Cycling The Road Less Travelled

Hey folks. We are now back in Cape Town, frantically getting ready for the next part of our trip; cycling in Europe. We leave for Vienna in about a week. Boxing bikes, repairing tents, sending stuff home, getting new gear…it’s getting hectic. We’ve switched modes from traveling through Africa, to preparing to leave Africa. We’re a little sad, but we’ll be back.

We hope to add photos of Namibia in a few days. Hope you are all doing well.

We are devastated. Crushed, gutted, heartbroken, overcome with disappointment. We just don’t know how to get over this latest upset. After weeks of anticipation, we woke up early this morning and drove straight from the Namibian border to Stellenbosch just so that we could go to Manoushes for dinner. Horror of all horrors, it was closed. Shut down for three weeks as Jean the chef is on holiday for 2 and half weeks. Not only were we deprived of his mouth-watering zaataar today, but we will leave South Africa before he returns. Oh the devastation, oh the disappointment. Spiros is just beside himself. How…how could this happen I ask you? But, we’re tough. We’ll soldier on and someday, somehow we will find a way to be happy again.

(Before reading this post, I must ask all potential future employers to skip to the next post please. Really, there is nothing for you to see here. Thank you!)

There was a point last night when Diana, Spiros and I were sitting at the waterhole view point, bundled in our sleeping bags, drinking wine out of plastic mugs and watching six rhino (including a baby) drink at the waterhole. Yet another incredible, completely surreal moment to add to a long list of incredible, completely surreal moments.

This brings me to my point: After six months in Africa, I truly think we’ve lost touch with reality and are completely ruined for life. “What do you mean there is zero chance of seeing an elephant on my way to work? How can that be?! What do you mean I have to settle back into a routine, go to meetings, think about mortgages and try to ‘build wealth’? I’d really rather ride my bike in India.” I’m sure hunger and mounting visa bills will help us get over that hurdle somewhat, but I can still foresee us having problems “functioning normally”. I can see us endlessly flipping through photos, through maps, boring our friends with the same old stories and daydreaming…constantly daydreaming. Absolutely ridiculous, I know. I sound like one of those child stars who eventually outgrows their cuteness, has trouble adjusting, resorts to a life of alcohol and ends up telling their story on some talk show, don’t I? I’m sorry. I have no doubt that we are two of the most fortunate people on earth. I’m really not asking for sympathy here; just making a prediction. I am a greedy one though, I’ll admit it. I do wish this could last forever. There hasn’t been a day since our trip in 2000 that I haven’t thought about that experience. It changed the course of our lives, it “ruined us” forever. Traveling is addictive…and I hope maybe even a little contagious too.

We spent the last two days at Etosha National Park; one the best parks in the world to view wildlife. The photo shows the view from the Okaukuejo waterhole. Not a bad spot to stop and sit awhile huh? You can go on guided game drives, alternatively opt for self guided game drives or you can just plop yourself in front of one the many waterholes like this one and watch the parade of animals come through. Hordes of zebras, springbok, wildebeest, oryx, jackals, giraffes, elephants, rhinos, you name it…they eventually make their way to the waterholes. It’s quite the show! There are 3 restcamps at Etosha, each with a waterhole at the edge of the grounds. The holes are lit up at night, so you even have the option of staying up and catching the late show.

We visited many of the waterholes; the one at the Okaukuejo rest camp was the most spectacular. We literally spent hours each day at this spot. At one point, a herd of 35 elephants, THIRTY-FIVE ELEPHANTS, appeared in the horizon. They walked single file slowly making their way to the waterhole. What a sight that was! Truly unforgettable! In the group were several young elephants and one particularly mischievous baby elephant who completely stole the show. At times he would be rolling around in the dirt while his mom tried to help him up, other times he would be swinging his trunck wildly in circles as if he had absolutely no clue what to do with it. He eventually got bored and started head-butting one of the other slightly older elephants. That lasted a few minutes until the second elephant’s momma took notice and let out a very loud scream.

On our safari in Serengeti, we only saw one rhino and it was from a very far distance. Since then Spiros has been obsessed with seeing the elusive rhino. Well, day one we saw three, day two we saw six. Imagine that!

Any trip to Namibia should include a visit to Etosha National Park.

After I got all of the Swakopmund sand out of my hair, eyes, mouth and nose, we set off again heading north. Our first stop was Spitzkoppe; one of the most unique and beautiful mountains in Namibia. It’s a beautiful spot to watch a sunset so we decided to pitch up tent there. While walking around the campsite scouting for photos, Diana found several large paw prints. From what we understand, there are leopards in the area. We’re not sure they were leopard prints, but I suppose it could be possible. (Don’t worry. We’re perfectly safe in our tents; leopards can’t work the zippers. Sure, they may try, but eventually they give up in utter frustration and walk away feeling completely defeated,…probably take out their aggravations and feelings of inadequacy on some poor warthog…poor little warthog ).

Other attractions included the Petrified Forest near Khorixas and Twyfelfontein; World Heritage site and one of the most impressive collection of rock engravings in Africa. Both are well worth a visit but the petroglyphs at Twyfelfontein are particularly impressive.

I feel like I have learnt a lot travelling through Africa these past six months. I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on things, think about life and feel like I have attained a certain amount of wisdom that I now wish to share with all of you. Here goes:

“If you’re going to barrel down a sand dune, head-first, at 75km/hr, it’s best to keep your mouth closed.”

See what I mean. You’re welcome. Tell your friends.

We left Sossusvlei, slowly inching our way north to Swakopmund. Again, the scenery was stunning. Again, we kept getting out of the car to enjoy the landscape and take photos. One particular 3 km stretch of road took well over an hour. I’m not kidding! By the time it started to get dark, we were miles away from our intended destination, miles away from any town or established campground. We were in the middle of nowhere.
So, we pulled off the road, parked Lester and set up camp in this beautiful desert “nowhere”. Unforgettable! We gazed at the stars, talked for hours by moonlight and thanked the powers that be for our great fortune. No doubt, years from now we will be sitting together with a bottle of wine, saying “Remember that night in Namibia, remember the dunes, remember…”. We have so many unbelievable moments to cherish. Africa has been very good to us.

June 20th, 2008. For the first time ever, 3 Canadians (2 females and one male) were escorted off the Sossusvlei sand dunes in Namibia today. The towering red sand dunes of Sossusvlei are one of Namibia’s most infamous and popular attractions. After entering the gates at Sesriem, visitors drive the 65 km drive stretch to Sossusvlei and Dead Vlei. From there, a shuttle service is provided for the final 5km which is accessible only by 4X4. The trio, (Diana, Spiros and Maria) raised concern when they hadn’t returned to the shuttle point hours after all other visitors had come and gone, despite being the first ones into the park. “Most visitors only spend a few hours in the dunes”, said John the distraught shuttle driver who eventually decided to go in after them. “I’ve never had to do that before”, he added. He found them on top of one the dunes, frantically running back and forth taking photos and screeching like school girls. At that point, an exasperated John screamed out “Okay, let’s go!” and tried to shoo them off the dune. It was at that point that the thin one, (known to some as “the Veggie”) reportedly tried to make a break for it. The other two soon tried to follow suit. “The Veggie” would have made it had she not turned back, Snicker bar in hand, to help the slightly lethargic female who was complaining of low blood sugar. Even after being loaded back into the shuttle like naughty school children, the culprits still repeatedly asked John to stop the shuttle for “just one last photo”. “They had this crazed look in their eyes” said John, “It was a little scary”. Exhausted, frustrated and slightly afraid, the driver eventually let them out of the shuttle a few 100m from their car. “I was hungry and just wanted to see my family again” concluded John while shaking his head. The trio was later spotted at the Sesriem campground, complaining about full memory cards and dead camera batteries.

With Fish River Canyon under our belts, we packed up Lester and set off for the infamous Sossusvlei Sand Dunes. The distance was a few hundred km. Even taking into consideration the gravel roads, the trip should have taken 1 day; it took 3. We didn’t get flats, didn’t run out of gas or run into other car trouble…the problem was the landscape (in particular the stretch between Aus and Sesriem). It was just way too pretty. Actually, “incredibly stunning desert scenery” would be more accurate. I know this sounds positively corny, but at every bend we would each gasp and say: “Wow, look at that!”. Then we would get out of the car and Spiros and Diana would run up and down the road taking photo after photo.

We’re convinced the only reason the TDA didn’t take us down these roads had to be because they knew they just wouldn’t be able to get Spiros, never mind Diana, into camp by nightfall. They both claim they would have hid somewhere, ditched the sweep and completely given up on getting to Cape Town by May 10th. If the landscape wasn’t incredible enough, we also stopped off at a lookout for wild horses. As we approached, we spotted one horse, then two, then suddenly we saw hundreds of them. What a sight! Beautiful animals; we could have stayed all day.

Namibia is a photographer’s dream, evidenced by the fact that we literally stopped the car every few 100m so that Spiros and Diana could take more photos. I’m not a photographer by any stretch of the imagination, but I loved soaking up the scenery and love looking at the photos, so I didn’t mind the stops at all. Nevertheless, they didn’t want me to get bored, so they regularly sedated me with massive amounts of caffeine and sweets. Sniff…Its nice when people know you so well. (BTW, I have considered reducing the number of times I refer to my weakness for food in the blog, but “I gots to be me”. Sorry.) Anyway, tomorrow we see Sossusvlei. If an old mailbox, albeit a pretty old mailbox, garners this much attention; how long do you think the dunes are going to take us? We may be in trouble.

The first item on our agenda for Namibia was to go back to Fish River Canyon. We had cycled past it with the TDA; now we wanted to hike it. We drove on familiar roads; roads we had cycled on. A million great memories came flooding back. How lucky we are to have cycled here. Wow, how I miss my bike.

Fish River Canyon is the world’s second largest canyon. It’s 160km long, spans 27km wide at parts, and up to 550m deep. It’s a beautiful hike, which typically takes 4-6 days, covering about a 90km stretch of the canyon.

Here we are at the start. As you can see, you are not allowed into the park unless you wear beige pants and a black top. You can’t see Spiros or Pépé (Pépé is taking the photo) but I can assure you they are both wearing the exact same outfit.

First, you descend into the canyon on a very steep trail. It takes roughly an hour and a half. Eventually you reach the water; that is the 0 km mark.

For five days, we hiked along the river in scenery like this.

And this.

Not a bad lunch spot, wouldn’t you say?

In total we crossed the river 36 times. At crossing 34, I slipped and fell into the raging river. I was flaying around in the water, trying to clamor to safety when Spiros pointed out that the water was only 2 inches deep. That may be true, but it was a ferocious 2 inches nevertheless.

We camped on completely secluded beaches with 360 degree views, ate under the stars and talked for hours. In the morning, we would wake up and find fresh horse and baboon tracks.

One night we made a fire. The perfect fire Spiros will have you know. Note the positioning of the rocks, the placement of wood, and height of the flames. It was a clean burn, a perfect burn. Please be sure and mention it to him next time you see him.

We emerged from the Canyon 5 days after we started, with huge smiles and about a million pictures.