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Published: June 15th 2006
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Capetown
We arrived in South Africa after a fairly uneventful flight - food was slightly better than average but half the movie channels unwatchable due to poor sound. Slightly perplexed by S.A. customs - apparently anyone can only bring 3000 rand worth of new or used goods not bought in S.A. into the country. Given the exchange rate, any tourist wearing pants, a watch and sunglasses would exceed this?!? Anyway, walked through with big tourist smiles on faces so no probs.
Went straight from the airport to Drive Africa to get the car - it’s an absolute beast, looks shinier and newer than either of us expected and also comes with CD player and air-con (two critical questions we forgot to ask). It’s got oodles of lockers for all our gear and a tent that folds in and out of the roof. Come to think of it, we haven’t taken a picture of it with everything deployed, so will have to remedy that in the next blog.
Driving the beast is an experience. Its heaps high up with massive bullbars at the front and no rear vision mirror - it’s a heady mix of strength and oblivion. Anything behind
Us on Table Mountain
Great views 360 degrees from the top - and we were only half lazy by taking the cable car up and not down! us has to take care of itself!
As it was such a wonderfully clear day after picking up the beast we blasted straight up to Table Mountain via the coast. We took the cable car up (which featured a revolving floor!) and walked back down via Platteklip Gorge. Super views all the way up and down. Great to have a bit of exercise after the flight, but our London legs were jelly by the end of it.
The next day we met Trevor, who was our trainer for a 4x4 course we had pre-arranged. He took us north to the Atlantis dunes, where we put the B through its paces. We were a little less cavalier than during our last 4x4 course since it is our vehicle! It was well worth doing as he was full of advice about driving and life in Africa in general and he also pointed out a few issues with the Beast that were best remedied before leaving S.A. behind.
All bright eyed and bushy tailed, with the B filled with gear we left Capetown and headed down the cape itself. Our timing was perfection as we arrived just before a large
Giraffe
These critters are constantly funny looking - whether they are walking, eating or just standing there. All legs and neck and nothing else. front came pushing through. We got to stand at the most southerly point near the “new” lighthouse (the old one kept being engulfed in fog) as this big cloud bank as well defined as a wave washed over us. Almost wet our pants as we saw two southern right whales huffing and puffing their way around the cape at the same time.
Another early morning took us to Stellenbosch, a picturesque wine growing region that makes a mean pinotage. The drive was a bit of a contrast to the destination as to get to Stellenbosh we skirted around south of Capetown past a lot of the townships - miles of tiny tatty little shacks made from dross that we’d be annoyed at having to step over in the streets. The sea was stained black from the numerous outflows of untreated sewerage. We did however see some newer township developments - more solid little houses with better road access and utilities hooked up to them. Hopefully this is a sign of a positive trend for all as there are obviously a lot of people there living pretty hard lives.
Well weighed down with wine we embarked on two days
Zebra
We like these stripy horses as well... of big drives to take us up to Kruger - 2000 kilometres to the northeast. We got there via Kimberly - to see the “big hole” - it is indeed a big hole, 25 million tonnes of rock removed largely by hand for 3 tonnes of diamonds.
Kruger
Into Kruger!!! Very exciting - our first safari experience. There was much stopping and peering at every bird/insect/rock/stick spotted. We had four days in Kruger and achieved a very respectable list of animals - including a wild dog (rarest predator in the park) and a cheetah (second rarest predator in the park) in a space of about 10 minutes! We almost hit the cheetah as we came across it as we were driving around a tree that an angry elephant had pushed over onto the road. Pictures of him still on the camera, so we’ll get them up next time. Not sure about these elephants - they seem to spend a lot of time either pushing trees over onto the road or leaving thunderous piles of poo around the place. They also seem to be alarmingly adept at hiding behind bushes (so they can watch the chaos caused by their handiwork
Waterbuck (Kudu?)
...or maybe a Kudu...can't remember. Anyway, Waterbucks are unfortunate animals as they have a perfect white target on their bums - natural selection and evolution not doing them any favours in the modern world. methinks).
Left Kruger in a bit of a rush as the B started to play up. We hoped it was dirty fuel (a common issue in Africa apparently) and were planning to ride it out but decided to stop as we stuttered past a sparkling Toyota service centre….best not to look a gift zebra in the mouth. Popped the bonnet to find bits of the engine covered in oil that shouldn’t and presumably vice versa - hopefully nothing too serious and thankfully all is still under warranty. Might give us an excuse to pop into Swaziland rather than going straight to Mozambique…
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Ian Griffiths
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Beast fixed?
Great to hear from you both. We assume mobile phone cover is non exixtant outside the cities. Love the animals. Hope all is well with the beast. Fran in Shanghai and back tomorrow. Shell be pleased to hear from you!