Ballito Manor

... in Durban is limited. Despite almost constant rain, I've enjoyed walking around the city a bit and visiting several small museums.

Tomorrow I'm heading up into the northern Drakensberg mountains, where I hope the weather will be good enough to hike and ride horseback over the next couple of days.

... be done at most places we have stayed, including the tented camps. We have used the service when we are staying at a place for more than one night. In the tented camps, it would generally cost about $1 an item. In the hotels, the cost ranges considerably, but we have seen it as cheap as $0.40 per item (in Graskop and here at Coffee Bay). The 60-day underwear that Boyd bought really works – they wash and dry in no time unless Boyd is dry ...

Up at 5.53!! Not impressed at Oliver winning the war at having me up early!!! Head down to beach by 7. **** beach with lots of debris so about face and return to camp to finish packing up. Hit the road and stop off at beach place of Zinkwasi which is okay but rocky. Some very posh houses though. Continued on to Ultimatum Tree which was founded between British Zulu troops in 1879 only it appears this thing does not exist as we drive everywhere and can't find it. We even pay ...

After leaving the stunning mountains of Underberg in the southern Drakensberg, we made the 3 hour journey to Ballito - on the coast, just north of Durban - where we stayed a couple of nights with our good friend Graeme (we both worked with Graeme at Schroders) in his family's holiday apartment. The place was very nice and, being a matter of a few metres from the shore, had stunning views up the wild Indian Ocean coast line. Chilling, sunbathing, jacuzziing ...

South Africa is really... white. Durban is dangerous at night and there
is a huge mall. They have blackouts every day for two hours at two in
the afternoon, and even the malls shut down.

... chattering a bit. He used to be in a hospital for children with severe medical problems. I don't think that the home is the right place for him. The nurse at the hospital said that he usually had only one or two seizures a month at the hospital. He had one earlier this morning as well and has had them most days since arriving at the home. At the hospital, he was kept in a low stimulus environment. I think that ...

... cold depths of Pappie and Mamie's lac Beauclair in Masham. A big adjustment for us was to have to deal with understanding the violence and the high crime rate in many parts of South Africa. Houses and communities are gated, fenced in with barbed wire. Going out at night is not safe and precautions must be taken. Restaurants, hotels and homes are guarded by security systems or officers ...

... The lake is filled by a river. As a result, the surrounding area is filled with rare types of reptile, fish, and birds. A visit to the beach was next. Room cleaned, we checked out of the hostel and headed for the beach. The coast was amazing! The striking clear blue waves of the Indian Ocean fiercely crashed into the white sandy African beaches as far as the eye could see. It was slightly windy during our visit, but I didn't care. Natural dunes formed ...

... So I guess they didin't have to work too hard for the name. Masters of the obvious... Anyway, this place was immense. They sold everything from a booth that only sold zippers to a place that dealt only in hinges. Kelly bought some spices and a few paintings. The cool part about the market was the fact that we were the only white people there. In fact, we were the only white people in Durban that Sunday afternoon. Kind of weird. It was also this day that I ...

... Something we h*d misunderstood * bit w*s wh*t the guy *t the hostel me*nt by "dressed up." He me*nt el*bor*te gowns, costumes, tuxedos, cr*zy outfits, *nd *nything you c*n im*gine. Amir *nd I looked so boring next to *ll these cr*zy outfits. Women wore huge h*ts with fe*thers *nd glitter, with homem*de gowns *nd costumes. It w*s so cool just to w*lk *round *nd look. We couldn't figure out where the r*ces were, *nd no one seemed th*t interested ...