On the road to Nowhere

On a deserted road in Namibia, we came across this old rusted vehicle on the side of the road. It was a sight which would be repeated a number of times in our travels there, and got me to wondering how the vehicle got there and why was it left there. Did it break down […]

Getting stuffed at the Seeheim Hotel

South-west of the little Namibian town of Keetmanshoop is the Seeheim Hotel. Having seen the sign below we had visions of a hotel like the one featured in the Stephen King’s book The Shining or the Hotel California! Check in there and you may never leave . . . at least not in your present form!   What I discovered […]

A zip-line adventure: How to scare your team into bonding

I am a wimp. Ever since I left the playground swings, I have made sure to keep my feet firmly on the ground. A fear of heights and  bad balance combined with motion sickness, have excluded me from any activity which can be termed risky or for adrenaline junkies. I don’t do amusement park rides, […]

GPS Roulette: “Danger” is my middle name

A guest post by Willie for Notes from Africa GPS devices are amazing tools, but should not be trusted implicitly if used as a travelling aid. A healthy dose of common sense is still required when using this modern marvel, which has become such a big part of everyday life. Somebody I know tells the […]

The End is nigh . . .

[Note: this is not a scientific article, but merely my attempt to make light of a possible reality which is scaring me.] The End is nigh  . . .  at least that is the impression I’m getting from recent newspaper headlines. They seem to be jumping onto the 2012 phenomenon bandwagon, despite the fact that […]

The “3-second Rule” experiment

I have a confession to make. When I look at online news-sites, I’m not looking for “real” news, I’m looking for unusual headlines. These are normally found on the SciTech pages (as they always seem to involve some kind of “scientific research”) of the less serious (for want of a better term) news-sites. Often, it’s either the research […]

Some comments: Fantasy Armor and Lady Bits etc

In my last post (I am no warrior . . .) I wrote about my observations of on-line role-playing games. One reader, Skadhu from Microfishing In The World Pool, had some interesting comments in response to what I said. Here is an edited version of that response. I had made the comment that “I think […]

I am no warrior (and other role playing observations)

When my friend Riekie (from Clouded Marbles) visited in January, she brought along her notebook (laptop) so she could play her favourite online role-playing game during any downtime. Riekie plays one of the MMORP games online (you can read her post about them here). Looking over her shoulder one evening, I asked her to show […]

Just a jump to the left . . .

. . . of the International Date Line, that is. Samoa  (formally “Western Somoa” in the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean) is . . .  . . . skipping Friday and going straight to Saturday as it shifts its time zone forward by 24 hours in a bid to move into line with […]

Caption This . . .

Have you voted for Caption This #7 yet? If not please go here. It’s easy, and fun – and FREE! The setting: This is a difficult one to caption, but give it a go anyway. I’ve noticed that some of the best captions are submitted for the most difficult photos. This male ostrich was running […]