15 June We left around 8am to go back through to Mozambique. We got to the border and exited Zimbabwe no worries, but when we tried to get through to the Mozambique side it proved impossible as a load of huge trucks had blocked the way through. We managed to find some of the drivers and eventually after about a wait of almost an hour being surrounded by huge trucks we were able to get through. On the Mozambique side we had to pay for news visas to last another 30 days and we were away. Today we are travelling up towards Caia and staying at a place called M’phingwe Camp which is at Catapu. The car started to give a few problems again with no power. We struggled our way on and finally made it around 4pm. After some charades; a lot of people don’t speak English we managed to check in. Portuguese is definitely a huge bonus out here. M’phingwe is a lovely little camp set in a forest, it’s a shame we only have one night as I am sure the birdlife is brilliant here and there are loads of lovely walking tracks all over the property. We phoned Kerry to see if there are any Toyota garages in Quelimane or Nampula that we can get the car checked out. We had a lovely dinner and then went to bed.
16 June Kerry phoned to say that there is a Toyota garage in Quelimane so we will call in there before carrying on north to Mocuba this morning. We arrived at Quelimane around lunch time which means that a lot of places are shut until 1.30pm. We were trying to ask the security guard at Toyota what time they would open and if they had mechanics there when he called over another guy who was walking past who could speak English to talk to us. We told this fellow that we had what we thought was an electrical problem with the car and he said that we had a friend who may be able to help us. He phoned and then jumped into the car and showed us how to get to the place. It turned out this Indian chap who was from Maputo had been up to Pemba to fix a couple of trucks and he had the computer that you hook up to the car to diagnose what is wrong. What luck, he said it would cost 5000 meticas which was fine especially to know if there were any problems and what they were. After an hour he arrived back from picking up the computer from his hotel room and hooked up the car. First off we needed to change the front brake pads, but it also kept saying throttle motor fault which sounded a lot more difficult. They proceeded to change the brake pads which were down to nothing, meanwhile they also changed the fuel filter as they say the fuel out here is terrible, very dirty. They also took off the throttle motor and gave it a good clean up and that is when we found a wire which was broken, this was duly repaired and when the computer hooked up again – no faults were found! Talk about luck and being in the right town at the right time. Since then the car has been running beautifully which is always good news. It was around 3.45pm when we left Quelimane for Mocuba and fortunately the road was pretty good all the way. We got to our guest house and after some discussion were told they were fully booked even thought we had a confirmation and knew that the booking was made on 2 May. I phoned Kerry and he was annoyed to say the least! He phoned us back and told us that he had managed to get hold of the manager who was on his way to see us. After a while Jotamo arrived and sorted out a room for us; it seems that they had sold our room so unfortunately we had to take what was available and to be perfectly honest it was pretty grotty! Mocuba is not really a place that you want to stay, but can be a useful stopover on your way north. Nevermind when you don’t have a choice you accept it and are pleased that it is for only one night. We had dinner and went to bed, but didn’t sleep so well.
17 June We woke up very early and went for breakfast which was a cup of coffee and a bread roll – very tasty! We were driving through to Nampula today, so I took the rolls for lunch. It has to be said that the bread throughout Mozambique is fantastic! I started out driving this morning and it took around 2.5 hours to do 56kms! I mentioned to Martin that it was probably one of the worse roads I had ever travelled on throughout Africa which is quite something I can tell you. There were a couple of stretches that were good tar road, but the majority was crap, pardon my French. We arrived at Bamboo Hotel around 2am and were very pleased to see that it was a 500% improvement from the Mocuba place. We had lovely hot showers and then Martin had a siesta while I read my book. There was a little vervet monkey in a cage so I got some dried fruit from the car and feed him. This place was huge and seemed to be run by Portuguese so pretty well organized. We had a lovely dinner and a brilliant night’s sleep.
18-22 June Today we are travelling to Libe Lula which means ‘dragonfly’ and is at Nacala Bay and a place that Kerry had found whilst on his dhow trip. The things you see whilst travelling along the roads in Africa never fail to surprise me, today I saw a guy who was dressed in an all in one pajama suit including the button down patch on the bum – very funny! What gets sent over here as aid and finds its way into the markets to be sold is so inappropriate at times. We were meant to be camping for 4 nights, but when we arrived it was a pretty tight squeeze to get into the camping area and our trailer is rather huge. Martin made the decision we would upgrade to the stone cottage instead. What a stunning setting overlooking the bay; Ian & PJ are great and made us feel very welcome. It was lovely to have more that a night before moving off. It gets really tiring when you are moving on every day. We have really been doing nothing except reading and relaxing whilst we have been here. We had intended to go diving, but it has been quite breezy since we arrived and we also have turned into wimps – it is too cold! I have been down to the beach twice which involves 100 steps down, Martin has been down once. Tomorrow we will be moving on again to Ilha da Mozambique.
Well at last I am fully up to date and will try my best to get some photos for you all as well. Love & kisses to all xxx
Monday 21 June 2010
Sunday 20 June 2010
10-13 June We meet Mike McNamara on the road into Gorongoza; he was on his way home to Zimbabwe. Mike is an old friend from Victoria Falls and is now the Tourism Development Consultant for Gorongoza. As our visas had not been extended enough for us to complete our trip around Mozambique we were going to have to go into Zimbabwe for a night after we left Gorongoza to be able to get a new 30 day visa and we would stay with Mike, Mignon, Tanya & Layla for the night in Mutare. I was really looking forward to it as I hadn’t seen them since just after they got married and had never met their 2 girls. We got to the gate and got our permit to enter, it is 18kms from the gate to Chitengo Camp and should take around 30 minutes as you are only allowed to go 40kms at the most, but we were doing it very slowly so we could see any animals and birds on the way in. We saw a big herd of sable probably about 30 odd which was lovely. Also quite a few wart hogs that didn’t do the usual thing and put their tail up and run away, they actually in some cases walked towards the car – lovely! Once we reached Chitengo we had to pay park fees and then met Rob who owns Explore Gorongoza with his wife Jos and where we would be staying for the next 4 nights. Kerry stayed at Chitengo the first night and would join us the next day.
Gorongoza is an absolute gem of a park and a huge surprise to me. I have always wanted to check it out, but didn’t realize how much wildlife was around and the birding is fantastic. It is also more about walking than game drives which makes a lovely change from sitting in a vehicle the whole time. We had 3 other people staying with us that first night and it was their first safari experience. We went for a game drive the first afternoon as it was getting a little late to be doing a walk. The elephants here are very nervous and some even still have bullets in them from the war days, which in reality only happened at the most 15 years ago so you have to be extremely cautious around them. Well of course we came across a herd of 40-50 of them and Rob stayed well away to see as he put it ‘who was around’. They were mostly grazing and seemed relaxed, but to our right a small group seemed to be a little on the nervous side. Elephants have long memories and the war was fresh in their minds. In this case one of the tuskless females was very agitated and started running towards us, Rob banged on the side of the car, but she kept coming so he started up and revved the car, but you guessed it she kept coming. We had to do a U-turn through the long grass and head for the track again; (all I could think of was – God don’t let there be a dead tree, rock or hole anywhere). She was screaming at us and keep coming and gaining on us, it almost made me cry as I have never seen an ellie react in this way before and made you realize how traumatized she must have been, it was pretty scary and she had it in her mind that she was going to get us. After we got back on the track she followed at speed for quite away before giving up. Not a very nice experience for first time safari goers it has to be said, but imagine the strife, killing and poaching that had been going on and is still taking place at times – what terrible memories these herds must have. Rob was saying that you don’t very often see them during the day as they stick to the thick forests and came out onto the flood plains at night. Rob had to report the incident as some elephants it seemed there was no hope for – they continually charged vehicles every time and probably unfortunately would have to be put down. Apparently the head warden/vet knew this particular elephant and it was not her first offense. It is such a shame that we humans had caused this grief and that in turn she would probably have to be euthanized because of us!
The rest of the game drive went without a hitch and the birding is just awesome, what we noticed were the huge numbers of waterbuck and wart hog; we have never seen so many all in one place before. The flood plains were spectacular with a lot of aquatic birds and animals. This park closes every year for about 4 months during the rainy season due to not being able to use the roads and a lot of the land being under water. We had a lovely dinner with good company and went to sleep with the sound of lions roaring in the distance. The next morning we were up at around 6.30am; due to the mist in the mornings it is best to start the walks later at about 7am. We walked out from camp and were following the river to see if we could spot any crocodiles or hippos, but also as you know looking at all the little things plants, insects and birds which is what the walks are all about. We had a lovely 3 hours walking and got back to camp to have a fantastic brunch! I then had a wonderful hot shower in the outdoor shower overlooking the river – beautiful.
Kerry joined us around 11.30am and we relaxed around camp, me flitting around the trees and bushes trying to take photos of all the birds. The other three people had gone back to Chitengo so there was just the 3 of us in camp – fabulous! Jos joined us for the afternoon/evening game drive which centered on the flood plains, river and little ponds/lakes. The aquatic birdlife is stunning and we watched for ages with gin and tonic in hand hundreds of birds returning to their roosting sites up stream. Another great feature here in Gorongoza is the night drives you can see civet, genet, porcupine and owls quite regularly. The next day we had another morning walk out towards the flood plains and then back through the forest along the river, then a drive in the afternoon once again. This park is huge so Rob was trying to show us as much as possible in the short time we had. Without trying very hard I notched up around 120 birds in my 4 night stay. That night dinner had been set up behind the camp so that we were under the huge African sky, but we were interrupted just before dinner by the guard shouting from the car park ‘lions’. Rob left us at the fire to check it out and the guard was in the game vehicle as the lions had walked right past him. Rob called us and we jumped in the car to see if we could follow them; it was 2 males and they were following the road with us duly following them. It was lovely to see them not at all bothered by us and just going about their nightly business. They turned off to go out to the flood plains and we returned to camp to a wonderful dinner. Apparently they had walked right in front of Kerry’s tent and along the track that goes to the car park and then out of camp and down the road.
The following day we went for a game drive to try and see some more of the far reaches of the park and got back for brunch and once again relax until the afternoon. We then drove out to one of the places where they set up a fly camp which has loads of baobab trees around and then had a small walk in the area before having sundowners and then returning to camp. Gorongoza is a wonderful park and well worth a visit, one day we saw the vehicle from Chitengo out on a game drive, but where else can you drive around in a park and see no sign of civilization? We would love to go back again sometime and see more of the park and do more walks.
14 June We were up at 4.30am this morning as Kerry was flying out from Chimoio at 9.10am and it would take around 2 to 2.5 hours to get there. Jos had a breakfast packed for us and they drove us back through to Chitengo. The guy wasn’t on the gate as requested the night before, so we started to off load our luggage through a hole in the fence while Rob went to fetch him. We got going and finally left at 6am. It took 30 minutes through the park to the main gate and then we were on the way to Chimoio. We managed to arrive at the airport at 8.15am and Kerry got checked in all okay. I spoke to Mike to let him know that we were on the way to see them in Mutare. It took about an hour or so to the border. We cleared the Mozambique side and got to Zimbabwe. There was a little ‘hitler’ woman there and I had to ring Mike for his physical address as it was needed before we could enter. Mike met us as we were leaving the border and we followed him to his place in Mutare. It was great to catch up with him and Mignon and to meet his 2 most beautiful girls. We had a lovely lunch and then Mike took us up to the botanical gardens in the Vumba Mountains. We spent about 2 hours or so walking around the gardens; we tried to walk around the tracks in the rain forest, but they are a little over grown and nonexistent in places. In its heyday it used to be an amazing place where you could walk through the rain forest and come out onto the most beautiful English gardens. It was nice to see that there was a lot of work being done to restore things. You can still see Samango monkeys wandering round and the birds are out of this world with a few endemic ones in the area. We had a lovely night catching up and thank Mike & Mignon so much.
I hope you are all fit and well as we are. It is almost impossible to get onto the net here so I am slowly getting things up dated. I will try and get some photos on as well. Love and hugs to all xx
Gorongoza is an absolute gem of a park and a huge surprise to me. I have always wanted to check it out, but didn’t realize how much wildlife was around and the birding is fantastic. It is also more about walking than game drives which makes a lovely change from sitting in a vehicle the whole time. We had 3 other people staying with us that first night and it was their first safari experience. We went for a game drive the first afternoon as it was getting a little late to be doing a walk. The elephants here are very nervous and some even still have bullets in them from the war days, which in reality only happened at the most 15 years ago so you have to be extremely cautious around them. Well of course we came across a herd of 40-50 of them and Rob stayed well away to see as he put it ‘who was around’. They were mostly grazing and seemed relaxed, but to our right a small group seemed to be a little on the nervous side. Elephants have long memories and the war was fresh in their minds. In this case one of the tuskless females was very agitated and started running towards us, Rob banged on the side of the car, but she kept coming so he started up and revved the car, but you guessed it she kept coming. We had to do a U-turn through the long grass and head for the track again; (all I could think of was – God don’t let there be a dead tree, rock or hole anywhere). She was screaming at us and keep coming and gaining on us, it almost made me cry as I have never seen an ellie react in this way before and made you realize how traumatized she must have been, it was pretty scary and she had it in her mind that she was going to get us. After we got back on the track she followed at speed for quite away before giving up. Not a very nice experience for first time safari goers it has to be said, but imagine the strife, killing and poaching that had been going on and is still taking place at times – what terrible memories these herds must have. Rob was saying that you don’t very often see them during the day as they stick to the thick forests and came out onto the flood plains at night. Rob had to report the incident as some elephants it seemed there was no hope for – they continually charged vehicles every time and probably unfortunately would have to be put down. Apparently the head warden/vet knew this particular elephant and it was not her first offense. It is such a shame that we humans had caused this grief and that in turn she would probably have to be euthanized because of us!
The rest of the game drive went without a hitch and the birding is just awesome, what we noticed were the huge numbers of waterbuck and wart hog; we have never seen so many all in one place before. The flood plains were spectacular with a lot of aquatic birds and animals. This park closes every year for about 4 months during the rainy season due to not being able to use the roads and a lot of the land being under water. We had a lovely dinner with good company and went to sleep with the sound of lions roaring in the distance. The next morning we were up at around 6.30am; due to the mist in the mornings it is best to start the walks later at about 7am. We walked out from camp and were following the river to see if we could spot any crocodiles or hippos, but also as you know looking at all the little things plants, insects and birds which is what the walks are all about. We had a lovely 3 hours walking and got back to camp to have a fantastic brunch! I then had a wonderful hot shower in the outdoor shower overlooking the river – beautiful.
Kerry joined us around 11.30am and we relaxed around camp, me flitting around the trees and bushes trying to take photos of all the birds. The other three people had gone back to Chitengo so there was just the 3 of us in camp – fabulous! Jos joined us for the afternoon/evening game drive which centered on the flood plains, river and little ponds/lakes. The aquatic birdlife is stunning and we watched for ages with gin and tonic in hand hundreds of birds returning to their roosting sites up stream. Another great feature here in Gorongoza is the night drives you can see civet, genet, porcupine and owls quite regularly. The next day we had another morning walk out towards the flood plains and then back through the forest along the river, then a drive in the afternoon once again. This park is huge so Rob was trying to show us as much as possible in the short time we had. Without trying very hard I notched up around 120 birds in my 4 night stay. That night dinner had been set up behind the camp so that we were under the huge African sky, but we were interrupted just before dinner by the guard shouting from the car park ‘lions’. Rob left us at the fire to check it out and the guard was in the game vehicle as the lions had walked right past him. Rob called us and we jumped in the car to see if we could follow them; it was 2 males and they were following the road with us duly following them. It was lovely to see them not at all bothered by us and just going about their nightly business. They turned off to go out to the flood plains and we returned to camp to a wonderful dinner. Apparently they had walked right in front of Kerry’s tent and along the track that goes to the car park and then out of camp and down the road.
The following day we went for a game drive to try and see some more of the far reaches of the park and got back for brunch and once again relax until the afternoon. We then drove out to one of the places where they set up a fly camp which has loads of baobab trees around and then had a small walk in the area before having sundowners and then returning to camp. Gorongoza is a wonderful park and well worth a visit, one day we saw the vehicle from Chitengo out on a game drive, but where else can you drive around in a park and see no sign of civilization? We would love to go back again sometime and see more of the park and do more walks.
14 June We were up at 4.30am this morning as Kerry was flying out from Chimoio at 9.10am and it would take around 2 to 2.5 hours to get there. Jos had a breakfast packed for us and they drove us back through to Chitengo. The guy wasn’t on the gate as requested the night before, so we started to off load our luggage through a hole in the fence while Rob went to fetch him. We got going and finally left at 6am. It took 30 minutes through the park to the main gate and then we were on the way to Chimoio. We managed to arrive at the airport at 8.15am and Kerry got checked in all okay. I spoke to Mike to let him know that we were on the way to see them in Mutare. It took about an hour or so to the border. We cleared the Mozambique side and got to Zimbabwe. There was a little ‘hitler’ woman there and I had to ring Mike for his physical address as it was needed before we could enter. Mike met us as we were leaving the border and we followed him to his place in Mutare. It was great to catch up with him and Mignon and to meet his 2 most beautiful girls. We had a lovely lunch and then Mike took us up to the botanical gardens in the Vumba Mountains. We spent about 2 hours or so walking around the gardens; we tried to walk around the tracks in the rain forest, but they are a little over grown and nonexistent in places. In its heyday it used to be an amazing place where you could walk through the rain forest and come out onto the most beautiful English gardens. It was nice to see that there was a lot of work being done to restore things. You can still see Samango monkeys wandering round and the birds are out of this world with a few endemic ones in the area. We had a lovely night catching up and thank Mike & Mignon so much.
I hope you are all fit and well as we are. It is almost impossible to get onto the net here so I am slowly getting things up dated. I will try and get some photos on as well. Love and hugs to all xx
Saturday 19 June 2010
27 May Another beautiful day. Flavia N you asked about Baia Sonambula – well it was fabulous. Lovely friendly staff, good breakfasts, awesome views from the seaview rooms and extremely comfortable beds – I would definitely stay there if I was you – ENJOY! Well today our dive was at a reef called Crocodile Rock, the marine life here in Mozambique is quite extraordinary and all the dives so far have been stunning. Overall our stay in Tofo was magical and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It is a very laid back and relaxed place with plenty of things to do and see. We had dinner at Casa Barry as they seem to have the most comfortable dining chairs in town.
28 May Today we are off to Pomene Lodge which I am really looking forward to. We stopped about 3kms out of Tofo at the fuel station and there is a deli there called Chillies. They have the best coffee and cakes around; we also got some lovely filled rolls for lunch. It is run by Jenny & Gill and they do a great job. The road was up and down today, we had about 50kms or so of driving along beside the road until we got to the junction for Pomene. It was then a good dirt road for about 25kms to the gate of the reserve where we had to pay entrance fees. Then we hit the sand road for about 30kms or more, but good sand road the only thing is that it seems to mostly be a single track so you just hope that you don’t meet anything coming the other way! We arrived at the lodge and were welcomed by Oadie (the dog) English Setter, Neville & Wendy and Kirsty & Steve. We were staying in one of the water chalets, so asked if we could park in the campsite so that we could plug into the power for the freezer. Martin went to turn the car around to head back down to the campsite and duly got stuck! After a lot of tooing and froing we eventually got out and managed to park back in the campsite. This place uses a generator which runs twice a day for several hours which is plenty to keep the fridge/freezer going well.
29 – 31 May We went out the next day to Zambia Reef for a dive which was great fun. There seems to be even more marine life up in this region. When we first dropped down the first thing we saw was a manta ray which was so cool, there was also a reef shark, but I didn’t see it. We also went for a night dive in the estuary which was really great we saw seahorses which was just the best. This was the first night dive that I have done and has quite an eerie feel to it; we also saw a red baby octopus, baby zebra moray, baby firefish and loads of other things. All the things that you don’t usually get to see out on the reefs. Another excursion we did was a quad bike ride which was great fun to the old hotel, village and Pomene View Resort. The old hotel is reputed to be one of the most luxurious in its heyday, but like a lot of other places has fallen derelict after the war, it seems such a huge waste as it is a stunning location and the rooms and communal areas looked fantastic, but have been left to just rot and fall apart. We had a great time at Pomene, but tomorrow it is time once again to move north.
1 June We are on our way to Vilanculos today where we will be staying at Casa Rex for the first night. Once again the roads were a little up and down; once we rejoined the main road we unfortunately got stuck behind a truck doing 20kms an hour and as it was a one lane track at the side of the road there were no opportunities to pass for about 30kms or so – quite a long journey! Once you get to the good tarmac again the road was brilliant most of the way to Vilanculos which was appreciated. We arrived at beautiful Casa Rex and were welcomed by Mel & Suzannah. It is amazing how much the gardens have grown here; we stayed here 3 years ago and they had just planted a lot of new plants which have become trees now! We had a very late lunch when we arrived and then Dave from Sailaway came to see us and explain all about the dhow safari we would be doing tomorrow. He also told us about the boat trip that they had done which started in Fernao Veloso to pick up their new dhows; this was the same trip that Kerry did with him – quite an adventure and took much longer than first intended. We had a lovely dinner at Casa Rex and then packed our bags for our 2 day dhow safari before getting a good night’s rest.
2-4 June We arrived down at Sailaway at 8.30am for our dhow safari and we found that another Dutch couple would be doing the safari with us which is great; when you are together 24/7 you can run out of conversation as you are doing all the same things together. We set off for the island of Magaruque where we were to go snorkeling, walking around the island and having lunch. The dhows have a big box type thing at the back full of sand which they use as a fire place to cook the meals on, it works amazingly well and Alfredo was a fantastic chef! We decided that it was a little cold to go snorkeling so started on our journey back across to the mainland to Chigamane Camp which is north of Vilanculos on the mainland where we would be sleeping for the next 2 nights. We had a fabulous dinner and sat around the fire having drinks and talking until about 9pm (oh so late) before heading off to our tents for the night. We were up around 7am for breakfast and then we were due to sail across to the southern tip of Bazaruto Island; basically between Bazaruto and Benguerra Island’s to Two Mile Reef for snorkeling. Well what a bumpy trip out to the reef, but we were rewarded with great snorkeling. It is quite crazy to be snorkeling along behind a reef whilst there are huge big breakers (waves) the other side. We then pulled up closer to the island for lunch which once again was brilliant all once again made on board over the fire. We then sailed back to Chigamane Camp for the night. Dumas (the first mate) had a couple of handlines so I was trawling one of these the whole time on the ocean and managed to catch 2 lizard fish – it must be said that they are not good eating far too many bones! The last6 morning we got up and I had forgotten to take my pills for my hernia with me so was not feeling very good at all. We sailed out to Benguerra Island for some more snorkeling and to walk around one of the sandbanks that are exposed at low tide. We had lunch on the boat and then had to motor back to Vilanculos as the wind was not so good. We had a fabulous trip and great fun. Was also lovely to get back to Casa Rex and have a lovely shower and the beautiful gardens and views – just stunning.
I had a fabulous massage before getting our transfer across to Dugong.
5-9 June Today we are off to Dugong Lodge, although it is on the mainland it is easier to get to by boat which only takes around 45mins as opposed to driving which would take about 6 hours or so. There is about 80kms of bad sand road to get there. We were picked up at about 2pm by the boat and jetted off across to the lodge. Well what a stunning setting and oh so quiet. We were looked after beautifully by all the staff and in particular Wayne & Gail. We went fishing three days for a few hours and caught (well should I say I caught); a 7kg Bonito on the second day and Martin caught a 1kg bonito as well. The first day we got nothing and the third day I got another bonito only about 1kg again, but great fun! We also we for a drive up to ‘Worlds View’ in a golf cart with Wayne through the sanctuary – it is Vilanculos Coastal Sanctuary and has had some animals introduced over the last few years. We only managed to see a grey & red duiker, plus some great birdlife and the views were stunning. I went for a walk one day and Martin took a hobie cat out for an hour or so. We also did some snorkeling at the end of the jetty which is just teaming with reef fish as well as snapper, mullet and other varieties – great fun. The dolphins came around the jetty a few times over the 4 days which was awesome as well. One of the days out fishing we took a picnic lunch with us and stopped on Bangeu Island which was cool fun. On our last night we took a sunset dhow trip which was interesting. We stopped at a fishing village and had a bit of a walk around and then set off back to the lodge – the wind was up a bit and we all got a free shower on the way back! All in all we had a lovely relaxing time and great fun.
9 June Today we are making our way back to Vilanculos to Casa Rex for the night. Kerry will meet us and join us for the trip into Gorongoza National Park. We had a lovely crossing back and had a relaxing afternoon. Martin had his hair cut today as it was getting rather woolly like a sheep! Kerry and Dave met us and had drinks; Kerry said it would be best to leave at 5.30am the next morning so we arranged a packed breakfast and lunch to go with us. We had a great dinner and then went off to bed excited about the next day.
10 June Martin set out clock slightly wrong and it went off at 4.30am, so there will be no problem picking Kerry up at Dave’s place at 5.30am. In fact we got there 10 minutes early and Kerry was still packing his bag – very impressed to see us not only on time, but even a bit on the early side! We then went back to Casa Rex and hitched up the trailer and were away from Vilanculos at 5.30am. Martin started driving and Kerry promptly fell asleep in the passenger seat, whilst I as usual didn’t want to miss anything was taking in the countryside from the most comfortable back seat. We stopped at 7.30am for breakfast and a wee break. It was lovely having a coffee and bacon roll although the mist was still hanging around quite thickly. Kerry took over the driving and the roads were mostly good, we stopped off for coffee and then I took over the driving then. It was great to get off the pot holed tar road and onto the good dirt road into the park.
Oh my goodness please let this go through it has been very difficult to get onto the internet throughout here. Love and hugs to all xxx
28 May Today we are off to Pomene Lodge which I am really looking forward to. We stopped about 3kms out of Tofo at the fuel station and there is a deli there called Chillies. They have the best coffee and cakes around; we also got some lovely filled rolls for lunch. It is run by Jenny & Gill and they do a great job. The road was up and down today, we had about 50kms or so of driving along beside the road until we got to the junction for Pomene. It was then a good dirt road for about 25kms to the gate of the reserve where we had to pay entrance fees. Then we hit the sand road for about 30kms or more, but good sand road the only thing is that it seems to mostly be a single track so you just hope that you don’t meet anything coming the other way! We arrived at the lodge and were welcomed by Oadie (the dog) English Setter, Neville & Wendy and Kirsty & Steve. We were staying in one of the water chalets, so asked if we could park in the campsite so that we could plug into the power for the freezer. Martin went to turn the car around to head back down to the campsite and duly got stuck! After a lot of tooing and froing we eventually got out and managed to park back in the campsite. This place uses a generator which runs twice a day for several hours which is plenty to keep the fridge/freezer going well.
29 – 31 May We went out the next day to Zambia Reef for a dive which was great fun. There seems to be even more marine life up in this region. When we first dropped down the first thing we saw was a manta ray which was so cool, there was also a reef shark, but I didn’t see it. We also went for a night dive in the estuary which was really great we saw seahorses which was just the best. This was the first night dive that I have done and has quite an eerie feel to it; we also saw a red baby octopus, baby zebra moray, baby firefish and loads of other things. All the things that you don’t usually get to see out on the reefs. Another excursion we did was a quad bike ride which was great fun to the old hotel, village and Pomene View Resort. The old hotel is reputed to be one of the most luxurious in its heyday, but like a lot of other places has fallen derelict after the war, it seems such a huge waste as it is a stunning location and the rooms and communal areas looked fantastic, but have been left to just rot and fall apart. We had a great time at Pomene, but tomorrow it is time once again to move north.
1 June We are on our way to Vilanculos today where we will be staying at Casa Rex for the first night. Once again the roads were a little up and down; once we rejoined the main road we unfortunately got stuck behind a truck doing 20kms an hour and as it was a one lane track at the side of the road there were no opportunities to pass for about 30kms or so – quite a long journey! Once you get to the good tarmac again the road was brilliant most of the way to Vilanculos which was appreciated. We arrived at beautiful Casa Rex and were welcomed by Mel & Suzannah. It is amazing how much the gardens have grown here; we stayed here 3 years ago and they had just planted a lot of new plants which have become trees now! We had a very late lunch when we arrived and then Dave from Sailaway came to see us and explain all about the dhow safari we would be doing tomorrow. He also told us about the boat trip that they had done which started in Fernao Veloso to pick up their new dhows; this was the same trip that Kerry did with him – quite an adventure and took much longer than first intended. We had a lovely dinner at Casa Rex and then packed our bags for our 2 day dhow safari before getting a good night’s rest.
2-4 June We arrived down at Sailaway at 8.30am for our dhow safari and we found that another Dutch couple would be doing the safari with us which is great; when you are together 24/7 you can run out of conversation as you are doing all the same things together. We set off for the island of Magaruque where we were to go snorkeling, walking around the island and having lunch. The dhows have a big box type thing at the back full of sand which they use as a fire place to cook the meals on, it works amazingly well and Alfredo was a fantastic chef! We decided that it was a little cold to go snorkeling so started on our journey back across to the mainland to Chigamane Camp which is north of Vilanculos on the mainland where we would be sleeping for the next 2 nights. We had a fabulous dinner and sat around the fire having drinks and talking until about 9pm (oh so late) before heading off to our tents for the night. We were up around 7am for breakfast and then we were due to sail across to the southern tip of Bazaruto Island; basically between Bazaruto and Benguerra Island’s to Two Mile Reef for snorkeling. Well what a bumpy trip out to the reef, but we were rewarded with great snorkeling. It is quite crazy to be snorkeling along behind a reef whilst there are huge big breakers (waves) the other side. We then pulled up closer to the island for lunch which once again was brilliant all once again made on board over the fire. We then sailed back to Chigamane Camp for the night. Dumas (the first mate) had a couple of handlines so I was trawling one of these the whole time on the ocean and managed to catch 2 lizard fish – it must be said that they are not good eating far too many bones! The last6 morning we got up and I had forgotten to take my pills for my hernia with me so was not feeling very good at all. We sailed out to Benguerra Island for some more snorkeling and to walk around one of the sandbanks that are exposed at low tide. We had lunch on the boat and then had to motor back to Vilanculos as the wind was not so good. We had a fabulous trip and great fun. Was also lovely to get back to Casa Rex and have a lovely shower and the beautiful gardens and views – just stunning.
I had a fabulous massage before getting our transfer across to Dugong.
5-9 June Today we are off to Dugong Lodge, although it is on the mainland it is easier to get to by boat which only takes around 45mins as opposed to driving which would take about 6 hours or so. There is about 80kms of bad sand road to get there. We were picked up at about 2pm by the boat and jetted off across to the lodge. Well what a stunning setting and oh so quiet. We were looked after beautifully by all the staff and in particular Wayne & Gail. We went fishing three days for a few hours and caught (well should I say I caught); a 7kg Bonito on the second day and Martin caught a 1kg bonito as well. The first day we got nothing and the third day I got another bonito only about 1kg again, but great fun! We also we for a drive up to ‘Worlds View’ in a golf cart with Wayne through the sanctuary – it is Vilanculos Coastal Sanctuary and has had some animals introduced over the last few years. We only managed to see a grey & red duiker, plus some great birdlife and the views were stunning. I went for a walk one day and Martin took a hobie cat out for an hour or so. We also did some snorkeling at the end of the jetty which is just teaming with reef fish as well as snapper, mullet and other varieties – great fun. The dolphins came around the jetty a few times over the 4 days which was awesome as well. One of the days out fishing we took a picnic lunch with us and stopped on Bangeu Island which was cool fun. On our last night we took a sunset dhow trip which was interesting. We stopped at a fishing village and had a bit of a walk around and then set off back to the lodge – the wind was up a bit and we all got a free shower on the way back! All in all we had a lovely relaxing time and great fun.
9 June Today we are making our way back to Vilanculos to Casa Rex for the night. Kerry will meet us and join us for the trip into Gorongoza National Park. We had a lovely crossing back and had a relaxing afternoon. Martin had his hair cut today as it was getting rather woolly like a sheep! Kerry and Dave met us and had drinks; Kerry said it would be best to leave at 5.30am the next morning so we arranged a packed breakfast and lunch to go with us. We had a great dinner and then went off to bed excited about the next day.
10 June Martin set out clock slightly wrong and it went off at 4.30am, so there will be no problem picking Kerry up at Dave’s place at 5.30am. In fact we got there 10 minutes early and Kerry was still packing his bag – very impressed to see us not only on time, but even a bit on the early side! We then went back to Casa Rex and hitched up the trailer and were away from Vilanculos at 5.30am. Martin started driving and Kerry promptly fell asleep in the passenger seat, whilst I as usual didn’t want to miss anything was taking in the countryside from the most comfortable back seat. We stopped at 7.30am for breakfast and a wee break. It was lovely having a coffee and bacon roll although the mist was still hanging around quite thickly. Kerry took over the driving and the roads were mostly good, we stopped off for coffee and then I took over the driving then. It was great to get off the pot holed tar road and onto the good dirt road into the park.
Oh my goodness please let this go through it has been very difficult to get onto the internet throughout here. Love and hugs to all xxx
Thursday 27 May 2010
25 May Woke up to another beautiful day and today we are going diving. We sorted out all of our gear; wetsuits, fins, masks and cameras then headed down to the dive shop – Diversity to see how they went this morning. We have decided to do the 11am dive slots as it is a much more civilized time as well as being the shallow dives opposed to the deep dives at 7.30am. We were told that they had a good dive and it wasn’t as bumpy going out today which is great news. We went to the site called Salon which was only 10 minutes off shore and was alive with life. We saw thousands of fish and it was a fabulous dive. Martin took the camera and has realized that his eye sight has deteriorated so badly that he couldn’t really see very well. We will have to get him a prescription mask once we get home. As we had only 12 litre tanks we only had a 30 minute dive. We will order the 15 litre tank for him tomorrow. We got back and had some lunch and then relaxed in the afternoon.
26 May Once again another beautiful day. We will go diving again today at 11am. The site was called Arena this time and took 20 minutes to get there. As it is around the corner and quite close to shore there is surge from the waves, but still a fantastic dive. Lots of crocodile fish, lion fish and the list goes on and on! Martin got a 15 litre tank today and we both had our weight correct so a more comfortable div e. I have written down our tank sizes and weights so that we remember for the next time. I had a 45 minute dive and Martin stayed down for about an hour this time. They had over filled his tank so he had plenty of air. We got back and had lunch, relaxed, read books and then went to Casa Barry to a talk on Manta Rays from Dr Andrea Marshall who runs a project here in Tofu. Very interesting and hopefully she will manage to get some of the areas protected so that these incredible animals will survive in this region. We then had dinner and made our way back to our lovely comfy bed!
I will try again to upload some photos, but will not hold my breath as it seems to be impossible to get any on! Hope all is well with you all, love and hugs xxx
26 May Once again another beautiful day. We will go diving again today at 11am. The site was called Arena this time and took 20 minutes to get there. As it is around the corner and quite close to shore there is surge from the waves, but still a fantastic dive. Lots of crocodile fish, lion fish and the list goes on and on! Martin got a 15 litre tank today and we both had our weight correct so a more comfortable div e. I have written down our tank sizes and weights so that we remember for the next time. I had a 45 minute dive and Martin stayed down for about an hour this time. They had over filled his tank so he had plenty of air. We got back and had lunch, relaxed, read books and then went to Casa Barry to a talk on Manta Rays from Dr Andrea Marshall who runs a project here in Tofu. Very interesting and hopefully she will manage to get some of the areas protected so that these incredible animals will survive in this region. We then had dinner and made our way back to our lovely comfy bed!
I will try again to upload some photos, but will not hold my breath as it seems to be impossible to get any on! Hope all is well with you all, love and hugs xxx
Monday 24 May 2010
The roads out here so far have been shocking, especially from Xai Xai north which is the main road (highway) north. It was sand or should I say mud for around 60-80 kms and you really have to watch out for the buses and trucks as they don't move for anyone! Quite an experience and scary at times!
We had dinner at Casa de Comer which was lovely, there is an elderly French lady staying at Baia Sonambula as well so she joined us for dinner as she didn’t want to walk around after dark on her own.
24 May We woke up to a lovely morning, it seems as the rain may have finally departed and there are not so many white caps out on the water today. We had breakfast overlooking the ocean which is always so special. We then decided to check out the car and trailer since our very wet trip up! I have spent most of the morning drying out money (gives laundering money a whole new meaning)! The safe that we keep it all in had about 4 inches of water in it so I could literally wring out the bundles of money before towel drying it all. We also found that the bottom of the trailer had accumulated a bit of water as well, so had to sponge it all out. I know it is hard to imagine, but the rain was seriously so hard and heavy that I am surprised that the car and trailer are not completely flooded. We have just had lunch and now Martin has gone to check that the battery compartment in the trailer is not flooded as well. We have once again ordered our dinner in advance and are looking forward to this evening’s meal. The quality of seafood and fish is absolutely fabulous out here and Martin is in his element, while I am definitely taking advantage of all the fish! We are hoping to organize a mangrove walk at some stage which sounds like good fun, as well as some diving and fishing. For the most part we are relaxing and enjoying Tofo which is a fabulous relaxed, friendly little town.
Okay I will once again try and upload some photos for you all. Take care love and hugs to all xxx
We had dinner at Casa de Comer which was lovely, there is an elderly French lady staying at Baia Sonambula as well so she joined us for dinner as she didn’t want to walk around after dark on her own.
24 May We woke up to a lovely morning, it seems as the rain may have finally departed and there are not so many white caps out on the water today. We had breakfast overlooking the ocean which is always so special. We then decided to check out the car and trailer since our very wet trip up! I have spent most of the morning drying out money (gives laundering money a whole new meaning)! The safe that we keep it all in had about 4 inches of water in it so I could literally wring out the bundles of money before towel drying it all. We also found that the bottom of the trailer had accumulated a bit of water as well, so had to sponge it all out. I know it is hard to imagine, but the rain was seriously so hard and heavy that I am surprised that the car and trailer are not completely flooded. We have just had lunch and now Martin has gone to check that the battery compartment in the trailer is not flooded as well. We have once again ordered our dinner in advance and are looking forward to this evening’s meal. The quality of seafood and fish is absolutely fabulous out here and Martin is in his element, while I am definitely taking advantage of all the fish! We are hoping to organize a mangrove walk at some stage which sounds like good fun, as well as some diving and fishing. For the most part we are relaxing and enjoying Tofo which is a fabulous relaxed, friendly little town.
Okay I will once again try and upload some photos for you all. Take care love and hugs to all xxx
Sunday 23 May 2010
11 May Well we had a lovely relaxing morning, I managed to get some washing done and Martin had a wee nap! We went off for a game drive around 3pm and had a lovely time. The scenery once again up here is different again and there seems to be a lot of elephants around which is really cool.
12 May Up quite early this morning as we are making our way to the Giriyono border into Mozambique. Had a lovely drive through to the border and then crossed into Mozambique. They would only issue one month visas here so will have to try and get an extension once we get to Maputo. Driving through Limpopo National Park there is lots of evidence of elephants although we didn’t actually see any. We saw impala, steenbok and zebra. The road goes from good to slightly bad and we decided to stay at Campismo Aguia Pesqueria (Fish Eagle Camp) which was beautiful – stunning views over the lake which is made up from Massingir Dam. The birdlife around here is amazing and the sunset beautiful.
13-15 May We drove through to Xai Xai (pronounced Shy Shy) where we will stay until Kerry arrives back from his boat adventure. Kerry Butler is a good friend also from NZ who has been living and working here in Maputo for around 15-20 years I think. He has a company called Mozaic Travel which obviously deals with travel throughout mostly Mozambique, but also SA. We arrived at Xai Xai beach and tried to find a nice place to camp, but it seems that most of the places are now very run down so we opted for the Xai Xai Caravan and Camp which seemed to be the easiest to access. A young boy called Jack helped us choose a site (with power, although the power stopped that evening) and set up camp. He then went home to bring his curios for us to see, so we bought a fridge magnet and ashtray. There seemed to be an abundance of stray starving dogs around who all wanted to protect us! There were two in particular whom I decided to feed whilst there – very skinny and sad and I hate to see animals suffer. We ended up staying 3 nights here in Xai Xai and on our last night we had heard about a good place to eat from a missionary called Mike. It was at a SA run place further along the beach road called Chongoene Holiday Resort and the food was great. We also found a lovely bakery in Xai Xai town and a good market; there are also plenty of ATM’s and good fuel stations. We rang Kerry on Saturday evening and he arrived back home in Maputo on Friday so we will make our way there tomorrow.
16-19 May We got directions from Kerry on Sunday morning and started to make our way to his place at Costa da Sol. We also put Costa da Sol into the navigation system and it took us through the back way to his place instead; which Kerry informed us is the quicker of the two ways anyway. We arrived at out 2pm so had some lunch and a great catch up with him. He cooked prawns on the braai for dinner which Martin loved and I had boerwors instead. After talking with Kerry about where we should go and what we should do whilst in Mozambique, we decided to get him to make up an itinerary for us. It is a fantastic trip and is about 56 days. We had a fabulous time at Kerry’s place; had a dinner out at Zambi one night; I cooked dinner one night and then Kerry cooked up some beautiful beef on the braai one night. We also heard all about his dhow trip which he had just done from way up north towards Pemba, just south from Fernao Veloso and he jumped off at Quelimane and flew back. Sounded great fun, but also quite hard work as well, especially with all the little problems they encountered along the way.
20 May Today starts our big adventure through some of Mozambique and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity of doing a little fishing along the way. I haven’t done any fishing since I left New Zealand so first thing in the morning we went off to GAME to big some rods and reels. We managed to find a couple of good rods and reels and other bits and pieces to get us started all with Kerry’s help who is an avid fisherman. We got to the check out also with some adapters for Mozambique as well and then the fun began! Firstly she kept telling me my card would not work, so I was trying to explain it was a chip and pin so she needed to put it in the machine differently; it is all so much hard work if they don’t speak English and I don’t speak Portuguese, but we got there in the end. Then Kerry had got a gaff for fishing which didn’t have a bar code on it so they were saying he couldn’t buy it, he told them it was on the shelf and therefore for sale so find the price now. Finally we got that all sorted and then one lay took one of our adapters and took off somewhere else in the store. We asked the other lady where she was as we wanted to leave and we had paid for it – we finally found her and got our adapter back, but have no idea what it was all about – AWA (Africa Wins Again)!
We got back to the house said our goodbyes and proceeded north towards Xai Xai again. We managed to get out the back way again, although at one stage Martin said this is wrong I’m going to turn around, but I said keep going as I trusted Kerry directions, we duly got to the tarmac road and were on our way. About 45kms north of Xai Xai we had our turnoff to the sand road (11kms) to Nascer do Sol which was right on the coast. We had a self catering chalet which was set above the restaurant overlooking the ocean – the view was amazing. We decided to eat in the restaurant the first night as all of our meat was frozen. We had a lovely meal and then an early night. Martin had to sleep in the lounge as the double bed had an end on it which made it tiny and he couldn’t lie flat.
21 May Got up and had breakfast and then went for a walk along the beach. It had been raining through the night and still looked threatening, but was a lovely walk. I decided to get out the rod and reel and try my luck at fishing. I found a guy who would show me where to fish, got me bait and also show me how to use my new toy. I had never used a reel like the one we got, but unfortunately neither had he. We went along the beach and he baited the hook and then cast, bang we got a fish – cool this is going to be great fun. I had a go at casting and apart from not casting as far as he had but did okay, got a wee bit of a birds nest, but all okay. Then I got a bite, but didn’t manage to get the fish. He then rebaited the hook and tried casting again, well he got a hell of a birds nest and then after an hour of putting it right cast again and you guessed it another bird’s nest! He put things right for me and said Mrs you try. So I cast and got it near perfect each time and caught another fish. I think he was a little put out that I could cast without messing up the reel so he kept trying and kept getting birds’ nests galore. Nevermind I was very excited about the two fish and was looking forward to fishing my way through Mozambique. As so happens with fishing, sea air and all I was knackered that night and we had a braai then went to bed.
22 May Today we are meant to be doing a couple of exploring days. Up just outside Quissico there is a 4x4 bush camp which Kerry told us to go and explore and camp there, so we started off and about half an hour to an hour into the journey the heavens opened up and the rain came down. If you have never experienced a tropical down pour it is hard to appreciate how much water falls so quickly. It turns roads into rivers and puddles into lakes at the blink of an eye! It was at this point we quickly realized our car leaks like a sieve! Not good. I was sitting in the passenger seat with my good thick waterproof from UK over me and still getting really wet. It started in one place and then spread throughout the car, although the driver’s seat managed to keep very dry. We got to our turnoff and made our way about 11kms through the coconut plantations over the bridge across the lagoon and to the campsite which appeared to be deserted. There was no way we could have made it on the road to the beach bar so we made the decision to turn around and go back to the main road and carry on to Tofo which was our next port of call. Well by this time the roads were definitely rivers and at least 6-8 inches deep, but in places up to a foot or more. It also meant that the edges of the road as it was sand was collapsing along the way and it seemed like the road was 6 inches lower than when we came in. At one stage a small truck (Tata) fill with people on the back came the other way and refused to back up. It was easier for him than us with a big trailer, but the guy obviously couldn’t drive properly and so after a lot of shouting on my part and getting even wetter (how is that possible) we eventually backed up and pulled over for him to pass us. At this stage there was 3 vehicles one way and 2 the other. We were scared that he was going to slip into us as he was a terrible, but with some good luck we managed to get by unscathed.
At this stage wet and cold and definitely with humour failure I just wanted to get somewhere dry with a hot shower. We drove onto Inhambane sometimes having to pull off the road as the rain was so hard you couldn’t see the road let alone anything crossing it or coming the other way. We phoned Kerry who informed us that it was a lovely sunny day there in Maputo and asked him to see if we could book into Baia Sonambula 2 days early. We found an ATM in Inhambane and made our way out towards Tofo. Kerry phoned back to say that it was fine and we made our way towards a lovely hot shower. Got a little lost in Tofo as we couldn’t find any signs for our accommodation, so phoned them and got directions. We finally arrived and unpacked in the rain to our lovely room. Martin went to turn the car around and got the trailer stuck so after a little encouragement and having to drive onto the beach we had it back in the parking spot ready for our 6 nights in Tofo. Hopefully the rain will stop so that we can get some diving and fishing done. Had a lovely shower and then went across the road to Casa Barry for dinner. We arrived at half time of the Bull v’s Crusaders game which we lost (boo hoo) and then also watched the Waratahs v’s Stormers game as well. A lovely meal and great game and then back for a well deserved sleep.
23 May Got up and had a lovely breakfast up on the balcony overlooking the ocean which was great. We met a South African couple who had been travelling since December up to Egypt and back. Very interesting hearing their tales and stories. It is not such a nice day again although the rain is not as heavy and very intermittent today. We went to the dive shop to ask about any advance weather reports and it seems that Wednesday the weather should improve – so hopefully we will get some diving done. We had a walk around town to find out where the best eating places are and ordered our dinner in advance so that you don’t have to wait for hours when you get there. We also had the best sandwiches in town at an internet café. We have just been watching from our verandah a family take their goat (yes I said goat) for a walk along the beach!
The roads out here so far have been shocking, especially from Xai Xai north which is the main road (highway) north. It was sand or should I say mud for around 60-80 kms and you really have to watch out for the buses and trucks as they don't move for anyone! Quite an experience and scary at times!
I will try and upload some photos, but are not holding out much hope.
Love, hugs and kisses to all xxx
12 May Up quite early this morning as we are making our way to the Giriyono border into Mozambique. Had a lovely drive through to the border and then crossed into Mozambique. They would only issue one month visas here so will have to try and get an extension once we get to Maputo. Driving through Limpopo National Park there is lots of evidence of elephants although we didn’t actually see any. We saw impala, steenbok and zebra. The road goes from good to slightly bad and we decided to stay at Campismo Aguia Pesqueria (Fish Eagle Camp) which was beautiful – stunning views over the lake which is made up from Massingir Dam. The birdlife around here is amazing and the sunset beautiful.
13-15 May We drove through to Xai Xai (pronounced Shy Shy) where we will stay until Kerry arrives back from his boat adventure. Kerry Butler is a good friend also from NZ who has been living and working here in Maputo for around 15-20 years I think. He has a company called Mozaic Travel which obviously deals with travel throughout mostly Mozambique, but also SA. We arrived at Xai Xai beach and tried to find a nice place to camp, but it seems that most of the places are now very run down so we opted for the Xai Xai Caravan and Camp which seemed to be the easiest to access. A young boy called Jack helped us choose a site (with power, although the power stopped that evening) and set up camp. He then went home to bring his curios for us to see, so we bought a fridge magnet and ashtray. There seemed to be an abundance of stray starving dogs around who all wanted to protect us! There were two in particular whom I decided to feed whilst there – very skinny and sad and I hate to see animals suffer. We ended up staying 3 nights here in Xai Xai and on our last night we had heard about a good place to eat from a missionary called Mike. It was at a SA run place further along the beach road called Chongoene Holiday Resort and the food was great. We also found a lovely bakery in Xai Xai town and a good market; there are also plenty of ATM’s and good fuel stations. We rang Kerry on Saturday evening and he arrived back home in Maputo on Friday so we will make our way there tomorrow.
16-19 May We got directions from Kerry on Sunday morning and started to make our way to his place at Costa da Sol. We also put Costa da Sol into the navigation system and it took us through the back way to his place instead; which Kerry informed us is the quicker of the two ways anyway. We arrived at out 2pm so had some lunch and a great catch up with him. He cooked prawns on the braai for dinner which Martin loved and I had boerwors instead. After talking with Kerry about where we should go and what we should do whilst in Mozambique, we decided to get him to make up an itinerary for us. It is a fantastic trip and is about 56 days. We had a fabulous time at Kerry’s place; had a dinner out at Zambi one night; I cooked dinner one night and then Kerry cooked up some beautiful beef on the braai one night. We also heard all about his dhow trip which he had just done from way up north towards Pemba, just south from Fernao Veloso and he jumped off at Quelimane and flew back. Sounded great fun, but also quite hard work as well, especially with all the little problems they encountered along the way.
20 May Today starts our big adventure through some of Mozambique and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity of doing a little fishing along the way. I haven’t done any fishing since I left New Zealand so first thing in the morning we went off to GAME to big some rods and reels. We managed to find a couple of good rods and reels and other bits and pieces to get us started all with Kerry’s help who is an avid fisherman. We got to the check out also with some adapters for Mozambique as well and then the fun began! Firstly she kept telling me my card would not work, so I was trying to explain it was a chip and pin so she needed to put it in the machine differently; it is all so much hard work if they don’t speak English and I don’t speak Portuguese, but we got there in the end. Then Kerry had got a gaff for fishing which didn’t have a bar code on it so they were saying he couldn’t buy it, he told them it was on the shelf and therefore for sale so find the price now. Finally we got that all sorted and then one lay took one of our adapters and took off somewhere else in the store. We asked the other lady where she was as we wanted to leave and we had paid for it – we finally found her and got our adapter back, but have no idea what it was all about – AWA (Africa Wins Again)!
We got back to the house said our goodbyes and proceeded north towards Xai Xai again. We managed to get out the back way again, although at one stage Martin said this is wrong I’m going to turn around, but I said keep going as I trusted Kerry directions, we duly got to the tarmac road and were on our way. About 45kms north of Xai Xai we had our turnoff to the sand road (11kms) to Nascer do Sol which was right on the coast. We had a self catering chalet which was set above the restaurant overlooking the ocean – the view was amazing. We decided to eat in the restaurant the first night as all of our meat was frozen. We had a lovely meal and then an early night. Martin had to sleep in the lounge as the double bed had an end on it which made it tiny and he couldn’t lie flat.
21 May Got up and had breakfast and then went for a walk along the beach. It had been raining through the night and still looked threatening, but was a lovely walk. I decided to get out the rod and reel and try my luck at fishing. I found a guy who would show me where to fish, got me bait and also show me how to use my new toy. I had never used a reel like the one we got, but unfortunately neither had he. We went along the beach and he baited the hook and then cast, bang we got a fish – cool this is going to be great fun. I had a go at casting and apart from not casting as far as he had but did okay, got a wee bit of a birds nest, but all okay. Then I got a bite, but didn’t manage to get the fish. He then rebaited the hook and tried casting again, well he got a hell of a birds nest and then after an hour of putting it right cast again and you guessed it another bird’s nest! He put things right for me and said Mrs you try. So I cast and got it near perfect each time and caught another fish. I think he was a little put out that I could cast without messing up the reel so he kept trying and kept getting birds’ nests galore. Nevermind I was very excited about the two fish and was looking forward to fishing my way through Mozambique. As so happens with fishing, sea air and all I was knackered that night and we had a braai then went to bed.
22 May Today we are meant to be doing a couple of exploring days. Up just outside Quissico there is a 4x4 bush camp which Kerry told us to go and explore and camp there, so we started off and about half an hour to an hour into the journey the heavens opened up and the rain came down. If you have never experienced a tropical down pour it is hard to appreciate how much water falls so quickly. It turns roads into rivers and puddles into lakes at the blink of an eye! It was at this point we quickly realized our car leaks like a sieve! Not good. I was sitting in the passenger seat with my good thick waterproof from UK over me and still getting really wet. It started in one place and then spread throughout the car, although the driver’s seat managed to keep very dry. We got to our turnoff and made our way about 11kms through the coconut plantations over the bridge across the lagoon and to the campsite which appeared to be deserted. There was no way we could have made it on the road to the beach bar so we made the decision to turn around and go back to the main road and carry on to Tofo which was our next port of call. Well by this time the roads were definitely rivers and at least 6-8 inches deep, but in places up to a foot or more. It also meant that the edges of the road as it was sand was collapsing along the way and it seemed like the road was 6 inches lower than when we came in. At one stage a small truck (Tata) fill with people on the back came the other way and refused to back up. It was easier for him than us with a big trailer, but the guy obviously couldn’t drive properly and so after a lot of shouting on my part and getting even wetter (how is that possible) we eventually backed up and pulled over for him to pass us. At this stage there was 3 vehicles one way and 2 the other. We were scared that he was going to slip into us as he was a terrible, but with some good luck we managed to get by unscathed.
At this stage wet and cold and definitely with humour failure I just wanted to get somewhere dry with a hot shower. We drove onto Inhambane sometimes having to pull off the road as the rain was so hard you couldn’t see the road let alone anything crossing it or coming the other way. We phoned Kerry who informed us that it was a lovely sunny day there in Maputo and asked him to see if we could book into Baia Sonambula 2 days early. We found an ATM in Inhambane and made our way out towards Tofo. Kerry phoned back to say that it was fine and we made our way towards a lovely hot shower. Got a little lost in Tofo as we couldn’t find any signs for our accommodation, so phoned them and got directions. We finally arrived and unpacked in the rain to our lovely room. Martin went to turn the car around and got the trailer stuck so after a little encouragement and having to drive onto the beach we had it back in the parking spot ready for our 6 nights in Tofo. Hopefully the rain will stop so that we can get some diving and fishing done. Had a lovely shower and then went across the road to Casa Barry for dinner. We arrived at half time of the Bull v’s Crusaders game which we lost (boo hoo) and then also watched the Waratahs v’s Stormers game as well. A lovely meal and great game and then back for a well deserved sleep.
23 May Got up and had a lovely breakfast up on the balcony overlooking the ocean which was great. We met a South African couple who had been travelling since December up to Egypt and back. Very interesting hearing their tales and stories. It is not such a nice day again although the rain is not as heavy and very intermittent today. We went to the dive shop to ask about any advance weather reports and it seems that Wednesday the weather should improve – so hopefully we will get some diving done. We had a walk around town to find out where the best eating places are and ordered our dinner in advance so that you don’t have to wait for hours when you get there. We also had the best sandwiches in town at an internet café. We have just been watching from our verandah a family take their goat (yes I said goat) for a walk along the beach!
The roads out here so far have been shocking, especially from Xai Xai north which is the main road (highway) north. It was sand or should I say mud for around 60-80 kms and you really have to watch out for the buses and trucks as they don't move for anyone! Quite an experience and scary at times!
I will try and upload some photos, but are not holding out much hope.
Love, hugs and kisses to all xxx
Tuesday 11 May 2010
Thanks Kerri and Mary for the messages. Mary you would all get really sick of looking through all the photos, but lunch at our place sounds great!
We were thoroughly spoilt at Singita and now it is just back to Martin and I, so today we are not really doing much until this afternoon. We had a bit of a sleep in and got up around 7am, took a lovely cool shower and then had a leisurely breakfast. I managed to do some washing and Martin had a wee nap and is now reading. We will have lunch shortly and then leave for a game drive around 3pm.
I will try and attach a few more photos now. The photos seem to be taking forever to upload today so I will try again later tonight.
Hope everyone is fit snd well. Love and hugs to all xx
We were thoroughly spoilt at Singita and now it is just back to Martin and I, so today we are not really doing much until this afternoon. We had a bit of a sleep in and got up around 7am, took a lovely cool shower and then had a leisurely breakfast. I managed to do some washing and Martin had a wee nap and is now reading. We will have lunch shortly and then leave for a game drive around 3pm.
I will try and attach a few more photos now. The photos seem to be taking forever to upload today so I will try again later tonight.
Hope everyone is fit snd well. Love and hugs to all xx
4 May We started out nice and early for Kruger and stopped in Hazyview to pick up a few more supplies as well as fuel. We entered through Paul Kruger gate and not long after entering we encountered a big bull elephant which was rather cool. There seems to be a lot of wildlife around at the moment. We had a lovely drive up to Satara Rest camp where we will be staying two nights. We managed to see a leopard up a tree on the way as well as all the usual suspects; impala, zebra, giraffe, waterbuck, wildebeest, baboons and some lovely birdlife as well. We arrived around 2pm and set up camp. We decided not to go for an afternoon game drive as the gates close at 5.30pm and after having some lunch and setting up it was getting close to 3pm already. So we had a lovely relaxing time in the campsite instead. We had a great dinner (Martin has got these fires sorted out these days) and an early night to be fresh for tomorrow.
5 May Up at 5.30am as gates open at 6pm, had a wash and coffee and then set out on a game drive. We had a fantastic morning spotting 4 lions; one large male, two females and a sub adult female. They were resting under bushes, but a herd of elephants were grazing towards them so we stayed to see what happens. Eventually a young bull ellie saw them and mock charged towards them making loads of noise, the lions all got up rather quickly and run away. The ellie herd changed direction as well – lovely to see! Got back to camp around 11am and had a lovely big brunch. I then did some washing and relaxed until around 3pm at which time we went out for another game drive. We saw hyeneas who seemed on a mission – running along the road towards us so we parked and they took the bush route around us and then back onto the road. Had dinner and once again had an early night.
6 May Got up and did another early morning game drive then got back to camp and packed up as today we are making our way to Singita Sweni Lodge. We had a lovely drive over to Sweni Lodge and arrived in time for lunch. What a beautiful setting and lodge Sweni is and the rooms are awesome. Not just one shower and toilet, but two toilets and three showers as well as a lovely huge big bath. All the rooms overlook the river and the bird life is stunning. We had Marlon as our ranger/guide and Themba as our tracker. Lorraine looked after us as far as drinks and meals were concerned.
6-10 May James thank you so much for arranging our stay at Sweni, we had a wonderful time. We had fabulous drives and walks with Marlon and Themba, dinner in a different location each night; (out by the pool, in dining room, wine cellar and in the boma), our third night there we got back from our game drive and the bathroom was filled with rose petals in the basins, the bath already filled with bubble bath and champagne on ice fantastic! James also thanks for the bottle of bubbles, we are saving it for a special time in Mozambique. The food was to die for, although you ate almost every two hours and I think we both put on a bit of weight while at Sweni! Our second night we had bush drinks which was lovely and also our third morning breakfast by the river. We both had massages at the spa which was magic and got some new clothes as well, mainly Martin. All in all we had a fabulous time and thank everyone at Sweni for making our time so special, hopefully we will be back.
10 May We were up at 5.30am for our last game drive/walk at Sweni which was brilliant. Got back to the lodge and had breakfast then went to pack and shower. We left Sweni at around 12.15 and made our way slowly to Letaba Rest camp. We arrived around 3.30pm set up camp and relaxed until dinner time. Today is really hot and a little on the humid side at 37 degrees. As we were travelling through the hottest part of the day to get to Letaba we didn’t see too much wildlife although we did see a lot of ellies. Letaba is very different from the camps down south, a lot more Mopani scrubland around which is nice to see. Had a lovely dinner and had an early night. We have had 7 mornings in a row of 5.30am wake up so decided to sleep in; unfortunately there is a baby camping next to us and he woke me twice in the night – around 3am and again at 5am, so much for a sleep in!
5 May Up at 5.30am as gates open at 6pm, had a wash and coffee and then set out on a game drive. We had a fantastic morning spotting 4 lions; one large male, two females and a sub adult female. They were resting under bushes, but a herd of elephants were grazing towards them so we stayed to see what happens. Eventually a young bull ellie saw them and mock charged towards them making loads of noise, the lions all got up rather quickly and run away. The ellie herd changed direction as well – lovely to see! Got back to camp around 11am and had a lovely big brunch. I then did some washing and relaxed until around 3pm at which time we went out for another game drive. We saw hyeneas who seemed on a mission – running along the road towards us so we parked and they took the bush route around us and then back onto the road. Had dinner and once again had an early night.
6 May Got up and did another early morning game drive then got back to camp and packed up as today we are making our way to Singita Sweni Lodge. We had a lovely drive over to Sweni Lodge and arrived in time for lunch. What a beautiful setting and lodge Sweni is and the rooms are awesome. Not just one shower and toilet, but two toilets and three showers as well as a lovely huge big bath. All the rooms overlook the river and the bird life is stunning. We had Marlon as our ranger/guide and Themba as our tracker. Lorraine looked after us as far as drinks and meals were concerned.
6-10 May James thank you so much for arranging our stay at Sweni, we had a wonderful time. We had fabulous drives and walks with Marlon and Themba, dinner in a different location each night; (out by the pool, in dining room, wine cellar and in the boma), our third night there we got back from our game drive and the bathroom was filled with rose petals in the basins, the bath already filled with bubble bath and champagne on ice fantastic! James also thanks for the bottle of bubbles, we are saving it for a special time in Mozambique. The food was to die for, although you ate almost every two hours and I think we both put on a bit of weight while at Sweni! Our second night we had bush drinks which was lovely and also our third morning breakfast by the river. We both had massages at the spa which was magic and got some new clothes as well, mainly Martin. All in all we had a fabulous time and thank everyone at Sweni for making our time so special, hopefully we will be back.
10 May We were up at 5.30am for our last game drive/walk at Sweni which was brilliant. Got back to the lodge and had breakfast then went to pack and shower. We left Sweni at around 12.15 and made our way slowly to Letaba Rest camp. We arrived around 3.30pm set up camp and relaxed until dinner time. Today is really hot and a little on the humid side at 37 degrees. As we were travelling through the hottest part of the day to get to Letaba we didn’t see too much wildlife although we did see a lot of ellies. Letaba is very different from the camps down south, a lot more Mopani scrubland around which is nice to see. Had a lovely dinner and had an early night. We have had 7 mornings in a row of 5.30am wake up so decided to sleep in; unfortunately there is a baby camping next to us and he woke me twice in the night – around 3am and again at 5am, so much for a sleep in!
Monday 3 May 2010
29 April – 1 May Started out after a good breakfast to Sabi Sands. The Newington Gate is about 60km away mostly on tarred roads, but the last 12km on dirt. We got to the gate and got our permit then headed off for Ulusaba (about 18km away) doing a slow game drive speed to see if we could spot anything along the way. Got to the Ulusaba airstrip around 12.30 and were greeted by champagne – very nice. Was lovely to see Trevor again and also Sam (he was our tracker last year as well).
Drove to camp and we were in River Room 4 which entailed crossing 4 swing bridges to get to it – very interesting walk home after a few drinks with dinner. Fortunately we are on our own in the game vehicle as Trevor was meant to be going on holidays on Friday, but has decided to stay until we leave now. Out for our afternoon game drive and I was not feeling so great, I think something disagreed with me at lunch! When we stopped for sundowners Trevor took a couple of photos of the two of us when I had ‘my moment’! Boy was I sick, very embarrassing, but my body wanted to purge out the bad stuff. Once we got back to camp I had a shower and crept into my lovely big bed – Martin had to go to dinner on his own that night.
The game drives in Ulusaba were fantastic as usual; it was great that there were a lot of cubs around this year. We were fortunate to see two different leopards that had two cubs each and got some great family photos of them all. Also there were three different sets of lion cubs, we managed to see two different lots and get photos – very cute! Unfortunately another couple arrived who insisted on having Trevor as their guide so we had them join us on Friday. We only managed to get in one game walk which was great, it’s always nice to be able to get out and stretch a bit and have a good walk instead of sitting in the vehicle all the time. Trevor as usual was teaching us how to use our cameras properly and especially Martins new one with the huge lens on it! We both got fabulous photos and I will attach a few for you all.
The food had improved 100% this year and we ended up having the late breakfast after game driving and then dinner only. On our last night there was a wine tasting evening, where a winemaker from Stellenbosch was there, quite a good evening and all the guests from Rock Lodge came down for it as well, so a full house that night. Trevor’s wife Taz managed to join us for dinner one night and also join us on a game drive so was lovely to catch up with her as well.
2 May Well we had a magic stay once again at Ulusaba and Trevor, Taz and Sam saw us off at the airport after lunch; the three of them will be going on holidays now for two weeks. We drove back out through the game reserve and made our way back to Merry Pebbles in Sabie. The trailer has worked perfectly and it seems as they have had no rain since we left which is great. We had a light dinner as we decided to have lunch at Ulusaba before we left.
3 May We got up at a sensible hour this morning, 7am instead of 5.30am which was nice and had breakfast before sitting down to work out the next week or two. Martin has decided that he would like to go and stay at one of the Singita Lodges that borders Kruger Sweni, so will phone James to find out how we go about this. James works for Singita and I am sure he will be pleased that we want to go and stay. Martin has taken the car to the Toyota garage in Sabie as an engine management light keeps coming on now and then and we lose power so will try and sort that out. Well it seems that the problem is the air filter, it appears to be full of fine dust which cannot be blown out and we are now waiting to see if we can get another filter. We have also booked two nights in the Kruger at Satara Rest camp and also 3 or 4 nights at Singita – Sweni Lodge. Just trying to get hold of Kerry now to see when he will be back in Maputo after Indaba and we will arrange our last few nights around that after we cross into Mozambique.
Love hugs and kisses to all and hope you are all well. xx
Drove to camp and we were in River Room 4 which entailed crossing 4 swing bridges to get to it – very interesting walk home after a few drinks with dinner. Fortunately we are on our own in the game vehicle as Trevor was meant to be going on holidays on Friday, but has decided to stay until we leave now. Out for our afternoon game drive and I was not feeling so great, I think something disagreed with me at lunch! When we stopped for sundowners Trevor took a couple of photos of the two of us when I had ‘my moment’! Boy was I sick, very embarrassing, but my body wanted to purge out the bad stuff. Once we got back to camp I had a shower and crept into my lovely big bed – Martin had to go to dinner on his own that night.
The game drives in Ulusaba were fantastic as usual; it was great that there were a lot of cubs around this year. We were fortunate to see two different leopards that had two cubs each and got some great family photos of them all. Also there were three different sets of lion cubs, we managed to see two different lots and get photos – very cute! Unfortunately another couple arrived who insisted on having Trevor as their guide so we had them join us on Friday. We only managed to get in one game walk which was great, it’s always nice to be able to get out and stretch a bit and have a good walk instead of sitting in the vehicle all the time. Trevor as usual was teaching us how to use our cameras properly and especially Martins new one with the huge lens on it! We both got fabulous photos and I will attach a few for you all.
The food had improved 100% this year and we ended up having the late breakfast after game driving and then dinner only. On our last night there was a wine tasting evening, where a winemaker from Stellenbosch was there, quite a good evening and all the guests from Rock Lodge came down for it as well, so a full house that night. Trevor’s wife Taz managed to join us for dinner one night and also join us on a game drive so was lovely to catch up with her as well.
2 May Well we had a magic stay once again at Ulusaba and Trevor, Taz and Sam saw us off at the airport after lunch; the three of them will be going on holidays now for two weeks. We drove back out through the game reserve and made our way back to Merry Pebbles in Sabie. The trailer has worked perfectly and it seems as they have had no rain since we left which is great. We had a light dinner as we decided to have lunch at Ulusaba before we left.
3 May We got up at a sensible hour this morning, 7am instead of 5.30am which was nice and had breakfast before sitting down to work out the next week or two. Martin has decided that he would like to go and stay at one of the Singita Lodges that borders Kruger Sweni, so will phone James to find out how we go about this. James works for Singita and I am sure he will be pleased that we want to go and stay. Martin has taken the car to the Toyota garage in Sabie as an engine management light keeps coming on now and then and we lose power so will try and sort that out. Well it seems that the problem is the air filter, it appears to be full of fine dust which cannot be blown out and we are now waiting to see if we can get another filter. We have also booked two nights in the Kruger at Satara Rest camp and also 3 or 4 nights at Singita – Sweni Lodge. Just trying to get hold of Kerry now to see when he will be back in Maputo after Indaba and we will arrange our last few nights around that after we cross into Mozambique.
Love hugs and kisses to all and hope you are all well. xx
Tuesday 27 April 2010
Well it rained all day on and off (mostly on though) so we played cards, had a lovely hot shower and prayed for the rain to be stopped by tomorrow morning!
25 April Well you guessed it we woke up to rain! So there was nothing for it, but to pack up in the rain as we were making our way across to Sabie, which is only around 50km away from the Kruger Gate. We got away and headed off across country driving mostly in rain. We arrived here at ‘Merry Pebbles’ our campsite to be told that someone had cancelled so there was a room available if we wanted it. We decided to take it and try and dry everything out. Last night the rain was so heavy and it leaked all over the tent. My side of the bed was drenched this morning and it would be great to have a dry night’s sleep. So we parked the trailer across the road and opened it all out to try and dry everything. We took all the bedding and mattresses into the room and also the carpet from the tent to the room to dry. We also did heaps of washing as they had dryers here which helped with the bedding. We had a lovely meal at the restaurant and a great DRY night’s sleep, because that’s right it rained again! Martin managed to break the jack on the trailer whilst backing the trailer into position which he was very angry about, but nevermind tomorrow is a working day so we will sort it out.
26 April Well today we set off to Nelspruit after breakfast to get the trailer jack fixed, to get some food and also Martin wanted some new pillows. We encountered a bike race along the way, God knows how many entrants there were, but we passed hundreds of them. Got to Nelspruit and did the food shopping, and then managed to find someone to do a bit of welding which will be fine for the next couple of weeks and finally Martin found some knew pillows. We got back to the campsite and fortunately there didn’t seem to be any rain today. Things are drying out nicely.
27 April Today Martin confirmed our stay at Ulusaba so that he can catch up with Trevor Savage, who is a guide he met about 4.5 years ago and we are going to stay for 4 nights. We have managed to be able to leave the trailer here at the campsite which will be great as it takes such a long time to drive in Sabi Sands with the trailer. We also managed to get everything dry and put all the mattresses and bedding back into the trailer and pack it all up – nice and clean and dry. We will come and stay here for 2 nights after getting out of Sabi Sands and then make our way into Kruger National Park before crossing into Mozambique at the Giriyondo border.
Well not sure if I will be able to get you updated whilst in Sabi Sands if not I will have heaps to tell you all when we get back here on Sunday and loads of wildlife pictures as well.
Hope you are all well. Thanks for the message Mum & Colin and nice to talk to you also. Take care and love and hugs to all xxx
25 April Well you guessed it we woke up to rain! So there was nothing for it, but to pack up in the rain as we were making our way across to Sabie, which is only around 50km away from the Kruger Gate. We got away and headed off across country driving mostly in rain. We arrived here at ‘Merry Pebbles’ our campsite to be told that someone had cancelled so there was a room available if we wanted it. We decided to take it and try and dry everything out. Last night the rain was so heavy and it leaked all over the tent. My side of the bed was drenched this morning and it would be great to have a dry night’s sleep. So we parked the trailer across the road and opened it all out to try and dry everything. We took all the bedding and mattresses into the room and also the carpet from the tent to the room to dry. We also did heaps of washing as they had dryers here which helped with the bedding. We had a lovely meal at the restaurant and a great DRY night’s sleep, because that’s right it rained again! Martin managed to break the jack on the trailer whilst backing the trailer into position which he was very angry about, but nevermind tomorrow is a working day so we will sort it out.
26 April Well today we set off to Nelspruit after breakfast to get the trailer jack fixed, to get some food and also Martin wanted some new pillows. We encountered a bike race along the way, God knows how many entrants there were, but we passed hundreds of them. Got to Nelspruit and did the food shopping, and then managed to find someone to do a bit of welding which will be fine for the next couple of weeks and finally Martin found some knew pillows. We got back to the campsite and fortunately there didn’t seem to be any rain today. Things are drying out nicely.
27 April Today Martin confirmed our stay at Ulusaba so that he can catch up with Trevor Savage, who is a guide he met about 4.5 years ago and we are going to stay for 4 nights. We have managed to be able to leave the trailer here at the campsite which will be great as it takes such a long time to drive in Sabi Sands with the trailer. We also managed to get everything dry and put all the mattresses and bedding back into the trailer and pack it all up – nice and clean and dry. We will come and stay here for 2 nights after getting out of Sabi Sands and then make our way into Kruger National Park before crossing into Mozambique at the Giriyondo border.
Well not sure if I will be able to get you updated whilst in Sabi Sands if not I will have heaps to tell you all when we get back here on Sunday and loads of wildlife pictures as well.
Hope you are all well. Thanks for the message Mum & Colin and nice to talk to you also. Take care and love and hugs to all xxx
Saturday 24 April 2010
23 April We decided after not such a grand sleep (too much noise as you are located very close to the city centre) to move on to our next campsite. Martin had found out Trevor Savage was still at Ulusaba in Sabi Sands and he wanted to go and stay for a couple of nights to see him. So we made a booking for 28 & 29 April, so we are slowly making our way across to Kruger N.P. We had a heck of a slow journey up to our campsite Thaba Monate which is north of Pretoria. We hadn’t realized that it was a public holiday on Tuesday and a lot of people decided to take off the Monday and make a long weekend of it, so we found it very difficult to find any where to stay. We encountered road works through a lot of our journey which slowed us down considerably – in fact I think it added a good hour and half to the journey. We didn’t get into camp until about 6.15pm so had to set up in the dark. Then to boot it has rained all night!
24 April We woke up to rain so didn’t get out of bed until around 8am this morning. Make a quick check of the tent to get rid of any pockets of water and trying to stop any leaks. Had a lovely hot shower, made some breakfast and then Martin busied himself putting up new poles and ropes to try and keep the tent verandah tight so that the water doesn’t accumulate into pools. It is 11.30am and we are still getting rain, but hey it is winter (or rainy season) so what do you expect.
David, Julie & Helly we are really pleased that you finally made it home at last! Must have been a horrible drive from Rome - nevermind I hear the sun is shining so sit back, relax and maybe have a braai tonight! As for us I think it will have to be chilli con carne as its too wet to start the braai!
Hope ecveryone is fit and well. Love and huge hugs to all xxx
24 April We woke up to rain so didn’t get out of bed until around 8am this morning. Make a quick check of the tent to get rid of any pockets of water and trying to stop any leaks. Had a lovely hot shower, made some breakfast and then Martin busied himself putting up new poles and ropes to try and keep the tent verandah tight so that the water doesn’t accumulate into pools. It is 11.30am and we are still getting rain, but hey it is winter (or rainy season) so what do you expect.
David, Julie & Helly we are really pleased that you finally made it home at last! Must have been a horrible drive from Rome - nevermind I hear the sun is shining so sit back, relax and maybe have a braai tonight! As for us I think it will have to be chilli con carne as its too wet to start the braai!
Hope ecveryone is fit and well. Love and huge hugs to all xxx
21 April Well up and at ‘em! Got to the factory to pick up the trailer and away! I think we left about 11.45am. We are off up towards Kimberly, but will have a stop along the way as it is too far to go in one day. We stopped at a place called Travalia just short of three sisters. As it is only for one night we decided to get a room. We also decided to have dinner in their restaurant as it was easier as I hadn’t got anything out of the freezer to thaw. We had lovely roast lamb and then Martin had cheesecake, whilst I stuck with coffee. Apparently this place used to be a stopping off point for the wagons from Cape Town to Kimberly in the diamond rush days. The story goes that on one of the journeys a man was very ill and couldn’t carry on; basically dying, so he was dropped off under a tree with food and water and left there. Meanwhile bushman had been watching and nursed the man back to health, he stayed on and ever since then Travalia has been some sort of accommodation and restaurant place, even when it changed hands every time it has keep to the hospitality concept.
22 April Today we are off to Kimberly to see ‘the big hole’! We started out on the N12 and en countered road works, so we tried to stay off the main roads, but also encountered road works. Nevermind, South Africa should have some of the best roads in the world by the time they are all finished. We were going to stay in the municipal campsite which is located right next door to the big hole and museum. We arrived around 2pm and there is a huge building construction site right next door. We set up, had some lunch and then headed over to see the big hole. They do tours which involve a movie about the early days and new rush days of Kimberly, then you go out onto a viewing deck overlooking the big hole (which is incredible. Apparently around 22,500,000 tonnes of earth was extracted in the 13 years it took to make this massive hole in the ground. Also around 2200kg of diamonds were extracted and the overall depth is around 1097 meters! There is water in this hole which is natural underground water and now makes this look like a serene deep pond! We then went into an old mine shaft and learnt about how the diamonds were extracted and the conditions that the men worked in – very hard work is all I can say. Lastly we went into the vault and saw all the different type of diamonds that had been extracted here in Kimberly. There are still diamonds, but De Beers does not seem to think it is viable to extract them and since the whole area has become a heritage site no one is allowed to take anything or dig for gems any more. All in all it was an interesting tour and well worth it.
22 April Today we are off to Kimberly to see ‘the big hole’! We started out on the N12 and en countered road works, so we tried to stay off the main roads, but also encountered road works. Nevermind, South Africa should have some of the best roads in the world by the time they are all finished. We were going to stay in the municipal campsite which is located right next door to the big hole and museum. We arrived around 2pm and there is a huge building construction site right next door. We set up, had some lunch and then headed over to see the big hole. They do tours which involve a movie about the early days and new rush days of Kimberly, then you go out onto a viewing deck overlooking the big hole (which is incredible. Apparently around 22,500,000 tonnes of earth was extracted in the 13 years it took to make this massive hole in the ground. Also around 2200kg of diamonds were extracted and the overall depth is around 1097 meters! There is water in this hole which is natural underground water and now makes this look like a serene deep pond! We then went into an old mine shaft and learnt about how the diamonds were extracted and the conditions that the men worked in – very hard work is all I can say. Lastly we went into the vault and saw all the different type of diamonds that had been extracted here in Kimberly. There are still diamonds, but De Beers does not seem to think it is viable to extract them and since the whole area has become a heritage site no one is allowed to take anything or dig for gems any more. All in all it was an interesting tour and well worth it.
Tuesday 20 April 2010
19 & 20 April We were up and at the factory even before Jeremy arrived this morning. They have had two days getting all the last minute things sorted out. I will get Martin to go onto the blog and explain all the changes for all of you mechanical buffs who would be interested. I went shopping to stock up on food for the next week or so and we should be all AOK to take off tomorrow morning.
Things are definitely moving along nicely this end and we will definitely be leaving on the morrow - can't wait, can be rather boring waiting around a factory when you have already been away, but only for a week!
I will try and obviously keep as up to date as I possibly can, but will depend on the remoteness of the area and whether I can get a signal or not. Once into Mozambique I will have to look into whether I can get a sim card and use the USB I got here in South Africa - fingers crossed that I can then I will have you all along for the ride.
Mary and Ann thanks for the messages. Love and hugs to all am missing you all xxx
Things are definitely moving along nicely this end and we will definitely be leaving on the morrow - can't wait, can be rather boring waiting around a factory when you have already been away, but only for a week!
I will try and obviously keep as up to date as I possibly can, but will depend on the remoteness of the area and whether I can get a signal or not. Once into Mozambique I will have to look into whether I can get a sim card and use the USB I got here in South Africa - fingers crossed that I can then I will have you all along for the ride.
Mary and Ann thanks for the messages. Love and hugs to all am missing you all xxx
Monday 19 April 2010
Well at last I am truly up to date and you will all be able to see where we have been and what we have seen so far! We are having a wonderful time and can't wait to get started out towards Mozambique; Kerry see you there soon, Muzza God I hope you are truly on the mend - take care of yourself, James & Leanne I hope you had a wonderful honeymoon, Kym & Nana was wonderful to talk to you both today. David, Julie & Helly I hope you make it back from Hong Kong soon!
Everyone take care and sending loads of love and hugs to all xxx
Everyone take care and sending loads of love and hugs to all xxx
13 April Today we have got rather a long drive to Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park. We will go on up to Upington and then on from there towards the north. This park borders Namibia on the western side and on the eastern side it is actually part of Botswana, it is also the first Transfrontier Park that was sanctioned so has had time to get it right, both Botswana and South Africa have made a wonderful park for all to enjoy. We were very excited about going as we tried to book in last year, but it was fully booked. I only managed to get 4 nights this time around; 3 at Twee Rivieren and 1 night at Mata Mata. We filled up with fuel at Upington and also grabbed some sandwiches for lunch. It is a very long, dry, hot and barren drive up to the park. The temperature was now hitting around 37 degrees at the highest point – hot, hot HOT!!!
We finally arrived at the gate and promptly checked in and paid our conservation fees; we had paid for all camping at Augrabies. We had decided we had to pick our site carefully at Twee Rivieren as we were going to be there 3 nights and it was very hot, so the more shade the better! Unfortunately there were already a lot of people already camped so we eventually agreed on a spot and set up camp. As it turned out it was a very good spot and we could only see maybe one or two better that were already taken so we did well. Yellow mongoose frequent this camp and are very relaxed so we managed to get some lovely pictures of a whole family; Mum, Dad and three babies! Needless to say ground squirrels were also around the camp, as they had been in Augrabies as well. We had some lunch and then headed out for an afternoon game drive. There are big distances between camps and also for the game driving circuits. We saw springbok, gemsbok, wildebeest, steenbok, red hartebeest, kori bustards, secretary birds, tawny eagle, black bellied bustards, ostriches, whistling rats and the scenery was awesome! What a fantastic first game drive up here. You have to be back at camp by 6.30pm after having dropped your permit off at the gate. The guys at the gate keep every bodies permits and you go and collect them when you want to go on game drives or move on to another camp – quite a good way to police how many are in the park, where they are staying and what game drives they do. We had a lovely meal, good wine and watched the stars in the huge big sky!
14 April We got up early and had a light breakfast and headed out for our game drive. We were hoping to do a loop which crossed from one side of the park to the other and then going north until we ran across another road leading back to the other side! The distances are far greater than you realize and we only made it across then decided to come back the same way! We should have checked out the map better last night, we could have then packed a lunch and then stayed out until the afternoon. Never mind we still had a fabulous time; saw an ostrich family of Mum, Dad and 19 chicks which was great fun. On the way back spotted 3 African Eagle Owl in a tree and then some meerkats which are very comical to watch. Got back to camp and had a nice brunch of eggs and sausages – very yummy!!
We decided to drive out to sit and watch the meerkats in the afternoon, which was so much fun. They really are interesting to watch and look like naughty little things before you begin. We sat and watched there antics for about an hour which included the lookout falling off his perch several times (he was perched up in a dead tree to watch out for danger whilst the rest of the family foraged for food). It was just magical watching them go about their daily life, the little ones getting into trouble and trying to steal food from the adults, to see them digging furiously and almost burying themselves and then coming up with some bug or grub in their mouths – all truly funny. We drove back to camp and then had a lovely hot shower, man do you get really dusty up here! Had a lovely dinner and decided to do an all day game drive tomorrow. Thought we might drive up to Nossob Camp (we couldn’t get in as it was fully booked) and take a look around the Botswanan side of the park.
15 April We woke up slightly later this morning and had a hearty big breakfast to keep us going, you can only stop and get out of your vehicles at the designated picnic spots which also have toilets. We then packed up our lunch and plenty of drinks for the long day. This year we have got a small fridge installed in the vehicle and it certainly makes a big difference, we should have done it last year. We headed out and saw the usual suspects in the antelope field as well as some lovely birds, there are so many secretary birds which are also quite comical to watch as they stomp on their prey and then eat it. We finally arrived through to the Botswana side through the red sand dunes which are very typical of the Kalahari. Once through to the other side the area opens out a lot more just like the parks we had been through last year in Botswana. We actually didn’t see very much in the way of wildlife, but it was still a fabulous drive. Once at Nossob we had our lunch whist watching the ground squirrels playing and foraging for food – also begging for food from us tourists! We drove back a different way to try and cover as large an area of the park as we could, it got very hot during the hottest part of the day up around 37 degrees – man is it hot!! We got back and had a well deserved shower and then dinner and bed.
16 April Today we are driving to the north western part of the park and to the Mata Mata campsite which is very close to the Namibian border. We got all packed up and away in good time and started the 120km trek up. We saw giraffe today which seem to be more in the north as this is where the bigger trees seem to be, they were introduced from Etosha and are doing extremely well numbers are growing at a good rate. We got to Mata Mata at around 2.30pm so it was really hot, but managed to find a great spot under this stand of big trees, sharing with a South African couple and a couple from Botswana who manage a lodge in the Central Kalahari. We set up camp and then had some lunch before setting off on a game drive. There seem to be a lot more animals up here in the north, the herds of antelope are bigger and a lot more variety. We decided to do the three loop roads off the main road to see what we could see and towards late afternoon we were rewarded with bat eared foxes which happen to be one of my favourite mammals. Unfortunately we only had the one night at Mata Mata as they were fully booked as the park always seems to be, so we were making the most of the short time we had. We had a lovely chat with our fellow campers and dinner and then bed (of course the lovely hot shower was in there as well).
17 April So today we are leaving the park as we couldn’t get any more nights – so we packed up and headed off back down to Twee Rivieren which is where we had to exit. We also wanted to try and get the new carnet stamped as at this stage the car is nowhere! We had a fantastic game drive down firstly seeing a cheetah eating a springbok, three lions lying under the trees by the road and then a martial eagle trying to catch a cobra (a very big cobra at that); the eagle tried to fly off with the snake in its talons, but the snake kept curling up and trying to bite it whilst sort of being dragged along the ground, the eagle eventually landed and tried to pin down the snakes head, but I think that it was just too bigger dinner for this bird. He let the snake go and watched as it slithered into the bushes at the side of the road and then flew off – very exciting to watch. We got to the gate and managed to get the carnet stamped which will mean that we will now not have any problems trying to enter Mozambique.
We had decided to drive back down to Worcester as there were a few things that either needed changing, looking at or replacing as rather do it now with people who know what they are doing than with people that are unsure of the vehicle. So once we left the park we steadily made our way back south and kept a look out for somewhere to stay once it got to around 4.30pm. We stopped in Brandvlei for fuel and asked at the pub if it was okay to camp at the hotel in town, the said yes, but did we really want to stay in town? They then told me about a guest farm about 15km back up the road called Oom Bennas so we drove back to there to find a lovely little self contained house we could stay in overnight which meant we didn’t have to unpack everything. It had been a long day and we were both knackered to say the least, but we had a lovely bed, hot shower, good food and a roof over our heads – needless to say we had an awesome night’s sleep.
18 April We were up and away by 8.30am on our way back to Worcester. There were some stunning views from the Bloukrans & Hex River Passes overlooking the valleys below. We arrived back in good time early afternoon and Lina & Kenny who own the guest house (which is like our home away from home) were there to welcome us back. Kenny moved all the vehicles around so that we could park our huge rig inside the gate – it measures around 13 meters all up! So back in Worcester and Martin seems to have a list the length of his arm of things to do so it will be off early in the morning to the Bushwakka factory to get it started.
We finally arrived at the gate and promptly checked in and paid our conservation fees; we had paid for all camping at Augrabies. We had decided we had to pick our site carefully at Twee Rivieren as we were going to be there 3 nights and it was very hot, so the more shade the better! Unfortunately there were already a lot of people already camped so we eventually agreed on a spot and set up camp. As it turned out it was a very good spot and we could only see maybe one or two better that were already taken so we did well. Yellow mongoose frequent this camp and are very relaxed so we managed to get some lovely pictures of a whole family; Mum, Dad and three babies! Needless to say ground squirrels were also around the camp, as they had been in Augrabies as well. We had some lunch and then headed out for an afternoon game drive. There are big distances between camps and also for the game driving circuits. We saw springbok, gemsbok, wildebeest, steenbok, red hartebeest, kori bustards, secretary birds, tawny eagle, black bellied bustards, ostriches, whistling rats and the scenery was awesome! What a fantastic first game drive up here. You have to be back at camp by 6.30pm after having dropped your permit off at the gate. The guys at the gate keep every bodies permits and you go and collect them when you want to go on game drives or move on to another camp – quite a good way to police how many are in the park, where they are staying and what game drives they do. We had a lovely meal, good wine and watched the stars in the huge big sky!
14 April We got up early and had a light breakfast and headed out for our game drive. We were hoping to do a loop which crossed from one side of the park to the other and then going north until we ran across another road leading back to the other side! The distances are far greater than you realize and we only made it across then decided to come back the same way! We should have checked out the map better last night, we could have then packed a lunch and then stayed out until the afternoon. Never mind we still had a fabulous time; saw an ostrich family of Mum, Dad and 19 chicks which was great fun. On the way back spotted 3 African Eagle Owl in a tree and then some meerkats which are very comical to watch. Got back to camp and had a nice brunch of eggs and sausages – very yummy!!
We decided to drive out to sit and watch the meerkats in the afternoon, which was so much fun. They really are interesting to watch and look like naughty little things before you begin. We sat and watched there antics for about an hour which included the lookout falling off his perch several times (he was perched up in a dead tree to watch out for danger whilst the rest of the family foraged for food). It was just magical watching them go about their daily life, the little ones getting into trouble and trying to steal food from the adults, to see them digging furiously and almost burying themselves and then coming up with some bug or grub in their mouths – all truly funny. We drove back to camp and then had a lovely hot shower, man do you get really dusty up here! Had a lovely dinner and decided to do an all day game drive tomorrow. Thought we might drive up to Nossob Camp (we couldn’t get in as it was fully booked) and take a look around the Botswanan side of the park.
15 April We woke up slightly later this morning and had a hearty big breakfast to keep us going, you can only stop and get out of your vehicles at the designated picnic spots which also have toilets. We then packed up our lunch and plenty of drinks for the long day. This year we have got a small fridge installed in the vehicle and it certainly makes a big difference, we should have done it last year. We headed out and saw the usual suspects in the antelope field as well as some lovely birds, there are so many secretary birds which are also quite comical to watch as they stomp on their prey and then eat it. We finally arrived through to the Botswana side through the red sand dunes which are very typical of the Kalahari. Once through to the other side the area opens out a lot more just like the parks we had been through last year in Botswana. We actually didn’t see very much in the way of wildlife, but it was still a fabulous drive. Once at Nossob we had our lunch whist watching the ground squirrels playing and foraging for food – also begging for food from us tourists! We drove back a different way to try and cover as large an area of the park as we could, it got very hot during the hottest part of the day up around 37 degrees – man is it hot!! We got back and had a well deserved shower and then dinner and bed.
16 April Today we are driving to the north western part of the park and to the Mata Mata campsite which is very close to the Namibian border. We got all packed up and away in good time and started the 120km trek up. We saw giraffe today which seem to be more in the north as this is where the bigger trees seem to be, they were introduced from Etosha and are doing extremely well numbers are growing at a good rate. We got to Mata Mata at around 2.30pm so it was really hot, but managed to find a great spot under this stand of big trees, sharing with a South African couple and a couple from Botswana who manage a lodge in the Central Kalahari. We set up camp and then had some lunch before setting off on a game drive. There seem to be a lot more animals up here in the north, the herds of antelope are bigger and a lot more variety. We decided to do the three loop roads off the main road to see what we could see and towards late afternoon we were rewarded with bat eared foxes which happen to be one of my favourite mammals. Unfortunately we only had the one night at Mata Mata as they were fully booked as the park always seems to be, so we were making the most of the short time we had. We had a lovely chat with our fellow campers and dinner and then bed (of course the lovely hot shower was in there as well).
17 April So today we are leaving the park as we couldn’t get any more nights – so we packed up and headed off back down to Twee Rivieren which is where we had to exit. We also wanted to try and get the new carnet stamped as at this stage the car is nowhere! We had a fantastic game drive down firstly seeing a cheetah eating a springbok, three lions lying under the trees by the road and then a martial eagle trying to catch a cobra (a very big cobra at that); the eagle tried to fly off with the snake in its talons, but the snake kept curling up and trying to bite it whilst sort of being dragged along the ground, the eagle eventually landed and tried to pin down the snakes head, but I think that it was just too bigger dinner for this bird. He let the snake go and watched as it slithered into the bushes at the side of the road and then flew off – very exciting to watch. We got to the gate and managed to get the carnet stamped which will mean that we will now not have any problems trying to enter Mozambique.
We had decided to drive back down to Worcester as there were a few things that either needed changing, looking at or replacing as rather do it now with people who know what they are doing than with people that are unsure of the vehicle. So once we left the park we steadily made our way back south and kept a look out for somewhere to stay once it got to around 4.30pm. We stopped in Brandvlei for fuel and asked at the pub if it was okay to camp at the hotel in town, the said yes, but did we really want to stay in town? They then told me about a guest farm about 15km back up the road called Oom Bennas so we drove back to there to find a lovely little self contained house we could stay in overnight which meant we didn’t have to unpack everything. It had been a long day and we were both knackered to say the least, but we had a lovely bed, hot shower, good food and a roof over our heads – needless to say we had an awesome night’s sleep.
18 April We were up and away by 8.30am on our way back to Worcester. There were some stunning views from the Bloukrans & Hex River Passes overlooking the valleys below. We arrived back in good time early afternoon and Lina & Kenny who own the guest house (which is like our home away from home) were there to welcome us back. Kenny moved all the vehicles around so that we could park our huge rig inside the gate – it measures around 13 meters all up! So back in Worcester and Martin seems to have a list the length of his arm of things to do so it will be off early in the morning to the Bushwakka factory to get it started.
11 April We got up and Martin felt a lot better which was great news so we had a quick breakfast and headed off to Augrabies Falls National Park around 8.30am. Fortunately we can exit the park from a different gate – it is always heaps nicer to be able to travel different roads each time if possible. All the roads around this region are very good gravel, but talk about dust – phew somehow or other it is managing to get in the car somewhere we will have to try and find out where to fix the problem. A good drive up to Augrabies and I never knew that it was such a huge industry in raisins in this area. There are literally thousands of grape vines and it appears mainly for raisins. Apparently it is a very big export business in the region. There are also a few vineyards in amongst the raisin farms.
We got to the park gate at around 1-2 o’clock quickly checked in and paid and then were off to the campsite to choose our spot. We were staying for 2 nights and it is a lot hotter up here getting to around 33 degrees in the hottest part of the day. We found a great spot under a lovely big tree which shaded us from the sun almost all day – terrific! You have to be quick to get the good shady spots in the game parks here in South Africa. It is always funny to see everyone coming in and choosing their spots – can take a good 10 minutes or so to both agree on where to camp! We decided to have a big sort out of our clothes as we were both carrying around far too many and some things we knew we would never wear again. At last we could finally put all of our clothes into the drawers provided for them and we will give all the discarded ones to the staff at Bushwakka on our return. We had a lovely evening, nice meal, good drinks and company – very relaxing; at last we feel that we are finally on holiday again.
12 April We had a wonderful sleep and got up early for breakfast. Time to check out the falls; apparently back in February this year they had very good rains and the falls were flooded quite a bit. A lot of the viewing points were closed to too much water and being too dangerous. We made our way towards Reception which is close to where the main part of the falls are and came upon 3 klipspringer grazing around the verandah – very lovely you don’t often manage to get this close to these guys so was super to get some nice close up photos. Even though we arrived almost 2 months after the flood there was still a heck of a lot of water going over the falls and the power of the water was immense. We went around all seven viewing points which I might add are very well done. The South Africans certainly know how to make great walkways to the viewpoints in their parks always very smart. We had a couple of drinks on the verandah before heading back to the campsite. I had noticed a washing machine in the laundry room and we certainly needed some doing! Unbelievable, only took about an hour to 2 at the most to get everything dry, won’t have to worry for a week or so now. We had a nice relaxing afternoon mainly watching the naughty vervet monkeys and baboons trying to steal food off the campers. They have became very clever and just wait around until someone makes a mistake by not watching their food for a minute and they animals are in and out with a bag of bread, apples or whatever before you know it. We also had a lot of dassies around the camp which were lovely to watch as well.
I am slowly getting up to date, sorry for the delay in getting back to you all, but up in the Kgalagadi there was no signal for alot of the time.
Love and hugs to all xxx
We got to the park gate at around 1-2 o’clock quickly checked in and paid and then were off to the campsite to choose our spot. We were staying for 2 nights and it is a lot hotter up here getting to around 33 degrees in the hottest part of the day. We found a great spot under a lovely big tree which shaded us from the sun almost all day – terrific! You have to be quick to get the good shady spots in the game parks here in South Africa. It is always funny to see everyone coming in and choosing their spots – can take a good 10 minutes or so to both agree on where to camp! We decided to have a big sort out of our clothes as we were both carrying around far too many and some things we knew we would never wear again. At last we could finally put all of our clothes into the drawers provided for them and we will give all the discarded ones to the staff at Bushwakka on our return. We had a lovely evening, nice meal, good drinks and company – very relaxing; at last we feel that we are finally on holiday again.
12 April We had a wonderful sleep and got up early for breakfast. Time to check out the falls; apparently back in February this year they had very good rains and the falls were flooded quite a bit. A lot of the viewing points were closed to too much water and being too dangerous. We made our way towards Reception which is close to where the main part of the falls are and came upon 3 klipspringer grazing around the verandah – very lovely you don’t often manage to get this close to these guys so was super to get some nice close up photos. Even though we arrived almost 2 months after the flood there was still a heck of a lot of water going over the falls and the power of the water was immense. We went around all seven viewing points which I might add are very well done. The South Africans certainly know how to make great walkways to the viewpoints in their parks always very smart. We had a couple of drinks on the verandah before heading back to the campsite. I had noticed a washing machine in the laundry room and we certainly needed some doing! Unbelievable, only took about an hour to 2 at the most to get everything dry, won’t have to worry for a week or so now. We had a nice relaxing afternoon mainly watching the naughty vervet monkeys and baboons trying to steal food off the campers. They have became very clever and just wait around until someone makes a mistake by not watching their food for a minute and they animals are in and out with a bag of bread, apples or whatever before you know it. We also had a lot of dassies around the camp which were lovely to watch as well.
I am slowly getting up to date, sorry for the delay in getting back to you all, but up in the Kgalagadi there was no signal for alot of the time.
Love and hugs to all xxx
Sunday 18 April 2010
05 April – time to say goodbyes to all we saw before departing Morgansvlei as we were heading back across to Worcester to pack up the trailer and get everything sorted. We called into another one of the accommodation spots to catch up with Crusty, Kate & Henry also Clive & Rachel – fortunately for us Trevor, Rochelle, Eleanor & Ruby were there also so had a lovely catch up of the last 4 years or so which was wonderful.
06 – 08 April –Spent the time packing up the trailer and car around the workers as they still were working on both vehicles. Got everything sorted and then had a lovely meal out with Kim & Jeremy one night and Jasper the next night.
09 April – Today we are meant to get away around 11am to Tankwa Karoo National Park. Unfortunately the brakes aren’t working on the trailer so big problem!! Decided to spend the night and let them sort it all out and hopefully get away tomorrow morning.
10 April – YIPEE we finally managed to get away around 10am on our way at last towards the big wide open! Headed out to Tankwa Karoo National Park. Arrived around lunch time to our campsite ‘Pyper se Boom’ which is a campsite at which you have to be fully self sufficient – so straight back into it with the rough camping. We then went about sorting out the trailer, everything in the right place. It was an extremely hot day and unfortunately Martin got dehydrated. He couldn’t eat and felt really lousy so had an early night. The big sky is fantastic up there – stars absolutely everywhere.
06 – 08 April –Spent the time packing up the trailer and car around the workers as they still were working on both vehicles. Got everything sorted and then had a lovely meal out with Kim & Jeremy one night and Jasper the next night.
09 April – Today we are meant to get away around 11am to Tankwa Karoo National Park. Unfortunately the brakes aren’t working on the trailer so big problem!! Decided to spend the night and let them sort it all out and hopefully get away tomorrow morning.
10 April – YIPEE we finally managed to get away around 10am on our way at last towards the big wide open! Headed out to Tankwa Karoo National Park. Arrived around lunch time to our campsite ‘Pyper se Boom’ which is a campsite at which you have to be fully self sufficient – so straight back into it with the rough camping. We then went about sorting out the trailer, everything in the right place. It was an extremely hot day and unfortunately Martin got dehydrated. He couldn’t eat and felt really lousy so had an early night. The big sky is fantastic up there – stars absolutely everywhere.
Wednesday 14 April 2010
Sunday 04 April – the big day “Leanne getting married YIPEE who’d have thought it would actually happen and what a most beautiful bride she was, an absolute picture of pure happiness. James and Martin (James’s bro) sort of looked like a modern day Blues Brothers in their glasses and suits. It was a little windier than we would all have liked but nothing was going to spoil this day! The beautiful little chapel at Montpellier Estate was a picture with all the huge windows open and looking out at the surrounding vineyards and mountains made it very special. Everyone looked just fab in all their glad rags and I must say we all scrub up extremely well. Mr Bam’s old Mercedes had a new lease of life and the bride arrived up the hill looking gorgeous. Barbs looked stunning as the bridesmaid in a super little dress that only Barbs could pull off. Bill Leanne’s father looked ever so proud walking his daughter down the aisle, both Mum’s looked gorgeous and the stage was set. The minister was very amusing and very aware of the fact that English wasn’t his first language, but he did a great job. I must say that I was glad of a tissue or 2 in my handbag, but what a wonderful day it was.
We had a wee break of a couple of hours whilst the official photos were taken with all the family and it was fantastic to see so many family from both sides in SA – was also great to meet them all. So we either took off to the bush pub or to our own accommodation to go swimming, relaxing or drinking – all of the above I think was the order of the day! Back to Montpellier Estate for the reception and meal. The speeches were fun and witty and fortunately no one was keen to rattle on for too long. The meal was great and definitely almost overdue at this stage and then it was “let the dancing begin”! What an awesome day/night, thanks to Lea & James for inviting us – we had the bestest time! Big congrats also and hope the “honeymoon” went well and all were well behaved.
We had a wee break of a couple of hours whilst the official photos were taken with all the family and it was fantastic to see so many family from both sides in SA – was also great to meet them all. So we either took off to the bush pub or to our own accommodation to go swimming, relaxing or drinking – all of the above I think was the order of the day! Back to Montpellier Estate for the reception and meal. The speeches were fun and witty and fortunately no one was keen to rattle on for too long. The meal was great and definitely almost overdue at this stage and then it was “let the dancing begin”! What an awesome day/night, thanks to Lea & James for inviting us – we had the bestest time! Big congrats also and hope the “honeymoon” went well and all were well behaved.
Saturday 10 April 2010
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