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SANDSTEEN ROETE, OUDTSHOORN

Terwyl ek tyd moes verwyl in Oudtshoorn het ek besluit om my lyf bietjie toeris te hou en deur die dorp te stap en die sandsteen geboue te bekyk. So begin ek onder in Baron van Rheedestraat en stap verby die indrukwekkende CP Nel museum wat ongeveer 122 jaar oud is. So leer ek dat ook Cecil John Rhodes hier op Oudtshoorn ‘n draai moes gemaak het toe hy die hoeksteen in 1892 gelê het. Net ‘n klein entjie daarvandaan geniet toeriste ‘n koppie koffie by wit gedekte tafeldoeke op die bekende Queens Hotel se stoep. Na bewering ook die derde oudste hotel in Suid-Afrika! Maar ek is nog nie lus vir koffie nie en stap nog verder af in Baron Van Rheedestraat. Dan kom ek op ‘n interessante oudhede winkeltjie af met die gepaste naam van Die Neelsie – dit is mos CJ Langenhoven wêreld die – waar jy… Read more >

A WALK IN ST GEORGE’S PARK

Today we opted to walk instead of drive in our exploring stint. A leisurely afternoon stroll (actually in search of a geocache) took us to the historic St George’s Park and surroundings to learn and appreciate a bit of history. Our first stop was at the historic Port Elizabeth Cricket Club (PECC) which was established in 1859 where a club match was underway. The grounds boast a couple of unique achievements such as: being the second oldest cricket club in South Africa; being the venue for the first cricket test the first women’s international Test the last Test before South Africa was expelled from world cricket the first ever test series win against Australia the first Rebel test was played here and last but not least it is the sixth oldest cricket ground in the world In 2003 it was only the second season that PECC and Crusaders Rugby Club… Read more >

ETHIOPIA

To say the least – I was stunned by Ethiopia! The picture I had in my mind of Ethiopia was of famine ravished people as thin as sticks living off parched land. Sooooo wrong – well at least the parts of the country that I have visited. This was the first of the East African countries that we have entered into per vehicle on our trans African trip that drives on the right-hand side of the road. This immediately says that there is a whole lot more surprises waiting for you. When we entered at Moyale on the Ethiopia/Kenya border you immediately notice all the changes in yet a new country. Suddenly you cannot read the sign boards next to the road as it is in Ahrmeric (only spoken in Ethiopia,) the Samburu women carrying barrels of water in a unique style on their backs with different looking cattle grazing… Read more >

SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA

While we were on holiday in Thailand we made a quick dash across the border to Siem Reap in Cambodia to visit the ancient Angkor Wat and at the same time pick up some geocaches along the way and get a new visa stamp when we enter back into Thailand. What immediately strikes you when you cross into Cambodia at Aranya Pratet is that life is quite different from Thailand – different modes of transport, different language (Khmer) and even less English speaking people than in Thailand, more poverty, but all over very friendly people. One thing that does not differ however is the humidity and the heat. We left our vehicle for the weekend in the parking lot at Aranya Pratet and crossed per foot into Cambodia and rented a taxi (which uses gas as fuel) in Poipet to take us to Siem Reap for the weekend. What we… Read more >

A WEEKEND VISIT TO HOGSBACK

During December of 2013 we took a quick pre-Christmas break to Hogsback to celebrate our daughter’s successful academic year. The road took us high up into the Amathole mountains amongst cloud and rain. As we arrived at the beautiful Hogsback Arminel Inn the rain was pouring down and our hopes to do some walking diminished. So we were on to plan B at J R R Tolkien’s place of Hobbits and fairies! Plan B included driving the road (indicated on maps as a normal road, but do not be fooled as this has degraded to a 4×4 track) from Hogsback to Seymour, which was on hubby’s to do list, as well as picking up some caches in the area. However the weather did not have a sunny outlook so we followed the road less traveled through the forest to Keiskammehoek Thanks to Geocaching we passed traditional huts and villages,… Read more >

KENYA – CROSSING THE EQUATOR

I visited Kenya for the first time in 2007 as part of a life long dream to overland Africa from South to North. We entered through Namanga border post in the South and the whole process on both sides took us a mere 30 minutes – not bad for Africa! My first introduction to Nairobi was, to say the least, very interesting. The bumper to bumper traffic is nerve wrecking, but my Better Half was not intimidated at all by this as he is used to driving in Khartoum, where he worked, with even worse traffic. Thumbs up to him! You really have to have nerves of steel and adapt or die to cope with the aggressive African drive style, but our trustworthy Garmin GPS took us all the way to Upper Hill campsite in the middle of Nairobi without any glitches. As I had a “fly in” visa for… Read more >

ZANZIBAR

‘n Spur of the moment besluit die Sondag om die Maandag ‘n vinnige draai by die reisagent te gaan maak om kaartjies te gaan koop en dan Dinsdag op die vliegtuig te wees vat ons Zanzibar toe. Omdat die ander helfte van my in transit moes bly op OR Tambo moes ons die lang roete via Nairobi neem na Zanzibar. Die eiland was al baie lank in my travel bucket gewees en nou was dit ons kans. Gewoonlik is die besige Afrika lughawe ‘n miernes van mense wat kom en gaan en drentel en wag maar vanoggend is Jomo Kenyatta aan die stil kant en ek wonder of dit die gevolg van ebola is aangesien dit ‘n aansluitingspunt is vir vlugte vanuit Wes-Afrika. Maar voort na Zanzibar. Hier op Jomo Kenyatta moet jy amper alles uittrek om deur sekuriteit te kan gaan – skoene, geld, horlosie, belt, oorbelle, enigiets wat… Read more >