We will open the book.  Its pages are blank.  We are going to put words on them ourselves.  The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.  ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Wir wuenschen allen eine schoene Weihnacht und ein gutes neues Jahr
Agnes und Henk

Although we spend almost a year in Australia we did not have enough time to enjoy everything (a lifetime is not even enough). What bothered us, was that once we were on the grand circle we had to keep going. Leaving places too early and not seeing some of the things we were interested in altogether was not nice. At a very early stage, I think we were still in Oz, we decided not to drive home as planned but limit ourselves to the Southern African countries. We have now spend more of half our time in Africa and we are glad that we could and can take the time to revisit some places or see more of a country.

After our pleasant time in Mozambique we had the opportunity to visit the Kruger NP again. The first time was very disappointing, we hardly did see interesting animals although we spend over a week in the park. This time we had booked another 10 days and, with the exception of Punda Maria, other camps than the first time. If you need tips on what the most interesting places are, we can tell you. The animal sightings were much better and in general we liked the park a lot better. It is still not on the top of our list but close to it now.

Zimbabwe was our real goal after Mozambique and getting ourselves and Idefix ready again in Nelspruit. The bordercrossing at Beitbridge is indeed one to avoid as the plague. The chaos on the Sunday when we crossed was apparently less than normal. Still, it took us two hours to cross without using any of the ‘Runners’ on the Zimbabwean side. Efficient, unfriendly South Africans were followed by a less efficient system and friendly Zimbabwean officials.

Gonarezhou NP was our first major destination. Like we experienced during our first time in Zim, not everything is in order (yet). At the gate and the main camp the water was not running. We decided to go for one of the other larger campgrounds instead of one of the bushcamps. With only a very few (but very nice!) other visitors in the park we had the place practically to ourselves. Only a few elephants spend the night with us at the campsite. We just had 3 nights in the northern part of the park and only scratched the surface of what there is to see. This is definately a park to be explored further. The must-see (you were right Doug) is the view from the top of the Chilojo Cliffs. 

Our next new destination was Greater Zimbabwe. Again we were welcomed after such a long time without much tourists. This also happened again in Bulawayo and Hwange NP. The Supervisor introduced us to the night guard (we love to guard you..). After a very interesting tour given by Lovemore we decided to drive to Antelope Game Park. By the way: the region aroung GZ is to be further explored as well…

Unfortunately Antelope was closed for a private function so we arrived after more kilometers than necessary in Bulawayo. The Jacarandas and other trees were blooming at the municipal campground. Also here it was still visible how beautiful the place once was. When we were there the ablutions were fitted with new lights, let’s hope more tourists and their money will bring this place to it’s former glory again.

Hwange NP was on the top of our list after our last trip through Zim. This time we knew where we wanted to stay and were not disappointed. Have a look at our photo album to see why. We had the pleasure to invite some more people without a reservation (the system is bad in SA and Bot as well) to our campsite. This proved to be very pleasant. We now have a better understanding of Potjie cooking and a new bread recipe (thanks Eduard and Milda!) as well as an invitation to be shown around Pretoria (thanks Hannelore!).

When travelling such a long time one meets a lot of people and we had many tips on good places to stay as well. Seyanti Safari Lodge in Kazungula is one of the best ‘secrets’ shared with us. Our stay here and a great cruise on the Chobe River were our award of getting back to Botswana. Charles, our guide on the cruise informed us about the upcoming National Holidays and warned us that on Independance day it very often rains. After the sticky heat in Vic Falls we were happy it was a bit cooler in Bots. To our surprise Charles had been right though, it rained a few days later, on the 30th of September.

Although not as special as Hwange or Chobe, we also wanted to see Khama Rhino Sanctuary again. This small park is not spectacular but nice with beautiful campsites. The special experience we had here was that Idefix was seen as ‘Mother (or is it Father?)’ by two lonely ostrich-chicks.

Now, for the second time in Gaberone we will continue zigging or zagging through Botswana before we will enter new territory: Namibia.

Apparently Saffers need a statement from their police that they are the rightful owner of their car (SAPC document?). Men in civilan clothes claim that they are policemen and the first thing they ask for is this document. Nothing else is checked. We could easily point out that a South African document is something one does not have for a European registered car….
The second time we had a problem at the border we actually paid some greasing money. To enter Malawi a visum is given at the border for free to Dutch passport-holders but Swiss nationals have to buy one in advance at one of the Malawian embassies. We thought this could be bought at the border as well. After long discussions and money changing hands we got a permit for Agnes to travel three days in Malawi without visum, this would give enough time to get one at the Immigration office in the capital Lilongwe. If we could go back into Zambia we would have done so (and then go into Mozambique) but there we already had our exit stamps and buying a new visum for USD 50 each was too much (plus USD carbon tax for our car!).

We met one person back in South Africa who claimed not to go into Zambia again because of the high entry fee. We now understand him better. For 30 days one has to pay in addition to the visa and carbon tax USD 30 for insurance. At several places a so-called council levy is asked for at road-blocks by the police. This ranges from USD 2 to USD 50. National Park entrance (2persons+car) is USD 90 per day! Taking the bad infrastructure of Zambia into consideration as well, it is no wonder that this country gets a lot less tourists than Botswana, Namibia or South Africa. That said, South Luangwa NP is world-class. For me it falls into the same category as Moremi, Chobe, Hwange and Mana Pools.

Malawi is a pet-country for development workers I think. All Toyota and Nissan 4×4′s are marked by some agency (Unicef, National Aids Commision, Worldvision etc.). In the country we also met many volunteers or students out of Europe and the US. For these people a stay in Malawi is great. The people are very friendly and it is safe. Lake Malawi is beautiful to visit and Malawi also has lots of opportunities for hikers.

Aids has taken its toll here as well. There are many orphanages.
The population seems to be very young too (one hardly sees older people) and growing despite aids. Overpopulation is going to be an even greater problem if it continues. Cooking is done on fires and trees are disappearing fast. We were told by a Lodge owner that Lake Malawi is getting more empty with fish (he discontinued fisher-competitions five years ago because it was getting too difficult to get a decent catch).
We have seen signs of poaching in Liwonde NP ourselves and according to our guidebook this is the Park where this problem is smallest!

Although the country must make some money (the president and ministers drive Mercedes E320′s) it looks a lot poorer than the other countries we have seen sofar. Over 40 years foreign aid has brought nothing in my opinion. Possibly better health care only added to the problem of overpopulation. Industry is completely absent (apart from the foreign aid industry). Along the roads you can always see busy people, they are selling or carrying wood, charcoal, tomatoes, onions, fish and baskets.
In South Africa the wealthier people told us that they like to have Malawians as gardener or domestic help. Malawians want to go abroad as well…

In Blantyre we were interviewed by a student in tourism about our reasons and expectations going to Malawi. When we complained about something his reaction was: Government has to take care of… He did not see the opportunity as an entrepeneur. When asked what he wanted to do after graduation was typical: work for the Ministry of Tourism.
Only whites and Indians are running businesses it seems.

It is a pity that this continues to be a failed country, the people are friendly and funny and the country still has enough nature to enjoy. And the Chinese have not moved in yet.

All in all… it is great to travel here! Go!

As usual I was trying to get some information on what to expect on the route ahead. On the campsite was a guide from South Africa with a few of his customers and he told us that the price of the ferry at Kazungula was very high (USD 100/ZAR1000). We were not yet ready to pay this and therefor decided at the last moment to cross the border from Botswana into Zimbabwe. Very friendly immigration officer and good-natured negotiating with insurance salesmen at the border. A few dollars poorer but with a double-entry visum we headed towards Vic Falls. We ended at a backpacker place in the middle of town and stayed there a few nights. Here, as elsewhere in Zim, everything, looked poor and run-down. The spirit of the people seems to be unbroken though, everyone has been very friendly. The

good command of English and the self-confidence were refreshing after South Africa. Fuel and food were available everywhere against USdollars and Rand. Only in Bulawayo was a day’s delay of the diesel delivery, we could get at first only 40 liter. As there is a chronic shortage of change, prices are usually rounded to the nearest dollar and even then you might get some candy as ‘change’. In Kasane we had already filled the car with food and the leftovers from Heike and Joern (good for two weeks living!) so the only items we had to buy were bread, fresh vegetables and diesel during our time in Zim.

The Vic Falls were indeed very impressive at this time of the year, the walkway along the falls is also much longer than what we had seen on the Zambian side. After getting wet in the spray of the falls we decided to have lunch at the chic Victoria Falls Hotel. A beautiful, grand place. We already cannot afford a room there and if everything goes well and the wealthier tourists return, lunch will be too expensive too I guess, but this time we enjoyed a very nice lunch.

As we went completely unplanned we arrived in the country without map or guide-book. I recalled the names of some National Parks but that was it. At one of the curio stands we could buy a tourist map of the country. This was sufficient to make our way further into Zim rather than crossing the bridge into Zambia. We left the bungee jumpers, helicopter/microlights, kayaks, curios and whathaveyou behind us and went into Hwange NP. The first night we stayed at Sinematella Rest Camp. After paying our entrance fees and bitterly complaining to the warden about USD 30 camping fees (the highest of three possible rates)as well as about broken toilets and showers, we explored the park a bit. Not only Botswana had unusual high rains recently, but this part of Zim too. We have seen elephants and other game as well, although not in the numbers we should have seen them. Exploring the park we discovered that the so-called picnic sites can be booked as campground too (through the Central Office in Harare). Every site has a camp-attendant and the toilets are cleaned by this person. Cleaned as he wants to get some tip-money of course. We immediately planned to return to Zim in September and we will try to book two of these picnic sites for a few days. In the mean time the park was also a meeting place with ex-Dutch women. One interesting meeting was with a lady who was born in a Japanese concentration camp in Java and had been researching her past to get rid of her dark thoughts. The other woman, Iris, originally from Rotterdam, had somehow survived the hardships in Bulawayo and lovingly told us about the Matopos Mountains.

After some more nights in the Main Camp in Hwange we drove through the past grandeur of Bulawayo and visited World’s View, the resting place of Cecil Rhodes.

It is clear that many people in Zim are glad that tourists are coming back. Some wardens obviously were embarished by the discrimination of foreigners and bend the rules for us.
Ex-Zimmers we met in Swaziland told us that Antelope Game Farm is a nice place to camp, should we ever go to Zim. So from the Matopos we went to this place near Gweru. More than the other places we have seen in Zim this was very well maintained. Apparently the overland trucks still went through Zim and stopped at this place. The camping is beautifully situated near a dam-lake. It must also be the coldest place in Zim in winter. It was bitterly cold! The camp attendant made every evening a huge fire for us but it remained cold. Agnes had a cold and did not feel very well so I had to look for lions by myself..

The last night I developed a tooth-ache again. This time we immediately went to a dentist. Very interesting experience. The dentist had to be called in as just the receptionist and the assistent were holding the fort. After DR. Maneswa arrived by car, they let me in the very, very old dentist chair. I got the impression that usually people have their teeth pulled, the equipment was very old but the dentist gave a competent impression. The TV in the waiting room was blaring gospels from an American evangelist TV-show. Agi was almost deaf after our visit. The consultation costed only USD 5!

On the road to Mana Pools we first checked out the campsite at Chinoyi Caves Recreational Park. Again a high USDollar rate for foreigners. This time the ablutions were so dirty that we left again. To see the actual caves we would have to pay seperately but we tried to make it clear to the ranger that tourists expect more for their dollars. In Karoi we were able to camp in the garden of the local hotel. Hundreds of herons were also camping in the trees and making a lot of noise during the night. I hardly slept as the guard had the habit of imitating the herons when the birds were quiet.

Mana Pools is a very special park as people are allowed to leave their car and walk everywhere in the park. We had too much respect for the elephants and lions and only walked at the campsite. At night hyenas and hippos walked by our campsite and lions could be heard closeby in the morning. As in Ihaha the campsite is on the riverbank. Across the water is Lower Zambezi NP in Zambia. On the small islands in the Zambezi always a few hippos were sunning. A few dollars for the camp attendant took care of firewood every night. The dark, old and small ablution block was completely overrun when the ‘Men of God’ arrived. About 40-50 Christians from Zimbabwe and Zambia had a long weekend here.

Our last stop in Zim was Kariba on Lake Kariba. The town itself is not much and has no center, the deserted campsite was very pleasant with views on the lake. The cleaning lady borrowed us her electric stove, so we survived our travels in Zim without our cooking equipment.

All in all the experience was very good and we can recommend going to Zimbabwe. We are looking forward to going back!

The North of kwaZuluNatal is very far from everything and it is not clear where the people are living from. From Jozini to the park was about 1,5 hours driving time and it was also the time the pupils were leaving their schools (about 15.00 hrs). We felt a bit like the queen as many, many waved at us. We must have passed thousands of schoolchildren and are wondering what they are going to do, after school. This area has no industry or tourist attractions, just subsistence farmers.

The warden at Ndumo was very nice and arranged a camping spot for us. We did not expect the park to be full but a birder’s club had hired the entire site for a long weekend. They left after the first night and we were the next two days alone in the park. In this park we took our first game-walk.

The guide was very knowledgeable but
we did not see much birds and other animals. Apparently October to March is a better season. Also for damp heat and the malaria mosquitoes according to our travel book.

A friend had sent us a spare part for our cooker to friends of friends (FOFs) in Durban so we picked that up. We tried to contact other FOFs in Johannesburg but did not reach them. As we were urged to meet them before we traveled further into Africa we decided to drive to the North through Lesotho.

From Durban we drove via Pietermaritzburg to Underberg in the Drakensberg Mountains (again thousands and thousands of schoolchildren going home, what are they going to do later?).
Beautiful countryside and we have been urged to return and explore further by Lillith and Doreen when we return to South Africa. In Underberg it was very cold at night after the nice temperatures we had in the weeks before. The next morning we drove up the Sani Pass.
The owner of the camping in Underberg warned us that it was a very rough road, especially the last part. And it was very challenging for us! The road was going up and up and up and seemed to get rougher and steeper after every narrow curve. On the last part we had only looked at the road as it was to scary to look beyond or down!

Of course we are sissies as the guys in the fully packed 4×4 minibuses did not seem to
have any trouble at all. The passengers did not look that happy though…

For the people in Mokhotlong in Lesotho is going to and down the pass to Underberg a quicker way to shop or see a doctor as going towards Butha Buthe. Lesotho is very rugged and some places are really remote.

At Sani Top we had beautiful wheather and views across the mountains into the valley.Going to the top we stopped frequently and took photos. Some people going down advised us to stay at Sani Top Chalet rather than continuing. Agnes was a bit worried because we might get snowed in…
We managed to get a rondavel, the BYO everything camping would be much too cold. At the end of the afternoon clouds were coming in and the whole pass was shrouded in clouds. The bar had several open fireplaces and was warm. We spend a very nice evening with Derek and Liza from Nelspruit who were here on their honeymoon!

The next day a few cars, but Idefix did, would not start because of the cold! After a warm and hearty breakfast we headed towards the new Oxbow Lodge. Rough road, tarred roads with more potholes than tar and going up and down on the Roof of Africa Road. Past the Afriski Leisure Kingdom (the place to ski in Southern Africa!) and a final pass with some snow on it we arrived at the Lodge. Idefix managed everything well, we only had to stop once because the motor was getting overheated at this great height.
At the lodge a fire was roaring again and we spend a very enjoyable evening with Hendrik and Leverne. We are now more than a month later and although we try, we have not been very successful at negotiating prices… Hendrik has to teach us some more lessons I think.

Because it was really too cold for us we decided to leave Lesotho and go to Clarens in the Free State. This is a
very touristy artist town with a very nice atmosphere. Although we left the high mountains it was still high
enough to be so cold at night that we decided to stay in a self-catering unit for a few days. The days were
nice and we managed to update our website and send e-mails to friends and family. The town has more than 20 galleries with art. Very special were the drawings/paintings made in Vietnam and strangely enough sold here.  

Clarens is next to the Golden Gate NP with it’s sandstone cliffs and colourful views. With a bit of difficulty we finally managed to get in touch with Colin and Lillith. As they were enjoying a short holiday at the coast we needed to spend a few weeks before we could meet them in Johannesburg. We quickly decided to go to the  Kruger NP and spend some time there. After a few nights in Wakkerstroom (birding capital of South Africa!) we arrived in Nelspruit.

At the campsite was a Landcruiser with plates from Bern. Stefan from Fruttigen was enjoying his early retirement and already traveling two years in Africa.

We talked a lot and hopefuly will meet Stefan later in the year again and travel a bit together.

Booking campsites in Kruger was more difficult as we expected, although no school holidays most were  booked out. We finally managed to book about 8 nights and a logical route in this large park. So we left Nelspruit very quickly again and will try to see Derek and Liza next time.

Kruger was for us disappointing after the many different animals we saw in Hluhluwe-Umfolozi NP. Very nice although we did not see so much wildlife as expected. Perhaps next time. As elsewhere in the National Parks the places were sometimes very beautiful. Especially Mopani and Olifantsrivier Restcamps are in stunning settings.

Via Nylstroom we went to the FOFs. We watched a DVD with the early Sixties trip from Mike, Colin and  Lillith fromPort Elizabeth to Copenhage in a VW beetle. Amazing film-clips and pictures. 

We have now decided not to drive home but spend some more time in the Southern African countries. The route we will probably take is SA I-BOT I-ZAM-MAL-MOZ-(ZIM)-SA II-BOT II-NAM and back home shipping Idefix from Durban.

After a few days in Johannesburg we headed to Gabarone to enjoy the hospitality of Bob and Doreen (and Kevin). Doreen and Kevin helped us identify some bird and Bob and Kevin took us to some interesting places in the area.

We managed to book campsites in some of the Botswana parks in Gabarone and booked some more in Maun for our return to Botswana in October. Pictures of the parks are in our photo albums. Very special were the nights on Lekhubu Island with beautiful sunsets and full moon at night. Also special were the rainy days in Maun. Apparently it had not rained like that in 50 years. We have been very lucky as we met people who got stuck on the way to Lekhubu Island and also Moremi was very bad. The only problem we had because of the rain was that we could not go to Baines Baobabs in Nxai Pan. The additional nights we spend at South Camp were very nice though.

Nxai Pan itself was partly very difficult to drive through. The mud was sometimes very thick and extremely slippery. A few times we turned on a track as we were afraid to get bogged. In these cases it is a disadvantage to travel with just one car.

Via Planet Baobab in Gweta and the millions of deep potholes between Nata and Kasane we drove to Chobe NP. For the first time since our arrival in Africa our count of elephants exceeded that of Rhinos. Two nights at Ihaha with beautiful views (sunsets!) over the Chobe River and the noisy Buffalos and Elephants next to Idefix at night. Across the river is Namibia. Namibians are fishing on their mokoros in the Chobe and their cattle is grazing near the river edge. On the Botswana side it is elephants and other wild animals and tourists.
Linyanti and Savute were not as rewarding and were not worth the drive for us. Also in Savute elephants in the camp.

Back in Kasane we decided to take all the time we need to do our chores. Photos, e-mails, washing, car-maintenance and lots of other things. All in all a week’s work. Traveling is a hard job!
 

We were not disappointed. Lots of animals. Especially the waterhole near the main camp was an interesting place to go to. Here the herds of elephants came one after the other to drink, bathe and socialize..

As we did not want to spend the night in the Transkei (one of the old ‘homelands’ in the EC), we decided to stay over in Port Alfred (the Big Pineapple in this area is supposedly bigger than the ones in Australia ) and drive the 8-900 km to Durban in one day. The drive itself was fascinating as this area is very Africa. People walking every where, huts, waterpumps for an entire neighbourhood. Lots of minibuses. The state of everything, houses, cars etc. deteriorated the more we moved towards the border of kwaZulu Natal . This is really a very poor part of South Africa. As it was a Sunday we saw lots of churchgoers in their best clothes. It seems that people spend more money on their clothes and looks than their homes. High heels, handbags, suits and ties are not uncommon.

In Durban we had to talk with our shipping agent about the unloading and clearing of Idefix. Because of the long Easter Weekend we had booked long in advance a B&B, Manaar House, in Umhlanga Rocks, north of Durban. This happened to be one of the more wealthy suburbs of Durban with a beautiful beach. As I had developed a serious throat and ear-infection we went to see a local doctor. Some injections and other medicines made me feel better almost instantly. The appointment for the collection of Idefix was made for the 22nd of April. This gave us the opportunity to first go further north in ZN.

We booked ourselves a simple cottage at bushbabylodge near Hluhluwe. Pim, who owns the lodge with his wife Thandie, happened to be a fellow Dutchman and traveller. As we could eat nice home-cooked meals at the lodge we spend a lot of time (until darkness) in the nearby Hluhluwe NP. All in all we spend three days in this park and saw lots of different animals. Rhinos were everywhere (see pic) After another two nights in a cottage in the Umfolozi NP we returned to Durban.

The 22nd of April was election day and therefor a public holiday. Getting Idefix out of port had to wait another day. It was very interesting to witness these elections. A very high turnout (about 80%) and at some places long queues. That day we toured the 1000 Hills north of Durban and drove through areas where only Zulus live.  The ANC won. Their slogan ‘A home for all’ was also a bit for us, we enjoyed staying in B&B’s but were longing for Idefix and camping.

Getting the car out of port was a lot easier than in Australia. Collin from Multiship had arranged everything. We took a taxi to his office and went with Collin to Customs House to collect a Customs Officer and then drove through to the container depot. Within 30 minutes the formalities were over. With a duly stamped Carnet we could take Idefix out of the container and put on the tyres. Other than in Australia, the people here did all that work for us. Within two hours after we arrived we were ready to go! The only damage we had was the protective plate of the front differential as the ramp used to pull Idefix out of the container was not very even. A final night in a B&B, fresh water and diesel for Idefix and we drove back to Hluhluwe. 

We had to go back a final time to Durban to collect mail coming from Europe but it had not arrived yet. What better place to wait than Bushbabylodge and visit Hluhluwe again as well as St. Lucia and the Wetlands Park. Although we received notice(we could use the Internet in a Pizzeria!) that our mail arrived, we decided to spend a few days longer in this area and visited Mkhuze NP as well. Because Swaziland was just a stone’s throw away we crossed the border and went to the Mlilwane NP. The border crossing was without problems. The South Africans were very friendly and more interested in our ‘home’ than anything else. The Swazis did not even look at the car.

The Swazis are extremely friendly. Almost everybody waved at us when we were passing. Although it is very poor the people seem to enjoy life a lot. Swaziland is on the other hand also very hard hit by HIV/AIDS. Lots of orphanages. On the campsite at Mlilwane a large group of these children were camping as well as a group of Overlanders (Half of them Dutch celebrating Queen’s day, we had not heard about the tragedy either). We decided to move to a very nice campground in Ezelwini. April/May have been holiday months here in South Africa. As the 1st of May is also a Public Holiday it was quite busy. We saw also Mozambicans taking a long weekend of. Although a nice place, Ezelwini was not really much quieter than Mlilwane. In the Stadium about 1 km away a Reggae Festival was held and we could here the music and noise until deep in the night. The facilities on the Campground were at least a lot better and cleaner.

Speaking of which, in Australia we had to do our laundry on campgrounds. For whatever reason Australians do their washing much colder than in Europe. We always had the feeling that therefor our clothes were less clean.. Here laundry is much easier. For a small fee we give a bag of laundry to cleaning staff and receive it back clean, dry and folded. My car-maintenance-clothes are suddenly almost clean again!

Swaziland was even warmer than ZN. The country is also very hilly. In terms of height we cannot speak of mountains but the roads are sometimes very steep. When we drove from Ezelwini to the capital, Mbabane, we had to stop just before the top as our motor was getting too hot! As elsewhere the people try to sell curios to earn some money. To us it seemed that the Swazis are even more creative than the South Africans. Not only the more well-known shops (Swazi Candles and Ngwenya Glass) but also the other places have beautiful things on display.

Next time more as for me writing is like the work this Dung-Beetle has with the droppings of elephants and rhinos.

We arrived on the 18th of March in Cape Town and felt immediately good. It is nice to be (finally) in Africa. When we will be home again we will evaluate our time in Australia and Africa and what we might have done differently etc.. Let’s just say that although Australia was our number 2 destination we started there and were glad for it. Lots of experience and new friendships.

Through Gill and Mike and through Greg we had the opportunity to meet and stay with Allan and Gail as well as Peter and Rosemary in Perth. Both the Australian/South-African and Australian hospitality have been great for us.

We had decided to spend the time waiting for Idefix in Africa rather than somewhere else. The container was loaded a few days before we left Perth but Idefix will not arrive before the last week of April in Durban. With the help of Gail and her cousin Melissa we were able to hire at a good rate a small car at Cape Town Airport and which we will return after we unloaded/cleared Idefix in Durban. For the first two nights in Africa we booked a B&B in Simon’s Town on the Cape Peninsula. This proved to be a good choice for us. The town’s main attraction for us (it is SA’s main naval town) is Boulders Beach. In 1985 African (Jackass) Penguins decided that they liked to colonise this beach. The penguins still must feel very safe as a large group of about 3000 are living there now. As they built a few squatter villages in peoples gardens the area has been fenced of and organised by SA’s National Parks board, SanParks.

As Simon’s Town is only about 45 minutes from Cape Town and half an hour from the South or West site of the Peninsula we were spending the first week exploring the many things to do and see here. Our highlights have been:
Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. Like with f.i. Kings Park in Perth it is great that people had a long time ago the farsightedness to create oasis in or near a city. Kirstenbosch is a beautiful Park with beautiful plants and trees (and birds).

One of the advantages of cheap labour is obviously the maintenance of such places. As we have now spent more than 3 weeks travelling we noticed the high standard of the National Parks, Reserves and their facilities.
Although we have not yet felt unsafe here, we are also not taking any chances. We would have liked to have walked from Kirstenbosch up to Table Mountain but refrained from doing so as sometimes incidents had happened, as we were told by various persons. Sandra and Peet suggested in Perth the Platteklip hike to the top, but when we were there it was much too warm for our liking and we lazily took the Cablecar up and down. The picture shows the start and end stations.

For those of you who have not seen it in real live: it is very, very steep!

The coast on the peninsula is beautiful and has lots of beaches. For us it was (much) too cold but always people were swimming and surfing. Sundays are really restdays here and many people go outdoors. The picture here shows the Kalk Bay jetty where people are fishing and strolling.

For the non-fishers like us they have lots of eateries with fresh fish and mussels and oysters and prawns and calamari. Great!
Apropos, eateries. The South African restaurants and B&B’s we have eaten at had usually very varied/original and high-standard dishes. And at low cost too! Also the supermarkets (and Woolworth, Gail!) have a very broad choice of vegetables and fish and meat.
Although I tried to postpone (..) a visit we went into the Gemstone Factory in Simon’s Town.

I expected another tourist trap (enticing adverts, small shop with curios) but it proved to be quite a large operation. From all over the place (Africa) stones are sorted and sold/exported after undergoing none to many treatments.
The shop was not small so some trinkets were found here too…
Ever since Tasmania we stop at every cheesefactory/farm and buy some cheese. In Kleinrivier in the Overberg area we found excellent cheese made by Van Beulen. We really did see the man making the cheese, and a very good one too. The man sitting with the chickens gained between shortly before Sydney and Africa quite a lot of weight. Not just because of good
cheeses!

Contrary to Australian wines, which can at better prices be bought in Europe rather than Australia, the wine here is good and not expensive. (No Chateau Cardboard thusfar).
One of the first things we did getting in SA was buying some birdbooks. Not only one to identify the birds but also a very good book with good birding sites and directions how to get there. That is the reason why we went out to look for Cape Town’s sewage works. We drove past the sewage works but did not like the neighbourhood enough to stop there. Only a few kilometres away we found another good birding spot at Rondevlei in the community of Zeekoevlei. The place was great but we had the misfortune that schoolclasses of 14-15 year old girls were there as well. Too make it easy on them they scared almost all birds away so that identification of the few remaining ducks was easy for them and their accompanying teachers.
This must be a normal thing at schools as we also saw bussed in school-classes at Harold Porter Botanical Gardens and Addo Elephant Park.
Several times we stayed on a campground on a Station in Australia. Usually these were very nice and interesting places to stay on, so we decided to stay on an Ostrich Farm near Heidelberg. The farming couple did have the B&B and Cottages but their main business is farming. They had an interesting mix of Nguni cattle, Frisian cows, sheep, ostriches, lucerne, maize and thatching reed!
Neels, the farmer, complained about government, prices, bad weather, economy etc. like all other farmers at all times all over the world, but he seems to have spread his risks pretty good!
We joined the farmer and a few of his workman on their early morning round feeding the animals. This is very scientific. The art is to get ostriches fat as quick as possible without any casualties at a low cost. To do this various types of food are given and dosed pretty exact.
For the workers it is hard work to take 50kg sacks and spread the contents out over the field or the plastic bins the birds eat out.

The time of year and the period in which they are slaughtered also plays a part in the quality of the ostriches.
Ostrich farming is apparently not an easy business. The farmer told us that although it has been tried in other places in Australia, America, Europe and Africa, most farmers failed. This particular farmer buys in the chicks as doing that himself is too risky!

The following picture is of an ostrich farm in Oudtshoorn. As you can see a few graves are in the midst of the ostriches.

Apparently 97% of the worlds ostrich farming is done here.
Politics.
Lyndon B Johnson, another Texan President, also remembered where he came from. In the Gillespie County in Texas, where LBJ had a ranch, the farmers were raising Angora goats. LBJ started in the Sixties the Mohair incentive which basically meant that the farmers in this area received millions and millions of dollars each year for keeping these goats. The subsidy increased when the production increased irrespective of market prices! Clinton ended this in 1996.
In pre-ANC governments a minister coming from Oudtshoorn persuaded his colleagues to pass a law that only in Oudtshoorn ostrich farming was allowed. Not so many goats are left now in Gillespie County but Oudtshoorn still has more ostriches than people.
Oudtshoorn is actually a very nice town to visit. The town lies in the Little Karoo and this is also a semi-arid area. When it rains the rivers can become raging torrents. For that reason British soldiers built during WWI a suspension bridge enabling people to go from the living/sleeping area to the shops/business area even when the water was high.

After Oudtshoorn we went to Wilderness. Some B&B’s we stayed in had very nice and interesting owners. At Tendele B&B (www.tendele.co.za) Inez and Norman were great hosts. The area is beautiful and has many opportunities to watch birds. The Knysna Turaco (Lourie) f.i. (see photo).

Norman also showed a great software programme for the PDA which I might introduce sometime during our travels. We moved on although it would have been nice to identify lots of more birds with Norman.
Although I mentioned before the great state of the National Parks, this is also an area of friction between the people living here. As almost every other place you see lots of employees. Labour is cheap but production is also low (one waiter for two tables in a restaurant is the impression I have). In these Parks are also Honorary Rangers. These people make in various ways contributions to these parks. While we were in Wilderness, Norman and a friend (77 yrs old) of his were identifying the trees alongside a 7 km hike. We saw many paid officers and not much activity in their jobs. That said, toilets are clean and people are friendly. And when someone at Boulders Beach complained about another guest teasing the Penguins, the seemingly not very active employee went slowly but immediately out to talk to the culprit.

Next time some more, perhaps about an 80 year old bodybuilder!

PS For the insiders: Wilderness and Sedgefield are great areas to kayak, we were too lazy/doing other things but others was out there. And Swartkopsriver. We passed it and it looked beautiful, we plan to go back to explore!