Cape Town at last !!!!!
Trip Start
Oct 01, 2002
1
45
158
Trip End
Aug 08, 2005
Cape Town,
South Africa
Tuesday, September 2, 2003
Upon arriving back in Dar Es Salaam from Zanzibar we found that we'd be delayed on the white sandy beach for a few days more while Paul's "routine" maintenance had 'typically' broken something which then needed someone else to fix. It wasn't so bad, we sat in the sun, watching the dhows (traditional sailing boats) sail out into the Indian Ocean for Zanzibar and the local fishermen pulling in their nets for the day's catch. We finally set off on July 19th, on a long drive to the border with Malawi, passing through a gorgeous river valley full of ancient Baobab trees.
We caught our first glimpse of Lake Malawi the next day and it was pretty spectacular
01 Cape Town
. Over 300km long, 50km wide and 700m deep, fresh water in the middle of Africa and full of endemic and unique fish life. Unfortunately it also has a reputation for Bilharzia but that didn't stop us from signing up for another scuba dive in Nkhata bay along with John, Danielle and Rick. The diving was fantastic. It was completely different from Mombassa (being freshwater and being a lake) there were loads of large rock formations to explore and still plenty of tropical fish to watch and now having just swallowed the 5 tablets to prevent Bilharzia (each the size of a large pea) we still believe it was worth it. Nkhata Bay has a really nice town, full of friendly people (as most Malawians are ) coffee shops and loads of local craft stalls with irresistibly excellent wood carvings of anything from pipes to chairs to Tokoloshes (a sort of good luck spirit). On leaving the town and negotiating a pretty rickety bridge (at least whilst a 16 tonne truck is crossing it) we headed further south along the lake to Senga bay and an excellent camp site, again with a wonderful beach where we pitched our tents. Quite refreshingly there was a constant wind blowing whilst we were there. This created sea-like waves that rolled and crashed onto the beach continuously and with no tide (being a lake) this lasted for the 3 days we spent there (a bit like chinese water torture). The dawn and sunrise however, were spectacular and once the wind finally let up, all the fishermen could be seen on the lake at night, lit up by the small lanterns they carry, it was really nice
02 Table Mountain
. We reached Malawi's capital Lilongwe on the 26th and were a bit shocked as we had hit civilisation again complete with fast food chains, good supermarkets and a clean city. We looked into leaving the truck for a while and doing one last game park across the border in Zambia that had a reputation for sighting 'the elusive leopard'. As luck would have it we then met a nice Canadian couple (Chris and Lori) who could give us a lift there in their old Land Rover. We left early the next day along with Karin, crossed the Zambian border and reached 'Flatdogs' camp right on the edge of South Luangwa National park just before sunset. Actually the camp being 'right on the edge of the park' doesn't properly describe it. The only thing separating us from the animals was the river, which didn't stop the local hippos from coming over at night to munch away on the grass just metres from our tent. Then, whilst we were away on a morning game drive the camp was attacked by elephants and then monkeys. In fact if it weren't for Chris, a young bull elephant may have overturned a car onto a tent full of petrified people as it searched the cars interior for some leftover oranges (apparently elephants have a thing for oranges!). Meanwhile, our game drive was excellent, a completely different landscape from any of the other parks we have been to. We saw the usual animals but alas still no leopards. So, late in the afternoon we headed out again with the same guide but on a mission to find leopards and just as the sun was setting we found two, resting (as they do) in a tree, the scene was perfect. We stopped by a scenic part of the river for refreshments where Sian tried to convince the guide she thought she had found lion prints to which he laughed and replied "there are no lions here!", we then carried on for a night game drive. Within 15 minutes we were back to the exact same spot, to find two male lions sitting there, right where we had been
03 Simons Town Penguins
! The rest of the drive was excellent as we saw many of the smaller nocturnal animals that are rarely ever seen.Unfortunately we had to leave the park later that night to catch up with the truck. Our ride back into town was however a whole other 'experience'. On the back of a flat bed truck, open to the dirt and the dust and the wind (and the nights were getting a bit cold by then), packed full of locals with us squeezed in, they amazingly kept stopping to squeeze a few more people in (and chickens). Four hours it lasted, on probably one of the worst roads that we have travelled on, but it was worth it to have visited the park.
Rejoining the truck, we drove South to Lusaka, accompanied by two Australians; Jane and Jen. Our first taste of Lusaka was a massive shopping mall that could have been dropped in from any big American city. It was quite surreal and we wandered around in a daze for a while not knowing what to make of it. In contrast, we then stayed overnight in a camp site with wild Zebra running around before leaving early the next morning for Livingstone and Victora Falls. Again the Zambian countryside was so diferent to any other, full of rolling hills covered by bare and dry trees waiting for the rain that must totally change the landscape into a sea of green
04 South African Penguin
. At first sight of the falls they were impressive, catching glimpses through the trees. However, we didn't see the full extent of it all until we walked along the cliff top path opposite. The falls are massive, stretching far across a gorge shared between Zambia and Zimbabwe, where the gentle Zambezi river suddenly drops over 200m. Apparently in the wet season you cannot see a thing as the spray is too dense. As it was we got soaked but the sight was spectacular, especially with a full circle rainbow hanging in the air around the bridge. In the campsite at night they would show the day's rafting video and having just opened the upper part of the river for rafting, everyday there were dramatic flips and injuries and stories of near drownings, John's raft was no exception. We however, had decided to opt for the 'Gorge Swing'. This amounted to a full day of abseiling, rap jumping (forward abseiling), flying fox (arial slide across the gorge) and worst of all the gorge swing itself. Involving stepping off the side of the gorge, (strapped together as Sian wouldn't do it alone) and enduring 3 seconds of complete freefall before finally and eventually (and each time it felt like it would never happen) being caught by the rope and swung across the gorge at over 180km per hour. It was unbelievable, exhilirating, strangely addictive and utterly frightening. We repeated all the activities time and again and if it werent for the heat of the day, the free beers and the 110m climb out of the gorge we would have done more. It was a great day.
On August 2nd we watched John bungy jump off the Zambia to Zimbabwe bridge (which only Kev thought looked worse than the gorge swing) before visiting the excellent Livingstone museum that among other things documented the exploits of Dr David
05 Cape Penninsula
. A long drive the next day took us to Botswana through the endless scrub of the Kalahari desert to Maun, a modern but haphazzardly planned town in the middle of nothing where the streets are lined with sand. We camped in the grounds of the Sepia Hotel, run by a really nice ex-Mancunian, Allan. The next day he gave us a short tour of the city before we took a flight over the Okovango Delta. It was unfortunately a bit dry of the water that flows into the desert here and creates the thousands of islands leaving animals stranded and allowing toursists to view them. The flight however was spectacular and probably the best way to appreciate the maze of waterways and the gorgeous scene it creates. Afterwards Karin decided to leave the truck and take a Mokoro (dugout canoe) out into the delta (with a guide) for a few days. Although tempted to join her, our previous boat trips kept us on the truck and another long day's journey across the Namibian border to Windhoek.In Windhoek, an ultra clean and modern city but with little character, a bit of drama ensued. Paul (our driver), who had run out of money many times (having never attempted to budget anything) tried ridiculous methods to get more money out of us. Having finally had enough of him and as the truck had served it's purpose by then, we easily decided to leave and make our own way to South Africa and Cape Town. And here we are, finally. Siān's dad and family arrived on the 14th and since then we have done Cape Town to death. There is so much to do here, we have been to the top of table mountain and to the end of Cape point, to Robben Island (Mandela's prison for 18 years), wine tasting (drinking) in Stellenbosch, seen whales, dolphins, penguins and seals in the many lovely bays along the coast and generally enjoyed ourselves. It has been a great visit and we have met so many really nice people. Now we have to decide where to go to next. The options are to explore South Africa for a while then possibly onto Madagascar, which will be expensive, or to go straight to India. We aren't in a major rush and need to check things out a bit, but as ever watch this space.
Hope you are all doing well out there, take care and have fun in what you do.
Kev and Siān
