Scorpions,Dung Beetles and Tortoises

I got out of the tent this morning and brushed away what I though was a spider out of the kids clothes bags…to my dismay it was a scorpion!

Welcome to Africa!

We have been on the road for 2 weeks and have completed the first part of our journey that has taken us from Cape Town to Pietermaritzburg.

It has been an incredible adventure with a striking diversity of scenery from very dry, deserted land in the little Karoo to the thick rain forest near Tsistikama National Park to overpopulated, overgrazed land in the former Transkei (now the Eastern Cape).

Our first stop after departing from Cape town was MontEco. Positioned in the little Karoo in a very remote natural reserve, it offered fantastic MTB tracks + 4x4 tracks together with game viewing. We happened to be the only people staying at the campsite so we had the whole place for ourselves including the use of a fabulous swimming pool. We put our new Pathfinder car to the test and ventured onto the great 4x4 tracks. Game viewing was very rewarding either on MTB or in the car and we spotted many magnificent Gemsbok (Oryx), Wildebeest, Eland and Springbok. The girls got fully into bird spotting, Newmans Book of birds of SA in hand. I can’t tell you what a buzz it is to encounter a wild beasts on a MTB!

Moving on towards the coast to the Bontebok National Park with record 40 degrees C temperatures. We were privileged to be able to spot the very elegant Bontebok antelope (the park holds 200 out of the 2000 still existing in the world).

We then were into the world famous and stunning Garden Route and spent 2 nights each at Natures Valley and then, camping right on the rocks with crashing surf, at Storms River Mouth. Both places are gems with rich and thick bush, undeveloped coastline and golden beaches.

We visited the excellent MonkeyLand with its free-living 8 species of monkey including Lemur and Gibbon and then to Birds of Eden which is the biggest aviary in the world.

Next spot on the Game Reserve map was the famous Addo Elephant park. How close can one get to an elephant! But there are not just elephant to see. Observing the dung beetle pushing its elephant poo out of the way to lay its eggs was somehow exhausting.

I also encountered my first siting of lions… an amazing and humbling experience! Animal spotting was plentiful with eland, bush pig, warthog, jackal, buffalo… and the amazing bird life.

We pass though the Fish River Natural Reserve and sighted our first 2 black rhinos, 5 minutes from the entrance gate and a new born eland before going on to the mountain retreat of Hogsback where Sandy ventures out in search of more single track.

Now, we are venturing through the poorest, most populated province in South Africa: the Eastern Cape ( formally called the Transkei). Here we really feel the sense of chaos one expects to see in Africa: Goats & donkeys on the road side, deep ravines in the land from overgrazing, no trees, small and colourful but basic huts everywhere, people, potholes … This is the land of Nelson Mandela. It is alive!

This is where we have our second puncture, with no units left on the cell phone, a Saturday afternoon where all puncture repair places are closed, with a broken bolt spanner … But we managed to replace the wheel with instructions from 2 slightly inebriated locals and a dozen kids looking on. We relaxed for 2 days at Kob Inn on the rugged Wild coast, a place where Sandy has staid as a kid. The sun is no longer setting over the sea. We are now moving North.

Another 250km through the chaos of that sick Eastern Cape land and we reached the sign “WELCOME TO KWAZULU NATAL”. The contrast couldn’t be more striking… massive green sugar cane fields replace bare, overgrazed land.

Our last stop is Lake Eland Nature Reserve at the entrance to the breathtaking Oribi Gorge. We get some amazing MTBiking and sight seeing of the deep gorge that is the home to the famous African fish eagle. We get some fabulous game viewing and added Giraffes and Chameleons to our list.

We are glad to have arrived safely in Pietermaritzburg. We will stay here till the 13th of Feb.

Here we are in Pietermarizburg, just in time to celebrate Sandy’s dad’s birthday. This marks the closure of the first part of our journey.

This has been an amazing initiation, rich in personal experience that we all relate to in different ways:
Zara's senses have been stimulated more than ever and she has been able to hold her first Chameleon and marvel at the patience of her first dung beetle pushing its dung...
Margot has been capturing all her experiences and relating them through topical questions. She is so interested in all that is happening...the human factor included. "Dad, what is AIDS?"; "Why is there mud on this women's face?"...
Sandy has been busy setting us up (car/insurance/mobile/bank account...). He is amazed but content to see a bit more "normality" in the races here. We have been sitting in a restaurant next to black folks, sharing the beach with black folks (and girls playing with kids)...
I have been pleasantly surprised at how smooth it has been. From ignorance comes paranoia but from experience comes knowledge and acceptance. The scenery has been mind boggling. The game viewing has been amazing. We are having a ball!

The Cape: a magnificent place

We started the new year at Miller'spoint in a wonderful "batch" in the company of some great South African friends: The DuToit family (now living in Noosa, Australia) and Paul and Janet Keet. We celebrated with an exceptional lunar eclipse combined with a "blue moon" (2nd full moon in a month). We slept on the balcony with the sound of the thrashing waves below.

We linked up with visiting SA friends from NZ (Tony and Cath Page) for a morning jog to Smitswinkel Beach and an invigorating swim. We were stopped by baboons on the way back! (see picture below)

We spent New Year's day visiting Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope. Cape Point is actually not the southern-most point of Africa as one might think but it is Cape Agulhas which is 100km due East of Cape town. We escaped the tourist crowd by walking between Cape of Good Hope and Cape point, stopping in between on a rugged white sand beach full of blue bottles.

Cape Point was busy but spectacular. On the west side is the freezing cold Atlantic Ocean and on the east the warm(er) Indian Ocean.

Driving back to Cape Town along the coast we saw breath taking deserted beaches with beautiful white sand, with some locals braving the massive waves with kite and wind surfers. We took the dramatic drive through Chapmans Peak to Hout Bay.

Cape Town has to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world with the 1000 metre high Table Mountain just above. We did a walk up Lions head from where we could see the whole city, the mountain and the beaches. We had great views of the new football world cup stadium.

The walk up Lions head is steep with chains and ladders to negotiate but wow,what a view. Margot and Zara loved the rock clambering.

During our time in Cape Town, we have felt reasonably safe. We have been on fantastic MTB rides in the Tokai forest and Helderberg range near Somerset West. But the security systems when entering a house never cease to amaze me with high electric gates, electric wires, metal bars on windows and complex alarm systems. You also have to drive past Khayelitsha (township of over 1million people) on the way to the airport to see that the majority of the population still live in very basic accommodation. The townships are colourful but look desperate.

Below is the scene on 2nd of January at Muizenberg beach, once a white-only beach but now packed with people. In the photo, you can just spot Sandy and the girls boogy boarding.

We have now collected a 4x4 Nissan Pathfinder from Stephen, a SA doctor heading back to Australia. Sandy has been struggling through all the paperwork and admin to open bank account, insurance... etc. I see why people stay put in one place and especially in one country. But it's so worth it. There is something very exciting about being in Africa. It's vibrant, alive, beautiful and chaotic.

We have started packing for the next part of our journey: Cape Town to Pietermariztburg. We hope to get there by 25th January, taking the coastal route though the Garden route, Transkei and Natal.

Ostriches: Did you know?

Did you know:

• 1 ostrich egg =24 chicken eggs
• Ostriches live up to 70-80 yrs old
• 1 egg is laid every 2 days
• incubation period=42 days
• their eyes are bigger than their brain
• difference between male and female: male-black with red scales on front of legs+beak-sits on eggs at night. Female-grey-sits on eggs at daytime.
• female starts sitting on eggs only from the time there are 13 eggs in the nest
• to cool off they breathe heavily through their beak and fan their wings
• they have 2 toes+1 support toe
• they have 1 big claw at the end of each wing for fighting and for making nests.

Margot