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South AfricaThe drive’s OK, the South African Border poses no problems at all, but I’m having trouble changing gears, third being a particular problem. Despite the problems I arrive in good time in Loskop Dam. Driving upto the log cabin and seeing my parents – who I’ve not seen for 11 months is quite something. It feels as though I’ve made it – I’ve finally reached South Africa, and after such a long time, get to spend three weeks with my folks. Tony and Helen are in great form – they’re both looking well, and unchanged since the last time I saw them 7 years before. Tommy and Jean, Helens’s cousin and close friends make up the rest of our party for the next three days.
I arrived at the dam just an hour after my parents – after 11 months on the road, this date that’s been set for some time couldn’t have been timed any better. It feels like I’ve now achieved my goal – although there’s still a thousand miles or more to travel until I reach the cape – Africa’s southern most point, seeing my parents again, who I last saw a few days before my departure from East London - here on my first day in South Africa it feels as though I’ve completed my journey. The car problems I’ve had en-route from Swaziland had a new addition – the steering is shaking violently, and after we’ve caught up on all our latest news I find that one of the steering damper securing bolts has worn through it’s mounting – a decent tightening of it should see me through to Cape Town. We hire a boat and head out onto the dam, the hour-long sprint around the dam is OK – but as it’s the middle of the day, there’s little to see. The most impressive find was a huge monitor lizard (about 1.5m long) hanging out beneath a bird colony.
We’re staying in a beautiful log cabin, which for me is a total luxury. It’s a far cry from the roof tent, the next three weeks with my parents will probably feel more like a holiday than the traveling I’m now accustomed to.
South Africa itself is unlike the rest of Africa, there’s a McDonalds in every town, advertisements are everywhere, the cars are in good condition and people (mostly white people) are well off. You can sense the divisions though – there are affluent black people here – most new jobs by law have to go to black employees – an effort by the ANC to reduce the wealth gap (or should I say canyon), but it’s clear that there’s still huge inequality. I’ve been to South Africa once before, 7 years ago with my ex-girlfriend Emma, so there’s no shock to the system to see how westernised this is – it’s just a lot to take in right now. After a few wonderful days with my family, it’s time to leave – my parents will join me on the journey to Cape Town, we have less than three weeks to get there – at which point they have a train to catch, back to Johannesburg and to their flight home. This has been the first time all of the male Noble’s have been together – my dad, his brother Tony and I are the only living male Nobles – I sincerely doubt that either of them will be having any more children anytime soon, so it’ll be down to me to carry on the family name… Lots of time for that I might add! We say our farewells to Helen, Tony, Tommy and Jean and head off to Nelspruit airport, where Mum and Dad have to drop off the car they hired from Joburg when they arrived. Our next stop is Umflozi game reserve in Kwazulu Natal, not too far from the Swazi border. The fastest route to the park from here is back through Swaziland.
We’re aiming to cross the border just after Baberton, but not before we’re stopped by the traffic police, the radar said I was doing 75 in a 60. Thankfully the cop was in a good mood and let me go without a fine (I think in part thanks to having my folks with me!).
We arrive at the border at dusk – after a thrilling drive over dirt roads and through some spectacular scenery to find the border post here closed – we’ll be unable to drive our intended route through Pigs Peak, and have to turn around and head south, hugging the Swazi border to the main control point with South Africa. Swaziland this time is just a transit country for us, the next day we’re up early and heading south, back into South Africa and to the Umflozi game reserve.
It’s a fairly long way to the game reserve, and the first taster for my parents of life on the road… We arrive in good time, reaching the gates of the park by 3pm. It’s quite different to the last time I visited, over 6 years ago, now there are regular open-topped cars, crammed with tourists leaving the gates every few minutes. Accommodation has also become much more expensive. There’s no camping within the reserve, so we opt for another luxurious chalet in Hilltop Camp. Within a few minutes of entering we’re confronted with Giraffe and Rhino, I remember that 6 years before we’d seen so many Rhino in 3 days that we were often disappointed “oh, it’s just another Rhino”. After checking into our chalet, we’re off, heading out for a sunset game drive.
The reserve is totally packed with wildlife, we’re fortunate enough to see crocodile hunting, albeit a small one – within just a few moments of tasting the water with his tongue, tracking down his pray he’s successful, catching two large frogs at once. There’s a problem though, to chew, he has to open his mouth, which gives one of the lucky frogs chance to escape. Not content with just one frog, the crocodile almost lost the rest of his dinner trying to recapture the escapee. Sure enough, within a few hours we’ve seen many Rhino, there are hundreds in this reserve, it’s their biggest success story.
After a few animal-packed hours and a delicious buffet at Hiltop Camp we’re heading ‘home’, a beautiful chalet, which has more than enough room for dancing.
We’re off the following morning, aiming to reach the coast by the end of the day, so we have just this morning left to drive through the Umflozi reserve and out into the hills of Kwazulu Natal.
We win the rugby, everyone’s happy and before we know it we’re back on the road, arriving in Durban in no time.
We’re in Durban for three days, catching up with our family, and my parents must meet with friends here that they haven’t seen since my Dad left South Africa almost 40 years ago.
We have to be in Cape Town for my parents to catch a train back to Johannesburg by the end of the month, as the clock is ticking, and we still have a long way to go, we must leave. Today is my parents first taste of camping in Africa. We’ve stocked up on food, a braii of course, a few bottles of wine and we find a beautiful little campsite high above the Indian Ocean.
All three of us are in the roof-tent, I have another ground tent, but no mattress or ground mat for it – so we’re all squeezing in together. It makes for a restless nights sleep!
After so much tarmac, I’m itching to get to some off-road driving, or at the very least some bad dirt roads, especially since its now raining heavily. After finding such a road, we take a detour from the too-smooth asphalt towards Coffee Bay.
The road quickly deteriorates from the wide mud track into a single track slog up very slippery slopes. My mother’s a little worried (and excited) and we all enjoy a good hour of hard driving. It’s a taste for them of much of the terrain I’ve driven through on my journey so far. We’re aiming to reach Cape Augullis, the southern most point of Africa by the 24th October (my birthday). It would be nice to complete my journey and start a new year all on the same day.
So, if you’re wondering how many miles it is from East London (UK) to East London (South Africa), I can tell you that if you take the winding, scenic route, it’s exactly twenty two thousand two hundred and twenty two. It’s the Rugby World Cup final today. England have (amazingly) made it to the final. I’m skeptical about our chances, but hopeful that we can do the unthinkable and come back from such a poor start in the tournament to beat South Africa and retain the world cup. Our slow meandering journey continues southwards, small chalets are often just as cheap as camping, so the luxury continues, although there are often the familiar primate visitors.
After buying a South African sim card, I give Sara a call (the Italian girl I met in Mozambique), she’s in South Africa, near Knysna, just 300km away. The next day she and two new traveling buddies were planning to drive to Mozambique, but they’ll hold their departure for 24 hours if I promise to come in the morning.
Sara, her new haircut and her new traveling companions – Anne (from Germany) and Daniel (from Israel) are here – staying in a cool little backpackers just one kilometer from the village. That evening, Sara joined me and my parents for a seafood dinner (and her first ever oysters) in Knysna, the best place in the world for fresh oysters.
It’s great to see her, she left Tofo a few days before me, just over a month ago. We spend the whole night catching up, exchanging stories and enjoying the free pool table. In the morning they must leave for Namibia in their ‘banger’ hire car. The only advice I gave is “don’t try driving in the desert in that car!” Traveling through deserts is dangerous if you don’t prepare properly and in a two-wheel drive car with no recovery equipment it’s more than a little risky. My parents and I stay one more night; this time in Knysna itself, watching the sea roll in through the Knysna Heads is always impressive.
Our breakfast the following morning was just a little light. One of Knysna’s non-human inhabitants took a liking to our pineapple and made a quick escape.
23rd October 2007
We’re approaching Cape Augullis. We leave the garden route and the fertile farming land for the windswept, comparatively baron land here in the cape – I’m sure in summer when the wind is warmer and the sky’s clearer it’s a comfortable place to be – but for me, now, it feels like a very cold and windy end of the world.
We stay one night in a B&B just a few kilometers from Cape Augullis, it’s one of those places that has modeled itself right out of a “good housekeeping” magazine. Everything’s a little too perfect. With such comfortable beds however I’m able to sleep well – waking to my 29th Birthday, and the final destination of this years journey – Cape Augullis and then Cape Town. 24th October 2007
It’s a great day – the destination of my long safari has been reached. We celebrate with a few bottles of bubbly (M had most of it).
It felt as though I’d completed my journey when I arrived in South Africa and saw my parents for the first time in 11 months. Arriving at the cape feels somewhat different to what I had expected when I first set out on my journey on that cold, dark English winter morning. Our journey today must continue. We’re planning to be in Cape Town by the time night falls.
The journey around the west of the cape is full of attractions – most notably at this time of year Hermanus Bay, home for the next few weeks to many pods of humpback whales. In the bay you can see dozens of them, breaching high out of the water, playing and generally enjoying themselves in the strong currents.
After a long lunch and a few hours of whale watching, we’re on our way to Cape Town.
It’s a beautiful city, Table Mountain looms over the city centre, but it doesn’t really feel like Africa, it’s hard to explain, but after so long traveling through Africa, it feels as though I’ve come full circle, from westernised Europe, to the westernised Cape Town. More soon! I promise…. There’s another month around Cape Town coming up :-) |
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