Ready, Steady Here I go...



Just trying things out on this new blog...

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We're (NOT) Gonna Need a Bigger Boat!

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BAZ BUSSING (Stop #1): Mossel Bay, South Africa (April 12-16) Before I begin recounting my toothy exploits in Mossel Bay, I would like to offer a few words of explanation on what precisely it means to be "Baz Bussing." Baz Bus is an exclusive South African backpacking hop on/off bus service which allows backpackers, like yours truly, to travel the length of the country conveniently, safely, and fairly cheaply. One can buy tickets for the bus for a limited time period or opt for an open-ended ticket like I did which permits me to travel from Cape Town to Johannesburg (one way), taking my sweet ass time in the process. My flexi-pass ticket also includes a few tours, such as the Cape Peninsula Tour I described in a previous blog entry. One simply has to book a seat on the bus a couple of days in advance but that is NOT a problem for someone as organized anal as me, ha ha. I definitely think that it is an incredible service and hope that other countries hop on the Baz bandwa...
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Overlanding in Namibia Part II

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Spitzkoppe to Swakopmund, Namibia (March 31-April 3) Spitzkoppe (March 31-April 1) Our third day overlanding brought us to Spitzkop, i.e. "the Matterhorn of Namibia." It is an area of great natural beauty consisting of a group of red rocky granite peaks rising spectacularly above the surrounding flat plains. We camped near the largest peak (1787m) and went on a short guided walk of the area in the late afternoon. During our exploratory walk, we were shown some Bushmen rock paintings that depicted different animals. The red color used in some of these paintings was achieved, so we were told, using a mixture of iron and sacrificial animal blood. Umm...lovely? Our guide kept checking his watch and trying to hurry us along for he had planned for us to reach the "rock bridge" in time to watch the sunset. Unfortunately, time was not on our side due to our dawdling so the guide suddenly urged us to " Run! (Forest) Run!! " And off we all went, sprinting towa...
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Overlanding in Namibia Part III

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Namib-Naukluft, Namibia to Cape Town, South Africa (April 3-8) Originally our ACACIA bus was due to depart from Swakopmund in the early morning so that we could reach our next night's campsite just outside the Namib-Naukluft National Park in the early afternoon. However, our seemingly invincible (and yet sadly not) bus driver Patrick had been diagnosed with cerebral malaria while in Swakopmund and was too ill to continue on as our driver. Therefore, ACACIA had lickedy split found us a replacement driver and flew him out from Jo'burg to meet us at the nearest international airport on our route, that being in Walvis Bay. Our new driver, TJ, a colossal ginger-haired South African fellow sporting dreadlocks who had apparently dropped close to 25 kilos on the Atkins Diet, once through customs, hopped behind the wheel of our truck as if Patrick had simply been keeping his seat warm and......OFF WE SPED! We arrived at our campsite, which was in the southern end of the Namib Desert...
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