South Africa Backpackers' & Hostels

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 | No Comments

Sihle Khumalo: Dark continent, My black arse :)

This new release and first book by South African author Sihle Khumalo, details his travels from Cape to Cairo by public transport.

‘I had always wanted to write a book but I had never known what type of a book I would write. As my 30th birthday was getting closer I thought, why don’t I do the Cape to Cairo – which I had always wanted to do - and then after the trip attempt to write a book based on my travels and thus kill two birds with one stone. As they say, the rest is history.’

Read Pete “the meat” ’s review below:

From Cape to Cairo - that’s the intention, and that’s the span of the book. Shades of Kingsley Holgate and extended family, with Land Rover engines rumbling and belching, and loads of red rum around camp-fires at night! Maybe a lion roaring, or some hyenas yelping in the distance!

Well - not so, when Sihle Khumalo describes his real-life encounters. Same route, by and large, that many have traversed over the “dark continent”, but somewhat unusual, and a great deal more stamina required by the writer! Because, when the perspectives are flowing from an obviously suave, worldly-wise African graduate of Uni and sometimes life, choosing to get down and dirty on the roads and buses that span this large and complex continent we call home, this make for excellent reading, as well as some good laughs

So, sit back and travel tightly with our friend Sihle, as he buses through most of southern and eastern Africa’s states, backpacks through some very odd places, joins queues for hours at border crossings, gets mildly irritated at fruit and food vendors, becomes furious when he isn’t offered a lift in an air-conditioned 4×4 (with a license plate not far from where he started, two months prior!)………..and you find that he has crept right under your skin, whether it’s superficially black or white! Recall as you read, the personal resolutions he vows to keep, on his return to normality in SA (be worth finding out how our friend is doing on those, I suspect!). Chuckle at the ladies he tries half-heartedly to hook up with, en route, more out of curiosity, it seems, than serious intent

Date: October 16th, 2007 | 1 comment

The Brew Route: Durbans answer to the wine route?

The Zulu Kingdom now offers visitors a chance to experience the Brew Route, similar in many ways to the wine routes of the Western Cape.

The Route consists of 8 breweries, which range from SABMiller (second largest brewer in the world) to the family run Farmers Brauhaus in Hattingspruit, Dundee.

The route takes tourists through a large part of the province and is impossible to complete in one day, but there is excellent accommodation available throughout the route, especially in the Midlands.

Date: August 31st, 2007 | No Comments

Noodlebosch noodelry in Long Street

Had a concerted walk down Long Street today, to check out the Backpackers and get some prices for Paragliding (dying to try it), it’s R850 ($120), but they only go on hot days with little wind…wind and Cape Town are good friends and not easily parted.

I am also toying with the idea of opening or buying an internet cafe, its a nice low maintenance operation that would suit my temperament quite well. There are not as many as I thought on Long Street, perhaps because the rentals are too high, but Sea Point is chock-a-block with them, at least 20.

Date: April 12th, 2007 | No Comments

Car Rental in Cape Town: Rent-A-Merc !

I have been seeing more and more of these “Rent a Mercedes Benz” cars driving around, that I thought it must be a good deal and sought to find out more.

Series 123 Mercedes are a firm favourite of long-stay visitors, students, surfers and motor mechanics. Basically they run forever and require little or no maintenance (I own one). They cruise along in stately comfort like a land Yacht and fear nothing in the way of crunchy Japanese cars that may get stuck in the grill.

Date: February 27th, 2007 | 2 comments