The First 20 Days...

Okay guys, sorry it's taken me so long to update you with my travels, but have been staying at some pretty remote places without even cell reception. Here is a brief account of the last 20 days...enjoy.

Nick and I had planned for about 4 months to spend the first month of our trip with my friend Kris - a VSO from England. She has a car and Nick offered to pay for the petrol. Sadly, 3 days before we planned on leaving (12/9), Kris had a family emergency and had to travel home. She even went out of her way to see if we could still take the car and then leave it somewhere in Zambia for her to pick up. She's a doll and I'm gutted that I don't get to spend this time with her.
So, Nick and I started hiking out of Windhoek, early in the morning on the 9th of December. It took FOREVER for us to get a lift. We knew that 2 guys hiking together (especially the 2 of us) would be difficult, but shit! After standing around for about 3 hours we got a lift as far as the airport (towards Gobabis). It was with a traffic cop who actually starting tracking someone who was speeding and instead of letting us off at the road, raced into the airport in order to confront the guy and give him a ticket. Quite a way for us to start our adventure.

We then walked back out to the road and sat in the blazing sun (NO SHADE ANYWHERE) for another few hours til we caught a free ride to Gobabis. There we sat outside a grocery and had something to eat and refilled our water bottles. Then it was off to hike to the border. We caught a ride with a tattooed, German truck driver. The going was slow, but safe. We got to the border around 5 pm (a 10 hour hike day) and decided to sleep there at the rest camp for the night. We had hoped to make it to Maun, Botswana in one day, but oh well.

The next morning we sat outside the border post until we caught a ride to Ghanzi. I had a little fight with the woman in the car because she never mentioned money but once we got out she tried to get some from us. I just waved her away and said sorry. We THEN sat outside a petrol station for about 4 hours trying to get a lift to Maun. We were NOT having a good time with hiking, that's for sure. While waiting, we ran into 3 PCVs from South Africa who had just come from there and were heading south.

We finally offered 2 guys 50 rand each to take us to Maun. We climbed in and fell asleep. As soon as we got to the vetrinary border crossing, their car broke down - literally. We then sat there for another hour, trying to catch a ride with anyone passing through. Finally, a policeman threw us in the back of his car and took us to town. Once there, we bought some food at Shoprite and caught a taxi to Old Bridge Backpackers.

This place is beautiful! Set right alongside the Okavanjo Delta. It's lush and clean and cool with all the trees. The first night we treated ourselves to a luxury tent and then camped the remainder of the time there. We spent some extra money and did a 'mokoro' trip into the delta to actualy camp on one of the islands and do a safari walk the next day. It was breathtaking! Our guide was a local who was really outspoken and we talked alot about how he could upgrade his business and make more money for himself and his family. Once a Peace Corps Volunter, always one, I suppose. During this time we befriended Gonzolo (from Portugal) and 2 other couples - 1 from Canada and the other from Cape Town (sorry I can't remember their names). Once back at Old Bridge we relaxed for a day and went into Maun to check out the city. Typical small African town. What was funny though was that some strange girl approached me and said I owed her money because I didn't pay for the ride to Ghanzi the other day. Small world...she must have been a relative of the woman who gave us a lift and because she knew where we were going, called ahead to have her people look out of us, lol.

Since we had learned out lesson about hiking, we booked the bus to Gabs (Gabarone) to crash at Joe's place. 12 hours later, exhausted, we arrive and walk to Joe's flat. He is a PCV from Bots who lives in a guest house of an American Embassy employee. It was great! He had a swimming pool AND washer/dryer. We hung out an extra day to wash clothes and relax.

From there we took a taxi to the taxi rink south, then a taxi to the border to cross into South Africa. At the border we met an Afrikaaner named Schulk (yes, Schulk) who gave us a ride to Vryberg and then 60k outsides heading towards Kimberly. We stopped for lunch and he actually paid for ours. I tell ya...the kindness of strangers. Once again, we sat by the side of the road for seveal hours and only got a short ride (a couple of k) to an Engin (petrol station). We tried to hike there but eventually it got dark and we crashed at a rest camp - that was FORTUNATELY located right next to the petrol station. The owners were nice and I believe if we had talked to them about money, they would have let us stay for free but they weren't there in the morning when we left, so we paid R300 and went to the road.

Again, after a few hours, we caught a ride to Kimberly. That place SUCKED!!! We tried for hours to get a lift and finally tracked down a combi to get us to Bloemfontein. We had been told it was difficult to hike in South Africa due to the racist, but I didn't think it would be that bad. Black people didn't pick us up because of the former white oppression and whites didn't pick us up out of fear of being robbed. Damn.

Once in Bloemfontein, we found the cheapest hotel we could, showered and walked to the mall. There we got gelato (YEAH!!!) and bought some peanut butter for dinner. We are REALLY trying to do this 5 months as cheaply as possible so it's PB&J, tuna fish sandwiches and when we stay at hostels or somewhere we can cook, it's spaghetti and sauce or rice and chakalaka. We have so far been eating for under 1 US dollar per meal. Pretty damn good. A couple of times a week we treat ourself to some local food.

That evening we decided to walk to 2nd avenue (where all the bars are) and have a drink. There we met 2 girls from SA and a German guy and hung out with them for a bit. We ended up playing pool at some club until later, then walking back to the hotel. OH, we also discovered that Bloem was the birthplace of JRR Tolkien and since Nick is even a bigger geek than I, we went on a search for his home...to no avail (Nick shed a tear, I think).

The next morning we walked to the taxi rink (with the help of some stranger), paid and signed in and caught a ride to Maseru (or at least the Lesotho border). We walked into town (CHAOS!), bought some food and caught another combi to Roma where we camped at Trader's Post for the night. There was some sort of celebration going on and some people kept buying us beers cause they thought we looked exhausted...well, we were! I ended up judging a dancing contest while swimming in the pool. We met a guy named Andre (from Jburg) who was heading to Semonkong the next day, so we caught a ride with him. I know we don't have a hostel/backpacking type of culture in the US but it's awesome. You end up meeting so many kindred spirits and many times, either catching transport with someone or traveling with them for a bit.

The next morning we began the 65k trek to Semonkong through a very twisty, windy gravel road UP into the mountains. It took about 3.5 hours to get there but the scenery was amazing! We stayed at the Semonkong lodge for the next 3 days. On the 2nd day, Nick and Andre went abseiling (repelling) down the world's highest abseil. It's right next to the falls around the same height as Victoria Falls. I would have done it but just decided to save some money oh that, and my fear of heights, lol. I walked 3k to the rim to take pics across from the actual falls and then hiked down to the base to wait for them so we could swim and have lunch. The hike down was treacherous and I slipped many times. At the bottom, I watched them come down the side of the mountain (jealous). They then left me, instead of coming further down to swim. I found out later the guy rushed them a bit and neither of them felt comfortable making him wait. Oh well. I had lunch and then thought I'd be a bit clever. I saw a different way up and looked quicker, though more difficult. Ha ha ha...I should have just went back the way I came.

After an hour going just about straight up, having to stop every 10 minutes from exhausted, I arrived at the top, only to discover it doesn't go all the way up, but instead back down the other side. I was literally trapped. I had to quickly face the fact that I had to go back down the way I had just come. Pissed. That would describe how I was feeling. Oh, that and my legs were WASTED!!!!

I eventually made it back to the bottom, rest about 20 minutes then hiked back up the original trail. It seemed to take forever and my legs were like jello. Once at the top, I had a 3k hike BACK to the camp!!! I was gutted. I kept telling myself LEMON TWIST, LEMON TWIST (it's a soft drink I've grown to love here). It's the ONLY thing that kept me putting one foot in front of the other.

That evening Andre braiied and we made lentils and chapatis and together had a fantastic dinner. He also broke out his Didj and I tried a bit to make a note...with some mediocre success.

The next day was spent completely chilling out. Nick and I walked into town and bought some bread and then met up with the PCV who is stationed there later, at the lodge pub. That night I decided to sleep in the dorm cause it had been getting very cold after dark and I was having trouble staying warm. I had not planned on being places where it was this chilly and so 1 pair of flannel pjs was NOT cutting it.

In the morning, we woke at 1/2 past 4 to begin the drive out. Equally as beautiful but was glad it was over 3 hours later. Andre decided to exit Lesotho in Maseru instead of Pika, so we got out there and caught a combie to Butha-Buthe. From there we figured it wouldn't take long to catch another one to Mokhotlong and crash there for the night. Again, we were sadly mistaken. The ride took us first to Maputsoe, where we then had to get another combie to BB. Once there, no one was going to Makohotlong so we thought just take one to Muela and catch another there. WRONG!!! At Muela, there were NO taxis, so we walked along the road for a bit, flagging down cars to no avail. What we realized is that combis typically only pick people up at town points. By the time they pass us, they are completely full.

We then had a choice...find a place to camp by the road or make our way BACK to Butha-Buthe...we chose the latter. Back in town, we read in our Lonely Planet that there was a 'magical' hostel we MUST stay in for R30 a night. Ok. Well, first we couldn't find a taxi to take us the 4k to the place for under 100 rand. I was NOT about to pay that. We then started walking along the road to the place when a taxi said they would take us for R20. The road WAS shitty but still, R100? Once there we were greeted by an old woman who's only English was '100 Rand'. Well, I was a bit pissed cause that's a huge difference in price from what we thought it would be. When she showed us the room, I was even more pissed. No electricity, no running water, gas stove, latrines outside. Now listen, I'm not snobby or anything but if I am going to pay that much to stay somewhere, I at least want to take a shower.

We sat in the room for about 30 minutes trying to decide whether to hike back the 4k to town and find something else, or suck it up and stay. We sucked. Nick went and pumped some water to drink while I bucket-bathed. We then made some rice, took some fun pics (as you can see), had dinner and played some spite & malice. The next morning we walked into town (caught a free lift 1/2 way) and grabbed a combi to Mokhotlong. It was a LONG day. Once there, we tried to find a bus to Sani Top Pass. We discovered that NO one goes there, only some people pass through on the way to Underberg. They charged the same fare for dropping us at Sani as they did if we went all the way through. CHEATERS!!! lol.

The 50k trip from M to Sani was like a rollercoaster ride. Dirt road, hardly room for one let alone 2 cars to pass one another and our driver was going about 90k an hour. When a local woman on the bus starts gasping with shock at how close we are coming to the edge of the drop off, you know it's a rough ride.

Upon arrival to Sani Pass we were greeted with one of the greatest views I've had yet. We were actually ABOVE the clouds...looking down on them!!! It was beyond breathtaking.

We spent Christmas here, at the Highest Pub in Africa and even met a guy who looked JUST Like Santa on that afternoon. Guess we know what he does after a long night! We met an Italian guy, Franco, who is spending a 2 months backpacking around southern Africa and he hung out with us there and has since followed us to Durban. Though it was my 3rd Christmas away from home and yes, I laid in bed Christmas eve listening to music on my IPOD and tearing up, I was happy to be in such a beautiful place. It was very cold and we found ourselves in front of a fireplace, playing cards on the special day. Not much different than if I was home...to be honest.

The day after Christmas, we were heading down the pass. Unbeknownst to us, it was yet another African holiday (Family Day) and NO one, NO combis, were heading down. We were forced to actually HIKE down the 8k of winding road. It was rough and I think the 3 of us kept hoping that someone would eventually come along and find space for us. Only 1 car in 2 hours and it happened to be Santa (lol) who had no room in his sleigh. At the base, we went through the check point to SA, hung around in the shade of a willow tree until we caught a ride to Underberg with some Afrikaaners.

Once there, we treated ourselve to a real lunch at the Lemon Tree restaurant, then walked to the combi rink. We waited there about 30 minutes before catching one to Pietermaritzberg. There, we caught a ride to Durban. A VERY long day and though Nick and I have sworn to not travel more than 5 hours or 250k per day, we ended up doing it again.

In town, we made our way to Banana Backpackers and settled in for the night. We will be here until tomorrow morning where we'll make our way to St. Lucia for a day or two. It's dreary and overcast but I am happy to be by the ocean.

From St. Lucia we will make our way through Swaziland and up to Maputo for New Years and my birthday. I hope to keep you guys updated for frequently but it just depends on my internet access. We will be in Moz for about 2 weeks where we will catch up with Eric, Natalie and Heather and make our way to Malawi and then Zanzibar via Tanzania.

Peace!

Dave

PS. I have posted TONS of pics on FACEBOOK, so check em' out!!!