20131002

Rustenburg, SA



(THIS POST CAME EARLY!)
 
After living in Botswana for almost 2 years now,  I have not been to South Africa.  For those of you who do not know, South Africa is the country at the southernmost point in Africa.  




We did not go to the capital (Pretoria) or Cape Town.  We went to one of the more close cities.  Rustenburg.  The first thing you notice when you get to SA , is the way things move.  In Bots, at the border post, it will take you 15-30 min to get your passport stamped.  They need you to fill out a form, etc.  On the SA side, all it is “What is the registration number for the car?”  And stamp, stamp and you’re on your way.  Also in SA they have large highways.  In Bots, the longest road (highway) is the A1 form Lobaste, to Gaborone, then to Francistown.  That road go’s almost 500 Kilometers.  And it is two lanes.  In South Africa, (from where we were) they had 4 lanes.  What a luxury.  

This is where Rustenburg is.

The main event for us was the canopy tour.  Basically a zip line over a canyon about 25km from Rustenburg.  (On a totally different note, Rustenburg is the closest place to Botswana (3.5 hr. drive) with a McDonald's.)  Now I know I said before that doing things in Africa like zip lining and bungee jumping are not the best ideas (nothing is to OCIA standards here).  But it was safe and enjoyable.  We got a dvd of our ride and parts of it will be on YouTube on the second episode of Sights and Sounds of Africa (premiers October 12th).  

We also went to the Bush Babies Monkey Sanctuary in a town nearby.  Basically this place takes in monkeys that were once pets and introduces them into a natural environment.  One of them climbed up onto Ella and stole R100 (100 South African Rand [about $10.00]).  We got it back but it was kinda in pieces.  There is video of this and it will also be on Sights and Sounds of Africa. 
The only other stop we made was on the way back to Gaborone.  It was at South Africa’s Pilanesburg National Park.  It is a really nice place.  It kinda reminds me of some National Parks in the US, but in the US we don’t have giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, etc.  But in the centre they had a restaurant and a convenience store.  

That’s all for today.  Kind of a short post.  

Just to give you a heads up, Sights and Sounds of Africa will be premiering on October 12th.  The pilot episode is about Tsodilo Hills.  Please watch and comment and subscribe.
Also please listen to my music.  And Like and comment and subscribe.
Cheers!
Matt Handley
+The Weekly Post
Special thanks to Bing Maps.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Firefox OS