The Garden Route

So this is the Wicked Camper Van we hired, its called Jungle Drums. The plan was to spend 10 days driving the Garden Route (a famous coastal drive in South Africa) before turning inwards into the Drakensberg Mountains and then onto Johannesburg and the airport home.
We drove from Cape Town, via the Cape of Good Hope along the stunning cliff top drive along to Pringle Bay, home to friends of Geoff who had kindly insisted on putting us up and feeding us lots of food. Pringle Bay is a tiny bay with a pristine beach and very few people. From the home of Dawn and Anneka I could see a couple of whales in the bay spouting water through their blow holes. As well as feeding us, they also let us luxuriate in huge showers and even did all our laundry, which after 4 months and only two hot washes on route, was not the nicest of tasks. We could have stayed for weeks but time was pressing alas. The plan was to drive around to Hermanus, which was close by, and do a shark cage dive. This is where you are place in a metal cage and lowered into the water between a lot of Great White Sharks (those from Jaws fame) Unfortunately the company contacted us on the morning we were due to go to say that due to very rough seas all cage diving had been postponed for a week. We later found out that other truck friends who were a couple of days ahead of us, had managed to go out, but they had been constantly vomiting due to the rough seas and most had been unable to get into the water through illness. So for us the cage diving was off.
Instead we turned inland slightly and drove through the winelands. Guess why the region is called the winelands. We stopped off at a couple of wineries and found to our surprise that the wine tastings were free. It’s fair to say we made the most of this opportunity. Luckily Denis was onboard and Denis does not drink so was very happy to drive. Denis is a non-drinking Irishman – have you ever heard of such a thing. He’s a rally driver back home in his spare time so when he offered to do all the driving the following day and spend the full day wine tasting – who were we to argue. The wine here was even cheaper than Stellenbosch and we picked up some gorgeous chenin blancs for just 1.50 pounds per bottle. We visited the world champion brandy maker and some highly acclaimed port producers. If we thought little Wicked was overloaded before, now there was another 15 bottles of wine, bottles of sherry and brandy not to mention 2 pink ports, 2 ruby ports and a tawny port. The worrying thing is, that the vast majority of this alcohol was consumed well before the end of the trip!
From Route 62 winelands tour we made our way to the town of Oudtshoorn. I struggled with the pronunciation of this for days! This town became rich due to Ostrich farming and the production of ostrich

feathers at the turn of the last century. There are still a lot of ostrich farms in the area and we went to visit one. I learnt all about ostrich farming and that you can stand on an ostrich egg without it breaking. The egg can hold 180kg and is the equivalent of 24 chicken eggs if you are scrambling it. The highlight of the trip though had to be the ostrich riding. Only 4 people from the group tour could have a go and I was picked to be one of them. It was hysterical. I had to climb onto a fence so I could position myself on the rump of the bird – not the centre of its back. I had to grip each wing tightly (easier said then done) then the handler set it off. We went flying off around the arena. The handler ran behind to catch you should you all off. I made it all the way around before my less than graceful decent. It was so much fun, I could not stop laughing for ages. I was even given a certificate.
To the north of the town we visited the Cango Caves. These caves are filled with millennia old stalagmites and stalactites. Stalactites hang down and are hollow whilst stalagmites grow upwards and are solid. The formations within these caves were beautiful. The caves were warm inside which surprised me; other caves I have visited such as those in Slovenia are freezing inside.
We spent a day at the resort of Knysna where I gorged on more oysters. The seafood in South Africa is amazing. In the famous surfing resort of Jeffries Bay I ate calamari, scallops and crayfish. I did not try to surf though; standing up in the water there was difficult enough with the strength of their currents. We spent a couple of days at Storms River where Denis did the worlds biggest bungee jump. I went Zip lining which was a lot tamer but amazing fun. I flew across waterfalls and gorges on wires ranging from 90m to 210m long. In the mountain resort of Hogsback I climbed up waterfalls and admired the scenery.
We were able to spend a night camping within the Addo National Park and spent the day doing game drives around the park. On our afternoon drive we saw a herd of roughly 25 elephants but it was on our 6am morning game drive when we were very fortunate in what we saw. A lion must have made a kill during the night and had left its unwanted meat. Hyenas had found the remains of this kill and we saw a group of 5 hyenas eating the remains of a baby Kudu. It is rare to see hyenas like this and I felt incredibly lucky. There were also a couple of cheeky jackals who kept trying to steal pieces of meant from under the hyena’s noses. Eventually they did succeed. We were all on cloud nine after witnessing this but the day kept getting better. We came across elephants grazing at the side of the road. One elephant turned around and looked straight at us. He then started walking towards us. The air in our camper van became very tense! The elephant stood next to the van, looked into the windows and then walked on. We were less than 30cm away from an elephant! A collective sigh of relief was let out when he walked away – he was simply being nosey. The morning ended with us finding three very full lions sunbathing, these were probably the lions who had killed the kudu. As game drives go – it was extraordinary.
We have now moved inland into the Drakensberg Mountains. Getting here we encountered a lightning storm, followed by a hailstorm which I though was going to break the car windscreen. This was topped with the heaviest rain I have ever witnessed. Visibility went to nothing. We could not see the road in front of us, let alone any markings on the road. As we were on the side of a mountain with sheer drops at one side, it was not the most comfortable driving conditions. Luckily the worse of the weather passed quickly, leaving us driving in just plain nasty heavy rain.
From the Drakensberg Mountains I am planning to do a little hiking (weather permitting) and also pop across the border into Lesotho. This will be my 15th country of this journey.

To Cape Town

We crossed the Orange River into South Africa on the 3rd February and made our way to the town of Stellenbosch, which is in the heart of the wine producing region. It would have been rude not to sample the products, so after we all dressed in jumpsuits bought in Tanzania we headed off on a wine tour. We tasted, whites, reds and champagnes (or Cape Classics as they are called here, as they are not made in the region of Champagne) not to mention a lot of homemade cheeses. An enjoyable day was had by all and quite a lot of vino purchased, especially as the quality stuff was coming in around 3.50 pounds a bottle.
The truck continued heading south and soon we were on the coast at Bettys Bay, home to a colony of the ever so cute African Penguins. We watched them for an hour before going towards our most southerly destination. Cape Agulhas is the most southern point of Africa and the place where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. It was emotional for the group being here as it meant the end was in sight. Everyone celebrated reaching this point with champagne and cakes.
After spending our final night camping at Cape Agulhas the truck departed for the couple of hours ride into Cape Town. As we all checked in to the hostel, the overland journey was officially over. Despite being free to all go our separate ways or even go home, some very good friendships had been formed and as a group we all stayed together for another few days. I ended up spending a week in Cape Town and I could have easily stayed longer. It’s a beautiful city.
Table Mountain is stunning, with views out to sea. I took the cable car up there and along with 5 friends, for some reason we thought it would be more fun to abseil down it. I abseiled from the very top down 100metres (that’s very long in abseiling terms and needs a special rope, normal abseil ropes quickly disintegrate due to the continual friction, they also need special metal grips as the standard figure of 8 ones cannot hold the pressure from the rope).I had to climb over the rock ridge and literally throw myself backward on the top of a mountain. Scary is an understatement! I am waiting for the photos to be sent to me but even looking at the photos is scary!
I did less scary pursuits in Cape Town too, I visited the Museum with was hosting the BBC Wildlife Photography of the Year, the National Gallery, the planetarium, the Slave Lodge, the Old Fort, not to mention the Waterfront which is where these statues of South Africa’s 4 Nobel Peace Prize winners are. (Mini quiz – do you know who they are?) I also visited Robben Island which is the prison out to sea in which Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were kept. Whilst I was in Cape Town, Thursday 11th February, was the 20th anniversary of the release of Nelson Mandela and I visited a couple of Mandela exhibitions of his life. Coincidently that day was also the state opening of parliament and I watched loads of police and camera crews set up shop in the city park, which is where the entrance of the parliament building is.
Whilst the overland adventure was over, I was not quite ready to come home, so along with 4 other friends I had made on the truck, we decided to hire a camper van and make our way up the coast of South Africa …

Namibia

For the last couple of months Namibia has had alot of unseasonal rain, and so for our first few days in Namibia I saw what most people never see in Namibia - and that was grass. It did mean that we saw fewer wild animals because they have enough drinking water and so are not concentrated around the natural watering holes as they usually are. Saying that I did see hundreds upon hundreds of Springbok especially in the Etosha National Park, Springboks bounce when they run - they do look like tigger - they are so comical. After Etosha we moved along the skeleton coast, here it was pure desert. Not a blade of grass to be seen anywhere. Spitzkoppe is the large redish mountain which is called the Materhorn of namibia. We camped alongside it and I actually slept on the side of the rock under the stars!
Whilst in the desert I also climbed dune 45, this dune is famous has it is the most photographed in Namibia and often features in National Geographic. It is over 100metres high and is an absolute swine to climb. I climbed it late evening and watched the sunset from the top. I was absolutely knackered but not half as knackered as Louise who gave birth to baby Dylan the same day - Congratulations guys!
From the desert we moved to Swakopmund also known as the adrenaline capital. I went out on a two hour quad bike ride across the dunes.
this was not a nice genteel ride but quite an adventure climbing up and down the dunes. At one point we all had to come to a complete stop as we went over the edge of one dune at a 180 degree angle - it was a straight drop down. i went incredibly slowly with my heart in my mouth at all times but I did make it and without injury. Apart from the pockets of sheer terror it was a really fun afternoon. It wasn't all adrenaline though, I also went on a dolphin cruise where we followed a pod of dolphins for a while. They really are graceful animals. We also saw plenty of seals, at one point one seal actually jumped into the back of the boat. They have gotten so used to the boats that they jump inside and demand to be fed. The nine of us onboard didn't know this at first, so we all jumped six feet in the air when this seal first appeared. they are so large in the flesh. At least a metre and a half long and very wide. Its not many days you get to ruffle a seals fur - it was an unexpected treat. To celebrate our success with both seals and dolphins, the skipper brought out champagne and oysters. This was the first time I have had oysters and surprisingly I enjoyed them, so much so I had 4 - they helped the half bottle of champagne so down nicely!
For those celeb buffs amongst you, Swakopmund is also where Brad and Angelina had a house for a while and where she gave birth to their first baby. My final stop in Namibia was the Fish River Canyon - this geographical wonder rivals the Grand Canyon in its beauty and scope. I took a gentle stroll along the top - not the five day hike it takes to cover the whole canyon. From the canyon it was literally a short hop and a drive to the South African border - my final country.

Botswana

We moved from Victoria Falls across the border to Botswana. I went on a river cruise down the Chobe river and so lots and lots of hippo’s and very close too. Hippo’s are huge and incredibly dangerous – they can bite you in two with one snap of their jaws and will do just that if you get between them and the water. They can also run very fast despite their size. Thankfully these hippos were contented munching the grass and were not slightly interested in the tourists gawping at them. From Chobe national park we moved northwards into the Okavango Delta. The traditional form of transport in the Delta is mokorro's or dug out canoes. I went for a three day expedition into the Delta - and I was poled there in a mokorro. Each canoe holds two people and is 'driven' by a poler. They are slightly like gondolas in Venice but the canoes sit alot closer to the water - in fact alot of the time was spent slightly below river level. It was ever such a peaceful way to travel. Drifting through the reeds, the water lillys and the papyrus plants. We made a camp along the banks of one of the rivers and spent the days relaxing and going for walks in the surrounding bush. Saw some elephants, giraffes, zebras and we walked extremely close to a herd of hippo's for my liking. I tried to have a go poling one of the canoes and spent half an hour simply going around in a circle. I wasn't the worse driver by far, Geoff managed to tip his canoe over and fall in, eventually I managed to pole the 20 metres it took the professionals about 2 minutes to cover the same distance! Our polers also took us all out in a mokorro safari - again we got very close to some hippos wading in the river. I also saw a puff adder snake swimming across the river - it was cool! After 3 days we were poled out of the Delta (coming out we got very wet as a torrential rain storm erupted absolutely soaking us through and filling the canoes with water) I then boarded a small plane and went for a flight above the Delta. The ariel shot was taken by me and the photo of the plane is in fact the plane in which other members of my group were on - this photo was taken out of my plane window. From the air I saw such a large herd of elephants, there must have been close to 200 elephants. The scenery was stunning. I really enjoyed my time in Botswana but time flies and we have to move on to Namibia.

Belated Photos

Christmas day on Zanzibar - enjoying a seafood feast - along with Natalie and Malika.



My bestest tent buddy ever - Harriet and I on Christmas day.









On my birthday I got a special treat from the boys in the form of a diet coke strip tease



My birthday - complete with extreme bad taste dressing








A selection of the bad taste outfits. You were not allowed to buy your own, it was bought in secret for you. My delightful little number was put together by Henrik (he's centre in the picture) and coincidentally it was I who bought Henriks outfit. Kirstin is the third person in the photo.

Victoria Falls

We left Antelope Park and made our way to Victoria Falls, famously found by Dr Livingstone (I presume). The falls sit on the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia and I visited them on both sides. The Falls are located on the Zambezi river and are also known as the Mist that Thunders - due to the very loud rumbling sound it makes and the vast quantities of mist that surrounds it. The Zimbabwe side is very picturesque - the falls span a length of 1.8km and I only got wet when I visited the last two cataracts - then I got soaked. Or I thought I was wet - that was before I visited the Zambia side. I had only been on the Zambia side less than a minute and I was drenched. A couple of minutes late and I was completely soaked through to the bone. It would have been impossible to be any wetter. Spot the picture in which I look like a drowned rat. The volume of water on the Zambia side was so great that as times I could not look at the falls directly because the water pressure was making it difficult to keep my eyes open! The falls are absolutely magnificent - it is so difficult to put into words what I could see - the volume of water cascading over the edge was staggering. It certainly deserves its accolade of being one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. Seeing it has definitely been a highlight for me. Having said that, I was not contented with seeing the Falls from both the Zimbabwean and Zambian ground - I had to go a stage further. I chartered a tandem microlight and went for a 15minutes scenic flight over the top of the falls and the gorges that surround the falls. The flight was breath taking. I have never been in a microlight before. Its not too dis- similar to a hang glider but with the added bonus that you do not have to run off a cliff, it has an engine so you simple sit back and enjoy the take-off. Going over the falls and seeing the drop does make you stomach turn a bit, especially when the pilot banks steeply and you are pratically upside down looking into the falls! I had a little go on the controls but it is safe to say that I am not a natural microlight pilot and I don't think I will be taking it up anytime soon. All in all the three days that I spent at Victoria Falls were spectacular and I can not recommend this place highly enough. As the americans would say... Its Awesome!

Ruins and Roars in Zimbabwe

After leaving Harare, we visited the site of the Great Zimbabwe Ruins. This site was built during the 12th century and is the oldest historical site in Southern Africa. It is also what the country is named after, when they changed their name from Rhodesia after independence. Here a king resided, along with his 300 wives and 700 children. In fact the whole complex only housed the royal family! There is still alot to see here and I did enjoy climbing to the top of the enclosure (why do they always build on the top of mountains and hills?) - the view was magnificent. From the ruins we drove to Antelope Park, a park situated on the outskirts of the town of Gweru. Antelope Park is a vast area of land where a lion breeding and conservation program is ongoing. The lions here do have human contact but they will be released into a managed park land and their cubs (which will never have human contact) will be then fully released into the wild. I was able to get incredibly close to the lions and even witnesed them feeding (which is not for the fient hearted). We even got to go inside the enclousure when the youngest cubs were feeding. I was sat about 2 metres away from 3 lion cubs eating! I participated in a lion walk with these cubs - which turned 1 year old today. The cubs (which are more lion like than cub-like at the age of 1) bounded alongside us as we walked for an hour in the bush. They were very playful and enjoyed play fighting with each other - one even climbed a tree. I got to stroke them - they are so beautiful.
When they get to around 14 months old the cubs no longer go on the walk - that degree of contact is topped. The next stage is for them to go out hunting on their own during the night. These hunts are watched by the keepers and I was able to join a night encounter and also watch some 2 year old lionesses hone they hunting and stalking skills. They are so graceful, totally silent and of course - deadly. The 3 lionesses worked together to herd their prey before going in for the kill. I witnessed a couple of failed attempts but after a couple of hours hunting, we lost the lions for a bit (we were trying to follow them in a jeep) and when we found them again, they were happily tearing a gazelle apart. Watching them was amazing. I felt so fortunate to be able to see them, it will be as close as I will probably get to seeing a lion kill. At the age of 2 and a half the lions leave the park (with their top notch hunting skills) and are placed into managed parkland. They have radio collars so that the rangers will be able to tell if they are coping all right, but they should have no human contact, unless there is a problem. From here the cubs will be truely wild.
As well as lions, there are also a few elephants and horses at the park. I had my first ever horse riding lesson but did not go elephant riding this time - I thought I might need the ability to walk for a little longer!

Blog Delays

Apologies for the delay in blog postings - I am having real trouble getting access to the internet, and when I do get online the computers are too basic to open up the blog site.

This is a really good connection, trouble is I only have 5 mins before I am due back on the truck.

So coming up will be postings about Antelope Park (in Zimbabwe) where I walked with lion cubs, The Great Zimbabwean Ruins, Victoria Falls both from the Zimbabwe and Zambian sides and my three day trip into the Okavango Delta in Botswana by morokko (or traditional canoe).

I have just crossed the border into Namibia and will be here for a couple of weeks, oh yes, I am really loving the trip so far.

Hopefully will blog soon....

Birthday Shananigans

Our base just outside Harare was the Lavron Bird Camp. The owner used to be a falconer so he has a centre dedicated to birds of prey and they also have a couple of lions that they took in a couple of years ago during the most recent troubles in Zimbabwe - there was no food and alot of animals were killed, so Gary and his wife saved a couple of lions. The lions were safely behind an enclosure but the campsite did have horses and zebras just wondering through - which took alot of getting used to.
The day we arrived here was my birthday so I had a little birthday bash. The theme was bad taste but we were not allowed to chose our own outfits, you had to buy an outfit for someone else on the truck. The names were drawn out in secret so you did not know who was buying yours. This afternoon we presented our outfits to the lucky intended. I ended up with orange baggy pantaloons, a zebra print shirt, and a green belt with a flower on it. I looked very special! Alot of the boys ended up with outfits consisting mainly of womens underwear, one lad even ended up in a wedding dress! Halfway through the night the power went out, but we are seasoned travellers and a little thing such as lack of electricity does not phase us anymore. The candles came out and we continued the party dancing to i-pod speakers in candlelight. A fun evening was had by all. Wait till I can get somewhere where I can upload photos - they are special

New Year in Malawi

No photos - dodgy internet again

After leaving the gorgeous island of Zanzibar, we left Tanzania completely and headed off to Malawi. Most of the country of Malawi is centered around the massive freshwater lake that is Lake Malawi. It is so big that the lake is tidal and has white sandy beaches. You would not know that it wasn't an ocean when you are standing on the lake side beaches. We stayed in two campsites along the lake front as we made our way down through the country. It was at Kande beach campsite that we pulled in for new years eve. To celebrate the new year a pig was purchased and roasted spit style trough out new years eve. One of the other tavellers Geoff is a former chef and he took charge of making a great spread including three types of stuffing, roast pumpkin, roast veg, stuffed peppers, baked potatoes. Needless to say I did not have any pig myself but I stuffed myself on the rest. The food was followed by quite a large quantity of alcohol and the new year was brought in with fireworks on the beach. I stayed up and saw the sunrise over the lake which was beautiful - it was quite a start to 2010.

After giving ourselves a day off to recover from the festivities, it was back to a couple of long drive days. We passed through the rest of Malawi, endured a 4 hour wait at the border and crossed into Mozambique. We saw nothing of Mozambique, we literally drove through it. We did cross the Zambezi though - it is a very large river. We spent one night in Mozambique bushcamping under the local electricity pylons. When we awaoke everyone had static hair that was standing on end, quite amusing. Then on the morning on the 4th we crossed into the lush green countryside of Zimbabwe and drove towards Harare to find a campsite and to celebrate my birthday in style!

Zanzibar

On the 21st December I left the port of Dar Es Salem and caught the ferry for the 2 hour crossing to the island of Zanzibar. This island is famous for its spices most notably cloves and the fact it was the birthplace of Freddie Mercury. Unfortunately at the moment the entire island is without electricity - something to do with Tanzania cutting the electricity pipe line. This means the entire island is using generators but these are incredibly noisy, so they have to be switched off during certain hours and certainly during the night. Not so much of a problem you would think but the temperature is in the high 30's and 40's and without electricity there is no air conditioning, fans, refrigeration or even water - as the water pumps are all powered by electricity. On a night the temperatures got unbearable with the added plight of having no water, so no working toilets either! I spent a night in Stone Town, once home to the biggest slave market in East Africa and then it was up to Nyungi beach on the north of the island. It was so beautiful here, white sands and crysal clear turquoise waters. I spent alot of time in the Indian Ocean - it was bliss. Also went out on a dhow - a traditional fishing boat.
Had a christmas eve feast of Lobster and on Christmas Day I had even more seafood as part of a seafood buffet. Santa made it all the way to Zanzibar too with him bringing me a little soapstone dish with zebras carvings on it.