7 Tips for a Successful Whale Watching Tour

Written by Cris Puscas

Did you know that South Africa is one of the best places in the world to go whale watching? You can even see whales as you walk on the coast paths or enjoy a meal at a restaurant with an ocean view! How cool is that?

Majestic animals that still intrigue us with their behaviour, whales have been part of the popular folklore and made appearances in books for centuries. If you are also fascinated by the fictional white whale from Herman Melville's novel "Moby-Dick; or, The Whale" and have always wanted to see whales in their natural habitat, a team has put together a useful list of tips to know before you go whale watching.

1. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience

Going on a whale watching safari is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Of course, each experience is unique and it really depends on luck, but even seeing the whales from a distance is a magnificent sight.

Anje Rautenbach of Knysna SOUTH AFRICA

29. Featured Traveller 

 Anje Rautenbach

ESL Teacher : Writer : Traveller

 Knysna SOUTH AFRICA

"Dream. Explore. Discover" 

Her craziness and desire to travel started from a very young age. She went from the back seat of her parents' VW kombi to leaving South Africa in 2009 to explore South Korea and the rest of Asia.

Anje picked up the travel bug quite fast - the unknown intrigued her and she got mesmerised by different smells, cultures, food, languages and adventures.

She explored beautiful places around Asia, ate delicious Asian food, got food poisoning countless of times, collected Asian beer cans, did a two month cycle trip in Indonesia, completely fell in love with bicycle touring, studied Indonesian, taught English, got addicted to goats and ducks, ticked off items on her bucket list, added items to her bucket list, filled up a passport, met locals, lived like a local, CouchSurfed, got tattoos and developed a personal mantra to "dream, explore & discover".

Anje returned home to South Africa after living abroad for more than 3 years. She took off all her travelling bracelets, got an interview, bought a car and landed a job as a copy writer.

15 Friendliest Countries revealed. Are they really that friendly?

Friendly People of Austria

Once again, the World's Friendliest Countries has been released for 2012.  While I quite agree with the results, am just not sure for the rankings that these countries got out of the 15. I have visited 10 of the countries listed and yes, most of them do deserve the honour. They are indeed friendly. I have not been to Cayman Islands, Spain, Bermuda, South Africa and Mexico, so I cannot talk about them in this blog.  

In my opinion, the countries  who should get the Top 5 Friendliest spots are: (1) New Zealand (2) Canada (3) Australia (4) Malaysia  (5) United States.  The rankings I have here is based solely on my travel experiences to these countries; pleasing local people, polite, helpful, honest and welcoming.