Rangers at Kruger National Park will stage a demonstration of their ranger-y skills tomorrow, and three tourist access roads near Malelane will be closed down. Why? The rangers plan to fire some live ammunition. Things should be back to normal by noon.
That's not the only danger in the park, though. African buffalo, rhinos, cheetahs and hippos all roam Kruger, which covers an area larger than Connecticut. Also worth avoiding are the poachers that hunt in the area. South African news site IOLreports that hundreds animals have been killed in the park in the past four years.
Flying down narrow singletrack trails on a mountain bike is challenging. Doing so after sundown in the South African wilderness sounds damn near crazy. But if there's a beer and a beach at the end of the road, then we're all in.
Live2Ride tours in Langebaan, South Africa--a coastal city roughly 60 miles from Cape Town--offers just that experience for only about $30. Starting at sunset, riders head out from the beachfront, winding through town and up into the woods. The ride is just shy of eight miles long, but the darkness makes dirt roads all the more tricky. (Yes, you'll have lights.) The trail spits you back out by the water where you can score drinks at Driftwoods restaurant.
If you're looking for something a bit longer, Live2Ride also offers day tours for about $70. The Aurora route is a grueling climb up into the Piketberg mountains with a total elevation gain of over 3,000 feet. But save some of that energy for a fast descent on the second half--you'll need it to squeeze your break levers.
It's summer right now in South Africa and the tourists are flooding into pretty Cape Town for their summer fun. Folks are heading into the city by car at the rate of 200 cars per hour--yep, somebody measures that--though nobody can tell us how many are flying into Cape Town International.
There are plenty of attractions to keep you busy in the South African city, but we also recommend taking a trip a little further north into the Northern Cape province. The statisticians tell us that 1,000 visitors per day are headed to the Northern Cape's Big Hole and a place with a name like that sounds like something we shouldn't miss. (We love big things, you know.)
The Big Hole is actually a former diamond mine near Kimberley, the capital of the Northern Cape. It took 50,000 workers almost 50 years to dig it, and these days they're trying to get it listed as a World Heritage site. If you visit, you probably won't find any stray diamonds lying around, but the Big Hole and the related museums are spectacle enough, surely.
We already know about the popular whale-watching in spots like Mexico, Alaska and Hawaii but we haven't heard much before about South Africa. That is until we found out that the town of Hermanus is hosting the Hermanus Whale Festival this weekend that celebrates the Southern Right Whale.
The festival kicks off September 21 and lasts for three days. And what a jam-packed three days it is. We, even at the height of our whale-worshipping and aspirations to be a marine biologist in 5th grade, couldn't imagine devoting this much to whales.
For starters, this festival goes beyond whale-watching. Sure, you can watch whales whenever you want either by "land, sea, kayak, plane, guided walk, guided boat based watching," but the weekend is also billed as an enviro-arts festival that:
Focuses on raising environmental awareness and showcasing established and emerging local musicians and talent.
On Saturday, join in on the Welcome Whales Waves where groups of people follow a band to form a human chain on the Cliff Path and perform a special wave to the whales "for the television and media cameras."
Throughout the weekend, there will also be a children's carnival, a "Whales n' Wheels" car show, a Whale show at the Whale museum, a Battle of the Bands type of concert, soccer games, more music concerts, a half-marathon and even a golf tournament. Let's just hope there is no "whale-tastings" going on.
You would not believe the number of emails we are getting asking about plastic surgery travel, so to help you out, we've uncovered another hot, faraway place to both explore exotic lands and get one's neck fat sucked out: South Africa.
SA and India are often more popular in the States and Britain for medical tourism than their Latin American and Southeast Asian counterparts because English is the doctors' first language, according to Lorraine Melvill, founder of Surgeon and Safari. The travel agency arranges exactly what it sounds like -- a quick nip/tuck before sending you off to recuperate where only the rhinos and giraffes witness your puffy, bruised face slowly deflate. Some (smartasses) call these trips "beauty and the beast" tours.
Travelers/patients stay at luxury-but-remote spas and safari lodges, like Montello (pictured above). If you'd like to stay out of the bush, another agency, Mediscapes, coordinates travel to medical facilities in Cape Town, and includes a list of recommended top-tier hotels nearby.
Forget your standard Busch Gardens Animal theme parks and get yourself to see the real thing, in South Africa. One of the best places to see "the big five"? Pilanesberg National Park, in the country's North-West province. Covering a space occupied 1200 years ago by a volcanic crater, the park itself is conveniently round (making getting lost difficult) and holds a small lake at its center (an ideal spot for watching the animals get a drink).
Opened in 1979, the majority of its residents (elephants, rhinos, giraffes, impalas, zebras) were relocated from other areas in Africa for protection and preservation purposes. Options for exploration are pretty endless - you can stay and camp, take a ranger-led ride, or even a hot air balloon ride above the park. Just beware when picnicking-- the animals are used to humans, and its not uncommon for a baboon to come swipe a sandwich or two.
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