South African Travel Pass all way Guide: Through a giant’s garden of dense forests and precipitous gorges November 1, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Map, Rail Pass, Tickets, Tour, Trails , 2commentsEast of Plettenberg Bay the Tsitsikamma (sparkling water) Mountains crowd in towards the sea, ensuring a rich rainfall throughout the year. Our route leads along the coastal plateau at the foot of the mountains, through a quiet world of high, primeval forest, and deep gorges rushing clear mountain streams to the sea.
Leave PlettenBberg bay by driving past the beach and across the Piesang River, then turn right into Piesang Valley Road. Turn left after 200m into Robberg Drive — noting your kms. After 3,4 km turn left and follow this side-road to the parking area at the beginning of the Robberg peninsula. (more…)
Across the Swartberg and through the brightly coloured Meiringspoort October 22, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Africa, Cape Town, Hotels, Map, Memorial, Money, Restaurant, South Africa, Sunblock, Travelling Bag , 2commentsThe Grootrivier (great river) sculpted the colourful Meiringspoort gorge through the barrier of the Swartberg range, and our route follows the road that now winds along the river’s banks. First, however, we cross the mountains from south to north by rneans of the soaring Swartberg Pass. Four fifths of the route is tarred, the rest is gravel.
If you are considering this drive in winter, first check with the AA in George that the Swartberg Pass has not been blocked by snow. (more…)
Touring Paradise, St George’s Street — ‘memory mile’ of a Naval Town part 2 October 15, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Map, Museum, Rail Pass, Sightseeing, South Africa, Tickets, Tour, Trails, Travel Clinic, Trip , 2commentsFrom Jubilee Square to ‘Black Town‘ Jubilee Square, on the left, commemorates King George V’s Silver Jubilee in 1935. By coincidence, the drinking fountain in the square commemorates an earlier jubilee — that of Queen Victoria in 1897. It was moved here recently from its original position near The Residency. A statue of Able Seaman Just Nuisance was unveiled nearby in 1985. (more…)
Gargoyles and dragons — the magnificent rocks of the Cedarberg October 8, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Africa, Map, Sightseeing, South Africa, Tour, Trails, Trip , 2commentsA circular drive — almost all gravel — takes you through the rugged Cedarberg. But the section of 32 km from Wuppertal to Matjies River is a rough track suitable only for a. sturdy vehicle with a high ground clearance. Without such a vehicle this should be treated as two there-and-back day trips from Clanwilliam — as we have described it.
For the northern drive from Clanwilliam to Wuppertal, turn right at the northern end of Main Street for ‘Van‑
Rynsdorp via old main road‘, noting your kms. Keep straight past a road to Klawer on the left after 2,1 km. The tar surface ends soon after, and the road begins its gentle ascent amidst tumbled rock formations on both sides of the road — some of the rocks appearing to defy gravity by their top-heaviness. (more…)
The Cedarberg — a Wilderness of Sculpted Rock and Unspoilt Valleys October 8, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Africa, Cape Town, Map, Rail Pass, South Africa, Trails , 2commentsThe Cedarberg remained a little-known area for more than a century after the first European settlement was established at Cape Town — a mere 200 km away. Even today, in spite of the area’s growing popularity with lovers of the outdoors, there are many spots among the craggy mountains that are known only to forestry officers or those hardy people who have made their home here.
The dual role that the area has as home and resort is clear in the many names that fill the map of the Cedar- berg. (more…)
Amazing South Africa Safari, following the Orange River to the ‘Place of Great Noise’ continue… October 3, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Africa, Map, Rail Pass, Restaurant, South Africa, Tickets, Tour, Trails, Trip , 3commentsAugrabies Falls National Park
Close to the entrance there is an information centre where you can obtain a free booklet on the park. There is also a shop that sells a few tinned goods, firewood, refreshments, wine and beer — and petrol can be obtained.
There is a restaurant next to the shop, and picnic places nearby — set among trees along one of the river’s channels. There are braai sites here, with water and toilets. (No drinking water is available elsewhere in the park.) There are also two swimming pools here, and a play pool for younger children. (more…)
A Wealth of Wildlife in a world with little Water September 30, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Africa, Botswana, Map, Rail Pass, Tickets, Tour, Trails, Travel Gear , 2commentsThe traveler is greeted by an extraordinarily stark, sunburned landscape. The climate ranges from dry to very dry, and periods of extreme drought can be measured by the carcasses in the dry river beds. Yet there is abundant life in the harsh environment of the Kalahari — a primeval vitality that comes as a surprise amidst the seemingly inhospitable surroundings. For those who wish to see and feel an unspoilt Africa, this is perhaps the most rewarding place to visit. Here it is stillpossible to experience the wild excitement of a lion-kill, or to witness the lightning dash of a hunting cheetah — exactly as if mankind had never appeared on the scene. (more…)
Cahokia Mounds, the Late Woodland Culture continue… September 28, 2008
Posted by dodo in : America, Central America, Destination, Hotels, Map, Memorial, North America, Sightseeing, Tour, USA , 2commentsMound 72 is most interesting, even though today it seems a fairly insignificant ridge of earth. Excavations revealed that at the precise point where the meridional line passes through the end of the mound, a huge pole — about three feet (1m) in diameter — had been erected. Radiocarbon dating of material in the eight-foot (2.4m) deep pole (the pole had clearly been very tall) gave a date of AD 950 for the time when the pole was placed in the ground. The excavations also showed that the mound had been constructed from a series of earlier submounds that were then reshaped and covered over to give the long ridge form. (more…)
Teotihuacan, the Pyramid of the Moon and the Street of the Dead September 28, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Destination, Egypt, Geographic, Guatemala, Hotels, Map, Mexico, Museum, Round The World, San Juan, Tickets, Tour, Travelling Bag, Trip , 3commentsThis great and urban and religious centre, 30 miles (48km) northeast of modern Mexico City, was given its present name by the
Aztecs who encountered its awesome ruins. In Nahuatl, the language the Aztecs spoke, Teotihuacan means ‘place of the gods’, or, ‘the place of the creation of the gods’. This great site, dominated by two pyramids, was ‘regarded by the Aztec as the original source of civilization and government, and the place where cosmic order was established.” In Aztec myth, Teotihuacan was where Nanahuatzin, a dying god, jumped into a ceremonial fire which the four creator gods (representing the Four Directions) were too fearful to enter. (more…)
The Ruined Mayans City of Chichen Itza September 22, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Central America, Europe, Guatemala, Honduras, Map, Mexico, Rail Pass, Science, Sightseeing, Tour, Travel Gear, Travelling Bag, Trip , 5commentsThe ruined ceremonial city of Chichen Itza lies about 75 miles (120km) southeast of Merida in the north of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. ‘Old Chichen’ was built by the Mayans in what archaeologists call the Late Classic Period (AD 600-830) on an earlier site, only traces of which have been found. Buildings in this area include what have become dubbed the Church, the Nunnery, the House of the Three Lintels and the Caracol — a Mayan observatory. (more…)
Peru Inca citadel Machu Picchu: Hitching Post of the Sun, Sun God continue… September 22, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Central America, Cuzco, Encyclopedia, Geographic, Map, Round The World, Science, Tour, Trip , 2commentsThe Torreon’s southeast window may also have had astronomical significance, for it aligned to the rising of the stars in the tail of Scorpius which were called collca, the Storehouse, by the Andeans. Anthropologist Gary Urton has found that the Andean Indians today also use that name for the Pleiades, so there may have been some conceptual, mythological link between the two groups of stars.
There are probably energy and consciousness aspects to Machu Picchu, too. David Zink writes that the site is located on a geological fault. Often what are sometimes extreme magnetic anomalies are found in such locations. My own research has shown a connection between magnetic anomalies and the sensitivity of psychics.’ (more…)
Peru Inca citadel Machu Picchu: Hitching Post of the Sun, Sun God September 22, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Cuzco, Destination, Encyclopedia, Geographic, Library, Map, Museum, Tour, Travelling Bag , 3commentsMachu Picchu was an Inca citadel, located a little over 60 miles (97km) ….. north of Cuzco. Its ruins occupy a topographical saddle about 8,000 feet (2,400km) up in the Andes between the peaks of Machu (old) Picchu and Huayna (new) Picchu. It is a complex of cultivation terraces, stone houses, temples, plazas and residential compounds clinging to the ridge, on three sides of which are vertiginous drops, overhanging the gorge of the Urubamba River about 2,000 feet (600m) below. The city was discovered in 1911 by Hiram Bingham of Yale University, whose reports and photographs captured the public imagination. (more…)
Disappeared Inca Empire Supremacy CUZCO part 3 September 19, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Cairo, Cuzco, Egypt, India, Map, Sydney, Tickets, Travel Gear, Travelling Bag, Zanzibar , 2commentsAre ceques therefore astronomical? That is part, but only part, of the answer. The chroniclers relate that the Incas had observatories with windows through which they watched points on the horizon, and they also mention sets of towers at various positions along the skyline as viewed from Cuzco, which were used to indicate timings for planting various crops either at Cuzco or at higher elevations up the valley sides at key ceremonial times of year. The Spanish totally destroyed these towers, but years of brilliant archive and field detective work by Zuidema and A. F. Aveni has resulted in the positions of the former towers being identified, and the arrangement of ceques ‘on the ground’ being clarified to a great extent. (more…)
Disappeared Inca Empire Supremacy CUZCO part 2 September 19, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Cuzco, Encyclopedia, Geographic, Health Insurance, Lodges, Map, Science, Sightseeing, Travel Gear , 3commentsIf Cuzco was the centre of the empire, then the omphalos of Cuzco itself was the Coricancha, the Temple of the Sun. In Inca myth, the spot for this was found by Manco Capac, the first Inca, who was sent to earth to bring civilization. He used a golden rod to test for the correct location, and he knew he had found the spot when the rod disappeared into the ground. (more…)
