VISIT SOUTH AFRICA

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The shark is swimming near the Becon Isle at Plett and was shared on facebook - compared to the windows of the hotel, he is quite a monster! Happy holidays :)

Cape Town Thunderstorms delight locals

Our thoughts and prayers are with friends and family this evening as St Francis Bay burns in the night and up to sixty homes have now been destroyed. For dramatic video footage click here

Picture taken by my amazing brother, Gareth Allwright, of awe inspiring Cape Town

Found this on facebook from the South Africa Promo Magazine. Love it!

These horses are wild at heart. They love nothing more than the freedom of space to run, and there will be no slow trotting along these shores. They were made for galloping.

Dreamy Maitlands just outside Port Elizabeth is a deeply special place where you could ride for miles on untouched velvety white beaches...

Addo Elephant Park near Shamwari Game reserve and Spa

We recommend Kurland Hotel for the best polo experience in Africa. Kurland is relatively new but the facilities are fabulous and international games are played here in style.

Please support the Port Elizabeth Aids Haven here http://www.aidshaven.org.za/

To plan a driving holiday, a useful map can be found at http://www.sa.c2a.co.za/ . You can zoom in and out to see the highways and layout of the cities in relation to each other. For a detailed route planner, select where you want to travel to and from at http://www.shellgeostar.co.za/ To find more information on each town, scroll down and click on the links.

Believe it or not - this image is quite rare, so don't let it put you off, just be a bit careful... It is always good to explore South Africa with a true born and bred South African. Not only could you get lost, bitten, eaten or end up on the wrong side of the track - but you could miss out on the true gems the country has to offer.

Seriously, this is not my photo, but I wanted to share it, because even I did not know that elephants swim in the sea! You learn something new every day.

But this is me! See! The ones at Lawnwood snake park near Plett are much friendlier! You can hold it and stroke it, and to the left of the photo is a man with a big axe just in case you do get strangled. But don't worry, it was absolutely fine.

Plett also has beautiful whales giving birth in winter where it is relatively safe and quiet. They are a bit harder to snap so I had to draw this picture. Plett and St Francis Bay are particular favourite spots for whale spotting if you know where to look. A helicopter ride over the sea is the best place to view them from and both towns offer value for money heli rides.

South Africa does not have much in the way of public transport but internal flights make it easy to hop around the country. Plett has a jetset airport for any of your uncles that may have their own plane. There are also coach links between major towns but be sure to book in advance. Most major cities have airports and car hire is very easy. The roads are great for travel, and the garden route from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town is very popular. A week in Kruger National Park won't take you anywhere near the sea, but there are great animal encouters to be had here. Hotels and B&B's are pretty good everywhere but generally the more you pay the better your experience will be. Renting houses in small beach towns is also very popular and Pam Golding Estate Agents have a list in most towns. Just google her. Happy holidays - Pictures below!

Visit our sufing buddies in Mexico

With less than 200 White Lions left in the wild, the opportunity to get up close and personal in Port Elizabeth at the Seaview game park is an experience to treasure. Playing with lion cubs under supervision reminds us of how fragile we really are. The lionesses feel more threatening than the males, as they lie in packs and give any interesting bites the death stare before suddenly springing into action without warning. There is no mercy as pure instinct is the only driving force behind their behaviour, and humans are at the bottom of the food chain. The problem is, they look so cuddly!

The elephants are much larger but much more gentle in nature. They live up to the age of 80, eat 300 kg's of food per day, drink 225 litres of water a day and only have one baby at a time every two years. Their superior power makes them more relaxed than most wild animals. They will tease and come up really close if you happen to park between them and the water hole. As you duck, they just scrape the car and walk past, but you know if they really wanted to, they could tip you upside down with a side kick. Be careful when there are babies around though. Stay dead still and don't get out of the car. Watching baby elephants make mud slides at Addo Elephant park water holes beats any Hollywood Production - unplugged.

South African Bokkies are beautiful (and intelligent, friendly, trustworthy ... with buckets of personality to keep you entertained). The springbok also flourishes all over the country, along with kudu - which South Africans affectionately refer to as biltong.

What is so different about South Africa? You'll never know until you breathe the air, because it touches your soul in an intangible way that is difficult to describe. When you are there, your heart is bouncing and every day is an adventure. When you are not there, you miss it dearly. It is a little wild, a little less organised, a tad unpredictable and mostly warm, leaving you with a sense of personal freedom that is hard to find anywhere else. Storms river mouth - Garden Route - has a boat ride out to sea and throught the Storms river gorge but you need to hold on tight.

Most of the scenery is breathtaking. You can just spend days driving from spot to spot, and each place has its own sense of magic. The scenery is mostly 90% natural and 10% man made which makes it feel so different to highly developed countries. You feel like you are part of the earth rather than trying to overcome it. Animals play a big role. It is one of the last places on earth where animals can roam freely and uninhibited and where animals own the land, and humans are their guests. Addo Eastern Cape

So Naturally, you'll find many artists in South Africa. Street art and stall art is a part of daily life and everything is a little less modern and digital. Colours are bright, clothing is more flowy and less structered, every home is different and there is lots of room to put your own stamp on the world. Individual expression through building design is possible because it is a developing country with tons of space and willing, creative hands. Kurland Polo - Plettenberg Bay has international matches, and a big one on 29 December with the diamond drop competition!.

Because it is a relatively young country politically, new fads develop daily, and each culture adds their bit of spice giving you the aptly named rainbow nation. Variety is everywhere, from animals to cultures to events to landscapes. South Africa has deserts, rain forests, coastlines, mountains, plato's and long streches of flat nothingness attracting many strange and vibrant creatures to it. Jeffreys Bay - Garden Route

Food is the force that binds it all together. South Africa produces most of its own food, so it is fresh, healthy and bountiful. Due to the many micro-climates around, just about anything grows depending on what valley you visit. The food is so good, that South Africans are able to export most of their produce. That makes it world class. Commercial farming is a key activity bringing in huge revenues for the country.

Most Europeans who visit South Africa for the first time are surprised by how friendly the people are and how comfortable the life style is. Unfortunately, South Africa has a history of negative publicity. As a young country barely on its feet, it has had some difficulty establishing a peaceful democratic society, but a lot of publicity is probably just story telling or news paper selling. South Africa has an interesting history and many of the people who were born there do not know how their ancestors ended up there, giving it a true sense of mystery. South Africans don't spend too much time pondering on it, as daily life is far too interesting. But some of the European arrivals date far further back than 1820, and most of the history attached to these travellers has become lost in time.

Adventure falls Tsitsikama

JBay at sunrise, when the whole Bay fills up with bottle nose dolphins and surfing is very popular

Addo Elephant Park near Port Elizabeth is a great day trip to see elephant, lions, buck, zebra and lots of other interesting creatures. But you need plenty of patience, because they can be a bit shy and love to roam far and wide. If you don't mind wating, these South Africans are definately worth a visit.

Whale encounter Jeffreys Bay- these surfers got a surprise visit! One swat with that tail and they'd be shark food!

Knysna
Knysna is surrounded by beautiful forests and there is plenty of amazing wood carved furniture in the area. Yellow wood is hard and has a rich colour, and the trees take thousands of years to mature. Between Plett and storms river you can stop at big tree where an 8,000 year old yellow wood has a trunk that takes eight men to surround it completely - with their arms streched out. Elephant used to roam these forests naturally.

Holiday House in Knysna

Jeffreys Bay Point Beach

Kragga Kama Game Park Port Elizabeth

Giraffe have over 200 spots on their bodies

Tree art at the Limpopo River

Can you see the carvings in this Baobab tree? There is also a pub in one of these trees somewhere in the Transvaal.

Limpopo River

Jeffreys Bay

Billabong surf pro international competition in July each year.This is one place where you can build your house on the beach and dive straight from your lounge into a great big barrel.

Port St Francis Calamari Fishermen - St Francis Bay is beautiful with lovely homes to rent and the best fish restaurants in the country. All the fish caught here is exported to Europe.

Port St Francis Harbour & marina - luxury!

St Francis Bay

Cape St Francis

2010 world cup stadium, Port Elizabeth

Shark caught in Durban 2009

Point Beach Jeffreys Bay. And yes - they do eat people. But no, they have not eaten anyone I know yet. Some beaches such as Plett main beach and PE beaches have nets so you can have a safe splash in the sea. I did see one fisherman who caught a great big shark, and wanted to throw it back. The hook was stuck in the shark's tongue, so to get it out, he stuck two fingers in the shark's nostrils - which supposedly calms them down - and put his hand in the shark's mouth to take the hook out! But then to my amazement, he took it by the tail and walked it back into the sea. It was so shocked it simply swam off.

One myth claims that sharks don't have a taste for humans, but surfers in wetsuits look a bit like tasty seals, so they often bite part of your leg and then leave you. I know one surfer who had this experience, and he just got it sewed back together, and went out for another surf as soon as he could walk. Surfing is an addictive, time consuming sport which the whole family can enjoy.

Unfortunately cave diving with sharks has confused things further, and more people are being eaten in Cape Town. This used to be very rare if ever, so I am not a fan of the sport unfortunately.

Noorsekloof Jeffreys Bay

- The Garden

Cape Town Thunderstorms

Full Moon Jeffreys Bay

From the little window in the lounge

This property is for rent. It has its own nature reserve, a little river, a built in braai right in the kloof, a couple of wild owls and a few buck in the garden - heaven!

Knysna Elephant Sanctuary - Elephant taxi anyone? Just drive from Plett to Knysna and look for the sign.

Robberg, Pletternberg Bay - a great boat trip if you like seals, whales and dolphins. Whales are only around in winter.

To plan a driving holiday, a useful map can be found at http://www.sa.c2a.co.za/ . You can zoom in and out to see the highways and layout of the cities in relation to each other. For a detailed route planner, select where you want to travel to and from at http://www.shellgeostar.co.za/

Click on the links below to see more on each town!

Port Alfred

(& surf gallery)

Port Elizabeth

Storms River and Bungee Jumps

Jeffreys Bay = world surfing capital.

St Francis Bay is the world's perfect town. Sunshine, palm trees, finest restaurants, white beaches, rolls royces on water and beautiful homes. St Francis Bay