I have acquired a Namibian souvenir in the form of a haircut or perhaps, lack of hair. That is what I get for going into an African barber - leave with a totally shaved head - most of the people here have very short hair. So now I fit in well. We are in the Caprivi Strip - a narrow band of the country bordered by Angola, Zambia and Botswana. It has a convoluted history - at times under Italian, German and South African control. Namibia became … [Read more...]
The Power & Beauty of Sub Saharan Africa
Upon finalizing my flights to South Africa from Bangkok, I told a good friend who has traveled extensively in Africa that I would kiss the African soil for him. He replied, "Kiss Africa's ground for me, but remember: Africa always wins. No matter how much you try to make sense of all the nonsense, it'll never make sense. Thus Africa wins." Winning or not, the unpredictability of adventure travel in Sub Saharan Africa has always appealed to me … [Read more...]
Chobe National Park
Today we visited the interior of Chobe National Park with our intrepid guide Shime - a Botswanan who hails from a small village 7 hours away near the city of Maun. We are staying at the luxurious isolated Ngoma Safari Lodge located on the edge of Chobe on the Namibian border. The Chobe game drives are the main activity offered by Ngoma - and along with their lodge, these drives are first class. Their guides are super knowledgeable, have eyes … [Read more...]
A man named Bottles and a dog named Egg
We were on the Zambezi River (Africa's 4th longest) for most of the day. First we headed out on Jet Extreme with the owner, Bottles. He set up shop on the Zambezi in the late 1990's after traveling overland through Africa. We passed through a spread out village - all the homes were made of earthen walls and thatched roofs. Electricity appeared to be non existent - just homes in the bush among the corn fields. Small children ran after our vehicle … [Read more...]
Livingstone Zambia
Greetings from the Jollyboy Backpackers Guesthouse. Long gone are the old days of backpacking - where amenities were basic and services on the light side. Here you have excellent Internet access (by sub Saharan Africa standards), a pool, full kitchen and a variety of falls and safari related activities to choose from. The backpackers lodge in Victoria Falls we stayed at even had several onsite masseuses! The "no man's zone" - the area between … [Read more...]
Kruger National Park
If your looking for a Big Game Drive, look no further than the huge Kruger National Park in South Africa. Day visits are the cheapest way to see the park but there are a number of lodges within the park boundaries (more expensive then some of the nearby outside of the park accommodations). We took advantage of our early morning arrival time and drove on dirt roads all day on our own "big game drive". We came across three of the "Big Five" - Cape … [Read more...]
Swaziland
The Kingdom of Swaziland is small and you can easily see the major attractions within 4-5 days or longer if you prefer spreading the driving out over a longer period of time. The oldest mine in the world is here and dates back 43,000 years!! Its an iron ore mine and ancient people's use to get hematite and other iron ore for making tools, and coloring for painting in caves. We drove in just after the the visitor center had closed for the day but … [Read more...]
The Rose House Inn – South Africa
The Rose House Inn is a wonderfully restored luxury Bed & Breakfast located about 8 km from the small town of Fouriesburg in eastern part of the Free State in South Africa. The properties' old stone farmhouse was meticulously restored by innkeepers John and Trish Critchley in 2005/2006. Two stand alone cottages were constructed within the expansive gardens and now serve as the primary guest rooms. The main two ingredients in a stay here are … [Read more...]
Nisela Safari Lodge Swaziland!
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...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- …
- 38
- Next Page »