Blogs from Northern Cape, South Africa, Africa

Day 2 of our overland tour began with 4 grumpy girls waking up at 5:30am getting ready for long day of driving from Stellenbosch to the Orange River which is on the Namibian border. Following our wine tour on Day 1 we returned to the hostel keen for some time to relax. This, however, did not happen! The staff of the hostel felt it was appropriate to sit outside our room and watch TV on full blast until 11pm, then as if in tag team a french group sat outside our window (which we were unable to close) and have a birthday party. By 2am we thought the noise was over and everyone was safely tucked up in bed, sadly though there was one more element of the relay we didn’t see coming -- obnoxious American ... read more

Driving north through ever changing scenery: from dramatically rising mountainscape through lush rolling countryside with orchards and vineyards; and finally the desert – endless stretches of red earth streaked with luminous yellow grass, bordered by the ethereal purple bluish hue of distant mountains. I am racing against the clock because I know they are closing around three and this is the only day I have up here. At one o’clock still nothing. I stop at a little tourist information place in a one-horse-town; there they direct me off the main road. Another 50km or so. It’s a dirt track, dusty and slow. And then, just as I’m starting to wonder why I’m doing this, I see it, one of the great spectacles of nature: flowers, carpets of them, covering the desert floor, flooding it with an ... read more

Hi all, we are now at port nollith a campsite called Mac dougalls bay after a stop over at Springbok, what is it with these municaple parks, after staying in a private park it is realy a let down to come to one of these parks, thay generally have awsome parks but very run down, no maintenance and shabby ablutions, well enough moaning. Once again the gremlins were with us, after leaving Clan william all went well for 80 km. then buksie started over heating, it was a very hot day 30 + so we unhitched buksietjie and Wanda had to drive her and i drove buksie but to no avail, just kept on over heating, so we decided to stop over at Springbok to sort out the problem, unfortunatly there isnt much in the way ... read more

En Route What are two people just the other side of 59 years old, considering when they made plans to work on an organic farm in the Western Cape? Frans is still employed and is taking long leave, and I have just come through several months of grappling with the diagnosis and subsequent treatment for breast cancer. These are our intentions Looking forward to swopping city life for the country We are eager to try a different lifestyle We will take time to get down to Fynbos Estate, Malmesbury........... We left Sasolburg on 8th Jan on R59 and travelled that route to Kimberley. We drove like a dodgem car avoiding the potholes, with roads lined with mielies and kamakaze guinea fowls. We sang along to Ricky Martin and Abba. Outside Viljoenskroon we were amazed to ... read more