TravelStream™ news feed for member jlabbe on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jlabbe en-us Copyright ©2010 TravelPod.com Sun, 21 Dec 2008 09:11:26 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1229662020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1229662020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1229662020/tpod.html Sun, 21 Dec 2008 09:11:26 -0500 God Dries the Dishes! (aka: we've done the dirty work...time to relax!)

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

We made it.

15 countries.

85 days on a truck.

75 nights camping.

4 months without my bed, a decent shower, a hair dryer, something nice to wear, or household chores.

Its over. We've reached Cape Town!

Cape Town is STUNNING! It reminds me of one of my favorite places in Canada, Vancouver, British Columbia. The city is bustling too.....you can feel the excitement in the air. People are happy to be there and residents are happy to be together.

We took in the Victoria Waterfront on our first day there. We enjoyed walking around the area and having a drink on a patio and some really good sushi. We wandered around the shops in the very very nice shopping mall with mixed feelings: partially overwhelmed by all the choices and materialism, partially relieved to have so many choices. We bought some new t-shirts (much needed!) and presents for the crew who had taken such good care of us throughout our journey.

That evening we took in Long Street and ended up at a pub called the Dubliner where there was live music and a lot of tourists. Corona was consumed in large quantities as no one out of our group has seen it in the last 4 months and it is really a delicacy compared to some of the stuff we've been drinking. We stayed out late for the first time as we didn't have to get up and take down our tent at 5 am for the first time.

The second day in Cape Town we took a day tour with BazBus (HIGHLY recommended!) around the Cape Peninsula. We visited the seals and the penguins on Boulder Beach as well as beautiful False Bay and the southern most tip of the African continent. The scenery was absolutly stunning, so much so that Heath and I are already planning a trip back to Cape Town so we can spend more time in the area.

Our flights left on the third day in the afternoon, so we tried to take in Table Mountain in the morning, but unfortunatly it was closed due to high winds. Perhaps next time!

What a fantastic destination to end a journey with! Especially on where you have been without your usual comforts as you will find them ALL in Cape Town. The city is clean and buzzing about the World Cup Soccer in 2010. I think that will be the next time we return to one of our favorite places so far!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1229575560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1229575560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1229575560/tpod.html Sun, 21 Dec 2008 09:02:58 -0500 God Dries the Dishes! (aka: we've done the dirty work...time to relax!)

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa

The Garden Route is a very scenic piece of land in the Western Cape that extends along the ocean down to Cape Town itself. One of our stops was in Stellenbosch, a very nice university town with modern shops and a reputation for the region's impeccable wines. The region boasts over 300 wineries, most of which do tastings...so we figured when in Stellenbosch.....

Our wine tour started around noon which was more than enough time for all of us to try to eat enough before becoming completely and inevitibly inebriated. At most wine tastings you are suppossed to spit the wine into a container after you are done tasting it, but personally in a world of wine ettiquete and snobbery, I think spitting is quite the disgusting thing to do. Its better to enjoy the wine fully by drinking it down. And that is exactly what we did!

The first winery we visited was Wawrick Estates where we were given 6 generous pours of wine, 2 whites and 4 reds. If you are in the area I would highly recommend this winery and highly recommend their Chardonney...and I am normally an "ABC" girl...."Anything But Chardonney"!. Afterwards we drove to another close by town called Franshoek for lunch. This town is EXTREMELY posh and quite pretentious. Our group sat on a patio and watched all the well dressed people go by and marvelled at the literal line up of luxury cars parked on the street. None of us were overly impressed, especially that this is some people's reality in a country where 70% of people are living in horrible poverty, and 99% of the faces pearing out of those car windows were not of African origin.

After lunch we took in one last winery called L'Avenir Estates. This estate featured a very modern service building with stunning views of other wineries in the area. We were given 10 wines, not of overly generous servings (thank goodness), and enjoyed the afternoon sitting in the grass with the sunshine beaming down and good company that should always accompany good wine.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1229229900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1229229900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1229229900/tpod.html Fri, 12 Dec 2008 10:56:38 -0500 God Dries the Dishes! (aka: we've done the dirty work...time to relax!)

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Oudtshoorn, Western Cape, South Africa

I think the only thing I have left to ride in my lifetime that I could possibly legally ride is a donkey. I have now officially rode: horses, camels, ponys, trains, planes, automobiles, bikes (motorized and other), skates (ice and other), elephants, and now ostraches as well.

Oudtshoorn is apparently the "Ostrich Capital of the World", and I officially believe them. There are farms EVERYWHERE with big birds wandering around the fields as you drive into town, and on your way through town you can't help but notice that every restaurant is proud to serve Ostrich steak.

We visited an ostrich farm in the afternoon where we were given a lesson on what parts of the ostrich are used for what, and how they are raised before we headed out to see the animals themselves. They had various kinds from all over Africa, notibly from Zimbabwe and really really big ones from Kenya that are very crabby, as well as white ones from South Africa. We were then led into a pen and a beautiful white one named Shannon was brought in and some of us took turns sitting on her. She was led out and suddenly the pen was filled with about 15 birds and two men in blue suits. We were then told that four of us that weighed under 75 kg could ride the ostriches. There was only 3 of us who fit that description and only 2 people who initially wanted to do it. I was not one of them.

Some people are afraid of dogs, other spiders, but personally, I am not so fond of the ostrich. At a petting zoo in Canada a couple years ago, I was pecked in the face by one and I've been skittish around them ever since. I decided that sitting on one was conquering my fear enough. That was until I saw the other girls do it and decided that I was not going to be the only one that didn't do it!

I hoped on the giant male bird and was told to hook my legs around its thighs, lean back and hold onto the wings TIGHT. I did as I was told and before I knew it we were off! The two jockeys were at the birds side making lots of noise so it would run around. We did two circles in the pen before the bird FINALLY slowed down enough for me to fall back into one of the jockey's hands.

Fear officially conquered.

Especially since the rest of my group is eating bird tonight. (Im eating gem squash due to vegetarian reasons.....even though I think eating the bird would be the ultimate in getting over it!)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1228884240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1228884240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1228884240/tpod.html Fri, 12 Dec 2008 10:47:45 -0500 God Dries the Dishes! (aka: we've done the dirty work...time to relax!)

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Tsitsikamma National Park, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Tsitsikamma park is a beautiful strech of 82 km of protected coast along the Garden Route in the Eastern Cape. We were fortunate to have a very nice place to stay in Storm's River called Tsitsikamma backpackers. We chose to do a canopy tour on our one day in the park. The starting point was a 5 minute walk for the hostel with a lovely little shop called "Bubblegum" on the way which sells the BEST cake and billtong in all of the Eastern Cape.

We arrived at the canopy tour not really sure what to expect. We were given a safety briefing and a rundown of where our money goes and how the trees are protected from any damage from the cables. The company only takes 43% of each person's admission and the rest goes to various community projects and conservation projects. The cable system is held on by friction and is meant to be changed every few years so the trees get some down to time just be normal trees again.

We were harnessed up and given helmets and driven to a point overlooking a valley where we walked onto our first platform. The first cable was a short "nursery" cable to warm us up. We were hooked in and on our way to the other side one by one. Oddly, this activity made me more nervous than any other heights activities I've ever done before as I actually had to DO something. I had to learn to break and was told that if I didn't break hard enough I would crash into the next tree! I took this advice to heart and almost ended up getting stuck in the middle instead. Thankfully I found a happy medium as the tour went on.

We did two shorter cables before a couple very big, very high cables, the longest of which was 91 metres. 10 cables later we were back on solid ground and hungry. We were relieved to find lunch on the other end.

We walked back to the hostel and spent the evening watching movies and having a few drinks. It occured to me that "Africa" as we knew it had ended a few stops ago as I lay on a leather couch, in a beautiful house, furnished to home standards. We have been riding in comfort for the last few days, staying at very nice (and cheap) backpackers with clean, comfy beds, and there is such a selection of food in the super markets that we hardly know what to grab! The Garden Route so far has been VERY beautiful. It reminds me a bit of British Columbia, specifically Vancouver Island. I am missing....well....almost everything about the places we have been, but have to admit that it is nice once in a while to be able to find clean, safe food for snacks and modern amenities in hotels. I guess its a way of easing us back into it before we hit home in a week?
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1228452120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1228452120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1228452120/tpod.html Tue, 09 Dec 2008 08:31:52 -0500 God Dries the Dishes! (aka: we've done the dirty work...time to relax!)

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Malealea, Lesotho

A lot of people have compared me to Lisa Simpson, but not because I've always wanted a pony. That is until now....I BADLY want a Basotho Pony!

Heath and I enjoyed three days at Malealea Lodge, high up in the mountains of Lesotho. We sat on the roof of the truck as we took a 7km dirty road with no railing up to the lodge and marvelled at the "Gates of Paradise" as we were treated to 180 degree views and endless skies of the "Kingdom in the Sky".

A 6 hour pony trek can take you to a waterfall and 27,000 yr old Bushman paintings for under 25$ a person, including a guide and two excellent ponies....which are actually more like short horses. Heath rode "Rocco" and I had "Judas". They took us with ease up and down the mountain tops, into valleys and over sheer rock faces my hiking boots would have surely failed on. We rode for 3 hours before coming to the top of a mountain where we left our horses and hiked down to a pristine waterfall. Heath swam in the green waters as I watched locals play in the streams.

Our second trek took about 2 hours to a clearing overlooking a canyon that contained 3 caves with Bushman paintings. A local named Georgina took us down with her dog where we found paintings depicting local animals and hunt with vivid bows and arrows that survived through the ages.

We decided to run our horses on the way home to the lodge. They were eager to gallop back as they realized they were headed home to a good meal. We said goodbye to our guide and told him we would be back as we aim to take anyone who will come back to Malealea Lodge with us!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1228396320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1228396320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1228396320/tpod.html Tue, 09 Dec 2008 08:22:05 -0500 God Dries the Dishes! (aka: we've done the dirty work...time to relax!)

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Dundee, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

I only ate KFC once as a child. It made us all sick and has since been called "Dirty Bird" in my household.

I dont count that time as the first as it was so long ago. I've since eaten "Popcorn Chicken" in Egypt and found myself confronted with the franchise again in Dundee, South Africa. I always say that you have to try something twice before you knock it....so here goes nothing.

We walked out of the truck into civilization without even realizing the change that had occured until we found ourselves inline at the KFC. I slept the whole way from Lesotho, and found myself in a nameless town where we were stopping for groceries and lunch. Heath and I hoped out of the vehicle, expecting to see our favorite people - the fruit and veg stand minders and the market people who rush the truck. Instead we found a gas station with endless choices and even more customers queing for a sub or a chocolate bar. I was instantly overwhelmed. Aeros, Mars, Kit Kat, Cadbury...so many once familiar names in such a small space, none of which I wanted. We left and walked down the street to find lunch.

It was quickly apparent that the only assumably safe and clean option was the local KFC where there would surely be standards of service. We walked in a scoped out the menu, marvellings at how cheap things were compared to home, even though we wouldn't really know as we never eat there anyway. We chose our items and stood in line like everyone else, except instead of hungry anticipation, I had a stomach ache. I realized I was underdressed even for KFC, my hair undone and no make-up. People were looking at me as though I had just crawled out of the bush. And I had. And I was happy with that.

I lost my appitite and went out to the street and found some fresh plums. Heath came back with fried chicken. I ate a bit but preferred my plums.

We're back in civilization and it feels so wrong.

I miss the street vendors and the hassels and hard bartering. I miss agreeing on a price after a hard but friendly argument, and then being given a few extra on the top.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1228192860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1228192860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1228192860/tpod.html Tue, 09 Dec 2008 08:11:58 -0500 God Dries the Dishes! (aka: we've done the dirty work...time to relax!)

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, Swaziland

The King of Swaziland has 9 wives and a private jet that crippled the economy as he bought it. He picks a new wife every year at the yearly Reed Dance festival and is in his 40th year of life. Despite his immense power, he found himself on my knees for 1/2 a day as I danced away in a village and learned about Swazi life.

We were forced to wear sarongs with the King's face on it as we went into the village as women are not allowed to wear slacks. I almost (accidentally) put the sarong on upside down before a lady kindly corrected me before I commited treason.

We walked down from the camp for 2 hours to reach the village. When we finally reached our destination, our guide told us how to say "I am fine" in Swazi before we were greeted by the female chief. A line of children first stood before us, dressed in colorful sarongs as they eagerly shook our hands before we finally met the chief who asked us in Swazi "how we were" in which we replied "Npumi". We were invited to sit down afterwards, men behind the women in straw mats on the ground. She proceeded to ask through our translator where we were from, and she clapped vigorously for countries from the EU and Canada, and less so for America. We were then taught traditional songs for men and women. She made us repeat them when we didn't sing them well enough for her. It was essential rehersal though as before we knew it we were up dancing and singing the reed dance with teenage girls and boys, all for her pleasure.

Afterwards she taught us how to weave grass which we braided and tied tight to a fence around the enclosure. We learned about traditional cooking and took turns grinding maize and laying on a bed of Impala skins over a hard wooden pillow.

The afternoon ended with HIV/AIDS orphan children selling crafts and singing goodbye to us. We bought a colorful basket and left them 2$ US. When I laid the bill in their basket they cheered, and others followed, realizing the warm appreciation they would get for so little.

We hiked back up the mountain, stopping at the rest camp for ice cream and cola in the heat of the day. The views at sunset were stunning as we watched zebra playing amongst antelope, free from predators in the green hillsides.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1228019940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1228019940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1228019940/tpod.html Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:07:12 -0500 God Dries the Dishes! (aka: we've done the dirty work...time to relax!)

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Inhambane, Mozambique

Our first stop in Mozambique was at a little beach town called Vilanculos. We didn't do too much there as we needed a rest after Zimbabwe. However...our second stop in Mozambique was also at a little beach town called Tofo, and here I fulfilled a dream that was right up there with seeing the Gorillas!

Tofo is a very small town on the coast of the Indian Ocean. Its a backpackers paradise as the camping is cheap and the sites are great, and there are no major hotels around (yet), also the town is very safe. We stayed at a place called Fatima's Nest which was nice enough. It was right on the beach and the bar had live Mozambican drums and dancers for the two nights we were there, as well as "Free Zambuca for jah ladies". There was also a small market not far from our hotel where you could find lots of very nice wood bowls and carvings, sarongs, and pants made of sarong material, as well as a moderate amount of hassel and lots of laughs.

Just down the beach there is a dive shop that also does snorkelling trips to see the whale sharks. I decided to do a snorkelling trip as I had no idea you could see the whale sharks here, and I was not about to pass up the opportunity!

Nine of us climbed into the "boat", which was more like a dingy with a hard bottom, foot straps, and two very big motors at the back. We set out from the beach into the rough bay waters. We were getting quite battered by waves and were absolutely drenched by the time we got out of the bay. We strolled slowly along the coast in search of the sharks, with a spotter sitting in a high chair above us. I really dont know how he managed to stay in the chair as I was having a hard time staying in the boat due to the constant waves.

After a few minutes the spotter whistled and pointed to the right. There was a large shadow just under the surface of the water. Our first whale shark. Everyone was told to gear up and gently get out of the boat as splashing scares them away. We were also told not to swim on top of it as it makes them dive, and not to touch it as it removes a mucous membrane from their skin and then they get infections. Everyone listened as best they could in the excitement of it all, and soon everyone was throwing themselves over the side of the boat, splashing everywhere, and hitting Helen (our tour leader who was my snorkel partner for the day) and I with fins and arms. We got stuck in the boat in all the commotion and missed our first whale shark. Unfortunately, everyone ended up on top of it and it dove really quickly. We hoped we would see a second and thankfully didn't have to hope too long! A couple minutes later the spotter gave the same whistle and everyone was out of the boat again, including me this time. Unfortunately, my mask wasn't tight enough and I kept getting water in it, and my fear of not knowing whats underneath me got the better of me and I panicked. I've never panicked before in my life, but I had to get control of my breathing and head back to the boat as this one obviously wasn't happening for me either. I got back in the boat, defeated and a bit mad at myself, and hoped for a third.

Thankfully my wish came true. A third shark was spotted within another 10 minutes and I bailed out of the boat once again. I looked down into the water and was surprised to see the shark right below me, on its way down to the depths. I saw its upper half and was happy with that, but still hoping we would get one more that I could swim with for a bit. Thankfully we were blessed with two more, both of which I was able to swim with for a few minutes each. The first one was right beside me when I looked into the water, and I had to move out of its way. I was in a prime position though and soon found myself and only 3 others swimming along side it, diving down to see it better and getting within a few feet of its massive body. I was also as fortunate on the fifth one, which was heading straight for me when I looked down. Again I had to move out of the way of its massive mouth and almost got swiped by its tail, but again was in prime position to swim with it a while.

The whale sharks are absolutely beautiful creatures. They are an emerald green with white spots and the ones we saw were at least as long as our truck. They are amazingly graceful, floating in the water, barely moving a muscle as they troll along looking for plankton. I feel SO fortunate to have swam with the gentle giants of the sea! Now perhaps great whites in Cape Town. I am trying to convince Heath :)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1227514800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1227514800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1227514800/tpod.html Sun, 30 Nov 2008 03:30:39 -0500 God Dries the Dishes! (aka: we've done the dirty work...time to relax!)

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Masvingo, Zimbabwe

Suddenly Zimbabwe felt a bit unsafe.

One of Oscar del Toro's (the truck's) fuel lines sheared off while we were driving to Masvingo. We noticed a diesel leak, but didn't realize how lucky we were to arrive until we stopped at a campsite that had been recommended to us by a group that had passed through on their way to Mozambique. Unfortunately, they passed through a few months before. Before the camp had been burned down by the government as the owner is an opposition MP. The camp had been set a light in June and was "closed for refurbishing". We found out the truth a bit later after they graciously let us stay. They cleaned out the bathrooms for us and put some Fanta in the fridge so we could have cold drinks. The grounds were infested with scorpions and we made our dinner fighting off beatles and flies.

We slept well that night, but woke up realizing we may not be going anywhere quickly. Jase, our driver/mechanic planned to pay someone to drive him to the nearest town to see if we could somehow get the part, and if that didn't work he would drive 150km to the nearest city, and if that didn't work then we would get the part DHL'd from the UK through Mozambique where he would have to pay someone to take him to go get it. Thankfully, while waiting for a ride, he met a guy who knew a guy who had a dog who found another guy who happened to have a workshop up the road. Jase left, hoping he could put something together.

In the meantime we took a walk to a giant Boabob tree that the MP knew about. We walked across a bridge to a dried up river and through a seemingly abandoned village. We came across the large tree and took turned going inside the hollow trunk and climbing up as far as we could. Afterwards we went back to the camp and played cards until Jase pulled up. He didn't say anything to us, so we kept playing cards figuring the news wasn't good. One of our group members decided to go check it out after 30 minutes of no news and shortly after came skipping back hollaring "PACK UP YOUR TENTS!!!!". They had managed to fix the part good enough to get us out of Zim. We were releived as we realized we were in the middle of a cholera epidemic, there was stuff potentially going down with the government in the next two days thanks to Kenya and other African nations getting involved, and our surroundings were less than ideal.

We set out on the road and reached the border about 3. We went without lunch and kept driving to our first stop in Mozambique. We are all looking forward to the beach now and the possibility of snorkelling with whale sharks, dolphins and manta rays!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1227168600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1227168600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlabbe/1/1227168600/tpod.html Sun, 30 Nov 2008 03:19:49 -0500 God Dries the Dishes! (aka: we've done the dirty work...time to relax!)

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Gweru, Zimbabwe

3 packed days at the Antelope park proved to be a highlight of our trip! Thier slogan is "Where else in the world?" and its really true. Where else in the world can you ride an African elephant, swim with an African Elephant, walk with lions and watch lions stalk prey at night as they learn to hunt before they are released to the wild?

Heath and I decided that riding and elephant, watching them train, and walking with lions was something we were really keen to do. We took a 30 minute elephant ride our first day on an elephant named Tombi, a "young" girl of about 20. We also attended her training session the next day and took turns getting up on her bareback by ourselves. It hard to judge just how huge these animals are until you are practically doing the splits on top of one!

We took two lion walks, the first one with 18 month old boys named Echo and Etosha. They were the laziest animals I have ever seen and it was more of a lion sit than a walk. We took turns petting them and getting pictures with the beauties. The next day we walked with young girls Sahari and Soleria. They were much more active and at one point were stalking a donkey in the distance.

We also went on a horse safari around the park. I ended up with a horse named "Whisky" who really did act like he was drunk. He stumbled a couple times and had no mind of his own....when the other horses started trotting so did he...and galloping...and stopping dead as well. I've never felt like I was going to fall off a horse, but I was really happy to get off him in one piece at the end of it all. Heath said that all he could hear for the whole ride behind him was "Whoa Whisky WHOA!!!".

We tipped our guides in maize meal and rice. Unfortunately the government requires employers to pay Zim workers in Zim dollars. They are only able to get out the equivalent of 50 cents a day from the ATMS, and by the time they go to withdrawl their money, it often turns out that they have been paid about 30 cents for the whole month. Our elephant trainer said that they had not been getting many tourists lately, and that they NEEDED us. At one point he said "You are our Gods...and we are like parasites". I told him this was NOT the case, but it has sat with me since then. The Zim people are so wonderful, but they will not fight their government...perhaps out of hopelessness, fear, or its just not their way. Canada and the states are providing aid there right now and we were treated with unbelievable thanks everywhere we went. It is an absolutely beautiful country and still extremely safe. We hope more people will go....the government is not the people!!
]]>