Today I felt fine after yesterday’s strenuous activities on my 9 hour hike in the Drakensburg Mountains in South Africa, so I decided to squeeze in a bit of horse riding, as my bus doesn’t leave until the afternoon.  I don’t want to waste a second here, and starting to wish I’d decided to stay here longer.  I went horse riding for an hour, in some of the most beautiful surroundings I’ve ever seen.  My horse walked mostly, did a bit of trotting, which I handled OK after my lesson in the UK, but cantering was a bit too much for me.  It was so peaceful and relaxing.  It was nice that the horse was doing the work instead of me after yesterday. 

I then spent more time relaxing in the garden, and then unfortunately had to get on the bus to my overnight stay in Durban.  (Not planning on staying at any cities other than Johannesburg or Cape Town but the bus stops overnight at Durban and Port Elizabeth so stops here are compulsory).

I arrived at Hippo Hyde in Durban.  A lovely lodge with great décor, a rock pool and modern African furniture. 

A couple came in and asked me to go for a meal with them which was very nice.  Another girl came with us.  The couple were American, and the girl was Indian, but had lived in Cambridge for the past 3 years.  She had the most posh English accent I had ever heard.  We had a great meal.  We chatted about travelling and India.  She said India had such a bad reputation because people always try to do it on a budget, hate it, and have a hard time.  She said because everyone does it in this way it’s the only way to meet people.  She said if people tried to do India on a similar budget to South Africa (£4-7) per night.  They would be living like kings in mansions. 

Durban makes me feel just as uncomfortable as Johannesburg did.  We had to pay a guy to watch the hire car as he said something would happen to it otherwise.   So many people have already told me they’ve been mugged in Durban, not just once but repeatedly. 

We then went back to Hippo Hyde.  Saw some big Geckos on the wall in the lounge. 

I jumped a mile as I haven’t seen anything like that before.  Supposedly they are normal here in all houses and they run over you while you are sleeping but are harmless.  Sorry, but the thought of anything running over me while I’m asleep sends shivers down my spine. 

I spent all night chatting to a girl who has been doing voluntary work for the last 2 years in a community in Swaziland.  She works trying to help the AIDS community and lives within their community.   It was very interesting listening to her experiences.  She said she helps to educated them to give them social skills, but it’s hard as women are taken advantage of and promised money and gifts.  About 50% of all people there have AIDs.  It took her 8 months to enjoy it but she now feels at home, has a local boyfriend with AIDS, which must be hard.  She lives in a hut on her own with electricity (rare) but no running water.  She has to fetch water in the same way they do, on her head.  She has bats and rats living with her which really scared her.  I told her I wouldn’t mind doing some voluntary work next summer holidays, but not sure that I could live in the same conditions.  Not really one for creepy crawlies.  Needless to say, I didn’t sleep a wink that night.  It is very humid in Durban, but mainly as I had visions of Geckos everywhere.  When I did get to sleep, I had nightmares about being attacked by Geckos.  Park imagination, part malaria tablets.  Supposedly most people have weird dreams on anti-malaria tablets and swap funny stories.

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Today I saw my first giant Grasshoppers in Zimbabwe, Africa.  We took a trip to the Great Enclosure, Zimbabwe, screamed in some caves, and climbed down some giant boulders to get inside other caves.  We learned all about the amazing history of the Great Enclosure, Zimbabwe.  Read the South Africa Blog.

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I got up early to a lovely healthy breakfast of porridge and wholemeal toast with honey.  That should set me up for the long hike I’m going on today.  The owner had planned out a walk for us that he said would take about 6 hours.  I hike for 6 hours most weekends, so thought it would be a fairly easy walk.  The hostel owner Quinton drove us to the national park entrance then at the last minute decided to join us on the walk.  I still had a bit of a cold but couldn’t not go walking in Drakensberg, it’s too beautiful.  I was wrong about the easy walk!  We set off uphill and continued uphill for a couple of hours.  We walked almost 1000 meters then stopped off for lunch.  Quinton hadn’t brought any lunch so I ended up sharing my lunch with him. 

There was an add on to the walk to go to blind mans corner for a great view.  We set off thinking it wouldn’t take long but it felt like it lasted forever.  It turns out it was longer than the walk we had already done.  We kept asking people where it was and they kept saying it was just round the corner.  About 20 long corners later, we got there.  The views had been amazing all the way up, and this view was no different really, I guess the name ‘Blind Man’s Corner’ should have been a giveaway that the guy couldn’t see anything!  That’s a bit harsh, it was actually stunning the whole walk. 

We headed back and we eventually got back to the lunch stop and started the long steep decent down.  It lasted for so long and was such hard work; I didn’t feel like we would ever get back.  I felt quite safe walking in the national park as we kept seeing helicopters flying ahead, and we knew that the national park knew our route and wouldn’t be able to close until we had got back. 

We eventually got back as it was getting dark, about 6:05pm, and the park shuts at 6pm.  I’ve never been so relived to finish a walk.  I was shaking a bit as I was so hungry.  It was the longest and probably hardest walk I’ve ever done, up a mountain, and about 14 miles.  The scenery was stunning and it was such a peaceful day.  I got some great photos.  We then had a lovely meal and another early night.  I could definitely get used to this lifestyle, but unfortunately I have to leave.  Wish I could stay here forever.

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South Africa is based in the Southern Hemisphere so it is 2 hours ahead of GMT and 1 hour ahead of BST, so when I travelled in the summer, I only had a time difference of 1 hour.  That was excellent as it meant no jet lag when I arrived in South Africa.

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As a general guide, public transport in South Africa isn’t very reliable but the roads are good so I would recommend the following methods of getting around South Africa:

1) It’s easy to hire a car

2) The Baz Bus is a very affordable hop-on-hop-off bus service for backpackers which is an excellent way to meet like minded people. 

3) You can also book an organised tour which can also be very economical. 

I used all three methods of transport during my travels.  I started off with an organised tour which was a great way to ease me into travelling alone as you get to know new people really well, then I used the Baz Bus and met hundreds of people all travelling the same route as me, then I hired a car with 2 of the people I had become friends with on the trip.  This was a great way to see South Africa by splitting the cost and having more freedom to go where we wanted to in South Africa. The best South Africa Travel Tip I can give you is to make sure you trust people before putting yourself in vulnerable positions when you are getting around South Africa.

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The main airports are Johannesburg International Airport and Cape Town International.  Flights normally take 12 hours.  I flew from Manchester to Amsterdam to Johannesburg on the way there, and on the way back from Cape Town (extra £50 and extra 2 hours) to Johannesburg, to Amsterdam back to Manchester.  On the way there this took about 12 hours and was all during the day so left first thing in the morning and got there in the evening, but on the way back I spent about 36 hours getting home as I had long delays between my different connections.  I found Johannesburg very busy and had in fact managed to collect a lot more luggage than I started out with, but there is a place to store your luggage in the basement so you can wait for your flight without carrying all your bags around with you. 

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South Africa’s hottest and busiest time is during the UK winter months of November to March.  This is also the busiest period for tourists and locals.  For a cooler temperature and less busy period, the UK summer months of July and August are a good time to go.  When I visited South Africa in July and August the weather was mainly sunny and warm but not too hot so this was the best time for me to travel.  It was perfect for all activities.  It was nice and quiet at this time too, and this is the cheapest time to visit South Africa.  I made sure I read a lot of South Africa Travel Tips before I travelled to ensure I travelled at the best time for me, which was July and August as I prefer the milder temperatures.

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You may have heard the comments such as ‘Johannesburg is one of the most dangerous cities in the world, Cape Town has one of the highest murder rates’ and been put off travelling in South Africa on your own.  I don’t want to put a dampener on things but cities in South Africa can be dangerous places, however you can stay safe, stay out of trouble and have an amazing time if you take a few pieces of advice: 

• Stay with a group of people or at least one other person wherever you go in a city.  If you are in a more scenic quiet location you’ll probably be OK walking around on your own during the day as long as you stick to tourist areas. 
• Stay with your tour guide as they are trained in this country, they know what to look out for, dangerous areas and can protect you. 
• Stay in your hostel or on your tourist bus when you are driving through the middle of the cities.  If you are walking around cities, keep your camera out of sight and valuables back in your accommodation locked away.  If you are with a group and you don’t draw attention to your wealth, you should have no problems whatsoever. 
• It’s better not to walk around on your own after dark, in fact it’s better not to walk around at all after dark.  While I was in Cape Town, the main street soon turned from a welcoming area to a scary place full of men hiding in every doorway.  We were told if we had to walk around after dark literally walk down the road next to the parked cars as it is much safer than the pavement.  I did speak to quite a few male backpackers on my travels who had been mugged.  It was very real, it did happen, and it’s much better to avoid trouble than risk it.
• Be careful getting money out of cash machine.  Make sure  that you are in a group when you do this and don’t take cash out after dark. 
• Ensure you always have the name and address of your hostel and contact details on you when you’re out and about, and I liked to carry some cash (notes) and some contact details in my shoe in case my bag was stolen.

When I was travelling in South Africa, I much preferred to keep away from the cities.  I stayed one night in most cities and quickly moved on to the next area.  The tourist areas are much nicer and more peaceful.  You can relax out of the city and enjoy yourself without worrying excessively about your safety.  I would advice extreme caution in any city in South Africa to keep yourself safe. 

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If you want to meet people, the best place to meet people is in hostels, they are sociable and fun environments with other like minded people who are also travelling around South Africa.  They are usually very safe and will have loads of information about trips that are arranged straight from your hostel door.  If you can bare it, it’s better to share a dorm with other people as you will automatically get to know people if you share all your personal space with them.  Bear in mind these dorms are mostly mixed, so if that’s not for you then most hostels offer an option to book your own room for a slightly higher price.  Some hostels do separate men and women though.  When I first started my trip in Johannesburg a lot of the dorms were empty as it was off peak season in July, but when I got down past Durban and into the Garden Route which is the main travelling route, it became a lot busier, and I was never without the friends that I’d made along the way.  Sometimes I went on ahead of people that I had met but I usually ended up seeing them a bit further down the line.  If you stay in a hostel room with other people, you can just wake up in the morning, ask everyone else what they are doing and decide what you want to do, and they will probably be glad of the company.  People become friends much quicker while travelling which is really nice as you never feel on your own.  The hostels usually have bunk beds so make sure you grab your bed early if you prefer the bottom bunk!  A lot of hostels have communal meals that everyone can share or cooking facilities where everyone can cook for each other.  If you really want to stay in a hotel, there are some lovely hotels, but the friendly atmosphere of travelling just won’t be there, my tip for you is, stay in a hostel, you’ll have the time of your life travelling this way in South Africa!

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