Epic Southern Africa Road Trip

View from Table Mountain in Cape Town.

First off. Sorry for the delay. We boycotted slow South African internet for the previous month but now that we are in Europe, we have some catching up to do.

What is the South African rainbow nation all about? Spectacular Cape Town, delicious fresh fruits, wines, wild game, the big five, Nelson Mandela, ANC, incredible wealth, appalling poverty, crime....not to mention apartheid. South Africa is still suffering from the legacy of apartheid. Once the apartheid government was over thrown in 1994 it wouldn't haven been unrealistic to guess that South Africa would have succumbed to civil war. They didn't, the incredible transition was peaceful and productive. But, lets face it, no one waved a magic wand in 1994 and the implications of apartheid are still very visible today. South Africans are still moving on and making the best of hard times. It will be a work in progress for years to come.

Another issue that in is front and center in South Africa is HIV. Currently estimates put South Africa's HIV/AIDS rate at 25-30% of its population. The implications are crippling.

The statistics of South Africa are a scary thing to consider, but what the statistics don't show are the positive changes that some South Africans are making. What we found during our stay was a warm and hospitable country that genuinely welcomed us and were only too happy to boast to us about the natural beauty of their country and pride in their culture. South Africa is an amazing success story of people trying to put an ugly past behind them. Despite their issues South Africa is peacefully moving into the 21st century as a beacon of hope on continent that is plagued by western indifference and suffering.

From a traveling prospective, to enjoy South Africa , all you have to do is forget every pre-conceived notion you may have had about it. The country is complex and to catagorize it or its people is to close your eyes to the incredible uniqness of the many dfferent South African peoples and their landscapes.

So, forget what you know and follow us into another lengthy picture blog! We hope you find a great close-up of our travels and South Africa.

After traveling south to Capetown from Windhoek, Namibia we rented another VW Golf Chico. This time for 35 days and headed out along the beautiful east coast of southern Africa.

Here's a map of the places we stopped along the way

1. Cape Town
2. Stellenbosch
3. Hermanus
4. Swellendam
5. Mossel Bay
6. Jeffery's Bay
7. Hogsback
8. Chintsa Beach
9. Bulungula & Coffee Bay
10. Drakensburg
11. Durban
12. St. Lucia
13. Maputo
14. Tofinho
15. Kruger National Park
16. SOWETO

1. Cape Town

But before we left Cape Town we had 6 days to explore the city and the cape point peninsula. First stop Robbin island. Robbin Island is similar to San Francisco's Alcatraz, except that Robbin Island was used mainly to house political prisoners during the Apartheid era, including it's most famous prisoner, Nelson Mandela.

Another character of the anti-apartheid struggle was Robert Subukwe, in 1960 he led a campaign against the identity cards that black and colored south africans were required to carry at all times. For his efforts he was banished to solitary confinement in this house to left (the other buildings on the right are to house guard dogs) in the following photograph for around 7 or 8 years which likely led to demise of his mental health and also likely led to his untimely death.
This cave at the quarry where they worked was nicknamed "The University" as inmates hid from the sun for short periods they taught each other to read.
From Robben Island there is a beautiful view of table mountain!
This is a former political prisoner of Robbin Island. He now talks about his experience to tourists. He gave fascinating insight into live on the island. He was soft spoken and very friendly, it was hard to imagine him as revolutionary.
Nelson Mandela's cell, where he spent 18 years of his life.

Old photograph showing political prisoners being led on the island. On the right of the photograph are two types of guards. White and Black. The white guards have nicer uniforms and were allowed to carry guns.
Table Mountain. Creating one of the most spectacular city settings the planet.
boats docked at the waterfront in Capetown
Em's wine and coffee bar...her two favourite things
Emily bright and early in the morning. It's rare thing!
I'm on top of Table Mountain....what's not to be excited about?
Sipping tea, enjoying the view.
The Dassie. Closest relative...the elephant???? for reals.
School group on table mountain. This kid insisted on having his photo taken. Although we think his friend in the background is more photogenic.
Next we went to district six museum. District six was one of six districts in Cape Town. District six was peopled predominantly by black south africans. During the Apartheid, the national government forceably removed all the tenants and pushed them out to the Cape Flats...which even today is notorious for crime and poor living conditions. The Museum is dedicated to the memory of the community that was upturned and is designed to remind people of the vibrancy of a once proud community.
Model of a typical home inside District Six
Further down the Cape Peninsula is penguin colony. It was the first time Emily saw penguins in the wild. They are so cute. Here's mum and baby

Baboons that were walking along the side of the highway.
Us at the bottom of the cape peninsula at the Cape of Good Hope.
Cape Point from the Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope from the Cape Point.
On top of Cape Point. Hmmm...New Delhi...we've been there!
The weather all around the cape is very temperamental.
Another light house on the Cape Point Peninsula
2. Stellenbosch.

Stellenbosch equals wine. It is the oldest wine region in Africa. So what did we do there? a Wine tour of course. This is Emily about half an hour before things took a turn.
It was a little rainy that day.... what better excuse to stay inside and drink wine?
The best shot we could get of the vineyards in the drizzle.
One of the wineries we went to was called Goat's Do Roam. Goats tend to be a bit of a theme.
Here is one of their goats now! Emily likes to call this the magic goat. It sticks its head out of the top of the turret enjoying the fine mist of rain. This goat didn't move the entire time we watched it.

3. Hermanus

A little hungover, we hit the road this next day. Hermanus is known for its Southern Right Whale sightings. We were told we were a little early in the year so we enjoyed the marimba band instead.

4.Swellendam

We stayed in this little cottage. No electricity, just lanterns to light our room.
In Swellendam we took a hike!

5. Mossel Bay

Emily even got waves. Here she is taking a surf lesson.
Chris taking a rocky walk back to shore.
Chris and his surfboard. Together forever... or at least until Ghana.
Square lighthouse anyone?
And THIS is the wave Chris surfed in Mossel Bay. He liked how fast it was. This is also where a rough looking Southern Right Whale surfaced beside Chris like a submarine. Pretty crazy experience.
Shanty towns, in the townships on our drive through "The Garden Route."

6. JEFFERY'S BAY!

These are THE Super Tubes. Chris is the awe struck surfer on the right. How do you get into a wave like that when the sets never stop? Chris got in, but also got pummeled first day out.
Pro's, showing us how it is done.
Top turn.

Sometimes the waves can be a little rough.
Super Tubes on a smaller day, but the waves still keep rolling in.
Every big surf spot needs a Billabong shop.
At our hostel we met a guy named Darren taking pictures of surfers for a little extra cash on the side (he was stuck on the sidelines due to a broken arm). Here is one of the shots he got of Chris on the Super Tubes. Telephoto lenses are pretty cool in these situations!
Our backpackers in J-Bay was one of our favourites. It was called Umbuntu (meaning community) and this was one of the owners, Jamie, with a tiny brand new puppy! He put us on to all he other cool backpackers we would stay at in the days to come.

Here are some of the very small government constructed houses. There is much criticism today because the "black government" is building houses for the poor that are supposedly smaller then the houses the "white governemnt" constructed.
7. Hogsback

Hogsback gets most of it's fame from the rumour that Toilken got his inspiration for Lord of the Rings within the Hogsback forests. We weren't too sure about the tale but this knarly looking bark looks like it could be straight from some sort of Fantasy land.
Hiking around Hogsback we saw many waterfalls. This dog was great help as he led the way from our backpackers along the paths.
Chris is the forests of Hogsback. Frodo?

If Tolkein wasn't inspired by this place, the place was most definetly inspired by Tolkein.
The view from our backpackers.. aptly named Away With The Fairies.
These were the cleaning fairies getting a little shut-eye during their lunch break.

8. Chintsa

Chintsa was a beautiful beach at the mouth of a river. It was also where THE WIND CAME and put an end to much chance of any surf for Chris.



Playin' around in the wind.



At our backpackers, Buckaneers, there was free wine if you played volleyball. As the game got messier, so did the drinking...


9. Bulungula & Coffee Bay

Bulungula is a very special place. It is a backpacker hostel situated in the middle of a Xhosa village. The village owns 40% of the hostel. Coming to Bulungula is as much about the beautiful setting as it is about the community that you stay with. You're expected to learn the local language and all the activities that they offer are opportunities to hang out with a person from the community to experience a day in their life. It was the first fair trade accredited place that we stayed at in South Africa. Emily wrote more about it in detail in her Ethical Bean blog: http://ethicalbean.com/blog/?p=320

We signed up for the women power tour but the women who ran the tour was not feeling well, so instead we went out with a local herbalist for the day. Here he is explaining the medicinal properties of this tree leaf.
And back in his rondavel where he consults his patients.
For lunch that day we went to a nearby rondavel where these two girls have set up a restaurant to serve the new tourism industry. It was delicious.
This is our translator, Viyani as the herbalist didn't speak english. This photograph is his self portrait.
This wood is used as fuel to cook the food in the rondavels
Mudbricks for making Rondavels. Probably about as eco-friendly as you can get.
Our walk back from the herbalist tour along the windy beach.
Back at the bulungula hostel. Wind power and solar power keep this place in operation.
The view of the inlet from our room.
Our rondavel. In obvious contrast to the rest of south africa, there were no locks on the doors.
Xhosa bread made with solar-power cookers.
The 'rocket' shower. To heat the water you light a tiny amount of paraffin fuel. Then wait a couple minutes as water runs up the column in the centre of the photo and is heated to perfection.
At Bulungula, like many of the hostels we stayed at, it's all about honesty. This is used to time the length of outgoing telephone calls.
Our friend matthew, myself and a long term guest at bulungula. Showing once again that hippies like to drum.
A few kms down the coast although you have to go inland for 30mins and then back again to reach it is coffee bay. We came here for obvious reasons as emily needed some material for her ethical bean blog. Although I'm not complaining as the setting was spectacular. The wind had still not let up at this point and the waves were too stormy and large for surfing. This is from the headland of the bay.
Election posters for Nelson Mandela's Party. They have been in power since majority rule.
Massive waves coming into the bay. There is a person in the foreground to give you some perspective.
The headland of the bay.
After math of a funeral feast. With South Africa's alarming HIV rate, funerals are a common scene.
Emily enjoying our first authentic South African dish...mealie pap with stew (cornmeal with a curry stew).
Coffee bay by night.
We were invited to a culture performance at a nearby village. These ladies did everything, made the beer, the meal, sang and danced. The men at the village didn't seem to happy when later in the evening someone in the audience asked 'what do the men do'?
Young children staying up past their bedtime to enjoy the festivities.
Watching the ladies sing and dance was great. There was one lady in the background keeping rhythm on a drum but aside from that, the music came from their amazing voices. The vocals bouncing off the walls of the rondavel was so powerful and awe-inspiring.
The dancing was all about the feet.
From and early age, dancing is what you do.
Coffee bay by morning.
Aloe plant
The entire time we were in coffee bay the power was out. On our way out of town we learned the reason why.
About half way from Coffee Bay to our next destination in the Drakensburg, is the town of Umthatha. The hometown of Nelson Mandela. We arrived too late in the day to visit the musuem as did these two tourists from the US who asked to take a photo with me.
Everywhere we turned in Umthatha there were people having their hair done. In the streets, in salons, in make shift salons made out of truck trailers. Hair dressing here must be the number one vocation.
More government homes uniformly build on outskirts of town.
10. Drakensburg

Due to the strong winds on the coast we decided to head inland to the Drakensburg region. The Drakensburg is a mountain range that separates South Africa from the autonomous mountain kingdom of Lesotho. We stayed at farm that also had a hostel during our stay. About a week before we arrived, the sheep at the farm started having babies. It was Steve's (the owner) job to feed all the newborns, especially the ones that had been aband by their mothers. These two babies are about a week old.
This baby that steve is feeding is only a day old and he was looking much worse for wear.
We came to The Drakensburg mainly to ride horses around the mountains. Here's me and HP
Me, HP, Emily and Shadow
Errr, did i say shadow, I meant Mr Ed.
The horses taking a much deserved break.
11. Durban

About a month before we arrived in Durban we were just setting out from Windhoek on our Namibian adventures. The first night we camped next to Ang, Greg and their 16 month old son, Michael. We weren't quite prepared from our camping trip at the time and didn't even have a way to light our fire. Greg and Ang graciously hosted us for the evening and went one step further to invite us to come and stay with them at their home in Durban. They wrote out about 10 different ways to contact them so it was obvious that is was more than a token invitation. And so a month later, here we were.

Durban's beach
Hotels and amusement parks lining the beach shore.
Greg and Ang previously had an air mattress in their spare room. The day before we arrived they went out and purchased a brand new king sized beds. This was easily one of the nicest beds we've slept on in the past year (Sarah's bed in Perth was also on the list, although after staying with her for two months, towards the end her air mattress suddenly reappeared????)
Emily and Michael, he took to her immediately.
Greg is a tree farmer. To protect his trees from wild fires during the dry season he has to burn breaks in the grass surrounding his farms. At first we were going to stay in durban while he went in land to his farms, but we couldn't say no to an opportunity to join him.

He even let me have a hand at burning. What better way to show your appreciation for South Africa's stunning beauty?

Greg giving instructions.
Greg surveying a successful burn
The burning went late into the afternoon

Greg is a very successful entrepreneur and appears to always be up for a new challenge. He also started a business to build out-door patio furniture. Here is one of his employees preparing the aluminum frame of a deck chair. When things are slow at the farm, his employees work here and when things are slow at the factory, they go back to the farm. He also had to teach them their skills from scratch. This lady did not know how to weld before Greg taught her.
We spend the night out at the farm with Greg's mother Sylvia. In terms of hospitality, the apple does not fall far from the tree. Sylvia was also a gracious host and so welcoming. It was so nice to be in a family environment after being away from home for so long. Thanks Sylvia!
On our way back from the farm to Durban, Greg had a meeting in Pietermartizburg which is large city just inland from Durban. Martizburg as is more commonly referred to is the famous location of the train that Ghandi was forcibly removed from because he was a non-white sitting in the white section of the train. Up to this point in his life, Ghandi was a typical lawyer. This incident was the beginning of his journey against repression. On the statues reads "Non-violence is not a cloistered virtue. It is no impossible ideal.... It is capable of being practised by the millions....It is the soul force within every human being....The path of true non-violence requires much more courage than violence" M. Ghandhi.
Another landmark in Martizburg, McDonald's on Burger St.
Durban is in the state of kwaZulu-Natal. So we couldn't leave without seeing a Zulu performance.

This lady is demonstrating the traditional Zulu cooking methods.
For Greg and Ang's anniversary he bought her a piano, one-uping other husbands around the planet. Ang has put her career as a singer and performer on hiatus while she is raising Michael, so having a piano is the next best thing.
Michael in his swing set.
All good things must come to an end, one night turned in to four but it was still sad to leave. Thanks you very much to Ang, Greg, Michael and Silivia for putting us up in Durban. We appreciated every moment.
12. St. Lucia

We were running behind schedule and we really wanted to make it to mozambique so only had time for a quick stop at the St. Lucia Estuary. Our goal, see some hippos.

Here's a mum and her son (he's poking his head out on the other side of her neck)
Contrary to popular believe, hippos don't eat marbles...who knew???
Be afraid, be very afraid.
Ok so we saw some other wildlife too.


Later that afternoon we made a b-line to Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. But to get there we had to pass through Swaziland. We felt bad for not giving Swaziland more a chance so we've included a couple photos. Sorry Swazis, we'll be back, we promise.

13. Maputo

Em in Maputo
Central Cathedral in downtown Maputo
Art display
Downtown Maputo.
A license plate just for Emily
Rickshaws in Mozambique???? We still miss India
Statue that we only had a fleeting glimpse of on our way out of town.
14. Tofinho.

On offer on Tofinho, warm water surfing, diving and snorkeling with whale sharks and manta rays. Portuguese heritage sites. Yoga classes...need we say more?

Here I am about to head out for my first surf in ages (due to the poor weather conditions in South Africa)
Me up on a wave.
Striking monument, but no plaque so who knows what it is in reference to?
Beach home of wealthy Mozambicans or more likely South Africans. Regardless in Mozambique it's all about colours.
More typical home stead of local Mozambicans
Surf and Yoga lounge, yup, we stayed here.
Our grass hut!
Dinner mozambique style. Very classy restaurant for next to nothing.
local vegetable dish with seafood, it was delicious. Cause em is a vegetarian, she only had beans...
Nearby Tofo beach by moonlight night.
The first day in Tofhino was spent nursing a hang over, the following day were out on a boat in search of whale sharks. We don't have any photos of the ones we found but we both were able to snorkel with one. It was massssssssive. One of the top experiences of our trip so far.
We also were in search of dolphins. When i went under water with these ones I saw a baby dolphin and was able to hear them communicating to each other.
Beaches
A break from the boat
Em was happy to be on dry land.
As we headed back home on the boat we passed by the surf break and it was cranking. I wish i had my board with me and i would've jumped out here. In the foreground is South African surf legend Bruce Gold. He's still 65 and still catches great waves as well as some pretty spectacular wipe outs. He's unfortunately a dying breed. To read more about him, check out this article http://huckmagazine.com/features/bruce-gold/
Local fisherman
Here is Bruce again with our boat capitan and top SA surfer, Sean Lange. Together these two are hooligans, especially in their little blue dune buggy.
On our way out of town we picked up a few souveniors from this creative artists that makes carvings (sometimes inappropriate) out of coconuts

Downtown Inhambane, Great town with lots of old colonial buildings.
View from the road on our way back to Maputo.
All along the road from tofo to maputo (about 8 hrs) there are people selling just about anything you ever wanted, including Cashew nuts:
We had spare room in our car to give Dave and Richard from England a ride back to Maputo (a much better alternative than the local bus which leaves at 4:30 am). Dave and Richard have offered to put us up in England next month and we may even have time to squeeze in a surf in Cornwall! Look out for them in our upcoming england blog.
In Maputo, basically if you're an enemy of the USA chances are you'll get a street named after you.Art Nouveau, Art Deco....i've never been able to tell the difference.
15. Kruger National Park

Having already spent 3 days in a game park in Namibia and running out of time in South Africa, we only had one day for Kruger. Here is what we found

Stampede caused by this young Giraffe.
Black-faced impala
Em taking a break from the Car.
Birds around the rest area. Creeeeeepy eyes!
Two cranes in water
Waiting to be eaten by a croc
Baboon
Enjoying the view of Kruger
Mum and Baby
Juvenile elephant.
Ugly bird.
More elephants...we didn't see any lions of leopards but we saw a ton of elephants.
Zebras in the golden light
We heard a rumor that our niece likes giraffes....This little guy is currenty on the slow boat from Africa to Canada, hopefully he arrives save and sound. There is a rhino for Quinn too, but we didn't find a rhino to take a photo with him :(
Setting sun on the savanna
Outside the park and on our way back to our hostel.
16. SOWETO (South West Townships)

Our last stop before leaving Southern Africa was spend in SOWETO which is the black townships just outside of Johannesburg.
We stayed in another Fair Trade Hostel there called Lebo's.

From Lebo's backyard you can watch the trains run (and also hear them).
They also ran bicycle tours around Soweto which has got to be the best place to see the area.
This is an orphanage Lebo's works with. Because of the alarming rates of HIV in South Africa, way too many kids are orphaned.
Some local graffiti
This is an image of one of the local "hostels" built to house black workers for the nearby gold mines. Originally it would have been one long room for all the men but they were eventually sectioned off into tiny rooms so men could bring their families from the villages they lived in.

Here you can see how small the sections were by the color of paint.
Jo-burg beer.... government made but the recipe is from the villages. Its a beer that is made from the tops of corn plants.

Outside the first "shabeen" which means illegal drinking house, where our guide in the middle, Oliver, sat down with some of the "uncles" who were drinking a little too early in the day.
A few of the local kids. We saw so many kids on our tour just hanging out. At one point we passed a pre-school and when they kids saw us coming they ran to the fence jumping up and down, chirping "how are you!" "how are you!"

Oliver showing us the way.

Supposedly people used to white out the street names on the houses so the government didn't know where to collect rent money. It worked a little too well. Even now it is pretty hard to find your way around Soweto.
This is a famous singer's house in Soweto. Instead of moving out she just upgraded her house. This idea of staying in Soweto even if you get rich earns a lot of respect from other Soweto-ans.
This is the date of the Soweto uprising where students marched for a better education and police opened fire on them.

This graffiti is taken from a famous picture of a boy named Hector Peterson who was an innocent by-standard killed during the Soweto uprising. He has a museum in his name and he is a symbol of the atrocities of that day.On our tour we even got to visit a Soweto TV station.

Chris chilling with his bike helmet.

Here is Mandela's house. This is the house that Winnie lived in for his 27 years of incarceration and he lived here for a couple weeks after he was released. Later he moved to what Oliver called "The Beverly Hills" of Soweto. Mandela currently lives in Maputo, Mozambique with his new wife. Winnie still lives in Beverly Hills.The only place in Soweto with buskers.... Mandela's house.
Oliver looking "fresh!"

At the second shabeen of the day we had this duo performed everything from church songs to Enrique Iglesias to Bob Marley.



So, that's it folks! We have another blog about our 2 week adventure in Ghana coming shortly. We will be home in just over 1 month if you can believe it. See you soon!

Love,

Chris and Emily