Well this will be my last entry from Africa after 2 and half months of fun driving south down the continent and having the best time.

Here goes

On leaving Swellendam the truck drove scenic route 62 across mountain passes and through canyons and gorges across country to Outshoorn, where we went to view the cango caves. These caves were very impressive with huge openings underground where the stalagmites and stalagtites were the biggest i have ever seen many linking together over thousands and millions of years to form columns in the caves from floor to ceiling. This was also the place that has the highest concentration of Ostrich farms in the world so we drove past thousands of ostriches running around the fields.

The next day we actually got to visit an ostrich farm and learn more about the flightless bird. Saw some baby ostriches which were really cute before they grow up to be big ugly creatures. After a few fun and games i got to ride an ostrich which was a strange experience! Ostriches have a brain smaller than there eyes to to mount an ostrich they chuck a paper bag over its head and it stays still as it thinks no one can see it!! You then jump on they remove the bag and the ostrich runs around like a lunatic while you try frantically to stay on!! I think i managed about 30 seconds to a minute before the guides told me to dismount a case of jumping off as gracefully as possible, I ended up on my backside with a handful of ostrich feathers from its wings i was holding on so tight!!

We then headed for the famous garden route, a beautiful series of roads along the coast of South Africa, stopping in Knysna for the evening where there was high cliffs and an inlet of water which was pretty.

The next morning we went to the highest bungy jump in the world, i was happy to watch and there was no way in a million years i would ever even be tempted to jump of that bridge. One Polish guy on our truck nicknamed Borat did the jump which was cool to watch, a lot of freefall followed by snapping back up and down again.

We then headed to the Tsisikamma national park, and a beautiful campsite right on the coast, where me and Sheila my Irish friend did a walk to a suspension bridge and up to a lookout before trekking to a waterfall. Up and down along the coast through forest land with beutiful scenery along the way and the odd wild animal.

Next up was the surfing mecca of Jeffreys bay, although i never actually got to meet Jeffrey. A nice beach and some good breaks but i think a bit rough for the beginner surfer so i gave it a miss and decided to head instead for the shopping factory outlets of Billabong and quicksilver where i picked up some bargain surf wear for the remainder of my travels. As it was Friday night it was party night and of the cocktail list of about 8 items i think i managed to work my way through the list during the course of the evening as well as trying a couple of fish bowls where they basically put ever liquer they have into a bowl and give you a few straws. Well i fell asleep fairly early apparently propped up against a bin before being put to bed and waking up surprisingly with little of a hangover the next morning.

After Jeffreys bay, it was Addo elephant national park and as the name suggests the park was teeming with elephants, must have seen a couple of hundred during the course of the day, bigs ones, small ones, mid sized ones and all sizes in between. To see the elephant families heading to the watering holes and playing with each other was real special, something i won't forget. As well as elephants we got to see many Warthogs, Zebras, Kudos, ostriches and monkeys.

The next place was the biggest dump i have ever been to in Aliwah North so i won't say much about that other than it seemed to be a town of street gangs and poverty and our campsite was a former 1970s resort with 5 huge natural spring swimming pools that hadn't had any money spent on it since and hence was a derilict, falling to pieces, rotten s***hole!!

The next fews were definetley one of the highlights of my trip to date, as we headed into the mountain kingdom of Lesotho, a small country feeling more like the Africa i had become accustomed to before reaching modern, western South Africa. I tried horse riding for the first ever time in Lesotho on the back of a huge White Pony! With no instructions given i found myself crossing mountain passes up and down huge drops to a waterfall for a spot of swimming before coming back up the mountains to the village. It was real scary at first but after a while i got to grips with how to handle my horse just really poitning it in the right direction and pulling the reins to make it slow down when it felt the need to gallop a little. The day also happened to be a national holiday for the former king of Lesotho King Mashoeshoe. The village we stayed at, at the local school had competions with children from all over the area competing at athletics and tribal singing and dancing, which was fantastic to watch and experience first hand. Being not many whites there and the fact that the school had been funded by foreign tourists meant we were treated so well. I played with a special needs child for hours just making silly faces and slapping hands and thing. On noticing this the childs mother approached me and asked if i was married and how old i was. On hearing my response she replied i have an unmarried 12 year old daughter who is availble if you like!! Being as polite as i could i told her that maybe she was a bit young for me! But who knows maybe i go back in 6-7 years and live in the mountains with my bride hey?

After crossing back into South Africa we went to the Drankensburg escarpment and into the Royal Natal national park. Me and my Irish hiking companion Shelia headed across the mountains to the highest waterfall in Africa, also the secong higest waterfall in the world!! It was a great walk with splendid views across the mountains but about half an hour before we got back the heavens opened and we had to walk through the closest thundestorm i have ever been in. Friegtened at being hit by lightning which thundered almost immediately you saw the lightning, we returned to the truck and to the dry, where with nothing else to do we had an improto Truck party, with shots, wine and Whiskey as a sort of goodbye to all the friends i had made in the last couple of months.

Finally for Africa, i have ended up in Johanneburg, which despite its grim reputation is actually a pretty pictoresque city, The most forested city in the world!. We did a Soweto tour of the biggest township in South Africa home to some 3.5 million people. After driving past Winnie Mandelas house we went to the only street in the world that has been home to 2 Nobel peace prize winners in Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. We then went to a museum detailing the death of a 13 year old boy, Hector Pieteren, who had been shot dead during a youth protest in Soweto in 1976, whereby the kids wanted to be taught in Batu or Engish, rather than being forced to learn in Afrikaans the languag of the white south africans, and therfore organised a march aroung the area. To see how bad Apartheid was in the not that long ago past was quite unbeliveable.

Well i am now just chilling until i catch my flight to Abu Dahbi tomorrow for a week in Dubai and Sharjah before hitting India.

As its my last blog in Africa i thought i'd do a few top 5's as follows

Countries - 1) Namibia, 2) South Africa, 3) Botswana, 4) Lesotho , 5) Tanzania

Places - 1) Fish river canyon (Namibia), 2) Malealea(Lesotho) 3) Okavango Delta (Botswana) 4) Soussevei (Namibia) 5) Ngorongoro crater (Tanzania)

Animals - 1) Warthogs, 2) Elephants, 3) Lions 4) Mongooses, 5) Honey Badgers

I hope you have enjoyed my African blogs and hopefully i will be doing interesting things on the next leg of my journey!!