And the first step of the second step of the trip

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So my plans for a full nights sleep in preparation for the rigours of the touring life, were thwarted by the arrival of a hoarde of German tourists, who took over the remaining 5 dorm beds and made dinner at 10.30pm outside my bedroom window. So I stumbled out at 7.30 the next morning feeling pretty average, and wandered my way through the sleeping city to the tour office. But, by some happy twist of fate I managed to sit next to the only other Australian on the tour, who had been on the same plane from Dubai and stood a few people ahead of me at immigration.

So the cast of characters for the next 12 days are: a young swedish couple, an older Swedish man, a family of 5 from Korea with 3 young children, 4 people from Switzerland, and the rest from the Netherlands for some reason. And then our driver/guide from Zimbabwe and our cook from Namibia. So a nice diverse mix, although I do worry I'll probably leave Africa with a deeper understanding of the Dutch culture than anything African.

Our first stop on our overland trip was at the Kwa Ttu Bushman experience outside Cape Town. It was certainly a fascinating first stop, and a great introduction to the culture and history of the area. We started with a lesson on producing the clicks the African languages are famous for, and then loaded into a trailer pulled along by a tractor to see a replica of a traditional village. This was also the site of our first truly African animals; a herd of zebras, an ostrich and a cobra, the last of which, very fortunately, slithered away immediately. We then went back to the restaurant next to the information centre, and had the fanciest lunch we expect to see while we are here-ostrich meat kebabs, fried polenta and salad. It was good. Unfortunately not like chicken.

And I think thats mostly it for things we did on our first day. We spent the rest of the afternoon driving through giant rock formations until we came to a beautiful, lush campground surrounded by a lime tree orchard. We finished the day with a swim in the pool, spaghetti, and learning how to say "buon appetite" in Dutch. Which I have subsequently forgotten.

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