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Both dishes served with nshima, the Zambian must eat staple http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6628.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6635.jpg The small town was founded in 1905, but has been developing as tourist hub only for the past 5 years, and today it offers 2 shopping malls, many supermarkets, petrol stations and innumerable lodges and camps. The offer for the adrenaline junkies is mind-blowing: white water rafting, bungee jumping, paragliding, helicopter rides, safaris, fishing in the canyons. In Livingstone, you name it, and they have got it. Actually the insane over-development has urged the international committee to consider removing the World Heritage Site status of Victoria Falls. Since World Cup the entrance fees to the waterfall have doubled and a parking fee was introduced. The 20 US dollar ticket and the 5 US dollar parking tax are dumbfounding. We felt robbed, and right across the ticket counter there was a ridiculous display of shops selling kitsch replicas of African art. It was like we had to do this only because it was a famous landmark that we came across. It felt weird. We took our camera and walked in the direction of the roar. And there it was. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6643.jpg The Smoke That Thunders http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6694.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6697.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6704.jpg Upper Zambezi is a gentle, wide body of water dotted with islets, washing the shores of green pastures where animals roam undisturbed. It calmly collects rivers and springs, rain making it stronger. But at this 1.7 km long 108 m deep crack in the black basalt, the river turns wild. A dormant beast wakes up and roars. Before you can lay your eyes upon it, you hear its voice, you see smoke coming from its mouth. Mosi-Oa-Thunya literally means in tonga "the smoke that thunders", the inverted rain clearly visible from miles away, as it raises high in the sky like geysers. Immense, alive. The force of Victoria Falls pounds mercilessly, over 500 tones of water a minute strong. In the perfect afternoon light we wondered at the incredible power of this delicately intricate structure of falling water. It balances for a moment on the sharp edge, then it jumps into the abyss, while dissolving in an erotic dance, a thrusting see-thru body that disappears below, in the mist. An almost 360 degrees rainbow, droplets on our skin, sounds of another world, and we felt transported, transfixed. Whatever the price some mercantile people put on nature, we abandoned ourselves to being present, alive, feeling it, smelling it, drinking it. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6718.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6673.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6645.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6657.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6671.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6685.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6681.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6652.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6720.jpg It is beautiful, this waterfall. After exploding at this wide edge between Zambia and Zimbabwe, Zambezi can no longer longer let go, and it twists into narrow gorges, whirlpools in turbulent rapids. Right on the edge of one of these gorges, at Rapid 14, we found what we were looking for. A peaceful spot to relax and collect our thoughts while planing for the itinerary ahead. Free wifi included. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6736.jpg |
Keep Pressing The Button
Zambia 28/01- 07/02
Where were we... http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6740.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_7021.jpg We had arrived here by pure chance, looking for just a place to sleep one night before crossing the Namibian border. Since entering Zambia we had also entered anonymity: nobody cared, nobody gave a second look, almost no hand raised for hello, almost no smile returned. But, unknowingly, we had arrived where we needed to be. We had found on the border of Nsogwe canyon our own Dharma Initiative, another special encounter on this trip. 6 years ago a South African ex-consultant for Camel Trophy founded here Overland Missions ( www.overlandmissions.com). http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_7022.jpg The Smoke That Thunders, visible on the way to the camp. Vic Falls Panoramas http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/pano-zambia-vic1.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/pano-zambia-vic2.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/pano-zambia-vic3.jpg Mostly American missionaries come here every dry season to learn about working in remote areas, where they will teach villagers how to care for themselves, how to farm the land in a sustainable manner, how to build wells for drinking water. The projects follow two objectives: SAM (organic agriculture + drinkable water wells) and LIFE (education, consoling, family planning). Overland Missions provides knowledge, loans the money needed, then retreats: the villagers are involved from the beginning in the projects, then are left to manage alone, with a minimum of guidance. Work is the payback, nothing comes for free. Ana was just reading a book ("Dead Aid") written with the very same thesis by the Zambian Dambisa Moyo. The money carelessly pumped into Africa for decades is not helping. It hurts the Africans, killing creativity, making people and countries dependable on aid, unable to sustain a living economy. Aid feeds corruption and civil unrests. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6741.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6753.jpg The base is quite vast: tents for the trainees and staff, gingerbread-like homes built in Zambian style, a center with communal kitchen, living room, braai terrace, open classroom, an organic garden, garage, showers, laundry facility. Lovely vernacular structures with a minimalist twist, in one of the most stunning places we have ever been. It was rainy season, the regular trainees were not around, so we were alone, with the few staff actually living on the property. It made sense when the blue eyed man who received us said that his name was Jacob. If you have seen Lost, you get what we mean. Jacob is the leader of this community and has been living on the property from the beginning with his wife, Jessie, their kids and their black labrador. They have a 2 year old daughter, Kya and they have adopted a Zambian girl who turned 6 the week we were at the base. The night of our arrival we had dinner together with them and their friend and colleague Laura. So instead of staying for one night, we lingered for one week, getting to know and care for these people who have chosen to leave the security and safety of the USA, to teach and help others. Their work also includes an orphanage, a pre-schooling project, and the list could go on. It comes to no surprise that they are beautiful, talented musicians and very very smart. In this little imperfect corner of perfection they are living with a purpose that gives them everyday strength and joy. We cooked together, enjoyed rooibos and cake at the wonderfully Victorian High Tea at the Royal Livingstone, we hiked into the gorge, shared two emotional Sunday mornings and had some of the most challenging and engaging conversations in years. Touched by the friendship these people offered, thankful for love they shared. There are many fantastic places around the world where heavens meets the earth, with only few accessible on foot. This is one of them. It gave us strength, it allowed us to meditate at our purpose in this quest that has been going for 8 months. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6788.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6801.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_7017.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6983.jpg Indian trees http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6778.jpg Play time http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/pano-zambia-r14.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6838.jpg Hike into the canyon http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6824.jpg Hippo paw. Bodies of drowned elephants and hippos are washed here, the meat taken by villagers, the bones left to dry out on the rocks. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6830.jpg Jacob http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6825.jpg Ana, Sunda, Jacob http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6849.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6822.jpg |
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Tea and cakes at the Royal Livingstone http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6875.jpg View from the hotel terrace http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6901.jpg Zambezi sunset http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_7008.jpg Moon over the canyon, Nsogwe village http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6871.jpg Sunda, Kya, Jessi, us, Laura Then it was time to go. Difficult to leave, this place had become our home, these people had become our friends. Would we see them again? We could hear the calling of the savannah, of the copper Namibian dunes. And this time we knew: the answer to our questions was not here, was not there, it was inside. |
Cooking and Wildlife Viewing in Nsogwe, Livingstone
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Breakfast: oats with milk, cinnamon and honey http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6774.jpg Lunch: guacamole, tomatoes, cabbage raita with Italian herbs http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6804.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6989.jpg Mini-quiche with feta cheese and wild leafy greens. Taste similar to spinach, but with a superior nutritive content. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6992.jpg A Romanian traditional dish that we cooked here for the very first time. We had to pickle the cabbage ourselves! These cabbage rolls are stuffed with beef mince, rice, onions, garlic, herbs and spices and slowly baked with tomatoes and shredded cabbage. The dish comes from the Middle East and various countries that were influenced by the Ottomans have their own version. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6995.jpg Local muhsrooms http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_7004.jpg The mushrooms were mixed with eggs, peri peri peppers, basil and marjoram to bake a big quiche In the vast gardens of the Royal Livingstone live giraffes, zebras and springbok antelopes. Our first wildlife sightings in Africa after the Afi stint. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6884.jpg Velvet monkey http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6924.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6931.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_6934.jpg Hartmann's mountain zebra http://intotheworld.eu/blog/zambia/IMG_7010.jpg The African football cup was underway while we were staying at Rapid 14, and soon after our departure our prophecy came true: Zambia become for the first time the champion! Long was forgotten the only incident: a spitting cobra sought shelter under our fridge, sadly ending up under the blows of Wezee. |
Caprivi Strip & Bushmanland
Namibia 07- 11/02
http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7043.jpg Once on the Caprivi Strip - infamous in the past for the armed ninjas that were crossing from the war ravaged Angola - we got warned that we were not alone. First morning we woke up with what we thought to be elephants crossing from the Bwabwata national park. But we saw just foots prints and elephant feces. Wildlife remained elusive. In Katima Mulilo tarred roads and malls clearly show who is on top of the food chain in a country of more than 800.000 square Ks and less than 5 million inhabitants http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7028.jpg Arriving 2 months later in Namibia at the Katima Mulilo border, it felt like the the beginning of the end. Our detour across DRC through Zambia had brought us in the Caprivi Strip, the greenest and rainiest Namibian region, rarely visited by overlanders. Gone were the rickety rice and beans shacks, supermarkets had replaced corner shops, the service stations and customs offices were modern and air conditioned. The town, chuck full of malls and fast food joints. For a moment we were trapped by the tricks of a familiar world: receipts for every shopping, Gouda cheese, whole wheat bread, chocolate, discounts, air conditioning, mobile network. But the novelty wore off quickly. The impeccable tarmac took us through San villages (ethnics famous for the click sounds that articulate their language). Mud huts were tucked behind a layer of greenery, after all rain falls here almost year round. And when the rains have been plentiful, the river that crosses Caprivi spills over, flooding the fields of northern Botswana and creating a lush water paradise in search of which immense herds of animals march for months: the Okavango Delta. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7093.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7027.jpg Traditionally the Okavango is crossed on mokoro boats http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7055.jpg And the more refined version of mokoro, for visitors. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...a-okavango.jpg Okavango http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7059.jpg We stopped for a night on the Okavango river, in a camp with pool in cage, to protect the tourists from the hippos and crocs. A first sighting of Botswana, where we planned to go later on. In the afternoon we saw a small group of elephants grazing over the river, on their way to the Okavango Delta. Our expectations deceived: 8 months in Africa, thousands of kilometers through thick jungle or savannah, bushcamping in remote spots, and we had hardly seen a few wild animals, if any at all, and always from great distance. Then, the following night, I got attacked by a hippo. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7081.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7083.jpg The story goes like this: we pitched out tent near the water. Rain came overnight, we were unaware that the others, tourists and staff, had sought shelter in the bungalows. And nobody bothered to tell us anything. Around midnight I heard a splash in the river and I went out to see where that came from. The hippo who was grazing 4 meters away, head barely above the water, must have felt he was being challenged, so he charged. I shouted, trying to wake Ana up, I stumbled on her legs and fell over, so she screamed. The hippo got even more scared than us and slipped while trying to climb out, so it gave up, exiting the river 5 meters away, through the next camp site. I thought I saw it from behind, disappearing in the night, but as we walked all over the camp trying to find someone to talk to, I convinced myself that I had imagined the whole thing. There was complete silence, nobody around, how could there be hippos roaming the camp? But in the morning the foot prints were all over the place. We found out that two cheeky hippos do sometime dare to graze here in the night, the idea is to stay inside the tent, and you're safe. We didn't get the chance to face the hippo again, cause it started raining cats and dogs again. We had stitched the tent in Zambia, but it was still leaking, so we had to leave in search of drier places. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7091.jpg Destination: Etosha, with stopover for groceries in Tsumeb, the Namibian mining center (silver, lead, germanium, cadmium). What a strange artificial town, American feel after decrepit villages, no local markets, no street food. White people with 4x4s, crappy Internet for 10 Euro/hour, groups of boozed San ethnics (Bushmen) gathered to beg and wait in front of the Spar supermarket. The hunter-gatherer San communities, under constant pressure from the Khoi-Khois, the Hereros and the colonists, has almost disappeared, absorbed or enslaved, pushed to the limit of survival, the limit of existence. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7120.jpg Tsumeb http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7100.jpg Nambian lunch: beef with maize porridge On the way to Etosha we took the chance to step on extraterrestrial soil: the Hoba meteorite, the largest that fell on our planet; 60 t, most of it iron, but discovered only in 1920. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7118.jpg One cannot walk o alien rocks, so I had to balance while levitating. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7108.jpg Memory from outer space. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7114.jpg |
Beauty Behind Fences
Etosha 11-12/02
Etosha National Park, "The Great WEhite Place of Dry Water", one of the largest wildlife reserves in the world. The numbers are bewildering: 93240 km2 1907, when the park was founded, are now 22912 km2. 114 species of mammals, over 340 species of birds, 11o species of reptiles and 16 of amphibians live in the 350km wide space, dominated by the 4731 km2 pan, left behind after a vast sea evaporated some 2 to 10 million years ago. When we hear the word Africa we dream of such magical places. The roads run straight to Etosha gates, long ago has the bushman motherland been taken by foreign hands. A vast sky over the infinite green, left and right hundreds of miles of fences. A beautiful jailhouse for nature, beauty held captive behind the property lines of huge farms. We saw hefty herds of cattle, showroom-ready John Deer tractors under neatly organized sheds, lavish ranches, stunning gardens. These farms belong mostly to Namibians. White Namibians. Their properties are fenced in typical Namibian style: rows of wire suspended on simple wood poles. A transparent, non-obtrusive fence that allows the eye to wonder over the horizon. Solid gravel roads, proper signage, all is clean and well organized. But nothing recalls the freedom of the vast African wild, all one can do is keep on driving, always forwards, between the parallel fences. Like in a predetermined computer game, freedom is to select the gear, but not the direction. We bushcamped a few dozens Ks from the park. For the first time we had to build around our camp a defense line: bike, rocks, tree trunks. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...bia-boosh1.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7123.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7123.jpg Quick dinner, leftovers well packed in bags and hidden deep in our alu boxes. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7140.jpg And a brief breakfast, rushing to enter the park. The last miles to Etosha gate turn again from gravel to smooth tarmac. Nobody in sight, just bored gate keepers who confirmed our suspicion that we were not allowed to drive inside on our motorbike. Was this the right place? We spent all morning driving back and forth between the lodges that offer safaris and games drives, trying to find a way to visit the park, even if for a few hours. The only option for who doesn't have their own car is to hop on an expensive trip that can last from 3 hours to a few days. So we hopped on our game drive, cold water, sodas and beer included. The Defender had 9 seats, but we were alone, feeling ridiculously touristy with our Damara driver-guide, Ahue, like a couple arrived in search of hardcore shots to brag with in front of their friends. It was an unforgettable afternoon. We understood, once inside, why motorbikes are not allowed. We saw many things: cape vultures, tawny eagles, double banded coursers, helmeted Guinea fowls, Blacksmith lapwings, white storks, red-billed teals, grey go-away birds, cape crows, kori bustards, Bradfield's hornbills, lilac-breasted rollers, ostriches, Burchell's starlings, sidestripped jackals, warthogs, oryx, springboks, duikers, Burchell's zebras, griraffes, kudus, blue wildebeests. And elephants, an entire herd led by the matriarch, passing from their mud bath at arm's length away from us. And in the savannah watered by the ongoing rainy season, a pride of lions: Petrina, the dominant female, a second adult female, 8 cubs 8-9 months old, and the lion, all enjoying their prey of the day, a whole zebra. But we will not hide the fact that we also saw many other cars (rentals, private or tour operators) chasing, along us, the wonderfully free, almost improbable wildlife. The hardest most shameful moment was to see the 40 cameras belonging to the 40 tourists packed inside a bus - a bus in Etosha, people!!!! - turned upon the pride of lions. We must admit, going on a safari like that is not our cup of tea. We never meant to do it, but we dit it. The joy was less pure, the lesson difficult to digest. But we will not turn this report into a rant about morality and the debatable politics of star national parks. It is time for some photos that barely attempt to capture the ingenuity and fragility of our world. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...ia-etosha1.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...ia-etosha2.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7165.jpg Blue wildebeest http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7170.jpg Lion cubs http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7181.jpg Petrina http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7180.jpg Cape vultures http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7206.jpg Gnu http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7205.jpg Burchell's zebra http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7211.jpg Springbok http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7362.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7216.jpg Springbok http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7226.jpg Kudu http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7425.jpg Giraffe http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7251.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7265.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7275.jpg The pan |
A Vanishing World
Ovamboland & Kaokoland 12-13/02
Since entering Namibia, we've been noticing the well marked picnic spots. We could have not guessed then that we would bushcamp in one of these spots, forced by the national obsession for fences. Actually it was a decent camp: after a day in Etosha, we had a table, chairs and garbage bin. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7034.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7446.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7444.jpg Ovamboland, divided into 4 distinct regions since independence, is the most heavily populated part of Namibia. A third of the 800000 inhabitants suffer from HIV. The local government promotes development projects and cooperation with China. Durind apertheid Ovamboland was cut from the rest of the country and is still largely influenced by Angola. The traditional ovambo huts have been "updated": the mud replaced by zinc. One must suffer from heatstroke in those houses, we imagine. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7491.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7492.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7453.jpg Boerewors sausages, grilled goat and ovambo bread rolls, with a texture that recalled Fes pancakes. 400 km to Ruacana. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7451.jpg We took the next pics at the border with Angola and we are dedicating them to the Angolan diplomats, who did their best to keep us away from their country, and to our French companions on the grueling road across DRC. We gazed upon the stunning rolling hills beyond the frontier that had costed us a lot of money, tremendous effort and possibly the friendship of Jacques and Delphine. From afar, Angola was beautiful. And in this most unassuming lonely place, the roar of Ruacana Falls, water thrusting onto the rocks, glistening at sunset. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...a-ruacana2.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...ia-ruacana.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7471.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7483.jpg Gravel roads, better for our knobbies. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7475.jpg Bushcamp with cows and sweat flies http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7505.jpg In Opuwo, the tourist hub for visiting Kaokoland and the Himbas, where tarmac road, supermarkets, beer and plastic work together to push an ancient world into oblivion. The town is a mess of Himbas, Hereros and modern Namibians. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7516.jpg Jeeps from half a century ago, Herero women dressed in centuries old attire� http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7526.jpg And Himba people, surviving in a changing world like a millennia ago http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7522.jpg Kathiriwe: the beaded anklets protect from venomous animal bites but serve also as significant indicators; for example 2 vertical lines in the beads mean that the woman had more than one child; when the woman is in mourning, she will replace one of the anklets with a shorter one that has only one vertical line and she will also replace the traditional palm braids with an ostrich egg shell necklace. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7530.jpg Khawarib We had to deal with the reality: we had arrived a little too late to witness the "real" Himba life. So we hired a guide, bought the gift of staple food for the tribe where we would camp overnight and we grabbed lunch. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7509.jpg On the right: our guide, sitting on a chair made of the packaging from the most recent Himba passion http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7506.jpg Potatoes and goat stew http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7507.jpg Grilled beef in an Opuwo shack |
Kaokoland (Kunene) is the inhospitable and extremely dry home of the Himba, the "red people", one of the last surviving tribes living close to the nature. No electricity, no water, food consisting of meat and milk. Himba money is cattle: the so important traditional jewelry, food, wives, cars are all bought with cattle. The land is not fenced and belongs largely to the tribal chiefs, but there is no real statistic of the population ravaged by preventable and treatable diseases and some chiefs have started to sell land to the Chinese. We spent a day and a night in the Ohungumure village (The Tall Mountain). Here the kral was mourning the death of its chief. A Himba village consists of several krals. A kral represents the extended family of a chief, whose house is in the middle of the compound, while the sacred fire (okuruwo) burns on the axis that links the building to the main livestock enclosure.
http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7568.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7593.jpg The sacred fire communicates to the ancestors and the Himba God, Mukuru The Himba huts mix tradition with any imaginable scraps of modernity, and sometimes have been entirely replaced by tents. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7600.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7601.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7617.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7628.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7637.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7639.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7640.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7735.jpg Totem http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7739.jpg Communal cooking http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7531.jpg The men council, presided by the younger brother of the deceased chief. The tribal structure of the Himbas is based on bilateral descent, that means that a member of the tribe belongs both to the maternal and the paternal clans. This ensures more chances of survival in the extremely harsh climate of Kaokoland. Only a few isolated tribes in the Pacific and the Indian subcontinent share a similar structure. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7538.jpg Old and new http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7532.jpg Ndiri Chiposa, the new kral chief http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7535.jpg The necklace is braided directly on the body of the owner and cannot be taken off. The metal arrow is for, well, grooming. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7574.jpg Women mourn together… http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7642.jpg And groom themselves together… They don't wash, but they use otjize (a mixture of ochre, butter and scented seeds) to protect their skin from the sun. They have flawless skin and wear hair extensions clipped on with clay. In the past the hair for the extensions was coming from the men. The intricate hair styles show marital status, age, personality. Only women, children and married men use ochre on the skin. Boys wear a single braid on the back, teenager men wear two; girls wear the hair braided forward, while adult women have shoulder long extensions and a cow skin "crown" on top of their head. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7647.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7600.jpg |
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We Get Pwned
[still] Namibia 14-24/02
Damaraland http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7803.jpg The gravel road unwound through some of the most thinly populated and driest Namibian countryside. Long before we ever learnt about this place and dreamt of riding our bike across, its native nomadic inhabitants, the hunter-gatherer San (Bushmen) and the herders Khoisan (Hottentots) had been almost entirely chased away by white settlers, missionaries and venturers alike. Leftover villages were scattered in the [insert yawn here for the predictable adjective] vast territory. From time to time a Himba man with his cattle would appear in the horizon, a speckle in the infinite stretch of ochre, white and blue. As time passed by, the occasional paths stopped turning into the bush to indicate a village or the remains of it: we were finally alone, hundreds of miles between us and the next human settlement. This was Damaraland, one of the driest environments on Earth. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...-mountain1.jpg A chameleon crossed our path, so we stopped to check it out (sorry for the man-handling little fella'). http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7810.jpg Above the barren veld rose a flat gradient of blue. Thorny shrubs, tufts of grass and acacia trees swarmed the reddish earth like stubs of hair on an unshaven face. We drove across this sameness for hours, like an alien craft interrupting the astonishing vacancy of the veld. No typical African mud-and-dung huts, nobody walking with their stuff on their head, no women crouching alongside the road, waiting for a lift. No-one. Then the gravel lost its tan and shone white in the midday haze. Luring us to push on, the Khowarib Gorge, where the land suddenly swelled from zero to 1600m. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...-mountain2.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7830.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7826.jpg In the 20s Germany had to let Namibia go, so the country went to join the Southern-African Union. Until the 1990 independence some 6000 fenced farms were leased or sold by the aperheid government to the new white settlers who flocked in, leaving the "natives" no option but make house in the 10 "reserves". In the North there was Kaokoland (nowadays Kunene), home to Herero and Himba; the fringes of Kalahari in the South-East became the last frontier of the San; the Topnaars retreated to the Namib. And on the central plateau the Damara, one of the three groups that use a click-accented dialect, established Damaraland. Even today the arid territory is not officially protected, but offers sanctuary to wildlife: zebra, Springbok, Oryx, Kudu, giraffe, suricates, birds and reptiles. Rumor has it that even desert elephants and lions still roam some of the more remote corners of this veld. And this time the animals that wandered about were not unfazed by our sudden and noisy apparition, like the Etosha herds. The encounter would last only for a brief moment, leaving us dumbfounded, wondering if it had been a day-dream or not. Soon the Grootberg pass forced the road towards east. A jacquard of lava lingered under brittle grasses, few meters high cactuses and freakish stumpy trees with water-filled torsos. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...untainpass.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/hdr-namibia1.jpg Clusters of enormous rocks were laying around in the fuzzy veld, strange toys forgotten behind by some nowhere-to-be-seen giants. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7854.jpg Pass the granite Lego, we rolled into Kamanjab, where the newest overlanders' joint (complete with overland album where we could spot familiar faces like Margus & Kariina, Alper & Esther, the Vidals) welcomes non-African vehicles for free. Our original plan was to take our first shower in a week, do some launder and feast on the famous Namibian farmed game, but Oppi Koppi was to become more than just a pit stop for us, protein hungry, dirty vagabonds. For one, as we arrived on the infamous 14th of February, we celebrated the Valentine's Day for the first time, the main incentive being the specials on the menu: butternut soup, zebra sirloin with veg and, yes, ice-cream! As camping was free, splurging on the very reasonable dinner set menu was a no-brainer. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7858.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7860.jpg And as South Africa was already on our radar, it was time to start practicing our braai skills, sporting boerwors, farmed game and the famous termite mushrooms we had chased in vain in Etosha a week ago. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7880.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7873.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7865.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7903.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7900.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8227.jpg The rest camp was a hippy garden of sorts: prickly bushes, cactuses, pod bearing trees that Ana felt inspired to wear as instant jewelry. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7985.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7989.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7905.jpg An unedited photo with our campsite scalded in the surreal sunset. |
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Malaria Scare Two days later we were ready: showered, shampooed, hairstyles, well rested. We had started to get used to and take for granted all these first world luxuries - heated water (actually running water), T.P., electricity and easily available plug, right by the tent. Long were forgotten our scruffy days in the Congo, when we would save any drop of water and milligram of soap, washing our hands by squeezing a tuft of grass heavy with morning dew. But one of the bad memories, if not the worst of them all, was to come back and haunt us once more. That dreadful morning debuted with a weird feeling in my stomach. By midday my bones and knuckles were aching like hell. At night I was sporting a decent fever, but not too high, so we decided to postpone our departure, to see what was up with that. The next day the cycle restarted: more fever, more head aches… al day I was laying down in my tent, powerless, weaken. The paranoia was on: Ana was reliving the Matadi moment, I was growing more convinced by the hour that I had malaria. On top of all these, we knew that Esther, with whom we had traveled in Congo and who was a bit ahead of us now together with Alper, has been hospitalized in Windhoek with malaria. She had started the treatment with some delay, maybe a couple of days, and she was now suffering from kidney failure, a common but nasty malaria complication. She had been receiving dialysis for about a week and she was about to be repatriated in Germany. Their adventure was over. We decided it was not the moment to take risks, so I started taking Lonart, an equivalent of Qartem, immediately. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8561.jpg Malaria candy, bought from Zambia. The next morning we were helped by locals to summon medical assistance at the newly built, but quite desolated village clinic. They had malaria tests alright, the kind that had already been proven unreliable in Ana's case. I had already taken 2 doses of antimalarial medicine, of course the test came out negative. A proper blood test was available only 500 ams away, in Windhoek. And the nurse, who I can't imagine had ever treated or even met someone with malaria, assured me I was fine. 10 euros and two cute ziplocks with Indocid and multivitamins later, I was back home. And back on Lonart. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_7978.jpg Pain-killers + multivitamins from the "doctor" As it is the case in Romania, Europe or the US, in Namibia not a lot is known about malaria. The country is out of the severe transmission map, besides, we were in Kamanjab, a few thousands inhabitants village. My best bet was to follow the correct antimalarial treatment scheme. So I did, taking my time to recover and rest. A few days later in Windhoek it was too late to trace the plasmodium germs in my blood. So this will remain a big question mark. Was is, or wasn't it? I guess I'll never know. Three days later I was back on my horse, pushing on westwards. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8000.jpg Saying good-bye to Melissa, the daughter of Vital, owner of Oppi-Koppi http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8009.jpg On the road again http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8006.jpg The record mileage was hard to believe, even for us http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...a_brand_01.jpg The Namibian touristic agenda is quite extensive, and of course nothing is free. Lonely Planet has never been our traveling bible, so we skipped the local "must-see"s and took the sketchiest off-road route towards Skeleton Coast. Our plan was to reach Walvis Bay by sunset. The daylight had a surreal quality to it, tempering colors, melting away topographical features that were fighting for contrast under the scorching sun. Every time we would stop for a brief water break we could hear nothing but our own voices: the land appeared lifeless, smelling of heat and drought, only interrupted by twisted corpses of thorn trees without their melted Camembert clocks. The sky was wider and higher than any we had seen before, smeared with theatrical cloudscapes that kept coagulating and dispersing. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...a_brand_03.jpg Namibian veld http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...a_brand_04.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8025.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8048.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8054.jpg It was one of the greatest rides of them all. The Namibian veld dissected by this adrenalin-pumping clutch-burning tyre-roasting road. We were discovering it kilometer by kilometer of rock crumble, stopping at a vantage point from which we could view it all. Rushing up on a blind hill, bent down into a corkscrew like the famous Laguna Secca turn. This stretch would make a beautiful rally stage, negotiating a water thirsty desert that eventually fades away into the ocean ravaged Skeleton Coast. It was rainy season, but rain rarely falls here. All the river beds were dry, their sandy bottoms ghostly reminders of a once breathing body of water. At some point we took a small road, a thin line on the map, and got lost for some time in a labyrinth of sandy deviations. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8024.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8057.jpg Dry riverbed: wide, deep, sandy, difficult to cross 2up The massive Brandberge, the "burnt mountain", towered at 2573m over the unmitigated flatness of the veld. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...a_brand_02.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...a_brand_05.jpg Then all that was left was formlessly horizontal. West, east, north and south, ever the same, only the wood poles with their sagging electricity cables still standing. The sky was smudged with cloud, and the wind was bringing in from the frozen coastal waters a salty smell of thunderstorm. Through the distant rains that were hanging down from the clouds like soaking laundry, we could barely see Mt. Spitzkoppe, to the left of the road. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...a_brand_06.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8083.jpg Then we entered on the Skeleton Coast through a strange field of lichen in bloom (a reserve and national park). http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8076.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8087.jpg |
The cold Benguela current was blowing mercilessly, so we rushed by the swish white suburbs of Swakopmund, the capital of all adrenaline-junkies. For wads of cash one can skydive, sandboard or do anything here, so this was not our place, not our budget. On the outskirts of the outskirts of the town we drove by the Topnaar township: shacks of any description in the sandy plain littered with all sorts of debris, a landscape where mountains were man-made out of trash.
We had last seen the desert 8 months ago, in Mauritania, and the Atlantic more than 2 months ago, in Gabon. We would see them both again, side by side, dunes melted right into the ocean, in the Namib Naukluft. Ochre dunes, a salty crust wrinkled over the land, ocean roaring beyond the horizon. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...a_dunes_01.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...a_dunes_02.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/..._walvis_02.jpg Walvis Bay to Windhoek http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/..._walvis_01.jpg Only a couple of manic gourmet travelers like ourselves could drive for hundreds of miles through the desert, bushcamp in the sketchiest spots and save every penny, in order to afford half a dozen of oysters. But we had been obsessing over the Walvis Bay oysters since 2008, and our efforts and stinginess was rewarded: the mollusks were plump, nutty, with a perfect brine. Mmmmmmmmmmmm…… http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8128.jpg It was already night when we started driving again in the direction of Windhoek. We were determined to push as mush as we could, so that we would have less Ks in the morning till the South African embassy, where we had to apply for our visa. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8130.jpg We had no idea when we stopped that we were bushcamping again in an exceptional place. Then the sunrise was more than convincing. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8137.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8140.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8145.jpg The capital city felt exhausting. From the manic streets to the black township where even the public grill was on the way to become some sort of meat mall. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8164.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8165.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8172.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8177.jpg But we had driven all this way only to submit our RSA visa application, a simple enough affair, we naively thought. Romania is not part of Schengen (and will not be for a long time), so Romanian citizens must apply and pay for a quite expensive visa. Immediately we understood that was not going to be easy: spartan working hours, aggressive and condescending personnel, high fees. Firstly, our application was denied: they suggested we apply in our country of origin. We considered crossing directly to Botswana and try there, or simply cut South Africa from the itinerary. The third day they agreed to take our files in, but only after we payed 85 euros in visa fees and 70 euros for the faxes that this embassy would presumably send, we were informed that we were now facing a minimum 10 working days waiting time for a response. That meant while our passports could be rotting in some drawer at the RSA embassy, our Namibian visa could expire, placing us in an even more delicate situation. We tried to plead with this people, they just don't care, though. 99% of all overlanders don't need a visa for South Africa, they just roll into the southernmost point of the continent. Is this the end of our 28000 km adventure, will we be denied access to a classic overlander's milestone? Will we have to scramble for a last minute exit out of Namibia? We just don't know. We are sad, we are hopeless, we are angry. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8197.jpg Update: a week has passed since, and nobody could be bothered to process our visa applications. We keep calling the embassy, wasting more money, more time. It feels like we hit a dead end. |
You Kick Us Out Through The Door, We Get Inside Through The Window
Sometimes cheekiness and resilience pay off �
The cheap drama: 3 days of begging to get out referral visa applications in (a referral visa is a visa that must be approved by the embassy in your home country), 14 days of international calls and lies, 3 days of picketing the embassy in Windhoek, 85 euro for the actual stamps, 70 euro for docs that were never faxed to the embassy in Romania (who pocketed this fee?), 1000 km of detour to avoid waiting for a response in expensive Windhoek. The (almost) unexpected result: 7 days to the expiration date of our Namibian visa, we got the permission to enter South Africa. We're going to the Mother Town! Hopefully this visa, never approved by the embassy in Bucharest, is valid. |
Into The Wild
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http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8260.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8263.jpg That's how our day begun: hundreds of Springboks, dozens of giraffes and oryx. We had embarked, the two of us, plus Vital (owner of Oppi-Koppi), on what was to become our own booze fueled Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas trip. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8242.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8244.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8248.jpg First we needed to observe the tradition and drink a bottle of ginger spirit, to avoid a flat tyre. At the Sesfontein village joint, where we stopped to stock on the lucky-charm drink and beer, a regular Monday was at play: people were chatting and liquid-dancing to the blasting jukebox, pool was being played with a golf ball, nickels were being dropped in the poker machine. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8266.jpg Then we were out of the map. The end of the road was only the beginning of the journey. We were driving across the unpeopled, formless, oldest desert in the world, the pro-Namib. The vacancy, the remoteness, the sheer implausibility of the place was astonishing. Wisps of dry shrubs covered the earth with a scabby pattern of circular, barren patches, like enigmatic landing spots of some past flying saucers. The average diameter of these patches: 5�8 m! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...mibia_trip.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...ia_trip_01.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...ia_trip_08.jpg These are the so-called �fairy rings� of Namibia, one of the most enigmatic phenomena in the desert regions of southern Africa. To date, the bioassays conducted in soil samples collected from these sites failed to support any proposed explanation for this patterning (localized radioactivity, termite activity, growth inhibitors released by dead Euphorbia damarana plants etc). But the relative permanence of fairy rings in the pro-Namib desert is believed to be critically linked to the optimal functioning of the ecosystem. The fairy rings may be some sort of adaptive response to extreme arid conditions, facilitating capture, storage and recycling of limited resources. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_6491.jpg But this was not the only strange feature of the landscape. Chunky trees rose swollen with water. Crumbling rock scattered. Winds honed lava outcrops. And in this world of the Oz, a lonely telephone, to give a call to the gods. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_6462.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_6500.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8300.jpg This is not officially designated as a wildlife reserve, national park or protected area. But locals know: the place is teeming with wild desert lions and desert elephants, and many other animals. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8307.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8309.jpg To go deeper into the wild, we had to descend into the dry river bed. The sandy bottom was full of elephant poop and eventually we spotted some foot prints. Everything was so quiet, and we were cruising at almost zero speed, trying to make as little noise as possible. 15 meters high acacia trees shaded the river bed so vast that we were unable to see the banks, our lilliputian vehicle lost, dwarfed, nullified. Then the bull appeared, and suddenly the astonishing scale of the landscape made sense. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8353.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8330.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8361.jpg He allowed us to watch, and it was so quiet that we could hear him chewing on bark. Desert elephants don't need to drink every day and their tusks are smaller, due to the scarcity of nutrients in their environment. But this guy was an impressive size and we were hoping to see him again later, as we would set up camp downstream, into the river bed. Looking for a spot to pitch our tents we met more surreal creatures: slender giraffes, Oryx, ostriches, guinea fowls� http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8506.jpg |
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Giraffe footprint: guess the walking direction! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_6531.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8365.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8369.jpg We enjoyed more red wine with our braai, then it was time to have some rest. Lying under our mosquito nets, we saw everything, we heard everything. The sky was white with stars, jackals and birds were calling their mates, the river was silent, smelling of heat and sand. It was one of the most relaxing places we ever slept in and we woke up when it was still dark, when the bull from earlier passed by our camp, snacking on more bark. We were humbled by the respect wild animals had for us, keeping the right distance from our camp, allowing us in their home for one surreal night. And we don't think we were under influence there, it is that simple. We live together, we share, we survive. Of course, the sunrise was just as psychedelic, a white haze filling up the valley, deserts flower delicately scenting the dry, fresh air. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8398.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8396.jpg Tea was brewed, sandwiches were fixed, tents were packed, careful to remove all traces of our ephemeral campsite. The sun was obliterating smell and vision, air too hot already. Jackals, antelopes, ostriches, baboons were going about their business. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8420.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8454.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8462.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8515.jpg Going back we took a different way through the river bed, wondering at the huge exposed roots of the trees, unsuccessfully trying to picture the river flooded with water. Some fresh elephant poop and recent footprints appeared: two babies with some adults maybe. Incredulously, we followed them along, and here they were, a bunch of elephant mammas with the little ones, taking a lovely sand bath! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_6519.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8483.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8490.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_6525.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_6526.jpg With all the antelopes swarming the land, that had to be a predator's heaven. Soon we met the proof: fresh lion foot prints, lots of them, cubs with adults. We tracked them for a while, thrilled, but of course the lions remained elusive, minding their own business in the perfectly matching colors of the veld. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8499.jpg Cub foot print http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8502.jpg Adult lion paw next to Ana's hand As we drove on, the sandy bottom started oozing water, brittle desert plants giving way to a marshy field of tall grass, where another bull was enjoying his beauty mud bath. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8519.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8520.jpg Exiting the river bed back into the veld, our party of three was still as boozed as the day before, but more quiet, nostalgic, really. Our awesome escape was coming to a close. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...ia_trip_06.jpg |
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http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_6559.jpg On our way back we stopped again for the mandatory ginger liquor, but some beers later, 80 kilometers before Kamanjab, we remembered one must not drink and drive. So we parked at the Grootberg Pass Lodge, which belongs to a friend of Vitals, to collect our composure with the aid of several double gin and tonic. The lodge was built in an environmentally friendly way in a pristine conservancy, on the rim of the ancient Gondwana split, among 132 million years old volcanic mountains. But the night was young, the view was stunning, and our generous hosts proposed dinner and bungalows perching on the edge of the canyon. So we stayed. Tempering the pampering with two bottles of red. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_6574.jpg In our so-called Western world, we live far from the wild. We work hard to maintain the boundaries. Some even believe that we have become a species disconnected from the natural mechanisms of life. But in a place like this, one cannot help but wonder, “how could I possibly want more, something else?” Just open the eye into the world, and see. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8530.jpg |
Somewhere Under the Rainbow
Namibia 1st-11th of March
http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...mibia_wndk.jpg Windhoek. We needed to leave asap the only place in the world where the names of Nelson Mandela and Robert Mugabe meet at the same crossroads. After all, we had come only to collect a visa (done!), and to locate a friendly garage and supplier for spares to do some maintenance work on our Yamaha (postponed). The only shopping we could afford was a set of Heidenau K60 Scout. Looking quite solid, hopefully these are the last we shave on African roads. One front caliper rubber is broken, so I cleaned the caliper boots, something that needs to be done more regularly from now on. It was also imperative to change the oil, and the only option at that time was the Yamaha dealership. Huge prices there, all I'll say is that since I put on the Bel Ray 20W50, the clutch started to slip. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8645.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8635.jpg Windhoek, where Mugabe + Mandela = L.O.V.E. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8626.jpg The only somewhat affordable accommodation in Windhoek was this backpackers joint. We paid two beds, but of course we cuddled in one, happy that at least we had a decent wifi connection. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8629.jpg I am having some work done in the hostel yard. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8614.jpg TKC 80, done http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8597.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8592.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8601.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8620.jpg We had had a pretty intense week: Ana's b-day party, not in Cape Town, as planned, but among lovely people. We had also encountered 3 German dudes and their dog, determined to bicycle from Cape Town to Berlin in 4 months. Ahead of us, the rainy season was cooling off, epic cloudscapes still threatening with thunder, but already too week to spread their rainbows downy to the earth. Dry season was nearing, and we were loving the news. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8564.jpg Beer, wine, braai and two joyful girls (Melissa and Ana) http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8571.jpg South African Merlot http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8573.jpg Meeting our fellow nomads, Daniel 1, Daniel 2 and Pirco http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8574.jpg Important health and visa information was exchanged� http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...a_sprewndk.jpg Clouds stretched a fading rainbow above� http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8586.jpg We pitched out nomad home under the stars and at 9 p.m. a full moon cast shadows over the veld http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8588.jpg A cheeky sun followed up the next morning The little used road that links Windhoek to the southern part of Namib Naukluft was supposedly beautiful, but the ride exceeded our expectations. The gravel swirled up across a breathtaking succession of passes, hairpins cut through golden veld punctuated by wind-powered water pumps, travelled by families of thick furred baboons. Wild flowers were putting kuler to shame and quartz filtered the last rays of the day. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8648.jpg I spotted a breach in this alpine bungee, in the monotonous horizontal of wire fencing, a chance, an opportunity. So I took it, and found another stunning wild camp. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...babooncamp.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...booncamp03.jpg |
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http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8697.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8683.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8689.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8688.jpg Translucent boulders scattered http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8668.jpg Months of wild camping paid off: we had become pretty good at smelling a good spot http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8698.jpg Another sunset… http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8708.jpg Another moonrise! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8706.jpg We gathered near a fire, then the strong cold wind forced us inside. The spartan morning was fast, wind still blowing untamed, but luckily the air got hotter as we descent down to the desert. Our first stop was at the Tropic of Capricorn signpost. We were preparing to take the compulsory photo, when a guy on a BMW F 650 Dakar passed by. Minutes later Reiner, original from Cape Town and just returning from a 3 week solo ride through the region, came back. It was the beginning of a fun 3 and a half day marathon to the Mother Town; sometimes we rode together, sometimes we separated, only to meet again for a pie in Solitaire, a beer in Sesriem, or a chat about how we could not afford the ridiculous price for a safari in the famous Dead Vlei (another park forbidden to motorbikes). The gravel roads were excellent, wide and empty, only vast herds of hundreds of zebras, springboks, oryx, giraffes and ostriches shared them with us. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8739.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8753.jpg Far from the Ecuator, memories of Sahara also lingered http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8761.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8798.jpg Riders understand each other: the gravel was fair, the sky deep, the rain threatened to come. But we rev our bikes into the black eye of the storm, confident that we would find over the next horizon a quiet place to camp. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8777.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8797.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8809.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/..._sprefrc01.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/..._sprefrc02.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/..._sprefrc03.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/..._sprefrc04.jpg |
The smell of dry desert lingered, but the real drama was unfolding above; we needed to stop before the last 590 kilometers to the canyon and we knew had found the right spot, under yet another epic rainbow.
http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...erainbow02.jpg After the fabulous show of the sunset, the morning felt calm and clear: we rode along the scarlet dunes of the desert, born thousands of miles away, in the Drakensberg mountains, from where the Orange River sweeps ochre sand into the cold Benguela current. The massive dunes - one of the most extreme and inhospitable ecosystems in the world - are stingily covered with detritus. This fragile layer of dry and dead plant and animal debris is the basis of food web in the desert. After a good night of fog, it can contain up to 60% of its weight in water, and as low as 2-4% during the day. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8867.jpg Reiner http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8890.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_6607.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_6594.jpg A few hours of non-stop riding later we had arrived at the last turn towards our last Namibian target. Which we celebrated with the last couple of beers with Reiner. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8912.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8914.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8924.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8930.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8938.jpg Crisp Windhoek Lager, another tank filled and another stretch of gravel to the second largest canyon in the world and the largest in Africa. Fish River Canyon opened below into a gigantic dolomite ravine, some 160 km long, up to 27 km wide and 550 metres deep. The river, 650 million years old, cuts intermittently into the dry, stony plateau, sparsely covered with drought-resistant plants. But it was the end of summer, so only a few long narrow pools still lingered. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8969.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/...ibia_frc01.jpg We spend a bit too much time gazing into the canyon, witting for the sun to set, snacking on a brief dinner. Setting off in the already deep darkness, we knew it was too late to reach our meeting point with Reiner. Riding at low visibility avoiding the wildlife proved quite demanding, so soon after we could exit the protected area we stopped to set camp. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8988.jpg A lonely, romantic place, only the jackals kept calling into the night http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_8995.jpg The last sunrise in Namibia. The next one would happen on South African territory, where we were about to proudly set a record, driving the first motorbike from Bucharest to Cape Town. Kilometer by kilometer the sheer rock faded away into an infinite moonscape. It was the end of the world. Blue, flat, an artificial-looking sky floated upon an even stranger papier-m�ch� of sand and brittle gravel. Was that the right way? How could that surreal nothingness become something again? http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/..._sprersa01.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_9007.jpg But suddenly we saw the tarmac snake, a cruel, perfect cut across the desert, leading straight to one of the most important borders, the one that separates black, vernacular Africa from the African America. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/namibia/IMG_9017.jpg We had butterflies in our stomach: we would soon cross, after nine months as intense as nine lives, into South Africa. After the fundamental Mauritania - Mali, Benin - Nigeria and DRC Zambia frontiers, we ventured again, full throttle, into the unknown. |
Bucharest to Cape Town
We're in Cape Town, after a marathon from the Namibian capital: 84 hours and 1900 kilometers. Finally the first Romanian nomads arrived by bike in South Africa. The yellow moon, the original moon, shone ghostly upon the town and upon two oceans. We're halfway, or maybe just at the beginning, of an incredible adventure that's been going for over nine months, that we've been dreaming about for a lifetime.
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Flash Forward
Stay tuned for the continuation of Into The World
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The End of The Endless Summer
Cape Town 11- 21/03 http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/pano_rsa_sprect01.jpg The last border of the first part of our Africa tour proved to be the easiest. West Africa was now behind us, next there were the South African subcontinent and the presumable easier East Africa. More tarmac and more fences ahead, less freedom, no more random wild camping, but more untapped wilderness and many unknowns. After the sharp looking immigration officer ruined yet another page of Ana's beaten passport, we were in. No taxes, no bull****. The only direction we were given was to use the "white people exit". It was the first bell to ring. Next, we needed to retire some money, fill up the tank and replenish our food supplies. That was going to be a long day: Reiner was already far ahead of us, but his example had inspired us to do the same and ride all the way to Cape Town no matter what. Over 800 kilometers that is, but 100% exceptionally good tarmac. Our pit stop happened to be in Springbok. On a Sunday, the sleepy little town looked like a life-size papier-m�ch� model. All crisp edges, bright colors, wind sweeping brittle grass on empty streets in the milky haze of early morning. At any turn we would expect to see people swarming out of this Trojan horse. But we were alone. We rode about the ghostly assembly of houses and supermarkets Everything looked brand new, like an experimental settlement implanted in the bony mountain. It soon became evident that we were subject to a different kind of illusion, one more subtle than a deus-ex-machina. The illusion of simple, perfect life in a provincial town. Springbok was our second warning. Corporate power and consumerism were about to assume dominance to our everyday world. But for the moment, we couldn't be bothered with that. Out of Springbok we were giving our Tenere a beating on the thrilling roads that wind through Namaqualand. After the adrenaline-pumping race, the road became smoother and shy. Namaqualand is a top destination for flower watching. In full bloom, this daisy paradise must be mesmerizing. As we arrived at summer's end, the flowers had shed their bright petals months ago. The spring glory was gone. The curvy field was blanketed in dry grasses. And the sun shone surgically precise over this charming geometry. The ride started in high pitch, thrusting across a hefty chink of rock, a solitary giant in a surreal, empty landscape. The air was filled with dense colors that blurred our perspective. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/pano_rsa_sprect02.jpg At a red light, we received the first proof of the proverbial Capetonian hospitality. Charl and Carla, a young couple waiting alongside in their car curiously inquired about the language we were speaking. Our story appeared to interest them, and at the next stop we met again. This time we exchanged phone numbers and the promise to hang out or braai together in the upcoming days. Hours later we were feeling exhausted by the long drive, having to make seldom stops for refreshment. We had eaten breakfast in a fast food joint in Springbok and lunch from our supplies in a gas station somewhere. All we had to do is hang on and keep pushing. In Citrusdaal we received a second offer to overnight, from a local family who happened to spot us while filling up with petrol at the Total. We kindly declined, but what a good feeling that gave us! We had arrived in South Africa quite battered and we planned to speed up our pace. Already the journey to there took us 3 months more than the original 6 we had allowed. And our financial resources were ever dwindling. So the idea was to exit South Africa in less than 3 weeks. But the first encounters invited for a more lengthy stay. We arrived at the outskirts of suburban Cape Town by night. But this was a whole different ball game than the other 19 countries we had visited so far. Fancy saloon-shiny cars were speeding by, navigating a well appointed infrastructure. There were persistent, well designed directions everywhere and the highway was flushed with lights. The city was a patch of twinkles, beyond which we guessed in the darkness that filled the horizon the Atlantic ocean. The full moon was up. We had finished the first half of our African adventure. The mud, sweat and tears in the Congo were now yesterday's news. The following morning, at 6.30 a.m., we woke up to start packing, only to find ourselves surrounded by walls. We had machines to cook breakfast and brew tea for us and hot water was again at the press of a button. We were staying for the next week in Hout Bay, with Iulia and her capetonian boyfriend Zak. Iulia is a Romanian girl who has come to live in Cape Town 4 months ago and who discovered our blog and had the generosity and inspiration of inviting us over. In the coming days we would discover that we share many quirky habits and a common passion for food. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9050.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9183.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9180.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9184.jpg Fish and chips at a Capetonian legend http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9054.jpg Hout Bay http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9056.jpg No comment http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9062.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9071.jpg Seals love basking in the sun on these shores http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9088.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9108.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9116.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9114.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9170.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9176.jpg The sheer scale of Cape Town started to gradually down on us as the days passed. We had arrived in the night, and all we could make of it was the fragrant smell of pine trees to Kirstenbosch and the scintillating downtown under the huge full moon. Hout Bay, our home for the week, is one of the pouchiest, most chilled areas of the town: low rise residential developments, but mostly sunny villas tucked along a gentle bay. People walk barefoot even to the shopping mall and their dogs roam the beaches sometimes unaccompanied, accustomed to enjoy the odd pat and cuddle from the tourists or any animal lover really. We were lured by this peace and epicurean, holiday-village life. The drive to town was even more intoxicating. The perfectly smooth tarmac was wrapped in heart-pumping curves: on one side the crisp mountain was splitting clouds, on the other the cold surf pounded white sandy beaches. Loud sun, fresh air, we felt high with enjoyment. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/pano_rsa_hbharbour.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9258.jpg The first thing that jolted us back into the reality of a modern metropolis was the traffic: we were feeling more at risk in this dandiest city of the continent than in the deepest bush of the Congo. The city has a population comparable to Bucharest, but it is scattered on a huge area. Most locals reside in single-family homes in the suburbs, the business district and the industrial port are located north of Lion's Head, in Table Bay. To the south there are several national parks with exhilarating hikes and the iconic Table Mountain, covered in a layer of intricately beautiful fynboss. The s****iest properties and the trendiest al-frescos line the Atlantic Western coast, especially in Camp's Bay and Clifton, but also in Hout Bay and Seapoint. To regulate traffic both in DT and in the residential neighborhoods, Cape Town has employed an original solution: STOP signs instead of red lights, and we must vouch that it's one that works. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9401.jpg |
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http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9428.jpg We had lots of business to cater for: passport pages running out and a bike in need of spare parts. We payed a visit to the Romanina Consulate and the welcome was beyond any expectations. The Consul, Mr. Silviu Rogobete, made substantial efforts to offer us the best solution to be able to continue our tour of Africa, while his wife kindly entertained us with cake and quick bites. We may not have many diplomatic missions in Africa, but the ones we visited are top notch. Thank you, Silviu! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9045.jpg Thanks to a tip from Charl, a fellow Capetonian advrider, we arrived at Trac Mac, a friendly and well appointed service and fitting centre. Remember our enigmatic clutch slip that has been bugging us since Windhoek. Well, the synthetic Bel Ray 20W50 was the culprit (thanks to the questionable customer service of Yamaha Windhoeak): I switched back to Motul 5100 10W40 and the clutch works. After a quick assessment we also concluded that unfortunately the chain we fitted in Lubumbashi (DRC) must be changed, after only 6000 km: already 2 (two!) security clips had fallen off and again there was a lot of wear around the connection link was damaged. This time I went for a riveted connection link with a DID X-Ring. Time to change sprockets (after only 10k, because I had to fit them with an old chain in Matadi and because most of this mileage was off road) and brake pads also. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9262.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9266.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9269.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9276.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9280.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9282.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9288.jpg The rest of the week we chilled. We had fun playing a game that we used to wrongfully dismiss for being commercial and stupid: Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Especially for Iulia's b-day. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9710.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9714.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9718.jpg And hanged out with Charl and Carla at the legendary Blue Peter and a farmers' market, sampling local olives, olive oil, wine and biltong. The evening we braid and finally stayed over their chic crib, decorated in French country style. They are talented, sporty and ridiculously attractive people. Charl is an entrepreneur and Carla recently started a photography venture, have a look here: link facebook http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9294.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9289.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9293.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9324.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9340.jpg Braai After 10 days we moved to a 'surf house' in Table View, which is exactly what the name says: a house where the kitchen, living room and toilets are shared spaces, whilst several rooms and garden cottages are rented out to long term vacationers. This was 'Endless Summer': a place located in a very quiet residential area, 200 meters from the beach with the best view of the iconic mountain. The locals have a cool name for the daily show of cloudscapes creeping on top of the flat rock: Table Cloth. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9461.jpg The business relies on word of mouth to attract the aficionados of some of the coolest water sports around. People from the Netherlands, Norway, France, Switzerland and the UK are flocking here in summer to surf, SUP, kite surf and windsurf. They stay anywhere between a couple of weeks to season-long terms, spending their holidays in the cold crisp waves, or enjoying other cool stuff that Cape Town and South Africa have to offer. Safaris, game drives, cage diving with great white sharks, seal snorkeling or diving, paragliding, skydiving, bungee jumping. Or wine tasting, hiking trips, or clubbing on Long Street, where party buses arrive loaded with old and young sardined together high on booze and imported weed. BTW, the dudes who appear to be selling clothing hangers at junctions, are actually in a different kind of business. It's all good fun, but it comes at a substantial cost, way beyond our budget. We felt apprehensive about moving in this fun hub, fearing that the temptation would be too big, that we would get sucked into it. But the price of fun kept us at bay. Regrets that we couldn't enjoy the opportunity to discover some fantastic sports aside, we had to remember we were on a mission to overland. Already we had arrived there with our budget in shambles, butchered by systematic visa problems, DHL fees and enormous import duties for parts. And for the last 5 weeks we had been struggling to cope with the high costs of living in Namibia and South Africa, while still trying to enjoy some of the good stuff available. We ended up staying longer: the magic flowed, we enjoyed cooking, relaxing in a real bed, reading books, updating our CVs and scouting for jobs in SA or elsewhere, thinking about the future and how we can solve our immediate financial problems. The long, tapering breath of Friday braai fire became a catalyst for sharing stories and making friends. |
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http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9462.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9475.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9483.jpg Sheree, the godmother of this joint And how did we feel to be the first people to travel by motorbike from Bucharest to Cape Town? Well, it didn't feel like quite an achievement. Last June it was too vast to grasp, now it was too full of memories to summarize in a few words. The innumerable hours of riding, the peaceful nights wild camping, the freedom, the fragrant dawns, the breakdowns, the weeks of living and sharing everything with the French family, it all needs time and space to sunk in, to become real. I guess we felt pleased with ourselves. Whatever would happen next, we knew now something that should have been evident before we even begun to plan this journey, something that we should all know: we can do anything we truly want to do. |
Edge of Africa
Cape Town - Cape Agulhas 01- 10/04 http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/ruta_cttobdrp.jpg The first men who ventured into the southern seas were spellbound by the wild beauty of the peninsula: flowers, herbs, woods, elephants, hippos. Since the advent of pastoralists, the original peninsular Khoi vanished, the wild herds were wiped out and much of the endemic vegetation has been uprooted to make place for industrial and residential developments. But the city, one of the world's few, like Rio and Hong Kong, that enjoy an exceptional geography, has kept its charm. We almost grew roots in Cape Town. For many over-landers, it represents the glorious finale of a arduous journey down. For us southern hemisphere's most important container port meant more business than pleasure, a much needed logistic base camp to sort our stuff out. We tried to organize as best as we could our journey ahead, couldn't get any temp jobs though, not could we find sponsors, fix our leaking tent or patch the aluminum pannier turned harmonica in the Congo. But southern winter, with rain and cold winds, was an extra incentive to suck it up and get moving. Which we did, not before enjoying with James a final wine and cheese at the Fairview Estate, one of the many Old World-like vineyards in Stellenbosch. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9750.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9751.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0252.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9752.jpg A rich soil, a gentle climate and a permissive law, that allows mixing grape varieties and techniques means that even the cheap supermarket wines are seldom not very good in South Africa. After the gourmet hour, we took a fair well ride in the crisp sunset through Bainskloof Pass. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9757.jpg We took our last breakfast in Cape Town with Charl, who was keeping another ace in his sleeve: the best eggs Benedict in town. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9764.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9762.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9760.jpg When we were shopping for a shared room to rent in Cape Town, a guy had mentioned Clarence Drive as being more stunning than Chapman's Peak. From Gordon Bay to Hermanus and up Gansbaai we finally had the chance to see that for ourselves. The Indian waters are strikingly blue, the shores gently curved into successive gulfs, while the perfectly smooth tar keeps the adrenaline pumping. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/pano...oagulhas01.jpg Now and then we stopped to listen to the ocean and count clouds. Epicurean surfers were hanging out in the frothy surf and life seemed beautiful. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/pano...oagulhas02.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9780.jpg We continued on the R44 to Gansbaai, where we lunched on fish & chips. We were bored of tarmac and running out of time, so we cut it straight to our destination, across the Agulhas National Park. One would expect a dramatic view in such a landmark spot, but the shores of Cape Agulhas are flat and a simple wooden path leads to the famous sign. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9795.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9797.jpg We have been marching to this point for months, and once there, we felt joy, but also butterflies in our stomachs. Where the traveller imagines an extraordinary scene, the earth is flat, modestly dotted with juicy flowers, and the waves rhythmically pound into the indifferent shore. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9799-2.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9815.jpg We obliged for the mandatory photo at the Cape Agulhas, but gravitation is kind of weird around here� http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9804.jpg The end of a chapter, so many faces, places and stories that have become memories we miss. From now on, our journey will took us only north� at least for a while. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9824.jpg |
Tank bag
Hello Mr White
Just been reading your article and looking your pictures, you are using a Hein Gerecke tank bag? I have looked at all the tank bags but cannot find one that fits the 660 Tenere tank apart from the one made by Touratech, what bag did you use? Cheers Rod |
Wow amazing!!! Thank you.
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absoulty amazing photos:toothy12:
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Welcome in our part of the woods
We live in the beautiful Hermanus Great photos |
The Swastica, The Ironman, The Metal Jockey and The Magician - Part I
Quote:
Couchsurfing: Garden Route, Port Elizabeth, Somerset East 11 - 15/04 http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/ruta_bdrptope.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9811.jpg We had left from Cape Agulhas in good spirits, but at that time of the year the day was short and evenings too chilly for our summer gear. I had lost my gloves long time ago, in Windhoek, and my spare pair had been baked by desert heat to the point of being unwearable, so my hands were freezing. Everybody had been saying how wild-camping was unsafe in South Africa, but the fact of the matter was that had not seen a single unfenced spot all day. We did try reluctantly a few campsites, none was open though, high season now over. We stumbled upon some hotel that was 60 euros for two beds in a dorm. When we arrived in Bredasdorp it was already pitch black. We saw a couple of power bikes parked in front of what looked like a cute pub, The Pink Piano, so we figured we could go in, have a drink and ask locals for advice. If you're not in the business of meeting quirky characters don't bother to couch surf in South Africa. Here one must leave their prejudices at the door and step in expecting nothing. Which is what we did, and we were rewarded with hospitality, sense of humor and some of the most unusual encounters. The cocktail nation of South Africa may lack in the peaceful cohabitation department and may not be the jolliest around, but this very polarized structure has allowed all sorts of social specializations that are quite an eye opener for someone coming from a place like Romania. Not being judgmental is hard, so let's go. In Cape Town we were hosted by a jewish guy who works in the film industry and his romanian girlfriend, then by christian Afrikaners, who couldn't be more different from the cocaine addicts we were warned about. The Cape Town motorcycling community provided the fun, the information and the rides into the veld. 300 kays from the Mother Town, in Bredasdorp's Pink Piano pub, we had a bad feeling that it was the right place to ask for directions. Three biker dudes and a goth chick were dressed head to toe in black leathers, sporting army style haircuts and swastikas pins. We sipped our tea and beer while the guys debated our situation in Afrikaans. Nothing good could come out if this, we thought, but we were about to be proven wrong. The guy sitting right next to us at the counter put down the phone and offered us a wide smile; his wife had agreed to welcome us for the night at their place! JJ is a mechanic at a testing facility for the South African military aviation. His wife teaches English at a colored school, and they have two kids, a girl and a boy. We enjoyed each other's companies and stories so much, it was hard to put an end to the night. In the morning we exchanged contacts and regretfully said good-bye. Cheers, JJ! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9826.jpg Midway between Ct and PE, on the East coast of SA, lies the scenic garne Route, named for its lush vegetation. Garden Route is hailed as one of world's best drives. Frankly, we couldn't see why: its basically a quite busy freeway running parallel to, but far from a section of the country's most beautiful coastline. The drive itself is not particularly thrilling, as the routes more a eco-tourism destination, for shopping, sunbathing and the odd celebrity spotting, a holidaymaker and the world's rich and famous paradise. It is a charming holiday area, not catering to the travelers on a show string, but to enjoy the beautiful views, the beaches and tranquil bays, one must leave the freeway and drive many kays to reach the resort towns. We had nor the time or the budget for this, so after a few off-road detours to smell the salty breeze and sink our eyes into the endless horizon we kind of got bored with the traffic. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9828.jpg In 1488 Bartholomew Diaz was the first european to reach south African soil in Mossel Bay. We stopped there in a cute cafe owned by architects, for a latte and internet. Later we asked some locals where to sample the famous Mossel Bay wild oysters, but they were not even close to the ones we had in Walvis Bay! The seafood basket at the Sea Gipsy was brilliant though, if not very cheap. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9834.jpg Garden Route, when it's not full of jeeps. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9839.jpg After Knysna we decided we had had enough, so we took a left towards Route 62, via Albert Pass. In a couple of kilometers we were again alone, riding on a superb gravel road that winded up rolling green mountains. For a while we remembered to take some shots of the stunning views and frigid waterfalls, but soon enough we were too spellbound to stop. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/pano...bertpass01.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/pano...bertpass02.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9846.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9848.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9853.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9856.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9871.jpg The road looked like that: Once we hit the plateau again, we took Route 62 across the hilly countryside that cuts through several conservancies. It was already getting dark though, so unfortunately we didn't get to see much. At some lost filling station we bought petrol and some food. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9873.jpg It was after 8 p.m. when we arrived at our host in Port Elizabeth. Bernard had been following our thread on advrider.com since last year. But this guy was an Ironman. If you are not familiar with what is the toughest and most grueling athletic competition in the world, let us give you a few details. The numbers alone defy description: 3,8 km open sea swim, 180 km cycling, 42,2 km run; world record is over 8 hours, cutoff time 17 hours. Bernard has done it twice, in little over 11 hours! He has been training his body and mind for a lifetime to beat what is generally accepted to be humanly possible. And yet, with this ironman schedule, he invited us in his life, and boy, what a man we discovered behind the iron! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9896.jpg Bernard & Sharmyn are quite the iron couple really: she has also done the competition, twice! PE is the third largest port for cargo, built around the Bay of the Lagoon and the 1799 fort, but officially named after the arrival of the 1820 British settlers, their ships carried ashore through crashing surf and confronted by a desolate sweep of sand and the uncharted bushland behind that. Today PE is - together with Uitenhage area - the heart of the motor industry where the largest automobile manufacturers are headquartered. Also PE's Nelson Mandela Bay is the venue for Ironman South Africa. The wind swept beaches are perfect for an intimate picnic, so we grabbed some barbecued chicken and a bottle of Merlot and hit the dunes. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9885.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/pano_rsa_pe01.jpg The few rustic Dutch town houses that survive have been refurbished as souvenir shops and info points. |
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Malls and recreational areas line the ocean. From this wifi connected cafe we could see street-side african art dealers selling generic carvings and jewelry called 'curios' since Zambia. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9884.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9880.jpg PE is nicknamed 'the friendly city', and rightfully so. Terry, an architect and his wife Dorianne had also been online with our travels for a while and were keen to meet and host us. We shared many stories over a lovely dinner, a far too short opportunity to get to know each other. Hoping that we would meet again, we left PE the next morning, as Bernard had made plans to braai at his father's farm near Somerset East. We hoped on our bikes: us on the Tenere, Bernard on his 80s BMW R1100 S, and 150 km and a prickly pear road side snack later, we were in front of the Avon Heights gate. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9910.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9907.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9898.jpg The country estate is a collection of charming buildings and family memories: pliable chairs manufactured in the 30s for the British army, old photographs, vintage furniture and a lovely rustic kitchen & stove http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9933.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0012.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9999.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0013.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0002.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0010.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0004.jpg Among the family treasures, a 1932 Harley, from a 1137 pcs. lot specially designed for the British army. One day Bernard will bring this baby back to life. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9924.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9932.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9915.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9921.jpg But the most precious secret on the estate is the waterfall that offers an astonishing background for braaing and swimming. We left our beers to cool in the crystal clear stream and made the fire. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9955.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9990.jpg |
Our chilled gang
http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9985.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9991.jpg Avon Falls, an impressive sight at over 30 meters drop into several pools http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/pano...vonfalls01.jpg All that is good must have an end though http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_9997.jpg In our case that meant a trip to the public hospital in Somerset East, where Bernard's dad had to get a few stitches after injuring himself onto a rock. The three hour wait in the hallway was quite interesting for us: this sketchy countryside hospital is not much worse that our Municipal facility in Bucharest! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0015.jpg |
The Swastica, The Ironman, The Metal Jockey and The Magician - Part II
Couchsurfing in East London & Durban 16 - 27/04 http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/ruta_petodurban.jpg We left Avon Heights on a chilly morning, wearing almost everything that we've got. Across the mountain, then through some farmland and rocky trails, the ride to East London took the better part of the day. We reached tarmac again in the afternoon, stopped for another barbecued chicken and veggies lunch, then rolled into Gonubie. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0016.jpg This poor fluffy jackal had been hit by a car, even in this lost land http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0028.jpg A puzzle of suburban homes for coloreds and blacks. Something that in South Africa is called 'township'. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/pano...ownsheep01.jpg Our big hearted main man from Cape Town had been the first to suggest we should meet a certain Metal Jockey. In PE it seem to be unanimously agreed that that was a good idea. So we popped in, our only chance to meet the legend. And the man, not to mention the wife and the kid, were up to the hype. Their ride reports on advrider are a must read. Our encounter was brief, but rich. These people are keeping it real. One day, if I'll have a kid of my own, I hope I'll have the balls to follow MJ's example and strap him or her to my bike and keep on being myself and do what I love best. Cheers guys for the braai and book! We left late morning and on the way we decided we would push the 675 km to Durban. Lucky that the roads are top notch! We zoomed across the picturesque Transkei countryside, stalled by STOP sighs and roadworks. In the background the Drakensberg and Lesotho lured us to future adventures. The sun followed its prescribed route and as soon as it fell behind the horizon a cold wind gripped. We arrived in the Kloof suburb of Durban metropolitan area late at night, after passing by a familiar industrial sight. It had become a habit to reach our day's target by darkness. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0043.jpg In 1497 Vasco da Gama named this stretch of coast Natal (Nativity), having reached it on Christmas Day. Today Durban is the municipality of KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa's biggest general cargo port and a mecca for holiday makers. We had come here invited by the most unlikely family that had accidentally learned about us. It looked like our couch surfing journey across South Africa would end among compatriots and now citizens of this land. Twenty years ago, Martin and Camelia gambled their life, left a newly freed of communism Romania, and won. Today they are living a comfortably if not wealthy life, which has allowed them to own property in exotic places and even indulge in the fantasy of overland travel. In a couple of days, they would be making the fantasy a 4x4 reality, taking the road from Cape Town to Cairo and Bucharest. One of the coolest thing is that their son, Andy is a magician. A very young & talented one. To get your mind blown by some of the most new age magic numbers though, you must travel to Durban, before this guy will explode on the international scene. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0240.jpg Andy's sweetheart, the half woman, half fairy Candace, a massage therapist and healer. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0238.jpg We were received with Romanian meatball soup http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0161.jpg Pork rind and red onion - another Romanian 'snack' http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0256.jpg Romanians must be amongst the few whites who savor African maas or amassi (sour milk). Locals eat it with pap (maize meal similar to our polenta). http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0168.jpg Audrey, the maid. She rents a room close to Kloof for 350 rand/month (about 35 euros). http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0193.jpg Durban has a lot to offer: bustling city life, mild beaches, great surf, hiking trails in the Kloof Gorge and a heap of pleasant cafes along Florida Road. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/pano_rsa_durban01.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0047.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0220.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0222.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0197.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0048.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0058.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0075.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0044.jpg |
Atmosfera urbana
http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0216.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0223.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0228.jpg A funky way to recycle: making lamps out of discarded milk bottles http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0062.jpg The new football stadium, built for the 2010 World Cup http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0177.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0229.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0230.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0233.jpg The Scientologists couldn't miss to have a share of the pie http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0236.jpg South African breweries are world's biggest. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0182.jpg While sorting our **** out and gearing up for the continuation of Into The World we had an attempt to do Sani Pass on a light set up, with just the tent and mattresses strapped to the bike. Even if we took the tarred road to Sani, the ride was great, the green mountains stretching forever. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/pano...elesotho02.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0078.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0094.jpg Epic fail. 50 km before the border I noticed that the back Heidenau had been delaminating and soon a big piece of rubber fell off. We though we would give it a go, but at the border we decided it was too risky to head into Lesotho like that. Figure for yourselves: http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0166.jpg So we returned to Durban, kinda pissed, even if the ride down was fantastic. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0096.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0100.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0101.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0121.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0126.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0128.jpg |
We would definitely give this place another shot
http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0133.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0156.jpg We were lucky to return to the city: the guys at Bike Gear in PE were fast in sourcing us a free replacement tyre. A quick visit to Gear Up in Umhlanga was all it took. We couldn't find another Heidenau, so, taking into consideration the state of the roads up the East coast, we decided for a Michelin Anakee 2. Hopefully we are not sacrifing our love for off-roading in vain and this tyre will last to Europe. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0173.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0172.jpg But a Travellers' life is the road, so off we went. Good bye Martin & Camelia and safe travels along the East coast of Africa! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0272.jpg |
We Do Lesotho
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Landlocked Lesotho (which translates roughly into the land of the people who speak Sesotho) is the only independent state in the world that lies entirely above the altitude of 1,000 metres (3,281 ft). Its lowest point of 1,400 metres (4,593 ft) is the world's highest. The kingdom's geological exuberance is possible thanks to massive tectonic events, that left the land disfigured by a jumbled mass of mineral scar tissue, peaking over 3000 meters. The most popular entrance to the kingdom is via an off-road legend, Sani Pass. This was to be our second attempt to tackle it, after having to forfeit with a faulty tyre. This time would be different: fully loaded bike & gear and on a road oriented back tyre, but what the hell! Tipped by John @ Gear Up Umhlanga, we took a different, more scenic route, via Hella Hella Pass. The brisk morning and the empty bends cheered us up. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/pano_rsa_helahela01.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/pano_rsa_helahela03.jpg The place was just as stunning as we remembered it to be. Rolling mountains, cool springs, rocky steep trail. The wind though was another ball game: it was blowing hard this time, downhill. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0291.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0296.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0325.jpg The Sani Pass is as beautiful as they say it is, it's not the hype, it' s an addiction. Many succumb to it. As it was the 27th of April, so public holiday in SA, celebrating the first multi-racial democratic elections, the place was swarming with four-wheelers and bikes. Many 1200 GS and enduros, some of the guys visibly enjoying the ride more than me, on light set ups and full taps all the way! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0334.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0336.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0388.jpg Our beef was with the wind: blowing so hard that several times I was about to drop down on the loose rocks. It was a bit unnerving having the tour operators' 4x4s rumble and come past the bikers (and us) on the steep bends, clearly less affected by the strong winds. About 2 km before Sani we met a biker who was catching up his breath after the descent and kept worrying about his mates who had already taken a couple of tumbles and were lagging somewhere behind. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0330.jpg 'I'm going to walk a bit" Ana said, determined to take some shots of me climbing anyways. 'No ways am I going to sit in these tracks and wind through the climb!' 'Try catch a lift from one of these cars if you can' I mumbled, then watched as she wobbled up, step by step, struggling to keep a steady pace against the wind. A couple of minutes later I gunned down the engine and hallway thru the second climb I realized that if I dropped my bike in there, all I could do was scramble up and hope for the best after impact with the hard rock. The inevitable happened a hairpin later: the road just too steep and the downhill winds just too strong not to lose traction. With the help of a driver I lifted up the 400 kg of machine and gear, while Ana hitched a ride up. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0347.jpg The last part of the climb kept me quite busy, those were some of the most intense minutes I have spent on this bike. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0340.jpg At the border we negotiated our entry to the kingdom african style. After that was done, a mandatory drink at the highest (priced) pub in Africa. In the courtyard it looked like a BMW and Yamaha reunion. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0348.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0354.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0358.jpg The beer effect took a while to wear off, so we took a bit of a tumble. That left a crippling scar on our left pannier. We could barely lock it now. The scenery was stunning though. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0360.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0361.jpg We rode by some scattered homes almost indistinguishable from the rocky environment. But already some of the villagers are dropping the traditional and very functional wind-resistant round shape of the house in favor of the more contemporary rectangle layout. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0458.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0432.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0427.jpg |
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The local economy thrives on sheep and cattle herding, but since recent years has been gradually opening up to tourism. The operations are still small and mainly catering to the South African market. Here and there one can have a glimpse of how an invasion of large eco-tour operators and big hotels (the alpine ski resorts in the east for example) could change this fragile place and disenfranchise the locals, reducing them to street hawkers and parking boys. While scale economies can bring in significant revenues and commercialized tourism promotions can increase visits, the risk that this will reduce Lesotho's culture and lifestyle are high. Money always has its drawbacks. Some may disagree, saying that it's egoistical to keep countries in poverty just so some can enjoy their human safari; but it pays to have diversity, just look at Thailand, its got its posh beach resorts for the rich and lazy as well as the edgy, remote places for the cheap and adventurous. Lesotho is small and beautiful. It’d be nice to try and keep it this way. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0372.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0374.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0378.jpg People kept creeping up from behind the rocks: blanketed in their thick wooly attire and all sort of hats to protect them from the whipping wind. Some were on foot, wearing the same rubber boots. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0393.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0394.jpg 6 p.m. and still no camping option in site: too damn cold to pitch our tent and quite a few people walking or riding their donkeys about. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0399.jpg The darkness hindered our progress on the rocky bends, but 6 km down the road we managed to navigate our way to what appeared to be a guest house. It had no electricity, but did offer gas heated water, so we enjoyed the warm candle lit shower and dinner (more SPAR chicken). To conclude a top day we downed a bottle of Fairview's vintage Cabernet Sauvignon, that we have been toting since Cape Town, when we had bought it with plans to drink it with our friends Harry and Laura. We were both mentally and physically spent: me from riding and manhandling the bike after each fall, Ana from walking on rocks in touring boots. We both slept like dead things that night, snugged under multiple wool blankets harvested from the empty beds in our dorm. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0414.jpg More riding excitement was to follow the next day, saving the best for last, as they say! We started fairly early, cooked some porridge and tea, packed our bits while a man came playing his setolo-tolo, and by 8.30 a.m. we were already getting into the swing of things. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0417.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0419.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0426.jpg First, we had to retrace our ride to the main road. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0440.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0444.jpg It was good African tar for a while. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0449.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0461.jpg Then we had to negociate 25 km of reasonably smooth flowing gravel, followed by 35 km of sketchy potholed tar filled with a crumbly mix, the hard edges masked by the dust and not easy on my front fork. Then we hit good gravel and finally some decent tar, which made the tight bends enjoyable again. Rolling down the road we chilled out, just taking in the scenery, the day so clear that we could see for miles on end, our Tenere surged forward in the cold air that was being forced through its throttle body. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0470.jpg Long day in the saddle - 10 hours. We spent all day crossing the mountains at between 2500 and 3283 meters. It was a breathtaking road, but it also meant it was freezing cold for 300 km. We wondered how the locals cope with this weather; must be that those blankets do their job quite fine. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0466.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0472.jpg |
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The sun light smeared pink the fringes of cloud clusters. We crossed many streams, sparkling waters gushing through rocky gorges, many towering peaks, many rolling hills. In this stunning solitude few huts popped here and there and even fewer unconspicuous locals dared to walk closer. The people are sweet and timid, only a boozed dude barely mentioned 'gifts'. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0489.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0511.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0515.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0520.jpg Anyone that brags about fantastic fuel consumption and good tyre grip on these roads are not enjoying their bike to the fullest. Just look at this! Lesotho offers more than a stunning ride, I would do these bends any day! We stopped in this place to snack on our lunch, and stumbled in other people's lunch! KFC does have a tight grip on the southern sub-continent and one can find their greasy fare even in small villages. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0522.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0523.jpg Down at the border to South Africa our last image of this remote and fragile country was a herd of sheep munching on the brittle grasses. A few months from now the food will have payed off and the sheep's wool will be harvested to manufacture the new season's Lesotho-wear. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0520.jpg |
Johannesburg
Johannesburg 28/04 - 10/05 Jozi City was on our exit route towards Botswana. A must stop to shop for parts for the second half of our African tour, possibly service the bike (pushing 50K now) and apply for visas in the the jure capital of SAR, Pretoria. All the previous information on Johannesburg spoke of a somber, dirty place inhabited by dangerous black hooligans, something like this: http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0536.jpg But the infamous de facto capital of SAR lookes more like this: http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0615.jpg The sprawling industrial and commercial hub of SA and a true African metropolis swept us up in its vibrant energy. We needed to a place to stay, and after a short but depressing mishap, boy, were we lucky to land at David, Sam & Layla's place in Bedfordview suburb. Mircea, our Abuja friend, had suggested to visit them since last September. We cooked, braaied, watched movies and generally hanged out, enjoying one of the best companies we've ever had. So our couchsurfing stint in SA would end in a blast after all: fun, good food, happy days, a true home away from home. Thank you dear friends: David, Sam & Layla, Roberto and the cutest dogs Vincent & Kelly. We miss you already! http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0856.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0589.jpg Joburg is also nicknamed 'The Gold City' because of the bustling mining industry. We would soon see why. Since the end of apartheid, the downtown businesses have been moving to Sandton, the new posh suburb-to-be, where luxurious malls and office towers speak of money and power. The buildings 'abandoned' by the whites to the blacks don' t look so good: broken windows, squatters, bad maintenance and poor management, but all too predictable as the power transitioned to a miss educated and incipient political and administrative class. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0548.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0554.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0560.jpg Signs of good things to come are evident though every way you look, and to get a better view of it all, we climbed on 'top of Africa', the Carlton tower. http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0613.jpg And gazed upon the metropolis through the looking glass http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0628.jpg Urban texture reminiscent of New York, solid street signage, pedestrian developments, decent infrastructure, public transport chaotic but working http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0640.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0641.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0601.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0605.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0540.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0547.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0602.jpg The famous Smal Street, the narrowest in Africa, leads into the Carlton mall, an engineering masterpiece http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0608.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0611.jpg http://intotheworld.eu/blog/rsa/IMG_0669.jpg We drove by Soccer City (former FNB Stadium, upgraded for WC) |
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