StuartandTania

Travel Diary: South Africa – Desert & Sea

And we are off again for lap 2! Last year after the first phase of lockdown we left Cape Town planning to cruise part of the Western Cape interior then head down to the Wild Coast before getting to Durban, that plan didn’t work out due to a tightening of the internal travel regulations so if at first you don’t succeed try again (just 38 weeks later).

After a busy but relaxed week in Cape Town in which we ticked off a number of jobs, caught up with friends and celebrated belated 50th birthdays, for Jan & Nicole, we hit the road again towards Montagu and the Klein Karoo. First stop was a lovely spot called Gecko Creek Nature reserve where we enjoyed 3 days of utter silence, apart from the constant chatter of birds, and a digital detox. At first glance the Karoo appears empty and barren but it always amazes in respect to the diversity of fauna and flora, you just have to pause and soak it up. At the end of the “hard” lockdown last year when we left Cape Town we had stayed at a similar place only 50km away, then the temps had been rather chilly with snow on the surrounding mountains and we had to wear our full winter kit whereas this time we were able to laze in the small splash pool at camp.

We are slow learners but have eventually got the hang of the Western Cape weekend getaway rush (or at least are aware of it) and so upon leaving Gecko Creek we were fully prepared to struggle to find somewhere for the weekend, surprisingly we didn’t! But before heading off to look for a campsite we stopped in Montagu to pick up cell signal and contact a mechanic in Hermanus, Mr Jones had been worrying Stuart for a while with quite wild temperature fluctuations and we had decided it was time to get it seen too.

We generally act like proper pensioners these days and try not travel on the busy weekender days (i.e. Friday afternoon and Sunday afternoon) but as we had an appointment with the mechanic for 8am on Monday, we hit the road around lunchtime on Sunday and joined all those rushing back to town for the start of a new week.

On Monday morning we were up bright and early (it was still dark!) to ensure we arrived at opening time and that Mr Jones could be seen too before they started on any other jobs. As it turned out they had opened 30minutes earlier than they told us on the phone and already had jobs underway when we got there and after a less than helpful discussion asked us to come back at 2pm that afternoon. Thinking we had no other options and needing to kill time we went and parked on the cliff tops overlooking the ocean near Hermanus town centre. We hadn’t been parked 5 minutes when this old series short wheel base Landy pulled in next to us and asked “do you perhaps need any work done?” The series of events that followed will be forever remembered and are a reminder that to us travelling is so much more about the people you meet and unplanned encounters rather than ticking off having visited physical locations and sights.

Having answered in the affirmative that yes surprisingly we did need some work done, our newly found guardian angel phoned his mechanic (who had restored the beauty he was driving) and then charged off across town with us in pursuit to the “workshop”. The workshop could have been a museum given the number of wonderful old series Land Rover they had parked there either being restored or already full restored. Upon arrival Mr Jones instantly fell in love and we weren’t far behind him. The first hour was spent drinking coffee, receiving a tour and just admiring the pride which Stiaan and his team had in the work they are doing. If you are even faintly interested in the old series Land Rover, check out www.karoo2point25.com for some serious eye candy and temptation. When lunchtime rolled around and because we were waiting for a part to be delivered from Cape Town, they lent us the “shop” vehicle, a partly restored open top long wheel base aptly named Picasso so that we could go out for lunch and do some exploring. We have often said that when we settle down that we would like an old short wheelbase Landy as a beach and shop run around, driving Picasso definitely cemented the idea. He was an absolute blast!

With Mr Jones back to normal and “sweating power not oil” (we wish) we headed out the next morning via the Tradouw pass which takes you up over the mountains and into the Karoo. Any pass built by the famous road and pass builder, Thomas Bain, is guaranteed to test the cooling system on a big old beast like Mr Jones, thankfully he passed with flying colours. After a stop in Barrydale for a decadent milkshake at Diesel & Creme we headed further along route 62 to a lovely lush campground near Ladismith and below Towerkop (English: Magic Peak). Towerkop is the first known rock-climbing route in South Africa, having been climbed by a local farmer in 1885.

The Easter weekend was approaching and based on all our previous weekend experiences in the western cape we were fearful of a large influx of campers and therefore a lack of availability at campsites. Although we were quietly hopeful that perhaps we were now far enough from Cape Town and its surrounding towns to avoid this, which as it turns out was to be the case. With a whole day to cover just 150km to our next chosen spot just outside Calitzdorp, we turned off the R62 and took a delightful detour through “Seweweekspoort”, another Thomas Bain road.

The pass winds through the Swartberrg mountains for 17 kilometres while crossing the Huis river 23 times with the mountains soaring for hundreds of metres above you. In places like this you cannot help but feel so tiny and insignificant.

Folklore is full of stories on the origin of the name given to the Poort. Some say it took seven weeks for mounted troops to escort a gang of highway robbers having being banished from Barrydale, through the Poort. Others say a stock thief hid for seven weeks before being arrested, yet others say it took seven weeks for a gang of brandy smugglers to return through the Poort from Beaufort West and another story is that a farmer in early times got lost in the mountain for seven weeks. A more boring but likely explanation is that the name is derived from that of the Seven-week’s fern (Polystichum adiantiforum), called Seweweeksvaring in Afrikaans, which occurs in moist places and crevices.

Having spent the easter weekend in an off grid remote campsite outside Calitzdorp, we headed into town for a few provisions on Easter Monday before moving on to the Calitzdorp spa which is roughly 30km out of town. We fancied a soak in the hot mineral pools and wanted to be somewhere with decent cell signal so that we could wish Stuart’s mom Happy Birthday and catchup with Devon. The spa considered the date to still be “in season” even though everyone was leaving as the weekend was effectively over and so wanted over R500 to camp for one night, well outside what we are prepared to pay but fortunately just around the corner is a guest farm from which we had seen lots of caravans departing. Their pricing was much more reasonable and as a bonus they also had a hot water pool.

Having caught up with family and social media, it was time to go to Hell or more correctly the Gamkaskloof (aka Die Hell). Before even beginning the long journey into Die Hell one must ascend the Swartberg Pass, another marvelous Thomas Bains creation, which climbs almost 1000m up the side the of the Swartberg mountains. From the turn-off on the Swartberg pass to the end of the valley known as Die Hell is only 37 kilometres but it will take at least 2 hours as it is truly a long and windy gravel road. According to www.mountainpassessouthafrica.co.za it has 201 corners, climbs over a 1000m and descends a further 1800m as you pass over a series of small and big passes along the way.

The drive is truly spectacular and it is amazing to watch how the flora constantly changes depending on the altitude but it is also quite a tiring drive and most definitely not for somebody who suffers from vertigo, so when Tania started to develop a 1000 yard stare and with still at least an hour to go plus the prospect of repeating the whole thing the next day (it is a dead end road) we decided to rather turnaround and head back out. For us this was an excellent decision as we didn’t end the day exhausted and stressed, plus we found a wonderful roadside spot to spend the night just before reaching the Swartberg pass and so got to spend the night in complete isolation where you could literally hear yourself think and probably the nearest other humans where 20km or more away in any direction.

After a a wonderful night in which the only disturbance to our sleep was waking up because it was just too quite we reluctantly packed up and headed for Victoria Bay. Once again, we were left in awe at the landscapes, as in the space of 120km we descended from the Swartberg mountains with their stunning fynbos at 1600m altitude, then across the dry valley that surrounds Oudsthoorn, famous for its ostriches, before climbing up and over the wet Outeniqua mountains and dropping down into George and then further down into the quaint seaside village of Victoria Bay. While we only got a brief glimpse of George as we drove through we were pleasantly surprised by its funk factor, perhaps if we land up on another lap we will spend more time there.

Vic Bay is unlike any other coastal town we have visited in South Africa, it is a tiny bay tucked in between two high headlands with approximately only 15 houses all on a terrace and promenade just 3m above the high-water mark. A little higher up on each headland is another terrace which makes up a caravan park. As we weren’t needing a private ablution setup or prepared to pay the higher camping fees for that, we were allocated to the “rail side” terrace which had great views up the bay to the right-hand surf point break. Surfing was the main reason we had come there so Stuart was not complaining. The nature of the bay and point break makes the surf very consistent which also makes it very popular although it does come with consequences as the shoreline is very rocky and you really don’t want to get your takeoff wrong. The crowded nature of the lineup combined with the intimidation factor of the takeoff resulted in two fairly frustrating sessions for Stuart before he moved further into the bay and played on the smaller but less crowded beach break. All in all, we had a lovely extended weekend in the bay.

Leaving Vic Bay, we truly embraced the concept of slow travel by moving only 20km to the town of Wilderness and where pleasantly surprised by the SANParks Ebb & Flow campsite. The main reason for stopping there was to get some laundry done as they had self-help machines but as it is located on the river and lakes of the area we also planned to get some paddling in on the SUP. After a couple of shorter paddles, we set off for a day out planning to paddle to a waterfall higher up the river. Our interpretation of the information available was that you could either hike or paddle to this waterfall so we assumed that meant paddling right up to it but after a few kilometres of paddling we reached a spot with a whole lot of canoes pulled onto the bank and a sign saying “canoe pullout” so we pulled off the water too. Unfortunately, due to our earlier interpretation we had not brought any shoes or slipslops with us and so set-off, barefoot, along the sandy path figuring if it got too rocky we could always just turn back. Because of the steep nature of the valley sides the path soon become an elevated boardwalk through the dense vegetation. Initially the boardwalk was easy to walk on but eventually the constant slat width and gaps starts to tenderise the feet but by then we were committed and so we continued in the hope that the waterfall would soon appear. After finally getting to it we were a little underwhelmed and certainly would not have done the 3km round hike if we had known but then again perhaps we would feel differently if we had brought shoes along. Back at the SUP, we enjoyed a snack lunch while soaking our tender feet in the lovely cool waters of the river before taking a gentle paddle back to camp.

During our travels in Africa we had been introduced by mutual friends to a chap called Mitch but our paths had while almost crossing in Rwanda never actually crossed and so we knew him only via WhatsApp and Facebook. As we were going to be passing through his hometown on our way up the coast we made a plan to meet up for a coffee. Mitch together with 3 mates had rebuilt an old Land Rover Forward Control which they called Agnes and upon his return to South Africa he remodeled the interior slightly to make it more of bachelor pad than a home for four young guys. Now settled in Knysna and to take the love for your Landy one step further than most he has built his current home around Agnes: she enjoys pride of place just off the lounge and kitchen and doubles as a spare bedroom, which if/when he likes he can drive away in.

Travelling with your home being your car and vice versa often makes it difficult to go out for an evening meal but Tania had been eyeing out for some time a funky looking spot just outside Plettenburg Bay called Emily Moon which we thought could be great for a “spoil” Friday evening, provided we could find somewhere nearby to camp. So, after leaving Knysna we stopped and checked out the venue and while the social media image versus our initial impression didn’t matchup it didn’t stop us from deciding to spend a few days camped on the Keurbooms river. The SUP was inflated once again and exploratory trips made upriver. At this stage in life we have no idea where we will settle down when we finally stop travelling but Plettenburg Bay is one area we have often thought could be a possibility, mainly because we have seen adverts for a very cool retirement village there. After the few days we spent camping there it may have slipped slightly higher up the list of possible places where we could put down roots once again: it has great nature in and around the river, good beaches, relatively warm seawater, a funky small town feel and many “holiday” destinations of a wide variety within short reach. Perhaps in a decade or so we will be back to buy a property, a small pleasure boat, a short wheel base landy for running around in and who knows what else…

After a wonderful few days in Plettenburg Bay, a cold front rolled in and brought with it cold and wet weather so we packed up and headed inland. Once again we crossed the Outeniqua mountains on spectacular secondary roads although this time unfortunately missing out on some of the views due to the mist and rain. Having crossed the mountains and with the rain behind us we passed through the small but pretty town of Avontuur and for the briefest of moments were back on the R62 route (which we have so enjoyed this past month) before we turned off and headed northwards in the direction of Uniondale and the turnoff to the Baviaanskloof. The rain had followed us from Plett and that night we camped near the exit of a small side kloof with its dried up watercourse which made for a slightly restless night as we both had visions of flash floods for which the Karoo is renowned.

The Baviaanskloof valley is approximately 200km long, with the last 100km (if driving west to east) being truly spectacular and has been described as a blend of the Sani & Bloukrans passes combined with a stiff dose of Tsitsikamma and Kruger Parks natural beauty. With a description like that it has quite a reputation to live up too and we thoroughly enjoyed the drive despite destroying a tyre on the rocks which ultimately resulted in us replacing 4 a few days later. Tania even managed to forget her fear of heights on some of the passes and film parts of the drive.

Having spent the night camped just before the end of the Baviaanskloof we were up early the following morning in order to head into Port Elizabeth with the main goal of seeing if the tyre was repairable and if not hopefully finding some replacements. The bad news upon our arrival was that it was most definitely not repairable and so after a few hours wait while the shop tracked down stock we eventually bought the last 4 tyres of that size and brand in PE.

Throughout our trip we have had hardly any “hangry” moments but after the mornings drive, a long wait for tyres and not enough food or liquid nourishment compounded by miscommunication of what we each thought we should do next it went a little paw paw resulting in a silent drive through town as we went in search of a caravan park to spend the night. Communication and mutual respect are key when living in each other’s pockets, as we do, and so by evening harmony was restored in the land of Mr Jones.

On our way up the coast we had thought we would spend a few days in Port Elizabeth in order to visit Stuart’s Aunt and the friends we had met in Malawi but as neither were in town there was no reason to hang around and so the following morning we headed up the coast for East London with two objectives in mind: (1) laundry day and (2) a big stock up of Mr Jones before we headed off onto the Wild Coast for at least the next month.

While we had not been able to meet up with our “Malawian” friends in Port Elizabeth, all was not lost as they were staying at their holiday home in Kei River Mouth, so with our tasks completed in East London we took a leisurely drive up the coast to visit them. Kitty & Gerrie have been our “go-to” inspiration story when talking with people about our trip who all too often say something along the lines of “… if only we had done something like this when we were younger…”. We had met them in Malawi after they had been on the road for approximately 5 months of what was originally only going to be a 3-month trip to go see the Serengeti migration, added to that both are in their mid 60’s and Gerrie is in need of a double knee replacement. They would still go on for another 2 months before getting home with a detour through Mozambique. It was so good to catchup and to learn that despite Covid having delayed the knee replacements they have not lost any of their adventurous spirit.

Kei River Mouth is technically the southern point of the area known as the Wild Coast in South Africa, so it felt quite appropriate that our last leg of this part of the journey began with a ferry ride across the river followed by a game of dodgem with potholes and cows (for which the area is renowned).

Our plan for the wild coast was quite simple: head to Mdumbi where we spent an extended period over December & January and spend another extended period there enjoying the mild autumn weather this part of the coast is renowned for and for Stuart to get in as much surfing as possible. As we publish this blog post we have spent just over a full month here and will still be here for a while longer.

Gallery: Desert & Sea

Captains(s) Log: April 2021

Maintenance Log

Travel Diary: South Africa – Western Cape

With almost a year of “killing time” due to Covid under our belts and having adjusted to the idea that any opportunity to travel to South America was still a long way off we timed our arrival in the Western Cape for it’s best season of long summer days and no wind, expecting to spend 3 months there so it was somewhat of a surprise when after only 1 month we had run out of places to visit and had itchy feet to head back up the east coast.

We only had one date committed too upon our arrival in the Western Cape and that was to be in Cape Town around about the 20 March, in order to celebrate Jan & Nicoles joint 50th birthdays. The celebration was meant to be in 2020 and was the reason we arrived back in Cape Town last year when we did, sadly Covid put paid to that celebration as we got locked down on Nicoles birthday. So one year later they were flying in to Cape Town for a belated celebration.

With the above in mind we decided to skip around the Cape peninsula when leaving Cape Agulhus and Bredasdrop (end of our last blog post) and instead go inland for some time in the Cape Winelands, Cederberg and Swartland regions before heading up the West Coast.

The first stop was to be just outside Worcester at a spot on the Breede River and our introduction to what seems to be a common theme in the Western Cape: busy weekend camping spots squashed between a working farm and a river. With campers crammed in across approximately 80 plots along the river it didn’t take long before the accountant amongst us calculated that the farmer probably makes more money from weekend camping and chalet hire than growing apples!

Once the weekend crowds disappeared we enjoyed a very peaceful few days and even got the SUP out for a long overdue paddle.

Continuing northwards our route took us into Prince Alfred Hamlet and up the Gydo pass onto the Koue Bokkeveld (cold buck shrubland), a pass we had last been on back in 2013 when we took our motorbike down to the Cape to view the springtime Namaqua flowers. Then it had been so cold that we had lost feeling in our fingers and toes while riding which made descending the pass on a motorbike an interesting experience, this time around we had the total opposite experience with very hot temperatures and having to slowly climb the pass while monitoring the coolant temp on Mr Jones.

With soaring temperatures, the afternoon turned into a bit of a mission as the first farm and campsite we stopped at had nobody in attendance and didn’t look too appealing so we travelled further along, only to find that the next spot was fully booked. After a few phone calls we found a spot in the Cederberg mountains but that meant a 2 hour drive still. At the same time we were trying to help Devon with some CV advice and so had pulled over under the shade of a tree (back at the entrance to the first farm) in order to conduct a video call with him, when the super friendly farmer come driving down the road and stopped to see if we needed assistance. Needless to say we ended up back on the first farm (Schoongezicht) and enjoyed a lovely night camped very close to a spectacular natural rock pool. Unfortunately they were fully booked for the weekend and so in the morning we moved on towards the Cederberg but not before the farmer had bestowed us with gifts of watermelon, spanspek and tomatoes!

The approach into the Cederberg from the Tankwa Karoo side is absolutely spectacular with big windy dirt passes, although Mr Jones wasn’t that happy with the high ambient temperatures and so halfway up one of the passes we had to stop and idle for a bit while we waited for his coolant temperature to drop down to an acceptable level before carrying on.

After a night at Cederberg Oasis we moved on to the campsite at Sanddrift and were fortunate to get the last available site (it was the weekend again). Sanddrift campsite is perfectly placed below the spectacular Wolfberg cracks and Arch if you want to do some hikes, but with the summer temps in the mid 30’s (centigrade) we opted rather for lazy afternoons in the river and wine tastings at the nearby Cederberg wines.

The icing on the cake at the end of the weekend was some divine carrot cake for Sunday morning coffee from the neighbours with whom we had shared our watermelon with the previous afternoon.

Long roads and big sky on our way into the Cederberg

Our original thoughts had been to head across to the West Coast and then up to the Namaqua National Park where we had spent a few lovely days last year on our way down from Namibia (Travel Diary: South Africa’s West Coast) but with the weather forecast showing quite mild temps and lots of wind we instead decided to spend a few days at “The Baths” just outside Citrusdal. This meant we had finally come full circle as this was to be our first “repeat” stay of the entire time we have been in South Africa, we even landed up on the same site as we had been on 1 year ago!

After 4 days of soaking up the warm hot spring waters it was time to move as the weekend was upon us which meant no vacancy in the inn again for travellers like us who don’t plan and book ahead. In the Cederberg we had chatted with a biker who had mentioned that the only spot on the West Coast to have any kind of decent swell at this time of the year is Lamberts Bay so with the winds having died down we headed across there for the weekend and hopefully some surf time for Stuart. What we didn’t know is that the water temperature at Lamberts Bay is a particularly chilly 14 deg C which is enough to give you an ice cream headache just by dipping your toe in the water. With his full wetsuit on Stuart did manage two very brief sessions over the weekend but was also very quick to assure Tania that there was no risk of us getting marooned for a month like had happened on the Wild Coast over December.

The campsite at Lamberts Bay is right on the edge of town which meant it was easy for us to wander in and enjoy a bite to eat for lunch, partake in a wine tasting (at which we also got some serious over-sharing of insights into small town life) and visit bird island with it’s thousands of nesting Blue Eyed Cape Gannets.

Tania’s sister, Samantha, had hinted she would like to come out and join us for a weekend and so from Lamberts Bay we turned south again and headed down to Paternoster/Tietesbaai with a quick overnight stop in St Helena Bay and a dusty fenced compound known as Midwest caravan park.

Upon our arrival at Tietesbaai we had been informed that while we could camp anywhere we liked during the week we would have to move to the overflow area for the weekend as they had a large number of bookings. We found this a bit strange as it is off-grid and fairly basic so not going to appeal to your average weekender, our confusion deepened the following morning when chatting to some other campers who had been there over the previous weekend and not experienced any large influx of campers so in our minds why should the coming weekend be any different. Our curiosity and confusion continued throughout the next couple of days as we watched workers carefully demarcating sites and placing tape to cordon off certain areas. In the mean time we received a healthy dose of inspiration and proof that age is only a number with the arrival of Ursula, an older single lady who recently acquired a Toyota Landcruiser with a similar roof conversion to Mr Jones and is planning on driving it up to Uganda in the coming year, on her own!

By Thursday afternoon a steady inflow of vehicles had begun and we soon learnt that Tietiesbaai has for the past 11 years, on the last weekend of February, hosted the Jazz on the Rocks festival, unfortunately Covid stopped it this year but many of the festival goers come through nonetheless for a weekend away, just without the performing artists.

Scenes from previous festivals, with no official festival in 2021 it was busy but not on this scale

In the mean time Samantha arrived on Friday afternoon and thus becomes Mr Jones first guest since we have been on the road and hopefully not his last.

It had been a number of weeks since being able to do a proper load of laundry so the first order of business on Monday morning was to find a laundromat, having packed up we said a fond farewell to Tietesbaai and headed into town. As the area is a popular weekend destination it also meant the laundry service was quite busy with B&B business and so would only be able to get our clothes and bedding back to us the next day. This meant a return trip to Tietesbaai for one more night while we waited on our laundry.

Having by now decided not to head up to the Namaqua park area but with time on our hands until we needed to be in Cape Town we began to struggle to find attractive places to stay, all too many options seemed to be a caravan park laid in a straight line along a river on a working farm with not much to do. After collecting our laundry we ended up just outside Piketberg at a spot called Klein Paradys (ironically in English = small paradise) which was exactly what we had been trying to avoid – a long line of caravan sites under shade awnings overlooking a river on a working grape farm. When they would only accept a two night booking (even during the week) we shrugged our shoulders and made the most of a paved campsite and artificial shade to conduct a spring clean on Mr J.

After our two nights at Klein Paradys we once again got caught out by the weekend exodus of the mother city residents (and every other small town around it) so we ended up backtracking towards Citrusdal and a spot called Piekenierskloof and one day later to another spot only 15km away called Koningskop. Thankfully at Koningskop we get a spot at the far end of the campsite and so got too enjoy relative peace for the weekend. Only to be disturbed when half a tree come crashing down at 1am, and the subsequent screams, onto a tent in the more congested section. The occupants were incredibly lucky and escaped with only a few cuts which was hard to believe when in daylight you could see the size of the tree.

As a break to our long journey between the above two spots we stopped at the Piekeneerskloof farm stall and did a wine tasting of the wines of the some name. Apart from some nice wine we, for the first time in a longtime, found some awesome design inspiration for a future home in the tasting room and even more impressively Stuart ate olives as they paired well with the wine (he eats pretty much everything except olives and brussel sprouts). Could this indicate that Tania will soon have to share?

Enjoying a simple supper inside MR J a few weeks later on a stormy evening, thanks to Piekenierskloof

Hoping for more of a nature experience we headed around the mountains to a Cape Nature site called Tweede Tol. In English this means second toll and was the location for a toll booth in days gone by on the spectacular Bains kloof pass (Bains Kloof details and history). The setting is spectacular but unfortunately the local baboon troop appears to be a problem and so we only stayed one night. While we were away from the car at one of the spectacular swimming holes, they climbed on the roof of Mr Jones and ripped open a few existing tears on the surfboard bag and later when we were home even jumped on the awning. Naughty vervet monkeys are one thing to deal with but large cheeky baboons are a whole different ballgame as they are much bigger, aggressive and therefore potentially dangerous.

Leaving Tweede Tol we ended up having a long roundabout day as we went from one “riverside campsite on a working farm” to another with none appealing to us and then on to a campsite which has sadly closed down, to finally end up outside Hermanus at a caravan park full of silverbacks. Sometimes not booking or having a pre-determined route/plan lets us down. Later that week an unusual cold front (for this time of year) hit the Cape and we got to experience a taste of what Patagonia might be like when the wind speed got to in excess of 80km/h, it certainly made cooking inside a challenge and even sleeping that night was not easy. It was by far the windiest night we have spent in Mr Jones so far. At least on the second night of cold windy conditions we could enjoy a good bottle of wine while hunkered down inside thanks to an afternoon wine tasting at HermanusPietersfontein, just up the road from the campsite.

The world can be a really small place some days, we have mentioned bumping into the couple (Vivian & Hanlie) who have a Landrover just like Mr Jones in South America while in the Drakensberg in September 2020 and then only a few weeks later meeting Hanlie’s sister in a campsite in the Waterberg. In addition we bumped into their son while on the wild coast in December so it was with some amazement that they drove into the campsite one afternoon and we bumped into each again. A lovely evening followed of swopping stories, ideas about layout for the vehicles and South America travel advice.

While the campsite was nothing to write home about, we opted to stay the whole week, partly because we had made plans to meet friends on the Sunday in Grabouw (about 50km away) and partly because we weren’t aware of anything better in the area. On Saturday we headed in to Hermanus hoping to have a late tapas style lunch at Fichs pool, a spot Tania had found on the internet which looked really funky as it sat on the cliff edge above a tiny bay of aquamarine sea. It unfortunately lacked soul and was filled with too many people wearing button up linen shirts, white shorts and Panama hats for our liking and so we decided to skip that and see what else we could find. A little bit further along we come across a a great little courtyard restaurant with live music, good food and surrounded by funky art galleries, exactly our kind of place.

As mentioned earlier we had hung around in the area because we had made plans to meet up with our old friends from Johannesburg, Denver & Corrine, in Grabouw. Grabouw was the chosen destination as their son Wade was swimming in an open water event. A lovely day ensued, firstly watching Wade kick some serious butt and then socialising with Denver, Corrine and some of the other parents from the swimming crew. We had thought we would only spend a few hours there but ended up leaving around 5pm for a late dash over the mountains down into Franschhoek and onwards to Cape Town. After 51 weeks we arrived back at Samantha’s house ready to spend a week and celebrate some belated 50th birthdays.

Gallery: South Africa – Western Cape

Along with this chapter, we have two Captain(s) log entries, covering February 2021 and March 2021 in which we attempt to record some of the emotions we experience through the trip.

Maintenance Log: For those interested in technical things, our running record of repairs and maintenance both to Mr Jones and the equipment we carry along with him.

And finally if you have enjoyed this little “chapter of our life” and aren’t yet subscribed to the blog head on over to the Welcome page and complete the form to subscribe, we promise not to bombard you with too many posts, just the occasional rambling. Thanks, Stuart & Tania

Travel Diary: South Africa Wild Coast & Garden Route

With the festive season upon us and the expected annual migration of holidaymakers to the popular beaches we head onto the “wild coast” with a loose plan to hideaway during this busy period. A planned 3 days in one spot quickly turns into 4 weeks before we manage to extract ourselves and begin working our way further down the coast towards the southernmost tip of Africa.

After 3 weeks of hard work at the farm carrying out maintenance and upgrades to Mr Jones we hit the road with the intention of spending Christmas and New Year on the wild coast. It had been just over 5 months (during the hard lockdown) that we first arrived in Natal which was then the “hotspot” province, the irony was not lost on us that we where now heading into South Africa’s latest “wave 2 hotspot”, the Eastern Cape.

The drive across to Kokstad, while hard going with all the very steep ups and downs, was very scenic and enjoyable. As we needed a few grocery items we braved a very busy town centre where two things stood out for us, the paranoia that comes with being surrounded by masses of people when in a Covid hotspot (everything got sanitized when we got back in Mr J!) and the number of coloured people in town (this was a not a part of South Africa where we expected that). Once settled at Mount Currie nature reserve just outside of town we did some research and learnt via Wikipedia that: the area around Kokstad on KwaZulu-Natal‘s frontier with the Eastern Cape is known as Griqualand East. This area was named after Adam Kok III. In 1861-1862, Kok III led more than 2,000 Griqua through Basutoland over the Drakensberg mountains and settled in this area, hence the now relatively large coloured population.

We spent two very chilled days at Mount Currie, although it rained quite a lot while we were there, and if it hadn’t been for the fact that we had a accommodation booking ahead of us we could have easily spent a few more days their. A reminder again of why we don’t like to book places ahead of time but due to the festive season, we had a month or so prior decided to try and book some spot on the Wild Coast. The only one we had managed to secure was at Mdumbi and only for 3 days from he 23rd December. After that our plan was to wing it and hope that even though other places had told us they were full we would be able to find somewhere to stay.

We had chosen Mdumbi, which is about 20km up the coast from Coffee Bay and the famous “Hole in the Wall”, because we had not been there before and when Stuart mountain biked the length of the wild coast in 2015 it had appeared to have a great right hand point surf break. The camp was really packed when we arrived and the spot we had been allocated was only suitable for a 2 man hiking tent, certainly not Mr Jones, but after a little walk around we offered to camp in the overflow parking area which while on a rather steep slope at least could fit Mr Jones and with our levelling blocks we soon had him level. This camping option turned out to be a real score as it had a great view of the surf break and had space all around it.

With great views, good vibes, a nice beach and good surf we where instantly keen to try and stay longer than our “booked” 3 days and set about each day checking if they had had any cancellations, initially we got an extension until the 29th and then as the 29th drew near we managed to get an indefinite stay of execution as we got recorded in the books as “off camp”. This may have been because we really didn’t need much in the way of facilities with our setup or just perhaps because we are such nice people, either way we weren’t complaining. The only inconvenience we had, was that as a Bon fire was planned for New Years eve in the overflow parking area we had to pack up and squeeze into a small corner of camp for one night.

We are normally up for a good party but the weather on New Year’s Eve was wet, cold and windy plus with the whole Covid second wave ominously hanging around we were keen to keep our distances and so chose to spend the night inside Mr Jones, cooking, listening to vibes and blocking the world out. New Year’s Day continued to have miserable weather combined with gale force winds so we hunkered down for another day in Mr Jones and only moved back to our “parking spot” the day after.

Over the next few days we pretty much kept to ourselves and away from the communal areas as much as possible in an effort to ensure minimal contact with the New Year revellers and the constant nag in the back of your mind of Covid exposure – considering the location of our campsite with its great views this was not too much of a hardship. At the sometime we had a lovely spell of great weather and surf so got to really enjoy the beach and water, including one awesome surf session for Stuart when a pod of dolphins come to visit for at least 30 minutes and come as close as just 2 metres from the board.

As the days blended into each other it can be very easy to consider staying just a bit longer and then just a bit longer again. So it was with mixed feelings that we decided it was time to move on, part of us would have loved to spend the remainder of the lockdown in this sheltered part of the world where all the issues with COVID, freedom of activity and traveling felt so far away but our need to move and explore were also dragging us back into the world – the conundrums of a traveler. Also there was the simple fact that it had been 4 weeks since we had seen the inside of a shop and supplies in Mr J were starting to look a little low.

On the morning of our departure from Mdumbi we woke to find the fridge/freezer had switched off which brought about a number of rather descriptive mutterings considering our repair drama only a few months ago! Upon closer inspection it appeared that a low voltage battery may be the issue but with the sun out and thus receiving solar charge it was hard to confirm unless we disconnected the entire system, so instead we packed up and got ready to leave.

We had arrived with a booking for 3 days and had ended up staying for 26 days.

As we drove away it quickly become apparent that we weren’t the only ones grumpy about leaving: the iPod didn’t want to connect to the radio; the kitchen draw locks weren’t holding so as we drove the draws kept opening; the GPS orientation turned upside and then finally wanted to route us all the way around Lesotho to get to East London ( a 2 day drive instead of a 4 hour one!).

Having not listened to the GPS, we arrived in East London around midday which gave us the afternoon for grocery shopping before backtracking slightly to Yellowsands caravan park about 30minutes outside of town. Yellowsands is a huge caravan park with nearly 200 sites plus a whole bunch of small cottages. Despite it’s size it is very nicely laid out, offering sites with direct sea views and others that are nestled into the forest and overlook the river. We also found a small “river camp” which is about 1km from the main one and really appealed to us with it’s outdoor showers and less formal layout. The main reason however for coming to Yellowsands was their laundry facilities, we had quite a pile after the wild coast, and so we skipped the river camp and chose a site closer to an ablution block than we would typically do.

If you have to do laundry then may as well do it with a view like this..

The fridge had performed well all day once the battery had been receiving charge from the alternator so we felt partly relieved to know at least the fridge was working but where now fairly certain that the auxiliary battery had reached the end of it’s useful life. Stuart decided not to plug into power for the night in order to see if the battery once again died overnight, which it duly did! Although this outcome was better than a faulty fridge it was nonetheless rather irritating considering we had purchased this make of battery for it’s new technology and theoretical ability to handle more deep discharges while lasting longer. So after a partial rest day in which we did laundry and some preventative maintenance items on Mr Jones, we headed back into East London to purchase a new auxiliary battery.

A like for like replacement of the battery would be rather costly, probably not available in East London and considering that it had only lasted 3 years we decided instead to just replace it with an old school “deep cycle” battery. At less than a third of the price if it lasts any longer than 12 months we will be “in the money”.

With a new battery on-board we took a cruise around East London and were pleasantly surprised, it has some very nice looking suburbs, some beautiful old buildings in town and the town centre while busy was surprisingly clean and orderly, this is in stark contrast to so many city centres in South Africa which are typically rather tired looking and have lots of litter lying around. Another noticeable aspect was the total lack of car guards or traffic light vendors which is so common throughout South Africa. We are not sure how the town got it’s nickname “slummies” but certainly on current physical appearances it is not warranted.

Hogsback lies a couple of hundred kilometres inland from slummies and with it’s claim to be “the most beautiful mountain village in South Africa” combined with the popular PR tale of it being the inspiration for J.R.R Tolkien’s fictional middle earth setting in which his books “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” are based, it was inevitable that we trekked inland in search of fairies and mythical forest creatures. We even stayed overnight at a spot aptly called “Away with the Fairies”. The problem with high expectations is that the probability of disappointment can be equally high and in this case it was for us. In general we found the village to be a bit run down and tired looking, the surrounding forests to be okay but not spectacular and so only lingered two nights before continuing onwards. We did however thoroughly enjoy our cliff top bath at Away with the Fairies.

Rain and cooler weather was depicted for the morning of our departure from Hogsback but we woke to very sunny skies and during our drive across to Addo Elephant park it only got hotter. We don’t have air-conditioning in Mr Jones and generally find this to be a good thing as it allows us to acclimatise to the ambient temperature but when we started to see 40degrees Celsius inside the car we began to doubt our own wisdom. We knew it was bad when Stuart asked Tania to take over the driving with only 50km to go, although as we were soon to discover the ambient temperature was only a minor contributing factor to that.

By evening he was “feeling the cold” and complaining of aches and pains, a quick temperature check showed a fever of 38,5. Under normal circumstances you would put this down to flu but with the heightened awareness we all have of Covid you cannot help but begin to worry. If we had a brick and mortar home the first step would be to self-isolate and see if any further symptoms develop but when living on the road this is not so easy, instead we took as many precautions as we could to prevent any possible contact with fellow campers.

Over the course of the next 2 days we managed a few game drives interspersed with lots of rest and research into airbnb options in the Port Elizabeth/Jeffreys Bay Area in case we needed to settle in for a recovery period. With the fever breaking on day3 and as of yet no other Covid symptoms developing we decided that while we thought it wasn’t Covid we wouldn’t risk visiting any family or friends in Port Elizabeth until the 14 day period had passed and so skipped around PE and headed for another isolated stay at a spot called Berg Rivier which borders onto the back of the Bavianskloof mountains. It was with some relief that while showering that evening Stuart noticed a swollen lymph node in his groin and upon further inspection we found evidence of a tickbite between his toes. The irony of being relieved that he had tickbite fever rather than Covid!!

A “mythical forest creature” visiting Tania Kikoi @ Berg River

After a lovely couple of days at Berg Rivier and with the knowledge that Stuart was not a danger to society we made a last minute call to Andrew to see if he was still working “remotely” from St Francis instead of his normal Johannesburg base (the upside for some of the pandemic) and was perhaps available for a lunch or coffee catchup. Andrew graciously offered us a loft room and over the next few days we enjoyed the wonderful company and hospitality of Andrew, Candice & Roz. The time out of Mr J was also a blessing as it allowed a bit of recovery time for the infected tick bite site on Stuart’s foot.

On the recommendation of Andrew we took the back roads out of St Francis visiting along the way Oyster Bay and the wonderful little Huisklip Nature reserve before popping down the N2 to Storms River mouth.

Apart from enjoying the spectacular campsite setting of Storms River mouth with it’s endless spectacle of breaking waves on the rocks we did the stock standard tourist walk to the suspension bridge and despite having applied plenty suntan cream Stuart payed a heavy price for the walk by getting burnt in the strangest places, like the tips of his toes (due to the antibiotics that he was taking to treat the tick bite fever). The forests behind Knysna was therefore a no brainer decision for our next destination.

Fifteen or so kilometres outside of Knysna, deep inside the forests which are steeped in history from the days of the woodcutters and the Knysna elephants is a SanParks camp called DiepWalle (English = Deep walls, presumably due to the size of the trees surrounding it ). Stuart had seen the name and that it had camping in the SanParks tariff book, so we merrily made our way up the winding forest roads planning to spend a night or two, only to discover on arrival that in fact it was setup for ground tents which you pitch on a deck in the forest. The reception lady though wasn’t phased and offered for us to park Mr Jones on a flat peace of ground behind the old foresters house. Having parked and opened up, we took a walk around to see the “camping decks” and all we can say is WOW and we wished we had a tent with us. Each deck is set in the trees with a winding boardwalk leading down to it and includes an enclosed fireplace and little kitchen area with a stunning solid wood counter. It is such a magical spot in the forest that we both just wandered around with a big smile and a look of awe on our faces! A reminder again that as South Africans we are spoilt for beautiful places and to enjoy them you don’t have to spend a fortune (in this case only ZAR240 for a 2 people).

Later as we sat next to Mr Jones and the Sanparks workers packed up for the day, we were surrounded by the jovial banter of Afrikaans Cape Coloureds making it very easy to imagine you had gone back in time and where living in a forest cutters camp. (You do need to be South African to fully appreciate and know what this banter is like).

In the morning Stuart’s foot was aching like crazy and the soft tissue infection seemed to be spreading, so we took a leisurely drive back down though the forests and into Knysna in search of someone to treat it. Having stopped at the LIFE hospital and not had any luck we got directed to a pharmacy in the centre of town who had a clinic, this turned out to be a stroke of luck but one we would only come to realise a few days later when the foot finally started to come right. The sister decided overall the foot wasn’t too bad and showed Stuart how to pull out the puss like infection with tweezers plus treat it with a cream that would dry it out and harden the puss.

Our original intention had been to still slowly wander along the coast and try get some surfing in at iconic spots like Victoria Bay but with Stuart getting burnt at the slightest sign of direct sun and a foot that couldn’t be stood on for more than a few minutes at a time that idea was quickly canned and so we headed back into the mountains between Riversdale and Barrydale to a Cape Nature spot called Grootvadersbosch. What a beautiful find this turned out to be, the campsite amenities had recently been upgraded with each site boasting it’s own deck, fire pit, sink, bench and umbrella etc. The views of the surrounding mountain were spectacular but thanks to the ongoing foot saga we couldn’t do any walks and as they were busy with construction of a “glamping” section close-by, it was fairly noisy and therefore we just stayed the one night before moving on.

Bontebok National Park was only about 150km away which thankfully made for a short day in the car as it was stinking hot outside, the only challenge was how to steer without getting your fingers and knuckles burnt due to the ongoing sun sensitivity. Bontebok is South Africa smallest national park but is very important as it’s declaration and preservation of the habitat helped to save the antelope after which it is named from extinction. It consists of fairly open and semi hilly arid plains but for us the main attraction was the Breede river which runs through it and on which the campsite is located, thus offering some respite from the sun and heat.

What we weren’t quite prepared for was the weekend rush that resulted in a huge influx of campers. We had thought that with the December festive period long behind us and most families back to the grind of daily life that while the weekends may be a bit busier it would still be relatively quite, so when the first family arrived late on Thursday afternoon and started “securing” all the sites around us we where a bit puzzled until another 5 families followed. We can’t speak for the rest of the country but it certainly seems the Western Cape population are determined to get away as often as they can.

Our planning, scheming and dreaming for this journey around the world began in 2008 while sitting on a beach in Mozambique but the first physical and figurative step on the journey was in April 2016 when we had the roof conversion done by AluCab in Cape Town. After the conversion was complete our route back to Gauteng and the daily grind started with a stop at Cape Agulhus, the southern most tip of Africa, as a symbolic start to the dream.

Wild hair in 2015, some things don’t change

Tania’s cousin, Diane, who lives just next door to Agulhus was disappointed to have not met us on that trip and so given that we where once again in the “neighbourhood” we made a plan to meet. But first we drove the little further South to Agulhus and took another set of pics for old time sake. An awesome lunch of fish and calamari on the beach at Struisbaai rolled over into a lovely evening at Diane & Alans house, a great way to end our slow trip down the East Coast before we start the next leg up the West Coast of our constantly evolving South African journey.

Gallery: Wild Coast & Garden Route

If you have enjoyed this little “chapter of our life” and aren’t yet subscribed to the blog head on over to the Welcome page and complete the form to subscribe.

Along with this chapter, we have two Captain(s) log this diary entry, covering December 2020 and January 2021 in which we attempt to record some of the emotions we experience through the trip.

Maintenance Log: For those interested in technical things, our running record of repairs and maintenance both to Mr Jones and the equipment we carry along with him.

Travel Diary: Slow travel South Africa during COVID

After 6 months of being effectively stationary how do you decide when to move and where to go – you draw a line in the sand/set a date; then flip flop between destinations for a week or so; and finally a day before the said “line in sand” is due you draw a second line and say we are off to the Drakensberg. But where within that – open iOverlander, pick a spot closest to you as destination #1 and because of Covid-19 pick a second spot “just in case” they ain’t open and voila you have a plan. At least for the next 4 days 🙂

Who would have ever thought Mr Jones and ourselves would spend 2 months here, thanks Kevin & Di

We left Zimbali exactly 2 months after arriving with a sense of excitement to be back on the road but also a sense of trepidation, what would it feel like to travel within South Africa where we are familiar with the money, the shops, the areas etc even though we would be going to places we hadn’t been to before. Would it have the same intrigue and sense of discovery or would we ultimately get a feeling of boredom and lack that wanderlust feeling?

Time will ultimately tell but it didn’t take long after our arrival at our first stop (Garden Castle, in the Southern Drakensberg) for a sense of calm and peace to come over us. The beautiful vistas up the valley into the foothills combined with a simple campsite in which we were the only occupants was food for the soul and a reminder of how much we enjoyed living in tune with nature prior to lockdown.

A cold front blew in on our last day at Garden Castle so on the drive down the valley and back to Underberg we got to test the newly replaced heater. On the agenda for Underberg was some shopping, obtain cash and to search for a coffee shop with decent WIFI so that we could resolve some queries the taxman had raised with Tania. For the latter we even put on our town rags, jeans and decent shoes.

Having completed our business, a short hop northward took us to Lotheni and another KZN parks board campsite which we hoped would be open. Short hops in the berg are relative, as the 53km took nearly 90minutes due to all the valleys and hills to pass through on the way. Moses at the camp office was very thorough in his check in procedure, first the COVID checks and register then a detailed check-in process and explanation of which sites we must not “interfere” with as they were already booked for the upcoming long weekend.

The 24th September is Heritage Day in South Africa and fell on a Thursday meaning a great opportunity for many South Africans to pursue our heritage of trekking off somewhere remote to camp and braai. The campsite started to fill up late in afternoon of the 23rd which meant for two people who over the last year have only ever been, at most, surrounded by 2 to 3 other vehicles there was a lot of bush tv material. The only issue with bush tv is it doesn’t come with subtitles but it does have the advantage that you can make up your own plot (read: gossip) as you please, we almost forgot to sip our wine as the sun set…

The following day saw the arrival of the remaining campers which included a number of Land Rovers, including one couple who looked vaguely familiar. It turned out that a couple of years ago Stuart had read an article written by them in a local 4×4 magazine of their experiences in South America travelling in a very similar Landy to Mr Jones. Subsequently we had exchanged some emails with the intention of meeting up but in fact hadn’t, over the course of the afternoon we all remembered that we “knew” each other. It was lovely to meet you finally in person, Vivian & Hanlie, and to finally get to learn of your experiences in person.

The arrival of the long weekend also brought another mechanical gremlin to test our patience, the fridge/freezer started to struggle and then ultimately just stopped cooling. It felt like we have just had one mechanical or equipment gremlin after another in the recent weeks and both of us were quite over it. With a rapidly defrosting freezer it was clear by lunchtime on the 25th that our idea of spending the next few weeks wandering around the Drakensberg was going to have to change and the decision was made to travel up to Johannesburg in order to get the freezer attended to by the manufacturers. The silver lining being that we would get to spend some time with Stuart’s parents for the first time in just over a year.

The drive up to Johannesburg felt very long, especially as it was fairly hot and very windy for most of the way. As we got closer we couldn’t help but reflect on what was, what is and what will be. Joburg has been very good to us in terms of the lifestyle we led, our careers and the fact that those two combined allowed us to achieve and now live out our dream but it did now feel very much like the “big smoke” and thus apart from seeing family and friends held little attraction.

Our time in town quickly flew by as we set about getting many jobs done, including changing Mr Jones registered address (a lengthy saga in COVID times), some service items requiring specialist tools and definitely beyond Stuart’s capability, battery replacements on phones, completion of our vaccination regiment, visits to the dentist, new artwork for Mr Jones etc. In between we also had a few nice “kuier” sessions with friends and ex-colleagues.

Towards the end of the second week and with no immediate end in sight to our fridge repair saga, Stuart managed to convince National Luna to provide a loan unit so that we could escape the big smoke for a bit. Our dilemma was however in which direction to go and in the end, we settled on the Waterberg as it is not too far and has a number of camping options.

Only 15 months prior while we were waiting on the house sale to be finalised we had also escaped to the Waterberg and spent a lovely week soaking in the hot springs at Bela Bela, once again this seemed like an attractive option but at over R700 a night for the two of us to camp during the week that idea was quickly abandoned and instead we settled on small game farm called Andante.

We hadn’t been parked for long at Andante when the first new member of “Mr Jones fan club” arrived to have a look at him, after receiving the tour he said he would be back later with his wife and to take a picture if that was okay. We were absolutely stumped at how small a world it can be sometimes when a little while later upon their return to visit Mr Jones one of his wife’s first sentences was “my sister has one just like this in South America”, to which we replied in unison “no ways not Hanlie?” (Refer above to our meeting only 2 weeks prior).

Sunday saw the departure of all guests apart from ourselves and the arrival of some very heavy rain resulting in a mini river running under Mr Jones. It would appear our rain god status has yet to leave us, thankfully the rain only lasted 24 hours before the sunshine returned. The beauty of the rain was that it washed clean all the sandy tracks that crisscross the farm and so on our daily walks we had the pleasure of spotting and attempting to identify all the fresh animal spoor.

After a very relaxing 8 days and with the likelihood that the fridge would be ready the coming week we decided to have a change of scenery and also move a little closer to Johannesburg so on the Sunday morning we packed up and headed for the AKTV Klein Kariba resort. We had thought that arriving on Sunday would mean the resort was emptying as people headed back to Johannesburg, boy where we wrong! Mr Jones was shocked at the lack of social distancing and ourselves at the number of kids shorter than 40cm, it was definitely going to be an interesting few days.

We are not sure who was more scared, Mr Jones or ourselves!

On the Monday morning we got the great news that our fridge would be ready the next day so we set about planning for a busy day of running errands in Johannesburg. On the list was a visit to Garmin in Rosebank for an interim replacement unit, collect the fridge, visit bolt supplier for some springs and other miscellaneous bolts, visit a caravan repair place for some pole ends to improve our awning setup and finally do some shopping for groceries for the next week or so. An early start was planned in order to drive the 150km into town and complete all of this.

Thankfully Tuesday went relatively smoothly and we were parked up at Stuart’s folks house by midafternoon enjoying another catchup and getting ready for a braai with some of their friends from the retirement village who were interested in our adventures.

When we had left the coast just over a month previously and headed for the Drakensberg the plan was to spend time in the mountains waiting for the winds to die down and then head back for the coast, obviously that didn’t happen due to the fridge saga but with the fridge repaired we were now itching to get back on “track”, so early Wednesday morning we said cheers to Stuart’s folks and headed towards the coast. We hadn’t yet been to all the places in the berg we had hoped to visit so first we stopped at Royal Natal National park for a few days.

Amphitheatre at Royal Natal National Park

Not being accustomed to traveling long term in a country that loves to “go away” over long weekends and school holidays (and because COVID has resulted in unusual timing for the holidays) we were once again surprised when the campsite started to full up on the Friday afternoon. At first we thought it must just be a case of everyone making the most of working from home and taking extended weekends but as we drove away the next day we learnt it was in fact the start of a short school break.

On the way down to the coast a chance WhatsApp picture from friends of the offramp to Tania old hometown meant a change of plans and a very pleasant overnight stay with them. They were having a short break during the school holidays at another friends holiday home.

We had hoped to make our first stop on the coast at a backpackers/surf camp midway down the south coast but upon learning that due to COVID they weren’t accepting campers we carried on to our 2nd intended stop at Trafalgar, being a lovely caravan park which Stuart’s family visited regularly in his youth. If you refer to the About Stuart section, this was where Stuart first dreamt of leading a nomadic surfing life so very appropriate that we now visit.

Hard to not love a place when this is your daily view

Apart from one trip out on a rainy day for some grocery shopping we spent the next 14 days alternating between surfing, lying on the beach, walking on the beach, spotting dolphins and whales from camp or admiring the wildlife that emerges in a campsite when you are the only residents.

Gallery: South Africa – Travelling during Covid #1

Captain(s) log: September&October 2020 A glimpse into some of our daily emotions as we attempt to get back on the road.

Maintenance Log: Our running record of repairs and maintenance both to Mr Jones and the equipment we carry along with him.

If you enjoy these little “chapters of our life” and aren’t yet subscribed to the blog head on over to the Welcome page and complete the form to subscribe.

Travel Diary: Phase 2 of Lockdown

Homeless during lockdown! What happens when your home is where you park it and because of COVID-19 restrictions you now have nowhere to park.

With 5 weeks of Level 3 lockdown under our belt and signs that camping places were beginning to open, we left Cape Town just before a big cold front was about to lash the Western Cape and headed into the mountains just outside Montagu. Our destination was a totally off-grid spot were social distancing was never going to be a problem as we were the only campers and the two other couples staying in cottages were at least 500m away.

Mr. Jones appeared to be in shock that he was actually back in use when on our first night we were unable to cook on either of the two gas stoves! A couple of quick checks left us none the wiser whether we had a blockage in the gas pipes, an issue with the regulator or if it was just too cold for the gas to flow properly but fortunately we have a spare regulator and short loose pipe so that was quickly rigged up to the spare gas bottle and portable stove and thus only caused a small delay in supper.

Solving our gas supply mystery the following morning

During lockdown in Cape Town we had got quite good at doing a short yoga session each morning and had good intentions of carrying this practise on while on the road, we managed this on the first day but not again for the entire week we stayed. For now we will blame this on the cold front which arrived….

With the arrival of the cold front the days and evenings become very chilly but with all the cold weather gear we have hauled around for the last year (and not had reason to use) we were never too cold and always slept wonderfully warm. Although the winds that accompanied the cold front did leave us wanting for sleep the one night as Mr. J was buffeted around like a yacht on stormy seas.

We were expecting the arrival of our friends the De Nobrega’s on the Friday, but with no cell reception we had no way of knowing that the cold front had made them delay their departure, needless to say they duly arrived the following day. A wonderful couple of days and evenings followed before they headed back to Cape Town and we began thinking of where to next?

After a week of being totally disconnected and with the weather turning ugly once again we packed up and headed out. Our departure was not without a little drama: as we finished climbing up out of the valley Mr. J suddenly lacked power and then just stopped. At this point it was pouring with rain and blowing a howling gale, at one point the rain drops even turned to ice as they hit the windows. There was no way we were going to climb out and try and fiddle with him in those conditions so we spent the time trying to work through the scenarios of what could be wrong; the lack of power and cut-out was very similar to what we had experienced in Malawi also on a steep climb up from the lake and on first appearance it appeared like we had ran out of fuel but we knew that could be not possible based on our mileage so far; our next idea was that perhaps somehow we had got water/contaminations in the fuel system. When the rain eased off a bit, Stuart (assuming the 2^nd idea the most probable) opened the valve on the fuel sedimenter and instead of getting the expected water and diesel flow was greeted by a hissing sound as air escaped the system. A very strange result and it would take a few more “breakdowns” over the next few weeks for us to finally find the problem. For now though we were grateful to not be stuck in the middle of nowhere and happily setoff for Montagu.

Having spent a week disconnected from the world and being back in travel mode we were in no hurry to “stick our faces to phones” in order to catch-up on social media and the news.

This meant we blissfully went about shopping for some supplies before hitting the road again and heading east along the very scenic R62. The real grassroots impact of the lockdown and ban on local travel was very evident as we passed through the small towns bordering the Karoo, such as Barrydale, whose economies are heavily dependent on weekend travellers.

When you are the only tourists in a whole town

Our plan was still to travel slowly and explore the area but after finding 2 potential camping spots closed and needing ideas we did finally pull out the phones to search for alternatives, at which point we saw the inevitable WhatsApp messages regarding the renewed ban on alcohol sales and also clarity that leisure accommodation was to remain closed for the remainder of Lockdown Level 3.

We were now homeless with nowhere to park….

The regulations did still allow inter-provincial travel if you were relocating residences so having had our fair share of the cold and wet that is a Cape Town winter and with the prospect of a very long extended lockdown being in place ( and no Old Brown Sherry to warm the bones at Samantha’s house ) we decided to use the allowed exemption for travel and relocate to Stuart’s brothers holiday home in Durban.

Now that we had a plan of action, first priority for the afternoon was to find somewhere to sleep before starting the long trip east the next day. It took three more failed attempts and 150km before we eventually found a spot in Calitzdorp.

That night as we sat parked in a “formal” camping spot next to an old railway siding, Tania cooked supper while Stuart sat in the front of Mr. J preparing the affidavits required to allow inter-provincial movement. Thanks to modern technology and suitably qualified friends we were able to digitally sign such documents, email them off and receive them back duly notarized.

Considering that we had 1600km ahead of us, our start the next morning was much later than it should have been but it is difficult to emerge from under a lovely warm duvet when the sun is late to rise and its bitterly cold outside. Our plan was to do the journey in 2 days which in a modern vehicle would be no issue but in good old Mr. Jones was going to be quite a big task.

Despite being under “pressure” we thoroughly enjoyed the day’s drive as we marvelled at the constantly changing landscapes and scenery; the stunning beauty and rock formations of Meiringspoort; snow on the mountains and next to the road around Richmond; the beautiful yellow grasses contrasting with browns all through the Karoo. If only we could have done this slowly and stopped often.

When we had set off in the morning we had no idea how far we would get or where we would sleep that night, especially considering the previous days challenges in finding accommodation, so as the shadows grew long we began considering our options. The first one was to head down one of the small dirt roads that intersect with the N1 and bush camp for the night and the second option was to spend a night in a truck stop with the long-haul truckers. Bush camping in the rest of Africa is generally pretty safe and accepted but we are not so sure about it in South Africa, even in the middle of the Karoo so in the end decided on the latter option.

As the sun was setting we pulled into a truck stop outside the tiny dorp of Springfontein, roughly 150km south of Bloemfontein, not knowing what to expect but ultimately were pleasantly surprised. The ablutions were spotless, security good and if you fill up with diesel you stay for free otherwise it is R50 for the night. The AluCab Icarus roof and subsequent camper conversion were once again worth their weight in gold as we holed up inside drinking wine and cooking supper while watching the outside temperature drop, the forecast predicted -6 deg Celsius for the morning!

We had been a little concerned that we would have a disturbed night of sleep with the coming and goings of trucks but in fact slept really well and only noticed noise from around 4:30 in the morning, this may have been because of the lockdown curfew in place but nonetheless we weren’t complaining. As expected the temperatures plummeted overnight and when we switched lights on, around 6am, the inside of the tent was sparkling with ice crystals so emerging from our lovely warm duvet took quite a bit of willpower especially knowing that we have no heater in Mr. J and would not be getting warm anytime soon. Eleven months prior in Mozambique we had a coolant leak at the heater and so had bypassed it as “bush” fix, replacing the heater matrix was on the to-do list but to our detriment we had only planned to do it once arriving in Natal.

Apart from not being able to warm ourselves, the lack of a heater meant we couldn’t defrost the windows so Stuart had to scrape off a surprisingly thick and stubborn layer of ice from the windscreen using our kitchen spatula.

We must have been quite a sight when we pulled into the Engen One stop at Bloemfontein, (anybody who has ever driven in a defender will know that they are anything but airtight) so with no heater and the chilly temps we were wearing as many layers as we could and had towels and other miscellaneous clothing items stuck in every nook and cranny trying to keep the cold out and the little warmth we were generating in. Apart from filling up with diesel we were hoping to sit down at Wimpy to warmup while enjoying some bacon and eggs with coffee, alas this was not to be as they were still closed under the Covid lockdown restrictions. A takeout pie for breakfast it was going to be for the second day in a row.

The rest of the day passed by uneventfully as we traversed across the Free State, stopping briefly in Bethlehem to finally shed some layers of clothes, and then barrelling along the N3 towards Durban (well barrelling as fast as a heavily loaded Landy can).

Despite making good progress, Kevin’s holiday home was 100km to far in respect to getting there in time to collect keys, so late in the afternoon we pulled in at Tania sister’s (Nicole) smallholding in Drummond for one more night of camping in Mr. Jones as the “inn was full”, so to speak.

Anybody who has been monitoring our maintenance log will know that the trip has not been without a few minor breakdowns/repairs but Mr. Jones has always been a scholar and a gentleman in terms of when and where he decided to take a break and we have always appreciated him for that. Our sense of humour and appreciation for him did however fail us when he chose the very moment we arrived at the security office of the estate Kevin’s holiday home is located in, to cut out and then subsequently refuse to start – the estate is very smart, has many rules and we doubt anybody has ever crawled under a car at the security booms in an attempt to fix it.

Thankfully by the time we had completed the necessary biometric registrations for access he had had enough of a rest and started with a bit of coaxing. We clearly had a problem but what was it? First thought would be the some issue as a few days earlier but alas it was not, over time we were to discover & fix more than one issue.

Over the next weeks we slowly got used to having a large family home to ourselves, made full use of the amenities and in between relaxing, made regular weekend trips up to Drummond to carry out various service items on Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones was not the only one to receive maintenance attention during this time, Tania had been struggling with her foot the last few months which we thought would require the attention of an orthopaedic surgeon. Thankfully no surgery was required but the orthopaedic did recommend visiting a bio-kineticist to align the “chassis”. Normally the bio-kineticist would conduct a program for this over the course of 3 – 4 months but as we did not expect to hang around in Ballito that long, he come up with an intense program to “fix your sh#t” in one month (his words not ours…).

Just as for our stay in Cape Town, our stay in Ballito has been longer than envisaged but after 8 weeks enjoying all the amenities it is time to get back in our home and start wandering.

It is easy to procrastinate leaving, especially in times like this and with all the luxury around us, but just as it was a little over a year ago when we first embarked on the journey we are reminded that “the first step is always the hardest…”.

Travel Diary: Phase 1 of Lockdown

When a planned stay with family of two weeks turns into one month, then 2 months all the while quietly slipping back into “domestic bliss”. Eventually after 4 months we hit the road, these were the joys for us of being caught up in South Africa’s initial Covid-19 lockdown phases.

When we first arrived in Cape Town on the 21 March we were planning on spending a couple of weeks there, firstly celebrating the 50^th birthdays of Tania middle sister (Nicole) & brother in-law and then doing some riding around the peninsular on our Harley Davidson which had conveniently relocated together with Samantha (Tania youngest sister) while we were away on our travels.

After that we were going to spend 3 weeks working our way leisurely up South Africa’s garden route and Wild Coast to arrive in Durban by the beginning of May in time for the visit of our son, Devon, and his girlfriend Hannah arrival. This was to be Hannah’s first trip to South Africa and we had a wonderful 2 weeks planned taking in the KZN coast, game reserves and the Drakensberg.

Two days after our arrival, a three week Covid-19 lockdown was announced which instantly scuppered all of the above plans. At the time we however naively still thought that we could be back on the road internally within South Africa by May and that Devon & Hannah would be able to fly out from the UK by September. If that were to become the case we believed we may still get to South America by the end of 2020, only a few months later than originally planned.

In the meantime we turned our attention to keeping sane and having fun during the initial stage of lockdown with lots of reading, taking regular walks through the vineyard & gardens of the property Samantha lives on, weeding in the vegetable garden, streaming online concerts at sunset and conducting theme events: “pancakes at Mr. Jones farmstall” , “Sam’s Trattoria”, “Tania Indian Curry”

As the initial 3 weeks was extended to 6 and with the prospects of even more extensions likely we realised all long-term planning was meaningless and that we really would just have to wait and see….

Thankfully despite the lockdown extension, the slow opening of commercial activity meant Stuart could focus on some of the jobs and upgrades we had planned for Mr. J based on learnings from the last 8 months. When we built him in Johannesburg we could easily source materials as Stuart knew were all the suppliers were but now in a new city much time was spent googling and wandering around industrial areas seeking out a suitable supplier.

Once the basic materials were sourced Stuart set about the upgrades and was ultimately amazed at what can be achieved with only a drill, a small hacksaw and camp table for a workshop plus of course the other standard tools we carry in Mr. J

As the weeks passed we ticked off a number of jobs ranging from upgrading our solar power setup, right down to making small brackets and enhancements which will make living in our tiny space even easier. A breakdown of the upgrades done can be found here.

At the beginning of June South Africa moved to “lockdown level 3” which freed up some movement and left a number of grey areas in the regulations open for interpretation. For example exercise was allowed but surfing wasn’t or the regulations implied that leisure intra-provincial travel and accommodation was allowed while the tourism department said it was not.

Considering that surfing is the perfect “social distancing sport” it did not take long for the the surfers to reclaim the waves and so we began to make daily trips down to the beach for the first surfing Stuart had done since leaving Mozambique in August 2019, although it did require the purchase of a thick wetsuit. The wetsuit made it perfectly possible to spend lengthy periods in the water but our favourite will still always be warm water locations. While Stuart was out surfing Tania would sit on the edge of the promenade (beaches were still off-limit) with her mask on, reading and observing the general goings on.

We also began to observe on various social media platforms that a few camping places were starting to open up so the decision was made to take some tentative steps towards travel within the Western Cape hoping that as time progressed travel across provincial borders would be allowed and we could therefore move our way eastwards to Durban and a warmer winter.

In the second week of July we set off, just as a massive cold front was about to lash the Western Cape, for a totally off-grid location in the mountains outside Montagu where social distancing & isolation was never going to be an issue.

More of our 10 days off-grid and in isolation to follow in the next blog post, together with our subsequent mad dash across the country when a hasty change in the regulations forced our hand as to “should we stay or should we go”

Travel Diary: South Africa’s West Coast

As we sit safely ensconced in isolation, it seems almost surreal to think how foot loose and fancy free we were only 3 weeks ago. This travel diary covers our re-entry into South Africa and the short(ish) journey down the west coast to Cape Town. The accompanying Captain(s) log gives the usual brief insight into the daily emotions and thoughts of life off the “well trodden path”.

As everyone already knows border crossing days rank highly as our least favourite days but both our entry into Namibia a little over a month ago and again our exit into South Africa have been super easy. Although they are different countries most of the time Namibia has just felt like an extension of South Africa, right down to the fact that you can pay with and often receive change in Rands, so apart from some stamps in the passport we could have just been changing provinces.

The border did though bring us, for the first, time face to face with the Corona virus fear taking hold of the world as all the border officials where wearing face masks & gloves and we had to have our temperature taken before entry into the SA border area. This is not a unique experience on the trip, for most of our time in East Africa they had been battling an Ebola outbreak which meant many borders had quite strict hygiene measures in place. For instance when entering Rwanda we had to exit the vehicle, have our temperature taken and then walk across sanitized mats while washing our hands.

Due to the vastness of Namibia we have often been quite disconnected from both social and mainstream news media the last couple of weeks and so the way that the Covid-19 has impacted the world has been very difficult to get our minds around. We re-entered South Africa mid-March and at that stage, the same number of people die on South African roads over the festive season as had died in Italy over it’s worst month (then but it got worse) but yet the road death toll just gets passing mention and thought each year. 10 days later as South Africa entered lockdown this statement was proven to be naive but we have left it in because that’s what it felt like for us at that stage… However we also understand the precautions required given the rapid spread of the virus and on more than one occasion have thought perhaps we are better off staying out in the countryside and not heading to Cape Town.

After spending our first night back in South Africa at the west coast dorp of Kleinzee we headed southwards to the Namaqua National park. Entry at the northern gate is done by opening the gate yourself and then using the two way radio housed in a box on the side of a building to talk to the park headquarters some 80km to the south and obtain “approval” to enter. After lowering the tyre pressures for the soft sand ahead we enjoyed a lovely wander down the coast stopping many times to admire the views and little bays, finally stopping at “Kwaas se Baai” to camp. Later in the afternoon some officials stopped by to officially sign us in and collect our camping fees.

The campsite at “Kwaas se Baai” was just perfect: on top of a little rise overlooking an aquamarine bay dotted with kelp and fringed with white sand. The only thing preventing longer stays is the often inclement weather and that you need to be totally self-sufficient as there is no water, power, etc. Our first afternoon presented us with all the west coast “seasons”: from sunny to windy, then very misty and finally mild clouds which gave us a lovely sunset. The following day however dawned still and clear which is exactly what we had wished for, so the day’s activities consisted of a short wander down to beach for some sand&sun time, back to Mr J for lunch and then back down to beach again for more sun&sand time combined with white wine. A perfect day!

On our 3rd day we woke to the ugly “season” with lots of mist and cold winds coming off the Atlantic. Over the fire the previous evening we had discussed staying another day as we had sufficient water and the solar panels had kept the battery well charged, but that idea had now quickly evaporated. The drive out of the park, firstly inland and then further south, felt hard going which was possibly not helped by a hand brake which was emitting a burnt brake pad smell. Stuart had forgotten to disengage the handbrake 2 days earlier when setting off from one of our stops to admire the coastline and with Mr J being in low range at the time due to the thick sand it took a while until we noticed it (that while, being long enough to burn brake pads and possibly bind them to the drum!!).

We were undecided were to go for the night and eventually landed up at Standfontein because the reviews on iOverlander described “Horse Shoe Campsite with lush green lawns and shady trees”. The lawns were green but certainly not lush, trees rather small and the wind was honking, added to which the ablutions are nothing special given that it is in fact a municipal campground but sadly with private camping rates. We were not impressed but being tired and hot, had no other choice. Supper was cooked and eaten inside Mr J while the wind howled around us, the van was rocking but with the mood inside you certainly could have come a knockin…

The one advantage of our detour to Standfontein is it put us only 9km from Doring Bay and Friars Cove winery. So after a leisurely start in the morning, including taking time out to loosen the binding hand brake, we trotted down the road to the winery for some tastings and a lovely lunch of Calamari and snoekkoekies (fish cakes). Having stocked up Mr J with white wine, we headed further south towards Citrusdal (and it’s mineral baths) with the intention to park off, relax and kill time before getting to Cape Town for the end of the week.

It was however extremely hot on the road (with no aircon we recorded 38deg Celsius inside Mr Jones! ) so when we passed a spot called Roodeberg resort bordering on the small Bulshoek dam, it didn’t take much to persuade us to do a u-turn and decide to spend a few days camped on the lake shore. When it started to cool down in the evening, the SUP was unloaded from the roof box and inflated ready for some paddle time the next day. Incredibly the last time we used the SUP was 4,5 months ago in Malawi, we had hoped to use it on both Lake Kivu (Rwanda) and Lake Tanganyika (Tanzania) but in both cases a combination of iffy weather and concern re potential lurking crocodiles stopped that.

A couple of very relaxed days followed with a few paddles thrown in for good measure, all the while blissfully disconnected from the world and the escalating corona issues as there was no cell reception down by the lake. We did however, once again, get a taste of what lay ahead of us when the campsite put up a notice “barring foreigners from staying due to Corona fears” as we prepared to leave.

While we could have easily headed straight into Cape Town from Roodeberg we weren’t due there (due because Tania sister, Nicole, was flying in for a birthday celebration) for a few more days and so decided to stop, as intended a few days priors, at Citrusdal mineral baths. While checking in at reception it quickly become apparent to us that now that we are back in SA we may perhaps have to start pre-planning with regards overnight stops as they had limited availability and only 2 sites available if wanting to stay multiple nights. A routine of a mid morning swim followed by a lazy afternoon next to Mr Jones and then a late night swim quickly developed over the next couple of days.

The arrival of the weekend and the start of SA’s school holidays, with the resultant influx of campers, was a clear signal for us to move on and complete our journey into Cape Town. The final drive across Western Cape’s Swartland with it’s mix of agricultural (wheat, grain and wine) and rugged mountains was a nice reminder of how much variety South Africa has to offer in terms of scenery and tourism.

Sadly the planned birthday celebrations for Nicole were not to be, as the impact of Covid-19 really hit home and South Africa went into lockdown. By pure luck we had made it to SA and the safe haven of Cape Town just in time, (for which we are very grateful as being on the road would be extremely difficult during this time), but it is surreal to think that not 10 days earlier we had been sitting on the West coast totally disconnected and downplaying the impact of the virus.

Gallery: South Africa’s West Coast

Captain(s) Log: March 2020

We have been very privileged to take the path less travelled the last 8 months and move about with no destination or deadline in mind, and have big plans to take Mr J over to South America and continue the journey but with the world now sailing unchartered waters (April 2020) it is impossible to know if or when that may be possible. We have however learnt over this journey how little a person really needs, how simple life can be and that the simple pleasures are often the best pleasures so remain quietly optimistic that this will become possible. In the meantime we are staying isolated (as we hope you are) and doing our very small bit to “flatten the curve”. Stay safe everyone, Stuart & Tania

Travel Diary: Namibia (part 1)

Namibia is a large country and as we covered many miles within it this latest travel diary is quite lengthy, and so for hopefully easier reading we have split it into 2 parts. Below is part one, the second part will follow shortly. The usual photo gallery and maintenance log will also follow in part 2. Happy reading….

The Katima Mulilo border post into Namibia while rather chaotic with loads of trucks was really really simple and we were probably through in under 30minutes. Even the money changing tout seemed to good to be true, giving Stuart a 1:1 exchange rate with the Kwacha and appearing to not make any money from the transaction apart from the tip we offered because we felt bad about the deal.

Five kilometres from the border post is a Protea hotel which offers lovely camp on a grassed terrace above the Zambezi river, with each parking area having an electric plug point and braai area and not for an exorbitant fee. It was very obvious that we were back in Southern Africa and so still feeling the effects of the drive down through western Tanzania and Zambia, we opted to stay an extra day and relax by the hotel pool. Our rain god/goddess status continued when we were 5 minutes too late in packing up by the pool and got drenched by a huge afternoon thunderstorm.

We have complained about the first and last few hundred kilometres of road in Zambia being horrible whereas in Namibia the roads are just fantastic smooth tar but that in itself does have its dangers as the road westwards through the Caprivi Strip is generally pan flat and dead straight making boredom for the driver a very real threat. Luckily HippySquared’s CEO (Chief Entertainment Officer) is a pretty dab hand on the iPod and keeps us occupied with great tunes.

In the early days Stuart would plan a couple of days of routes in advance using the mapping software on the MacBook and then transfer them to the GPS but since Malawi and discovering iOverlander we have generally not planned more than a day in advance. On this day our intended overnight stop was Ngepi camp on the Kavango river, as it looked very funky with many artistic touches which appealed to us. However about 40kms from it we drove past a sign for White Sands and Popa falls, the falls were a spot Stuart had read about previously and so we decided to first go and check them out. Our arrival at the entry gate had us rather slack jawed given its luxurious look, complete with a guard radioing through to the reception to let them know he had guests at the gate “without a booking”. We were dubious if it was a spot for us but when they offered to upgrade us to a luxury site (private ablutions and own viewing deck over the falls) for the same price as the normal camping rate, we decided to stay.

Over the next few days we moved steadily westwards initially along the Caprivi strip and then just across the top of “mainland” Namibia. For those that aren’t familiar with it, the Caprivi is a little strip of land sandwiched between Angola, Zambia and Botswana but being part of Namibia. In total we would eventually travel 1200km across the top of Namibia never venturing much more than 50km from its northernmost border. Valentine’s Day was spent at Kaisosi lodge were again we had the luxury of private ablutions and got to enjoy date night on their deck overlooking the Kavango river with Angola only 100m away.

In a classic case of “never judge a book” by its cover we pulled into Woodlands campsite on the outskirts of Eenhana and were immediately underwhelmed with what essentially was a fenced off sandy lot with some shacks on the outskirts BUT the security guard/receptionist/manager (whose English was not great) made us feel so welcome that almost instantly our impressions changed. After the long day in the car, Tania made the inevitable dash to the loo and come back beaming with a report that the ablutions were practically brand new with a fresh coat of paint, toilet paper (so often lacking) and even soap at the basins. How wrong our first impressions where!

That night we enjoyed a lovely fire courtesy of the free firewood only to wake the next morning to torrential rain and lightning, by now we are very used to both but even this was a bit much for us and so our early start was delayed until we thought the downpour had subsided a little.

In Zambia we had picked up a nasty vibration in the steering at any speed above 90km/h which while we generally only drive at 80 made overtaking sometimes rather interesting. Stuart had found play in the front prop-shaft and we had spent the weekend in Livingstone so that Mr J could be looked at by a Landy mechanic on the Monday. Foleys had in fact diagnosed the issue as not being the UJ but rather the sliding joint on the front prop-shaft having some play. As they did not have a replacement and one would have to be couriered in, they applied lots of grease as an interim fix which certainly seemed to do the job. Since then we had been checking for increased play on a daily basis and applying grease. All was going well and Stuart’s mind was at ease until on our way to Ruacana Falls we come across a stricken Landy on the side of the road, upon stopping to see if we could be of assistance we found out their front prop-shaft had come off/disintegrated and in the process damaged the gearbox. They were going nowhere without a flat-bed tow truck and many little demons crept into Stuart’s mind for him to dwell on as we drove further.

In the east along the Caprivi strip the Kavango river forms a natural border with Angola and flows into Botswana to ultimately form the Okavango swamps. As you head west you get the Kunene river which also originates in the Angolan highlands, flows south for 600km before turning westwards to create the border with Namibia and continue its journey for another 300km to the Atlantic Ocean. Ruacana is the point where it turns westwards and also were the river plunges 120m down a cliff face to create the Ruacana Falls. Most of the year the falls are dry due to a dam just upstream and diversions for Namibia’s main hydropower electricity source but in particularly wet rainy seasons the sluice gates are opened and Ruacana Falls return to the majesty they had before the dam was built. We had read that at the end of December the falls were still dry but now in mid-February they were in full flow and what a sight it was! While they don’t have the sheer drop and narrow gorge that gives Victoria falls its splendor they are in our opinion equally spectacular. The total width of the falls is 700m, with a 120m drop and apparently a flow rate of 2400 cubic metres per second when we were there.

Video of the falls in flood

The downside of such an impressive spectacle is that the river downstream had burst its banks, flooding many campsites and the dirt road that follows it closely. Initially we attempted to head downstream but after crossing one flooded section of road and almost immediately coming across another which looked much deeper we decided we had had enough recent adventures with mud and water so turned around to look for an alternative camping spot. Heading back we flagged down a few other 4×4’s to inform them of the road status and one couple decided to follow us to the alternative camping. They were driving a new Toyota Landcruiser so Stuart felt it only right to inform them that we drive pretty slowly to which they had replied they were also slow, incredibly they where or rather their Toyota was and Mr J outpaced them on a few of the hills leading out of the valley – GO MR JONES!

iOverlander once again had come to our rescue as the alternative spot was not marked on Tracks4Africa, and while we had read in the reviews that everyone was super impressed with the welcome they received we were still suitably impressed when we drove up with no forward warning and were greeted by a welcome committee carrying wet towels and fresh glasses of orange juice.

Stuart had really wanted to visit Epupa falls and perhaps part of the Marienflus valley (a really remote and rugged section of Namibia’s North West but sadly the combination of the Kunene river flooding and the wonky front prop-shaft just did not make it a realistic option. In addition the accumulated effect of many long days driving since we left Rwanda was starting to take its toll, a sure indication was when we started snapping at each other over silly and irrelevant things. Thus with Epupa off the cards and needing to get to Windhoek for prop-shaft repairs we began looking for a spot where we could relax for a few days.

Onguma game lodge was just what the doctor ordered, it is a large game reserve bordering Etosha and has a number of very luxurious accommodation offerings together with two camping areas and even these camping spots have a lodge feel. The loungers at the pool all have lovely cushions, the restaurant is very tastefully decorated and each campsite is well spaced from each other together with private ablutions.

Our first day was spent doing nothing more than lounging by the pool and when the weather turned grey on the second, we ventured into Etosha National Park. Sadly with it being so wet the game viewing in Etosha wasn’t great and neither was the scenery with it being so gloomy, nonetheless it was a worthwhile excursion. The day however did not end well as when we got back to camp we found that the frozen meat we had left in the lodges care while in the park had been put in the fridge and not freezer so was partially defrosted (CAPTAINS LOG: 19 February), which leaves us with many days of meat to now cook in advance.

As we headed south from Etosha we passed a number of people selling giant mushrooms on the side of the road, Tania had read that they only appear at this time of the year after the rains and inevitably we stopped to check one out. When the small one (but plenty large enough for us) was offered at a price of only ZAR5, we quickly purchased it with the small change on hand. That night we overnighted on a tiny wine farm (yes in the middle of Namibia) and the farmer’s wife kindly told us how to cook it. The mushroom is known as Omajowa and is a Namibian delicacy which grows on termite hills and is only available for a few short days after the summer rains. Our small mushroom provided us with three meals and was absolutely delicious, leaving us with only one regret: we should have bought more when we could as further south we did not see them offered again.

The weekend was approaching and as we weren’t sure how long it would take to repair the prop-shaft we decided the most pragmatic plan would be to be in Windhoek for Sunday evening/Monday morning and that way leave plenty of time for any repairs that may require parts brought in etc. With this in mind we chose to spend a few nights 50km west of the main road at a spot called Ovita Wildlife camp, which while nothing spectacular was lovely and isolated but incredibly had decent 3G reception which allowed us to just relax but at the sometime sort out a few admin topics back home. Naturally the farmer was very happy to host us as we brought much needed rain, something they had not had since 2013!

After a leisurely start on the Sunday morning we enjoyed a lovely drive into Windhoek along little district roads, occasionally stopping to make sure a flooded drift was drivable or to just marvel at the carpet of wild flowers that had sprung up with the rains. Thank goodness we changed Mr J’s bull bar flowers from red to yellow a few weeks back as he now matched the summer theme.

Monday morning saw us up bright and early to traverse across Windhoek (all 5km as the crow flies) to the industrial side in order to get the prop-shaft seen too. Stuart had enquired on the “overland forum”, an email community he has belonged to for many years, for recommendations and Propshaft Master was the general consensus as the go-to guys. They did not disappoint and within a couple of hours we had a “newly” (part the old one and part new pieces) made up and installed on Mr J. At least now a certain someone can stop stressing at each vibration Mr J gives off as we travel!

With 3/4 of the day still in front of us, the next item on the list was a haircut and color for Tania, the receptionist at Propshaft Master had given us a recommendation for “BE Hair academy”, so off across town we went. Pulling into the spot google maps had taken us too we immediately had doubts as it was a very swanky boutique hotel with accompanying restaurants, cafes and conference rooms, added to which Mr J would not fit into any parking areas as he is 2,6m high with the roof box on so well above the general height restriction of must undercover garages of 2,2m. While trying to figure out what to do the hotels concierge appeared at the window and when we told him we were looking for the hair place he offered us the VIP parking spot and showed us the way to the hairdresser.

As an added bonus Stuart got a haircut too, the first in 9 months but even then it only took a half hour whereas Tania was going to be a while… So once done he headed out to tick off a few more errands. We have not bumped into them but have observed on social media that Land Rover have a fleet of the new very larney Defenders running around Namibia doing all sorts of camel trophy stuff and proving their worth for the motoring media. When returning to collect Tania after a few hours Stuart observed that one of the conference rooms was being setup for Land Rover which we surmise was to welcome back the now bush worthy vehicles and their contingent, what a pity we were probably only a day too earlier to have witnessed this and to have parked MR J amongst them. Perhaps the #MrJonesFanclub could have gained a few more members?

From Windhoek we headed west towards the coast and Swakopmund via the exceptionally scenic C28 dirt road which crosses the Khomas Hochland. It probably looks quite different for most of the year but given the recent rains we were treated to spectacular mountains and valleys covered in yellow flowers with green bushes interspersing this but then as we descended over the Bosun Pass it dramatically changed to initially a dry and barren scrubland and then finally a total moonscape. Naturally many stops were made for photos, although it is very difficult to capture the grandeur and starkness in a photo, and each time we stopped all you could hear was silence. In nearly 300km we saw only 6 other vehicles.

About 100km from Swakopmund a small diversion (provided you have arranged a permit from the MET office in Windhoek) from the C28 takes you past the Tinklas and Bloedkoppie camp areas which are basically just allocated spots in the desert where you can camp. The silence is once again all-encompassing and it is quite possible to hear yourself think. Our chosen overnight spot was Bloedkoppie which is so named because the very large granite koppie often glows pink/red in the setting sun. Having learnt a thing or two from Jocelyn (Tania’s gorilla trekking porter) in terms of how to haul a not so keen hiker/climber up or down hills, Stuart managed to get Tania up one of the smaller granite domes for sunset drinks and back down again without even a whimper from the latter party. The coming down part may have been aided by a glass of wine on top and the impending dusk….

The day ended perfectly with a visit to our campfire by two tiny little Bat Eared foxes, clearly used to humans but still very skittish they kept us amused for quite a while before we turned in for the night.

Link to: Namibia Travel Diary: Part 2

Captain(s) Log: February 2020

Our Captains log is a capture of some of the random thoughts, frustrations and experiences we go through as we travel along. This months version certainly has plenty of ups and downs as we ticked off big mileage to escape the rains. These log entries cover our very quick jaunt through Zambia and then some of our time in Namibia.

1 February

A day of staring 5m to 200m ahead, dodging potholes & passing trucks with 1/2 m spare between us while balancing Mr J tyres on the edge of the squiggly road edge. B@£* tired! Uuurgh Zambia!

2 February

For f@!ks sake. While having a soak in the natural hot springs this morning before hitting the road, we heard a tree crashing down nearby. When we got back to Mr Jones it had fallen next to and partially on him.

5 February

The joy of simple things! Finding a Shoprite that has wine (still box though) and all other items at close to South Africa prices (first time in 6months) and tonight having a shower with decent lighting, enough space to change and plenty hot water (a rarity the last couple of weeks).

9 February

While not ideal as there is not much to do here and it has rained almost constantly, a couple of forced down days while we wait out the weekend to visit a mechanic has been really good for us. Feeling nice and relaxed.

10 February

Rain all night and then packing up in the mud has us both feeling grumpy this morning. Also for some strange reason we don’t have too much confidence in the mechanic even though he is highly recommended which leaves us anxious about that too. In the end he was in fact great.

11 February

In Namibia and we have sunshine, could this be the end of our “load shedding”? So glad we dashed westwards yesterday after a brief hospital trip for Mr J.

For context to to the above entries, see the Zambia Travel Diary

12 February

Aaah the joys of proper campsites! 2 weeks ago we were paying the same to camp on a pile of rubble in the backyard of a hotel, today we have our own ablutions, wash-up area, grass and a private viewing deck over the Popa falls on the Kavango river.

15 February

Continually confused over what time it is the last few days?? As we are on the border with Angola the phones are constantly changing time zones, often making us think it is an hour earlier than it actually is. We assume the phones GPS keeps confusing which country we are in…

17 February

The long days and often not great roads of the last month are taking it’s toll, both been snappy at each other, which we never are so a sure sign down time is needed! Crazy to think 1 month ago we were tracking gorillas and now we are well into Namibia. Today’s camp on edge of Etosha feels good and while a little pricey looks like it will keep us for a few days and give us that needed rest.

18 February

A lovely relaxed day, spent lounging by the pool reading and catching up on blog etc. Glad we stopped here.

19 February

So annoyed and frustrated! We left our frozen red meat in the care of the lodge due to the foot & mouth disease controls Etosha has in place and THEY PUT IT IN THE FRIDGE. So when we got back after the day in the park, 2 weeks of meals had defrosted. GRRRR!

20 February

Marathon cooking session of mince to save the defrosted meat, followed by some great chilli con carne. All done while riding out a massive thunderstorm sitting inside Mr J, thank goodness once again for the Icarus roof conversion.

23 February

Very relieved! Been nursing a wonky propshaft with a daily greasing schedule for the last 2000km, hopefully can get it fixed/a new one now that we have made it to Windhoek.

24 February

Productive day, propshaft sorted, first haircuts in many months and some shopping done.

26 February

Pleasantly surprised by Swakopmund, had a lovely lunch on promenade followed by walk and sundowners on the Tiger reef deck

28 February

Dodged a bullet this morning! While disconnecting the grey water bucket, noticed a space in the bushes for the rear lower suspension link. The nut had come seriously loose and was almost off – must be due to all the corrugations last few days and with all the driving I (Stuart) been a bit lazy last few days in checking Mr J over.

Travel Diary: Western Tanzania & Zambia

As you will have read in our Rwanda travel diary the entry into Tanzania was not without it’s issues and our second impressions (because this is our 2nd time into Tanzania) were disappointingly worst than the first. The couldn’t care less attitude of the Tanzanian customs officials while we waited for the official to come back from lunch so that we could pay our “road tax” were immediately followed by terrible roads. As one user on iOverlander describes them: “potholes resemble bomb craters with extremely steep sides. Trucks bounce along with cabs swaying and oscillating like a fairground ride, definitely not for the faint hearted..”

Within the first couple of kilometres we saw two recent truck accidents/wrecks and a few kilometres later come to a grinding halt as the road crossed a small hill and held a huge truck jam. Initially we joined the queue but after realising that we had more chance of squeezing through than the trucks we inched our way forward past the first 20 trucks until we got to the real jam which was 4 trucks wide and no way around. It is amazing to watch how what at first appears to be total chaos and with no solution in sight slowly starts to take shape as one or two drivers begin to boss the rest around, eventually a couple of trucks inched their way past us down the hill and even though at only 2km/h they were still often locking up brakes and sliding past, then we would move upwards 50m or so and wait for the cycle to repeat.

A couple of hour later we were clear and moving freely or at least as freely as the “bomb like craters” would allow. As darkness approached we were left with two options, either bush camp or stop at the only lodge marked on iOverlander. Bush camping on the side of the road in this part of the world is not appealing so we opted for the Medy One hotel, located in a little cross roads village. Finding it was an adventure down tiny little streets crowded with informal vendors and once the gps showed us we were on top of it but still could not see anything, Stuart opted for walking to find it. While it was nothing special it was clean and secure even if the decor left a lasting impression – think gold curtains, pink mosquito net and a multi coloured bed spread. We made supper in the parking lot, 5 metres from the open air bar and then retired to our room.

Another day of not great roads followed as we headed westwards towards Lake Tanganika and Jacobsen Beach campsite. Jacobsens is a little piece of paradise but unfortunately our hopes of an extended and relaxing stay were dashed when there was no power point at the campsite and the days were overcast meaning our solar panel could not keep the fridge auxiliary battery fully charged. So after 2 nights we needed to move on.

Ideally we would have moved a few hundred kilometres down the lake to Lake Shore lodge as it was one of the few “must do” destinations we had in mind for this trip. It looks like a little bit of paradise and we thought we could down tools for at least a week, pump the SUP up and generally enjoy lake life. Sadly we learnt that they were closed until 15 February which meant that there was nothing left for us in Tanzania and with no sign of the rainy season abating the decision was made to head South for Zambia as quickly as possible.

Tanzania was however determined to not let us go that easily, the road from Kigoma (Jacobsens beach) while initially beautiful quickly turned into a slippery muddy mess thanks to the recent rains and once again we were confronted with a big truck and bus traffic jam. After sitting for a couple of hours while a bus which had slid sideways and blocked the road was cleared (by the passengers) we followed a couple of other local 4x4s through the narrow gap only to be stopped a few hundred metres further by another blockage. Over the next couple of hours we made slow but steady progress through the blockage. The blockage probably spread over 5km and 100’s of trucks and busses, so as we drove away we felt very sorry for all the passengers who would be spending at least one long night marooned there. It is amazing how things can change though, as we learnt from fellow traveller’s who come through a couple of days later that there was no sign of the chaos and it was an easy drive, goes to show what some heavy rain can do.

Kindle time while waiting out mud traffic jams

Video footage of us negotiating the mud blockade

After a long hard day we stopped in Mpanda to fill up with fuel and draw some money. While modern technology and ATM’s make life a lot easier these days, it is still not without it it’s stresses as often the ATM will appear to approve your transaction and then reject it. At least once a month these days we have an “approved” and then reversed transactions on our accounts. On this day however nothing seemed to happen and after two minutes of waiting a small amount of panic ensued as Tania thought the machine had eaten her card! Thankfully after another minute or so the machine spat the card out, so off we drove to try and find another ATM which might co-operate.

In Africa we try and stick to one hard rule – “Don’t drive at night”. In 6 months we have only broken that once, when entering Malawi from Mozambique after another epic day , but after the days delays we found ourselves chasing the setting sun and did eventually pull into our campsite on the outskirts of Katavi National Park a few minutes after dark.

Hippo Camp, while very basic, was a pleasant end to an exhausting day. The caretaker immediately set about lighting the donkey boiler so we could have a hot shower and so after a simple supper, we had a lovely hot shower and fell asleep to the sound of hippos grunting in the nearby river.

Apart from a dirt section through the park, thankfully from here on the road become normal smooth tar and so over the next couple of days we managed to tick off some big mileage to the Zambian border, although we did not dodge another hotel parking lot camping experience.

Bacyard camping at a hotel / lodge. Our last stop before Zambia

The Nakonde border between Tanzania and Zambia is meant to be a one-stop border post but couldn’t be anything further from the truth. By now we have crossed a few border posts and the one thing we always refuse to use is a runner/tout. This time however that was not possible, as we had driven past the Tanzanian customs office simply because it was outside the border zone with no signage other than “staff parking”. This meant we had to walk back to it in an attempt to get the Carnet stamped but as they couldn’t now inspect Mr Jones it was an “issue”, score one for our self-appointed tout who resolved the issue. Back at the “one-stop” offices immigration/emigration was relatively easy and in the some place but then none of the counters for paying road tax were manned so it was off upstairs to a very crowded office where our “self-appointed tout” jumped the lines to get that sorted. Through the the back corridors we went to another office so that we could pay carbon tax, but as they were offline a few more closed offices followed as the tout looked for a solution. It was at this point that Stuart realised that the “tout” was indispensable. The final step in the fantasy “one-stop” border post was we had to physically exit the border area to visit Zambia customs and get our Carnet stamped. It took about 2 hours with the tout and would have probably taken 6+ on our own! When will countries realise that borders are essential for trade and make lasting first impressions for tourists of the country.

Everything we had read of the next 300 – 400km of roads inside Zambia was horror stories but the first 60km after the border while by no means great were not too bad and we covered the distance in just over an hour before pulling off for the night at Kings Highway rest camp.

Day two in Zambia did however deliver the promised bad roads together with a multitude of stupid checkpoints. Invariably the police checkpoint would be just before a bad section of road and of course they would always ask to see our receipt for road tax, the irony was not lost on us but most certainly on them… We did hopefully restock a good dose of Karma by stopping and helping, in the pouring rain, a stranded car transporter who had two flat tyres on the Gelandwagen V8 TriTurbo he was driving. He was transferring the vehicle from Dar es Salaam to the DRC, a journey which would take him 8 days and for which he would earn the princely sum of USD300.

Climbing back into Mr Jones, drenched to the core, it was another reminder of the irony of Africa: on the ground is a poor soul doing his best to make a living and earning a basic wage while entrusted with a very valuable asset whereas the recipient is no doubt floating in cash from shady deals (of some sort or other) and mainly focused on image (cause why else would you order such a car with low profile tyres for a country like the DRC) rather than creating long term wealth or a sustainable environment.

During the course of the days driving we come to the conclusion that for a road to count as potholed in north western Zambia it must be able to at least absorb two wheels at a time and be as deep as half the tyre otherwise it is just a good smooth tar road with a few irritating holes.

Kapisha Hot Springs was a pleasant surprise after another long day on the road, it was just such a pity the camping is ridiculously priced otherwise we would have definitely downed tools for a couple of days. Nonetheless we thoroughly enjoyed our soak in the hot water before bed and again the following morning.

The Kapisha Hotsprings

While soaking away our aches and pains in the morning we heard a tree come crashing down not too far away but didn’t think anything more of it, only to find when we got back to Mr Jones that in fact it had fallen right next to and partly on to Mr Jones. We did however get lucky in that the only damage to Mr Jones was a slightly dented bonnet which a day later we mostly panel beaten out.

Despite the soaks in the hot water spring we were still feeling a bit battered and travel weary so decided to do a short hop to Bayama Lodge, where we hoped to take a rest day. Bayama while not spectacular in terms of facilities was a welcome rest stop, firstly cause they had nice food at good prices, then as an overlander you only pay for the first nights camping and thereafter stay for free. Stuart was also able to borrow a drill from the owner and so pop rivet back one of the panels we damaged on the muddy Tanzania roads as well as remove the Fubared side step and generally give Mr J a good going over. In addition we removed the bonnet and panelbeated out some of the dents from our fallen tree incident.

As we continued our journey south towards the Lusaka the road thankfully improved but the police checkpoints did not decrease, blowing our earlier theory that bad roads followed any such checkpoint. The main focus of these later checkpoints seems to be checking to see if your hazard lights are working, we very quickly got to recognise when a checkpoint was approaching as all the cars/trucks coming towards you and in front would have their hazards on. Quite often if you approach the officer with yours working, he/she waves you through but if you don’t have them on they will for sure stop you and walk around the car making sure all 4 are flashing. Bizarre!!

Sometimes the simple things in life can make such a difference, like reasonably priced box wine and other goodies. All who visited us in joburg and hopefully enjoyed a lunch or evening on our deck will know we enjoyed nice wine and had a reasonably well stocked wine rack. Simple economics have however exposed us to the “joys” of box wine on this trip and we have even become connoisseurs of it, for instance we can reliably inform you that Overmeer Red pairs very well with curry. Having said this even box wine has been expensive since Mozambique and so finding almost normal ZA priced boxes at a Shoprite just north of Lusaka totally made our day. Before anyone gets too concerned we didn’t only buy box wine, other essentials were also stocked up on.

The rainy season continued to follow us as we left Lusaka and headed for Livingstone with torrential downpours for much of the drive, when it wasn’t rainy and the road allowed us to get a little speed Mr Jones started to shudder anywhere around 90km/h which was a little worrying.

Having experienced similar in Rwanda our initial diagnosis was a worn UJ on the front prop shaft and perhaps also an issue with the steering joints. Stuart was also worried about the water pump which seemed to have an annoying squeak. As Livingstone has a very well recognised Land Rover mechanic (Foleys) we stopped by to see if they could help but they could only see us on Monday so we settled in for the weekend.

The weekend brought LOTS AND LOTS OF rain, which at one point forced us to move camping spots and meant there was not much we could do in terms of activities but despite this, the forced couple of days rest was just what the doctor ordered. Over the last 10 days we had clocked more than 3000km’s and none of them on good roads so we were naturally rather tired.

On the Friday, Foleys had told us to come around at 10:00 on the Monday morning as they probably wouldn’t be finished a job they were busy with until then but being anxious to get the show on the road and being wary of “africa time” we pitched up at 8:30. Of course they were still busy with the vehicle from Friday and reminded us they were expecting us at 10, we left doubtful that they would in fact be ready but lo and behold when we returned at 9:55 the wheel nuts were being tightened and Mr Jones was being looked at only a few minutes later.

One hour later a quick but thorough check of Mr Jones was complete, with some items to watch but nothing which should stop us for now. As the border with Namibia appeared to be reachable by 3pm and nothing more to hold us in Zambia, it was an easy decision to hit the road.

Zambia however was not finished with us, as we headed west and as soon as we past the turn-off to the Botswana border post (Kazungula) the road deteriorated into a potholed mess, pretty much the some kind of mess that welcomed us a few days earlier on our entry from Tanzania. With a healthy set of dodgem driving and the use of the track running next to the roa, we covered the last 150km in reasonable time and did in fact reach the border post by 4pm and a really simple entry into Namibia at Katima Mulilo.

Our traverse of Western Tanzania and Zambia is certainly not the way we like to travel (sticking to the main road and ticking off kilometres) but the weather and many places being closed or inaccessible was not conducive to slow travel sadly.

Gallery: Western Tanzania

Gallery: Zambia

Practical Information: Zambia Some useful information for entry and travelling through Zambia

Maintenance Log: The usual list of items requiring maintenance in order to keep ourselves and Mr Jones on the road

Author: StuartandTania

Travel Diary: South Africa – Desert & Sea

Travel Diary: South Africa – Western Cape

Travel Diary: South Africa Wild Coast & Garden Route

Travel Diary: Slow travel South Africa during COVID

Travel Diary: Phase 2 of Lockdown

Travel Diary: Phase 1 of Lockdown

Travel Diary: South Africa’s West Coast

Travel Diary: Namibia (part 1)

Captain(s) Log: February 2020

Travel Diary: Western Tanzania & Zambia

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)