Hogsback hiking and biking

This weekend I headed to the bizarre village of Hogsback, up in the Amatola mountain range about 150km out of East London. The area is described in the guidebooks as "pure fantasy" and has several place names derived from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings Trilogy. So there's Hobbiton-on-Hogsback and Bag End among others. Tolkien was apparently born in Bloemfontein (also in South Africa) and visited Hogsback when he was a child in the early 1900s. The village itself got its name from the three mountains which overlook the village and are topped by rocky ridges which resemble the bristles on a hog's back (see picture below).

Hogsback mountains

I stayed at a hostel called "Away with the Fairies", which fitted right in with the whole Lord of the Rings theme and had room names like Frodo and Bilbo. Some of the buildings even resembled hobbit holes. On Saturday I went hiking with a really interesting Norwegian girl, who's working on a social entrepreneurship project at the University of Fort Hare (where Nelson Mandela went) but is currently based in Tanzania. The hostel dogs came with us the whole way! We were really lucky with the weather and got some great views of the mountains, waterfalls and forests. It feels a bit like I've skipped a season, having gone straight from English springtime with daffodils and lambs to South African autumn with falling leaves and red hues. Pictures of Saturday below.

Not a bad place for a bubble bath!

With Jenny, one of the hostel dogs in the forest

With Helen and Jenny at Bridal Veil Falls

The view from the top of Madonna and Child Falls

Autumnal colours

Taking a break

Overlooking the Amatola mountains

The dogs lead the way home

Sunday felt like a completely different season! We went mountain biking and got absolutely soaked but it was really good fun. Our guide Neels was really good at standing at the top of waterfalls, describing the view that we would have been seeing, if it wasn't for the huge cloud we were standing in. The trail he'd made himself totally rivalled the Bedgebury Forest routes in Kent. Ned and Angie - you would have loved it! Pictures below.

The first hour with no rain (in the arboretum)

Venturing out to the top of the Madonna and Child Waterfall in the pouring rain

Neels discovers one of the monkeys pooed on his bag

Getting absolutely soaked by the Madonna and Child Falls

Helen and I take cover for a snack stop...

...while Neels changes a flat tyre

"Isn't this fun" (slightly forced) smile

On the amazing bike trail through the forest

Cintsa Beach

This weekend I managed to escape East London and stayed at a hostel overlooking the beautiful Cintsa beach. The Eastern Cape coastline is known as the "Wild Coast" and it really is stunning - barren and windswept with no crowds. It reminded me of Camber Sands near Rye in Kent, especially with all the kite-surfers I saw when I went for a run on Saturday. I went back on Sunday, but this time on a horse and had a great time galloping along the beach with one of the girls who volunteers at the nearby farm. We even jumped over some logs - don't think I've jumped since I was a teenager! It felt great, and brushed away some of the cobwebs from the last week.

The dunes to Cintsa beach

Kite-surfer jumping

Empty beach (-:

Paddling back across the lagoon from the beach

Great breakfast view of beach and lagoon at hostel

Riding on Cintsa beach

East London, South Africa

I've always been more of a South London girl, but for the next four weeks I'm going "out East" (as they'd say in 'Enders), just a different country, continent and time zone!

It's not been the greatest of starts. Let's just say that the laugh-cry continuum (posted 21/03/12) is being tested to the max!! But I like to think of myself as a glass-half-full kinda gal, and as the '90s D:Ream classic says, things can only get better! Phone calls and emails from home have really kept me going so a massive thank you to those who've got in touch. Lisa Payne - from one (albeit temporary) East London girl to another, you are a STAR (and I will endeavour to find you a South African snow globe while I'm here!)

Every cloud does have a silver lining though, and I'm really pleased to be in the process of setting up a meeting with the youth coordinator at the Eastern Cape Police Department, something that's only come about as a result of Tuesday's mugging. Opportunities come out of the strangest of situations so I'm just going with it! I'm hoping that the police can do a safety briefing for our next cycle of international volunteers and increase their patrols near the office, as well as exploring the possibility of partnering with them on some of the work they already do with young people in relation to civic participation. 

The bizarre zebra-roofed hostel where I'm staying

My bright yellow room with slightly scary African mask murals

Traditional Xhosa food

The corridor to the office

View from my office window - clearly not a place for vegetarians!

With Kelvin and Kitty in the office

Easter at home, and on a plane!

I can't believe it's only been a week since I got back from Sierra Leone - it's completely flown by and I'm about to fly again...


Kent looks amazing at this time of year - the daffodils are out, it's lambing season and the bluebell woods are just starting to turn blue. But, as if to make me feel "at home" (in Sierra Leone terms), there's also a hose pipe ban and the next door farm seems to have got a rooster! 


As well as a very busy day in the office, it's been lovely to catch up with friends in London - massive thanks to Lou and Ollie for being my temporary London home, and for dragging me out running on Wandsworth Common on Friday (even if I didn't recognise Jonny Vaughan!) Next time 10km... and I won't be a slacker on hills! A boozy lunch in the East Hill pub later and it felt like I'd never been away. 

Pimms o'clock with Lisa

Andrea and Louise

East Hill lunch

Yesterday I was back down in Kent, catching up with Mum, Dad, Ned, Angie and the kiddie-winks.  With all the amazing weather I'd been hearing about in the UK, I had grand plans for barbecues and Easter egg hunts in glorious Spring sunshine. Two out of the three still happened, but with big coats, woolly hats and log fires instead! 10 out of 10 for effort on Izzy and Fabian's part. Think they were turning blue at one point, but chocolate's always a good incentive...

Dad and Ned - all weather barbecuers!

Fabian triumphant

Izzy weighing up the pros and cons of having two bags of chocolate and ten frozen toes

So it's Easter Sunday today and I'm about to head to the airport to fly to South Africa where I'll be based for the next month. I'm currently in a big blur of packing, washing and re-packing. I'm sure I should be getting better/quicker at it by now?! Living out of a suitcase ain't as easy as I thought it'd be!

Happy Easter everyone! Keep the emails and Skype coming - internet should be better in South Africa (-:

Thank you Mr Mansour!

Just before I left for Tanzania, I introduced you to Mr Mansour who runs a small tailoring business right by our office. Since I got back with all the material I bought in Tanzania, he's managed to design and make me two dresses and one skirt, all for the grand sum of 70,000 Leones (which is about a tenner). Running outside for a dress fitting in between meetings and workshops has been really fun and the first (and probably only) time I can say I've had a personal tailor. He's one of the smiliest people I've ever met and, along with Josephine (who I buy my bananas from) and Mohamed (who I buy my afternoon coke or sprite from), I'm going to really miss the community I've got to know around the office.

With Mr Mansour in one of the dresses he made me

African patterns clashing with Lebanese furniture

Bureh Beach Party and Tacugama Chimp Sanctuary

This Saturday, 110 people from Freetown headed down the coast to Bureh beach for an all night beach party, organised by Beth (whose yoga classes I've been going to). I left it a bit late to book one of the beach huts or tents but managed to set up a makeshift tent, hanging my mosquito net from a palm tree shelter and using a couple of cushions from the sofa to sleep on. Felt pretty hardcore just along from the IMATT (British Military) guys with their fancy camouflage mosquito-netted hammocks! 

It was an absolutely stunning beach and there was a great atmosphere with games of frisbee and beach volleyball going on as the sun set, followed by fresh fish, rice, beer and dancing round a massive campfire. Someone had managed to rig up a sound system and the usual Salone mix of reggae and rap blared out till about 7 in the morning (not that I made it to that point!) 

View from tents on to beach

My "tent"

Watching the sunset

Sunset volleyball

Next morning breakfast

On the way to Tacugama via Kent(!)

On the way back from Bureh, we took the mountain road to Freetown and visited Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary. I've never seen chimps before and I found them fascinating to watch. Apparently they're our closest living evolutionary relatives and our genomes are nearly 99% the same! At Tacugama they rescue chimps from homes where they're kept as pets and prepare them to be released back into the wild. I was really impressed by how well run it is and wish I had more time so that I could stay the night in one of the tree-houses they have for overnight visitors. It's totally uncommercial and I hope it stays that way...

Think my "Chimp" is better than my Krio!

Heading up to the viewing platform

Just hanging out (-;