Tripping the Life Fantastic

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

Cape Town, South Africa (April 8-12) Double dipping in Cape Town...sort of. I mean I came back to tick a few more things off the requisite list of activities one should do here, such as visit the notorious Robben Island Prison where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for the majority of his 27-year sentence as well as hike up Table Mountain (1084m). April 9 (Monday) - Robben Island It is advisable to book ahead a ticket to Robben Island for it is a popular tourist attraction and the number of visitors is limited according to space on the boats which do the crossing four times daily (at 9, 11, 1 and 3). Tickets are a bit hefty at 230 rand but this maximum security island prison looms so large in the history not only of Cape Town but South Africa as a nation that the high price tag is rather a moot point. It takes about a half hour to reach the island but the time flew for me as I got to talking to a friendly couple from Johannesburg named Calvin and Josina who grew up in the towns

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

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

Windhoek to Etosha National Park, Namibia (March 28-31) Overland holiday travel ain't for everyone. I mean...for those who prefer NOT to camp outside in inclement weather, travel for hours at a time in a slightly smelly as well as cramped "Partridge Family" type bus (minus the merry sing-a-long) and share in chores such as cooking or washing up, you should NOT embark on an overlanding tour in Africa. Got it??! But as for me? I kind of dug it. There are a number of companies which offer these sort of budget package tours in Africa and it was pretty difficult for me to choose between them as the prices are fairly similar and the reviews from former clients are somewhat mixed no matter which company one is researching. So, in the end, I settled on ACACIA simply due to the dates of the Namibia trip I wished to go on and the fact that Stephen, one of the managers at Amber Tree Lodge, personally recommended them. As the trip commenced in Windhoek, the capital cit

Cape Town, South Africa (March 22-26) I am officially smitten. The city of Cape Town has swept me off my feet and I am certain that this love affair is no one-night stand. But let's go back to the beginning, shall we? I caught a shuttle out to the Ezeiza International Airport in Buenos Aires, arriving a tedious 3.5 hours before my flight. Unfortunately, the airport didn't have free WiFi so I had to pass the time twiddling my thumbs playing Angry Birds and other mindless yet addictive games on my iPad. When I finally checked in to my flight, I discovered, much to my egregious dismay, that my fellow passengers included a young Argentinian rugby club headed to Johannesburg for some sort of international tournament. Immediately my mind went to a very dark place as I had recently read, "Miracle in the Andes", the memoirs of Nando Parrado, which recounts the ill-fated tale of the Uruguayan rugby team which crashed in the Andes and was forced to eat the flesh of their