Blue Marlin Scottburgh

... I'd be safe there.
Here the market continued, in a fashion. At first I didn't recognize what was on sale. Lying on the pavements, no stalls, was a grimy, brown/grey, collection of what looked like bits of bones, hooves,skulls, hair, herbs and dirty bottles of some potion or other.
I soon realised what it was.
Muthi, used to heal and ward off evil. It gave me the creeps and I thought, for all the apparent 'normality' of the place, the ...

... Lehr's falls where I did a bungy swing across the gorge. Whereas the bungy at Tsitsikamma is secured around your feet, this is attached around the waist. There's an eighty metre freefall towards the rocks below, then you swing out across the gorge. It was almost as scary as the previous bungy though not half as high. I think it was a combination of the lack of safety talks, ancient equipment, jagged rockface below and painted outline of human corpse ...

... happened, we decided to go to Oribi Gorge, the local natural wonder. Oribi Gorge is huge and has some stunning scenery, but it also holds other attractions, one that Nick found himself unable to resist. This was the (alleged) Highest Gorge Swing in the World: 110m to the bottom and two and a half seconds of free fall! It took some psyching up, but a wodge of cash and the longest swan dive ever gave us a mass of photos to treasure for ever! Chris declined the ...

... so I've been asked to lead the boat to subway reef, which had exactly 3 fish on it. the third one i lead to the produce wreck which is huge!!! except i was busy untying the anchor catching my group which swam against the current finishing their air in 10 minutes and ascend giving my alternate air source deploying a SMB controlling two persons buoyancy at the safety stop and ...

... to all the random things that happens. Now we say TISA (This is South Africa) because this country is nothing like the ones we have traveled through. Really high tech malls and excellent highways are being mixed with townships and poverty. Although it is very developed it is dirt cheap to live here as a tourist. The segregation ...

We're here in Durban, on the east coast of Africa, enjoying the cool Indian Ocean breezes! I think we're all pretty thrilled to be near the sea again after being inland for quite a while. It's funny; we all had a negative image of Durban in our minds because one of our novels that we had to read for class gave a pretty pessimistic view of the city. While there is definitely poverty in the city, it is a much ...

... heaps of animals including elephant, giraffe, white rhino and lions with cubs - it was way cool. Quite a different experience to see the game from our little car and we were pleased that our game-spotting skills had become more refined. After Kruger, we stayed in Graskop and hired some mountain bikes. The scenery was lovely with rolling hills and farmland. We had a nice ride and got to visit a few of the waterfalls in the pine tree forest. We then travelled to a little town at the ...

... countries I'd been to, yet it had very poor areas also. One luxury was the ability to be able to rent cars and go at your own pace. I will particularly remember the beautifully located city of Cape Town with all of it's marvelous activities and Kruger that I though provided some of the best game viewing in the whole of Africa. Overall ...

... order. I went to the beach for a couple hours, learned how to make banana leaf coasters, and am planning to leave here tomorrow morning. I also learned about the annual Sardine Run: in June and July, when the big gates open out at sea and allow all the great creatures to roam the shoreline, you can observe sharks, dolphins, and whales close to the beach in hot pursuit of millions of sardines. Grab a bucket, catch your own!

... The next few days will be spent at "busier" backpackers-but they are all supposed to be really nice ones! I love meeting new and interesting people, so I look forward to the change in atmosphere. One of the places where I will be staying is called "Away With The Fairies", and it overlooks the peaks of the Hogsback Mountains. It is supposed to have breath taking views and it is said to have been ...