Day 189 Fish River Canyon (Namibia) to Augrabies National Park and Falls (South Africa)
Augrabies campsite S28 35 30.3 E20 20 02.9
http://www.sanparks.org/
Debbie: We woke up early as the overland trucks were all up at 0500 and they didn’t give a hoot that we were still in bed. At around 0630 we got up – all of us rather grumpy and the boys a bit hung over as they managed to drink quite a few beers last night. After some breakfast and coffee we hit the road to RSA. The border crossing was very simple cause Namibia, Botswana and RSA share border agreements so because we had stamped the car into Namibia we won’t have to stamp it out again until we drive it back to Zambia next year. Thank goodness it’s cooled down a lot as it means hopefully we can’t all get some sleep tonight. Augrabies was our next stop. The falls were something of a site but it would have been quite something to see them in full flood. There was not much at all to see on the game side – in 1 hour of driving we only saw 1 springbok and 4 giraffe. The campsite was pretty decent and had very good showers – not only did they have hot water (a rare treat) but it was also pretty good water pressure. There were some rather aggressive looking baboons around so we left putting up the tents till we knew the baboons had gone to bed. Bwana is not so healthy. He is puffing out the hugest amount of smoke one can imagine – black and white. I hope we don’t have a major breakdown now we are so close to home.
Day 190 and Day 191 Augrabies to Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
Nossob campsite
Mata-Mata campsite
http://www.sanparks.org/
Debbie: We left Augrabies and started the loooong drive up to Kgalagadi via Upington. It was rather out the way but the Lying Planet had told us that we couldn’t access Kgalagadi via Namibia or Botswana ... incorrect as we found out once we got there. We decided to spend 1 night at Nossob and then a second at Mata-Mata (the gate you can come through into the park from the Namibian side). It was a 155km drive from Two Rivers gate to Nossob so as it was 1400 we decided to spend all afternoon getting to the camp. I tell you what- I’ve never been so bored before. There was not 1 animal to be seen... The scenery was very much like Etosha so that didn’t help the boredom either as we had seen sand dunes in a game park before. It was also blimmen hot. We got to camp hoping that an early morning drive the next day would be better. A braai was lit and Andrew continued his braai coaching lessons Peter had enrolled in. Next morning we were up early and started the 100km drive across to Mata-Mata. I think we saw about 3 animals in the 6 hours it took us to get to camp – yawn... We got to camp and the boys climbed into some beers thinking that maybe beer goggles would help them see animals when we went out for a late afternoon drive. I counted 6 giraffe on that drive ... another yawn. Back in camp Peter’s braai lesson included how to cook steak. We could see evidence of rain so maybe that is why the game was nonexistent and maybe it had moved up more Botswana way. The park has potential but I definitely recommend only going there in June or July which is apparently the best time to go there.
Day 192 Kgalagadi to De Aar
Debbie: We were up at 0500 at it was a 100km drive back down to Two Rivers gate for fuel and breakfast in preparation for another loooong days drive. We wanted to get as far as De Aar as there was nothing much between Upington and De Aar according to the map. The map was right –we saw more windmills than I’ve seen in my lifetime and not even 1 sheep or goat was in sight. We got to De Aar and headed for the campsite which we found out had closed down so we ended up having to stay in a B&B which was not the greatest for the price but at least it had secure parking.
Day 193 De Aar to Mountain Zebra National Park (Cradock)
Campsite S32 13 27 E25 28 42
http://www.sanparks.org/
Debbie: Today we headed into the Mountain Zebra Park near Cradock. What a nice campsite! The ablutions and cleaning up areas were brand new and we had grass to camp on. No overland trucks and being a Monday hardly any tourists about. We did a game drive and saw the mountain zebra as well as the black wild beast. There was also a bit of a 4x4 trail which the boys enjoyed. Then it was back to the braai lessons – tonight’s lesson was “How to braai chops”.
Day 194 Mountain Zebra Park to Woodcliffe (Maclear)http://www.woodcliffecavetrails.co.za/
Debbie: After a good night’s rest we hit the road for Woodcliffe, Maclear. We got there in good time and checked in with Phil, the owner, who showed us to the cottage. The cottage is set among the most amazing views up into the Eastern Cape Drakensberg. The surroundings were also brilliant green in colour which was so nice after spending the last 2 weeks seeing nothing but dust and sand. This is an amazing little spot – you feel like you are in the middle of know where and I highly recommend it to anyone coming this way as a place to just chill out at for a few days. You can fly fish here so Andrew was not so happy as he had left all his rods in Zambia so could only dream about what he could have caught. There are also some really good walking trails as well as some rock art. At R220 per person per night for a fully equipped cottage with fire place and all you cannot complain!
Day 195 Woodcliffe to Kokstad
WHE.AH.HOME
Debbie: It was time to make our way to Kokstad and complete the last 300-odd-km’s of our journey. Shoo I cant believe that its over! We will spend the next 7 days taking the Belgium’s round the Kokstad sites, up Sani Pass and then to Durban before they head off for their last month of travels in South Africa before shipping their car home to European civilisation. Thank you to everyone who has supported us and our charity over the last 6 months. We have had an amazing adventure and have met so many great people along the way. An even bigger thanks to Bwana for getting us home safe and for not breaking down all that often.
One life – live it!
To anyone planning our doing a similar adventure .... we have a very comprehensive xls which lists things like currency rates, border crossing points and costs, campsites, GPS points bla bla bla – shoot us an email if you would like a copy of it.
