Here's the list of blog entries we highlighted in each month of October, each a winner in their own right.
Jara rented a car during her visit to Mozambique to drive to Tofo...and unfortuanately were sideswiped by an 18-wheeler truck. From this point it took all her resources just to make it back to South Africa. |
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Jamshed and his male buddies set "girl traps" on their Emirates flight from India to Cape Town, by seating themselves behind each other, in order to maxmise their chances of sitting next to pretty girls - unfortuanately the end result was them being seated next to an Iraqi businessman, a grandmother, a domestic worker and an army officer. |
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Maureen blogs about the first leg of her Cape to Cairo trip; seeing the Namaqualand National Park, Ai-Ais National Park, Canon Lodge in Gondwanaland, Fish River Canyon, Giant’s Playground and Quiver tree forest near Keetmanshoop, Sesriem, Swakopmund and Windhoek. |
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"Boston" took 3 flights to get from Manila to Cape Town (Manila to HKG, HKG to DXB, and DXB to CPT, which means he must have flown Emirates Airline). The highlight of Boston's Cape Town trip was the sandboarding in Atlantis. |
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Jonah travels with Kulula from CPT to PLZ, and after enjoying bodyboarding he drives to King Williams Town to enjoy an evening of song and dance at the late Steve Biko's house. |
It was very close, and whilst we loved Maureen's description of her trip from Cape Town to Namibia and her photos, Jamshed's hilarious account of the "pretty girl traps" set on his Emirates flight from India to Dubai to Cape Town, is this month's winning post. For the record, here's the list of things Jamshed suggest to NOT ask girls when sitting next to them:
"• Do they serve liquor as often as you ask?
• Do you think two people can fit into this airplane’s washroom?
• Can I remove the arm rest between our two seats?
• What trade are you planning to get into once in Dubai?"
And our winners for September were the 4 American girls who ventured forth to Paradise Camp, (near Hoedspruit) to discover politically incorrect men, shooting stars in bright African skies, meals cooked over fires and sleeped to the sound of leopards. And we cannot leave out this quote about the 2 game rangers (both named Craig): "They are completely offensive, politically incorrect men who’ve been living in the African bush without electricity or any modern amenities for years. They smoke a pack of cigarettes a day and drink rum like it’s water. But you couldn’t help but love them! They’re also brilliant and the best safari guides we could ever ask for."
And our August month winner was Sean Brown, who found his heart in Africa. Sean's words say it best:
"My mind could not escape the thought of the deplorable conditions that the hundreds of thousands of people that lived in what they call townships, but we would call slums or shacks."
"Living in Camden, a city known for its violence and poverty, the bad experiences can stretch from annoying to dangerous. I will never look at my home the same again. In South Africa, including Johannesburg, 1 out of 3 women are raped and never report it."
"Traveling on the bus, watching young girls walk home from school with their dusty school uniforms, I could not help but wonder how long it would be before those young ladies had their innocence snatched from them."
"I asked a friend that I met in Cape Town about public transportation. Trains? “That’s what you get on if you want to get shot,” he remarked matter-of-fact
"I am glad that my first time out the country, I was able to be a proud ambassador instead of an ashamed tourist, forced to explain the actions of #43."
July's winner is Emily's tale of getting hustled in Mombasa, eating traditional Swahili food, snorkelling in the marine park and having her hair braided . She also spotted an anti-corruption suggestion box (we could probably do with one in South Africa too, Mr Zuma).
"Lady in London", who visited Namibia's Etosh National Park, where she "woke up at 4am each day to the sound of mating lions" - Namibia's own little red light district in the wild. When not hearing the lions she was seeing them, and even had an encounter with an ultra-poisonous black mamba snake. Scariest part of the trip was going on a game walk with guide and a rifle, whilst "Lady in London" pictured herself "getting mauled by a lion, cheetah, leopard, or even a tiger on holiday from India".
Amy & Kate, intrepid fourth year medical students from Van der Bilt, were our May 2009 winners - the power of their pictures of Africa won us over. Here are our favourites:
On their way up to Uhuru Peak in Tanzania. |
Mount Ile. |
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Buried on the beach - these gals also know how to have fun! |
Fishermen in Mozambique. |
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Expat's visit to the Sani Top Chalet pub for her Mom's birthday (actually, a little after her Mom's bday - being a teacher, the visit needed to coincide with school holidays). Before flying from Johannesburg back to snowy cold London in uncomfortable cattle class, Expat & Mom loaded up the 4x4 and headed towards the mountains that breath with dragons (Drakensburg) - or uKhahlamba (barrier of spiers) in the vernacular of the never-been-conquered Lesotho Mountain Kingdom. They stayed first at Mkomazana Mountain Cottages before taking the trip up the notorious Sani Pass - a dirt road with sheer drops and hairpin bends into the impenetrable Lesotho Mountain Kingdom. The Sani Pass has some interesting names like “the St Peters bend” (more people pray on this bend than they do in church) and “the whiskey bend” (you need a whiskey after turning this bend).
Alexis Grant's tale of Abdul & Mahesh's unwanted week at Douala Airport, in Cameroon. We've all heard stories of having to bribe officials in African countries, but this one trumps all others. On inspecting the mens' travel documents, officials at Cameroon's airport realised they had been invited by a diamond company (they are diamond cutters), and insisted they pay a "fee" to board their plane (4000 euros at that!). Abdul & Mahesh refused to pay the bribe and the uniformed officials refused to let them leave. For a week they slept in the only chair in the airport (see photo), until their company and the Cameroon government came to the rescue.
Our favourite travel blog posting in Feb 2009 is Marie's - not many tourists get wedding proposals (including one to become a 3rd wife!) whilst here, and even fewer take photos of butchered cows' heads which help remind me why I'm vegeterian! Add that to the fact that she met up and conversed with Hector Pietersen's sister Antoinette, and I get the feeling she soaked up plenty SA culture during her stay her.
January's winner was Colleen's blog of her expedition to go teaching in Lesotho, which started with her having to jump airport lines to make her connecting flight from Johannesburg to Bloemfontein. Below is a photo of her on top of Thaba Bosiu (translates to "Mountain of the Night" in Lesotho), a sandstone plateau where all but one of the Basotho kings are buried, and which King Moshoeshoe used to defend his nation from Zulu invaders (colonialists?) in the 1820s. Colleen has been teaching grade 1 - education is the cornerstone of the civilised world and from us at SouthAfrica.TO, we'd like to congratulate you on making a difference - you are a great example for others to follow.
With dreadlocks forming from a buildup of Namibian sand in his hair, braving a cruel 12 hours in a combi-trip from hell (filled with sweaty people), and having chats with a philosophising englishman amongst Swakopmund's lego-like structures; Sebastian Modak's account of his Namibian travels was our travel blog of the year for 2008.
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