Battlefields

We spent a cold night in Cobham Nature Reserve in the Southern Drakensburgs, then splurged on a night in the Cathedral Peak Hotel which afforded amazing views of the mountains as well as a bath and warm bed for the night. After a sumptuous hotel buffet breakfast we set off on a mission through the Battlefields region to find some old Anglo-Zulu war sites. The landscape is rolling hills of pale yellow grass scorched by the sun interspersed with black fields, scorched by fire. Our first stop was Rorkes Drift (brought to popular notice in the film Zulu) where we stopped for lunch and a tour through the museum. Fugutives Drift where some soldiers retreated from the Battle of Isandlwana with the queens flag is several kilometers down the road inside a game park (?!) and marks the war graves with a commemorative stone. Another 30 odd km up and down winding roads, so dusty that pedestrians walking on the roadside wore grey masks atop their dark skin, we came to Isandlwana which is the site of the battle where the soldiers of the Empire were fairly massacred by the Zulu forces before the survivors retreated to Rorkes Drift and returned the favour. Isandlwana was just closing as we (finally) arrived but you could see the white stones and cairns marking the fallen soldiers from the gate.

Not wanting to brave another cold night at altitude, we hightailed it to uMlalazi Nature reserve on the coast through the timber plantations on a 'tar sealed' 'A' graded road that obviously isnt receiving any World Cup funding. For a solid 25km it featured craters rather than potholes, which Duncan assures me is simply a taste of roads to come. Like Lesotho there seem to be few fences in KwaZulu Natal however unlike Lesotho, the livestock has no herdsman to keep them in line. More than once we rounded a corner of the main highway at 100km to find a large bull standing unconcerned in the middle of the road blinking its big brown eyes at us. Kwazulu Natal also seems to make prodigious use of ripple strips and judder bars to control traffic speeds, which sometimes go on for several kilometers. We're considering driving up the coast and spending a week or so in southern Mozambique before cutting back into South Africa at Kruger. A week in the sun with swimming, snorkelling and seafood is very tempting.

Lesotho

So. Lesotho. It was Duncan's original intention to drive around the top of Lesotho to the Drakensburgs but Andy of Cape Town Backpackers (another Land Rover owner, they're a special breed) recommended a route going straight through the middle of Lesotho. At least, it looks straight(ish)on the map. In reality it involved much climbing of twisting mountain passes up into the sky and then plunging back to low ground on roads that could most kindly be described as challenging. Winter has left a generous dusting of snow on the higher peaks. The views were stunning, especially of the Mohale Dam, which is part of the ambitious Highlands Water Project to supply South Africa over the next century.

Overgrazing has caused dramatic erosion in this mountainous enclave. The air is hazy in the low lands due to the dust. There are no fences marking property or fields, but herd boys manage the livestock taking them from the villages to graze, to water.

We were surprised to find none of our cell phones worked in Lesotho. Mine is so old it didnt work in Cambodia or Thailand either, but the phone network in Lesotho was too modern for all of Duncans (three) phones. Not being able to call when you get lost can make finding accommodation a bit tricky...

We stayed the first night in Maseru, not far from the border crossing then took a rondavel the following night at Melealea Lodge, well known for its pony treks into remote mountain regions and development of a sustainable business model in cooperation with the local villages. Given that even the lowest point in Lesotho is over 1000m we thought it would be too cold to camp. For the evenings entertainment we watched a local choir, then a band with local dancers who played for the tourists at the camp and finally, the last 10 minutes of South Africa trounce Australia in the Tri Nations inside at the bar. No, I know that I cant talk, I know the All Blacks are playing terribly.

From Melealea we took some back roads heading north to the A3. Occasionally passing villages, irrespective of how remote we seemed, from out of seemingly nowhere children would come sprinting across the fields from their villages demanding pompoms(or sweets from the french bon bon).

The most noticeable thing about all the people we passed while driving was the clothing they wore. Generally both a blanket and a beanie. The beanies are due to the cold at altitude, I guess. The blanket is a traditional garment, replacing animal skins some time back in the 1800s. Blankets are worn differently by men and women for more than just warmth, they symbolise status. Women wear them around their waists if they dont have children, and around their middle if they have children. Boys graduate to wearing them in the men's style as part of the becoming a man ritual. By the time we were up in the snow covered mountains the herd boys looked like right thugs dressed in their blankets and balaclavas to keep warm.

We planned to stay the night in Thaba Tseka, though didnt realise the lodge we had in mind was another 55km on from the township, so got in to Mashai just as dark was falling. In all we drove about 320km, but it took nearly 8 hours.

A few kilometers after leaving Mashai the next morning we were flagged down by a young man running up the hill. Nyale was from the township south of Mashai and heading into Tsaba Theka for shopping. We gave him a lift the 12km up to the main road and I marvelled that for him, a round trip to the shop was a good 150km up and down the mountains. Later in the day we were flagged down by a woman and her two daughters and took them nearly 50km to Mon...kong. They were just waiting patiently around a corner at the top of some climb - given the small amount of traffic I wondered how long a trip like that would normally take.

Then it was time to head back to South Africa via the famous Sani Pass over the Drakensburg range where the melting snow turned the good part of the road into mush and the bends were knucklewhitening.

Although it wasnt on the official plan, I'm really happy to have been through Lesotho. In addition to the gorgeous landscape and lovely people, I feel it gave us a taste of the Africa to come and even put the Landy through her paces somewhat. From my perspective she's proven she's up to the difficult roads we've been warned we'll find on our way up the continent.

The Big Hole

We spent the day in the campsite re-packing the Landy and enjoying various animals visits to the waterhole. Most memorable to me were the giraffes, they're so graceful and there was an extremely cute baby giraffe in tow. We also saw some baby warthogs running around with their tails in the air like aerials for remote control. The following morning we went on a game drive around the park and came across zebra, baboons, buffalo and a single black backed jackal before heading further into diamond country to see The Big Hole in Kimberley, which is exactly what it says on the tin. It is the largest hand-cut mine in the world and stopped being mined in 1914. We're spending the night at an uninspiring and surprisingly expensive campground between the highway and railway tracks just outside Bloemfontein. i dont recommend it.

Mokala National Park

An early departure and after a quick stop for diesel and groceries we were on the road towards Kimberly. The Great Karoo used to be an inland sea when it was still part of Gondwanaland and the flat, barren landscape seems to go on forever. The drive was relentlessly uniform - the only occurrence of note was a posse of little vervet monkeys playing some elaborate game of daredevil with the articulated trucks along the highway. One or two would venture out onto the tarmac and then just as the truck was approaching, scarper out of the way, and the monkeys along the verge would start hooting and laughing and clambering along the fences like jungle gyms.

As we were following the Anglo-Boer War historical route along the N12, we took a short detour to a site marked on the map. The roadsigns directed us up to a farmhouse. We thought we'd be stopping and looking at some ruins, maybe reading a sign if we were lucky but were bundled into the farmer's car and driven to the historical site of the both the soldiers barracks and the concentration camp, then further to the historical museum. Rina and her husband discovered the artifacts and subsequent archeological site when they bought the farm in the early 1990s, she kept up a running commentary explaining the significance of the various ruins and the effects of the British 'scorched earth' policy. We finally made it to Mokala National Park as the sun was starting to go down. This is a relatively new park, established about two years ago. It isnt signposted from the main road south and after driving for miles on a dirt road into the middle of nowhere, I started to worry that we were lost. The landscape changed from rocky Karoo to bright red clay and pale green dry grasses. Savannah? A quick check of the wildlife guide confirmed it. On the way to the campsite we saw many types of antelope - Kudu, Oryx, Tsessebe, Roan Antelope, Wildebeeste and more Springbok. The campsite is in the middle of the bush right next to a waterhole, so I'm hoping to see some of the more rare wildlife early in the morning without even having to leave the tent.

Karoo National Park

Another freezing night and glorious day. After a leisurely breakfast we wandered down to the interpretation centre. This national park was established in 1979 on land once occupied by farms. The Karoo region is considered distinct due to its extreme geological and botanical diversity. We later followed the fossil walk which displayed a bunch of amazing fossils of nearly whole skeletons of the ancestor of mammals (not dinosaurs but therapsids) Once the blazing sun lessened we attempted to tackle the Pointer hiking trail, a semicircle along the road, up an escarpment. It afforded incredible views of the ancient flat topped hills. We didnt see any animals during the hike although we might have had we not completely lost the trail and had to retrace our steps. Last night as I was eating dinner I heard something behind me and discovered an enormous porcupine ambling past.

Karoo National Park

A freezing night in the roof tent dawned into a cloudless day. From Malmesbury we made a brief detour to the Allesverloren vineyard at Riebeek West. Alles verloren is the farm where DF Malan, one of the 'architects' of aparteid was born. We were stopping by to pick up some of their port which Duncan is fond of, unfortunately we hadnt considered that it was Sunday and their bottleshop was closed. Never mind. We went down via Paarl to the N1 and through the Hugenot tunnel rather than over the pass. Oddly the northern end of the tunnel exit was aswarm with baboons waiting for I dont know what but noticed the car behind us threw some lunch remains out of the window as we passed.

The N1 winds for hours through the Karoo - an arid semi-desert landscape with low shrubbery and succulents. Though the main thoroughfare between Johannesburg and Cape Town, it is only a two lane highway with few passing lanes or opportunities to pass the car in front of you due to the volume of oncoming traffic. Slower vehicles will pull into the 'yellow lane' which is basically the generously wide hard shoulder to allow faster traffic to pass. You thank them by flashing your hazards once you pull in front of them. All very civilised but the system breaks down when the car travelling slowly in front of you isnt familiar with the custom. Additionally South Africa is undertaking unprecedented levels of roadworks, both 'regular maintenance' on highways that havent seen maintenance in decades and widening main arteries - presumably in preparation for the tourism drawn by the World Cup next year.

We finally got to Karoo National Park, just outside Beaufort West at sundown. On the way to the extremely well equipped campsite from the main gate we passed Zebra and Springbok, this park is home to 60 odd different species of mammal along with a few hundred bird species and loads of reptiles (including 20 types of snake I hope I dont come across). Tomorrow we'll hopefully see some more when we go hiking.

Cape of Good Hope - Malmesbury

Finally the overland trip has begun! Tonight we're staying in Malmesbury, capital of the Swartland Wine country. It is a considerable distance closer to Cape Town than our plan of Karoo National Park, but the trip got off to a bit of a shaky start.

Yesterday morning we retrieved the Landy from the car park of our hostel in Cape Town (we'd been in South Africa for nearly a month waiting for the Landy to arrive) to find it had been broken into overnight. We didn't lose much of financial value but we're sorely going to miss