It was busy at work throughout the year. Too many late nights, too many days stuck in front of the computer and not enough sunshine and fun. Or, at least, that's how it felt by the end of the year. And so, Marsha and I were very ready for our African Adventure. This time last year we were in the Amazon - I knew this because I checked out the blog that I wrote back then. On reading it I realised there were far too many words. I must have had a lot of time on my hands....!
So, this will document our little African adventure but will be mostly filled with photos this time around. No lengthy rants or monotinous, unending paragraphs inadequately attempting to describe sunsets etc etc.....
11th/12th June 2011
Manila to Doha, Qatar. We flew with the very hopeless Qatar Airways who were unable to provide any inflight entertainment for 9 hours. Letters will be written.....
We stayed 2 days with friends who hosted us fabulously and we met up with several more friends over drinks in the evenings. Great to catch up and to experience mid 40s Celsius again.
13th June 2011
Doha to Cape Town. An improved Qatar Airways landed a few minutes ahead of schedule and we soon whisked through customs and were in a van bound for Simon's Town a little down the coast from Cape Town. We checked into the lovely and recently opened Simon's Town Guesthouse with the sound of the ocean crashing about a few hundred metres away. Dinner at Dixies - well, a bottle of wine and dessert anyhow (Marsha reckoned all dinners should be such).
14th June 2011
A beautiful sunset across the bay welcomed in the day. We spent well over an hour on the patio eating breakfast soaking up the sun and chatting to the owners. No rush - we had 6 weeks stretching in front of us.....
Eventually we caught the train down the coast to Muizenburg and walked back to Kalk Bay along the beach dipping into cafes, bookshps and art/craft places along the way. Very relaxing.
Then the train to Simon's Town itself and to the penguins. These small birds occupy a small section of the coast. We traced their inelegant waddles up and down the beach. Once in water they soon disappeared on the hunt at speeds of up to 20km/h in search of food. We spent a long time marvelling over these creatures and how close we were able to get. The coastline was also stunning.
Back to Dixies for dinner - this time having something a little more substantial (steak for me and fish for Marsha) and of course a bottle of cheap, but very good South African wine.
15th June 2011
Another late start. Another long breakfast.
It was raining and the wind was howling. Marsha had a few things to catch up on from work and I read a book. As the weather cleared we at last ventured out and visited Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. The southern most tip - or south westerly tip of Africa or something like that. Either way, it was a peninsula and although it was dry the wind was gusting hard. We walked to the lighthouse and stared out to where the Pacific and Atlantic oceans collided. As you might imagine it looked fairly cold and inhospitable out there. The little museum told of the very very many boats and ships that have perished over the years just off the Cape.
As we wandered back we came upon a bunch of baboons who were actually behaving themselves pretty much and not living up to their reputations as depicted on the multiple signs around the place warning us of them. In the distance we also spotted our first antelope - Eland. We read that they were rarely seen at the Cape - good portents we thought.....
Back to the Guesthouse, some down time, reading, this, work for Marsha and another fine meal at Dixies.
16th June 2011
As we checked out of the Guesthouse our hosts pointed out a Southern Right Whale splashing about in the bay. We watched as it breached a couple of times. Not a bad view from your hotel room....
Train to Cape Town. After much deliberation we decided upon checking into the Grand Daddy Hotel which has been persuading people for many years now to part with large wads of cash for the privelege of staying in one of the old caravans parked on the roof of the building. An odd decision by us perhaps - still it did have views of Table Mountain and I was able to stand upright in it without bending my neck at 90 degrees unlike most caravans.
We traipsed through the rain to the V & A waterfront to buy a rainjacket amongst other things. A quiet afternoon. Dinner at a nearby place on the balcony overlooking Long St that was unusually quiet.
17th June 2011
9.00am pick up at the hotel with Wine Flies wine tours. This company has only been going a few weeks but we had a great day. 6 of us were driven around various wineries from the Durbanville area to Stellenbosch. We were treated to lunch, some Biltong, a cheese tasting, various historical and wine making commentaries and tours as well as, of course, wine tasting. Best place was the Brit and Boer! Although, as the sun set over the ocean and we sat in the garden and watched as Table Mountain and other hills turned a golden red colour, the last winery was also hard to beat.
We were invited back to a large balcony to listen to some live music where we met the owner of the wine tour company. Marsha got chatting to some fella who a little later on got up and was the star attraction singer song writer person who apparently had been playing in front of 8000 people the previous weekend!
18th June
Out of the caravan and into the Cape Diamond Hotel supposedly to meet up with our tour - except we got the dates wrong and were 1 day too early! Ah well, up Table Mountain instead. We took the easy way up - cable car. Beautiful from the top. Views of the bay, Robben Island, the Cape of Good Hope and loads of rock badgers (I very much doubt that's actually what they're called) that scuttled about the rocks. After wandering a while we returned, boarded a bus for Camps Bay and had lunch on the beach. A stunning sandy beach so close to the city! En route to the waterfront Marsha's camera started having issues which, later, the fella in the camera shop fixed in an embarressingly quick and simple way.
Feeling a little jaded after the excesses of yesterday still and so a quiet evening.
Actually popped into a Middle Eastern eating hall type place. Usually pictures of food outside restaurants make the food look bigger and better than it really is - not this place. Misguided by an image of a small plate with a feeble looking curry perched on the side we ended up ordering at least 3 times as much as we needed.
19th June
A late start - we made the most of having a real bed to sleep in! We'll be in tents soon enough...
Then a bus out into the outskirts of Cape Town. A countryside gardens place complete with cream teas, a couple of wineries and some more spectacular coastlines and before we knew it we were back in Cape Town and due for a meeting with our fellow tour members. 15 of us along with 3 guides start tomorrow morning. Next stop Namibia and following that Botswana. Don't know when we'll have internet access again. But, when we do I'll update. Tried putting photos on here but no joy. I was actually quite surprised the old machine sat in front of me was able to access the internet and so uploading photos was always going to be a bit of a stretch!
June 20th
Breakfast and then the tour bus departed with 15 tourists on board- mostly from Oz. A chef, a guide and the driver came with us too. First stop was Langa Township a few kms outside of Cape Town. An interesting tour took in a primary school, some workshops, some homes of very very varying standard and a ‘bar’. One small room about the size of our spare room slept 16 people (3 families). The ‘bar’ was a bucket of vinegary beer from which men only were allowed to sip. As I explained to Marsha later, she really wasn’t missing much.
From the township we travelled up on the Namibian Highway. Great views all around especially at lunch. We rolled up at Highlanders Campsite (and Winery) just as it grew dark which meant the first tent putting up effort was a little chaotic. Our reward though was another wine tasting session with our host and a decent dinner round a camp fire afterwards.
June 21st
Up early and after almost successfully stuffing our tent into the bag we joined everyone else for breakfast. Then on our way to the Orange River and the border with Namibia. Again beautiful scenery along the way. We stopped off for a while in Springbok and also for lunch before reaching Fiddler Creek camp by early afternoon. The camp was by the Orange River which acted as the border between South Africa and Namibia. A lovely bar occupied us for some time before dinner and the camp fire afterwards.
South Africa photos...
1st morning in South Africa
African Penguins near Simon's Town, Cape Town
African Penguins near Simon's Town, Cape Town
African Penguin near Simon's Town, Cape Town
African Penguin near Simon's Town, Cape Town
African Penguin near Simon's Town, Cape Town
African Penguins near Simon's Town, Cape Town
African Penguin near Simon's Town, Cape Town
African Penguin near Simon's Town, Cape Town
dassie in Simon's Town
African Penguin near Simon's Town, Cape Town
African Penguin near Simon's Town, Cape Town
Which way?
Cape of Good Hope
Cape Point
The Cape Point Lighthouse
Wine tasting around Cape Town
Our room in Cape Town
On Table Mountain
Statue in the gardens under Table Mountain
Marsha on the bus!
Constantia winery
Music in the township
Mural in the Langa Township
One of sixteen occupants of this small room
Township outside Cape Town
Marsha making friends
Township kids
Table Mountain, Cape Town
Sunset at Fiddler Creek
Sunrise at Fiddler Creek
Fiddler Creek camp
Marsha kayaking
Kayaking between borders
June 22nd
Several of us went canoeing along the Orange River after breakfast. We stopped at one point on the far bank thereby illegally entering Namibia! Back for lunch and then onto the Fish River Canyon. Along the way we spotted our first animals – ostrich scampering by the road, Springbok staring back at us and some Oryx with their huge horns. We set up camp and then made the short journey to Fish River Canyon and stayed until sunset. As always, the sheer scale and beauty could not be captured on camera. It stretched as far as we could see and the
river meandered its path over 500m below us.
There was a great bar at the campsite/Canon Roadhouse with loads of old cars as decoration inside.
June 23rd
A transit day from Fish River Canyon to Namib Naukluft National Park. But, loads of Springbok, more Ostrich, a few Oryx, Bat-eared foxes, baboons and a couple of Giraffe (very surprisingly) helped to entertain us on our way. It was actually very relaxing, munching on Biltong (dried meat), admiring the desert and the mountains, stopping occasionally for animals and reading.
These campsites are great – another restaurant and bar – although we ate around the camp fire again first before adjourning to the bar for an hour or so.Later as I ambled back from the shower, a large dog-sized animal nonchalantly trotted by which hastened my pace along the sandy track to the tent. And later still, in the middle of the night, I cursed the hour at the bar as I was forced to venture out of the tent to mingle with the wild animals in search of the loo. And, it was soooo cold!
June 24th
To Sossusvlei in the National Park for sunrise. Reputed to be the oldest desert in the world and to have the highest sand dunes. We climbed the so-called Dune 45 (45km from camp) clothed in hats, gloves, thermals, jackets and half the clothes in our bag. It was freezing – actually it really was freezing according to the guide who described it as unusually cold! The view from the top was stunning. Massive, sweeping red dunes as far as we could see. Springbok and Oryx wandered about grazing at the few patches of grass to be found on the ground between the mighty dunes.
We had breakfast once we returned to the bottom, in the shadow of the dune– the sun gradually gliding upwards gently warming our icy bodies. We were then taken via 4 by 4s across the sandy floor to a walking track which ended at a salt/mud pan. Lakes many years ago had dried up leaving a crusty white surface and dead trees. The landscape was again far too dramatic to be adequately captured by my mediocre photography talents. Back to the 4 by 4s and on to a lake that did still exist. Then to lunch. On the way we passed various antelope and, well, they were beginning to be taken for granted. Still, the big animals are not too far away……
After lunch we trekked through another canyon nearby.
June 25th
Not such a cold night - only got down 5 degrees, but collapsing the tent at dawn was still a fairly chilly experience.
En-route to the town of Swakopvit we passed loads of antelope, loads of ostriches including some baby ones. We stopped for photos in the desert and came across a huge scorpion. Another stop resulted in us all buying some fantastic apple pie slices from the local shop. Outside hundereds of birds gathered. We declined the opportunity of camel rides especially as one broke free as we watched, making a mad dash for freedom - it didn't look too appealing.
Near the town we had nothing but sand dunes around us. And so, once in the hotel we booked up a Quad Biking tour for the afternoon. An amazingly good time. Hammering up, around, down and over huge sand dunes was fantastic. The massive red dunes rippled off into the distance. As far as the eye could see there was just sand. Eventually we came to the sea and we realised we'd been basically on the biggest beach in the world!
We all gathered for dinner in a nearby restaurant - I had Kudu steak (a type of antelope). Our guide was celebrating his birthday and so Marsha read something out for and from the whole group.
Great to have a hotel room and a real bed!
