Welcome to RalphPina.com

Thank you for visiting my outdoor blog. RalphPina.com documents my experiences over many years of appreciating, and adventuring in, Nature. It celebrates visual beauty, advocates minimal impact, reflects on humans’ relationship with our ecosphere, spans the planet but focuses on the wild diversity of southern Africa. Photos, videos and GPS maps of hiking, cycling, kayaking, abseiling, canoeing and windsurfing..

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Video: Abseil training on Paarl Rock

by Ralph Pina | Sep 21, 2015 | Paarl Mountain Nature Reserve

Abseil training led by Teuns Kok for the Mountain Club of SA, Stellenbosch Section

Overland Safari 2015 vlog

by Ralph Pina | Jul 30, 2015 | Botswana, Chobe National Park, Hwange National Park, Khama Rhino Sanctuary, Lake Kariba, Makgadikgadi NP, Mana Pools, Namibia, Nxai Pan NP, safari travel, Victoria Falls, Zambezi, Zambia, Zimbabwe

I don't expect this post to be of much interest to others besides those who were in the party who drove the 8000 or so dusty kilometres. It is however a video record - comprising 5 short, amateur videos - of our overland safari through Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and...

Empty camps in southern Africa

by Ralph Pina | Jul 26, 2015 | Hwange National Park, Mana Pools, Zambezi, Zimbabwe

July to September is the peak safari season in southern Africa, as I remember it from my days in the safari tourism industry. It is winter, but dry, which is good for viewing wildlife and the days are warm - shorts and t-shirt weather. Malaria risks are also low....

The ill-fated voyage of the Malachite

by Ralph Pina | Jul 20, 2015 | Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe

Perhaps the fact that the houseboat Malachite Imfant is currently wrapped up in the recently-deceased owner’s estate was a harbinger of things to come. As it puttered out of Marineland at Kariba in balmy conditions however, the group had the distinct feeling that...