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.