It’s hard to think of down without thinking of its opposite: up. As a matter of fact, we use the expression up and down quite often. We anticipate that what goes up, must eventually, go down. Down can also describe our moods. No one wants to feel down, on the other hand, people who are down to earth put everyone else at ease. Here are my pick of photos that...

Vineyard, Stellenbosch, South Africa Whether or not you like or drink wine, you shouldn’t go to Cape Town without visiting Stellenbosch, which, along with Paarl and Franschhoek, make up the wine growing region of South Africa. Only about 35 miles outside of Cape Town, it is well worth the drive to see the landscape, visit some of its many vineyards and sample its wines and brandys.

It isn’t difficult to understand why this is called Boulders Beach. Rocks like these are everywhere. But it is the colony of jackass penguins that seem to hold everyone’s fascination. The colony has grown from two breeding pairs in 1982 to nearly 3,000. What’s most interesting and surprising is the braying sound they make. You’d swear there were some jackasses around.

The day after we arrived in Cape Town, a spectacularly beautiful day, with few clouds, our guide, Ian, insisted that we visit Table Mountain. We had other ideas but eventually decided to follow his advice. The following day, the day we wanted to go, puffy, white clouds blanketed the mountain. Ian said it was its Tablecloth. This is my submission to this week’s Budget Travelers Sandbox Travel Photo Thursday series....

As we stood at the base of Table Mountain, we could see paths leading up the side. Once we got to the top and looked down, we saw these. The almost look like veins, don’t they?

The highest mountain range in Southern Africa, the Drakensberg Mountains reaches 11,424 feet. This part of the mountain is the Sani Pass, a 5 1/2 mile unlit dirt road that connects KwaZulu Natal to the Kingdom of Lesotho. Sani Pass, from Lesotho The view of the Sani Pass from 9,400 feet, in Lesotho.

About an hour after we left Durban‘s King Shaka Airport, we were at O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. Though only a short distance away, it felt like a different world. As we exited, we noticed Stefan looking anxiously towards the arrivals gate then at his cell phone, as if trying to decide whether to make a call. We shouted his name and he turned and smiled widely. It was...

Our last morning in Durban began with us watching the sun as it rose over the Indian Ocean. And watching as the area known as the Golden Mile, Durban‘s popular stretch of beach came to life with vendors, tourists, swimmers, people out for their morning walk and workers cleaning up the beach. One of the things we wanted to do was dip our toes in the ocean. The sand was...

It wasn’t until I was sitting in the dining room of the Beach Hotel on the morning of our last day in Durban that I finally realized what I’d been missing during the two weeks we traveled around South Africa. At a table close to ours, a group of nattily attired women in dresses made from African fabric, sat engaged in lively conversation. In this room of business people, young professionals and...

I’m still not sure what it is about Durban – I can’t quite put my finger on it exactly. But whatever it is, it creeps under your skin, sneaks up to your chest, grabs hold of your heart and just doesn’t let go. Could it be the sunrise? Alison at Compassline Africa had booked us into the Beach Hotel and the room we had gave us front row seats to the...