Thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening!!!

We've been in South Africa for just over 2 weeks now and if you thought it didn't rain much in Africa, you are very wrong!! Our plan of getting a tan in the South African summer has been severely disrupted by some of the worst rain we have both ever seen!!

Johannesburg

We arrived at our first proper backpacker's hostel and pitched our tent for the first time. Little did we know it would piss it down pretty much our whole stay in the city.

We took a tour of the city and were struck by the huge contrast in wealth of the various suburbs. One moment you are passing the beautiful mansions of Houghton, the next you are in the ghetto of Hillbrow, where we were not allowed out of the bus! The tour took in the township of Soweto to the south west of the city. This again was very diverse and ranged from small brick houses to self-built shacks. We learnt a lot about the history of the country, namely the Apartheid period, which sounded very sad.

The Blyde River Canyon

Our next destination was about 5 hours bus ride east of Joburg. We got picked up by our next hostel from the bus stop and headed towards a small town called Sabie. It took us longer than expected as the car overheated on the way up the hills of Mpumalanga and we had to get towed. At least the scenery was amazing!!

This next section of our trip was all about adventure, although Gem's sense of adventure is slightly different to Elliott's!! Nevertheless, we signed up to a number of activities that would let us explore the area's natural beauty.

First up was kloofing. This involved hiking down into the canyon and basically walking along and through the river to various waterfalls and natural pools. The water was freezing but we had wetsuits on. Unfortunately they didn't have XS for Gem so she looked a bit like the Michelin man!! The day was incredible and to see the huge Mac Mac Falls whilst swimming in its plunge pool where no-one else could go was an unforgettable experience.

The next day we went on the Panorama Tour of the Blyde River Canyon. The day consisted of us driving from viewpoint to viewpoint where the panoramas got better and better. Gem was in her element and even went into teacher mode, testing the guide on his knowledge of the rock formations. Poor guy didn't know what hit him.

Other activities we did included horse riding and abseiling. We gave them both a go but varied from being bad to just terrible. But it was all good fun and we really enjoyed our time there.

Swaziland

Our adventure continued south into Swaziland. Unfortunately we could only spend the night in this beautiful country, but we were glad to admire the stunning scenery and more importantly get another stamp in the passport!!

Hiking in the Drakensberg

From Swaziland we headed to the Drakensberg mountain range. This country never ceases to amaze us at how diverse, yet beautiful the landscapes are.

We knew that our last few weeks of South Africa will be spent on the beaches of the Garden Route, so it was time to start shifting that flab. We decided that hiking in the mountains would be great exercise. We stayed in a lovely backpacker's hostel on the border of Lesotho and signed up to their Hiker's Heaven package. 3 days of hiking in these lovely mountains would do us the world of good.

Our first expedition was a self guided tour through a valley. It was so peaceful and a good time to think about the reasons we are both doing this trip. On the return leg, we came across a river that we were instructed to cross. Unfortunately the recent rains meant it was too high so we decided to take our own route around the river. Forging our own path up an almost vertical gorge was not the best idea we've ever had, but we arrived with only minor grazes and had a nice cold beer to settle the nerves when we got back.

Did we mention that it rains in South Africa lots!!! Our second hike was up to the ancient bushmen paintings. The morning's trek was lovely and the paintings (some of which were 4000 years old) were quite incredible. Over lunch the weather came in on us and soon it began absolutely chucking it down. Soon the lightning came and it was bloody close. Our guide decided to sod the remainder of our gentle hike and get us off the mountain sharpish. We were soaked, not helped by wading knee deep through 3 rivers to take the most direct route down, but again we got home safely and had a warm cup of tea by the fire.

The final hike took us into Lesotho (another stamp for the passport ;-)). We were supposed to trek to the second highest peak in the Drakensberg, but again the weather let us down. The peak was shrouded in cloud the whole day. The drive up the Sani Pass into Lesotho was however an experience all in itself. After the South African border post, it is 4x4 vehicles only. Corners such as "The Devil's Elbow" and "Suicide Bend" give you a clue as to how steep and rocky the road was. It was a relief to enter Lesotho.

The landscape changes immediately as you enter Lesotho. Instead of the steep gorges and waterfalls, the area was more of a high plateau-like terrain. The shallow hills went on as far as the eye could see. We went into a local lady's hut and drank some of her home made beer (not our favourite!), but then went to the highest pub in Africa for something more western. We were again glad to be home after coming back down the treacherous pass.

Tomorrow...

...we head down to Coffee Bay to get started on these tans. Hopefully the weather will sort itself out.

Love Ells and Gem xx

Sun, sea, sand and...

... SCUBA of course!!

The long road down

The journey from Arusha to Dar es Salaam was a bit of a white knuckle ride at times. The bus was hot and the air flying in through the window was hotter. Some of the overtaking manouvres our driver pulled off bordered on the insane and we were thankful to arrive in one piece that evening in Dar.

The beautiful Zanzibar

The ferry over to Zanzibar was quick. We arrived at the ferry port on the west side of the island and immediately jumped into a taxi for our trip across the island to Paje on the east coast.

Our lodge, Paje by Night, was run by an Italian couple and was simply stunning. Our room had a hot shower!!! Oh how we've missed a good shower! The beach was about 50 metres from our room and was the palm fringed idyll we'd been hoping for. Our five days in Paje mainly consisted of sunning ourselves (although not for long as it is so hot), reading and drinking beer and cocktails. The local shack restaurants all offered freshly caught fish and were incredibly good value.

The 1st Dives

We also did our first dives of the trip. We headed out early on a small boat to a reef about 20 minutes offshore. The coral was incredible and the fish came in all colours and sizes. We had a short break between our dives and the seas were unfortunately very choppy. Elliott (with his famous weak stomach inherited from his mother) tried hard not to throw up whilst watching a poor Canadian girl giving in to the urge, while Gem just stared at the horizon. We were both thankful to get back into the water for our second dive. We really enjoyed it and can't wait for the cage diving with sharks in South Africa (hmm...maybe not!!).

Stone Town

After our relaxing few days we headed back to Stone Town on the west coast. We had spent far too much money over the past few days so decided it was time to tighten the purse strings. We opted for the local transport, a small pickup truck with benches along each side. When it finally arrived after an hour's wait, it was already packed. We threw our bags onto the roof and prayed that they would be there when we got off. There was room for one butt cheek each and the journey lasted about 1 1/4 hours. But for a quid each we weren't complaining. And our bags arrived too. Bargain!!

That day we took a guided tour around the town with a local tout called Hakim. He was a very nice man and very knowledgable about the place. We saw the spice market, the old slave chambers (not nice!!) and a few other things. We drank a beer watching the sunset, thinking about all the snow back home then headed for dinner. We ate at a small place across from our guest house, and to Elliott's (but not Gemma's) delight, his first live football match for 5 weeks!! Not Man Utd, but Chelsea drawing with Hull!! A great night in Africa!!

Back to Dar

With our renewed feeling that we needed to travel more cheaply we opted for the overnight slow ferry. It's half the price of the faster day ferries and we saved on a night's accommodation!! We arrived at the ferry terminal after watching the sun set from a nearby restaurant and found that we were the only whites there!

Having paid the "Mzungu price" (inflated rate that white people have to pay for everything) we were sent into the nice air conditioned area and even got a mattress each. We fell asleep before the boat had left Zanzibar and woke up around 6am in the port of Dar es Salaam.

Off to South Africa

We are now spending the day looking around Dar and our flight to Johannesburg leaves tomorrow morning at 7:25am. We've really enjoyed our time in Tanzania and would recommend it to anyone as a holiday destination. We know we will definitely be coming back at some point in the future.

Love Ells and Gem xx