The FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa promises to be  another sporting spectacular when it kicks off on June 11.

There are now under 100 days before the FIFA World Cup 2010 starts.  There are 32 countries from every continent (except for Antarctica!) competing for one sport’s ultimate prizes.  You can check out the official FIFA World Cup 2010 website for more info on fixtures.

So instead of trying to be a Football expert and predict the winner, I’ve compiled a list of some of the Funny or Offbeat Travel things to do and see for each of the 32 Competing Nations.

Here we go:

Group A

South Africa (RSA) – The host nation! Make a phone call from the Sea Container Phone Box in Soweto

Mexico (MEX) - Visit Santa Muerte, or Saint Death in Mexico City.

Uruguay (URU) - Marvel at the South American Football Sandcastles on the beach at Colonia, Uruguay

France (FRA) - Go to the stadium where France made the 2010 World Cup by using the ‘Hand of Frog’.  This is the Irish version of events!

Group B

Argentina (ARG) - Eat a tonne of steak and check out the 60 kg beef diet per capita per year.

Nigeria (NGA) - Visit Email scam headquarters that send you that annoying spam about depositing 27 million dollars in your bank account – and get them back!

South Korea (KOR) - Check out the lack of English Translation quality assurance on the clothing.

Greece (GRE) – Organise a helicopter to escape from prison.

Group C

England (ENG) – Stay at the Holiday Inn to experience their Human Bed Warmers.

United States (USA) - Eat at the Heart Attack Grill in Arizona.

Algeria (ALG) – Eat what you think is beef meat which has been dodgily substituted by donkey.

Slovenia (SVN) – Learn how kids are toilet trained in school.

Group D

Germany (GER) - Buy a pothole near Leipzig.

Australia (AUS) - Check out the Cockroach Races in Brisbane.

Serbia (SRB) – Fail an alcohol breath test.

Ghana (GHA) – Check out the preaching on public transport

Group E

Netherlands (NED) – Go on a Beer Bike Ride!

Denmark (DEN) - Steal a boat after a big night on the town – and try rowing to Sweden!

Japan (JPN) - Check out the humourous Engrish signs!

Cameroon (CMR) – Try and go and see a movie at the cinema – only to discover they’re all closed because it’s cheaper to watch television or pirated DVDs.

Group F

Italy (ITA) – Visit the stuffed pigs at the Casa Del Formaggio, Florence.

Paraguay (PAR) - Take part in a rather large 30,000 kilogram barbeque.

New Zealand (NZL) - Visit the Shoe Fence.

Slovakia (SVK) – Have a chat to the small town mayor who wants to build a 33 metre high Jesus statue.

Group G

Brazil (BRA) - Cover yourself in mud in the Bloco de Lama Festival.

North Korea (PRK) - Compare the real Kim Jong Il to the one portrayed in Team America, World Police!

Ivory Coast (CIV) – Win a house because you’ve shunned the notion of Africa Time and decide to be punctual.

Portugal (POR) – You can go to the Paper Festival in Portugal.

Group H

Spain (ESP) - Visit the buskers in La Rambla, Barcelona.  There’s all sorts of crackpots there trying to score an income from Euro shrapnel by passing tourists.

Switzerland (SUI) – Win an IgNobel Award because you’ve come up with a study to determine whether an empty beer bottle does more or less damage to the human skull than a full one in a bar fight.

Honduras (HON) – Eat part of a 150 metre long sandwich.

Chile (CHI) - Have a caffeine hit at Cafe Con Piernas – Coffee with Legs.  Like going to a strip joint at 9am in the morning.  Basically, you are served coffee by ladies in skimpy clothing !

There you go, there is the FIFA World Cup 2010 list of Funny and Offbeat Travel things to do!

If you’re only interested in Football, then I’d suggest checking out World Cup 2010: The Indispensable Guide to Soccer and Geopolitics, All the Goals of FIFA World Cup 2006 or maybe buy a World Cup 2010 Soccer Ball.

You’d have to be living under a rock to not know that the Giza Pyramids are in Egypt.

What I found most striking about Giza wasn’t the pyramids themselves, but just how much Cairo suburbia encroached onto the pharaoh’s place of permanent rest.

Judging by the numerous clichéd photos of Giza showing three pointy edifices surrounded by endless sand, I’d always assumed the Pyramids were located in an isolated section of the Sahara, not as an almost token mausoleum part of Cairo’s outskirts.

Here’s the proof:  This is the view looking out from the Giza Pyramids.

The travel brochure photographers obviously used the correct angles ensuring grimy slums don’t spoil the ridiculous tributes to the pharaohs.

Or the photos were 20 years old.

Or both.

But as a final photograph of proof, here is a painfully obvious photo of how much the Giza Pyramids have turned into a Tourist Trap:

There you go!

If you haven’t yet visited the Egyptian Pyramids at Giza, sorry for spoiling your image of them!

Fish River Canyon, Namibia – is apparantly, the next biggest canyon in the world after the Grand Canyon.

It’s also called Visriviercanyon.  The Fish River Canyon is about 30 kilometres wide at its widest point, 160 kilometres long and up to 550 metres deep.

The Namibian government proudly claims it’s the next biggest canyon after the Grand Canyon, but that’s irrelevant – I think it’s still an impressive piece of erosion. I’ve included a photo below:

The Fish River Canyon carves a meandering brown gorge through the Namib Desert; however a slight trickle of token water does dribble at the bottom – a real novelty for water-short Namibia.

When I visited, countless eroded corrugated fingers of dirt descend into the canyon whilst the Namibian sun altered the fingers’ hues and shadows every few minutes.

However, I was most impressed by the following advisory sign placed at the entry point for overzealous hikers at the Fish River Canyon.

Based on this useful advisory sign, I assumed the major cause of hiker death in the Fish River Canyon was explosive diarrhoea caused by Escherichia coli poisoning, rather than the more adventurous-sounding broken limbs caused by mauling lions, or even worse, jock rash.

But, you wouldn’t want to spoil this place anyway.  It’s simply amazing.  Check it out if you’re ever around South West Africa.

Just so you don’t leave yourself behind, I’d suggest investing in a map like the National Geographic Adventure Map Fish River Canyon & Richtersveld.

Other things to do in Namibia – have a drink at the Gin and Tonic Bar, smell the second biggest collection of Seal Urine and Poo in the world, and spot the Sand Sign.

These are all fantastic things to do after visiting the Fish River Canyon.

This is a guest post from Dave and Deb from ThePlanetD who have kindly submitted their Funny Travel Photo of the week.

Cycling the continent of Africa can be a tough undertaking to say the least, but nothing prepares to the conditions you will face in the Sudan.

We spent six solid days riding though the desert trying to find our way in extreme heat.

Roads? There weren’t any roads. We simply followed tire tracks through the deep desert sand hoping that by some miracle we would make it to camp each night.

Sudan is a very dry country and water was scarce. We couldn’t waste water pouring it over our heads to clean after a long day on the bike let alone even thing of finding a shower somewhere.

So after nearly a week sleeping in our own sweat and filth, arrived in the town of Dongola.

At the end of the last day of riding through the desert we came across a freshly paved road for the final 20km and Deb was so elated that she got down on her hands and knees to kiss the tarmac with tears of joy in her eyes.

We camped at an abandoned zoo that evening and although we didn’t have proper shower facilities, we did find a random hose that actually worked and we joyously took a bath in our gear boxes feeling the best we had felt since entering the country.

What is the moral of this story you ask? Well after suffering for days on end, a red box bath in the middle of a run down zoo can feel more amazing than a Jacuzzi tub in a 5 star hotel.

Dave and Deb hail from Canada and have traveled the world seeking out new adventures. Last year they cycled from Cairo to Cape Town and stopped to climb Kilimanjaro along the way. Check out their ongoing escapades at ThePlanetD or follow their tweets on twitter at twitter/theplanetd

If you’re after other Funny Travel Photos, check out the Health Worker Sign, the Duty Free Airport Shop and the George Bush Bar.

Victoria Falls, at Zimbabwe and Zambia.

It’s one of the most spectacular places in the world to visit – and you have to visit 2 countries to experience it!  Since the troubles of Zimbabwe has pretty much killed the tourist trade, most of the infrastructure and facilities for visiting Victoria Falls now occur in Zambia.

A picture of Victoria Falls from the Zambian side is shown below.  If you look at the ledge on the left hand side and spot a small orange dot – that is a person covered in a raincoat.

There’s all sorts of things you can do at Victoria Falls – you could possibly try and drown yourself in the Grade 5 rapids  by white water rafting, you can bungee jump off the Victoria Falls Bridge, and go for a twighlight booze cruise on the Zambezi River.

But there is something you should do – fly over Victoria Falls via a Microlight. This gives a fantastic panoramic view of the falls, but also provides a fascinating insight into the surrounding areas.

For example, you can see animals such as elephants and hippos from this high up.

Microlighting over Victoria Falls is a great way to blow $USD 100 in 15 minutes, but it’s worth it.

Check out some of the shots of Microlighting below:

Other things to do in Zambia and Zimbabwe after Microlighting – marvel at the 230 million % inflation of the Zimbabwe Dollar, check out a Coffin Workshop, and check out what people use for a Washing Machine.