Lotheni Camp Himeville

... were prepared for this kind of weather (it can snow there year round) so it didn’t dampen our fun. At this point our guides did this stamping kind of rain dance. We of course had to learn it. The ride home was fast. The horses knew that they were getting to food, water and rest so they kept picking up the pace. There were points were the group was just shy of a full out gallop. The scariest thing was two of the girls had never ridden a horse so they were literally holding ...

<br> Friday<br> After two full on days back to back we thought we'd have a quiet day so why not go shopping!! What better way to spend the day in a 3storey shopping mall which had 8 cinemas, a MASSIVE rock climbing wall (I'm not kidding, check out the photos!), plus an entertainment area uptop with arcade games, bumper cars and much much more! Today the credit card got a hammering, we spoilt overselves a little, and well I could've certainly spoilt myself more if SOMEONE didn ...

... we travelled to Hermanus, the whale-watching capital of the south coast, and popped down to the clifftop sea front with the binoculars to see what we could see. We were rewarded with sightings of two or three whales, breaching, flipping their tails out of the water and waving their flippers at us.<br>From the whale coast we journeyed inland via the R62 scenic route, a beautiful drive through a gently mountainous area, where pockets of early morning mist settled in low ...

Sani Pass is an insanly winding and rocky road that leads to the top of the Drakensburg mountains in Lesotho. Lesotho is a country in the mountains that is inside of South Africa. The people in Lesotho wear blankets due to teh extreme winds and temperatures. At the top of the pass there is a tiny border patrol as well as a small village ...

... and was steeling myself to conquer my fear of the mountain and scamper up for a rescue mission. Just then, three minute dots appeared on the ridgeline. Pulling Katharine from the water, we headed up and met them partway down. All were exhilarated by the climb and the awesome scenery. From the hilltop they had seen the entire central Drakensberg range spread out before them, from Bannerman to The Thumb. Gavin had taken some amazing pictures of the entire ...

... impressive. We kept climbing higher and higher. And as the road would wind around one hill another even taller would appear behind it. Eventually, we got to the turn off for the Sani pass and came to the South African border post. It would be another 10 miles or so of incredible switch backs and several thousand vertical feet before the Lesotho post. As we walked up to get our stampy stampy, I realized I had ...

... lunch and try and work out where the hell we are. Then discover we have rode the bikes for a good hour and a half in totally the wrong direction and as result missed horse riding!! The next day was spent climbing up the highest mountain in south Africa, 3100 meters high. Check fitness boy out. This was harder than expected, but the views from the top where worth every step. Sat on the top eating lunch with my feet dangling over the ...

... 3 buses and 2 cars, I eventually arrived at Sani Lodge, in the middle of the Southern Drakenberg mountains and close to the Lesotho border. So much for my 'off the beaten track' idea - it was the busiest hostel I've ever been to. The girls from Cork were there, although from the sound of things, their reputation arrived before they did. There's a lot of inter-hostel gossip in South Africa. Moments later a group of about 20 Indian ...

... that day may surprise some of you who know more about me - I went out on a horse. To set the scene I've only been on a couple of horses before, once in Montana, where good old Digger my horse out there decided to roll in the dust to cool off, the problem was I was still mounted on him at this time! The second time was when I did a 2 day trek in Bolivia following Butch ...

... he let me sleep on the floor in his office which wasn't the best night sleep but still beggars cant be choosers. The next day I jumped on another bus that took me to the border of South Africa and Lesotho. Once I crossed the border I jumped in a taxi and headed for the capital. Once there I got my bearings and found some near by attractions. Masseru hasn't got that much to offer so its best to get out of the city as the nearby ...