Weather change for good or not?

Our weather so predictable in the past seems to be changing now! Summers hotter, winters colder all round the world the same,. Super storms, bigger hurricanes, more destruction. Some say global warming, some say moving plates, some say we heading for the next ice age. But what does the Earth say? Consider the planet for a minute man does not care how he treats it Cutting down Rain forests indiscriminately, taking away wetlands, Not thinking of tomorrow.  I live at the coast and we never had thunderstorms here but now we have them every other day. Just flash flooding here one minute gone thew next. Summer is still bearable for me as I can take off but some of my friends suffer majorly from the heat spending most of the day in the shower. The trouble with winter is especially in South Africa we are ill prepared for it not having the correct procedures in place for warmth as a result we tend to get cold and get sick more easily. When it’s really hot with no cool breeze then fires start and you not only get hot you also get smoked out from fires around the city.

Today is one such day all you can smell now is smoke from bush fires drifting over the city. Hardly any breeze to cool us down temperatures rise to 40 deg C and it seems as though the whole city’s on fire! Maybe tomorrow will be cooler, maybe not we must just wait and see.

Christmas and Summer a strange combination for European travellers.

Christmas in South Africa is a bit different to Christmas in Europe and Britain.Out here we have cold meat and salads or Braaivleis! A ‘braai’ is meat cooked on coals what the Aussies call a ‘barbie’ or the English call a ‘barbeque’. The men sit outside around the fire a lot  will down a ‘Castle’ one of the South African beers and talk about the state of the country or one of the games like rugby, soccer or cricket. The women are often inside making the salads or preparing other food. There often is what we call the braai master who is the guy in charge of the braai, he cooks the meat and anything else that has been brought out to be cooked. When the salads are made the women come out to join the men an a ‘braai’ is eaten. The beach is also a big thing on Christmas day with families going down to the beach to swim and have fun unless it rains of course then that will spoil the day rather. For many of us church happens first thing on Christmas morning with all the families going to church, many churches have a service on Christmas eve as they get too full on the morning. I for one will be going on Christmas eve at 6pm for just an hour service. Then after church the families will go home and open the presents before heading off to family for the day.

TOURIST TRAVEL FOR THE Y GENERATION

In South Africa, the young generation tourists travel by different methods. Mainliners, car rental, minibus taxis and the vehicle I’m telling you about, a small tourist bus, a different concept traveling between backpackers around the country. This particular bus serves a big need amongst the younger tourist giving them a safe alternative to more conventional types as it picks up and drops off only from certified backpacker hostels of which they currently service more than 180. The route takes them around the coast between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, Durban and Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg and Durban. Various hostels off the routes provide shuttle services to fetch and drop off the passengers for the bus. Then they also offer various packages and tours like the Cape peninsular tour and Kruger Park tours. A great way to make and meet friends while’st traveling throughout South Africa. Car rental is also an option as if they want to go off the beaten track so to speak, then they can hire a car to explore the inland regions as well. Places like Neu Bethesda  and Graaf Reniet which has over 200 museums in the town. There are different companies offering rental and it is advisable to check out the best rates and options available. Quite often local people would know of the best deals at any one time. With the minibus taxis, they tend to cram the passengers in and only leave for their destination once the bus is full which could take the whole day! The bags are carried in a small trailer which is normally overfilled with a result that sometimes luggage falls out and gets left on the road for the next vehicle to stop and pick up. A word of caution is that these taxis have a bad reputation for driving at excessive speed, driving dangerously and ignoring traffic signals.

What grabs you interest in South Africa?

South Africa, a land of many diversities! A lot of people come on packaged tours never experiencing the different feel on this country, never meeting those who live here, only seeing those who like them come here for a holiday. What are you views of my country?  For the tourist who mainly gets to see the attractions and misses so much of our way of life. They are shown the ‘culture’ in packaged deals many not experiencing this country’s people. The ordinary ‘man in the street’ so to speak who has to carve out his life in this rainbow nation of ours.There is so much more to see and do here, places of special interest that even i have not discovered. I love the out of the way places that abound here, little villages like Neu Bethesda in the Karroo where evn the signposts are still in miles! Where the only modern building is a coffee shop. Where the windmills still draw water for each home from the front garden. Or Hogsback in the Amatola Mountains where approximately 10 waterfalls abound in one short section of a trail. Where Tolken got his inspiration for his books Lord of the Rings. Baavians Kloof a world heritage site of incredible beauty where you may encounter wild animals just roaming through the countryside. Herds of 40 or more buck running amongst the trees, baboons stalking you as you hike on animal trails. rugged passes that have laybys to allow vehicles to pass one another with no guard rails so high up that a one ton pick up looks like a Matchbox toy at the bottom! We have amazing sights in this country of ours, the Prince Alfred’s pass between Knysna and Aberdeen winding through ravines over stone bridges built 2 centuries ago. Knysna a town of fascination Built by an abdicated king of England on a lagoon which is a national monument, At Belvedare just outside Knysna you will find a small church of beauty. These are some of the attractions which a lot of visitors miss when visiting South Africa.

Hiking in the wilderness.

Hiking out in the wilderness areas is one of the greatest adventures that most people don’t even know about. I just love going out with some friends into the wilds of Africa. You won’t find any big animals like lions or elephants there but rather the mongoose and baboon that frequent the ravines. just about half an hour from where I live is Groendal a very large nature reserve. There are some awesome trails there both half day and full day trails. Beautiful pools to swim in and the water is pure.Some are trails within the ravines or ‘kloofs’ as we know them and other climb up the hills around the reserve. apart from the various animals, there is much flora abounding out there like Cycads a protected stone age plant and different types of Protea. Around Port Elizabeth where I live there are 5 different biomes making for a vast diversity of plant life. I’ve often taken overseas travellers out with me as for them it’s a way of meeting ordinary people. Most of the time they tend to join tours where they would meet only more tourists.

Safari and Game Reserves in the Eastern Cape

We home to at least nine game reserves in the Eastern Cape. From the inexpensive to top of the range, we have anything to suit your taste. Addo National Park is home to approximately 400 elephants and other animals including lion and black rhino. This park is the third largest in South Africa and is easily accessible to Port Elizabeth being one hour away by car. They do research and one of their projects to to bring back the Quagga an extinct animal closely resembling a cross between a mule and a Zebra. They have private game reserves breeding these animals and this is done by selective process.They also host more visitors in a year than even the mighty Kruger National Park. Addo National Park is just one of many parks or reserves in our province that will afford you the opportunity of viewing different animals either from the comfort of you vehicle as in Addo National Park or from a suitable vehicle built for rough terrain. Private game reserves normally have the big 5 but Addo being a national park only has the animals that were there before man arrived. So you may be able to view lion, rhino, leopard, elephant, springbok, impala, kudu, eland, giraffe and many other fascinating animals that abound in the wild. If you go to my facebook link you should be able to book a safari.

South Africa come and view our wild side!

How about a safari where you can view most of the big 5.We have some great game reserves in the Eastern Cape to view our wild animals Schotia the oldest in the Eastern Cape has all manner of animals to see. from the mighty elephant to Rhinos and lions, They have them and you can view them within the comfort of a Landrover. They also combine Addo  National Park within their itinerary for the day.