10 latest experiences http://www.hereorthere.com/members/angelatraveller en-us Lake Kariba is stretches over 370kms of the Zambezi Valley; it's surrounded by wilderness, some protected as a national park, some simply wild and inaccessible. The wildlife is wonderful and the lake itself is beautiful. The best way to see it? Hire a houseboat. You're moored on the shoreline, near the Matusadona hills. Sitting on the deck, sipping a gin and tonic, watching as elephant emerge from the treeline and wander down to the water to drink. You can hear the hippo and the hypnotic slap of water on the side of the boat. Tomorrow, you'll cruise on a little further, look for more game - buffalo, antelope, maybe even big cats. You might fish for tiger or, if you want to eat your own catch, bream. Or you might just laze, read a book, watch the islands and the hills cruise by. Utterly relaxing and utterly African. Kariba, Zimbabwe angelatraveller Sat, 07 Jul 2007 17:33:49 +0100 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/angelatraveller/experience/387 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/387 The Torres del Paine, outside Puerto Natales, is the famous mountainous national park in Chilean Patagonia. We´d read all about it and seen all the pictures but nothing can prepare your for the sheer jaw-dropping devastating beauty of this place. You drive through miles of crumpled tawny-coloured bleak pampas to get there - in some places there are huge plains of blue grass that look like the sea. Then these vast granite mountains rise out of the pampas. There are glacial lakes, a strange milky green colour, which perfectly mirror the mountains and the autumn colours. Every mountain is blanketed in green and white snow that is metres thick. The glacier fields calve electric-blue icebergs into the lakes. As you hike through the valleys you can hear the thunderous cracks and rumbles of avalanches and the glacier field moving. We were there in winter, and the park was about to close. It was almost completely empty but it’s not a good time for hiking – the major routes were all ... Puerto Natales, Chile angelatraveller Sat, 07 Jul 2007 17:12:34 +0100 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/angelatraveller/experience/444 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/444 Halfway over the Andes, on the road from Mendoza in Argentina to Santiago in Chile, you get a chance to stop off at the tiny, quiet mountain town of Uspallata. There's really not that much to do here except take in the scenery - and what scenery. Seven Years in Tibet was famously filmed here. It's a stunning high-level valley surrounded by snowy peaks. We hiked through the Siete Colores range - vivid shapes and outcrops and the mountains changing colour from pale pink to deep purple against a blue blue mountain sky. About 4km out of town there's a set of ancient petroglyphs, including one that looks exactly like a spaceman in a helmet... Uspallata, Argentina angelatraveller Sat, 07 Jul 2007 16:50:21 +0100 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/angelatraveller/experience/443 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/443 We had terrible trouble deciding which bit of the jungle in Peru to see – it’s an expensive undertaking on a backpacker budget and you don’t want to get it wrong. So, if you’re also trying to make the decision, I sympathise. We did a lot of research and ultimately decided that we just had to see the Amazon River proper – and Iquitos (in the middle of the northern Amazon jungle, the largest city in the world without road links, only accessible by river or air) sounded irresistible. And it was. A steamy, eccentric, rubber-boom, jungle town, with super-noisy streets filled with motocarros and partying locals. We took a motocarro out to Puerto Bellavista and hired a local long-tail boat for a cruise down the Nanay; we also took a trip out to Quistococha Lagoon, which is beautifully fringed by jungle but has a very depressing zoo. And, while planning our trip into the jungle proper, we spent an inordinate amount of time at the Yellow Rose café. It’s just off the Plaza de A... Iquitos, Peru angelatraveller Sat, 07 Jul 2007 16:10:32 +0100 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/angelatraveller/experience/442 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/442 There are two entries to Joburg’s apartheid museum, one labelled ‘Whites’ and the other ‘Non-Whites’. Visitors are randomly assigned to a race group and only permitted to enter their allotted gate. It’s a stark, brutal introduction to apartheid thinking. Inside, a you’re lead through the history of South Africa’s apartheid system, the struggle for independence and equality, the years of violence culminating in Mandela’s release, the first elections and the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee. Ernest Cole’s photographs of what it was like to be black in Verwoerd’s white republic are unforgettable, but what really struck me was the simple fact that South Africans in ten short years had moved forward so much that they could consign apartheid to a museum. Unmissable. http://www.apartheidmuseum.org/ Johannesburg, South Africa angelatraveller Sat, 07 Jul 2007 15:26:08 +0100 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/angelatraveller/experience/441 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/441 I can think of nothing that will wake you up more quickly than Morning Glory. This is the first Grade 5 rapid you come to on a day’s rafting in the Batoka Gorge, below the Victoria Falls on the Zambezi river. Think walls of white water, hanging on white-knuckled as the raft bucks and spins beneath you, all pretense at paddling gone and the guide screaming ‘High side!’ This is definitely not one for the faint-hearted. You’ll need to be prepared to fall off the raft at some stage; sometimes rafts flip entirely; and once you’re in the water there are occasional moments of washing machine drama as the churning water sucks you down and keeps you there. For adrenaline kicks and rafting junkies, though, it’s amazing. There are long stretches of calm, floating gently on the green and lovely river, through the heart of Africa. Then your guide will check your life jacket and say, “Right, the next rapid’s called Oblivion…” Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe angelatraveller Sat, 07 Jul 2007 15:16:31 +0100 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/angelatraveller/experience/440 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/440 Time it right and you can see River Plate play archrivals Boca Juniors at the Monumental in Buenos Aires. Sadly, the authorities don’t let the two sets of fans into the stadium at one time any more, so you’ll either be with an all-Boca or all-River crowd. We saw the second leg of the semis of the Copa Libertadores, which is like seeing Man U v Liverpool in the semis of the Champions League. It’s a whole new take on that volcanic Argentine passion and emotion. 65,000 fans chanting and the massive concrete stadium rocking beneath your feet. Fireworks, floating lanterns, flares, a red-and-white sea of flags and noise. There was a last-minute River goal and the whole place erupted. Somehow, watching Southend v Hull City had not quite prepared me for this... Buenos Aires, Argentina angelatraveller Sat, 07 Jul 2007 14:32:23 +0100 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/angelatraveller/experience/439 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/439 Going to the (beautiful) Colca Canyon I got my first taste of soroche, altitude sickness. You cross a pass at just under 5000 metres. Nothing grows up here. It’s an utterly strange moonscape desert world – weirder because at the top of the pass travellers stop and make little stone cairns, offerings to the mountain gods. Descending – spectacularly – to Chivay, I started to feel strange: underwater, nauseous, gaspy, vice-like headache. Not recommended. Faded fast, though. The Colca Canyon is spectacular, not only because of its sheer size but because people still live and farm on ancient Inca terraces. Walking down a narrow, adobe-walled muddy lane one day we met a man driving his small herd of sheep, and it was exactly like being in a little Cotswold village, 400 years ago. The other big reason to come is to see the condors, which nest on one face of the canyon. As the sun comes up it warms the rock and creates thermals and the condors launch off into these. So you sit at t... Arequipa, Peru angelatraveller Sat, 07 Jul 2007 13:31:07 +0100 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/angelatraveller/experience/437 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/437 At the far end of the Sacred Valley, the road disappears, the mountains close in around the train and the river. The vegetation starts to go jungly - tall trees hung with lianas, brilliant orchids. You´ve descended nearly a kilometre and the oxygen hits you like a jolt of energy; you feel so good down here. As you get closer to Macchu Picchu village (Aguas Calientes), huge shark-tooth-shaped jungled peaks just soar a thousand metres straight up from the narrow valley floor. It´s spectacular. Above you are glimpses of the site itself - terracing, grey stone wall. We spent a couple of days circling round the idea of Macchu Piccu itself (and loving Aguas Calientes, in defiance of the guidebooks and thousands of people who are only ever there for ten minutes on their way back to Cusco.) You can follow the train tracks miles in either directions, climb this mountain (name escapes me) opposite the ruins – a very hairy climb/scramble up a steep jungly path, which then gives way to woo... Cusco, Peru angelatraveller Sat, 07 Jul 2007 13:30:57 +0100 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/angelatraveller/experience/436 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/436 The Brass Bell is a Kalk Bay/Cape Town institution. It’s a rambling seaside pub and restaurant, right on the sea. In fact, at high tide, pick a table on the edge of the verandah and you’ll get sprayed by waves breaking against the wall. It has an absolutely brilliant tide pool to swim in, which has been there for so long that it almost seems part of the ocean. Get lucky and you can see whales or dolphins from where you sit. The food’s OK but we go for the oysters – straight out of the sea and served on huge platters. If you can drag yourself away from the Bell, Kalk Bay itself is a charming, slightly hippie-ish seaside town with fun shops for browsing. You can get the train here from Cape Town, but when I was there last I was advised to be careful not to travel this route alone or at night, so heads up about that. Kalkbaai, South Africa angelatraveller Tue, 03 Jul 2007 18:24:14 +0100 http://www.hereorthere.com/members/angelatraveller/experience/391 http://www.hereorthere.com/experiences/391