The St. Lucia wetlands park was now called Isimangalosi Wetlands Park and is home to all the normal big animals plus an incredible array of birds.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISimangaliso_Wetland_Park. Our family loves birds as the kids learned early that you will not always see big game so looking for the incredible birdlife makes a game drive even more fun! Isimangaliso stretches for hundreds of kilometres up the northeastern coast of South Africa and from St. Lucia we visited the southern part which included a big game park and two lovely coastal areas called Mission Rocks and Cape Vidal. Mission Rocks reminded me of …
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Baz Bus and Durban
After a great time in the Drakensberg we took our transport, the Baz Bus, to Durban. First, the Baz Bus. It was running when I was here in 2001. As a backpacker ( or a backpacking family) you are most vulnerable when you walk out of a train or bus station and try to get to your accomodation. Any ne’er-do-well knows everything you own is on your person. The Baz Bus links many hostels and takes you door to door. I find it a genius system in a country where crime is such a concern. It has very good …
Lesotho and Adrian the Alien
While at Amphitheatre we chose to do a hike in the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho. Most people have never heard of Lesotho and my kids were in that tally. I had spent 10 days in Lesotho before – 6 of which were on horseback and it is a beautiful place with lovely people. It is often ranked as one of the 30 poorest countries. The moment we arrived in Lesotho, the lovely paved South African roads were gone and it was crazy, rutted mud/dirt paths. You knew you were in a very different place. The people are famous for conical …
Amphitheatre Backpackers， North Drakensberg
Now it was time to head south of Johannesburg and our first stop was the northern Drakensberg and stayed at a backpackers hostel called Amphitheatre. We had a great view of the Amphitheatre area of the Drakensberg and the area was famous for hiking. This was the girls first exposure to a Backpackers Hostel – rooms were small but great common areas. they learned the idea was not t o be in the room but to be mingling in the common area. This place was really great- hot tub, sauna, small climbing wall and a little plunge pool! Willow …
Hazyview Part 2
While at Hazyview we had a fantastic day visiting two distinctly different wildlife centres. Unlike safaris, these centres allowed us to get right up close and personal,with many cool beasts. The girls loved it…and the adults too! This was a bigger hit with the kids than the natural wonders… Moholoholo Rehabilitation Centre First stop was Moholoholo Rehabilitation Centre which has a distinct plan to rehab animals caught or injured by poachers and farmers in traps, snares etc. They also try to teach farmers about the wildlife and ways to help avoid the wildlife attacking the livestock. It was a truly …
Hazyview Part 1
After a totally amazing time in Johannesburg, we spent 4-5 days near the town of Hazyview which is just west of Kruger Park, the largest game park in Africa. I remembered Hazyview for its amazing natural sites – huge vistas, canyons and rock formations. We had planned to see a few but also found some other gems in the area which really made our stay perfect. Our cool accommodation also had a water slide which helped. With kids, natural beauty has its limits and on the day we were to drive to see all the sites we found that we …
Soweto Part 2
After the poor part of Soweto, we got to see some better areas. First we went to the Hector Pietersen Memorial and Museum. http://www.soweto.co.za/html/p_hector.htm This place was not open when i was here in 2001. Mandela opened it in 2012. To understand Joburg and Soweto it seems one must understand apartheid and it’s oppression – and the uprisings against that oppression. One of the most famous uprisings was in June of 1976 and Hector Pietersen was the youngest victim of the Soweto shootings. The police had guns while the students had songs and rocks. Guess who lost? Hector …
Acrobranches
The day after the Apartheid Museum we needed a lighter mood to our day so we went to a place called Acrobranches. We had all done something similar in Montreal and loved it called Voiles en Voiles. https://www.voilesenvoiles.com/en/ It is all about climbing, balance and channelling your inner monkey. This was a bit different as we had to hook and unhook ourselves from safety line to safety line. Overall it was super fun as we climbed our way on 4 courses through the trees of a lovely park in Joburg.
Neighbourgoods Market.
Saturday morning in Joburg means the Neighbourgoods Market! It’s in a cool neighbourhood and offers good food, good clothes/jewellery and good beats. We all loved what the live DJ was playing! The crowd was very mixed and super friendly. We indulged in craft brew, nice wines and innovative foods. It was a superb local experience. The girls were also entertained by making flower crowns and telling our story to all who asked. The non-South African accent gave us all away and many people were interested in out story. It took up 2 levels of a parking garage right in the …
Junior Open Water Scuba Certification
After bad luck and bad timing in Goa, Kaia and Skye were able to finish their Junior Open Water Scuba Certification in Oman! We got an SSI referral from Gabor in Goa showing they had done their academic work and passed their written test ( both scored in the 90s). In Goa they got to do a few confined water dives in pretty crap visibility but they did not count for the Referral so they were some free experience dives. So in Oman they had to do two confined water dives and two open water dives….and these were done inthe …