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Africa United...

a travel blog by Paddy&Kavitha

A trip 12 months in the making,
Now counting days to its beginning.

It began with vague ideas of South America or Africa,
Deciding on one month, three months
Now, here or never..

The continent of Africa winning the bid by a slightness,
the untouched,
the unkept,
the awe-inspired.

Lions, Giraffes, Leopards and Gorillas,
Beaches, Deserts, from The falls to the Jungles.
Culture, Colours, remnants of Tribes,
Orphans, Warriors, Poverty & Genocide.

Emotions, experience, history in mind,
Slow steps backwards to the beginning of time.

Follow us, as our dreams unravel,
from the South to the East through
the Kalahari Desert.
Show Oldest First
Show Newest First

Starting to get excited

Sydney, Australia

Adventure to discover this amazing continent.
Animals; people and places.
Wake to the sun; sleep when its dark or when tired.
No watches, no phones, no tv.
Can't wait.
Use all sides of the brain.

permalink written by  Paddy&Kavitha on November 1, 2008 from Sydney, Australia
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Holy Sht?

Johannesburg, South Africa

Alright we arrived. Got the 4x4 at airport and headed for the city. The arrows are different colours - red. Our first traffic light of the same colour - a local chic rocks up to the window with a blind dude on her arm, looking for money. I go "sorry, no, no".. and we drive on. Her smile back was brilliant. Our first encounter and no car jacking! We soon realise not to believe the hype!
We arrive to accommodation through jacaranda trees and park. Check in; head out on Soweto tour and expect to see all the shanty town sht. Don't get me wrong we do - but some of it is real nice -not seen too often on tv.
Noble peace prize street brings us to Mandela's house and Bishop tuttu's; and some other guy from 70's.
guide said there was no other city that held more than one prize like this; i stayed quiet on the Belfast thing. The stadium for 2010 world cup is being built and will be brilliant. The place is mad though - poor and dirty but full of happiness and contradiction.. on to Kruger........less politics........
-paddy-

permalink written by  Paddy&Kavitha on November 2, 2008 from Johannesburg, South Africa
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KRUGER!

Nelspruit, South Africa

Alright we had 4 big nights in Kruger National Park. We drove through the Jo'burg traffic and country side of northern Gauteng and arrived at a place called Crocodile bridge. We arrived to a gate that looks like Jurrasic Park entrance and we were greeted by warthog and 2 giant deer type things - Kudu. A sign said "Do not exit your vehicle"-- this was cool.
We check-in; cook Braai [bbq] and wake to our first drive through park. A hyena laugh was heard as we drove through a kind of misty; dry red and green landscape.
We managed to see giraffe on side of raod- nthen a guy with a gun brought us out over a carcass to show us hippo in a river. Over the next few days we just drive around and listen and look for animals. We see buffalo; elephant; cheetah in the distance; which was cool ; then day 2 we see 3 white rhino and come across a line of cars looking left into a tree. We join the rat race and get to see a leopard sleeping in a tree! Really hard to see these guys but earlier someone had witnessed lion stealing a kill from it in a tree. Anyway it wakes up and starts to move around tree- posing for us. It jumps off and is gone. We hang around and wait to see if he/she comes out. I see Impala walking straight into its path and we sit and wait. Sure enough they all start freaking ot and make noises and we see the leopard walking through the bush looking for dinner. Still no lion at this point we go to bed

Kruger didn't disappoint. We come across lion walking across the road in front of us. Kav jumps up the sunroof to get a picture and the lioness freaks out and threatens to jump at us!! This was brillant. Then the rest of the pride walk across and the King is the last one to follow , and he looks at us with a stare that would put fear into a rock.

Day later we witnessed a lioness hunting a warthog - national geographic eat your heart out. The warthog got away.

The camps you stay here are unreal - you all must give it a go!
We escaped and went onto look at people instead.

permalink written by  Paddy&Kavitha on November 3, 2008 from Nelspruit, South Africa
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Ermelo, South Africa



permalink written by  Paddy&Kavitha on November 7, 2008 from Ermelo, South Africa
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Durban, South Africa



permalink written by  Paddy&Kavitha on November 8, 2008 from Durban, South Africa
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Port Saint John's, South Africa



permalink written by  Paddy&Kavitha on November 9, 2008 from Port Saint John's, South Africa
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Cintsa Mouth West, South Africa



permalink written by  Paddy&Kavitha on November 10, 2008 from Cintsa Mouth West, South Africa
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Plettenberg Bay, South Africa



permalink written by  Paddy&Kavitha on November 11, 2008 from Plettenberg Bay, South Africa
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South Africa is Huge!

Cape Town, South Africa

Alright I won't bore you too much but we left Kruger and our plan was to get to Cape Town [on far west coast] by the 15th to start our trip.
Our trusty 4 x 4 was to become our home for the next week. To be honest you need a good 3 months to taste South Africa. We drove south to Durban [ which is dodge place but food is quality!] and stopped in a place called Ermelo! Most locals don't even know this place but we stumbled on this really arty,cool Lodge and ended up drinking the night away with the south african/Irish owner and an American dude who was working there to help get SA ready for the world cup 2010.
Hungover and late we drove to Durban and nearly ran out of petol on top of a mountain in the fog. Listening to Springbok v Wales we arrived to a place that isn't safe to walk around at night so we chilled in our hotel bar and watched rugby! In the morning we walked the beach front and ate 'bunny chow' a lamb curry in an emptied out slice pan? Kav loved it!
We drove the next few days through mountain village sin Eastern Cape [local white Sth Africans advised us not to?] it was cool. We visited Mandela's hometown saw thousands of school kids walking home after school and tried thumbing lifts. No wonder these guys are good at athletics - they walk and walk!!

6 hours of driving each day and stopping at Port St John; [cool lodge in a valley]; Chintsa [needed 3 weeks hereto enjoy beaches and the backpacker mecca that is Buccaneers] ; then to Pletenburg Bay; stopping at surf centre that is Jeffreys bay and headed via Knysna and last leg to beautiful Cape Town
We had a lot of rain ; a lot of driving and a lot of good times! In Cape town we stayed put for 3 nights and explored her lovely beaches; brilliant peninsula that is the most southern point of Africa! The Indian ocean meets the Atlantic here and so we jumped in and swam [in a cage] with GREAT WHITE SHARKS!!!!!!!!!!!


Brillaint, Brilliant, Brilliant!

Next chapter was to start our 41 day trip from Capetown to Nairobi Kenya! The night of the 14th we meet our new friends that will share this journey: 2 Irish; 2 Scots; 3 Aussies; 3 Sweds; 3 English ; 1 yank , a Kenyan Driver called Patrick and our lovely and sweet South African guide: Morinki

permalink written by  Paddy&Kavitha on November 12, 2008 from Cape Town, South Africa
from the travel blog: Africa United...
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Sky Diving - Namibia style!

Swakopmund, Namibia

OMG we just jumped out of a plane at 10000 feet over the dunes of Namibia.
Mum and Dad, Pat and Paddy - i know what your thinking but it was all fine!!!
Loved it

xx

permalink written by  Paddy&Kavitha on November 20, 2008 from Swakopmund, Namibia
from the travel blog: Africa United...
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