south africa - j'burg - capetown

[Seveen]

jambo

no i didn't go - yet! but i've started looking at airfares and timing - i'm feeling the need to visit the continent again and take my son with me - gonna have to take drugs to make it through that flight - oh no - can't do that - what if you land in the water

anyway - i have the airfare part down - found a consolidator with flights as cheap as going from here to mobay

i need help with housing i don't want to stay in a huge hotel - i'd prefer bed and breakfasts or locally owned hotels (yep the same thing i want when i visit jamaica)

i found a great website but would like to know if any of you have any housing recommendations

any "must sees" would be helpful too

asante sana!

[SandiF]

Re: south africa - j'burg - capetown

Jambo, Seveen! Habari gana?

Have been thinking of South Africa myself and my one and only hold back from visiting the motherland again is not having a traveling companion. My husband is not keen on visiting Africa any time soon. The airfare isn't looking bad...actually it look quite reasonable...so who knows.

Sorry, I don't have any housing accommodations. NightNurse had visited there but mi nuh see her here for quite some time to give you tips... Whatever you find out, just post it here.

[Seveen]

Re: south africa - j'burg - capetown

you went to peru alone - why not south africa

my trip to kenya was alone for 2 weeks and i had the time of my life - i can't even imagine that trip with anyone - i did exactly what i wanted - when i wanted

and loads of folks invited me to their homes, took me to local restaurants and local "hot spots"

when i left - they killed and cooked a goat for me

just pretend you're traveling on business

BTW - i found a blog - kinda like this one - and posted on tripadvisor - so info soon come - i hope or i may book a couple of nights and "wing it" when i get there

i want to stay with black people and experience a slice of life - with a little tourist stuff thrown in - little being the optimum word - can't do the group bus thingy - i always feel like i want to slap some ignorant tourist

[Magician]

Re: south africa - j'burg - capetown

Spent 5 days in Cape Town in January. It was very nice. The hotel I picked wasn't exactly what I was looking for though. A bunch of old English people there. By the way, it seems there there are a LOT of old English people in Cape Town for some reason.

The food was great, the people were great. The weather there is crap most of the year, but I was lucky to be there in the middle of their summer, so it was about 25C/77F and sunny. The sea can't use for swimming though. It was fridgid!

Cape Town is very pretty and I felt safe there. You have to see cape point. Can spend a whole day there and not get bored. On the way back stop at one of the fishing villages for some fish. It was delish. The drive out to Cape Lagulhas (the real southernmost point) was very nice, but the fake cape is much more scenic than the real one. And its about a 4 hour drive from Cape Town. I ran out of time to do the wine tours. But I hear that's real nice too.

Haven't been to JoBurg, but I hear that it's not all that, plus it's the murder capital of the world. However about a two hour drive north of Joburg, nortwest of Sun City is some national park where you can go for a nice safari and see all kinds of lion and what not.

Overall, I liked South Africa. But there are other places in Africa that I like better.

[Marielle]

Re: south africa - j'burg - capetown

jambo! (hi!)

habari! (how are you?)

sano! habari yako? (fine - thanks - how are you?)

missouri sana! (very well -thanks -)

from what I remember from my Kenya travels......(the spelling is phonetic, by the way).

it's the standard greeting in Swahili

before going into, and how is your wife, children, village, cows

only then can you get into the "business" of the day.....

but to get into your question:

do you know about this place...?

http://www.homeexchange.com/

[Marielle]

Re: south africa - j'burg - capetown

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Magix_de_PM</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Overall, I liked South Africa. But there are other places in Africa that I like better. </div></div>

Which countries, Magix?

I need some new Africa (n countries) inspiration....

Have you been to Namibia with those amazing mountainous dunes sweeping down to the sea..?

Wanna go and visit (my son's) granny in Menaka in Mali, back to Gao and on into Niger, down to Zinder market and over the border
into Nigeria to Kano.....
(times have changed tho )

[Magician]

Re: south africa - j'burg - capetown

I'm not sure if any of these countries will be new to you. But I'd rate these countries above South Africa:

-Uganda
-Ghana
-Ethiopia
-Tanzania
-Kenya


Home exchange programme seems interesting. Although at this stage I'm way too active to stay in one place. This seems like a cool idea 30 years from now.

[Seveen]

Re: south africa - j'burg - capetown

Ghana is on my list and i loved Kenya

England has loads of &quot;bucket shops&quot; - travel agents offering charters and South Africa is one of the places that is offered cheap

when i went to Kenya i flew from London on a charter - so the hotel was full of english tourists eating yorkshire pudding

i broke out of there - i had to experience the real deal - people and food wise

the beach there reminded me of negril - with the higglers - after i went off on them (in broken patois and some heavy loc flashing) - i was one of the only people that could sit on the beach undisturbed

when the other guests saw me on the beach - they would ask if they could come and sit with me - lol

[Magician]

Re: south africa - j'burg - capetown

Where again did you cuss out the higglers at?

Ghana is one of my favourite places right now.
Going back there on Thursday. I'm excited cause It's a 5 day trip with only a shuttle flight to Abidjan in between so I'll have plenty of time to explore this time. I want to go to Cape Coast to see the castles.

[Seveen]

Re: south africa - j'burg - capetown

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Magix_de_PM</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Where again did you cuss out the higglers at?
</div></div>

in kenya - the &quot;vendor&quot; tried to overcharge me and i knew it - i threw the item on the ground - asked him how he could cheat his &quot;cousin&quot;

he came down on the price - but i told him i refused to buy something from a tief

the other &quot;vendors&quot; laughed

and thus began my thereafter peaceful existence on the beach

[Marielle]

Re: south africa - j'burg - capetown

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Magix_de_PM</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I'm not sure if any of these countries will be new to you. But I'd rate these countries above South Africa:

-Uganda
-Ghana
-Ethiopia
-Tanzania
-Kenya


Home exchange programme seems interesting. Although at this stage I'm way too active to stay in one place. This seems like a cool idea 30 years from now. </div></div>

Been in Kenya, loved it! Spent 3 months travelling around. Nairobi (a.k.a. Nairobbery....), Mombasa, Twiga Beach, Lamu, Masai Mara, Turkana, Samburu.....

Would love to go to Uganda, Ethiopia and Ghana!!

[Marielle]

Re: south africa - j'burg - capetown

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Seveen</div><div class="ubbcode-body">when i went to Kenya i flew from London on a charter - so the hotel was full of english tourists eating yorkshire pudding </div></div>



How typical! You should watch the &quot;Shirley Valentine&quot; movie for a really funny take on the gross English tourists in Greece.

Great film!

On the Spanish costas there's cafe's all over the boulevards with signs that say &quot;Tea like mother makes it&quot;

Mind you, the Dutch are the same - they need their chips with mayonaise when going abroad.....

[Xavier]

Re: south africa - j'burg - capetown

South Africa is on my &quot;bucket list&quot;. Was hoping the Reggae Boyz would have qualified for the World Cup 2010. It would have been a good excuse to get there.

[Magician]

Re: south africa - j'burg - capetown

Yuh nuh easy you know.

By I'm the same way. Mi enjoy bargaining. But one yuh try to teef me then a soso problems. Mi nuh promote that at all at all.


I went thru the &quot;Door of no return&quot; in Ghana on Saturday! Lawd ave mercy di guide affi convince me seh me can return still, cause all now mi nuh waan pass thru! That was an experince. Will do a trip report on that one day.

[Kurlie]

Re: south africa - j'burg - capetown

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Magix_de_PM</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I'm not sure if any of these countries will be new to you. But I'd rate these countries above South Africa:

-Uganda
-Ghana
-Ethiopia
-Tanzania
-Kenya


Home exchange programme seems interesting. Although at this stage I'm way too active to stay in one place. This seems like a cool idea 30 years from now. </div></div>

Kenya will be my first visit to Africa. MrK will be going to Ghana in July...waiting on his response on that...then Ethiopia