South Africa was so incredibly different scenery-wise to Namibia. SO much green! Rolling hills, normal looking sheep that I don’t think would last a day in the desert, proper fences, paddocks, crops and massive irrigation units. It was strange to see wild ostrich grazing with the sheep – I guess they just jump the fences?
We briefly visited Springbok (a food stop only - it was a pretty quite place but to be fair it was a Sunday) and saw the amazing wildflowers that apparently have visitors flocking to see over the months of Aug/Sep. Another good timing visit and this photo doesn’t do them justice but they were pretty and so plentiful along the roadside.
We had our last night in a camp ground a few hours drive from Springbok before hitting Cape Town the next day and, with it being the final night, someone had the brilliant idea of a tent pitching competition. We’d been having another quiet (yeah right!) celebration on the truck so some were pretty happy when we got there and as soon as the tent locker on the truck was unlocked, it was all out war. The chap who ran the camp took one look at the scene that was unfolding and said “Oh my God, I need a beer for this” and headed off to get one. It was absolute carnage and very funny to watch with some folk genuinely trying to pitch tents, others headed off, leaving their poor tent partners fending off others who were pinching gear, to sabotage someone elses attempt and some gave up all together and just generally created havoc. Tent poles were being ripped out of peoples hands, run off with, flung into the bushes, tents were being swept out from under peoples feet as they stood on them and there was general wrangling going on in other corners. The Kiwis took on the Aussies with one of the Kiwi girls (not me) doing a flying tackle on the Aussie chap who had part of her tent and, full credit, she took him right out, through the thorny hedge that he was standing in front off and off a 2ft drop. They emerged back through the (new) hole in the hedge with slightly dazed looks and I noticed that she was still absentmindedly picking thorns out of her hair some time later. He was shocked and dazed and still in disbelief at the tackle hours later. Quality. Pure quality. Slight problem is, I think most of the others on the truck now think all Kiwi girls have a drinking problem and turn a bit native once they’ve had a bit to drink. We don’t. I’ve kept most gory details from the blog but there have been some pretty classy injuries thus far but we are all still in one piece.
Cape Town was the last point for most of those on the truck and 18 people leave us here and four new folk join. We’ll be rattling round in the truck for the next 12 days but it will be quite nice to be a smaller group. We’re in Cape Town (CT) for four nights and it is so nice to be here. The weather is brilliant, we’ve had one overcast day and the rest of the time its been brilliant blue sky and so warm.
Unfortunately Euan and I have had to spend a lot of our time here planning the next leg as once we hit Jo’burg we’re off to Japan via Hong Kong and there will be no more stopping in one place for more than two nights between now and then and we cannot take chances on there being ready internet/fax/phone access.
We’ve both been to CT before so there are some things that we’ve skipped this time but it is a beautiful city and you wouldn’t believe that it can be so dangerous. We haven’t had any major problems, no different to what you might get in London, but two of the new recruits who had just arrived in the country were robbed at knife point on their first morning in the city. I really felt for them as they’re quite young and I’m not sure how much travel they’ve done.
We’ve made a major change to our itinerary that has seen us drop the Nepal loop (sob!), via India but it does give us more time to make our way overland from Beijing to Singapore. Once we’d done the admin we ventured down to the Waterfront, a rather touristy and posh area with quite a bit of tat although I’d hardly count what looked like a swashed zebra as tat. I think its in a category all of its own.
On a good day, you can’t beat the view and when its misty or cloudy, you’d never know Table Mountain was there
One of the days was spent driving when seven of us hired two tiny cars and bombed off down the Cape of Good Hope. We had a brilliant time, did countless U turns and nearly got blown off the cape – no joke. The beaches are wild and beautiful
and we had to take the inevitable group pic in the incredibly windy conditions
the wind was so strong..
Seriously though, it was. The wind on the cape was so strong there were a couple of times it caught me off balance and I nearly fell over.
you can see the waves blowing away when they break
We didn’t expect to see ostriches there and it did look weird to see them nibbling on grass with the sea as a backdrop. I wanted to see how close I could get but was a wee bit worried as she looked kind of staunch and might have had my eye out. Her wings were flapping too but it was so windy I think it was the wind.
then one held us up by ambling along the road
before joining his girlfriend
We also saw an Eland, the largest of the antelope and I was stoked. We’d not seen one (live) yet and the partially dismembered one in the Serengeti didn’t really count. We were pretty lucky as the National Park Guide says that large animals are a rare site.
The place we’re staying at in CT is brilliant – it’s a hostel but the beds are so comfy and the linen so nice. Maybe it feels nicer than it is because we’ve slept on the ground so often but I can honestly say I sleep better in a tent now than I do in a bed, no matter how comfy. I guess its whatever you get used to.
We briefly visited Springbok (a food stop only - it was a pretty quite place but to be fair it was a Sunday) and saw the amazing wildflowers that apparently have visitors flocking to see over the months of Aug/Sep. Another good timing visit and this photo doesn’t do them justice but they were pretty and so plentiful along the roadside.
We had our last night in a camp ground a few hours drive from Springbok before hitting Cape Town the next day and, with it being the final night, someone had the brilliant idea of a tent pitching competition. We’d been having another quiet (yeah right!) celebration on the truck so some were pretty happy when we got there and as soon as the tent locker on the truck was unlocked, it was all out war. The chap who ran the camp took one look at the scene that was unfolding and said “Oh my God, I need a beer for this” and headed off to get one. It was absolute carnage and very funny to watch with some folk genuinely trying to pitch tents, others headed off, leaving their poor tent partners fending off others who were pinching gear, to sabotage someone elses attempt and some gave up all together and just generally created havoc. Tent poles were being ripped out of peoples hands, run off with, flung into the bushes, tents were being swept out from under peoples feet as they stood on them and there was general wrangling going on in other corners. The Kiwis took on the Aussies with one of the Kiwi girls (not me) doing a flying tackle on the Aussie chap who had part of her tent and, full credit, she took him right out, through the thorny hedge that he was standing in front off and off a 2ft drop. They emerged back through the (new) hole in the hedge with slightly dazed looks and I noticed that she was still absentmindedly picking thorns out of her hair some time later. He was shocked and dazed and still in disbelief at the tackle hours later. Quality. Pure quality. Slight problem is, I think most of the others on the truck now think all Kiwi girls have a drinking problem and turn a bit native once they’ve had a bit to drink. We don’t. I’ve kept most gory details from the blog but there have been some pretty classy injuries thus far but we are all still in one piece.
Cape Town was the last point for most of those on the truck and 18 people leave us here and four new folk join. We’ll be rattling round in the truck for the next 12 days but it will be quite nice to be a smaller group. We’re in Cape Town (CT) for four nights and it is so nice to be here. The weather is brilliant, we’ve had one overcast day and the rest of the time its been brilliant blue sky and so warm.
Unfortunately Euan and I have had to spend a lot of our time here planning the next leg as once we hit Jo’burg we’re off to Japan via Hong Kong and there will be no more stopping in one place for more than two nights between now and then and we cannot take chances on there being ready internet/fax/phone access.
We’ve both been to CT before so there are some things that we’ve skipped this time but it is a beautiful city and you wouldn’t believe that it can be so dangerous. We haven’t had any major problems, no different to what you might get in London, but two of the new recruits who had just arrived in the country were robbed at knife point on their first morning in the city. I really felt for them as they’re quite young and I’m not sure how much travel they’ve done.
We’ve made a major change to our itinerary that has seen us drop the Nepal loop (sob!), via India but it does give us more time to make our way overland from Beijing to Singapore. Once we’d done the admin we ventured down to the Waterfront, a rather touristy and posh area with quite a bit of tat although I’d hardly count what looked like a swashed zebra as tat. I think its in a category all of its own.
On a good day, you can’t beat the view and when its misty or cloudy, you’d never know Table Mountain was there
One of the days was spent driving when seven of us hired two tiny cars and bombed off down the Cape of Good Hope. We had a brilliant time, did countless U turns and nearly got blown off the cape – no joke. The beaches are wild and beautiful
and we had to take the inevitable group pic in the incredibly windy conditions
the wind was so strong..
Seriously though, it was. The wind on the cape was so strong there were a couple of times it caught me off balance and I nearly fell over.
you can see the waves blowing away when they break
We didn’t expect to see ostriches there and it did look weird to see them nibbling on grass with the sea as a backdrop. I wanted to see how close I could get but was a wee bit worried as she looked kind of staunch and might have had my eye out. Her wings were flapping too but it was so windy I think it was the wind.
then one held us up by ambling along the road
before joining his girlfriend
We also saw an Eland, the largest of the antelope and I was stoked. We’d not seen one (live) yet and the partially dismembered one in the Serengeti didn’t really count. We were pretty lucky as the National Park Guide says that large animals are a rare site.
The place we’re staying at in CT is brilliant – it’s a hostel but the beds are so comfy and the linen so nice. Maybe it feels nicer than it is because we’ve slept on the ground so often but I can honestly say I sleep better in a tent now than I do in a bed, no matter how comfy. I guess its whatever you get used to.
2 comments:
An amazing trip through yet another part of Africa. I can not imagine spending all those hours on a bus enduring those travelling conditions. Richard's brother and his wife recently went to Namibia and really enjoyed it also. As you said, such beautiful and varied scenery. Those sand dunes were incredible. How different Capetown looked after all the other places you had visited. I can understand how used you got to sleeping on the ground.
I look forward to reading about the next leg of your trip. Margaret.
Kate, this is not funny, I am reading this in the Eurostar on my way to Paris and I burst out laughing at the story of the tent competition. I am still giggling and everyone is looking over wondering what the hell I am on!! Great writing.
Ladi
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