The Vagabond Adventures of Lucie, Lachlan & Bow Wow have posted a new item,
‘Swaziland’s Sanctuary’
Bird About the Bush, Beatrice the Bee-Eater invites you to soar with her above
Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary’s game dense savanna, the home that she shares with
Back to Africa’s Roan Antelope Project. Discover how Ted Reilley, a man who has
dedicated his life to preserving Swaziland’s wildlife heritage, provided refuge
for animals when they had nowhere else to turn and of the wonderful work that he
continues to do at Mlilwane.
You may view the latest post at
http://thevagabondadventures.com/us/swazilands-mlilwane-wildlife-sanctuary
Racing down the river from Albertfalls to Nagle dam over two days in a new “team” style race drew many canoeists eager to paddle this stretch of river which is hardly ever paddled. I raced with Mark Mulder and we were part of a three boat break away on day 1 but took a silly swim costing us two minutes to Len Jenkins and Wayne Wilson. After chasing hard we closed the gap to 30 seconds by the end of the race which finished at Cumberland. Day 2 was scheduled to go from Cumberland to Nagle dam but was changed just before the start due to dangerous tree blockages?? Our drivers had already left so how do all the canoeists get to the new start some 30km away? We managed to hitch a lift on the side of a bakkie for some of the way, I was standing on the side of a bakkie, hanging onto the bakkie with my left arm and holding my boat in my right shoulder- should have got a pic of that!! The new start for day 2 left us with 16km of river paddling instead of 30km. We lined up at the start just above a rapid so getting into the rapid first would be vital. I managed to push my nose ahead of the other canoeists in the beginning sprint but after 100m of racing, my rudder cable snapped! I decided to stop and fix it and see if we could maybe still hold our second place after such a setback. After fixing my rudder cable and losing 5 minutes (according to my garmin), we were lying last but charged on and were determined not to give up. Mark, and I, time trialed down the river, making our way back into the field. We managed to finish about a minute behind the stage winners (Mbanjwa and Mtalane), considering our mechanical issues thats not a bad result! Our overall result was second combining both days times, so it pays sometimes not to just give up!
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Johannesburg, South Africa – August 23, 2010 – Megarom Interactive (Pty) Ltd., South Africa’s leading importer and distributor of interactive video games, today announced that bringing the ultimate set list to furious finger-fretting rockaholics around the world this September, Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) revealed today the entire Guitar Hero(R): Warriors of Rock on-disc lineup. With more than 90 tracks focusing on guitar shredding hits, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is headlined by some of the largest bands in rock and features original tracks written and composed by AAA talent, special re-records by famous artists, and bands that are making their Guitar Hero(R) debut.
“We engaged our fans to find out what they really wanted and then hand-picked over 90 tracks that deliver the ultimate rock experience,” said Tim Riley, Vice President of Music Affairs for Guitar Hero. “From the new guitar controller to the gameplay to the on-disc set list, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is truly a return to rock.”
When Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock ships on September 28, gamers will join the quest to save rock and strive to keep up with the blistering solos and intense riffs as they shred their way through the largest Guitar Hero set list to date. The full track list includes:
In Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, join with friends on an epic rock journey to save rock. Featuring an impressive 90+ track set list and a host of all-new gameplay features, living room legends and their friends can strum, drum and wail in the most immersive music videogame experience to date. Delivering the quintessential rock music collection that focuses on guitar shredding hits from bands such as Black Sabbath, Slipknot and Megadeth and larger-than-life band anthems from Queen, Muse and KISS, players can unleash more rewards and unlockable content than ever before in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock’s Quest Mode, the franchise’s first ever story-based mode, and Quickplay+, which invites challenge-starved fanatics to test their rock skills. Running on the powerful Guitar Hero engine that has been expanded and refined and with encores from the critically-acclaimed and fan favorite gameplay features that made Guitar Hero one of the most popular franchises of all-time – such as Party Play, Competitive modes and any combination of up to four instruments – the game offers a complete interactive and connected experience bringing friends and foes to the stage in the ultimate rock music experience.
Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is being developed by Neversoft Entertainment for the Xbox 360(R) video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PlayStation(R)3 computer entertainment system and by Vicarious Visions for the Wii(TM) system from Nintendo. The game is rated “T” (Teen – Lyrics, Mild Fantasy Violence and Mild Suggestive Themes) by the ESRB. For more information about Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, please visit GuitarHero.com
Normally Philip Buys (Garmin-adidas) will not be satisfied with a second-place finish in a mountain bike race, but the Lost City mountain bike race this past weekend (21-22 August 2010) was one of the rare exceptions.
Buys was pipped by Renier Bellinghan (USN) a few metres from the finishing line.
“I thought I had the race in the bag when I was the first rider to race through the last two sharp corners. Even though I was sprinting flat out for the victory, Renier managed to catch up with me again. The moment this happened, it was ‘race over’ for me, because Renier is one of the fastest mountain bikers and he is seldom beaten in a sprint to the line.
“Losing out on the victory is not a big deal to me. I was not really racing to win. My main aim was to use the Lost City race as a very hard training session in my build-up to next weekend’s UCI Cross-country Championship in Canada.
“With this in mind, I attacked quite early during the race and I continued to attack. The idea was to find out for how long, and how hard, I could push my body into the red. When I could not maintain the fast pace, I took a breather before making the pace hard again.
“I needed to do that during a race, because it is one thing to train and quite another to be racing. The good news, as far as I am concerned, is that my body was able to withstand the punishment that I was meting out. I did not cramp once, which was a great relief.
“All in all, I think Lost City was the confidence booster that I needed before the World Championship.”
Francois Theron and Marc Bassingthwaighte are the only two Garmin-adidas riders who will be competing on Saturday (28 August) in the MTN Cullinan ultra-marathon.
Theron, who firmly believes that his legs and not his mouth should do the talking before a race, is quietly confident that he will have a good race.
“My training has been going well. I have put in some long and hard hours at George and for the first time I feel strong and racing fit again. But, having said that, I also fully realize that no amount of hard training will ever guarantee victory.”
Listening to Theron talking about his preparation, one gets the feeling that he might just surprise himself and many of the other riders on Saturday.
Before his heart began to complicate his life as a professional mountain, Theron was considered to be one of South Africa’s most talented young marathon riders.
At the beginning of last year, Theron managed to finish among the top five every time he competed in an ultra-marathon.
As far as the MTN Cullinan ultra-marathon is concerned, Theron admits that he does not really know what to expect.
“I know that there will be some challenging single-track sections and that we will be challenged by climbs, but I don’t expect the climbs to be too tough. Gauteng is not known for its mountains.
“However, I suspect that the racing will be made hard by constant little tough climbs, which will mean that the riders will never really have a chance to recover.”
Keep up to speed with the team at www.teamgarmin.co.za <http://www.teamgarmin.co.za> or follow us on twitter @teamgarminmtb
I was told that the start would be crazy. I believed them after watching you-tube clips of the race. The masses of competitor and spectators is something I have been to see and be a part of for some time.
Well every story can’t live up to being there in real life.
The morning started with a very quiet and nervous breakfast in the hotel. We could hear the people in the streets going mad. They hadn’t stopped since the night before with music blaring the whole night. Someone switched on the TV and more than one channel had already crossed to the start line with live coverage. Back our bags and headed down to the paddling school.
The school had become our home away from home thank to Ant. He worked here for two months a couple years ago before the race. Such great people, the little frog figure as the school’s mascot rocks! Was nice to be in a familiar place and friendly faces out the crowd doing pre race boat checks and setting up.
Climbed in the river up at the school way above the start and paddled the 1km warm up to the start bridge. Felt comfy and fluid. Paddles working well. The water hadn’t risen as much as I would have hoped but didn’t notice much other than the crowd getting louder and louder as I approached the first of the starting gates. From a distant grown to a full blown amphitheatre with 60 000 people singing and chanting.
Warmed up as much as I could amongst the other couple hundred in the river and then found my starting gate. Your paddle gets locked in a gate at the start.
Chatted to a couple people and went back down to my boat once or twice to make sure it was positioned right that I could get at it in the crowd. Even chatted to world champ Busto about being in Spain for the first time and wished each other luck, I think I needed it more than him!
The build up is unreal and goes so fast from people taking in Spanish introducing the countries and then into the Asturias anthem which marks the official countdown.
Chec out this video of the start by my seconds. It shows the crowds and a bit of the tension. Doesnt pick up the true volume of noise though.
The gate to our right got away quite a bit before us. This meant that by the time we got in the water there was a lot of people on the racing line through the first rapid. I wasn’t so lucky and got tangled in-between a couple of doubles spinning out and t boning each other.
Basically I hacked badly. No other way to put it.
The traffic of tons of boats were crazy in the first couple km and had to climb some big waves in shallow water off the racing line to make place and find open water. Quite a mission. Tried to settle into a rhythm but no chance in that type of chaos.
I really battle to make more than a bunch a pool and very frustrating going. Finally the ticket I was waiting for, a strong double came past at around 9km into the race and latched onto the wave. I mumbled my best Spanish to say thanks for the ride a couple minute later with I think they liked as they left me there. Had to really work hard to stay with them coming out of each rapid but worth the effort in the pools to be on a fast wave and them doing all the hard work.
I felt great in the second half as the river opened up and got more space. Never let the wave go for a second. Slowly we picked up boat by boat. In the end must have passed 7 or 8 bunches on 4 by the finish. Really didn’t know where I was in the field after starting so far back but ended up 14th K1 in 1h22min.
The other Saffa’s went really well with Ant in 3rd K1, Graeme in 6th K1, Luke and Oscar in 45th K2. We picked up 3rd in the teams prize.
A huge learning lesson as I believe my form and result are mismatched. Inexperience here shows tenfold. Really need to race better in the K1. Hope at least some of this form will show in the coming weeks of surfski racing. For now time to enjoy Spain and what is the biggest paddling fiesta in the world.
A separate blog maybe on the sights of the Ribadesella party, a sensory overload with a 30 000 people strong street party which is full of interesting sights and culture.
There is one I have wanted to get to for as long as I can remember being the biggest canoe race in the world, the Sella Decent. The procrastination of say next year for sure is a thing of the past, booked the ticket and off to northern Spain.
The Sella is king of like a pilgrimage of sorts as this is the home of marathon racing and specifically river marathons. To this day still gets the biggest field in the world of over 2 000 people. The banks of the river are lined with 60 000 spectators in a paddle fest of mammoth proportions. The Spanish are very proud of their tradition and carve the names of the winners into a walkway at the finish to show off the paddling culture that dominates the small towns around Arriondas and Ribadesella.
The invite from Ant Stott, a legend having won the singles of this race before, for me to tag along with him was too good to be true. Ant has been to the race like 8 times so his knowledge of the culture here and ability to speak the language was a win. Plus he is the nicest dood ever, he is so well liked all over the world that many doors are open. Need plenty help to make trips like this happen.
Travel
Immediately arriving in Spain I realised I needed to learn the language fast. No one here speaks English at all. Ant lent me a phrase book and am picking up some of the basics. My week long Spanish lesson starts now!
The boat however didn’t fit my long legs and the setup was just stupidly bad so no paddling could be done for me that afternoon. Ant borrowed a boat and headed down the river while I checked out the town.
It only gets dark here at 10pm, hectic sitting having supper on the street outside a Spanish cafe at 930 wearing my Rudy Project sunnies.
Nothing happens fast here is Spain. Especially with it staying light so late people stay up till like 1pm and only go to work the next day at 10am. So in Spanish style, slept in (best sleep in the world). I am surprised at how little jetlag I have. The night flight and no time change are great. Quite some contrast to the USA trips I have done this time of the year in the past.
Spent the morning working on my boat. I completely rebuilt the whole footrest and added in some pumps from home. I plan to race without a splashy on the race so the pumps are really important to the race plan. I always believe people don’t spend enough time on their set ups. The more comfy you are the better you will race. Hard to work on your boat when you want to see a new spot but the time is never wasted.
We been hanging out at the local paddling school. They are a massive operation of more than 200 boat and take up to 500 people down the river in a day. They have been super friendly and helpful allowing up to store our boats in their spot and giving us lifts. They even have this cool slipway into the water built from stone.
Ant is like a celeb here and people are tipping him to give Busto (local legend) a run. I think he is going to chow Busto. So much to his status as a river icon he has been sponsored a brand new Nelo for the race. How people race boats like this down the river I am not sure, a bit too extravagant for me hey. Or maybe not, that think looks super fast.
Got to paddle down the river for the first time in the afternoon. We did 16km for the 20km race course. I have been told the river has changed a lot due to huge floods this year. The pictures are hectic. No wonder it changed the river. It was super low. To low for me to be competitive but there is a release on race day so should change things in my favour. Felt really good on the water. Even though I was in a foreign boat the time spent on the set up worked and was comfy. Stoked. Oscar and Luke Chalupsky arrived to do the paddle with us. Great to have some more saffa’s in the mix here to.
Went to check out the finish of the race at Ribadesella in the evening with the saffa crew and had some local chow. Food is king of like a lottery. Point at the menu and hope it’s what you wanted. Ant who even talks Spanish even battles with this ordering food aspect. Haven’t got it to wrong so far and am still alive. The chow is simple with lots of bread. Am missing my veggies from home big time!
With little sleep after a canoe race the day before, I did not have the rest needed before race day but that didn’t mean I was keen to race! So Baynsfield was the new venue to be tested out in the third event of the Time Freight Multisport Series and what a success it was (I think!). Organiser Max Cluer decided to start Multisport and Multicross athletes together which is great because you can test yourself out against more athletes in a bigger race before you go your separate ways in the final leg to canoe or run. I felt good warming up but lacked the ability to push my heart rate in the race. Managed to come in after the run 3rd overall and overtake the multisporters in the mtb to jump into my canoe first, I couldnt manage the pace of JP ten Napel on the bike, although we were in seperate races (multisport and multicross), it still bugs me! The bike course was great with singletrack and a couple hills to separate the men from the boys (I felt like the latter)! I jumped onto the water with about a 5 minute lead over Lance Kime and Kwanda Mhlope and Eric Zondi tied third. So although I won the multisport I need to get stronger! The next multisport race is in 3 weeks so there is time to work on things!
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Hi All
The National JHB Boat show will be held at the Coca Cola Dome this weekend from 13-15 August.
Doors open at 11am tomorrow and close at 6pm on Sunday. Feel free to go and visit the Garmin Marine stand, and show your support for the Marine team at this event.
See website for more details www.nationalboatshow.co.za <http://www.nationalboatshow.co.za>
I have fished extensively around South Africa but I suppose, being from the Cape, the opportunity to catch tiger fish have been few and far between. It was therefore a pre-requisite that, when putting together our latest family 4 X 4 holiday to Botswana, a tiger fishing sortie was on the itinerary for the boys.
We checked into Chobe Safari Lodge in Kasane which was a welcome oasis after spending 10 days in rooftop tents while traveling through Moremi and Savuti . First priority was finding somewhere to do washing followed by booking a fishing excursion through the lodge. The cost of the fishing trip was incredibly reasonable at 250 Pula per hour including all tackle, boat and guide. The girls justified a spa session on the back of our fishing trip, which pushed the price way up, but at least it meant we would have quiet on the boat and we could get on with boy things without protest.
The next morning at 9 our guide, Richard from Namibia, met us at the lodge jetty in a 16 foot aluminum bass rigged boat with a 75 HP Yamaha motor. Besides Richard there were three of us on the boat: myself, my son Alan and a friend, Patrick Holloway. We went down river about 4 km until we came to a set of rapids. I was sure that we would stop there but unfazed Richard navigated the small boat through the rapids to an area where the Chobe River opened up into calm pools, around 1 km across, before the next set of turbulent water. The banks where thick with trees whose branches overflowed into the water and small grassy islands made for a maze of navigation hazards between the banks.
After the adrenalin rush of the rapids we set about fishing. The tackle provided w ere 2.4 meter Shamano rods and coffee grinder reels balanced and weighted for 10 kg line. Richard, our guide, informed us that the Chobe was his river and as he is Namibian we should concentrate on trolling on the northern (Namibian) side where he knew the bigger fish to be. We were each given a different coloured rapala lure which had a short steel trace before attaching to the leader. Richard set the trolling pattern and with three rods out the back we zigzagged across the river from side to side. My son Alan got the first strike and landed a fish of around 2 kg after a brief fight. Richard assured us that we had caught this one on the Botswana side where the fish are smaller. Bigger were to come. He was not wrong. After three hours of fishing we had boated and released no fewer than 20 fish and lost another 10. My biggest fish was around 6 kg and had teeth befitting a horror movie monster of the deep. This was one species of fish that I will not give the customary kiss before release to! Our lost fish were due to the incredibly hard bony mouths that the tigers have which make setting the hook an art. Richard taught us that you have to strike twice – once when you get the initial take and a second to set the hook.
After a couple of hours fishing, someone on the boat commented on the herd of elephant drinking 50 meters from the boat and we then realized how lucky we were ,to not only be fishing in such incredible surroundings, but the rest of the package was something that made for an unforgettable experience.
Accommodation and Activities www.chobesafarilodge.com
GPS Position S 17 48.355 E 25 08.833
Richard Gie
Team South Africa beat 7 nations in Candas, in Spain. The were about 1 boat length back in the 40 strong field but once they hit the rough water they powered away. Once of the K4′s broke in half and a number sank and a number capsized. 2 nd place in the race was Argentina, then Czech. Other national that couldn’t handle the rough condition were France, Hungary, 2 teams from England, and the rest of the Spanish Amerada.
This is the 1st time the SA team has won this race in 10 years. Oscar Chalupsky the team manager for the event, got awarded a medal for his contribution to the sport of kayaking in Austrious. Oscar has been coming to Spain since 1981.
