My 2020 Challenge: 10 South African Towns

In June 2020 the 2Summers blog will turn ten years old.

One decade of blogging. This means I’ve been blogging for more than 20 percent of my life. It also means a baby born on the day I published my first post in June 2010 – here it is, in case you’re curious – is now old enough to actually read and comprehend this blog. It means I’ve currently published 951 blog posts, including this one, and will probably surpass the 1000-post mark in 2020.

I want to do something to recognize this milestone, and I’ve decided I need to be serious and start planning now. I’m going to make 2020 the year of South African Towns.

A Year of South African Towns

I’ve visited a lot of small South African towns recently. And I’ve realized that right now, for whatever reason, exploring small South African towns is what brings me the most joy.

Long road trips used to exhaust me, especially when I was alone. But since moving to South Africa I’ve developed a taste for solo driving. I’ll happily jump in the car and drive four or five hours alone, knowing I’ll reach a new town at the end of it. If I’ve got a friend in that town, or a lodge or guesthouse I’ve been excited to visit, all the better.

I love arriving in a town without a plan, then meeting a random person who helps me make one. I’m also happy to wing it and explore alone, talking to no one, just people-watching and taking pictures. I like eating by myself in restaurants. I like chatting to Airbnb hosts. I like to go running in unfamiliar neighborhoods.

So. I’m going to visit 10 South African towns over the course 2020 and tell their stories. I want to visit towns I’ve never been to – interesting or unusual towns, outside the popular tourism routes. I want to visit at least one town in every South African province, barring Gauteng because I’ve covered this province pretty well already. I want to drive to all the towns – no flights.

I want you to help me choose the towns.

Give me your town recommendations, people, and tell me why. Tell me the quirky, whacky, unusual thing that will make me want to visit your favorite South African town. Give me towns with interesting people in them, in far-flung parts of the country – the Northern Cape, North West province, the Free State, northern KZN, the Wild Coast, the Karoo. I want to cover the whole country and I want all the ideas.

I’ll have more to say about this project in the future. But for now the floor is yours. Let’s hear it. Send me your ideas in the comments section of this post or at @2summers on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Hashtag: #10SouthAfricanTowns.