Category: South Africa

Long drives from Cape Town to get North through the ‘arid interior’ as the guidebook so aptly and succinctly puts it. Got the Land Rover power steering leak fixed in Bloemfontein on the way through. Visited Kimberley and saw the ‘big hole’ where they removed 25m tonnes of earth by hand to get 3 tonnes of diamonds. This is what set Cecil Rhodes on his way. Interestingly he owned Dalham Hall in the village where I live but he never lived there but he did name one of the main streets in Kimberley Dalham!

Last day in South Africa. Had a terrible bunch in the Campsite last night. Asked them to switch their music down (must be getting old) and they continually refused (even sending their nephew to say that aunty needed to switch the music up again at Midnight!). They finally packed up at 1.30am (and promptly had a blazing row!). I now know quite a few obscenities in Afrikaans!

Have booked for most of the National Parks in Botswana namely Moremi, Chobe, Nxai Pan and Makgadikgadi Pans. Tried to email our guide from our last Botswana trip but the mail account has lapsed, will give him a call when we get to Maun.

First day in Cape Town was glorious blue sky but it wasn’t to last. Visited the V&A Waterfront and all its shopping malls. We remained in Cape Town for a couple of days getting the camera fixed and catching up on things.

Then went out of Cape Town to Stellenbosch for a couple of days/nights and visited (surprise, surprise!) a few vineyards, Neethlingshof, Vredeheim, Kanu and Delheim. Tasted and purchased what we liked (which is now disappearing…). The Beard went in Stellenbosch (ever tried shaving with some swiss-army knife scissors gents? Not recommended!!). Called in at the flying club to try and get an aviation fix but not much doing. On from Stellenbosch to Paarl and Franschoek, the former not too exciting the latter perhaps too touristy.

Then went onto Hermanus our most Southerly point in Africa where we saw quite a few Southern Right Whales from the shore. Weather not too good so no good photos I am afraid. Then back to Cape Town (in the rain!), realising there was a leak that is not too serious with the power steering that we need to fix at some point. Land Rover Stellenbosch were very helpful but didn’t have the part we needed so will have to phone ahead to get it on order.

Went to the gardens at Kirstenbosch part of which were shrouded in cloud! But interesting to see the South African flora and not too crowded out of season. Long to get back to wilder Africa… We have booked up reserves/camps in Botswana.

Went out for a meal in an open-air restaurant near Lamberts Bay recommended by the lady we rented a fisherman’s cottage from. She said we couldnt possibly visit the area without eating at this place. It was indeed a good recommendation. It was pretty cold for open air eating beside the Atlantic but there was a blazing fire to keep you warm enough. Emphasis was unsurprisingly on fresh sea food so wonderful fish, starters consisted of pickled and dried salted fish and wonderful calamari freshly battered and straight from the pan with lemon butter or their own tartare sauce. We also had Paella (cooked in a Potjie or ‘Dutch oven’ of course). It was all informal sitting on blankets on wooden benches eating with a mussel shell (no cutlery). Fish was Snoek and Yellow tail amoung others as well as a Lamb stew and Venison stew. Potato was cooked in a big saucepan in thin slices like crisp and was excellent. Also had half a local Crayfish all washed down with loval Olifants River vineyards wine. All this for around GBP13 per head, fantastic. The music was ‘local’ Afrikaans, think Eurovision song contest crossed with Nashville, lovely, yes indeedy!!

Went on to the Cedarberg area with the intention of camping for two nights and doing some walking in the mountains. We did one walk, up to a waterfall, but as we left the top of the mountain the cloud started to descend and it then rained ALL night. I am fraid we were wet and demotivated so we abandonned Cedarberg to depart for Cape Town. We should be used to this coming from the UK but we really were too wet and cold. The dirt roads through the mountains were pretty slippery after all that rain. So we are now in Cape Town, we have rented a small appartment for a few days to catch up with things we need to do here.

Saw a lot of the wild flowering and have uploaded some pictures. Lots around a place by the unlikely name of Nababeep!

Went to see the Catholic ‘Cathedral’ at Pella (on the advice of some South Africans we met at one of the campsites). It was built by a couple of priests from a Catholic mission at the end of the 19th century. They built it from a picture apparently. We were shown around by Sister Theresa who was absolutely charming. She told us she was the youngest Nun at forty seven. It was only later in the conversation when she said that she knew how old a visiting french priest was because she was 71 at the time that I realised that she meant she was actually seventy four and not forty seven!!! She told us about the problem of alcohol abuse in Africa and of how so many visit the bottle store (off licence) when they have any money at all.

Now we are in Lamberts Bay beside the Atlantic. We visited Bird Island where there is a colony of 30,000 ganets (very noisy and equally smelly but incredible never the less). I will put some photos of it on the site to show you.

Incidentally a few days ago, when we were still in Namibia, we were flagged down by some South Africans (concerned and cautious at first at what was going on) in the middle of nowhere (we had been driving for hours without seeing a soul) because they had a puncture on their Land Rover Discovery and had no wheel brace!! How lucky were they that a Land Rover of all things (the only vehicle) came past after they had only been waiting one hour, they could have been there for days. And how crazy to be there in the first place without tools. Anyway they hadnt jacked it up safely and it toppled over with one wheel barely attached. They rectified it (although the owner had a nasty gash on his face). Anyway our good deed for the day done! They did suggest that we leave our wheen brace with them but we felt our need greater than theirs with 20,000 miles to go (and hopefully more sense than to be tool-less and as they only had one spare wheel anyway if they had another flat what use would it be to them?!)

Cedarberg area for some walking next followed by Cape Town

Spent some time in Upington stocking up on food, getting SIM card for RSA mobile etc. The bad connection on the second battery circuit proved to be in the relay so we found a company called Mototlek who specialise in vehicle electrical sytems to fit a different one. Not as good as the fancy French one originally fitted (but it works!). Labour rates in RSA are low so not too painfully expensive either.

Have GPRS access here (what a luxury that seems, connection speed of 115kbps!). And only R2 per Megabyte.

We then spent three nights in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park which is reached by an absolutely dreadful road. Game viewing is a bit disappointing after the richness of Ethosha but we did see a pair of Cheetah (we saw none in Namibia even though 25% of the world population is there). Lots of birds of prey here though (Goshawks, Eagles Kestrals etc). Then stayed on the Orange River in a campsite all to ourselves.

First maintenance service on the Land Rover this morning after 6000 miles since full service in UK. Then visited Augrabies falls which plunges 56m and flows at 61,000 litres per second apparently (Rachel has yet to audit this!).

On to Namaqualand to see annual wild flowering which lasts only three weeks and we seem to be here at the right time. Then South to Cederberg and onto Cape Town. Dust is playing havoc with my camera so I will probably have to get it fixed in Cape Town as there is rubbish all over the pass through filter on the CCD (needs to be done by a specialist).