This restaurant was such a hit with a large group of 22 people- we all LOVED it! It was a fun place to go for a very authentic "African" vibe. The food was great and the local band kept us all entertained. Must try items: Appetizers- Samosas; entree- Ostrich steaks (get them medium rare or else it will be very chewy and overcooked!); dessert- Malva pudding! If you don't try the Malva pudding then you are really missing out.

When the afternoon was ending, whe arrived at Gekko's (something) lodge, nearby Cederberg. Before all activity (getting ourselves stuffed with all kinds of bushmeat, the tent had to been build. There were enough of them, so I had my own. Lucky me! Nevertheless, for the first time you need two to make something. Afterwards, this was a piece of cake. At this point I did not any assistence anymore. Next, was the hike in the neigbourhood. The lodge owner (white of course, all of them were the rest of the trip) said we had to wait.

For Scocci! This was our guide for the hike, that evening. This little San man was a nice character. Official African Time, he came some 25 minutes to late. Smiling, apologizing, etc. Our crew and the lodge owner looked at him, if they forgive him, again. And they will always do. Nevermind, lets go.

The hike started just outside the campsite. Immediately after the start, this fellow excused himself for the fact that we would not see any 'big' wildlife. He spoke in a mixture of English and Afrikaans (which is a variety of old Dutch). All these funny words were sometimes hilarious. The first part forced us to cross the Olifantsrivier. At that part, no elephants were present. So, we had to take our shoes and socks off and try to stay upright on the slippery rocks. It was not only that, the water was damn cold also. Didn't matter, the landscapes were exciting and all the little stories of Scocci made it unforgettable.  Of course, the whole group was so enthousiastic, Scocci decided to show us much more. Not only small animals like millipeds, spiders, tok-tokkies and scorpio, but also some plants, like pretoria, national symbol of SA, did get attention. Result: the food was all ready when we came back on the campsite. It was stewed Springbok. I guess, I was the lucky one. The flesh was delicious, however, not everybody did appreciate it. To bad for them.

After, this break, Tom started an introduction talk (finally) and gave some handy facts about camping in Africa. After that, the whole group had to introduce itself. Many beers lasted it and completely forfilled (and cold, the temp dropped till zero Celsius!) I fell asleep in my new home for the next weeks.

Driving through the lands of the West Cape Province to the north, did made some change in the truck. All the urban was left and more and more rural appeared. It is, however, to speak from complete wildness.
A nice example is this picture, made by a petrolstation. After the Table Mountain area all landscapes were flat. Suddenly, a ridge stood there on the lefthand of the road. Just a whim of nature, making the sight so unreal. At that moment, I could not imagine more sceneries would occur, far greater than this. But hey, give me a break, It was my first time on a strange continent. Even a mosquito could colour my day. Aaaah, no, forget that. :) In Dutch: een kinderhand is snel gevuld; in English: a child's hand is easily pleased. Or something like that.

Before we drove further up north, a little visit was made by Table View. In the neighbourhood was a great supermarket where we did some buyings, particurly beer and some food for the next days. At the parking, the first signs of unefficient policy appear. For every vehikel there were 3 security guards. On top of that countless cleaning men were 'busy' doing nothing. According to Tom, this a sad outcome for the good purpose to have as many people on a payroll. Hopefully, South Africa can overgrow this idiot problem, someday.
Table View wasn't that spectacular. Just a nice view of the Table Mountain 30 miles away. After some photo's everybody was blown away by the tremendous winds and got back into the truck. The voyage continued along the mainroad 7, heading to the more desolate areas.

I just loved this part of the trip. We went to the small town of Piketberg and met hundreds of young people who just wanted to be kids and enjoy life.

We started off by walking throughout the neighborhood just meeting the locals and inviting them to a children's day in the park. We must have gotten about 260 kids to come and have some fun. Along the way, we met all kinds of funny, interesting lively and mostly friendly children and their parents. there was the little boys who just love rugby and they wanted show me how to play. There were a group of kids who just wandered throughout the streets just looking for trouble, I think we were all these kinds of kids when we were younger.

I met Chris, he and his son Andrew were the heroes in the community. Andrew would drive through the neighborhood one Saturday each month a pick up all the kids in his white truck. Now we Americans would be concerned if there were enough seatbelts etc for each of the kids, well, not there. I think we counted at least 31 kids piling out of the back of his truck. Check out the video. There are some priceless memories stored deep in my heart, but I hope some of the photos begin to give you a glimps of what I saw and experienced.

I talked earlier about how the city was juxaposed. Some of these photos show that. The big Dutch Reform Church on the hill and the small half built roofless church down in the other part of town.

I really enjoyed all that I experienced and look forward to meeting these people again sometime soon.

This Sunday we found ourselves in a small community known as Atlantis. Atlantis is a place that was created for the sole purpose of pushing anyone who wasn’t white out of the major city of Cape Town. The history was incredible. As we drove along the road we saw this shacks that were just built out of scrap metal and scrap wood. There were some port-a-potties which helped with the sanitation. The interesting thing was as we drove closer to the center of town, I began to notice that the housing was getting better and better. Better meaning, being built out of cinder blocks with the possibility of running water and flush toilets. The landscape changes even more when we say these larger homes with gates and nice landscaping. What a very interesting juxtaposition.

When spent a couple of days in this town door knocking inviting people to the church service I was going to preach.. We also invited anyone who would like to sign up for World Bible School which is a program were students work at their own pace in learning more about the Bible and their relationship with Jesus. Many people were weary of us, but they quickly warmed up when we let them know we weren’t selling anything or asking for any donations.

I had fun with quite a few of them telling them that Bionce was my ex-wife and that I was really Chris Brown. They got a laugh and we all enjoyed the fun. We had some great success in this area with over 160 people making a commitment to study the Bible and many of them showed up for church that Sunday.

This was a great little side trip to see the penguins. They are all just roaming around having a great old time. We drove up towards there and saw a "Penguin" crossing sign. It was pretty cute. There were interesting smells and sights. It was definitly wild and outdoors, whatever that may mean. Make sure you check under your car before you leave so you don't run one of them over. Have a good time for a few minutes.

After the visit with the penguins, we headed out for a drive around the southern part of the city. We saw beautiful beaches and even more beautiful scenery. I don’t think these photos even begin to capture the beauty we experienced.

My first 'big' trip. My first time going on a plain. My first time (really) going alone.
My adventure begins getting out the train on Schiphol. It was already a 3 hour journey from Groningen. Checking in and looking around this enormeous big place. Boarding time: 19:30u. local time. Time enough, I thought. How could I known that the gate was somewhere at the end of the airport? That it would be wise to go first to the  border police and then shop around or something. Nobody (friends or family, so few) had the knowledge to instruct me. So, at 19:25u. I walked whistling to the border control. "So, young man, you have to rush! They are leaving within 5 minutes." Didn't know that my condition was so surprisingly determent. Getting there as number last, the plain could took off. What a sight! What a hurry on Airport Frankfurt. Running what all my luggage to the next gate. Left and right to me, everybody was running. Stress, stress! Well, a little bit. All passengers destined to go to Johannesburg (Jo'burg) were able to overcome this narrow gap between the two flights. Meanwhile, I had no idea if there were any travelbuddies among the other passengers. I had booked my travelticket by a grouptravelagency, or something like that.
Arrival at Jo,burg. Chaos! No signs that could direct you to the right gate. Half the airport was under construction. Pfff, all these men who were offering their services. Ok, what the hack, I'll hire you. Take me to the gate where this Cape Town plain awaits. Okidoki. What a nice guy, but be aware! Watching all my precious things, which will count zero. He delivered me nicely at the gate. Thanks a lot, have a big tip and get out!
(That evening, I discovered my cellphone was missing. There was just one oppurtunity.).

Half past 11; Good morning Cape Town.
2 man of the company already stood there with a typical yellow bus. They were gathering everyone who looked confused and couln't find a board with Djoser (which was the Dutch company). After some first meetings, the tension did raise a little bit, because some had missed the plain in Jo'burg, because of the chaos. One hour and 5 sigarettes later, they decided to go anyhow to the hotel and one of them would go back to pick up the missing persons. Riding with the yelluw bus through Cape Town did make some first impressions. The townships, unfinished infrastructures, like colossal bridges, everything did realize me I was not in Europe anymore. After some 30 minutes bus trip we arrived at the hotel, in 'white' Waterfront.

The Djoser group must count 20 people/tourist, all Dutch. In the early afternoon 2 persons were still missing. The crew (Tom, Afrikaner; guide) and Dion (Mozambiquean, (chef) cook and guide) advised us to visit Table Mountain. The would go back to the airport and search for the lost ones.

Exciting, we did had to manage the transport by ourselfs. Somehow not surprisingly, the taxi came to late. The phenomenom "African Time" will come back many times the next weeks. The taxi left us at the Visitors Centre some 300m under the plateau. For the last part, you had two choices. Going walking or taking the cable/elevator. We didn't had time for the first choice. Regrets? No, the view was awesome. Also, was the speed of this piece of metal. Combined, this could be the first feeling of a kick. The Afrikaners (according to the crew) had a term: "Lekker". In Dutch, its translated like tastfull (food) or good (events). In Afrikaans, it's a little bit more. You normally will say it, when the experience is new and soooooo good! This was the first time Lekker!

On top on the Table Mountain the view was astonishing! No babboons, no dassies, but plenty of agames to shoot, I mean photograph. The red-winged starlings were to fast, although the numbers huge. They flourish partly because of the litter dumped by visitors. Anyhow, when time exceeded, temperature dropped fast. So we had to go back. At the meeting point with our cab-driver, nobody was there. Waiting and getting cold did cost us almost a hour before this friendly finally man picked us up.

Our reuning with the crew, gave us two new faces. Exactly, the lost ones, the brothers. After some dining, I finally let myself to sleep in the my own hotelroom. Little but frustrated that my cell phone was missing, so I could not set a time to wake up.  

After all, I did not need an alarm clock at all. In the room next to me, someone was really noisy busy waken up. This was not coincidence, it was Dion. Which is a character by itself, we will see later. Taking a shower and walking relaxed to the Cape Towns University cantine, I discovered I was nevertheless relatively late. No problem, this morning there was no program, we could fill the time by ourselfs. Although most of my fellow travellers did had finished their breakfast and went down town, I refused to make some rush. A couple agreed and so the slowest 3 of the group made their own plan. We decided to visit the city's aqaurium "2 Oceans". Which was nice, but after one hour we had seen it all. More excitement did arose when some seals were spotted in the harbor, several times. Furthermore, whe did some shopping and went back to the Breakwater Hotel to see the others. 

Simons Town, the home of the navy of South Africa. Before we will dump our personal stuff in a backpackers lodge, we went to Boulders. This is a site, little bit to commercial, where you can watch penguins sitting there. Maybe a narrow mind, but these birds were cute for a half hour. When you look longer, there was nothing exciting to explore. Probably, these feathered friends were moulding, because of the circumstances there was no action, only smell.

And that moment in time, I did own a little camera, poorly equiped for shooting some nice pics in wildlife. Or with other words, over distance. This lack of technology I did not miss too much. However, with the camera which I have now (2008) I would not be so fastly bored, I guess.

Nevertheless, I was satisfied when I was writing in my journal that evening on the balcony of that lodge. Later on, all the alcoholics went to bar. After some delicious beers in another 'white' (how disappointing some way) establissement, we were little drunk and much too late back in the lodge. Sweet dreams.

I think that Blue Peter is AMAZING I love it~! its the place that everyone goes to Sunday night for pizza, beer and a beautiful sunset, cause you sit outside on the grass hill over looking the ocean if your in Cape Town its simply must!

On of the babies at the safe house were I was volunteering had severly clubbed feet, so Every friday he would get casts put on and every thurdsay I would take them off. On one fine Friday morning Leanna(a local south african women ) and I were on the way back from the Hospital with "Matti" and his fresh casts. When I saw 5 black BMW's  all surrounding this one Black SUV! with a police escort,  they were rather impresive drivers showing off there skills they were crossing and weaving allover the place, so Leanne and I figured that it must be someone VERY important and that we could make a lot of money if they signed the casts and  we auctioned them off. Then It dawned on me that Celin Dion was in town that weekend and that it must be her. So we followed them for a good 20km (nearly taking out a donkey and cart) then they turned down this really shitty looking dead end road that did not look lke any place that Celine would want to be BUT we followed them anyways! the cars came to a big boom ( the kind at the airport that stop you from going were you should not be) and a man in uniform with a gun came out, talked to the police and the first black car and the boom went up and all the cars got through including us (now I should tell you that we are driving a BRIGHT red lunch box of a car) so we drive in and no one seemed to care so we kept going. then we came to a second boom and the same thing happend, now the police drive away. there are now fewer people BUT the people who are ther have quite sizely GUNS! but we keep driving, not we come to one more boom and we go under with everyone and now there are 2 rows of people on either side of us with machine guns this is when i dicide to ask were we are, and Leanne informs me that we are now at "Ysterplaat" which is the Air Force Base, but she does not seem to ratteled SO neither am I. we keep driving untill all 6 cars are facing us, they then back up and get out so Leanne tells me to get out and join the 7 men standing there in black suits, with black glasses, guns and ear pieces, SO i did,I was talking to these very nice men who didn't seem to mind that we were there and were asking all kinds of question one guy asked me what happened to his legs and I couldnt tell him that he had clubbed feet SO i said that they had been broken! meanwhile Leanne  got out and started tapping on one of the cars windows after trying to ignore here the driver finally rolles down his window and she asked "is Celine Dion here?" "I cant say" he answered after asking a about 10 questions all with the same answere she askes "WELL ARE YOU A SECURITY GUARD OR WHAT? " YES he said and rolled up the window and at this time all them men got back into their cars and left before i knew what was happening they all just GONE!  Leanne told me to get in the car and we followed them until all we could see was a small brick building, then when I turned to my right I saw that we were on the RUNWAY! the cars all stopped and we got outI started talking to the same men and Leanne went to talked to a guy  who looked to be incharge, and started asking him the same questions, "is it Celin?" is it anybody we know?  and then the guy said to here "one sec I ll go get some one who can give you some answers, and he came back with the chief of police, Leanne put her arm around him and said, and I quote " let me tell you something about security" and gave him a big lecture about how if you look like you belong you belong, this went on for about 10 min and she asked again "is Celin here?" and then he told her that she could go and talk to the guy in brick building and everyone gasped.I was not thrilled about gong to talk to the man that the guys with guns did nt want to talk to.   We slowly walked towards the building and knocked on the door this MASSIVE man sitting on a chair with a newspaper in his hand and a cigar in his month looked up like he had just seen a duet performed by Oprah and Jesus. and almost swallowed the cigar there in his office stood 2 girls in pink t-shirts with a baby!he pulled himself together nad intruduced himself ad Chief Commander Smith and shook our hands, Leanne intruduced us an and asked about Celin, and he just stared at us and she was talking  a million miles a minute and he said to her "stop, stop talking," shaking his head. "Who said you could be here?" "No one" we said "we followed the black cars," "NO NO NO" he said " who told you, you could be here." "no one we said we followed the black cars." "OH MY GOD" he said and started pacing up and down. I have to get you out of here, you need a military escort nad went on and on. "SO" Leanne said "is Celine here?" NO he said "but the president is arriving in 3 min. you need to get out," so after out lecture about national security and how NO ONE is here when he arrived and that we should be arrested he looked at me and said "Im suprised no one took you out." "like shot us" I said " YES" he said "Im suprsied no one shot you" after that we left and were asked not to return EVER! and I pretty sure there are a few less employees at Ysterplaat!

Well you all heard about our trials and tribulations to leave the UK and hit Cape Town and we're extremely pleased to report that things have got considerably better since we left. After a very good 8 days of wine tasting, skinny dipping, getting blown off Table Mountain, more drinking and meeting some great people in the hostel we also did a few other things. We went to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was a prisoner and held in solitary confinement for 18 years. You get taken around the island and prison by ex-inmates which was really fascinating. One of the guys we had was in prison for 20 years, in solitary confinement for 8 months and he looked like he kept wanting to cry when he was telling us the stories. It was really moving. But after all that culture, it was time to do some sport and drinking ... and what better way to do it than to watch the Proteas spank Australia all over the park and all with a cold beer in hand from the member's enclosure. If that wasn't enough the next day we watched the Super 14s rugby (Stormers v Highlanders). This time we were in the cheap seats with a bar that looked and smelt like it used to be a urinal room - nice! As you can imagine the beer was drunk very fast with the nose held at all times. Sunday we enjoyed our first beach day at Camps Bay, which is where anyone who is anyone goes - all the models and ferrari drivers, so we fitted right in :) The beach was in a fab location to sit in the bar at the end of the day sipping G&Ts whilst watching the sun go down and the ferraris drive by - very nice. However, given that we're travellers, we actually arrived by white van taxi which basically is very cheap and crams anyone who isn't anyone in like sheep. At one point the 8 seater had about 16 people in and no air con - betty! Brilliant experience and for the bargain price of 80p as opposed to GBP 6 in a private cab. After such an exhilarating travel experience, one not to be repeated, we promptly hired a car from Avis the very next day, and left Cape Town to hit the Garden Route. With our little Toyota Corolla we headed for the southern most point of Africa, otherwise known as the Cape of Good Hope. Great views and a whole lot of water! We hit the road again to our overnight destination of Swellendam, en route passing lots of Shanty Towns. We have dicovered that shanty towns basically seem to come in three levels: 1) small huts made out of random pieces of wood about the size of your average bathroom; 2) slightly larger hut, but this time made out of corrugated metal sheets - it doesn't look as if they have air con so will be very hot in summer; and 3) an actual concrete building about the size of a garage, most with water and electricity. In complete contrast on the opposite site of the road will be gated luxury housing complexes which look gorgeous, or more commonly, a pristine golf course. The contrast is so apparent, and it just makes you realise how lucky we are back in the UK. From what we can gather everyone who lives in the shanties has to walk for miles and miles to and from work, or hitch a ride - so poor. We then arrived in Swellendam, which we expected to be a sleepy town, en route to the Garden Route, which turned out to be a mountainous marvel to the eye! Having fully expected to be leaving first thing the next morning we actually found ourselves HIKING through the indigenous forest to a waterfall, in 35 degree heat (crazy English). It was a serious hike - we had to climb and everything and it took about 2 hours to get there. But my word was the waterfall worth it. It was completely deserted so we took the opportunity to go skinny dipping once again. We are fast discovering that being at one with nature agrees with us :-) After this epic expedition we found the nearest bar and had a much deserved beer! Not to rest on our laurels we hit the road again and arrived in Wilderness. We stayed in a 200 year old farmhouse, which much to James' disappointment had 200 years worth of spiders aswell. But the room had a mirror - I was in heaven! Bitten by the hiking bug we hired a canoe, paddled up stream for one hour, and then trekked for a further hour to another waterfall, and another swim! This time, you'll be pleased to know we didn't get naked, much to the relief of the other walkers we're sure! Today we left Wilderness and we're now in Oudtshoorn. When we arrived we hit the Cango Caves which are full of amazing, emormous stalegtites and stalicmites. Ever the adrenalin junkies we did the Adventure tour which meant we had to crawl through lots of narrow tunnels - very cool and a bit scary. That's where the story ends so far. Hope you've enjoyed this and rest assured there's more to come (hopefully we will have worked out pictures by then). By the way, we also went Diamond ring shopping today - SA is the place to buy a rock!

Elroy and his family took me in like I was one of their own and thank the lord because if I had been without a family on Christmas it would have been slightly depressing. Christmas is a little different in Africa. First there aren't Christmas carols playing on every radio station, decorations on windows and in towns are few and far between, post cards of Santa have Santa sweating like a dog carrying his presents in the hot hot sun, and occasionally Santa is running around Pick n' Pay, grocery store, and he is black, white, or colored. Smart Africans don't discriminate....Santa can be black too!

The day before Christmas is not that big of a deal. I am used to my Aunt Gen baking 800 cookies, my Uncle Jeff preparing some kind of delicious meat, my twin cousins Michael and Matthew literally burning their hair and eyebrows off in the fireplace, my mom ditching the family party to read Mac " It was the Night Before Christmas," the family gathering around to laugh like crazy while we all try and sing Christmas carols, and my grandma buying blankets at Salvation Army-dropping them off at the laundry mat-picking them up and asking if she could leave them behind because the cost to wash them was more than they cost to buy. In the Smith's home Elroy's mom made spaghetti that we could eat when ever, we swam in the pool, lounged around, and went to a midnight service. The Church service was ALL in Afrikaans, I was only one of two white people, and the only one who couldn't understand the sermon. During one point the Pastor said Elroy's name and the entire church laughed. Elroy's mom told me that he had said that Elroy must translate for me. The choir was the most energetic and passionate choir I have ever seen.  After church we stopped at the pastors house and had champagne. Once we made it home Elroy said we must follow tradition and go to the Pif, short for Pavilion; however, the Pif is not like our pavilions. It is this shady area of town where everyone parks in the parking lots and braai (grill) and people drag race until the cops come.

Christmas day we made an INCREDIBLY huge meal....Elroy's mom did most of the work. Elroy's mom said Cow Tongue is very popular on Christmas day amongst the coloreds. It is extremely expensive and considered a delicacy...also something I will never eat again. The Smiths were kind enough to give me gifts, which we opened around the dinner table during our lunch, so I wouldn't feel left out. All in all it was a BEAUTIFUL Christmas.

When you're a child you have dreams that you can fly high like a bird in the sky, but when you grow up you can't seem to fly quite as high anymore, or you simply can't fly at all. Yes - I know this all sounds a bit like peter pan but you'll have to admit it does make a little sense! Apparently it's to do with your imagination! Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that paragliding allows you to have the real sensation of flying like a bird! Now who would'nt want that! In December 2007, I was walking up Lions Head with some friends & family and saw some people paragliding, I had always thought that it looked like fun but had never had the guts to go for it. After watching a few guys take off and how much fun they seemed to be having I decided to do it! A spur of the moment decision that I did not regret! I ask someone for details, and later that day I called and make a booking for the next day. Providing the weather was good I was going to go paragliding! So the next day I hadn't heard anything different so we set off, we trapsed back up the mountain to the 'take off strip'. Unfortunately by the time I got up there the wind had changed, so I had to wait for quite a long time before I could fly. When it was time to go, we got all harnessed up, layed the parashoot out, and started running towards the edge of the mountain, the parashoot very soon caught the thermals and I could feel it pulling me off the ground, when I could no longer touch the ground I sat back into my rucksack come seat and I was Flying!! The flight didn't last long, about 15mins in total but it was brilliant! You really do get the feeling that you are flying. I was showed how to control the parashoot and was given a chance to actually fly for myself. We landed on a large grassy area right next to the beach, outside a restaurant! I enjoyed everysecond of it, and would recommend it for anyone who has ever wanted to experience what it must be like to fly! A few tips! Take a large bottle of water incase you have to wait on a mountain in the sun like I did. Wear suitable footwear, like a decent pair of trainers, you may have to walk further up a mountain than you expected to. Wear suitable clothes - shorts are best in my opinion, If you have to wait in the sun your not going to overheat! There is a misconseption that it is quite cold when you are flying. Take Sun Cream!! It cost me about R800, and the flight could last for anytime between 10 and 30 mins. I can't remember what the company was called but if you went into the nearest tourist information centre to Lions head I'm sure they would be able to give you a leaflet. I hope my experience has encouraged you to want to do this. If so - Happy Flying!