Sunday, April 5, 2020
Sunday, October 30, 2016
Orange river canoeing and Namaqualand flowers
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| Cruising on the Orange river |
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| Canoes ready and packed |
There’s nothing better than a family road trip. This with the prospect of a four day canoeing trip down the Orange river made for a mouth watering September school holidays. Our plan was to drive a massive rectangle ‘around’ Lesotho and then extending across South Africa to the Orange river and Namibia, back down the west coast in Namaqualand national park and then directly across the Karoo and back via the eastern Cape to Pietermaritzburg. Logistically this trip was a breeze because we had signed up with an outfit called Felix Unité who provide all the canoes, food and even ice to keep the beers cold!
We set off at dawn driving north and wound our way up the impressive Van Reenin’s Pass leaving the rolling hills of KZN far below and entering into the flatness of the highveld. A sharp turn to the west took us through Bethlehem and on to the capital of the Free State, Bloemfontein where we had decided to visit the Boer War museum. Being Heritage day we were welcomed there by a genuine Afrikaner market with singing, trinkets for sale and scrumptious “maalvleis en vetkoek” washed down with home made ginger beer. The museum was fascinating and informative and particularly useful for the girls who had studied some of this at school. The scale of the slaughter and particularly the horror of the concentration camps was sobering. We continued west to Kimberly across smooth, Springbok studded plains and arrived around dusk and briefly visited the historical village at the Big Hole.
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| Richtersveld magic |
Another early start had us heading directly west through an unpopulated landscape sprinkled with the odd antelope or ostrich. This gave us many hours in the car for idle banter and the odd podcast which added an interesting and entertaining new dimension to our road trips. We crossed the Vaal river and then saw the intense green of the vineyards which fringe the Orange river. We skirted Upington and then continued along the Orange to the frontier town of Springbok. Here we had booked into the amazing Gogas nature reserve and set up camp in a thatched cottage and were soon exploring amazing granite rocks and curious vegetation. The wildlife was incredible and the magnificent Gemsbok abounded. A night excursion for a pee and to ogle at the sugar-sprinkled sky brought me face to face with an Aardwolf which was an animal I’d never seen before.
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| Canoe see-saw antics on the Orange |
A morning drive took us through yellow and purple carpets of flowers, through cragged rocky outcrops and past more of the majestic Gemsbok. The visitor centre had an exceptional indigenous plant garden with extraordinary strange succulents with names like butter tree, button plant and the weird quiver tree.
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| Warm rocks, cool water..... |
From there our route took us north and after restocking in Springbok we crossed the border over the Orange river at Noordoewer and into the arid lands of southern Namibia. A short drive took us to the start of our canoe trip at Felix Unité. Provenance is the name of their base camp and is certainly an oasis of green lawns, reed-thatched cabanas and a very blue swimming pool. We set up tents on the luscious lawns and sipped on icy cold beers as steak sizzled on the ‘braai’. Our co-canoeists slowly rolled in and like us were mainly families excited by the prospect of four days cruising down this incredible waterway. A humorous briefing explained how to pack our buckets and canoes, where to stash the beers and how to use “Lulu” the portable toilet kept us all chuckling and rearing to go.
The Orange river is South Africa’s longest river at 2250km and originates in the Drakensberg mountains and in Lesotho is called the Senqu. The name Orange is not thanks to its sometimes orange colour when in flood but rather named by a Dutchman in honour of Prince William of the Royal Dutch House of Orange! It is joined by the Caledon and Vaal rivers and is dammed in two places forming the Gariep and Vanderkloof dams.
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| Margot and Zara cosy camping |
The river was flowing well and the water clean but the weather for the start of our paddle was a wee bit inclement with cloud cover and a gathering wind. Nonetheless we set of with great enthusiasm, boats liberally loaded and Zara skippering our canoe and Ilda and Margot in the other. The paddling is easy and relaxing and we drift down gentle rolling rapids beneath fascinating rock formations with names like Echo Krantzes and Snail Mountain. We stop for an early lunch and the crew prepare a scrumptious selection while we go for a short walk to see San rock petroglyphs. By now the wind has picked up and our expedition leader announces that this “Peace of Paradise Camp” will now become the overnight stop and we set about erecting tents and then wile away the afternoon reading, playing ‘Boulle’ and, some, catching fish. The evening is a tranquil affair with great conversations, good tucker and an unforgettable display of stars. We sleep very well and are soon fed, packed up and on or way again.
Again, the pace is mellow, the sun warm and some of our fellow paddlers are cracking their first beers soon after breakfast! We encounter a couple of fun rapids with names like “Dead Man” rapid and “Entrance exam” which everyone gets down ok albeit some folk backwards. Zara seems to go on strike fairly early in the piece and seems quite happy to let Dad do the paddling while she ‘chills’ and occasionally jumps overboard for a paddle. The day drifts by and lunch is served next to a long rolling rapid where we have great fun and good luck catching feisty Yellow fish. Some walk to an abandoned mine while others sip beer or sleep. That evening we camp above the Sjambok kloof with stories of the big rapid coming up tomorrow! We visit the old fluorite mine and gather many samples and have great fun that night sprinkling these on the fire and experiencing our very own fire works display.
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| Happy families after four days on the Orange |
Sjambok rapid is the trip’s canoeing highlight and is a long bouncy rapid with a lovely drop and waves at the end running through a narrow granite gully. Again everyone comes through unscathed and we have fun swimming in the strong current, jumping off the rocks and then sunning ourselves like lizards on the steaming granite. Supplies have been restocked at the last camp and with more ice to keep beers cool and even better grub we cruise into the “Scratches” campsite where apparently dinosaurs sharpened their claws causing great rifts in the quartzite towers. Again, this is perfection with sandy areas to pitch the tents, swimming on tap and cold beer on ice! We are about 23 guests on the trip with four guides and are well looked after. We explore inland a bit and are enthralled by the rugged beauty of the 2000 million year old Richtersveld mountains. The dozen or so children are a law unto themselves and their laughter and antics vibrate around the campsite. The final camp dinner is an extravagant affair and we feast on roast mutton and the mood is buoyant around the crackling camp fire. Again the stars are extravagant beyond belief and we slowly drift off to our tents and fall into a deep decadent sleep.
The morning routine is becoming well rehearsed and we reflect that this will be the last morning of this magical family adventure. Lulu is in demand after the excesses of last night and we swim, feast on a fine cooked breakfast and pack our buckets for the last time. We slip off into the current and briefly Zara makes an effort at paddling before retreating under her sun umbrella to ‘chill’ once more. The bird life has been spectacular and we have seen many animals including vervet monkeys, baboons and the scary looking but benign Leguaan or Nile monitor. A few more slightly rocky rapids, more swims, canoe “see-saw” and children swapping boats sees the time disappear and before we know it we are beaching at Assenkeur farm and the end of our adventure. Boats, bags, buckets and people are loaded efficiently onto the ‘bus’ which must be from 1800 and something but has been beautifully restored and chugs us back to base and another cold beer, a final feed and fond farewells.
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| Namaqualand flowers |
We begin the big trek home but, as always, are reluctant to take the same route back and so head south down the west coast with a plan to complete a big loop around and below Lesotho and across the Karoo. First stop is Namaqua national park, famous for its carpets of colourful flowers. It is late in the season but we are not disappointed. Rich tapestries of golden yellow daisies and a multitude of other vivid flowers dazzle us and occasionally we see the majestic Gemsbok grazing in this colourful paradise. We drive on to the west coast and the blue Atlantic ocean where we stop to picnic and dip our toes into the icy water where mermaid like Kelp oscillates amongst mussel clad rocks.
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| Margot races towards the chilly Atlantic |
At Calvinia we turn east and begin the long traverse of this incredible country back to KZN. The scenery is dramatic; vast arid plains punctuated with the occasional strutting ostrich and austere rock formations. it is dry and sparse and we stop at a creaking windmill pulling crystal clear water up into a concrete reservoir. The girls don’t hesitate and are soon stripped and splashing in the icy water. Refreshed we drive on and our next stop is the Rooi Granaat in Loxton, an authentic local café where we sipped on proper smooth cappuccinos and breakfasted on fluffy omelettes filled with home made goats’ milk cheese. The local NGK church fills the central village square and the bells chime calling the faithful to prayer.
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| Swimming in an icy windmill reservoir in the Karoo |
We overnight in a remote Karoo town and are up early and watch the golden tendrils of the rising sun as we speed along passing towns like Middelberg, Molteno and Elliot. The remote pristine northern Cape morphs into the more populous and littered eastern Cape and we are reminded of the so called “homelands” of the bad old days when this was the Transkei and it doesn’t seem to have recovered. Our last night is at a fantastic farmstay near Maclear. We are spoiled with a home cooked meal and a crackling fire as rain continues to pour down.
Our last morning takes us back into KZN at Underberg and we stop as always at The Lemon Tree café for a scrumptious breakfast. Then its on down into the Umkomaas valley and we wind our way home to Hilton and delighted dog,cat and chicken.
3800km later, Orange river canoeing, Namibia, flowers in Namaqualand, Gemsbok, Boer war museum in Bloem, breakfast the Rooi Granaat, swimming at a Karoo windmill, fascinating podcasts, laughs, photos and fun. Exploring Africa forever fun!
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Africa Overland/load
Family at Savuti channel, flowing for first time in 35years
Elephant crossing, Chobe
Mosi-oa-Tunya (The smoke that thunders in the local Kololo language) is far more apt than the somewhat jaded Victoria Falls, but either way this place is dramatic. I trotted off for a morning jog today as the sun crept up through the thick fog thrown up by these massive 108m high and 1.7km wide waterfalls about which Livingstone wrote “On sights as beautiful as this, angels in their flight must have gazed.” My run took me through the slightly tired village of Vic Falls to the opulent grandeur of the Victoria Falls Hotel where the breakfast verandah gazes directly up the thundering gorge at the Zim-Zam bridge and the sight of one of the highest bungees in the world. I leave by a front gate passing a man with a rifle who assures me that there are no lion but beware of elephants. I jog cautiously side-stepping massive mounds of elephant dung and hopping over fresh broken branches to a viewing deck perched above the swirling, snaking river far below. The grey-green water boils and bubbles and bucks and banks thrashing down the narrow gorge in a frightening display of power and perseverance, having just crashed over the mighty falls. I feel humbled and skirt along a narrow path past the insane rope swing and then on to the entry to the Park where I talk briefly in Zulu to the rangers. Ndebele is very similar to Zulu and so I have the opportunity to communicate a little, at least, with the locals. I return back through the village to our campsite and the girls where Ilda is preparing school for the day. Margot and Zara are excited at the prospect of an elephant ride at midday and then the visit to the Falls themselves……provided school goes ok!
Elephant carnage, Chobe
Sandy speciality...jaffles!
I think that we have been on the road for about 6 weeks now and the last time I wrote we had just arrived at Etosha National Park in Namibia. So many memories since then have created the rich tapestry of our African Adventure that it is hard to know where to start and what was most profound. Was it the cheetah chase or the lion kill near Namatoni camp? Was it relaxing on a deck over the Okavango River with cold beer in hand at sunset or camping with local Tswanas when we found all the official camps flooded? Was it the boat trip up into the Okavango Delta where we gazed in awe at majestic Fish eagles or camping at Savuti in the Chobe National Park where a bull elephant seemed to adopt us and hung around our campsite all night? Or was it the sunset boat cruise on the Chobe River where herds of elephant frolicked unperturbed only metres from our small boat and sucked up water through outstretched trunks and sprayed it over massive rumps under the golden glint of the setting sun? Or was it simply seeing Margot and Zara lying in their tent in the soft morning light reading their novels and Zara telling me that “Stone Fox” was the best book she had ever read in her life! Or seeing them engrossed in fantasy play involving elephants, huts and bartering with hawkers? Or watching them diligently doing their school work in their 37th classroom on a deck stretched over the Chobe River while Ilda patiently guides them? I don’t know, but all in all this is proving to be one of our most profound life experiences and we somehow hope that it will never end.
Reed frog, Okavango, Botswana
Ilda, boat cruise into Okavango Delta, Botswana
Maybe it’s Global Warming but anyway, the rains were supposed to be over. We have been accompanied by massive thunderstorms most of the way which only now, in Zimbabwe, seem to have abated. So Etosha should have been a disaster. The famous salt Pan now a lake; roads closed by massive muddy puddles and animals somewhat remote, enjoying the glut of water. Well the pundits were wrong! During first 2 nights at Okaukuejo camp there was certainly a paucity of game with sparse antelope and giraffe and fruitless nocturnal sorties to the camp waterhole. However as we moved eastwards things changed dramatically. The highlight of course was witnessing the preparation, execution and completion of the killing of a Springbuck by a Cheetah. It was quite the most exhilarating and dramatic thing to watch and left the four of us in an awed silence. We felt privileged to have witnessed the food chain first hand! The sight that met us as we approached the plains before Namatoni camp was “Out of Africa”. Black Rhino, herds of giraffe, multitudes of antelope, blue wildebeest, zebra, hyena, jackal, vultures and to top it all, a pride of lion, which that night killed no less than two zebra and were feasting on them when we passed the next morning.
M&Z mastering the Makoro, Maun, Botswana
From Etosha we drove east to the mining town of Tsumeb and enjoyed the luxury of a campsite with restaurant, internet café and Olympic size swimming pool! (serious….one of only two in Namibia!) All at half the price of Etosha. It was good to head north again into Boabab country and up into the Caprivi Strip. This was the region of gruesome fighting in the 70’s and 80’s were RSA was at loggerheads with Angola and Mozambique and based the South African 32-Battallion whose dilapidated barracks we visited. Nature had consumed the old buildings with trees and creepers and Kudu and Buffalo grazed were soldiers once walked. Our campsite on the Okavango River was sublime and our wake up call was provided by resident hippo and my favourite bird, the Fish Eagle. We were lucky to get a site because many of the other camps were flooded and closed. We left wonderful Namibia and eased into Botswana via the Okavango panhandle.
School Canteen, Okavango panhandle, Botswana
Our first nights accommodation was problematic as all camps were flooded but some friendly locals let us set up camp in their yard. It was lovely to feel part of their rhythm and to observe first hand life in a hut away from the bustle of our lives. The next morning we visited the excellent local clinic and had a tour of the local school, where ‘learners’ appeared too be grappling with some fairly complex stuff! Then on to Maun, which had metamorphosed since I was there in the early 80’s. A sleepy gateway to the Delta had now become a big town with supermarkets, big hotels and even a university. We had a relaxing couple of days there but at 450 US$ night the inner Delta was out of reach. After much apprehension about road conditions we set off on the famous Maun to Kasani route via Moremi and Chobe. Our first night at Mankwe was rewarded with elephant sightings and our first leopard…..at last! We had our own private camp and enjoyed a pristine night under a rich blanket of stars. Then on into Chobe where mud detoured but didn’t stop us and to Savuti camp. Here again we enjoyed relatively private campsites, this time perched on the side of the Savuti channel which was flowing for the first time in 35 years. This is where we were befriended by Savuti the local bull elephant. What an experience it was! He spent most of his time on the periphery of our camp about 20 metres away, fought off 2 other bulls as if protecting us and then wandered nonchalantly around our car, sniffed the table and pots and then eased off as we cowered in the car with half cooked dinner and Ilda’s fresh rolls! That was something and the girls immediately snapped up pencils to record what had happened.
The roads across Chobe were sandy and sometimes corrugated, but we got through fine. We had been a bit worried about not having a Hi-lift jack but all went well. We were even able to help dig out a Belgian couple who were stuck in sand down to their axles and then casually cruised through were they had just been stuck!
Largest Meteorite in the world!
Etosha giraffe have to graze!
M&Z, Branberge, Namibia
Giraffe Etosha Pan
And here we are! We had a big walk today via the grand old Vic Falls Hotel, the gorge views and the rope swing and then on into the park. Folk said we would get wet and that was no lie and the thunder and drama of the Falls was spectacular. Fortunately the girls had donned swimming costumes and we all dried quickly in the sun. The walk across the border and then bridge into Zambia was great and we had a laugh watching a few chaps Bungee jump. Zara assures me that she will never do one but I have my doubts.
Lion kill Namatoni, Etosha
Tomorrow to Hwange and then we take the 22hour ferry across Kariba and on to Mana Pools.
Hyena Etosha National Park
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