Believe it or not, I have friends. Like, a LOT. I don’t mean to brag or anything, but it’s more than Oscar Pistorius can count on all his toes. In fact, I recently wrote about going to the movies with some of them in an effort to prove that people actually choose to spend time with me (there will be an update to that post soon- Nu Metro has reached out to me and wants me to give them another […]
holidays
Happy Island is South Africa’s Okayist Water Park
It was Heritage Day here in South Africa, during which the many cultures showcase and celebrate their rich and diverse heritage. Or they just have a lekker braai and get super blootered, which I guess is about as South African as it gets. I’m not here to judge. But it’s also a day off work, so we decided we wanted to have some quality family time. We thought going to a water park would be awesome, but we were a […]
Hillbrow Isn’t For Sissies (Except For Me And All The Other Chickens Out There)
South Africa isn’t known for being, well, tame. All kinds of insanity (most of it entertaining, some of it simply terrifying) crashes into coddled North Americans like me on a daily basis. But even after two and a half years here, I’ve never felt like I’m in real danger. This is mostly because I take precautions like not counting the stacks and stacks of money I make from this blog out in public, not wearing my meat suit as I […]
Halloween in South Africa
I’m going to state the obvious here: holidays are fun. Some are nothing more than a day to skip work and get paid for it (I’m looking at you, Family Day), but others prompt people to pull out all the stops and celebrate harder than parents do when their kid finally learns to wipe his/her own keister (if you’re a parent, you’ll understand. If not, just imagine how awesome that moment would be). Easter is dope. Christmas is cool. But […]
Things I Love About South Africa, Post 5- Bill Harrop’s Original Balloon Safaris
In keeping with my promise to post 10 things I love about South Africa before I’m allowed to complain again, here’s number 5. One thing I’ve always wanted to do since I was a little kid was to keep my feet planted firmly on the ground, thus eliminating the possibility of plummeting to my untimely demise. For most of my life, I’ve managed to succeed in this endeavour, with the exception of a few (several) plane trips. But when my […]
Things I Love About South Africa, Post 4- Pilanesberg National Park
I while ago I promised you my next ten posts would highlight only things I love about South Africa. Because I lie only when I tell my kids where babies come from and when my wife asks if I’ve been eating healthy, I’ve managed to pump out three so far. Here’s the 4th thing I love about South Africa: Pilanesberg National Park. When I think about South Africa, the first thing I think about is rampant corruption at almost every […]
Things I Love About South Africa, Post 1- Knysna
Look, I know my last post painted a rather unflattering image of South Africa. A fair number of people were offended that I dared to point out that corruption and incompetence were commonplace here. Obviously, I know not EVERYBODY here is inept or corrupt, but I do appreciate the reminders. However, these kinds of things certainly are more prevalent in South Africa than other countries I’ve experienced. There’s no denying it. That being said, for the next ten posts, I’m […]
How to Fall Out of Love With South Africa in 30 Minutes Flat
Listen, South Africa, my love affair with you is over. I was once smitten. Head over heels. Infatuated. I tried to look past all your warts, but I mean, you REALLY seem intent on being a bad date. So how exactly did I fall out of love with the country that’s shown me wild elephants and the almighty braai? Well, let me tell you… A few weeks ago, our good friends (the Germans) asked us if we wanted to take a road […]
Review- Deep Sea Fishing With Umhlanga Ocean Charters
I’ve always said that South Africa is the most amazing place in the world to live. And the only thing better than living in South Africa is being on vacation in South Africa, which I was fortunate enough to be doing with my family for the last week. I’ll be posting about some of the things we did, but a highlight for sure was to fulfil a lifelong dream of mine and go fishing off the coast of Durban. It […]
Brand New Site, Same Old Animal Pictures
So here’s the deal- when I first started blogging, I didn’t think anybody was really going to read the crap I puked out onto the internet. I blogged simply because I don’t like people. I got sick of answering questions from people back home, and instead of spending time actually talking to anybody, I could simply refer them to my blog and be done with it. I started it on a free website and didn’t give a turd about how […]