintsa

February 8-10th

Cintsa is a beautiful but small beach community but not much to do except enjoy life. There is surfing and kayaking. There was free wine with afternoon activities such as volleyball.

SOUTH AFRICA, Baz Bus to Knysna

Baz Bus to Knysna

February 4-7th, 2013

Leave beautiful Cape Town on the hop off hop on Baz Bus which goesfrom Cape Town to Johannesburg via the Garden Route, Wild Coast and Drakensberg Mountains. I will be on this route for 14 days and will decide where to head after I arrive in Jo'burg.

Knysna is a nice city of 50,000 perched on a lagoon and surrounded by forests. Nothing in particular I wanted to do here, just a nice stop along the route to chill for few days and then get to my more important stops of Cintsa, Coffe Bay and the Drakensberg Mountains. Will be here for 4 days but mostly chilling as I have done most activities they have here so nothing special enough to get my money.

SOUTH AFRICA, Chapman's Peak

Hiking to Chapman's Peak from Houk Bay

February 3, 2013

Purchased a hop on hop off ticket to visit the coast area around Cape Town. The bus is a double decker and you can hop on and hop off and any of the listed sights. I only got off at The Wharf at Houk Bay and then walked up to Chapman's Peak. It took about 3 hours in total from The Wharf but the hike up was not very hard. Lot of people driving it and hiking up. It has 114 curves from the bottom to the top. The views were amazing. Houk Bay is also famous for the surfing. During the surfing competition the waves get over 60 feet high. Add that to absolutely freezing water and few Great White Sharks I will not add this to my bucket list.

SOUTH AFRICA, Cape Town (hop on, Hop off coastal view)

Hop On Hop Off

February 3, 2013

After finishing the hike to Chapman's Peak I got back on the hop on hop off tour bus that traveled along the coast around Cape Town to Hout Bay, Camps Bay through Clifton and back to Cape Town. 

NAMIBIA, Orange River

Orange River

January 20, 2013

After Fish River we drove to a beautiful campsite on the Orange River at the border of Namibia and South Africa. We did a 2.5 hr canoe trip down the river. It was very beautiful and we saw several fish eagles. About half way down the river we stopped on a sandbar for a swim.