Tomorrow we cross for Namibia so I thought it time for a roundup.
Best Campsite
- Location - Rustic Camp, Mokala National Park - loved the isolation and all the animals coming to the waterhole throughout the day
- Facilities - all the South African National Park sites, generally well equipped with cooking, washing up and laundry facilities in addition to decent showers with copious hot water and baths (although you need your own plug)!
- Raspberry award - Bloemfontein campsite for being the most expensive with the least facilities.
Best sights/experiences
- Driving up Alfreds Pass (Klein Karoo)
- Watching the dolphins surf at Lambertsbaii (West Coast)
- Cango Caves (Oodtshorn)
- Self Drive safari in Kruger National Park
- Wine Tasting at La Motte vineyard, Franshoek
Best Treat
- Buffelsdrift Lodge, A luxury two room safari tent on the shore of a dam with afternoon game drive, à la carte dinner, breakfast and morning game drive included (sometimes you need a break from camping).
Best Customer Service
Jess at Ezi-Awn, hands down, although I found Afrikaaners to be very helpful in general.
Tuesday, 8 September 2009
Monday, 7 September 2009
Springbok
We've spent the last three nights in Springbok, enjoying the generous hospitality of Marizanne, the sister of a former colleague at lastminute.com. As we drove further west from Augrabie the treeless plains gave way to rubble-like rock mounds and rocky hills. The town of Springbok is wedged between two of these rocky hills. Once known for its copper mines, Namaqualand is now better known for its spring flowers and although we were at the end of the season, the roadsides were still blanketed with vibrant purple, orange and yellow daisies.
After taking care of weeks of laundry, we took a drive from Marizanne's farm up to Nababeep and the mining museum there, which impressed me by being both free and open on a Sunday. We were invited to a traditional South African braii with the neighbours, Elaine and Ronnie for dinner on Sunday night.
After taking care of weeks of laundry, we took a drive from Marizanne's farm up to Nababeep and the mining museum there, which impressed me by being both free and open on a Sunday. We were invited to a traditional South African braii with the neighbours, Elaine and Ronnie for dinner on Sunday night.
Friday, 4 September 2009
Augrabies Falls National Park
I'm sitting here watching the full moon rise and listening to the roar of the Augrabies Falls. Its lovely and warm compared to the last few nights.
Earlier this afternoon Duncan and I undertook walking the 5km Dassie Trail which took us scrambling across rock formations and river crossings pestered by bazillions of little green flies. Rated easy, it wasnt a physical challenge, but required a certain amount of balance and agility. You certainly wouldnt want to recommend it to your elderly aunt what with the dodgy bridge crossings and sliding across wet rocks. We didnt see many dassies on the trail, but they were all over the campsite, grazing on the sprinkler watered lawn and climbing the hand watered trees remarkably unconcerned by all the humans wandering around. Normally they bask on rocks, keeping a sharp eye out for the enormous birds that prey on them. Improbably the closest relative to the elephant, the rock hyrax looks like a plump, overgrown guinea pig.
The falls are loud, and throw up an impressive mist but they are small in comparison to the path the water has carved in the rock and I wonder what they'd be like if it wasnt dry season. The Orange river has its origins in the highlands of the Drakensburg range and winds its way across Lesotho and South Africa to the west coast of Namibia. I also wonder how the Katze and Mohale damns in Lesotho are affecting its flow and water supply to Namibia.
We had a call from Jess of Ezi-Awn. He wasnt able to find any panels in stock at any of his suppliers in South Africa, but can have one made up. Great. We'll have one please... and can you send it for us to pick up in Windhoek? Once again, impressive.
Earlier this afternoon Duncan and I undertook walking the 5km Dassie Trail which took us scrambling across rock formations and river crossings pestered by bazillions of little green flies. Rated easy, it wasnt a physical challenge, but required a certain amount of balance and agility. You certainly wouldnt want to recommend it to your elderly aunt what with the dodgy bridge crossings and sliding across wet rocks. We didnt see many dassies on the trail, but they were all over the campsite, grazing on the sprinkler watered lawn and climbing the hand watered trees remarkably unconcerned by all the humans wandering around. Normally they bask on rocks, keeping a sharp eye out for the enormous birds that prey on them. Improbably the closest relative to the elephant, the rock hyrax looks like a plump, overgrown guinea pig.
The falls are loud, and throw up an impressive mist but they are small in comparison to the path the water has carved in the rock and I wonder what they'd be like if it wasnt dry season. The Orange river has its origins in the highlands of the Drakensburg range and winds its way across Lesotho and South Africa to the west coast of Namibia. I also wonder how the Katze and Mohale damns in Lesotho are affecting its flow and water supply to Namibia.
We had a call from Jess of Ezi-Awn. He wasnt able to find any panels in stock at any of his suppliers in South Africa, but can have one made up. Great. We'll have one please... and can you send it for us to pick up in Windhoek? Once again, impressive.
Thursday, 3 September 2009
Upington
The drive along the N14 reminded me a lot of driving in the outback in Australia. For hours the impossibly straight, long road stretched into the enormous blue sky on the horizon. The landscape was red, dry and rocky, covered in low scrub. Occasionally a yellow mongoose would dart across the road, the white tip of its bushy tail bobbing merrily. We stopped for the night in Upington at a camp by the river.
Wednesday, 2 September 2009
Barberton Nature Reserve
Compared to our drive into the city, the remainder of our time in Johannesburg passed uneventfully. Poor tourists, we didnt even try to see any sights. We mooched about Randburg sorting out the Landy and things for our trip further north, and availed ourselfs of the not-too-slow and relatively inexpensive internet at the hostel. The Landy now has a new battery and shiny dark windows, newly tinted for sunm heat and smash-n-grab protection. We stopped by Ezi-Awn, the manufacturers of the roof tent to enquire about panels for the Landy's awning. Ezi-Awn gave us exceptional customer service. We asked if we could have some of the little hole dooberies that the tent poles go into as a couple had fallen out somewhere in Australia and we were making do with some bolt things and the guy instantly organised one of his staff to replace them on the spot. I also mentioned one of the tarpaulin clips had broken and asked for a replacement clip. Replace all four' Jess said to his staff member, 'these guys have a long way to go.' Less than 10 minutes later it was all sorted, free of charge. They didnt have the panels in stock said they'd ring around the suppliers and try to get some sent up to Upington so we didnt have to wait around. Impressive.
After stopping by the safari store and stocking up on gas cans for the stove and groceries we got a late start out of town so had no chance of reaching our target of Vryberg by nightfall.
Barberton Nature Reserve was a peaceful bird sanctuary on the lake and we were one of only three guests at the camp.
After stopping by the safari store and stocking up on gas cans for the stove and groceries we got a late start out of town so had no chance of reaching our target of Vryberg by nightfall.
Barberton Nature Reserve was a peaceful bird sanctuary on the lake and we were one of only three guests at the camp.
Sunday, 30 August 2009
Jo'burg
Driving on the highway into Jo'burg this afternoon we had a bit of a fright. A man was flashing his id from a car to the right lane of us and motioning us to pull over. We were unsure of what to do but in the end the car pulled in front of us and stopped. The man got out and came to the drivers window on the verge side of the Landy (its a left hand drive). Duncan wound down the window a little and the man flashed his id as he explained in a friendly manner that he was special police with the airport we had just passed and needed to see our id, we werent from Zimbabwe were we? When I asked to see his id more closely he demanded to know where we were from and to see our passports. I reached up for the photocopies of our passports we keep tucked into the passenger side sun visor and again requested to see his id more closely before handing over the information. The man started shouting that we had to give him our passports and I said I'd be happy for them to follow us to the nearest police station where they could see our id. I was pretty skeptical about his story as most law officials dont start yelling at you, and why would special police from the airport want anything to do with an overland vehicle. Still shouting at us, he grabbed at the handle of Duncan's door (unlocked) and yanked it open. Duncan grabbed it back, locked it and we drove off, shaken. I guess they saw the foreign number plates and thought we'd be an easy Sunday afternoon mark. We're just here to go to the place that made the roof tent for some bits and pieces before pressing on towards Springbok. I'm not feeling inspired to get out and about.
Friday, 28 August 2009
Kruger National Park
I'm sitting now at the Crocodile Creek campsite inside Kruger National Park. Its Duncan's turn to sort out dinner. A moment ago I thought I heard someone walking behind me. The campsite is fenced from the game and our site is right by the fence. I shone the light on a hyena. It looked at the light for quite some time before slowly slinking further along the fence. I've never seen any wild animal so close. Apparantly the hyena in the park patrol the fences hoping for scraps that some irresponsible humans throw over despite clear directions not to. It saddens me that wild animals learn to rely on human tourism and become so bold that they become a danger to humans and eventually are destroyed by the authorities. I think of the baboons at the Simons Town campsite methodically pushing over the bins and going through the contents and also the vervet at St Lucia. One of the many nice things about Praia Mar e Sol in Mozamique is that the wildlife we saw, was wild... and wary of humans, rather than waiting for them to leave a nice supper. On the roof of the Landy we have a plastic strongbox where we store any rubbish until there is somewhere suitable to leave it.
...
On our last day driving around the park, we stopped for lunch at the Timbavati picnic site where Duncan discovered the many corrogated roads had worked loose the spare wheel on the rear door and set about removing, re-tightening and replacing it. A sign at the site declared
which were very 'tame' and begging at all the tables. There are signs in all the campsites explaining that feeding the wild animals guarantees their demise and that anyone doing it in the National Parks will be fined and/or prosecuted in a court of law. So what was the park employee doing? Feeding the damned Bushbuck, after which the tourists who saw him, did too.
Grrr.
...
Due to a higher rainfall in the south of the park, where we started, it is greener and attracts a greater number of game except for the antelopes (we have seen so many we now refer to them collectively as 'boks') and consequently the cats that prey on them. As you drive north the greenery turns brown then grey. There were miles and miles of Mopani trees, leaves afire in colours that reminded me of the famous New England fall.
Animal spotting turns out to be quite tricky. They seem to like to disguise themselves as other things. Crocodiles masquerade as logs, hippos as boulders, elephants as shadows, rocks and dead trees and giraffes as tree trunks and branches. The giraffes in particular seemed to have a way of standing completely still and blending into the background until a twitch of an ear or blink of an eye identified them and all of a sudden they were standing right in front of you. It reminded me of those magic eyepictures that were all the rage in the 90's.
We spent five nights camping in the Kruger and in addition to all the other wild animals we saw at Mokala and the other National Parks and more antelope of various persuasions, we saw a couple of large herds of buffalo, loads of elephant, a leopard hiding in the bush and a maned lion contentedly devouring the red and bloodied carcass of something.
...
On our last day driving around the park, we stopped for lunch at the Timbavati picnic site where Duncan discovered the many corrogated roads had worked loose the spare wheel on the rear door and set about removing, re-tightening and replacing it. A sign at the site declared
which were very 'tame' and begging at all the tables. There are signs in all the campsites explaining that feeding the wild animals guarantees their demise and that anyone doing it in the National Parks will be fined and/or prosecuted in a court of law. So what was the park employee doing? Feeding the damned Bushbuck, after which the tourists who saw him, did too.
Grrr.
...
Due to a higher rainfall in the south of the park, where we started, it is greener and attracts a greater number of game except for the antelopes (we have seen so many we now refer to them collectively as 'boks') and consequently the cats that prey on them. As you drive north the greenery turns brown then grey. There were miles and miles of Mopani trees, leaves afire in colours that reminded me of the famous New England fall.
Animal spotting turns out to be quite tricky. They seem to like to disguise themselves as other things. Crocodiles masquerade as logs, hippos as boulders, elephants as shadows, rocks and dead trees and giraffes as tree trunks and branches. The giraffes in particular seemed to have a way of standing completely still and blending into the background until a twitch of an ear or blink of an eye identified them and all of a sudden they were standing right in front of you. It reminded me of those magic eyepictures that were all the rage in the 90's.
We spent five nights camping in the Kruger and in addition to all the other wild animals we saw at Mokala and the other National Parks and more antelope of various persuasions, we saw a couple of large herds of buffalo, loads of elephant, a leopard hiding in the bush and a maned lion contentedly devouring the red and bloodied carcass of something.
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