Supersize grasshopper

With the size of the bugs flying around here some people better wear a helmet.

Following Itchy’s footsteps

After so many rainy days at the wild coast we decided to move inlands towards the Amathole mountain region. Clive and Taniya had drawn a recommended route in our South Africa map going from Hogsback to Cradock so we decided to check it out.

While driving there it took some effort to leave the finally sunny valley behind and drive into the clouds hanging around the Amathole mountains but in the end we were quite happy to have made the turn off. The campsite in Hogsback was completely empty but we don’t mind having all facilities for ourselves. Swallowtail campsite offers a trekkers lounge, an indoor bar with fireplace, pool table and all, and with us being the only guests really enjoyed the space inside. And after the owner sold us a wheelbarrow full of firewood and we stoked up the oven and enjoyed a cozy evening near the fire.

During the night all clouds disappeared and we woke up to a beautiful sunny day. After soaking up the sun for a bit we put on our hiking boots and went off to the tourist information for a detailed map. Two of the campsite dogs joined us and happily followed us everywhere. Hogsback is a tiny mountain village where everybody knows each other. And the people in Hogsback are definitely used to seeing the Swallowtail dogs accompany guests as Patirica (the lab mix) was greeted everywhere.

Even though the lady of the tourist agency tried to fill our agenda with Hogsback related activities for the next 2 weeks we managed to leave the next day for the drive over the Kat’s Pass to Cradock.

This route was really amazing! A real off-road track through the mountains where we sometimes had to make some repairs on the road before we could continue. We absolutely loved it!

But it was clear that this route is not often travelled by tourists when we got stopped by the police right before Balfour. The police men switched on their siren, flagged us down and asked us if we are on the right road. They wanted to know where we were heading for and were convinced we were completely lost after hearing Cradock as our destination (“Ooh ma’m, I am afraid you are completely lost”. =) After a huffily replied “no, we’re not!” we had to show them our route on the map before they believed us and let us continue.

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A cameleon with an attitude

Thats what you get saving a cameleon from being the next roadkill victim. The little shit walked up my arm just to hiss at me. Tssss!

Coffee Bay

The weather in Coffee Bay was so bad that we decided to check into a beautiful little chalet at White Clay, 2 km from Coffee Bay. Our chalet had a magnificent view over the bay. And even though the weather was very grey we quite enjoyed staying there. That is… until we discovered the bed bugs  =/

Luckily for us the weather had improved overnight so we decided to check out the famous hole in the wall and then travel on west.

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Wild days on the wild coast – part 2

We were on our way to the Magwa falls when we were flagged down by a guy in an old land cruiser. This guy, Louie, told us that he was setting up a kind of backpackers in the village on the other side of the waterfall. He calls his place Pondo Spirit and calls it the “real, dark, rural Africa. No electricity, no running water, beautiful people and magnificent views”. Always in for an adventure we decided to follow him and check it out.

After one look at our Patsy he said: “with a car like that we’ll take the short cut, follow me!” and off we were. He took us on small tracks right through the middle of some tea fields and various small settlements. Sometimes we drove so close by the small houses that we passed right between their garden and their outside toilets. During the 30 minute trip Louie picked up more and more locals who were walking along the road. Many people here have to walk significant distances every day and are always happy for a lift. Louie started with two guys and a wheelbarrow full of dug-out bushes and added various women carrying water and school children on their way home. In the end he had 17 people hanging on to the back of his bakkie.

When we arrived at Pondo Spirit Louie proudly showed us around his little corner of Africa. The whole set-up is probably a boy-scouts wet dream but we were not really impressed…

He even had two volunteers working at a hut in his garden. Luuk from NL, and Carlos from Italy. Now imagine paying 200€ a week to work in some dropouts garden! The biggest problem for arriving volunteers is probably that an escape to the civilized world is at least a day’s walk away. The nearest town is Port St Johns and that is a 2 hr drive over rough tracks.

Because of the same bad roads we decided to stay the night but not in his spare hut (that mattress didn’t really look clean or inviting at all) Hygiene didn’t seem to be high on the agenda at Pondo Spirit. Even though Louie showed us his bucket shower, it was clear that all three blokes hadn’t used it since at least a week. Yummie!

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Wild days on the wild coast – part 1

After a few days of pouring rain (and no improvement expected within the next week) we decided to try and outrun the weather.

Our original plan was to continue from Durban around and over the Drakensbergen to Lesotho. But with the current weather situation, this would probably mean more of the same fog and rain but with even lower temperatures. Therefore we decided to go east towards the wild coast and hopefully towards better weather.

Our first stop was at the community campsite next to the Mbotyi river lodge.  This site was recommended to us by Taniya & Clive and we immediately liked the spot. It was still raining when we arrived so we first checked out the river lodge itself. The lodge was really impressive, but with the cheapest rate going for 615 ZAR pp slightly over our budget. Luckily for us, the campsite offered some excellent features. Piping hot water for nice warm-up showers in a heated ablution block and several covered kitchen and lounging areas that would keep us dry. Only our rooftop tent was out in the rain but we already know it is really waterproof so that didn’t keep us awake.

We were the only guests at the campsite (no wonder, with this weather!) and the resident cat and kittens immediately adopted us. Our left over chicken only strengthened that bond and in the morning we were woken up early by kittens scratching at the entrance of our rooftop tent. The little buggers had climbed up the ladder and didn’t know how to go back down. =D

After serving them a “healthy” breakfast of whipped cream and some more chicken they decided to stick with us. Taking our comfy chairs as their preferred spot and sneaking into our car every time we opened one of the doors.

The rain had finally stopped pouring down and even though it remained cloudy with many short showers we finally managed to dry out our things. We could even go for a walk along the coast and enjoy the view.

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Just another day on the road

Why use tie straps to secure the load in your bakkie when you have so many africans around happy to get a lift….

Start of the rainy season in Durban

As our dear Patsy was making some strange clanging noises due to a piece of metal hanging loose near the back axle we decided it was time to go look for a mechanic. So we made our way down to Durban expecting to find a 4×4 Megaworld. After settling down at the Queensburgh caravan park we logged onto the internet and were very surprised to find out there is no such shop in or around Durban.

We then decided to ask Derek and Odette, a lovely couple from Durban we shared a campsite with in Etosha, for a recommendation. And as we take Derek’s business card out of our contact book we realize that Derek is the owner of a workshop himself! We called and he made room in his busy schedule for the next day.

When we arrived at Derek’s workshop we learned that the broken metal thingy near the back axle is actually a bit more important for the safety as we realized. Lucky for us Derek could weld it together again!

Additionally Derek pampered our dear Patsy with an oil change, new oil filter, repaired the handbrake and repaired our ignition lock that was behaving difficult the last few days. We also had to go for a much needed wheel alignment (dirt roads and potholes are not friendly for cars) and put in a fresh air filter.

While Derek was busy fixing Patsy he sent us off to the mall with his company car. We really enjoyed the various bookshops, used the complimentary internet at Mug&Bean and finally found one of those amazing Shox external speakers for some better music quality. When we were finished with shopping and came back to the car we realized we had left the lights on and were now in much need of some starter help. After asking around the parking lot for starter cables but not finding anybody who could (or wanted) to help we had to call Derek again and ask him to come to our rescue. =/

As the weather had deteriorated over night from nice and sunny to foggy with pouring rain we happily accepted Derek and Odette’s offer to stay in their guestroom and enjoyed two lovely days with their family and friends.

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Sodwana Bay

From Swaziland we made our way towards Sodwana Bay where we met up again with Liam and Annatje from Malelane. Annatje was celebrating her birthday with some more diving and they had invited us along for the party.

We stayed together with them in a lovely cottage. Haitske was seriously tempted to move in there and stay for the remaining days. And while Sandra joined our hosts on some stormy but magnificent dives, Haitske stayed at home and enjoyed the luxury of a real washing machine. Travelling like this sure makes you enjoy life’s little luxuries a bit more. There is just a big difference between handwash–clean and machinewash-clean.

While in Sodwana we were introduced to another national Afrikaner sport, fishing.  We enjoyed an outing to the closing event of a big Mpumalanga fishing competition. Oooh, the prices to be won there could almost make a fisher(wo)man out of us! A fishing boat, a brand new bakkie and loads of other real nice prices. There was even a week at Jeff’s to be won!

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Swaziland

We have started our way towards Cape Town and the first part of our trip takes us through Swaziland. This country is quite small and we traveled through in just two days.

Swaziland is known for the beautiful and affordable crafts and our first stop was at the Tintsaba craft center near Piggs Peak. This turned out to be a very nice, but not really affordable shop. So we only bought some postcards and continued our travels. We came into the country at Jeppe’s Reef and drove through in a kind of S curve. The area between Jeppe’s Reef and Mbabane was very mountainous. Lovely, but not very kind to Haitske’s sinuses. Sometimes we would even have to use low range just to get started again as the roads were really a bit steep.

For our overnight stop we decided to check out the campsite in Mlilwane Game Sanctuary. In contrast to the ladies at the gate, the game park itself is actually quite nice. There are no predators and therefore the animals (zebra, antelopes, warthogs) are quite relaxed. The rest camp hat two big busses with tourists at the main gate but they were all staying in the beehives, a nice distance away from the camp site. We were the only guests at the camp site and loved sharing a spot with browsing nyala and impalas.

After dinner the staff performed a “traditional” dance for the travel groups and we were allowed to join in the fun. Although we normally avoid touristy things like that, it was actually quite nice. Even though the guard had told us before that the whole dancing thing is only for tourists and there is not much traditional about it….  =]

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