Gone traveling

It’s been a while since we’ve been able to write as there have’nt been many internet connections along then way. Over the last 2 weeks, we’ve travelled from Jo’burg thru Zimbabwe and are now relaxing  at Victoria Falls. We’ve seen some amazing sites and have some great experiences. In Kruger we were able to spot 4 of the Big 5, missing the elusive leopard. We then drove thru the Blyde River Canyon and checked out rock pools and a mountain peak with a majestic view named God’s Window.

We endured some early wake-up calls like the 3:30am wake-up to get to the Zimbabwe border and thru which took about 4hrs. In Zimbabwe we saw the Great Zimbabwe, had a chance to walk with lions at Antelope park in Gweru and saw Rhinos while on foot only 5m away in Matoposo park near Bulawayo. Unfortunately the country is still suffering in many ways such as electricity and water shortages. It was strange walking through a large supermarket with no lights on and no power to the freezer section.

Yesterday we finally arrived in Vic Falls. We hope to check out the Falls later today if the weather holds! 

After 7hrs from Coffee Bay to Durban we were ready for a relaxing evening.  We were fortunate enough to have been invited to spend the night with a South African family in the suburbs and enjoyed good stories and a fantastic meal. One of our favorites was about how the monkeys steal all the avocados and mangoes from the trees in the backyard.

 Unfortunately we didn’t have an opportunity to see much of Durban the next day other than the huge shopping mall nearby. We had to be on the road early to get to Jo’burg before sunset. The ride wasn’t very eventful, though we did have to nearly coast into a gas station on fumes. A bit of rush hour traffic and we were finally in Jo’burg our final destination before heading off on our overland trip and the last of my driving.   

In Jo’burg we mostly caught up on emails and other chores though we did have the opportunity to visit Soweto which provided some good perspectives on the apartheid struggle.

After leaving the garden route we entered the Wold Coast and home of the Xhosa tribe. Our first stop was in Cinsta at Buccaneer’s a very cool hostel right next to the beach and some distance from the main road.

Following a quick overnight in Cinsta we left for our much awaited 3-day visit to Coffee Bay. It took approx. 5hrs to reach Coffee Bay from the previous stop including 90 minutes on 84km of pothole strewn paved and dirt roads through small villages. We were a bit sceptical upon arriving in Coffee Bay given the approaching storm clouds. However the time passed quickly and we had a great time. We saw the Transkei Big 5 (goats, donkeys, sheep, etc). Ate dinner with the local villagers. Checked out the “Hole in the Wall” and picked up some surfing lessons. Not a bad 3 days!

It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to write. Mostly due to poor internet connections. After leaving Oudtshoorn we made our way back to the “garden route” and onto Knysna. We were only in Kynsna for a day but managed to sample the local delicay (oysters), visit the Kynsna heads which lead to the Indian Ocean and check out the famous forest.

From Knysna we stopped in the surfing capital of Jeffrey’s Bay. The place had an amazing beach but with so few people on the beach and frigid water we decided to just watch the surfers and keep ourselves on warm dry land.

On Saturday we said goodbye to Cape Town and made our way toward the Garden Route. Toward the end of the drive we passed through Mossel Bay and stopped for sandwiches and coffee. Then finally after 6hrs of travel we arrived in Oudtshoorn in the Little Karoo, the ostrich capital of South Africa. Of course we couldn’t resist a nice juicy ostrich steak for dinner and then scrambled ostrich egg in the morning. 

 After breakfast on Sunday our guide drove us 1800m up a nearby mountain for a bike ride down the Swarterberg Pass that is a mostly dirt and gravel road. I had to do quite a bit of coaxing to get Andi on the bike but she managed nicely after finally agreeing. Essentially it’s all downhill and quite steep at times so we barely took our hands off the breaks. There’s not going to be any downhill mountain biking careers for us in the future! We finished at Cango Caves well winded after an excruciatingly steep 1km uphill climb. Then it was onto checkout the caves which were enormous. From there we toured an ostrich farm where I attempted to ride an ostrich (with some big help from the locals). Then we watched as the guide rode the ostrich effortlessly. Checking out the shop was cool as they sold everythig ostrich: ostrich jerkey, ostrich eggs that are lamps, decorated ostrich eggs, ostrich leather bags, ostrich feather dusters, etc.

We drove down the False Bay coast toward Cape Point stopping in Simon’s Town for lunch. After a healthy lunch of fish nuggets and chips we stopped by to visit the penguin sanctuary at Boulders. While quite cute I must admit that these birds are fairly lazy or maybe it was their midday siesta time. Nonetheless it was still cool to see them in their natural environment.

From there we headed down to Cape Point where we climbed up to the lighthouse to witness some great views. We also hiked over to the Cape of Good Hope and by the beach where Bartholomew Dias landed (1st European to round Africa by ship).

Today we spent much of the day just lounging around the guesthouse before making it out to Clifton beach in the afternoon. The weather was great and we decided to close the day with a few sunset drinks in Camp’s Bay.

We departed on Monday to visit the Western Cape’s wine region. After a brief drive from Cape Town our first stop was Stellanbosch. We made a quick walking tour of the town admiring the old traditional white buildings and stopping in the famous Ooh Van Winkie (not sure of spelling?) general store.

We then drove to Franschoek which is nestled between majestic mountains on 3 sides. From there it was onto wine tasting and we made it to 3 vineyards: Dieu Donne, Rickety Bridge and Mont Rochelle. Each with its own fabulous setting. Not a bad way to spend the afternoon. Finally we finished off the evening with a delightful meal at Rueben’s in the town center.

 The next day we drove back to Cape Town via the coast stopping into Hermanus to admire the whales. Truly an interesting experience seeing them (fairly close) from the cliffs. From there we drove around False Bay admiring the scenery and beaches evening spotting a family of baboons enjoying some roadside sunshine along the way.

Before departing for Robben Island we decided to grab a bite at one of the nearby restaurants. While eating we noticed that a next door restaurant “Paulaner’s” was having Oktoberfest from 16 Oct-1 Nov. No sooner did we see this then the Bavarian band marched by into the makeshift tent by the restaurant playing the usual numbers. It seems after so many years visiting the Oktoberfest it begins to follow one around! However no time to join the festivities as we were off to Robben Island.

On the tour of the island we had great guides including a former political prisoner who showed us around the prison and where Nelson Mandela was held. Not the cheeriest of places but a worthwhile visit with significant meaning.  Also some interesting wildlife - spring boks, penguins and rabbits (apparently +8,000). On the way back we hit some high seas that made the ride quite choppy. Fortunately the journey is only 20min and we managed to get back landside without needing to use any bags. On the way up the boat ramp we glimpsed a couple of seals just basking in the sun. A fitting end to the day.

Today we decided to climb up Table Mountain using the Platteklip gorge route. Seemed easy enough. The trek took only 2hrs but our legs were ready to fall off afterwards. I suppose the lack of exercise as of late had something to do with that. On the way up we ran into a mountain spring bok (antelope) only 5m from the trail! It was pretty cool just standing there and watching him look down the mountain atop a large boulder. After summiting we opted for the much easier cable car on the way down. Too tired to do much else we then headed for the Clifton beaches where we relaxed in the sun for a couple of hours.