African Sensations Lodge and Spa Durban

I'm spending 2 more nights in Durban with a nice couple I found on couchsurfing.org. Margaret is an environmental consultant working on transportation issues for the city of Durban, and Gavin is a professional clown. They've given me a private guest room and various rides around town, which is great because public ...

... compelled to buy nothing. Viva la resistance to gadgetry!

I found a Starbucks near our gate and greedily slurped on a venti Chai tea latte until Mary arrived. We scurried to the gate once she'd bought a nibbly treat and we boarded soon after. The flight took off pretty much on time and was again uneventful. A little turbulence. Check. A crying baby a few rows down. Check. Cramped quarters resulting in a ...

... only cost us about 8 euro each which probably would of been about 50 euro back in Ireland. Groggy from dinner and our late one the night before we were all tucked up in bed by 10pm.
Monday was a bit of an 'admin' day where we did very little except write some blogs, do some food shopping and just laze around. That night we went to the cinema for the long awaited new Harry Potter film. Rachel was very excited and I'm not gonna lie to you, I was too. It was ridiculously awesome ...

... genug für zwei - gelobt sei.... Wir hatten sogar zwei Tage lang was von der Ente - soooo viel und legger war's :-) Neben dem obligatorischen Essen sind aber auch gaaanz viel in der Gegend rumgefahren. Fischen am Dam durfte nicht fehlen - auch wenn wir jedes Mal ohne Fisch zurückgekommen sind. Die Sonne schien - das Bootfahren ist sowieso immer nett. Fernab vom Wasser ging es dann nach Pietermaritzburg, Hillcrest, Lion Park (mit handzahmen wilden Löwen ...

... for the semester! The program lasts about another week and then I am meeting my friend Kendall in Cape Town for a fun week before heading back to the states. I'm getting back on the 21st. Not sure if I'll write any more entries after this one, so if not- thanks for reading and I look forward to seeing everyone when I get back. I'll have tons more stories to tell and about a thousand pictures to show if you are interested! Salani kahle!

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.

We drove all day and into the night to get to Durban through the most trecherous conditions. At some points it was raining so hard that you could only see 20m ahead - probably not the safest thing to do given the way people drive over here and the risk of animals in the road.

... also went. I met several gentlemen and a couple from the Netherlands, a pilot from Germany who flies for Lufthansa, and a couple from the United Kindgom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Swellendam is the country's third oldest town after Cape Town and Stellenbosch. It was founded by the Dutch in 1742 and named after the governor and his wife. On Tues. morning, we into town ...

... This means, according to a traffic policeman, I am still driving a stolen vehicle. How's that for troubling. I can't even drive without an attack of paranoia. It's a nightmare! (Okay, I was hamming it up a little.... I couldn't help it.... I was having fun) Dwayne: Wow... well I will speak with my national manger and we'll have something worked out by the time you return your vehicle. Phil: Yes, I will be returning your vehicle first thing in the ...

... but an hour out of Durban, there are but a few sky-rises further up on the beach and certainly not here. These meter-high sand dunes are in great shape, with banana plants, shrubbery and vines supporting them. And it's so quiet here, even on a perfect day on a weekend! There is better scenery yet to come along the Wild Coast and there are plenty of volunteer positions for a vast array of projects and areas of interest available. I'll just have to go look.