Dale Court Guesthouse Cape Town

... of the large rocks on the seashore but it is famous because it is the home to a very large colony of African penguins. A couple of penguins came ashore there about 20 years ago (much to the dismay of many residents because they lost their rights to use the beach). Now the colony is in the hundreds and they line the beaches. The town has set up a nice boardwalk for the tourists to walk on in order to preserve the penguin habitat and keep people ...

... thrilled! But we'll get to more about that later...

Traveling through customs I saw one of the most hilarious women ever--definitely someone I would want to safari with. Probably about 65 years old, bright blonde, hair-sprayed, curly hair, flaming red lipstick so liquid it looked as if it was about to drip any second, and COVERED in leopard print from head to toe. This woman was decked out. We're talking leopard hat ...

... up through Namibia, Botswana, Victoria Falls and back to South Africa so not sure when we will be able to update next. It is quite fitting that we are driving another red van, just a smaller version of our one at home, this one was already named Red Rover. We have been staying at Fish Hoek, a small town in False Bay about 50 km from Cape Town. We will try again tomorrow for Robben Island and Table Mountain, we were unlucky with the weather. Samantha

... If you have 10 South Africans and put them on an island, within one week, you will have 20 churches and 50 political parties. Or about how there’s an ambulance on the island but no medical facilities … they just put you in the ambulance and drive around in circles until you either get better or die: “Africa at its finest!” he declared. He also asked everyone to look at the WWII guns (never fired, as they were only completed in 1947): “Now,” he said ...

... 12-16 degrees, a little overcast, nice seabreeze. Ahhhhh, the smell of the sea! Our first day in Cape Town we hit the shops. David had directed to the Victoria Docks Waterfront shopping complex. It's huge! Found a sim card and phone credit and let Mum's and Dad's know we were safe. Bought hoodie, t-shirt, undies and shavers for Al as his bag still had not shown. We called the airline later in the day and they advised that they had located it and it would be ...

... it and shouted 'More! More!' from the rooftops. The rest of us (me) cringed. Tim is now the talk of the hostel. An Irishman asked me: 'is he gay?', before I could confirm he was indeed homosexual, a Brisbane doctor interjected, 'yeah mate, he's camp as Christmas, gay as they come. Jan from Belgium told me'. This might not be strictly true, but I think some questions are being asked of Tim. I'm happy to play along as long as I'm not cast as his gay lover. Ironically ...

... asked "whom would we text?" The people in Tanzania are friendly, not always helpful, but v**y friendly. And v**y poor, as one friend for the evening explained. They, in fact, und**stand economics v**y well. Farming has a v**y bad ratio of when the money goes in (spring) to when the money comes out (harvest), and some years, aft** all the work, th**e's no profit left at all, or worse. "We typically live on 1000/= a day or so" he says, (less than $1). "We're v**y ...

Just realised entry number 1 was missing...So here's the update. I arrived in Cape Town last Sunday after a long night flight, made even longer by a number of screaming babies on the plane. So after checking to the Ashanti Lodge there was nothing for it but a lazy day on Clifton beach to plan the way forward. The next day I was up bright and early to do the touristy stuff. I took a bus around the city to see all the main sights , which of course ...