We arrived at the Nisela Safari Lodge after crossing one of the smaller southern border post crossings. We immediately found ourselves on dirt roads before reaching the main tarred highway leading north. Swaziland is very small and driving distances are not what we had become accustomed to in the much larger country of South Africa. The Nisela Safari Lodge was the perfect stop for us - reaching it at dusk. At first it appeared somewhat … [Read more...]
Southern Mozambique
We arrived in Kosi Bay after about 10 hours of at times stressful driving - from near the Lesotho Border in the Free State of South Africa. We arrived here in the dark of night and promptly made a beeline for the beach on the sandy roads in our 2wd Honda Jaz- looking for lodging - big mistake. There were no lights - and signs indicating hotels located just down the road were misleading as we later found out we were many kilometers from the beach. … [Read more...]
Traffic Riots
Its been a crazy few days in South Eastern Africa! Sitting with John and Trish at Rose House Inn plotting our drive to Mozambique we were discussing how there are no guarantees in Africa. 30 minutes after we left their idyllic location we experienced this "no guarantees" first hand. Our route took us back through the small touristy town of Carens. Only this time as we approached the city limits we were greeted by large rocks strewn across the … [Read more...]
The appearance of the gun
Today we drove to the northern part of the country, passing small villages, rural fields and many sheep and cow herders. Walking seems to be the preferred form of transportation and one always has to keep an eye open for people on the side of the road. Driving can be challening yet fun. Some of the roads were full of pot holes - or perhaps potholes is not the appropriate word - craters might be more sufficive! So you come up on a crater in your … [Read more...]
Near drowning in Lesotho
We headed out of the lodge today on a long meander to a river. Along the way we picked up 8 children who were delighted to see us and show us around their village. They accompanied us down a steep cliff to a huge valley below. Along the way we met a sheep and goat herder dressed in native attire. Eventually we reached the bottom of the valley and the river. It was wasn't the cleanest water in the world - but it was running and most of the kids … [Read more...]
Ancient Bushman cave paintings
Just returned from a fantastic outing on the horses to see ancient Bushman cave paintings. We rode through expansive fields of mostly corn until we reached a viewpoint overlooking an impressive gorge. From here it was on foot down a very steep rocky trail to the first of the caves - called "echo cave". It was obvious why this cave took its name after we shouted ourselves hoarse, practicing our new found Lesotho words including "dumella" - a … [Read more...]
Malealea Village
We met a local in the nearby village and had an hour tour of the surroundings. It is nice to be able to talk to the locals in English - this is not always something you can do around the world. The village is very spread out and home to about 500 people. The homes are traditional, mostly stone and mud with thatched roofs collected from wild grasses and reeds that grow nearby. The village is overseen by a chief - he is elected for a lifetime. … [Read more...]
Malealea Lodge, Lesotho
Greetings from Malelea Lodge in the remote hinterlands of the "mountain Kingdom" - the landlocked county of Lesotho (not pronounced how its spelled, rather phonetically you say "Lesootoo"). The country has the highest mountains in Southern Africa and receives significant snowfall at the higher elevations in the winter. There is even a small ski resort in the eastern part of the country! We drove in from South Africa crossing the border at … [Read more...]
Exhausted in South Africa
We arrived in South Africa with no plans. A quick scan of the airport revealed a number of name brand car rental companies - so we bee-lined for the only Internet Cafe we could find and used one of the online car reservation companies. Within 40 minutes of making our reservation we had signed countless forms and were sitting in our almost brand new Nissan Sentra. This was the only "automatic" transmission vehicle we could find at the entire … [Read more...]
Continent Hopping!
We jetted from Bangkok to Addis Ababa yesterday on Ethiopian Airlines. I wasn't too impressed with the two planes we were on - they were just plain old. Both times I used the restroom the broken doors swung in on me even though it said "occupied" on the outside. The video/light control console was broken on both flights and on the second flight my seat had a scant view of the video screens. But, they just joined Star Alliance in late 2011 so more … [Read more...]
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