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Published: April 9th 2008
Camped in a soil quarry compound, lots of giant millipedes around camp and scorpions so have to make sure my imitation crocs stay inside my tent, chilly night but slpt very well.
Drove to Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park but no space for us to camp so we looked for a campsite and found one 45 minutes away, hot and dry desert terrain. the water is salty so its very slimy and hard to come off , does not need a lot of soap. The next morning woke up very early as the park opens up at 6:30 am, cold ride to park entrance. I think we were really lucky to see lots of animals,lepopards, lions, jackals, mongoose, oryx,springbok,steenbok,wildebeest, ostriches,falcons, lots of cobras and a tortoise!! went back to camp around 8pm.
Left the camp early and drove to Upington, a small town but with all the amenities, had a good lunch at DROS beef and reef is excellent.Driving the next day i was at the beach with Zoe and Mark, fell asleep and woke up with them staring at me, turns out they were staring at the locusts that are dying around me as it hits the truck at
60mph, swarms of them all over, its raining locusts... a few miles later they were gone.
Set up lunch at Prieska, a small town while Doc and Franco checks the brakes to make sure it is working before climbing up the mountain.
We tried to make it to the garden route but is turning dark so we decided to stay at a town called Oudtshoorn, it is like rural America, quite a nice quaint town.
Arrived in Plettenburg Bay the next day, the scenery on the way is spectacular, a bit chilly and rain threatens but the view reminds me of Cape Cod, gorgeous apartments and condos, nice big houses, rich people live here. Arrivd at O'Hannah's B and B owned by Di's father, really nice place. Tony and Brian were there waiting for us, reunited at last after their horrifying experience in the Congo. Brian showed us around town, had a good lunch at Steer's and just walkd around town to orient ourselves. That night everyone got plastered to celebrate making it to South Africa despite all the travails we went through, Tony was really drunk Brian and I have to help him get to his bed.
Had a dentist appointment as it feels like a lost a filling, turns out it was a small crack that the dentist patched up and polished, this was in the town of Knysna, Tony was kind enough to drive me there and pick up later. I also enjoyed running in the beach that morning, first time i saw the Indian ocean!!
Big day for me, visited Monkeyland, Birds of Eden and an Elephant sanctuaryjust on the outskirts of Plettenburg bay, situated next to each other we just walked to get from one place to another, we started at Monkeyland where different types of monkeys and lemurs can be seen, great one hour tour of the park and saw lots of lemurs, a first for me! then of to the Birds of eden, apparently the largest free flight aviary in the world, i had such a great time here birds flying all over and a great opportunity to photograph them as the walkway is close to the canopy of trees. there is a bird from the Philippines, the Bleeding heart pigeon but did not see it unfortunately. i almost ran out of battery and memory space as i just
clicked away on every chance i get.
The Elephant sanctuary is next, they have rescued elephants from poachers and some made as pets and they are trying to rehabilitate these poor animals and hopefully release them in the wild, you get to touch them and feed them and more importantly walk them., quite amazing! last time i had contact with these intelligent creatures was in Chiang Mai, Thailand during the trek and we rode them rather than petting and understanding them. After a long day we decided to come back to town, cooked our dinner and off to bed, the boys were a bit noisy in the living room watching football.
Off to Tsitsikama National Park to do some hiking , the scenery is spectacular, we did a 4 km hike up to a trickling waterfall but still the scenery is worth the walk, a bit tricky as it is rocky and slippery.
Before then we wached our friends Audrey, Jen and Dave bungy jump the highest jump in the world at 216 meters, jumping from a very impressive bridge. After a long walk at tsitsikama we all started drinking beer as we drive back to town, which
made most of us grimace as we wait to get back to town to go for a pee, we cant stop in the middle of the road.
Next day departure time we ,Mark and Brian decided to rent a car and head to Dundee to visit the Battlefields, looked up the net for price quotes and also the local Budget branch, got the quote agrreable to us and quickly packed our things and said goodbye to the truck, my first time away and will meet up with them in 2 weeks in Cape Town.
Drove nearly 600 kms. to East London, Brian drove today, like a race car driver!!!Scenery was fantastic, rolling hills, deep valleys with houses at the top, lots of construction on the road goind, at some place patches of fog appears and some rain as well,our first choice hostel was full so we were directed to the East LondonBackpackers, got a good deal for a family room for 85 dibdobs a person, had dinner at Wimpy's and just chilled out and had a few drinks at the hostel bar, met 2 gorgeous English girls, Roxy and Kate, both social workers and fun to chat with,
quite tired we retired soon and off to bed.
Drove again towards Durban or Dundee if we make it, Brian was driving when we got hit at the back by a freaking tro tro, there was a hole in the bumper, our rent a car is white so it is quite obvious, we can kiss our deposit goodbye, all the guy can say was sorry boss, no insurance no nothing we cant go after him, we cut our losses and moved on, at lunch we stopped at KFC and there happen to be a supermarket where we found a white electrical tape and patched up the dent hopefully does not get noticed, Mark drove from hereon, again fab scenery, we got rain and such heavy downpour, couple of vehicles swerving of the road, we made it safe and as we go up the valley we noticed snow on the ground, it must have hailed or something. Went past Ladysmith a town made famous by the Ladyblack Mambazo, we did not stop here, headed off to Dundee, 40kms to town we stopped and Brian had me take over to practice driving on stick shift on my wrong side of the
road, went well though I keep going too close to the side as am not used to driving with the steering wheel on the right of the car, cant judge the distance very well yet. Brian took over again before getting to town had trouble finding a place to stay, most B and B are full but found a decent one, a bit expensive but good 2 day pleasure for us it's called the Royal inn, the guy who runs it Chris was very nice to us. First night Brian gets his own room and me and Mark sharing a room. Had a fab dinner at the Inn then off to bed, power is rationed here and and has power cuts every 2 days.
Next day off we went to our Battlefields tour with Johann, a very experienced and well vrsed historian born in Namibia. Went to the Blood River battlefield, then to Isandlwana and lastly to Rorke's Drift, quite a windy day but nevertheless a ggreat day to learn the war histories of this country. Quite exhausted of the long day we had a few beers with Johann at the Inn then dinner my trout was delicious then
off to bed.
We decided to drop off the car in Durban instead of Cape Town and fly instead, we miscalculated the distance and we were worried about the amount it will cost us as mileage was not unlimited when we booked it in Plettenburg Bay. Me and Mark looked for a pay phone to call the Budget office, but the pay phone keeps taking our money but wont work leading Mark to spat out curses to no end, went back to the Inn and asked if we could use their phone instead. Having confirmed we can drop it off in Durban, we quickly booked our tickets with Mango Airlines, for 550 dibdobs. We will drive to Durban and I volunteered to drive, took me awhile to get used to the stick shift and wrong side driving but we are off! I had a hard time with changing gears, i cant seem to find it at important moments like up the hill.. and balancing the clutch and gas but somehow we made it safely to Westville surban Durban, Brian and Mark were very patient with me despite them being backseat drivers, they teased me to no end on my
driving skills,but at the end of the day I drove about 400kms and at least contributed some driving time so am really proud of myself. Did some shopping at this big mall in Westville then off to try and look for a place to stay, we eneded up in this health department office and a kind and pretty Indian girl helped us find accomodation, she even had us follow her in her car and drove to Durban where we got dropped off at the Road Lodge, a nice place for 350 dibdobs a standard room, next to a Mcdonald's where we had dinner. Just chilled for the night and off to bed, we started to watch Notes on a Scandal on the telly but got tired of the story plot so we called it a night, at 11pm the phone rang, our wake up call, which we requested for 5am!!! Brian went down to see what the f..k was going on, sortd we thought, it rand again! and so we did not get to sleep well, final call came at 4am, reception just could not get it right. Drove to the airport, hoped for the best we hide the hole
in the bumper with the tape over it and some dirt and we succeeded. The guy in the counter even gave us a reprieve when he override the mileage requirement and save us some more money. Quickly left the office and checked in. Mango airlines was quite efficient and our luggage came so quickly just in 5 mins of landing, I went to the toilet when I came back Brian had it already. we are in Cape Town...
WIKI INFOS:
KGALAGADI NATIONAL PARK:
Where the red dunes and scrub fade into infinity and herds of gemsbok, springbok, eland and blue wildebeest follow the seasons, where imposing camel thorn trees provide shade for huge black-mane lions and vantage points for leopard and many raptors... this is the Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park. An amalgamation of the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in South Africa (proclaimed in 1931)and the Gemsbok National Park in Botswana, the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park comprises an area of over 3,6 million hectares - one of very few conservation areas of this magnitude left in the world.
Red sand dunes, sparse vegetation and the dry riverbeds of the Nossob and Auob show antelope and predator species
off to spectacualr advantage and provide excellent photographic opportunities. Kgalagadi is also a haven for birders, especially those interested in birds of prey.
BLOOD RIVER BATTLEFIELD:
Battle of Blood River (Afrikaans: Slag van Bloedrivier; Zulu: iMpi yaseNcome) on 16 December 1838 some 470 Voortrekkers, led by Andries Pretorius, defeated an estimated 10,000 Zulu on the banks of the Ncome River in what is today KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Interpretations of the meaning of the battle:
Popular Afrikaner interpretations of the Battle of Blood River (bolstered by sympathetic English historians such as G.M. Theal) played a central role in fostering ethnic nationalism among white Afrikaners. They accepted that the Battle demonstrated God's intervention, and hence their divine right to exist. The claim in the official guidebook of the Voortrekker Monument (unveiled during the centenary celebrations of the Great Trek on December 16, 1949) that Afrikaners were a nation of heroes exemplifies the conclusions drawn from such events. In time, the Afrikaner came to consider the site and the commemoration of the day as sacred.
The conflict between the Zulu and Trekkers continued for almost two years afterwards. The idea of a decisive victory may have
been planted in Pretorius' mind by a Zulu prisoner, who said that most of Dingane's warriors had either been killed or had fled. The same prisoner led some of the Trekker party into a trap at the White Umfolozi River, eleven days after the battle at Ncome River. This time the Zulu were victorious. Only when Dingane's brother, Mpande, defected to the Boer cause with a sizeable army, was Dingane finally defeated in January 1840.
Historian S.P. Mackenzie doubts the reported number of Zulu deaths. He compares Zulu casualties at Ncome to battles at Italeni, Isandhlwana, and Rorke's Drift. Mackenzie acknowledges that the casualty count was not impossible. Yet, in a similar victory on October 15, 1836 by Trekkers under Piet Retief over some 9,000 Matabele, the latter suffered only 350 casualties. In 1879 600 British soldiers with breech-loading rifles killed 2,000 Zulu over three hours before being overrun.
The official version not only represents the view of the winning side, but--like official accounts of the Great Trek and Anglo-Boer wars--leaves out the help provided by 200 indigenous people. Many Afrikaners were uneasy with the official version. Mackenzie notes that a Dutch Reformed clergymen later wrote that Blood
River "'was not a battle, it was an execution.
ISANDLWANA BATTLE:
Isandlwana (also sometimes seen as Isandhlwana or Isandula; the dhl sound is similar to the Welsh -ll-) is an isolated hill in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Rorke's Drift (a ford of the Tugela River, the Buffalo River) and 105 miles (169 km) north by northwest of Durban.
On January 22, 1879, Isandlwana was the site of the Battle of Isandlwana, where approximately 22,000 Zulu warriors defeated a contingent of approximately 1350 British and Native troops in the first engagement of the Anglo-Zulu War. The force was largely wiped out by the Zulus under Cetshwayo. The battle remains the single greatest defeat for the British Army at the hands of a native foe.
RORKE'S DRIFT:
Rorke's Drift was a mission station in Natal, South Africa, situated near a natural ford (drift) on the Buffalo River . During the Anglo-Zulu War, the defence of Rorke's Drift (22 January-23 January 1879) immediately followed the British Army's defeat at the Battle of Isandlwana earlier in the day. One hundred and thirty-nine British soldiers successfully defended their garrison against
an intense assault by four to five thousand Zulu warriors. The overwhelming Zulu attack on Rorke's Drift came a hair's breadth away from defeating the tiny British garrison. The successful defence of the outpost is held as one of history's finest defences.
THE GARDEN ROUTE:
Garden Route is a popular and scenic stretch of the southern coast of South Africa. It stretches from Mossel Bay in the Western Cape to the Storms River which is crossed along the N2 coastal highway over the Paul Sauer Bridge in the extreme eastern reach of the Western Cape. It includes towns such as Mossel Bay, George, Knysna, Oudtshoorn, Plettenberg Bay and Nature's Valley.
It has a maritime climate, with moderately hot summers, and mild to chilly winters. It is one of the richest all-year-round rainfall areas in South Africa, most rain falling in the winter months, brought by the humid sea-winds from the Indian Ocean rising and releasing their precipitation along the high mountain ranges just inland of the coast.
The Route is sandwiched between the Outeniqua and Tsitsikamma mountains and the Indian Ocean. The Outeniqua and Tsitsikamma indigenous forests are a unique mixture of Cape Fynbos and temperate
forest and offer hiking trails and eco-tourism activities. Nearly 300 species of birdlife are to be found in a variety of habitats ranging from fynbos to forest to wetlands.
Ten nature reserves embrace the varied ecosystems of the area as well as unique marine reserves, home to soft coral reefs, dolphins, seals and a host of other marine life. Various bays along the Garden Route are nurseries to the endangered Southern Right Whale which come there to calve in the winter and spring (July to December).
Although the most popular exploration of the Garden Route is by car, it is also the site of Africa's last remaining passenger steam train, the Outeniqua Choo Tjoe.
TSITSIKAMMA NATIONAL PARK:
The Tsitsikamma National Park is a coastal reserve on the Garden Route in South Africa. It is well known for indigenous forests, dramatic coastline, and the Otter Trail.
The park covers an 80 km long stretch of coastline. Nature's Valley is at the western end of the park, and the main accommodation is at Storms River Mouth. Near the park is the Bloukrans Bridge, the world's highest bungee jump at 216m.
Tsitsikamma means 'place of much water'.
PLETTENBERG BAY:
Plettenberg Bay is typified by an extremely mild maritime temperate climate with very few rainfall or temperature extremes. It is located within the Knysna Afromontane Forest biome, containing temperate gallery forest, supported by the mild temperatures and high, even distributed rainfall. Here follows the records for the closest climate station just to the east in the Tsitsikamma:
* Maximum/minimum temperatures: January: 23°C/17°C; July: 17°C/10°C; rainfall: 945mm per annum.
The bay is defined on the southern end by Cape Seal at the terminus of the Robberg (Afrikaans for Seal Mountain) Peninsula, separating the bay from the open Indian Ocean. It is one of the southern cape coast's typical "J-shaped" bays, which is formed by wave action eroding the shales of the Bokkeveld Group between the weather-resistant headlands comprised of the Table Mountain Group, both of the Cape Supergroup geological sequence of rocks. To the north, the Tsitsikamma and Langkloof Mountains keeps the moisture on the southern slopes of the mountains and prevent the temperature extremes of the interior reaching the bay.
The town experienced a rare snow fall on the 20th and 21st of May 2007 due to an unusual cold front.
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Zan
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Hi! Joe and I are enjoying your blog so much....your photo's are amazing!!!!! The birds are so beautiful. You will have to make a book when you get back to the states.