SA blogger Archives - TRAVELBUCKET

DO YOU HAVE A TRAVEL ADDICTION?

Sometimes I wonder if it is only me that spend a lot of time on the internet researching some new destination or is there some other travelers that also get caught up in this. I hope that there is somebody out there that have the same symptoms and it is not only me ….. So, what are the symptoms of a sure travel addict? I do not know, please help me with this one. After pondering a while on this question I came up with the following as sure signs that you are a travel addict: Maps and the globe are part of your life. If you hear about a place and you are not sure where it is, you go and find out to satisfy your curiosity. Google Earth is fascinating, and you easily get lost in that space. You probably know how Tracks4Africa work as you use… Read more >

A LAST MINUTE WISH LIST WHEN YOU HAVE WANDERLUST

Five days to Christmas! If you still have some outstanding gifts to buy and all the holiday makers, tinsel and Jingle Bells are freaking you out, so that you cannot think properly, I have some quick and easy travel gift ideas for you – and no you do not have to spent a fortune to impress someone. Think about the person’s personality and his/her love of travel and voila you have many options to choose from! I am leaving some of my thoughts for gift shopping …. For the friend that loves travel into remotes places where electricity is not always an option – how about a power bank to keep them connected to the world and social media? For the loved one (friend or family) who is an adventurous coffee addict – Veer from the well-known coffee brands and try something from the African continent. You will be surprised… Read more >

MEET WALLACE

Wallace is our newly acquired, but already loved 2003 Td5 Land Rover. Not so young in years, but still going strong! Since Wallace arrived in our family there was some minor changes to it. First of all we had to change the number plates that it does not read “GP” anymore. Second major thing that needed to be done was to fix the oil leak (of course!). Then we started to fit some smaller things from our previous vehicles – an awning to one side for some protection against the harsh African sun and the unpredictable rain when we travel. Wallace’s story starts under the post: The Life of a Landy Wife First things first. A list of “essentials” was drawn up versus a list of “nice to haves” as our budget is not unlimited at the moment. Now everyone has a different “essentials” list and a different “nice to… Read more >

COOKING IN THE BUSH

This surely is my favourite pastime when we are camping in a group – to watch how innovative people can get when preparing a meal with what you have at hand, especially when it is week two of a serious off-road trip. I myself like to keep things very simple! I prefer to travel as light as possible and keep the kitchen equipment/ utensils to the minimum. Fancy cooking is something that I will attempt when I am at home with all the crockery and cutlery at hand. After all, this is why we come to the bush – to get back to basics again and appreciate nature. I can proudly say that I have had a braai in countries like Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Sierra Leone, the Ivory Coast and Zambia! When camping there are basically two ways to cook – either with a gas cooker… Read more >

MALGAS PONTOON – THE LAST HAND OPERATED PONTOON

A pontoon is a simple floating barge designed to get vehicles across a river, and the word is often shortened to pont. If you like to explore the back roads of South Africa the route through the Overberg that will take you to the pont at Malgas across the Breede River is a worthwhile, one of a kind experience. What makes the Malgas pont rather special? It is the only remaining hand-drawn pont of its kind in the country. There are at least two other pontoons that comes to mind when writing about this topic, but they are not hand-drawn – the one over the Kei River in the Eastern Cape and the one at Sendelingsdrift in the Richtersveld crossing the Orange River in the Northern Cape but it is not the same as the hand-drawn one at Malgas. I am adding these two pontoon crossing to Wallace’s travel list! The… Read more >

BRAAI – A WAY OF LIFE!

We have just celebrated Nasionale Braai Dag (National Braai Day) or, as it is officially declared as part of the public holiday system in South Africa, Heritage Day. This is a yearly celebration on the 24th of September. I think you can imagine what we as a nation do on this day – we braai! Although we have 11 official languages in our country the word braai is understood across the board. Now there are no ”official” rules for having a braai. The people of the Rainbow Nation each has his/her own preference on the when, how and what to braai. Some of us like to have a basic fire place where you can sit as close as possible to the fire when it is cold – and do not mind smelling like smoke – and some of us like to do a classy braai in a build-in fireplace inside… Read more >