After a day braving the heat to explore ‘old Dubai’ down by the creek, Dave and I decided to save some dirhams and take a cheap local bus rather than an expensive taxi back to Annie’s place. After questioning a few locals, we were pointed in the direction of the bus station and informed that […]

I’m hot. I’m wet. I can’t see a thing and I can’t eat a thing either. The temperature is about 38 degrees, humidity is about 65% and visibility is only about 1.5km, due to a sandstorm that has enveloped the city for the last couple of days. Looking at the sky alone, you’d be forgiven […]

From Cape Town we took a very comfortable Emirates flight into Dubai. Our plan is to stay in the United Arab Emirates for a month, to meet up with Dave’s sister who lives in Abu Dhabi, and the rest of family Bartlett who are flying over for Dad B’s 60th birthday. Before making the journey […]

After filling our boots at the Billabong factory outlet shop in Jeffreys Bay, we drove to Port Elizabeth airport and hopped-on a short flight back to Cape Town to spend our last night in South Africa. Tomorrow we head north-east into a different country and continent — the United Arab Emirates in the Middle-East, Asia. […]

daveb says: I should have published this a while ago, but I didn’t have the balls. It’s the an story of an exceptional young Zimbabwean man whom I was fortunate to befriend whilst he was exiled in Zambia. He organises and promotes street soccer games for the homeless people of Zimbabwe, displaced by their own […]

When we first announced to our friends, family and fellow travellers that we intended to travel independently through Southern Africa for just over three months, we were met with a lot of questions about personal safety, exotic illnesses, scary creatures and dire transport. As our trip loomed ever closer, we ourselves were apprehensive about these […]

Our last day on the Garden Route — and our penultimate in South Africa, oh no! Balls, we’ve just about left the best ’til last and sadly only have one evening and one morning to spend at Jeffreys Bay. The Island Vibes backpackers hostel put us into a wonderful beach front room with patio doors […]

Bloukrans Bridge is home to the world’s highest bungy jump (bungee/bungie/however-you-want-to-spell-it) at 216 metres. Whilst Squiffy had no intention to jump, H and I were both rather more open to the idea. Until we saw it. For me, a bungy jump represents the final word in adrenalin sports so I’m kind of a little disappointed […]

Just after Plettenberg Bay, we called in at Monkeyland and Birds of Eden. Both are rehabilitation sanctuaries for primates and exotic birds (respectively) previously caged and kept as pets. These animals cannot be released into the wild as they would likely be eaten by predators for breakfast (as pets they’ve never known about predators or […]

Lovely sea views were the theme of our stay in Plettenberg Bay, known simply as ‘Plet’ by the locals. Lunch at the Look Out cafe was followed later that afternoon by sundowner cocktails, on a roof top bar over-looking the sea. Both were very enjoyable, although, as usual for us, the latter was not incident […]