South Africa Stories


My last day in Africa...

For my last day in South Africa, and in Africa in general, I decided to do something I hoped to get to do while in Namibia but never had the chance... pet a cheetah.  Normally, I'm not the type of person who likes that kind of thing and would typically be against it since I feel like cheetahs shouldn't be in captivity unless they are being rehabilitated...


They WILL mug you.

I was back in Johannesburg just for a night but had to go to the bus station in the center of the city in the morning to cancel a ticket and then had to get to a minibus station that was only about 3 blocks away. My hostel told me that I should take a taxi but it was 3 blocks! So I decided to ask at the information booth at the bus station...


From the peace of the Drakensbergs to the edgy chaos of Jo'berg

After leaving Bulungula, I made a quick stop in Durban for a day just to break up the trip up to the Drakensbergs.  Durban seems to be a nice enough city but I didn't have too much time to explore it before moving on.  One thing I did notice though, there are a lot of Indians.  :-)  Someone told me that the city has the biggest population of Indians out...


Getting a feel for how Mandela grew up

Anyway, my next stop was a place called Bulungula. It's in an area historically called the Transkei ("tranz-sky") or more currently, The Wild Coast. It's a Xhosa area where Nelson Mandela grew up and I remember seeing a sign for the town where he lived for a while during his early teens (Mqhekezweni) as we were passing it in the bus. I've heard he lives...