Trip report: Southern Africa
OK, so I've had my takeaway and a bottle of Belgian beer. The cats have stopped attention-seeking and the house is quiet because Sally is 20 miles away with an IV antibiotic drip in her arm failing to...
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Day 8: Saturday - Indian ocean
Valentine's day today - Sally presented me with a valentine's card she had brought from the UK. I had nothing to give her though :o.
I was thankful for the couple of guys who had spent a couple of nights already at the campground - they were keen to show how to get the hot water geyser to light so we could have a shower. It was a bit of a struggle - "turn this off, then go in and turn a tap on slightly, then come back and turn this on - it should ignite. If not do it again, then go in and check the water is hot. If it dies part way through repeat..."
We have learned over the years to take our showers in the early evening. At this time campground showers are freshly clean and few people are using them. My worst mistake in the UK was to go into showers in the morning and find they were packed with steam and naked sailors on some survival course.
Talking to the guy with the Mitsubishi - he had done Joubert's pass the other day, but did say "had it rained? that must have been slippery". He had also done Sani Pass before, but not in the condition it was in when we ascended. People have done that pass in a crossover SUV, but again not in those conditions. Thinking back, after we descended from the mountain pass where we had experienced the worst road conditions, we passed a couple in a South African Nissan crossover SUV. They were on fairly good dirt road, but driving too fast. Sally asked - "where are they going?". It was already only 3 hours until sunset and there was no accommodation on the road we had driven (the only road in the direction they were heading) for 4 hours, and to get to it meant traversing terrain that needed the ground clearance and low-ratio gear box of the Land Cruiser. They had no chance in the Nissan.
The weather was much better today, so sticking with plan A had been a good decision.
South through the Transkei:
Look, it's the Indian Ocean :B:
We dropped down to Kei Mouth (or at least to the other side of the river) and waited for the ferry:
I thought we might have a bit of a wait as there were a number of vehicles hanging around and the ferry clearly only took 2 vehicles. Luckily it turned out the other vehicles were waiting to collect people coming off the ferry.
So we were the only vehicle on the ferry:
The ferry has one huge outboard motor which swivels 360 degrees. We drove onto the ferry, but had to reverse off.
Kei Mouth was still dirt roads, but had the feeling of a white vacation area - albeit a remote one. We stocked up with food and beer. Coming from Europe I am used to being able to walk into a supermarket and buy food, beer, wine, spirits, you name it under one roof. But in South Africa, like in Australia, the licensing laws differ, so alcohol has to be purchased from separate stores (the UK used to be like that several decades ago). Ironically I noticed on our first day in Johannesburg that Pick'n'pay had a whole aisle of wine, but no beer, since for some reason wine must be classed differently to beer and spirits.
I checked the GPS. There were a couple of places to camp in the area. One was around 8km up a dirt track and situated next to the river (mosquitoes anyone?). The other was in the next community the other side of another river. Looking on the GPS I could see a road that went down to the opposite side of the river. From there we would be able to see the campground at a distance and decide if we wanted to go there. Taking the road out of town we ended up on a dirt track running through the middle of the local golf course. At the other side the track went down a steep hill and deteriorated badly as it approached the river. I was again thankful I had a capable 4x4. This side of the river mouth turned out to be lovely:
We looked across the river at the campground. It looked pretty busy. Sally didn't fancy a packed family campground - it was the weekend, which explained why it was so busy. We spotted the guy with the Toyota camper again - note that the fast route and sensible route the GPS will take you to get to that campground from where we stayed last night, is all on fast sealed road - I had deliberately taken a different route through the dirt roads of the Transkei and across the ferry.
We headed back up the track and turned left to get to the main road. On the way we passed a field with one lone mausoleum in it:
Sally suggested we should try the campground by the river. I thought it would probably be fairly quiet because it was down a dirt road. It turned out to be down a serious low-ratio 4x4 only road which was tight even for our little Land Cruiser. 8km down a dead end 4x4 track seems a long way (I guess it is at not much more than 10km/h). Given the condition of the track I was half expecting to get to the bottom and find a locked gate. At best I assumed it might be a flat area by the river with no facilities. We were surprised by what we found. A number of very nice luxury vacation cabins in a large well tended garden just above the river (or at this point in time above the flood plane adjacent to the river). There were clearly several camp sites too, and one guys with a weed whacker trimming the grass.
We walked to the largest and most occupied looking building and found the occupants. A nice couple who, although they didn't own the site, lived there for part of the year and looked after it. Most of their electricity came from a small inverter run from solar panels. We were offered drinks, and just like with many South African lodges the hospitality was amazing - treated like friends coming to stay.
After a couple of beers we were shown a nice spot to camp:
We were also shown the showers, in a straw-roof hut with solar lighting. The shower 'cubicle' was amazing, but slightly creepy depending upon your movie viewing history. When Sally went in I made her feel at home by calling over the wall "It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again...".
They said that they had some friends coming over tonight, so would we like to join them for a braai? Well, you don't turn down invitations like that.
The friends were a pair of brothers and their wives, and a Belgian guy. The Belgian was having passport visa problems despite seeming 100% South African and having lived there almost full time since a child: he had avoided military service and certain tax demands by saying he was leaving the country for good, only to come back again and was now in an awkward position. If I understood correctly he owned a big chunk of land a couple of km up the river and was giving the two brothers lifetime rights to stay on 10 acres each within this plot. I suspect there was some sort of tax advantage, or maybe he was worried about the government passing some law to seize unoccupied land, especially from foreign nationals. Either way the brothers were very happy. One couple were currently camping on the plot as they tried to clear it. The other brother seemed to be living in Kei Mouth and was actually running in and back the 20 km each day - this explained why he was the slimmer of the two. I caught up with him the next morning as he ran past - he explained how he had a boat and could spend endless hours on the brown river fishing. They struck me as the South African equivalent of Red-necks. Anyway we chatted and ate. They had some great Boerewors (translates from the Afrikaans as "farmer sausage"), and Sally tried some miele pap - a savoury alternative to rice made from ground maize, and a staple of the black South African diet. Sally was very pleased because it was gluten free and she was able to enjoy it without her breathing becoming difficult, stomach pains and swelling.
The guy looking after the site showed me his bar - he was rightly proud of what they had done with the place, and even fired up the generator so we could have more light and he could play Van Morrison through the bar's stereo system:
I thought we might be in for a late night, but everyone went to bed at 10pm, which I was thankful of.
Stay tuned for our trip down the coast...
Valentine's day today - Sally presented me with a valentine's card she had brought from the UK. I had nothing to give her though :o.
I was thankful for the couple of guys who had spent a couple of nights already at the campground - they were keen to show how to get the hot water geyser to light so we could have a shower. It was a bit of a struggle - "turn this off, then go in and turn a tap on slightly, then come back and turn this on - it should ignite. If not do it again, then go in and check the water is hot. If it dies part way through repeat..."
We have learned over the years to take our showers in the early evening. At this time campground showers are freshly clean and few people are using them. My worst mistake in the UK was to go into showers in the morning and find they were packed with steam and naked sailors on some survival course.
Talking to the guy with the Mitsubishi - he had done Joubert's pass the other day, but did say "had it rained? that must have been slippery". He had also done Sani Pass before, but not in the condition it was in when we ascended. People have done that pass in a crossover SUV, but again not in those conditions. Thinking back, after we descended from the mountain pass where we had experienced the worst road conditions, we passed a couple in a South African Nissan crossover SUV. They were on fairly good dirt road, but driving too fast. Sally asked - "where are they going?". It was already only 3 hours until sunset and there was no accommodation on the road we had driven (the only road in the direction they were heading) for 4 hours, and to get to it meant traversing terrain that needed the ground clearance and low-ratio gear box of the Land Cruiser. They had no chance in the Nissan.
The weather was much better today, so sticking with plan A had been a good decision.
South through the Transkei:
Look, it's the Indian Ocean :B:
We dropped down to Kei Mouth (or at least to the other side of the river) and waited for the ferry:
I thought we might have a bit of a wait as there were a number of vehicles hanging around and the ferry clearly only took 2 vehicles. Luckily it turned out the other vehicles were waiting to collect people coming off the ferry.
So we were the only vehicle on the ferry:
The ferry has one huge outboard motor which swivels 360 degrees. We drove onto the ferry, but had to reverse off.
Kei Mouth was still dirt roads, but had the feeling of a white vacation area - albeit a remote one. We stocked up with food and beer. Coming from Europe I am used to being able to walk into a supermarket and buy food, beer, wine, spirits, you name it under one roof. But in South Africa, like in Australia, the licensing laws differ, so alcohol has to be purchased from separate stores (the UK used to be like that several decades ago). Ironically I noticed on our first day in Johannesburg that Pick'n'pay had a whole aisle of wine, but no beer, since for some reason wine must be classed differently to beer and spirits.
I checked the GPS. There were a couple of places to camp in the area. One was around 8km up a dirt track and situated next to the river (mosquitoes anyone?). The other was in the next community the other side of another river. Looking on the GPS I could see a road that went down to the opposite side of the river. From there we would be able to see the campground at a distance and decide if we wanted to go there. Taking the road out of town we ended up on a dirt track running through the middle of the local golf course. At the other side the track went down a steep hill and deteriorated badly as it approached the river. I was again thankful I had a capable 4x4. This side of the river mouth turned out to be lovely:
We looked across the river at the campground. It looked pretty busy. Sally didn't fancy a packed family campground - it was the weekend, which explained why it was so busy. We spotted the guy with the Toyota camper again - note that the fast route and sensible route the GPS will take you to get to that campground from where we stayed last night, is all on fast sealed road - I had deliberately taken a different route through the dirt roads of the Transkei and across the ferry.
We headed back up the track and turned left to get to the main road. On the way we passed a field with one lone mausoleum in it:
Sally suggested we should try the campground by the river. I thought it would probably be fairly quiet because it was down a dirt road. It turned out to be down a serious low-ratio 4x4 only road which was tight even for our little Land Cruiser. 8km down a dead end 4x4 track seems a long way (I guess it is at not much more than 10km/h). Given the condition of the track I was half expecting to get to the bottom and find a locked gate. At best I assumed it might be a flat area by the river with no facilities. We were surprised by what we found. A number of very nice luxury vacation cabins in a large well tended garden just above the river (or at this point in time above the flood plane adjacent to the river). There were clearly several camp sites too, and one guys with a weed whacker trimming the grass.
We walked to the largest and most occupied looking building and found the occupants. A nice couple who, although they didn't own the site, lived there for part of the year and looked after it. Most of their electricity came from a small inverter run from solar panels. We were offered drinks, and just like with many South African lodges the hospitality was amazing - treated like friends coming to stay.
After a couple of beers we were shown a nice spot to camp:
We were also shown the showers, in a straw-roof hut with solar lighting. The shower 'cubicle' was amazing, but slightly creepy depending upon your movie viewing history. When Sally went in I made her feel at home by calling over the wall "It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again...".
They said that they had some friends coming over tonight, so would we like to join them for a braai? Well, you don't turn down invitations like that.
The friends were a pair of brothers and their wives, and a Belgian guy. The Belgian was having passport visa problems despite seeming 100% South African and having lived there almost full time since a child: he had avoided military service and certain tax demands by saying he was leaving the country for good, only to come back again and was now in an awkward position. If I understood correctly he owned a big chunk of land a couple of km up the river and was giving the two brothers lifetime rights to stay on 10 acres each within this plot. I suspect there was some sort of tax advantage, or maybe he was worried about the government passing some law to seize unoccupied land, especially from foreign nationals. Either way the brothers were very happy. One couple were currently camping on the plot as they tried to clear it. The other brother seemed to be living in Kei Mouth and was actually running in and back the 20 km each day - this explained why he was the slimmer of the two. I caught up with him the next morning as he ran past - he explained how he had a boat and could spend endless hours on the brown river fishing. They struck me as the South African equivalent of Red-necks. Anyway we chatted and ate. They had some great Boerewors (translates from the Afrikaans as "farmer sausage"), and Sally tried some miele pap - a savoury alternative to rice made from ground maize, and a staple of the black South African diet. Sally was very pleased because it was gluten free and she was able to enjoy it without her breathing becoming difficult, stomach pains and swelling.
The guy looking after the site showed me his bar - he was rightly proud of what they had done with the place, and even fired up the generator so we could have more light and he could play Van Morrison through the bar's stereo system:
I thought we might be in for a late night, but everyone went to bed at 10pm, which I was thankful of.
Stay tuned for our trip down the coast...
