Best travel blog - Feb 2010
The 2 best blogs of February have something in common - they were both written by UK citizens.
The legendary Muzi catches the Shosholoza to Kimberley together with the rest of the media contingent invited by SA Tourism to World Tourism Day celebrations. Staying in the Protea Hotel Kimberley, he got to see the Big Hole and the Lilydale Rest Camp from which they went for a 3 hour game drive. |
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Paddington travelled out from the UK to visit South Africa & Lesotho. Whilst Lesotho's roads are decrepit, its scenery is breathtaking (message to our Lesotho readers - give some folk jobs to fix up the roads, thereby encouraging even more tourists to visit your country - a double whammy of jobs). In Maseru, the "One thing that did stick out in my mind was the amount of barbers that Maseru had, practically every other spot was a makeshift barbers". In SA Paddington started with the Kruger - "The concept of Kruger Park was hard to fathom. The idea that there was a national park bigger than the country I live in" - noting the devious-looking hyenas roaming around their lodge with their skulking manner. His 19 hour Shosholoza Meyl train trip from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth was far longer than his previous record from London Waterloo to Weymouth, but this was made up for by the stunning sunsets. In PE Paddington clambered to the Donkin memorial from which he let his camera work some magic. He hired a car (Kia Picanto) and made his way to Cape Town, stopping off on the way at the Addo Elephant Park, Jeffreys Bay, Storms River, Plettenburg Bay, Oudtshoorn and Swellendam. |
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Lucia ignores scaremonger chatter about how dangerous Cape Town is, and choses to visit Cape Town when her trip to Morocco got cancelled. Some lovely photos, including one of Mama Africa which I've noticed has become a popular picture for tourists to take. |
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The Roving cameraman flies with Virgin Atlantic to Cape Town with Emma Crosby. |
And the winner for February is...
The one and only "Roving Cameraman" from Edinburgh, Scotland. Virgin Premium and Upper class were fully booked so the GMTV production crew sucked it up in economy class, whilst Emma Crossby enjoyed the luxury of Virgin Upper Class (aint it wonderful being the star of the show). And there was even drama up in the skies, with one of the GMTV crew catching a lady that suddenly collapsed, started shaking uncontrollably and turning a "strange purple colour" - the Virgin cabin staff were quickly dashing around with oxygen cylinders, portable defibrillators and findif there was a doctor on board (somehow there always seems to be one). The lady's problem was diagnosed and brought under control rather quickly.
After 12 hours of flying they they landed in Cape Town, where the hotel they specifically booked as as it was the only one which would guarantee to let them check-in early, let them down in this regard. Without much sleep, they went to the V&A Waterfront to shoot footage of the beautiful Emma Crosby with the (also beautiful) Table Mountain backdrop.
Top Jan 2010 travel blog
Stephen Hayes' touching account of growing up in Ingogo, a small spot in KwaZulu-Natal (then Natal), about halfway between Johannesburg and Durban, overlooked by three hills - Majuba, Inkwelo and Mount Prospect. Stephen spent several months in 1948 (a pivotal year in South Africa's history) at the Valley Inn Hotel. He swam in the river, learned how to play marbels, went for rides on ox wagons that came past laden with fire wood and went riding on donkeys. They were in Ingogo during the landmark 1948 general election when the National Party got in, and according to the "grown-ups" the one good thing coming out of the election was that they would be able to buy white bread again (the Nats had promised that they would bring back white bread if they were elected. During the war Stephen's mother used to buy brown flour and sifted it to make white bread). Thank you Stephen for drawing the past out into the light, for sharing and for ensuring that these memories are not lost to the sands of time.
Best travel blog posting in 2009
The size of Sean Brown's heart and the power of his pen made him our winner for travel blog of the year for 2009:
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"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"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
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"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."
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"I want to be more patient and forgiving. I want to take advantage of the blessings and privileges of being an American. I want to use my education to get a job where I can learn from the world’s mistakes and be an active part of a movement to bring social, economic, and environmental justice around to world. I want to do whatever I can to assure that no more girls are raped, no more activists are jailed, and no more oppression expands. This is what I owe the world for allowing me to inhabit it."
Best travel blog posting in 2008
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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