South Africa: Garden Route & Wild Coast

From Cape Town we set off along the coast towards the Garden Route, a stretch of shoreline around 200km long from Mossel Bay to around Port Elizabeth. Together with the Cape region, this is one of the classic tourist destinations in South Africa, so we were excited to see what everyone was raving about.

South Africa: The Cape

From Fish River Canyon we crossed the Orange River into South Africa at Noordoewer, a refreshingly easy and quick process with absolutely no fees involved. The scenery in South Africa was initially very similar to Namibia – arid hills with sparse vegetation and not a cloud in the sky – but as we started to draw close to Cape Town, things began to change quickly. The rolling hills started turning ever darker shades of green while the cloud cover grew denser until I saw the first raindrops in weeks. Meanwhile, we started to spot the large Dutch-style farmhouses that are well known in the Cape Region – it really felt like we were back in Europe!

 

We spent the next four days in Cape Town and its environs, trying to pack in as much as possible of this wonderful region. Ideally we would have lingered for longer, but tight timelines mean that we’ll have to come back and enjoy the city again in the future. And we already can’t wait for the next time as this is a very special place.

Namibia: Luderitz & Fish River Canyon

We spent a couple of nights in Windhoek while dealing with our mechanical issues. The city seemed very clean and functional, if a little low-key - a far cry from Nairobi! Having done a tour of the sleepy southern African capitals of Lilongwe, Lusaka, and now Windhoek, I am ready for the quicker pace of Cape Town and Maputo… But our time in town was very productive, as we consulted Kobus, the ‘Land Cruiser Oracle of southern Africa’ on our various vehicular woes and got him to mend most of them for us. So with a significantly lighter wallet but bursting with optimism, I set off with Victor to give him a sample of the wondrous Namibian desert.