South Africa, last one for now.
Current Location: Kimberley, South Africa
20 March 2009 – 18 April 09
Well as some of you may have received our celebratory “1 year on the road” email, it’s seems that we were lucky enough to see cheetah on day 366. They even took us for a little hunt, meaning we followed them down the road as they walked and jogged in the direction of a bontebok. Also there has been a slight change of plan as the Kgalagadi is full till the end of July we aren’t going that way YET.
For those of you who didn’t get the email, here are a few of the stats and the best and worst so far:
A few stats:
Countries: 22 African countries (23 since we support the partisans of western sahara) Kilometres: 56190 Litres of diesel used : approx 7000
Illness: Malaria x 3 (all Milan) with 1 hospital visit (In Cameroon), Louise has had 2 hangovers Number of bites on the body at one time: 58 (Louise’s back in Cameroon)
Number of photos taken: Approx 25000 (3 underwater thanks to Chris for lending me her camera)
Number of dives: 44 between us
Number of flat tyres: 0 none, nada, nichts, zilch (yet)
Number of tyres without tread: 4
Number of OK tyres: 2
Animals we have eaten: Zebra, Kudu, Oryx, Springbok, Warthog, Impala (Pate), rubber chicken, possibly any other number of creatures that the locals couldn’t describe to us.
Number of dutch overlanders met on the road: 12
Other overlanders: 4 brits, 3 Swiss, 1 swede, 3 aussies, 1 Pole (on a bicycle), 3 Germans, 2 south Africans and a Kenyan.
Number of break downs: Suspension 4 times and the steering rod snapped once.
Amount of stuff thrown out on the way: over 100 Kilos
Now for the best and worst.
Best Game park: Moremi (Milan), Chobe (Louise). Both in Botswana
Best drive: Crossing the desert in Morocco (not western sahara) and Marienfluss in Namibia Hardest drive: Border crossing between Nigeria and Cameroon (whoever draws maps should know roads need bridges to go through rivers)
Worst drive: Angola after the suspension broke, all 2500 Kms without rear shocks.
Best roads in a country: Malawi
Worst roads in a country: Gambia
Friendliest people: Zambia (even the police that fined us 25 USD)
Best dive site: Sodwana bay, South Africa
Best campsites: Purros, Porcupine camp, Ngepi camp (all in Nambia)
Worst campsites: Niokala Koba Lions camp (Senegal), Kora (Just before Burkina border)
Wildest Place: Ihaha campsite in Chobe, Botswana
Best atmosphere: Big Millys backpackers, Ghana
Best unexpected thing: People in Nigeria
Biggest letdown: Sahara crossing (a tar road all the way)
Louise’s favourite country: Namibia
Milan’s Favourite country: Botswana just because Louise already took Namibia
Most stunning countries: Namibia, Morocco and South Africa
Now where were we, oh yes Coffee Bay.
From Coffee Bay we went to check out the Hole in the Wall, where a kid decided that without his help we wouldn’t find it and he needed to guide us there. Once we got there and gave him his 5 Rand coin he turned around and said it was not enough and that all ‘guides’ in the area got 10 Rand for guiding the tourists. This is when Louise just ignored him and Milan decided to give him a life lesson on how to treat tourists which lasted 20 minutes and the kid looked very sad and went away forgetting all the useful things Milan had just told him. At least we try!
We hopped on the N2 highway and drove up to Sodwana Bay were we met Dudley trying out his new surf board in the ocean. We spent a week there and it was the first time in a long time we didn’t need to wear sweaters in the evening! We managed to increase our number of dives even more and one day on the way out to a dive we spotted a whale shark! Everyone hurried to get their fins and masks on and jumped in the water swimming after the whale shark. It was the first time we had ever seen one so it was a real treat! This week the diving was a lot better than last time, with fantastic visibility and lovely things to see. Since Christine is into macro underwater photography we were trying to find things for her to photograph. It’s amazing how much we’ve learnt and have gotten a very big interest at finding things that are smaller than 1cm! Can we live here please?! ;o)
We hadn’t really made a plan after Sodwana so we were invited to stay at Christine and Dudley’s place again until we had decided what was next. We ended up staying longer than planned as Louise got an appointment with an eye laser specialist mid week. The results were not as hopeful as she had hoped for, the doctor recommending the old type of laser rather than any of the new easy, more or less pain free ones. What a disappointment. Contact lenses and glasses it will have to be then!
We finally got our acts together and headed to Injesuthi in the Drakensberg. When we arrived it was surely the most beautiful part of the ‘berg’ that we had seen. And there were autumn leaves everywhere – so beautiful! We did two lovely walks over that weekend; the last one being the toughest one in the area but it was really worth it. The walk was hard and steep but lovely to get to the top to see that view of the Drakensberg. This is where it starts to get chilly as soon as the sun goes down around 18:00, and a few times in Injesuthi Louise had to wear her winter hat because it was so cold at night. Brrrrrrrr – not only in Europe!
We felt fit and healthy after all that mountain air and were planning to go over the Sani Pass into Lesotho, but the weather forecast was thunderstorms for the whole week so we decided against that and headed north to Golden Gate Highlands National Park. Another freezing destination after sunset, but very beautiful with lots of autumn colours! Thomas and Isabella showed up (Swiss couple in a huge MAN truck) and they invited us for dinner inside which was great because it was so cold outside (10°C in the night!) and it was really nice to catch up with them.
The next morning we carried on along the scenic route which is only kilometres from Lesotho’s border, driving through all the huge farms that are the only thing in the area, and we made it to Wepener where we stayed on someone’s farm and watched the lightning all around us after it got dark. Next morning we headed to the Mountain Zebra National Park and since it was Easter we made a booking in advance and managed to reserve the next two nights with them. They have recently introduced 12 cheetah and rhino in the park so obviously we were on the lookout for those critters. We went for early morning drives and late afternoon drives and enjoyed the spectacular scenery and all the animals. We were still searching for the cheetah on our last evening drive at 17:30 Milan got out of the car to take some photos when I scanned the area with my binoculars and just then two cheetah sat up under a tree only 20m from us! They had obviously been sleeping when we came along and woke them up when they realised they were hungry. They started walking along the road in the same direction we were going so we followed them hoping to see a hunt.
Unfortunately we had to be back at camp at 18:00 so we had to leave them that evening. We went out the next morning again trying to look for a kill but we couldn’t see anything. It was so nice to see them and two out of the 12 was pretty lucky! It was also the first time we had seen Black Wildebeest and they are much more photogenic than the common Blue Wildebeest – ggnnuuuuuuuu...
Next destination was a new park by Graaf-Reinet called Camdeboo NP. We went for a short game drive and saw the usual suspects in way of the bucks and an adult ostrich which was followed by 24 young which was quite a spectacular sight. We carried on to the Valley of Desolation which is also part of the park but it has amazing rock formations and we stayed there to watch the sunset. Lovely.
Since we are on a National Park roll we headed next to the Karoo NP where we went for a long afternoon/evening drive in the arid and stunning area. We even spotted a black rhino munching away! We watched the strikingly pink sunset and got back at 19:00 when we found the gate to camp to be closed and very tightly padlocked. Oh no! Luckily there was another car there too and they had called someone to unlock it. The next day we drove to Oudtshoorn where we stayed in the same place as last time, the lovely Cul De Sac. This was a good place to relax and sleep in a warm bed indoors, and we also tried to plan the next destination on the trip. We had decided to go to the Kgagalagadi NP in South Africa for two weeks, then cross into Namibia and then Botswana and then back into South Africa where we would end our travels before going home. Unfortunately we found out that the park was fully booked until July! Oh no – sudden change of plans panic! We decided to go to Botswana now and visit the Central Kalahari and the Salt Pans, then head into Namibia and do all the things we did not do last time, then probably into Botswana again to go back to Chobe and Moremi as its the best time then. We booked the Kgagalagadi for end of July so if anyone fancies a spot of wildlife you are welcome to join us then!
You can’t really come to Oudtshoorn and not see the Cango Caves, apparently being one of the 10 must sees in South Africa. You can do two tours, the standard 1 hour tour or the 90 minute adventure tour. Since the latter forbid cameras we decided for the more adult version. The caves were stunning! If you are ever in the area – go and see them! We then drove over the Swartberg Pass and watched the fires around us. The area hasn’t had rain since November so it’s no wonder there are fires everywhere. The drive was stunning and we headed back to the Karoo NP but it was unfortunately full so we found a lovely camp just next to the NP called Stenbokkie Private Reserve which was full of animals.
We are now in Kimberley, the diamond capital of South Africa and also where De Beers was founded by Cecil Rhodes. Since we are planning to cross into Botswana in the next few days we have stocked up on a few things here; a bird book, a book on stars, guide books on Namibia and Botswana, better mattresses for the ground tent and a very warm large blanket for those cold nights stargazing.
You’ll hear from us in Botswana!
Tomorrow the 19th of April we will have spent exactly one year on the African continent!
Louise
20 March 2009 – 18 April 09
Well as some of you may have received our celebratory “1 year on the road” email, it’s seems that we were lucky enough to see cheetah on day 366. They even took us for a little hunt, meaning we followed them down the road as they walked and jogged in the direction of a bontebok. Also there has been a slight change of plan as the Kgalagadi is full till the end of July we aren’t going that way YET.
For those of you who didn’t get the email, here are a few of the stats and the best and worst so far:
A few stats:
Countries: 22 African countries (23 since we support the partisans of western sahara) Kilometres: 56190 Litres of diesel used : approx 7000
Illness: Malaria x 3 (all Milan) with 1 hospital visit (In Cameroon), Louise has had 2 hangovers Number of bites on the body at one time: 58 (Louise’s back in Cameroon)
Number of photos taken: Approx 25000 (3 underwater thanks to Chris for lending me her camera)
Number of dives: 44 between us
Number of flat tyres: 0 none, nada, nichts, zilch (yet)
Number of tyres without tread: 4
Number of OK tyres: 2
Animals we have eaten: Zebra, Kudu, Oryx, Springbok, Warthog, Impala (Pate), rubber chicken, possibly any other number of creatures that the locals couldn’t describe to us.
Number of dutch overlanders met on the road: 12
Other overlanders: 4 brits, 3 Swiss, 1 swede, 3 aussies, 1 Pole (on a bicycle), 3 Germans, 2 south Africans and a Kenyan.
Number of break downs: Suspension 4 times and the steering rod snapped once.
Amount of stuff thrown out on the way: over 100 Kilos
Now for the best and worst.
Best Game park: Moremi (Milan), Chobe (Louise). Both in Botswana
Best drive: Crossing the desert in Morocco (not western sahara) and Marienfluss in Namibia Hardest drive: Border crossing between Nigeria and Cameroon (whoever draws maps should know roads need bridges to go through rivers)
Worst drive: Angola after the suspension broke, all 2500 Kms without rear shocks.
Best roads in a country: Malawi
Worst roads in a country: Gambia
Friendliest people: Zambia (even the police that fined us 25 USD)
Best dive site: Sodwana bay, South Africa
Best campsites: Purros, Porcupine camp, Ngepi camp (all in Nambia)
Worst campsites: Niokala Koba Lions camp (Senegal), Kora (Just before Burkina border)
Wildest Place: Ihaha campsite in Chobe, Botswana
Best atmosphere: Big Millys backpackers, Ghana
Best unexpected thing: People in Nigeria
Biggest letdown: Sahara crossing (a tar road all the way)
Louise’s favourite country: Namibia
Milan’s Favourite country: Botswana just because Louise already took Namibia
Most stunning countries: Namibia, Morocco and South Africa
Now where were we, oh yes Coffee Bay.
From Coffee Bay we went to check out the Hole in the Wall, where a kid decided that without his help we wouldn’t find it and he needed to guide us there. Once we got there and gave him his 5 Rand coin he turned around and said it was not enough and that all ‘guides’ in the area got 10 Rand for guiding the tourists. This is when Louise just ignored him and Milan decided to give him a life lesson on how to treat tourists which lasted 20 minutes and the kid looked very sad and went away forgetting all the useful things Milan had just told him. At least we try!
We hopped on the N2 highway and drove up to Sodwana Bay were we met Dudley trying out his new surf board in the ocean. We spent a week there and it was the first time in a long time we didn’t need to wear sweaters in the evening! We managed to increase our number of dives even more and one day on the way out to a dive we spotted a whale shark! Everyone hurried to get their fins and masks on and jumped in the water swimming after the whale shark. It was the first time we had ever seen one so it was a real treat! This week the diving was a lot better than last time, with fantastic visibility and lovely things to see. Since Christine is into macro underwater photography we were trying to find things for her to photograph. It’s amazing how much we’ve learnt and have gotten a very big interest at finding things that are smaller than 1cm! Can we live here please?! ;o)
We hadn’t really made a plan after Sodwana so we were invited to stay at Christine and Dudley’s place again until we had decided what was next. We ended up staying longer than planned as Louise got an appointment with an eye laser specialist mid week. The results were not as hopeful as she had hoped for, the doctor recommending the old type of laser rather than any of the new easy, more or less pain free ones. What a disappointment. Contact lenses and glasses it will have to be then!
We finally got our acts together and headed to Injesuthi in the Drakensberg. When we arrived it was surely the most beautiful part of the ‘berg’ that we had seen. And there were autumn leaves everywhere – so beautiful! We did two lovely walks over that weekend; the last one being the toughest one in the area but it was really worth it. The walk was hard and steep but lovely to get to the top to see that view of the Drakensberg. This is where it starts to get chilly as soon as the sun goes down around 18:00, and a few times in Injesuthi Louise had to wear her winter hat because it was so cold at night. Brrrrrrrr – not only in Europe!
We felt fit and healthy after all that mountain air and were planning to go over the Sani Pass into Lesotho, but the weather forecast was thunderstorms for the whole week so we decided against that and headed north to Golden Gate Highlands National Park. Another freezing destination after sunset, but very beautiful with lots of autumn colours! Thomas and Isabella showed up (Swiss couple in a huge MAN truck) and they invited us for dinner inside which was great because it was so cold outside (10°C in the night!) and it was really nice to catch up with them.
The next morning we carried on along the scenic route which is only kilometres from Lesotho’s border, driving through all the huge farms that are the only thing in the area, and we made it to Wepener where we stayed on someone’s farm and watched the lightning all around us after it got dark. Next morning we headed to the Mountain Zebra National Park and since it was Easter we made a booking in advance and managed to reserve the next two nights with them. They have recently introduced 12 cheetah and rhino in the park so obviously we were on the lookout for those critters. We went for early morning drives and late afternoon drives and enjoyed the spectacular scenery and all the animals. We were still searching for the cheetah on our last evening drive at 17:30 Milan got out of the car to take some photos when I scanned the area with my binoculars and just then two cheetah sat up under a tree only 20m from us! They had obviously been sleeping when we came along and woke them up when they realised they were hungry. They started walking along the road in the same direction we were going so we followed them hoping to see a hunt.
Unfortunately we had to be back at camp at 18:00 so we had to leave them that evening. We went out the next morning again trying to look for a kill but we couldn’t see anything. It was so nice to see them and two out of the 12 was pretty lucky! It was also the first time we had seen Black Wildebeest and they are much more photogenic than the common Blue Wildebeest – ggnnuuuuuuuu...
Next destination was a new park by Graaf-Reinet called Camdeboo NP. We went for a short game drive and saw the usual suspects in way of the bucks and an adult ostrich which was followed by 24 young which was quite a spectacular sight. We carried on to the Valley of Desolation which is also part of the park but it has amazing rock formations and we stayed there to watch the sunset. Lovely.
Since we are on a National Park roll we headed next to the Karoo NP where we went for a long afternoon/evening drive in the arid and stunning area. We even spotted a black rhino munching away! We watched the strikingly pink sunset and got back at 19:00 when we found the gate to camp to be closed and very tightly padlocked. Oh no! Luckily there was another car there too and they had called someone to unlock it. The next day we drove to Oudtshoorn where we stayed in the same place as last time, the lovely Cul De Sac. This was a good place to relax and sleep in a warm bed indoors, and we also tried to plan the next destination on the trip. We had decided to go to the Kgagalagadi NP in South Africa for two weeks, then cross into Namibia and then Botswana and then back into South Africa where we would end our travels before going home. Unfortunately we found out that the park was fully booked until July! Oh no – sudden change of plans panic! We decided to go to Botswana now and visit the Central Kalahari and the Salt Pans, then head into Namibia and do all the things we did not do last time, then probably into Botswana again to go back to Chobe and Moremi as its the best time then. We booked the Kgagalagadi for end of July so if anyone fancies a spot of wildlife you are welcome to join us then!
You can’t really come to Oudtshoorn and not see the Cango Caves, apparently being one of the 10 must sees in South Africa. You can do two tours, the standard 1 hour tour or the 90 minute adventure tour. Since the latter forbid cameras we decided for the more adult version. The caves were stunning! If you are ever in the area – go and see them! We then drove over the Swartberg Pass and watched the fires around us. The area hasn’t had rain since November so it’s no wonder there are fires everywhere. The drive was stunning and we headed back to the Karoo NP but it was unfortunately full so we found a lovely camp just next to the NP called Stenbokkie Private Reserve which was full of animals.
We are now in Kimberley, the diamond capital of South Africa and also where De Beers was founded by Cecil Rhodes. Since we are planning to cross into Botswana in the next few days we have stocked up on a few things here; a bird book, a book on stars, guide books on Namibia and Botswana, better mattresses for the ground tent and a very warm large blanket for those cold nights stargazing.
You’ll hear from us in Botswana!
Tomorrow the 19th of April we will have spent exactly one year on the African continent!
Louise
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