Oct 13, 2011 - Cape Town to Kruger

Today we began our Safari experience. It began with an early wake up call, a ride to the airport and then a wait outside in the morning coolness for the rental car guy to arrive so that we could return the rental van. Once that was accomplished we checked in for our flight, cleared security, which was much simpler than in the USA, and then sat down for a little breakfast before boarding our flight. The 2 and ½ hour flight had us arriving at Kruger International Airport by 12:30. Once again we went through the rental car routine and then...

Jun 16, 2010 - Chile vs. Honduras!!!

On the evening of the 15th we partied with all of the Chilean fans that made it to Africa at Hagan`s Pub the entire night it was Chile vs. Honduras I do have to admit our singing was a lot better!! We even made it on Canal 13 a national TV station in Chile!! they were taping us while sang our CHI CHI CHI`s, and Soy Chileno Soy. This went on long into the night good thing our guest house was a block away!! This morning we got up early and made our way to the stadium. We also got a chance to take a few photographs of more celebrities at the...

Jun 23, 2009 - Nelspruit

Another few days spent here stocking up for Mozambique. Haircuts, shopping, bills, etc. We met a nice, retired couple at our campground who were just returning from a trip to Mozambique. They had lots of helpful suggestions about where to stay. Much more reliable information than Lonely Planet could ever provide.

Jun 14, 2009 - Nelspruit

Drove 5 hours up to Nelspruit and stayed one night here. We took a day to stock-up on food and goodies for our week in Kruger park. John had been through this town about 10 years ago and remembered it as very small, one grocery store village. Now, it is a expanding city with new stadium for the world cup next year. So many things have changed since we were last here.

Jan 24, 2009 - Through the Boer War Battlefields - Ladysmith to Nelspruit

Ladysmith & Nespruit We drove East out of the mountains and towards the battlefields of a century past. We entered the part of South Africa called the Midlands. This area was the site of some of the most significant battles in South Africa’s history. Major battles from both Boer Wars, as well as battles involving the Zulu, took place at places such as Rorke’s Drift, Isandlwana, Blood River, Spioenkop and Ladysmith. We stopped in Ladysmith to visit the Siege Museum. We had considered spending the night in Ladysmith, but it was a lot closer...

Sep 1, 2008 - Kruger & Swaziland Tour - Hinfahrt und Blyde River Canyon

Sooo back home in JoBurg. Der Spring Break (Fruehlings Ferien der Uni) hat seinem Namen alle Ehre gemacht. Waren die komplette letzte Woche wiedermals on tour durch Suedafrika. Unser Reiseziel war dieses Mal der wohl bekannteste Nationalpark der Welt: Krueger National Park sowie das wohl kleinste Koenigreich der Welt: Swaziland (schon mal jemand davon gehoert?) Es versprach also wieder sehr interessant zu werden. Hab mich fuer diese Reise dazu entschlossen meine kleine Berichterstattung hier in drei Teile aufzusplitten um den ganzen Text...

Aug 7, 2008 - Nelspuit

We had another early start today as we had to get the BAZBUS from Swaziland up the Nelspuit today so that we can do a Kruger Safari from here on Friday/Saturday. It's a 1 day 1 night Safari so we get to camp with the animals!! Doh!!! Hostel in Nelspuit is basic but we've spent all day in the Internet cafe anyway!! Hope to have some wicked photo's from the safari downloaded by Sat/Sun. They probably won't have internet access on the Safari! So if you don't hear from us it doesn't "necessarily" mean we've been eaten by a Lion or...

Jun 3, 2008 - Nelspruit

NS BPers & Derrick called taxi nite before which arrived early(he told him to wait, nice of him since it was 5:15 am). Got to Greyhound station (all other major buses as well), bus left at 6:20, got w/in 25 km of JBurg and traffic backup made 45 min trip an hour and a half, lots of smog in the air, just like LA, ha! At bus terminal we waited another 45 min for passengers getting on the road at 8:50. Bon was able to call Nelspruit and leave a message for Don…he thought we’d be coming the day before but with all the visa s___ , well save that...

May 15, 2008 - Wixteds visit Africa Part II: Lame Drives and Game Drives

Wixteds visit Africa Part II: Lame Drives and Game Drives The N1 highway slashes across South Africa on the diagonal from Cape Town to Jo’Burg, like a wide receiver running a post pattern, and then heads due north, toward the endzone, Zimbabwe, and then, who knows what happens to it from there. Probably Mugabe’s war veterans, the “wovits,” begin to shake you down for cash beginning as you cross the border and continue their armed extortion every 20 km onwards. But that is another story, which, if you’re looking for a great read, “When A...

Mar 23, 2008 - Nelspruit, and confusion

Livingstone prides itself on being a BUDGET tour company, and they love to let you know that. They use it as an excuse for everything, including the fact they had no idea what was going on this day. Like I said, you can make the tours basically into anything you want, and Tomi and I were the only two heading up to Victoria Falls besides 2 Danish girls. They knew we needed to get to their headquarters (which is also a hostel) but they had to take people all over South Africa to where they were going next, so it took them a while to figure...

Jan 16, 2008 - On to Nelspruit

Today we visited Pilgrims Rest a very quaint town about 15 minutes away from Graskop. Al thought there was a golf course there and our guidebook said great things about the town so we went to explore. The town itself has lots of historic buildings but we didn't find the golf course. We did, however, find the diamond mine out back of town. Much of the history of this little town revolves around the mine. We didn't stay long enough to do the touristy thing here. Back on the road to Nelspruit. Nice drive. Nelspruit is a big city of 235,000...

Sep 25, 2006 - The Saga of our Journey

The Brewers never seem to be able to do things simply. We were up all night on the Sunday before we left getting the house in order to leave. Tired and weary we headed down to Edinburgh on Monday afternoon to catch the plane. One of our pieces of hand baggage was just fractionally too big for security so it had to go into the hold. Next we found the plane to London was delayed by 1 hour which meant we missed the British Airways connection to Johannesburg. The flight attendant told us we were booked on the South African Airline flight...