Like Gabarone, Durban was a destination that I was curious to visit. I had already been to Cape Town and Johannesburg, so South Africa’s third-largest city seemed like the logical next destination. I made it a two-week reconnaissance trip, always curious and excited to scout a new destination. My apartment was in a convenient location on Florida Street – a hip restaurant lined with bars and restaurants. In the same building on the ground floor was a biltong store where I got in the habit of eating 400 grams of freshly-cut biltong each day after my gym session. And what a gym I found there in Durban — Cambell’s Gym. Replete with bodybuilding posters from the 1980s, and equipment from the 1950s, as well as large, very strong men, Campbell’s Gym, became my favorite place to spend my time in Durban. I never really made it to Durban’s beaches. I visited once in order to eat lunch, but I preferred taking my camera and wandering around different neighborhoods I found myself in, stopping to have a coffee, seeing a monkey in a tree — that sort of tourism. A highlight from my time in Durban was the annual Bonsai show […]
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From Johannesburg, I flew to Gabarone (“Gabs”), the capital city of Botswana to meet up with a new friend, Thabi, whom I had met through a classmate of mine when I was on campus at UC Berkeley earlier in April. Thabi is a serial; entrepreneur living and working in Gabarone. I stayed in a small one-bedroom apartment on the outskirts of town and had a rental car to get me from place to place, which was necessary because Uber and taxis aren’t really a thing around Gabarone. I found a nearby gym a 7-minute drive from where I was staying called Jack’s Gym, and though I don’t have photos, working out there each morning for a week was one of the highlights owing to old-school equipment and really strong men repping double my squat max without breaking a sweat. Work was slow during my visit so I managed to explore some sites around Gabarone including Mokolodi Game Reserve where I saw a cheetah and a family of white rhinoceros during a 90-minute excursion riding in a four-wheel truck. It wasn’t exactly a safari, but it reminded me of the safaris I did in Sri Lanka a couple of years ago. […]
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The first time I was in South Africa was five years ago when I spent six weeks in Cape Town. I really enjoyed my time there — South African culture is different and exciting compared to the American culture I grew up in. The history of apartheid, the continued economic segregation between rich and poor post-apartheid, and the geography, languages, food, and culture of intermingled people from different parts of Africa make it an excellent place for someone like me to learn new things and understand different perspectives. While I had been staying in Capetown I was surprised to hear locals tell me that they preferred Johannesburg to Capetown. If you have been following my travels you might know that this is how new destinations are enqueued – recommendations, referrals, and references from organic sources. So I stayed in Johannesburg for two weeks, picking two different neighborhoods to get different perspectives of the city. It would be a reconnaissance trip to see if Joburg had the potential to become a regular destination or at least a regular pass-through en route to others. The first neighborhood I stayed in was Maboneng. It is an artsy, edgy, industrial warehouse district with coffee […]
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South Africa has captured my imagination for almost 15 years. After spending a month in New Zealand South Africa seemed a natural follow up as an English-speaking, far away destination with natural intrigue and not too many people. Much like New Zealand, South Africa seemed mysterious for its reclusive nature which keeps it out of the limelight most of the time; naturally I had some questions. How did there come to be white people in Africa? How is it that black people speak this weird version of Dutch? People surf alongside sharks? Is everyone racist and/or angry about that apartheid thing? I arrived with a huge blank slate upon which to color recolor my conceptualization. And I’m happy to say I have. I’ve answered these questions for myself along with more; I learned my three Bs: what biltong is, who my bruhs (pronounced “broos”) are and what a braai is. Additionally I’m happy to report that I can distinguishing which accent belongs to a Johannesburger (51% success rate!) and why I never want to be in Cape Town during the summer. I’m pretty much an expert in everything. There is an exhausting amount to do around Cape Town, and I did a lot of things during […]
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I broke off from Cape Town, South Africa for nine days to head to Tanzania to climb the highest mountain in Africa, Mt. Kilimanjaro. Thanksgiving afforded a great opportunity for the adventure on account of two contiguous holidays free from work (the only time all year!) and these days abut a weekend. My friend Pete flew over from the states to join me for the climb. I chose the Lemosho route for us — 65 kilometers to the summit and down. After it was over my watch said we had walked over 136,000 steps over the 6 days – ascending from 2,100 meters to 5,895 meters (19,341 feet) at Uhuru peak and then down to 1,800 meters for departure. I had planned to do it in 8 days in order to have the best chance of assuring a successful summit – as many people are afflicted with altitude sickness on account of being unable to acclimate to the high altitude in short time frames (the classic and most popular Kilimanjaro trek route, Marangu, is 4 days by comparison). Peter ended up being unable to accommodate eight days with his schedule so we decided to do it in seven. By the time it was over we […]
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After Croatia, Germany, the United States, Ecuador and Colombia I was getting a little uncomfortable being so comfortable. Comfort (and europe) is a dangerous thing — before long I risk being content being content. But really I prefer to be a little uncomfortable especially within the context of travel. So it was time to get a little dirty in Morocco and remind myself what it’s like to visit a place that is famous for being dirty. It was just a short, three day visit to Casablanca and thank god I didn’t stay any longer. This was just a reconnaissance trip to scout out the vibe ans determine if I want to return for a more thorough exploration of other cities (Fez, Rabat, Marrakesh, Chefchaouen); admittedly three days in Casablanca do a disservice to these others, more tourist-friendly cities. That being said I think Morocco will be best done during a vacation where freedom to explore and wander isn’t reigned by obligations for accessible internet (Skype and many online messaging services are blocked by many ISPs) or food. I met multiple tourists who shared stories of wonderful vacations and excursions throughout the country that I’m sure I would really love. The issue with […]
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