São Paulo, BRAZIL

I had a real good time back in South Africa and thanks a million to my wonderful friends and family who ensured I had a gooood time!! From staying a week among the wild animals in the northern part of South Africa, to driving down to the Wild Coast and up along the east coast to Balito Bay to my brother´s place, then down to Cape Town to visit my nephew and up along the awesome east coast to visit my aunt on her ranch....I had an unforgettable time!! Thanks folks!

Ok, so I´m back in Brazil...because I like Brazil sooooo much! Tomorrow I´m taking a 13 hour bus ride from São Paulo to Campo Grande on the outskirts of the vast Pantanal Swamps (240,000 sq km) and from there another 4.5 hour bus ride into the swamps from where I´ll start a 4 day trip to hunt the Anaconda, catch and eat Piranhas, and to photograph the capibara, deer, blue macaws, raccoons, water pigs, alligators, quati, monkeys, etc etc.

São Paulo, a city with 10.8 million people, is the commercial capital of Brazil. While I never really had any desire to visit this crowded city, I am pleasantly surprized by its charm. A city which never really sleeps, especially on weekends. I´m having a good time exploring the place!

I´ll report again whenever, from wherever I can find an Internet cafe.
Adeus!

All over SOUTH AFRICA

I started the 2006 leg of my 2005/6 Around-the-World journey in South Africa's far north in an area called Leeupoort. My sister has a beautiful holiday home in a private game reserve where I spent almost a week photographing giraffes, zebras, impalas, warthogs, and other wild animals. Even when sitting on the front deck of the house, you often see zebras, warthogs, and other smaller animals wandering a few meters from you.

After that I drove down to the Eastern Cape and then on through the Transkei area to the unspoiled coastline of the aptly named "Wild Coast". Wildebeast and Zebras walk on the beaches and hardly any people around. Sea Anemones are king in the tidal pools and big crabs still roam freely over the rocks. One evening we indulged on 80 freshly caught oysters...I ate about 60...just below my all-time record of 65 a few years ago in Port Douglas, Australia!

From the Wild Coast we drove up along the coast all the way to the northern East Coast to spent time with my brother at his beautiful home overlooking the Dolphin Coast. One day we took a rubber boat on the high seas and played with the dolphins. Also saw a few turtles.

I am scheduled to fly down to Cape Town on Jan 20th for a few days at my aunt's wild flower farm near Gans Bay...that famous place where you can dive with the man-eating Great White Sharks. On Jan 26th I'm off to Sao Paulo, Brazil and then to the Pantanal swamps to catch my first Anaconda! I'll report again later!