Got done again. This time for a 72km/hr in a 60km/hr speed zone. The Botswana police didn't seem corrupt though.
I didn't have any Bots Pula money to pay them so told them I was only going to pay in SA Rand. They didn't seem too happy but I just said that they could take me to a Bureau De Change if they wanted Pula. They eventually relented.
Two speeding tickets in two countries in two days. All the speeding tickets in my life are these two in Africa.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Ghanzi
Ghanzi - the original destination at the beginning of the trip off the truck. We arrived six days later than expected and took a 1000km flying and 3400km driving detour, but, we finally got there! A few beers were had in Ghanzi that night to celebrate.
The day of the Kalihari Crossing
So the big day of crossing the Kalihari comes around. Hundreds of miles of desert scrubland without water or food, and what happens? Our tyre with the slow air leak is completely down and we have to switch to our spare. So, we now have to go through the desert without a good spare and have to hope that nothing bad happens. This is all taken with a bit of a laugh and while I'm changing the tyre I find I have Kath and Gav laughing away taking photos!
The desert crossing went without a hitch (literally and metaphorically). We had plenty of water and food to keep us going and two eskis filled with ice and some beers and water. It was rather luxurious to be honest. When we stopped we had ice cold water and yummy snacks while land rovers and expedition vehicles occassionally passed by. We often got funny looks while we stood beside our old, little VW Golf - as if to say, "you're crossing the desert in that!"
The desert crossing went without a hitch (literally and metaphorically). We had plenty of water and food to keep us going and two eskis filled with ice and some beers and water. It was rather luxurious to be honest. When we stopped we had ice cold water and yummy snacks while land rovers and expedition vehicles occassionally passed by. We often got funny looks while we stood beside our old, little VW Golf - as if to say, "you're crossing the desert in that!"
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Preparing for the Kalihari Desert crossing
We've been preparing for crossing the Kalihari desert. We are taking the trans-Kalihari highway in our little red Golf. I hope she is up to the challenge.
We are taking 20 litres of water each. I think it is overkill, but I would rather have too much than too little. We are also going to be taking spare fuel with us and we have bought two cool boxes to pack with ice.
The desert crossing we will do is about 600km, about the limit of our petrol tank. Should be fun. Hopefully everything goes well.
We are taking 20 litres of water each. I think it is overkill, but I would rather have too much than too little. We are also going to be taking spare fuel with us and we have bought two cool boxes to pack with ice.
The desert crossing we will do is about 600km, about the limit of our petrol tank. Should be fun. Hopefully everything goes well.
South African Policemen
So I'm driving happily along in SA when a uniformed man appears out of nowhere and flags me down in the car. It was the police and apparently I had been naughtily driving along at 92km/hr in a 60km/hr zone. In Britain this would lose me my license or perhaps land me in the clink. Not so in Africa; apart from being a tourist which makes you immune to most things, it is also South Africa and the police are notoriously corrupt.
My policeman was especially polite about the whole thing and being new to bribery, he helped me through it. He showed me the fine I had to pay and then suggested he might be able to help. "Perhaps I could make it only this much sir?" he said. I agreed that it was much better to pay less. I gave him the money and then he asked if I wanted all the forms and paperwork filled in. I said it wouldn't be necessary and he agreed, with both of us knowing that him and his partner would be having a few beers on the cash that night.
Meanwhile Gav and Kath are in the car sneakily taking photos of me getting busted...
My policeman was especially polite about the whole thing and being new to bribery, he helped me through it. He showed me the fine I had to pay and then suggested he might be able to help. "Perhaps I could make it only this much sir?" he said. I agreed that it was much better to pay less. I gave him the money and then he asked if I wanted all the forms and paperwork filled in. I said it wouldn't be necessary and he agreed, with both of us knowing that him and his partner would be having a few beers on the cash that night.
Meanwhile Gav and Kath are in the car sneakily taking photos of me getting busted...
Pretoria
We drove into Pretoria and spent two hours in the pouring rain at night trying to find the hostel. It was raining so hard, I couldn't see jack. At one point I realised I was driving on the wrong side of the road! We had to stop several times to wait for some of the storm to pass. Was dodgy but we got there in the end.
Pretoria - one ways roads - boo!
Pretoria - one ways roads - boo!
Natal Spa
After such a long drive day we needed to relax. We stayed at a place called the Natal Spa. We had our own self catering apartment where we cooked delicious food and drank nice South African wine. Wonderful. See some of the photos below...
By the way, this place also had seven swimming pools and a 110m hydroslide! We spent the whole of the next morning treating ourselves and playing on the slide. This place rocked!
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By the way, this place also had seven swimming pools and a 110m hydroslide! We spent the whole of the next morning treating ourselves and playing on the slide. This place rocked!
Michael Kaine - Zulu
We went to a place called "Rorke's Drift" in Zululand. Gavin is a military buff and apparently this is where sick and wounded British soldiers defended themselves against three thousand zulu warriors. Gavin did a tour there and it was quite interesting hearing the stories he came back with. This battle was the one in which the movie 'Zulu' with Michael Kaine was based on.
I did a twelve hour drive day that day - carnage. Two hours was on gravel to get to the field where it all happened. Our poor little hire car didn't know what hit it. We've clocked over a thousand kilometres already!
I did a twelve hour drive day that day - carnage. Two hours was on gravel to get to the field where it all happened. Our poor little hire car didn't know what hit it. We've clocked over a thousand kilometres already!
Swaziland
We drove down from Kruger park into Swaziland. Nice little country. While we were there we stayed at an old run down colonial hotel, complete with an old run down colonial in the bar. It was very strange chatting with him. He had done some very cool things in his life and helped us with getting our driving plans straight. We are now going to go through the Kalihari desert to get to Windhoek as it is a lot faster - more risky, but also more fun.
The hard part about talking with him though was that he referred to blacks as monkeys and whites as humans. He even said the Klu Klux Klan had the "right idea". It was hard to listen to that bollocks, but it is part and parcel of being in this place. Kath helped to make the point that we don't really think like that and I think the guy kinda got it.
Swaziland - pretty
The hard part about talking with him though was that he referred to blacks as monkeys and whites as humans. He even said the Klu Klux Klan had the "right idea". It was hard to listen to that bollocks, but it is part and parcel of being in this place. Kath helped to make the point that we don't really think like that and I think the guy kinda got it.
Swaziland - pretty
Kruger National Park
We drove from Nelspruit to Kruger National Park and did a self game drive there. We drove through the Kruger in our little hire car. We saw loads of game in the park. A giraffe blocked our path in the middle of the road for a little while and we saw two bull elephants fighting or kissing; we couldn't tell which.
Inside the park they had a relaxation area for day visitors. It had a pool! How cool is that?!
Inside the park they had a relaxation area for day visitors. It had a pool! How cool is that?!
Off the truck - slap bang into luxury
We drove from Jo'berg to Nelspruit and stayed at a lovely campsite called lakeview and even had our own self catering cottage. This was fabulous luxury after sleeping in a tent for three months. Check out some of these photos...
Of mice and men
Okay, so we were supposed to be heading to Ghanzi on the way to Windhoek after we got off the truck, but it seems that we strayed a little from that plan.
We got off the truck today to start our own mini adventure away from the truck. We got a lift into town with another truck because we were drinking with them last night and they said "Cool, we'll give you a lift. No worries".
As it turns out we missed the bus to Ghanzi because tourist information had given us completely the wrong times. We finally found out that the other main bus would go at 4:30 but then Kath found a little bus that would go at two. Sweet, all sorted.
So we then had some time to kill. We decided to walk to the airport for a bit of fun. On the way there we were joking about catching a flight to Ghanzi (where we were headed), but then the conversation turned to doing something silly like flying to Jo'berg because Kath needed to get some money out of an ATM (there are none in the towns we are going through at the moment). We were laughing about it when we got into the airport only to find that the only flight for the day was a flight to Jo'berg.
We were still joking around when we remembered that car hire is a lot cheaper in SA versus Namibia. So, just out of curiosity we asked prices of flights. We previously said if it was 100 pounds or cheaper we would do it. Still laughing away....
....but then she said it was 100 pounds to Jo'berg!
So, we are about to go hop on a small cessna plane and fly from Maun, Botswana to Jo'berg, SA in about 30 minutes! ... And all because Kath wanted to get some money out of an ATM!
We got off the truck today to start our own mini adventure away from the truck. We got a lift into town with another truck because we were drinking with them last night and they said "Cool, we'll give you a lift. No worries".
As it turns out we missed the bus to Ghanzi because tourist information had given us completely the wrong times. We finally found out that the other main bus would go at 4:30 but then Kath found a little bus that would go at two. Sweet, all sorted.
So we then had some time to kill. We decided to walk to the airport for a bit of fun. On the way there we were joking about catching a flight to Ghanzi (where we were headed), but then the conversation turned to doing something silly like flying to Jo'berg because Kath needed to get some money out of an ATM (there are none in the towns we are going through at the moment). We were laughing about it when we got into the airport only to find that the only flight for the day was a flight to Jo'berg.
We were still joking around when we remembered that car hire is a lot cheaper in SA versus Namibia. So, just out of curiosity we asked prices of flights. We previously said if it was 100 pounds or cheaper we would do it. Still laughing away....
....but then she said it was 100 pounds to Jo'berg!
So, we are about to go hop on a small cessna plane and fly from Maun, Botswana to Jo'berg, SA in about 30 minutes! ... And all because Kath wanted to get some money out of an ATM!
Friday, February 02, 2007
Off the truck tomorrow
Three of us are signing off the truck tomorrow for about a week. The truck heads into Northern Namibia and visits Etosha national park. We came up with an alternative itinerary that involves crossing the Kalihari desert on the Trans-Kali highway. We think it should take a couple of days going quite slowly using the local Matatus (little vans that they fill up with up 16 people per passage! Heh.).
Our main goal is to try to get to the capital Windhoek and drink a Windhoek while we are there. Once we've completed that we'll try to hire a car and burn around Namibia a bit - depending on what we feel like, then we head to Swakopmund to join up with the truck again and do some skydiving. Then head down with the truck towards Cape Town.
Yay - no truck! Almost independent travelling again! (Kath and Gav are ace company though - so wouldn't want it any other way)
Would love to come back and wander around Southern Africa independently. From Kenya down you don't need an overland truck. Everything is relatively easy and the truck is more of a gimmick than an actual survival/transport tool. Strangely though, the most popular overland routes are all Nairobi down. Weird.
Hopefully this next week proves to be super fun.
Our main goal is to try to get to the capital Windhoek and drink a Windhoek while we are there. Once we've completed that we'll try to hire a car and burn around Namibia a bit - depending on what we feel like, then we head to Swakopmund to join up with the truck again and do some skydiving. Then head down with the truck towards Cape Town.
Yay - no truck! Almost independent travelling again! (Kath and Gav are ace company though - so wouldn't want it any other way)
Would love to come back and wander around Southern Africa independently. From Kenya down you don't need an overland truck. Everything is relatively easy and the truck is more of a gimmick than an actual survival/transport tool. Strangely though, the most popular overland routes are all Nairobi down. Weird.
Hopefully this next week proves to be super fun.
Okavango Delta
A few of us went into the Okavango Delta on dug out canoes called Mokoros. We had poling guides who took us to a small island in the delta. We stayed for a couple of nights there.
The tour guy warned us that "you won't have a shower for two days". We all laughed. I hadn't showered for five days prior to that and we were in perfectly good campsites! With lakes, the sea and a few pools here and there, who needs showers?
The delta was pretty cool.
*** photos here ****
The tour guy warned us that "you won't have a shower for two days". We all laughed. I hadn't showered for five days prior to that and we were in perfectly good campsites! With lakes, the sea and a few pools here and there, who needs showers?
The delta was pretty cool.
*** photos here ****
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