Protea Hotel Inchanga KwaZulu-Natal

... this young girl that was packing up her food stall.

She told me that I couldn't be here and that some people she knew to be thieves were already checking me out and getting friends together to rob me. She told me I had to lieve and call a taxi right away and should wait for it at the Shell gas station where there was security or else I would have trouble. She was so worried she actually walked me there which I found funny that my body guard was a ...

(Jim) We drove in last night in the teeth of one of the most amazing thunderstorms I've even seen. The dry, hot air from the high veld spills over the escarpment of the Drakensberg, the highest mountains in South Africa, and collides with the cool, moist air coming up from the Indian Ocean coast. The result is a region where spectacular thunderstorms are ...

... taking to be punished). anyhow, once we got intot he buschcamp we saw 10 giraffes huddled down in the valley below (the place is absolutely huge) so the tourist that I am I took lots of pictures of them (yes the pictures look like a load of trees with a yellow blob on them but nevermind) anyhow, he said something in Zulu and we carried on walking and a little while later I looked up to see that we were standing about 50m from the Girraffe. They looked at us ...

... on horseback! he took us into the breeding camp on the back of his bukkie and we saw loads of game incluing sprinbok, impala, kudo some native SA cow and some other animals but I can't spell their zulu names! he has 600 cows over there and has names for all of them. it was so much more natural than game parks that I've been to before and we got to get out and walk around ...

... went to pull then out flipped over. it was pretty eventful as it was all happening in the worst rain ever. I'm beginning to miss civilisation. hopefully tomorrow I'll be going quadbiking again and maybe going on a hunt to get some dinner for the brai. Also, if you want to reach me, my number is +423663277052 ring that first and if its off then try my uk number. And I still havent been mugged yet!

... of South Africa but the local Zulus weren't too happy, so there were a few nasty battles in these parts particularly at Blood River and Rorke's Drift. Eventually the natives came to see our way of thinking although there were considerably fewer of them. Trouble was, the Boers (rival Dutch settlers) wanted a piece of the place as well - especially when gold and diamonds were found ...

... for a walking break just off the N3 highway in Van Reenen at the top of the Van Reenen Pass at a place called the Llandaff Oratory. This church seats a congegration of 8 and is thought to be the smallest in Southern Africa. Built by Maynard Mathew, a retired magistrate, who was aggrieved in not being able to put a plaque commemorating his son's death in the Roman Catholic Church. His son perished in the ...

... experience. I came back glowing... ( apart from the mud all over my face, that had been previously thrown at me from the horses hooves in front.. wallop, right in my face)... tasty. When I got back to the stables and dismounted, the horse pranced around, glad of the freedom (frisky little thing), and I started to make my way home. A man in a suit ( clearly more money than sense), mentioned to me in a low voice, that I might want to take a look in a mirror before ...

... meander, the old road from Durban to Johannesburg. Got to see a part of South Africa which is beautiful, quite similar to Ireland and well off the standard backpacker trail. Had a delicious German sausage lunch, did some cheese tasting, more shopping including a hammock for Liam and got to see Howic Falls, the tallest waterfall in SA. Going to be hard to leave Pietermaritzberg, but the east coast awaits....

... and a notice board where relatives of some of the soldiers have pinned photos and newspaper cuttings of their headstones, including those of Pte Hook and Lt John Chard both buried in England somewhere. Interestingly Lt Gonville Bromhead played by Michael Caine, was eventually to die unmarried, from typhoid 13 years later while serving in India and was buried there instead of back home in England. A sad memorial to a great ...