Archive for April, 2008
Canyons, Cheetahs & Kruger
Canyons, Cheetah & Kruger
Canyons, Cheetahs & Kruger is somewhat cheaper in value as Boots n’all trips go. It is certainly not as good value as the Dunes, Delta & Falls option. In truth adventure travel through Mpumalanga, unless you happen to have to stop and change a flat tyre in a hijack hotspot, or one of those long freeway shoulders where livid red signs warn you for your own safety not to stop, is likely to be minimal.
The main features of the trip: Blyde River Canyon, Kruger National Park, Edeni Private Game Reserve and an endangered species reintroduction program are all worthwhile, but they come across a little as short hop trips of the kind one might take from a backpackers lodge while waiting to jump on an overland truck or to fly out.
Date: April 24th, 2008 |
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Ons Skrik Vir Niks: Exhibitions of Race
Black On Black
In an action rich in irony this week a certain Mr Black successfully brought legal action against the notorious ‘whites only’ South African holiday resort, Broederstroom Vakansie-Oord, situated near the Hartebeespoorte Dam in Gauteng Province. In common with a handful of other facilities, notably the Orange Freestate, an element of white society in South Africa has, and continues to attempt to retain what racial exclusivity the liberal constitution of South Africa will allow. On 5 March this year Mr Black and his wife, who are white but who have two adopted black children, were evicted from the resort thanks to the mixed race status of their family. This enraged Mr. Black, causing him, with some justification, to lodge a complaint against Broederstroom with the South African Human Rights Commission, which in turn initiated proceedings in the Equality Court in terms of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act of 2000.
Date: April 19th, 2008 |
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Backpacker's Lodges: The Cool Side of Traveler Accommodation
Backpacker’s Lodges
Backpackers lodges are by now a fairly common phenomenon worldwide, but in Africa they have long been the backbone of the independent traveller movement. Most started out as rough converted suburban houses on the outskirts of African cities where the first trans-Africa overland trucks could shed their pax for a few days and restock and recharge. Sometimes there was a pool, but if not there was always a bar, plenty of booze and good music. Typically they were run by ex-overland drivers or couriers, and what might have been lacking in facilities was always more than made up for in atmosphere. As the overland truck travel industry boomed and diversified through the 80s, so did the numbers and styles of these ad hoc lodges and truck stops. In due course they developed a variety of groovy angles, often of the didgeridoo and djembe variety, and moved out of the cities and into the tourist areas where they evolved themselves into what we now take for granted as the backpackers lodge.
Continent Wide
These days the network is spread deep and wide across the subcontinent. While overland trucks still make up the bread and butter of a lot of lodges, from Nairobi to the Cape, from Windhoek to Maputo, there is a huge choice for the independent traveller, covering just about anywhere that it is reasonably possible to access. With South Africa’s re-entry into the world community in 1994 the movement took instant root and exploded. South African capital and the South African capital mindset quickly grew the concept from a simple cottage crash-pad in a picturesque location into a multi purpose entrepot for travel venture, information, fellowship and exchange. Despite this the concept is still wrapped up in many shades of cool, and the basic services are still cheap, safe and clean accommodation, with internet access, valuables deposit, local information, approved tours and excursions, plenty of alcohol, and usually an angle or two on how to score some pot.
Date: April 14th, 2008 |
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Drakensberg: Giant's Castle Game Reserve
Giant’s Castle Game Reserve
Continuing on with the theme of gracious accommodation and civilized pursuits, I am returning to the Drakensberg, and this time to Giants Castle Game Reserve. As with the Royal Natal National Park, and Cathedral Peak, the dominant themes here are walking, climbing and horse riding, with the usual emphasis on bird-watching and gorgeous seasonal floral displays. Also, of course, there is the celebrated vista, which differs within the Giant’s Castle Game Reserve only inasmuch as it is characterised this time by a grassy plateau among deep river valleys pressed up against the sheer cliffs of the escarpment.
Again the walking trails allow for the participation of just about anyone from the very occasional stroller to the maniac death marcher. For the sake of the latter there is a magnificent contoured trail that runs from south to north, pressed tight up against the escarpment, and continuing up almost the entire length of the reserve. On a clear day, and sometimes even on a cloudy day, this trail offers sweeping views of the diminishing perspective of foothills that run, it seems at times, into the deepest blue infinity.
For the rest of us there are about 285kms of varied footpaths that traverse the reserve with the two main focus’ tending to be in the south and the north. Scattered around the reserve there are four mountain huts as well as a handful of caves that are suitable for overnight camping. The huts are equipped with bunks, a gas stove, cooking oddments and a flush toilet. Reservations for both caves and huts should be made with the Officer-in-Charge of the reserve.
How To Get There
There are two main routes into the reserve, north and south, the first being to the Injisuthi Camp to the north via the 331 from Loskop (a dorp with the lovely name, translating from the Afrikaans as Loose Head, or Space Cadet in contemporary parlance) which is reached via either Winterton or Ennersdale, both off the N3 near Estcourt. The second route in is through the Witteberg Gate via the 391 from Mooiriver/Nottingham Road, also off the N3. Here you will find the main KNZ Wildlife Office, and the Giant’s Castle Main Camp.
Date: April 9th, 2008 |
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Zimbabwe: The End of the Beginning
I have noticed quite a few comments finding their way back to the site regarding Zimbabwe, Mugabe, and the general state of things between the Limpopo and the Zambezi. While this is a travel site and not a political blog, the two concepts have a certain symbiosis thanks to the fact that politics in the liberation zone often has cultural overtones, so let me air my own thoughts on Mugabe, for what they are worth, and how things are and how they went wrong.
In the Beginning
Before 1980 Zimbabwe was Rhodesia. Before 1890 it was Matabeleland. Associated with Matabeleland was a large area to the north known as Mashonaland which existed more or less to breed Mashonas in order that the Matabele (Ndebele) could kill them. For the Mashona in particular life at that time was brutal, unpredictable, and usually short. The Matabele were a monarchical society ruled by the dynastic succession of Mzilikazi, father of the nation, and later his son Lobengula. The Mashona were a far less cohesive nation, that, although they had at one time been part of an impressive regional empire known as the Mwane Mutapa, had been reduced somewhat by age and circumstance to a weak confederation of clans and language affiliates, with no central leadership, no standing army and certainly no viable means to stand up to the centrally governed, highly aggressive and militant Matabele.
Date: April 26th, 2008 |
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Dunes, Delta & Falls, Boots n'all in the Bush
Dunes, Delta and Falls Discoverer
Boots n’all Adventure Travel Shop has launched its Dunes Delta and Falls Discoverer, which, as the name implies, is a journey through the western quadrant of Southern Africa, combining the best of South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Victoria Falls.
The trip kicks off in Cape Town, which at your leisure you can explore before jumping on the truck. From there it is north to the first stop of Lamberts Bay on South Africa’s Atlantic coast, which is a charismatic and often quite rustic appendage to the better known South and East Coasts. Here the focus tends to be less on sun and surf and more on whale watching, seafood, perusing the seasonal Namaqualand wild flower displays, and likewise the seasonal spectacle of some 30 000 Blue-eyed Gannets concentrated on Bird Island.
Namibia
From here it is north into the arid regions of the Namib Desert fringe with an overnight stop on the frontier between Namibia and South Africa along the Orange, or Gariep River. Activities are centered on the river, but also the surrounding scenery with it’s focus on a diversity of succulent plants for those interested in such things. The trip really gets cranked up, however, upon arrival at Fish River Canyon, the largest of it’s kind in Africa, and one of the most interesting and rewarding hiking destinations in the region.
The next day the journey into unique desert landscapes continues with a visit to Sossusvlei, which is a largish salt pan situated within the central Namib Desert, and protected by the Namib-Naukluft National Park. It is predominantly a red dune landscape with the haunting silence of a dead zone, but only deceptively dead, as a walk through the dunes with a local guide will soon reveal. Stunted trees, however, are fair testimony to an extremely harsh landscape, some as much as 900 years old.
Date: April 23rd, 2008 |
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Crime & Conservation: South Africa Today
Smash & Grab!
Crime merged with conservation in South Africa this week, which gave a fair indication of the successes of the later at the expense of the former. There was time during the 1980s and 1990s, in fact during the hot war over the CITES ground rules for the exploitation of wild products such as elephant tusk and rhino horn, that the trade in those two commodities stood at a premium. These events, and the general mood of the period, served to highlight, among other things, the Asian male predilection for rhino horn as an aphrodisiac. The association of ideas behind this being obvious, and similar, one supposes, to the advantages gained from eating the eyes of an eagle, the heart of a lion or the balls of a bull etc
What Next?
Thieves this weekend targeted the Iziko South African Museum in Cape Town and smashed their way into a taxidermy display, making off with two ‘priceless’ horns from a mounted white rhino that had been on display in the gallery since the 19th century. This particular specimen had not been taken off the floor, as many others have as a consequence of earlier attempts to smash and grab their accoutrements, since it had particular historical significance, and moreover visiting school parties could hardly be roundly educated in ecology without the inclusion of a rhino.
Date: April 17th, 2008 |
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Cheap hotels in South Africa are now easier to find
We are proud to announce a greatly improved hotel search function on this site, which we think you will like because it adds a modern feature that you won’t find elsewhere. Finding a hotel in South Africa should be much easier now because you can get search results from multiple travel-booking sites all at once.
Once you see the new page you can select the city for your hotel, and after you click on that name you’ll see a complete list of hotels that are listed in that area. But better …
Date: April 11th, 2008 |
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The Peace Parks Foundation: The Next Great Step in African Conservation
The Global Crisis
When I was a child, picking up a National Geographic magazine at the school library was a journey into a larger than life, multi-chromatic kaleidoscope of mankind and nature. It was a glimpse into the future of what an inquisitive mind could expect from a limitless world. These days, no less splendid in its presentation, when that signature yellow banded periodical drops into my mailbox I feel the sort of reluctance to break the seal as I might if I was looking at an angry red final demand for an overdue car payment.
Currently the feature stories tend to dwell almost exclusively on the global environmental crisis, with florid warnings of catastrophe in picture and print, be it a matter of diminishing ice masses, the waterless southwest of the USA, the slaughter of Congolese mountain gorillas, bush-meat, bushfires, e-waste, imploding biodiversity, diminishing rainforests, poisoned rivers etc, etc, etc.
As the great eco terrorist himself, Peter Garrett of Midnight Oil, once wrote in a stark and despairing lyric: The river runs red, black rain falls, dust in my hand…..! In this age the entire global environmental issue is indeed such a multi-faceted tragedy that it prompted one similarly Malthusian commentator to remark that the only may to mentally survive our common and downward trajectory is to strangle the last giant panda with guts of the last blue whale. If it is all inevitably doomed, then why not just let it all crumble, and afterwards work to rebuild with what is left.
Date: April 6th, 2008 |
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