Cape to Cairo

New, better blog

2007-06-04T10:49:00.000+02:00

If you think that was a trip, you should take a look at this new blog. Its got a map and everything!

http://www.blogabond.com/balkanadventure

The Photo Montage

2007-06-01T08:42:00.000+02:00

Its been one hell of a trip and i'm so happy that mattie and Jared gave me a call on that fateful christmas day! Thanks guys! Also thank you to everyone that has given us feedback on the blog, its been awesome hearing from all of you! Mattie and I are now in Belgrade on our way to Holland, and Jared is struggling to get a schengen visa in London.

Enjoy the pics, its been real!

(feel free to add in your own cheesy montage sountrack, push play now)

Oh... Just checked what this looks like when its published and saw that the captions are squashed... badly. Sorry about that, Blogger doesnt seem to encourage photo posts, and the post looks amazing in the edit screen (which for some reason is different to the final post) anyway, I'm not re-editing the whole post...

The sun rising over the makgadigadi salt pans... note the 2 ton hilux slowly sinking in the foreground

Soaked after Victoria Falls

Jared not too staked at his recent appointment as luggage handler
Jared - Malawi 2007
Matt and Jared - Malawi 2007
Riders of the storm soaking up some rays on Paje beach
hot
Tending to Stanley in Southern Kenya

Lank antisocial train journey to Mombasa

Close up of Mattie wearing a hat with a wide angle lens
Close up of tourists wearing hats with a wide angle lens (cue music)

The epic second ever international stone skipping contest 2007 Lamu archipelago
Mattie takes the lead, Andi the adjudicator watching on
This is the beach from hell, dont be fooled, if you see this place, run!
Our tame accountant, running the numbers
Enjoying Hells gate before we crashed and the shit hit the fan

mustafa's gorge

Majesty
Jared
Ken dealing with Autoritei
The overlander to pride rock

Equator
Me and my buddy
Waiting patiently for a lift
Spreading crazy eights throughout africa
View of the convoy from our truck

Truck drive through Chalbi Desert... to Ethiopia
Debre Zeit camp site with Esther
Coldest morning of his life
Nick checking out our route plans though the window (The were stalking us)

A pit stop in Ethiopia

lalibella church

Mattie in a prayer hole... It worked

St George's

Priest

Ouzzo

Essie doing the tourist thing in Lalibella
Mattie and jared paying for their sins

lalibella Church, chipped out of a mountain
Gonder castle - 2007
Sudan, the start of the desert camping trip

Jared riding to the piramids of Meru
Mattie
Pd
The Piramids of meru - The Sudan

Our camp site

The sun rose, and out of nowhere arrived this salesman and his donkey... amazing
Jared couldnt handle the majesty so his nose started to bleed

A bit of a stroll to the Royal enclosure
Hot
Nubian Express

Mattie attempting to look comfortable, simply to piss off those around him

Dirty, dirty man
Wadi-Halfa, good to walk again after 40 hours of train
Nick and Sam...

Good times

Mattie and the Felucca captain (The Boss)
Hats
Egypts finest whisky and Gin (John Warder and Gordoon's)
Our R6 pp/night accomodation in Aswan
Chilling out on the Felucca on our way to Komombo

The white symbolises purity and rebirth, while the egyptian cotton is a symbol of Egypt

The trio at the Sphinx
Mattie

The Album Cover...

Look at that purity

Jared... aka Ginger spice

We could hardly keep the groupies off us... so inevitably there had to be a picture... she likes mattie the most
Pd and jared
Pd and Mattie
Jared and mattie

All for one...

The end.

The fat lady has sung...

2007-05-21T00:28:00.000+02:00

Note: I am off to Alexandria in an hour or so, leaving Pd and Matt to put up a post on the Egypt section of our journey a bit later. This post is just a bit of a goodbye from the three of us before we part ways.

This trip had very mild beginnings. Matt and I were determined to take a year off and explore Europe, but just the thought of taking a boring old plane was very unappealing. And so we had to come up with some alternative. We spent a week or so in Cape Town jumping from one idea to the next, everything from digging for oil in Edmonton, Canada to jumping on a yacht for a 4 month sail to Tahiti. Nothing though seemed like the big thing we were looking for. That was until on Christmas day at the Breede River the idea of driving as far north as possible dawned on us. We knew that Pd was also considering a year off and so immediately phoned him, inviting him on this epic voyage. He accepted our offer on the spot.

From the start this trip has been an adventure bar none. We have experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Okay, I'm being a little dramatic here but I'm sure you all understand. The trip has actually been a lot easier than we imagined. We have dealt with some tricky situations yes, but nothing has stood in our way. This was also due to the fact that the three of us are quite a formidable team.

And now the sad bit, after 3 months of some of the greatest experiences of our lives, we have to part ways. Pd and Matt, both on their EU & Irish passports which I'm jealous of, are flying to Athens on Wednesday and heading up through eastern Europe towards Holland. They have this wicked route planned out and are basically just going to party their way up further north for a couple of weeks. I'm heading to France in 3 weeks to join my pops at Le Mans (Can I get a hell yeah?) and need to go to London to sort out a visa and what not. I should be flying out in the next couple of days after checking out the north coast of Egypt a bit.

But do not worry, the three of us are reuniting in the near future, at the Roskilde festival in Denmark early July. Some hella wicked bands are showing their stuff and we are looking forward to another few nights in our dear tent, Vivica A. Fox. And so, if there are any of you keen to join us for this weekend of absolute insanity then please feel free. Vivica has a big enough booty to fit them all. (Kiki is already got his place booked, we expect a lot more of you to join him.)

And so with that, we bid you all adieu. Thank you for reading this blog and for all of the humourous comments. We have had a tremendous trip and sincerely appreciate all the support from you guys.

Hugs and kisses,
Matt, Pd & Jasper

Beardless update

2007-05-21T00:06:00.000+02:00

Part 1:

From the beginning the competition to grow the best beard between Cape Town and Cairo has been fierce. It's been a bloody battle in which many a good man was lost. I could go on describing the brutal war in detail, but I won't.

It is now up to you, our faithful blog-followers, to cast your votes in the finale! And remember, always vote with your heart, not your head.

Part 2:

Once we visited the pyramids we went straight to the barbershop and shaved off the scraggly hairs that adorned our handsome faces. The cut-throat master of the north had his splendid way with us and for that we are thankful. And so here we are, clean shaven and ready for Europe!

In the nature of some more good friendly competition, we are also keen for votes to be cast for the sexiest clean-shaven one out of the three of us.

This is it...

2007-05-17T06:45:00.000+02:00

Pd and I have just ran from the train station to announce some groundbreaking news. After much struggle we have secured a trio of last minute FIRST CLASS train tickets and will arrive in Cairo, our raison d'etre if you will, in time for breakfast.

Next time you hear from us, our journey (for the meantime) shall be complete. Holy shit.

The Sudan

2007-05-11T01:48:00.000+02:00

Ever since i started thinking of this little trip, Sudan has been the great big question mark in my mind. No one i knew had been there really, and all i ever heard were news report about war and warnings from concerned parents. But as we started getting closer and speaking to people who had come down from there, we kept on hearing the same stories of amazing generosity and the most genuinely friendly people in the world.

So we got our visas, eventually and when we crossed the border at Gallabat and breathed in the crisp, clean (albeit hot) Sudanese air, we knew we were in for something special. We took a taxi to Gadaref and stayed the night, and in the morning went looking for a bus to Khartoum. Arriving at the station, note after three days of travelling and in the same clothes, we were greeted by a plethora of luxury coaches, and boarding one after a little price haggle, we actually felt too dirty to be on it. Air conditioned, big comfortable seats, all occupied by smart families off to Khartoum for some weekend shopping. We were used to the filth of Ethipopian busses where i had no problems throwing a bottle or paper on the floor, now we were tainting this small piece of heaven with our mere presence. But we were okay with it. They even gave out cooldrinks just as the heat reached its zenith at midday. And the music, oh the music!! It didnt sound like it was made by a drunk 11 year old with a Fischer Price My First Recording Studio (as in Ethiopia), but you could actually listen to it without your head exploding after 2 minutes. This bus really set the tone for Sudan, a place we came to love.

Our glorious pink bus!

Oh ja, that morning, back in Gedaref, we were walking to find the bus station along some small back road, and were passed by a convoy of three land cruiser bakkies with about 10 soldiers on the back of each, and a roof mounted gattling gun. It was sort of a wake up call for us. After that though we didnt see much of a military presence, except for passport checkpoints outside cities, the whole country just seems to be getting on with whatever they're doing.

So we were in Khartoum for about a bit less than a week, camping at the Blue Nile Sailing Club, along with about 6 other overland bikers and drivers on their way to Cape Town. Its a really nice spot, right on the Blue Nile (where we periodically soothed our scorched bodies after kilometers of walking). The walking was due to the fact that we couldnt work out the public transport system, and taxis were really expensive, along with most other things in the city. This meant we also drank litres of cooldrinks, which are in abundance, i think we tried about 7 flavours of Fanta, and theres hundreds of other makes too, Stim Apple deserves a mention here, im looking into an import license. We were overwhelmed, but made the best of it. It was also around this time we discovered frozen Fanta, an accidental drink was left in the deepfreeze at our local juice spot and we pounced on it. We lived off them after that, searching the city for the solid icy joy in those bottles. One drink, perhaps the only one absent in Sudan, is alcohol, not a drop. At first i thought this a ridiculous idea, not being able to suck down a cool draught in the heat of the afternoon, but after a bit of thinking i began to realize the method in this madness. To have a hangover, even just the slightest hint of one, in that heat (which was as high as 54 at midday and dropped to a cool 35 by nightfall!!) would be a fate worse than death, so by removing the temptation of alcohol all together, the government is actually doing the population a huge favour, and saving them from themselves... In a way.

On Saturday afternoon we decided that we had been useless tourists, only having wandered the streets for days (Pd and i did actually go to the Ethnological Museum once, but that was only because they had an especially cold looking water cooler), so decided to hop on a bus and head out to Meroe, where there are some 72 pyramids in the middle of the desert somewhere. We were supposed to get permits for this, but didnt have the time to wait, as we had tickets for the Monday train. After about three hours the bus ground to a halt, and the conductor motioned for us to get out. We werent even sure that this was the right place, its not really a big tourist attraction, nothing really is in Sudan. But we stepped out into the endless, steamy, vast expanse of sand, 10 litres of water, 9 oranges, 3 grapefruit and our tent, Vivica A Fox, in hand, and the bus drove away. It was a good feeling, just us 3 and some ancient pyramids. A friendly Nubian on a camel approached over the dune, and offered us a ride, so we took turns all the way from the road for about 100m, then we were just saying goodbye and thank you, he holds out his hand and asks for ten Sudanese pounds, sneaky bastard, it was fun though and worth it. It seems though as if even out there tourism is taking hold. After wandering around the first cluster of pyramids, which are much smaller and pointier than the egyptian ones, looking at the carvings inside the entrances and taking nice cliched pyramid pictures (to follow) we set up camp the required 100m away and went to sleep under the stars. It was spectacular. The next morning we hitched a ride back to Khartoum with a trucker.

We took the train on Monday to Wadi Halfa, a 36 hour, 3rd class nightmare through the Nubian Desert. The less said about this the better, really it hurts me to relive it. The first 5 hours were fine, the three of us and one other bloke on hard wooden benches, enjoying the view along the Nile, when suddenly at a stop our little section of third class was invaded by cute looking, wide eyed little girl, her baby sister, mother, 7 aunts and delusional blind grandmother. So now there were 15 people in the space set out for 8, and it was starting to get hot. When the little girl started hitting Pd, we realized that the frozen hibiscus tea ice lollies we'd just given her were a big mistake, we bacame her 'friends' and gave her energy she really didnt need. I managed to snatch a few interrupted hours of sleep, but upon waking at about 4, i saw a look of pure malice in Pd's red sleep-deprived eyes, thats when i decided to give up my window seat. The rest of the ride was, to put it nicely, crap. I would do everything in my power not to do it again, the best part was arriving in Wadi Halfa, a tiny dusty border town where we slept the night before boarding the ferry to Aswan, from where i am writing this.

The devil child (while we were still friends)

Jared fell asleep next to the window and woke up looking like this

The ferry was a much better experience overall, air conditioned during the day, and for the night we set up Vivica on the deck and slept in amongst most of the other male passengers on board. We also saw the four huge statues of Rameses II at Abu Simbel, now im not much of an Egyptologist but they impressed me, even from the boat through binoculars. That man really had something to prove, theyre massive.
Tomorrow we leave on a felucca for a few days down to a place called Kom Ombo (?), then to Luxor for a bit, followed by a short train to Cairo. Man it seems so close.

If you read this now, check back in a day or two because iv got some wicked pictures to add.

Beard update

2007-05-11T01:34:00.000+02:00

Same competition. Same rules. Way more h a r d c o r e beards. (Sorry about spacing, Net Nanny 5.0 blocks out bad words. But I fooled it, hahahaha.)

Up to the North!

2007-04-29T05:24:00.000+02:00

We applied for the Visas on Monday – which was surprisingly easy after all the negative feedback we had gotten (We cancelled the tourist application, as that is a nightmare – go for the transit visa if you ever have the need). It only took a few smiles, some photo copies $61 and 3 hours of our time. A semi pleasant experience, considering we picked a day when there were about 400 locals applying for work permits.

But that all worked out, as Jared mentioned we got them Visas! They look amazing, they have a hologram and everything, definitely added some street cred to our passports!

Getting them meant we could leave the bad odour city known as Addis, and head for the greater Northern part of the country. (Just to clarify, I strangely did enjoy our time in Addis, it’s a really cool place, it really is. The place has everything you would expect in a big city, and since everything is so cheap, we took full advantage, and made the most of it. Coffee is generally R1,50 and it’s really good, a meal that an average man will struggle to finish is around R10, and most importantly a draft is R2,00! On top of that we had an insanely cool hotel room, and due to all the embassy visits, got to see most of Addis! There are just some things there that are different to what were used to, like the distinct and constant faeces odour – Let me quote Mattie here “The proportion of my day that I spend smelling pooh is ridiculous” and the city has a disturbingly large amount of poverty, with no evident, or remotely logical structure at all – Jared quote here – “It seems like the city is designed by a beginner playing Sim City 2000”.

So let me fill you in on all the gaps, the reason for the slack updates is that the Internet is a bit of a scarce resource up in the North, but now that I found a decent place and need to download all the pics from lalibela, I thought I would take the honour of the general update!

Back in Addis we met a really cool Dutch chick, Esther, at our hotel, who is doing volunteer work in a school in Debra Zeit which is just South of Addis. After our visa application on Monday we decided to go visit the place down South to get out of the city for a while , and see the impressive lakes! It was only an hour on the bus, and once there we took a horse drawn cart to the Crater Lake, where we were planning to camp. We all packed lightly, as it was only to be a one day event. This meant that Jared and Mattie decided against bringing a sleeping bag or any other such luxuries hehe, The lake was amazing, I have photos, but internet is slow, so they will come some time later – same goes for the rest of the story too, I’m really sorry… The sun set, and the temperature started to drop a little, so we started to search the bags, and found all the essentials! We had an ipod, little speakers, a torches, tabard, a lighter, and… well we didn’t need anything as you can see the three of us are starting to make a good team! Real hardy travellers! Anyway, apparently… They don’t like farangies (How locals refer to us white folk) to just randomly camp on the side of the lake, so for the rest of the night we had an angry guard telling us to leave in Amharic, and numerous random guys, who did speak English translating and trying to get money out of us. To make a long story short, we had a great time, but due to lack of warmth, rock hard pebbled stoned floor, constant dog barking, and never ending groans of discomfort none of us really slept, at all. Except for Esther, who proved to us she can sleep anywhere any time, under any conditions. The next day was a bit tiresome, but ended really well, when we were given our Visas! We drew money, booked bus tickets and went home to sleep.

Up at 4, to catch the bus we had been dreading for days. Reason being, the trip to lalibela is a 23 hour bus trip, on a bus very similar to a golden Arrow bus as you get in cape Town. Another thing that makes bus travel in Ethiopia uncomfortable is that people are very superstitious and don’t believe in opening windows as it lets in disease and bad luck. So we really weren’t that keen.

But once we got on we were ushered into the “VIP” section in the front of the bus and spent the next to days in our own little “section” with the bus driver and the conductor! It was glorious, it was nothing like our prior horror story of the Moyale-Addis trip. This one was pure luxury! So we got to lalibela well rested, and set up our camp at the Lal hotel. We convinced Esther, who has been in Ethiopia for 3 months already but never ventured North, to join us. Even though she got screwed around a bit by the highly effective Ethiopian airline systems, and is really scared of flighing, she made it to lalibela only 6 hours later than expected. It was awesome to have some more company and to finally find someone, who actually followed up their word on meeting us somewhere! Thanks Esther! You’re awesome! hehe,

While we waited for her, we got ourselves a guide and went to see the Northern and Eastern monasteries of Lalibela. They are amazing! It is insanely difficult to comprehend what they really are. Let me give you a very brief history lesson… When King Lalibella’s was in power, which was at around 1260, the man had the great idea to create churches. But instead of building them, he summoned 40 000 men, and got them to carve 11 immense churches out of the mountains! By hand! It took 23 years to complete, and they are astounding! All chipped away out of the mountains, all 11 stand there in all their glory. The guide was great, and as you can imagine, I went wild with the photos. The first church we arrived at in the morning, had a full service going on, and the stairway to heaven was lit up in all its glory! The three of us also visited the room in one of the churches dedicated to King lalibela, which guarantees us a place in heaven, so we’re set for life!

All the churches are still in full use, and each one has its own priest who looks after everything. We had never seen so many different crosses before, as each church has a different variation of a cross, and we were shown each one. The best part was that each priest puts on a pair of shades before you can take their picture, to protect their eyes form the flash –classic!

At 4, Esther finally arrived, and made it just in time to see the most famous church of all, St George cathedral. This is the church that is carved in the shape of a cross, and is built with no supporting pillars inside. To sum in all up, it was an excellent day, and we all feel holy!

We spent the night trying out the local beverage, Ethiopian Ouzo, which led to a very eventful night. Which may have ended the life of a pool table, and a slight disturbance of peace in the very tranquil Lal hotel resort. But in the morning, no-one seemed to have minded, so no harm done. Only an immense hangover with Jared, Mattie and Esther. I for some reason was wide awake at 6, and went for a walk, only to stumble onto a Mass service at the St Mary’s Cathedral. I watched this for the full procession, and found the 3 of them slowly coming to life when I got back to the tent. As you can imagine, the rest of the day was a bit slow, but we did give Esther the full tour of all the churches again, as she missed those, and had a day at the market. We almost bought ourselves a donkey, as they go for only Birr400, but when we considered the extra travelling costs we would have to endure with busses etc we decided against it!

This morning, we got up at 3, and made the trek up to the bus station at the top of the 3km high mountain of Lalibela. It only took us 30 minutes, which was really impressive! I thought. However, when we got there we were informed that there were no busses to bar Har Dar, and we should just get a bus in that general direction. So we did. It was classic!! Mattie and I sat on one side and Jared and Esther on the other. As you may have heard, the farming population of Ethiopia is not big on motion by motorised vehicles. So there we were at 4 in the morning, on a bumpy dirt road in some very uncomfortable seats, when the people both in front and behind Jared and Esther started getting a little nautious and throwing up… All the time!! It was hilarious, they both put their feet up, as the gunk was slowly moving around! Mattie and I were in hysterics! We had to turn up the volume on the ipods to block out the horrific sounds! It was so so good, really made our day – well Mattie and Mine at least! Then when we got to the end point we found a Land Cruiser bakkie, who agreed to drive us to Bah har dar! Much to the dismay of the bus driver also waiting for clients, who accused the guy of stealing his customers! It didn’t end there thought, the agro bus driver ended up blocking the whole road with his bus and demanded we came with him! It was quite a scene, it attracted the attention of everyone in the town, who formed a mob around us. People seem to have a lot of free time around here hehe. There is always time to watch some farangies. So after some negotiating, we travelled in style in the back of the cab, lounging out on our bags in the sun! The locals found it hilarious to see 4 farangies sitting in the back of a bakkie driven by 3 locals – awesome!

We made good time, and are now in Ba har dar. If everything goes according to plan we should be in Karthoum on Friday and catching the train to Egypt in the weekend! You’ll hear from us soon.

Quick update

2007-04-24T05:37:00.000+02:00

WE GOT SUDANESE VISA's TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hella stoked. Should be there in 10 days or so. Hella hella hella stoked.

Nairobi to Addis

2007-04-18T07:44:00.000+02:00

And so we have found a glorious internet café with a connection that (nearly) never fails. We can now share with you all the story of our wonderful 6-day journey from Nairobi to Addis Ababa, a journey we will never forget, or recover from.

It all started on a Tuesday morning. We awoke at Nairobi backpackers with the idea of getting a taxi into town and then a bus on to Nanyuki. To our delight though, Ken (the crazy owner) told us that two other people had hired a private taxi to take them all the way to Nanyuki, non-stop! We bargained a fantastic deal with them, and soon found ourselves on the way to the equator. This was not after some sad goodbyes at the backpackers though. That lovely man in the background is Ken, the rest are fantastic Canadians. They rock.

The taxi ride was uneventful, much to our pleasure. We just sat, listened to iPods and watched the Kenyan countryside pass us by. The bus driver though soon had other plans and cranked his stereo to a world record breaking level, rendering our mp3 players somewhat useless. He especially enjoyed turning that volume knob all the way to 11 when the “Jambo, Jambo Bwana!” song hit the airwaves. For those who have traveled in Tanzania or Kenya, I’m sure you will agree that this could constitute a mild version of hell. Besides that though, completely uneventful.

Reaching the equator was quite something. As we crossed over the line, the three of us just looked at each other, we all knew that this was a major milestone and the adventures of the Northern Hemisphere would soon begin. We couldn’t wait!

Jumping for joy at the equator.

Once out of the taxi, we immediately ventured down towards the line that cuts the globe in two. The area around the great sign had an eerie silence about it – as if it had been expecting the arrival of the three brave South Africans. We were soon greeted by Chris who, while putting on his glorious satin red tie, told us all there is to know about the equator. He then answered the question that we had been biting our tongues to ask, “Does water actually spin the other way in the Northern Hemisphere?” He walked us 20m south of the sign, and water spun anti-clockwise. We then proceeded to the actual equator, where it did not spin whatsoever. And then finally 20m north of the sign, where it spun clockwise. We were in awe of this magical man! The rest of Nanyuki was spent drinking a beer south, north and on the equator, and NOT getting sunburnt. I didn’t even put on suncream, I didn’t wear a hat and it was midday! I’m lank proud of that hey, the others didn’t believe a ginger could do it.

Matt was given a quick carving lesson in Nanyuki. We were impressed.

A quick matatu (minibus) ride from Nanyuki and we arrived at Isiolo. A glorified bus-stop more than much else. But we found a decent hotel, Matty gave me a haircut and we found plenty people to help us organize a ride on a truck to Marsabit. Reason being, no taxis venture past Isiolo. The road is considered too dangerous and any vehicle heading past this town needs at least two armed guards. The really fearless ones don’t travel in convoy, we eventually caught one of these.

Haircut. Bitchin'.

But the next morning, the one on which we were promised a wake-up call to catch the convoy when it arrived, we awoke to find a whole load of broken promises. And so we played some wicked hacky-sack, drank wicked juice and found a ride on a wicked hardcore Landcruiser. While Pd and I were waiting in the back of the Boeing 767 (that’s what the owner referred to it as) we saw this flash of a blonde mop and Matty appeared, as if from no-where. He had been sitting outside and, without warning, was treated to the strident cock of a soldiers G3 assualt rifle. That soldier sat down in the front seat and another joined us in the back. He too held the rifle in the air and cocked it loud, for all to see and hear. This should be fun.

The "Boeing".

The assualt rifle.

The three of us in the back of the "Boeing".

The ride was long, dusty, uncomfortable and definitely not as exciting as the presence of assault rifles led us to believe. But it did take us to Marsabit, which was one step closer to Ethiopia. Marsabit itself was also quite small and mainly used as a stop-over to Moyale. I know these names mean nothing, but the few of you not too lazy can look them up on a map and get a better idea of the route. I am lazy though, and so you will not find a map here.

That evening I spend sound asleep in our room, while Pd and Matty were treated to tea at the house of a local camel tour operator named Dube. Once they returned they told me all about the great trips that he takes tourists on, and I was super keen. But then found out that instead of riding the camel for 7 days, you walk next to it, through the desert. My enthusiasm soon died.

Again we were promised only the best of things in Marsabit, but this time chose to believe none of them. This proved wise. Nothing left the town during the night or following morning, each hour we checked, but we did organize ourselves a ride for the afternoon. And so, after the mechanic completely refitted a new right rear spring, we were on our way. A convoy of 5 or so goods trucks storming through the desert. It was unreal!

The truck on top of which we sat through the desert.

We were first treated to a magnificent sunset and then to a night’s sky so bright and clear it still shocks me. At one point a shooting star made its way across the sky, burning bright orange and then red, the whole event lasting around 4 seconds. We honestly could not believe what we were doing.

After a much needed night’s sleep in the middle of the desert, we were taken to the Kenyan side of Moyale, a border town with the actual border running right down the middle. We followed the advice of past travelers and went straight into Ethiopia, where we were in for the surprise of our lives.

The language called Amharic, which they speak here, is completely illegible. We couldn’t understand a word spoken, nor read any of the signs. But we did find a hotel! Well, sort of…it was more like a bar and disco area with a few rooms scattered around the edges. I think it was a brothel. We weren’t deterred though, and so put our bags down, ordered a beer and Pd went to the toilet. Well, he tried to at least. He just returned, shaking his head and sat down, shaken to the core. He led us to what had surprised him so, and there before us was the toilet on the right and the shower on the left. Wait no, the toilet on the left and the shower on the right. Oh shit, I mean…okay, we couldn’t really tell the difference. The only real give-away was that the shower had a make-shift shower head on the roof. Besides that they were exactly the same – a hole in the ground, concrete floors angled towards the hole, and crap everywhere. I have never seen anything like it. And for those already accustomed to Swahili-toilets, this was nothing similar. At least with the latter there is a ceramic sculpture semi-resembling a toilet.

The rest of Moyale was just as dirty, helluva exciting though. At one point, while sitting on the side of the road, we were approach by the town-loon. We kept on shouting (translated), “NO, NO, NO!! THE PRIME MINISTER OF MALAWI IS UNDERNEATH THE GROUND!! NO!!” He would then point towards the sky and bow his head. Once he spotted Pd though, he quickly made his way toward the Dutchman and hugged his shins, kissing his knees quite provocatively. It was when his hand headed towards Pd’s groin that we quickly left.

A local called Danny took us to a bar to try some locally made Ouzo (75% rocket fuel) and on the way the crazy-man had tracked us down again. This time he was walking down the road urinating. It the middle of the afternoon. Urinating. This though didn’t stop him from chasing us down the street, still urinating. He urinated for about 3 and a half solid minutes. What a bladder man, what a wicked large bladder. Urinating. That’s a nice word.

From Moyale it was a 2-day bus ride to Addis Ababa. It was an emotional roller-coaster. At first we were stoked and the bus was comfortable. Then it changed, and not for the better. It became cramped, stuffy (Ethiopians believe it bad luck to have air enter the vehicle, hence no air-con and no open windows) and disgustingly long. As you can tell, I don’t really want to talk about it. I have asked Pd and Matt to both write this bit, but they have declined. The memories are just to painful to relive.

Police checkpoint during the hell bus ride.

At the halfway point where we would spend the night in another brothel, receiving the Ethiopian wake-up call (don’t ask, but it involves prozzies), a glimmer of hope flashed before us. We found some cheap beer and a tv playing the cricket. We then lost the cricket, the only source of joy in our lives at the time – besides the cheap beer of course.

But we are here! And Addis is wonderful. Super cheap – draughts are R1.50, meals R2.50 and Raybans R20. We love it.

Ethiopia

2007-04-16T11:41:00.000+02:00

So we are here! After six relentless days of travelling we have entered into the country that is proving to be the biggest culture shock of the trip so far. Very few people here speak English, it's really only Amharic here, which is a dialect of Arabic, and so we can't understand a word. The signs on all the buildings are in Amharic, which basically looks like the sribbling of a 3 year old child, rendering them completely useless. We have deciphered that the word toilet looks like an alien evolving. Sounds wierd, but it's worked so far.

We'll definitely write a post about the 6-day adventure to get here, but the internet at the moment is quite temperamental. The government has a monopoly over the internet, landline and cellular providers - which means that we can't get much done. Even our blog is banned in Ethiopia. We can only load posts, not access the actual website. So, posts may become a bit infrequent from now on, but all know that we are alive, well and having the time of our lives!

Hell's Gate

2007-04-09T10:41:00.000+02:00

“Everything the light touches is our kingdom.” Mufasa’s words echo through my head as we see Pride Rock for the first time. We had lazily woken up that morning after a vicious night at The Carnivore, with Ken (the crazy-ass backpacker owner) urging us to accompany him to Hell’s Gate National Park. So after some quick budgeting, we were in. Plus, Hell’s Gate is the place where Disney sketched all the plans for The Lion King. Not going there would be sacrilege.

So that evening we set off, arriving at the campsite in the dark. On the way we were attacked by thorn trees – Martin the driver had left the handbrake off on a slope. And we thought that would be the last of the troubles…

After many beers that evening some of us decided to sleep outside, under the African stars. To let the truth be known I was really hoping to see Mufasa’s face in the clouds. Sadly though, the clouds did not appear. What did present itself was a cold wind much akin to that found on the top of Everest. This was okay for the others, as they had Everest-quality sleeping bags. I did not however. Mine is 10 years old and full of holes. I was determined however, and put my daypack in the sleeping bag with me. I don’t why at 4 in the morning I thought this would help. It didn’t.

The next morning was Easter and some smart people had brought chocolate. They were lank popular. Ken decided we should hunt for our candy, so he opened the packet of chocolate éclairs and through them into the veld. He was lank unpopular.

We had breakfast and headed off to search for the gorge in which Mufasa’s life was so cruelly ended. And we found it! It was killer. Sorry, bad adjective.

After leaving the gorge area, an incident occurred. Apparently the roads in Hell’s Gate are not exactly wide enough for an overland truck and a Toyota Corolla to pass each other safely. And as you can imagine, an overland truck will come off slightly better from said situation. We weren’t stressed though because the damage to the Corolla wasn’t that tragic, and surely a quick swap of details would leave us on our way? No. Not at all. For what we didn’t know was that in Kenya, the insurance companies will not pay if you admit liability. So, our driver claimed innocence, and so did the Corolla driver.

Needless to say, an argument broke out which eventually ended in Ken and a troop of overlanders – including Matt, some Canadians, some Americans, a German and three Brits we had so kindly offered a lift to (which by now they were seriously regretting) – heading to the ranger’s station to put down their quotes as witnesses of the accident. Pd, myself, a Dane, a Canadian and an Aussie stayed behind to kindly look after the bags. It then started raining, which sucked for those giving their testimonies, but was quick nice as the 5 of us on the overlander were dry and warm under blankets.

The dispute was eventually solved 6 hours later, with the sun beginning to set. That period had involved a lot of shouting, men with AK-47s, phone calls to people in high places and a wicked game of hackey sack. At the end of it though we were treated to the most spectacular of sights. Pride rock in the foreground. A beam of sunshine through the clouds in the background. All that was missing was Elton John, some giraffes bowing their heads, and a monkey holding a lion. (Picture of this to follow.)

“Hakuna matata, it means no worries.” – Timone

And to all of the wicked people on the trip, a big thank you. See y'all in Montreal.

The Carnivore

2007-04-09T10:12:00.000+02:00

Before we left South Africa Jess (Jared’s awesome dad) gave us money to feast at Carnivore in Nairobi… It was something that the three of us had been looking forward to since the start of the trip, so arriving in Nairobi was warmly welcomed.

We took it to a level where we strategised ways in which we could slowly expand our stomach capacities, it was worth it!

The initial plan was to go the same night that we arrived back from Mombasa. However, for some reason none of us managed to get any sleep on the luxury 52 seater night coach, so upon arrival in Nairobi Backpackers we were all a bit under the weather. The experience of African bus night travel was an interesting one though. The leg room allocated per seat is about a third of that which you get on a 1Time domestic economy flight, and the back of each chair has a unique array of pointy bolts which force you to keep your wits about you while you choose the best sleeping position. Amazingly we managed to sit and sleep on the chair alone legs and all, using the chair in front of us only to hold on. Overall the bus trip was… ok, we did save ourselves some money, and made it to Nairobi a day and a half earlier, which in the end made up for time in Hell’s Gate… (next blog)

Anyway, back to the Carnivore,

So as I said we were all pretty knackered and decided it would be a waste to go to Carnivore that night. Now that that was out the way we jointly decided to postpone the night of Glory to Friday and spend the rest of the day chilling with the other backpackers and recovering a bit. That night ended up in Gypsies, one of Nairobi finest clubs/pubs, (allegedly), with us, thanks to locally brewed ‘Vodka’ to wake up with a mighty big, well, hangover. Which, for a change was welcomed, as we knew what was in store for us at 19:30 that night.

The day went by really slowly, and we ate minimal amounts of food, comprising mainly of snacks. So by nightfall we were just about self-digesting. We took Stanley out and made our way to carnivore. We had a Grande welcome and were shown to our seats to be welcomed by the ‘Doctor’ who prepared a vodka, lime and honey cocktail, designed to further whet the appetite. Called a Dawa.

So it started, we were brought our vegetable soup and breadsticks, the salad and sauce plate and then it started! The carvers with their lumps of meat and machetes surrounded our table and started carving and piling up our plates with…

Roast beef
Turkey
Crocodile
Roast Pork
Chicken Sausage
Pork Crackling
Roast Lamb
Beef Ribs
Chicken
Ostrich
Pork Ribs
Beef Sausage
Pork Sausages
Buffalo wings
… and this went on for about 3 hours, having the occasional time out, which is the only time we could actually see the colour of our plates. By the end of that we were…well… Beasted. Finally deciding none of us could have any more, not even a drink, we threw down the white serving flag, and surrendered. After desert all we could do was walk to the car, and went directly to bed. It was awesome! As they say at Carnivore, it was a BEAST OF A FEAST.

Just as a by the by, 2 years ago, before Kenyan officials made hunting illegal, Carnivore also served game. Apparently such as Zebra, Giraffe, Gazelle, Rhino etc, and if you ordered salad, or a vegetarian dishes a group of Masai men would pick you up on your chair and throw you in a pool of water. It’s a lot more civilized now, but what an experience! Thank you Jess!

Lamu

2007-04-09T09:14:00.000+02:00

I hate computers. Maybe it is lack of sleep thanks to escapades in Hell's Gate (Thanks Ken), or maybe i just suck at computers, but i just lost the written records of our trip to lamu. It was really good, probably would have brought many a tear to many an eye with its rich geographical descriptions and witty recollections of prostitutes, island nights and dhow captains. However thats gone, so what follows is a rough hack of what happened. Sorry.

After a nice train ride, a night camping in Malindi (this is where the prostitutes fit in, it turns out that the Da Gama campsite is just the garden of where all the whores of Malindi live), hot sticky 6 hour bus ride, and short ferry. We arrived in Lamu, where we had our first taste of liquid heaven, or fresh mango juice as its know there. So creamy, rich, sweet and glorious, and cheap, i could go on. I wont. Suffice to say that we drank a lot, maybe too much, and yet it still lingers in my dreams.

We also went on a 2 night dhow trip, us the hungarians, captain ali and his two crew. Fist day was just a long sail, arriving on Kiwayu island (near Somalia) at sunset, camped on the beach. Spent the next day snorkelling, chilling, eating crayfish and sailing to hell. Hell looks like a beach, believe it or not. We also got there round sunset, and after such a good nights sleep the previous night, how could this beach with its innocuous looking little flies buzzing around, be any different. I had the worst night of my life, or so it felt at the time. Between the little biting cane flies, buzzing mosquito's, and subterranean crabs seranading me with munching noises the whole night, i didnt sleep, and still have bites. The less said the better. Maybe the highlight of the trip (probably not) came at lunch time the next/last day of our sojurn on Peace Villa. While ali was preparing our daily standard luch of fish, vegetables and coconut rice, he gave us some fruit that he'd picked up, that looked a bit like a grapefruit, but was hard. He cracked it open and the penny dropped. It was the fruit Rafiki used in the Lion King to paint the picture of Simba on the rock. And they taste really good with curry powder.

The rest of our days in Lamu we just walked around, enjoying the high walls, ornate doors, and street food. Overall it feels a lot like Zanzibar, but maybe as i imagine it 10 or 15 years ago, before tourism took too strong a grip. And its also harder to get lost than it is in Stonetown. We went to the local cinema one night to watch Kill Bill (you have to enjoy some creature comforts of home sometimes).

I cant write anymore. All of my 'the's are coming out as 'teh' and i have to reread and correct every sentence.Next time i find some internet ill come back and elaborate. Right now we have to get to Nanyuki. It right on the equator and our next port of call. Kind of sad to be leaving Nairobi as its an easy place to slip back into old habits of weekend sports on tv, and we met some good people at Backpackers. But so is the nature of our trip, a bit rushed. Farewell Stanley, its been emotional!!

2007-03-28T10:44:00.000+02:00

Date: 28 March 2007
Time: 11:05
Place: Nairobi, Kenya
Feeling: Angry at this keyboard that only writes words down 5 seconds after i type them. Otherwise chilled

Heres a picture that Sj made plotting our trip as far as Zanzibar. We will be a little further up by now but it gives a good idea of how far we've gone, and how far we are away from home. But so far Nairobi of all places is where i feel most like i'm in South Africa, and its not as terrible as everyone makes out to be. I suppose we haven't been out in the city at night, maybe my opinions would change then, but for the moment i really like it. Tonight we get onto a train for Mombasa then head up to the Lamu Archipelago. And it my dates are right we'll be there for a full moon party (there seem to be these in all touristy island places so i assume there will be one). And this is pretty much the end of driving in Stanley which is bittersweet. Nice to be sort of free and not to have the car to worry about, but also its going to mean a lot more planning and time on suicidal busses and stuff. Also the car has begun to stink thanks to some broken beers in the back, as well as garlic salt which came out of the bottle. Thats all for now, going to get a visa.

Urang Paradise

2007-03-25T10:50:00.000+02:00

Jared is dreaming right now. I imagine it goes something like this...

How to climb a wall in Zanzibar

2007-03-25T04:42:00.000+02:00

Before we begin. Let you be warned. This is a stupid, useless post. It is raining, a huge cloud is covering Mt Kilimanjaro and Moshi on a Sunday afternoon is not the bustling metropolis we were hoping for. We are bored and feeling silly. So here it is, a sure fire way to climb a wall in Zanzibar.

Step 1: Prepare Zed. (Zed is pineapple or wildberry flavoured cane. It comes in 60ml plastic packets. It is very cheap. It is very good.)

Step 2: Drink Zed. (Easy step.)

Step 3: Enjoy Zed.

Step 4: Go to Forodhani Gardens and eat many, many Zanzibari Pizza. (Send individual requests for recipe.)

Step 5: Look at great wall about to be conquered.

Step 6: Serenade the wall air-guitar style.

Step 7: Send the two best and hottest climbers up first.

Step 8: Get rest of climbers up. (Manly facial hair only adds resistence in this crucial step.)

Step 9: Rest.

Step 10: Hug wall goodbye on way to dodgy club.

Zed challenge completed Shayno. Yes.

The cheezy tourist photos

2007-03-25T04:28:00.000+02:00

The desolate Page beach

Jared, on Page Beach

Nungwe Beach when we arrived

Our dorm

Riders of the Storm(s)

2007-03-24T01:25:00.000+02:00

"Once you accept the keys to the hog, you become a lifetime member of the danger club!", shouts Hawk (Matt) as we fire up our bikes. We have rented a scooter and two 250 dirt bikes and have just formed the first ever Zanzibari biker gang, known as the Riders of the Storm. Hawk, The Sweet Eazy (Pd) , No Name (Another Matt, an American), SS (Dave, another American - SS stands for Scared Shitless) and myself (Night-Rider aka Jared) are lead out of Stone Town by some locals and head towards Page. The ride there is stellar. We go through some heavy rain (hence the name) and decide to take cover at a local school, where we bump into the damn Aussies (Nick & Sam) again.

The rest of the ride was pretty decent. After lunch at Page we head north, taking a "short cut" and ended up on roads that would be barely passable by car, totally hardcore. We arrive at Nungwi just as the sun begins to set and It was without a doubt the best sunset I have ever seen. Words fail to describe so I won't even try. Pd took some wicked photos but we left the cable to upload them in Dar, so that will come later.

Took a short road back to Stone Town today, albeit in the poaring rain. Glad to report back though that no-one fell off (except Pd when learning on a field before we left, he's okay).

We have vowed to keep the gang alive. So if anyone is keen, email us a 1 page letter about why we should pick you to join our gang. 5ml's of your blood will also have to be couried to us.

But now just chilling and will take the night ferry back to the mainland tonight which means we miss the cricket, pretty bleak. Go Proteas!

Beard Update

2007-03-18T11:43:00.000+02:00

Quick. Beard competition time. Please vote on your favourite in the following categories:

Volume

Style

Hardcoreness

Shape

Colour

...and any others you want to make up.

Challenge Update

2007-03-18T10:59:00.000+02:00

Wicked. Time for a challenge update. Before I begin, just a big thank you for the challenges. Going through Africa is quite boring and there is not a lot to do. So having challenges really has been a great cure for the boredom we have experienced so far. No seriously, thank you. We really enjoy them!

First up. Gun photos. Malawi has these security checkpoints every so often and at one particular checkpoint we noticed the army dude had a very wicked gun slung over his shoulder. Immediately remembering the list of challenges, we asked him very so kindly for a photo. He was stoked, and even asked for our adresses so that he could write letters to us. What a chilled guy. His name was Maxwell Anderson.

Second challenge. Pimping out Stanley. Orange fluffy dice and a kiff Jagermeister towel. These adorn our dash and are loved by all who venture into Stanley. The towel also provides an excellent place to put our shades bru when laak the sun isn't too lank bright bru. Sorry, jocked out there a bit.

Next is the all important chappie holder. This was Pd's brilliant invention and was constructed while Matt and I were digging Stanley out of the mud in Botswana. Nice one Pd.

Driving through in the hot Malawian sun proved a bit much for the ginger in me and so a bottle of sunscreen made an appearance in the holder. I may having been jocking out again and there is a small chance I had my elbow out the window. (Taking after Sj.) I apologise for this.

One of the most pimpalicious upgrades has been our flip down dvd monitor. I'll let the picture speak for itself.

(Note an episode of The Office being played.)

And finally, walking through the market this morning we found ourselves a light up aerial. It flashes green and red and we're planning to place it at the front of the bonnet. It looks wicked and the guy promised that it would bring lank street cred to Stan.

St Patricks day and Jared

2007-03-18T10:52:00.001+02:00

So iv been travelling with Jared for a while now, sharing a tent etc. But theres just something i need to get off my chest while the other are writing about things of consequence. Now some of you may know he's been known to say things that are a little less than manly (regarding his love for shoes, shopping ect.) But his comments have reached dangerous new heights of sensitivity. Which is worrying since the aim of this trip was to toughen up a bit, learn how to rough it etc. Here are three of Jareds recent musings, tell me what you think:

"when i sleep the pillow really hurts my beard"
"this citronella soap lathers up so nicely in my hair"
"
Okay i forgot the last one, something about enjoying spooning a little too much maybe, I should write them down.

Should i really be sharing a tent with this man??

On a brighter note i am pleased to report that we found some Guiness in Iringa, it may have been brewed in Dar but it was every bit as meaningful. So we had a wonderful St Patrick's day, rounded off at a nice riverside campsite (in the rain). Today we rented out Stanley to some folk we met in Livingstone, so he's going on a safari (This is good because were too skint to pay for any park fees, but its okay), and we have the day to mess around in Iringa again. I like Iringa, its much better than Mbeya.

Oh and comments are really good and appreciated immensely, but put your name in there so we know who to send gifts to. Not really, but please do put your name in, there are lots of anonymous ones and its irritating.

Nkhata Bay

2007-03-18T10:43:00.000+02:00

After a bit of research and discussion we decided to stick to our original route, thereby heading North through Malawi, rather than a detour South around the lake and up through Mozambique. (We decided on this after rumours that the borders in Northern Mozambique were closed and the possible petrol problems.) So, although it would have been a serious adventure, as I'm pretty sure we would have gotten stuck along a dirt track somewhere, we packed up in Lilongwe, and headed North towards Nkhata bay.

Mattie had been telling us how great the place was for days, so our expectations were extremely high! (He went there in 2005 with Shayno and 8 others) I have to say neither Jared nor I were disappointed, the place was awesome! We arrived at around mid day and the sun added to the island feel. We decided to check out our options for backpackers before we settled down, (we didn't want to make the same mistake we made in Lusaka - there we struck the bottom of the barrel, we tend to not talk about that anymore...). The first place was deserted, so we carried on our search, we eventually landed up in Mayoko Village where we were welcomed by Gary, the owner. Gary was well liquored up by the time we arrived, and due to his excitement offered us a room at camping price and a free beer, so that we could join him in the bar without any delay. We gladly accepted his generous offer and joined in the festivities. The highlight of the night was when Gary turned down the music, jumped up on the bar, flung open a bottle of Amarula and shouted "Its 12:30, all drinks are free!!!" and started chugging from the bottle like it was water (The actual time was 9:48 but that didn't matter...)

The next morning was a bit slow, but were revived by a buffet breakfast, and a cloudless blue sky. We all just lazed around, swam in the lake and got sun burnt. Good times.

Day 3 started with a tropical storm, but there were promises of a boat trip later on in the day. We waited it out and by 12:00 the storm had disappeared and we once again had sun. We joined the rest of camp for the boat trip in the afternoon to a small beach where we played some Frisbee and did some cliff diving. On our way to the beach we fed Fish Eagles from the boat (We threw sardines into the water right next to the boat and the eagles fished them out)

We used the hollowed out tree canoes to get across the bay in the afternoon, in search of some local food in the town. This is where Mattie and I discovered that Jared was not built for the water. After about 15 meters from the shore we heard a splash, when we looked back we saw Jared swimming next to his rolled canoe assuring us he was OK and we should carry on. We almost wet ourselves! there was Jared fully clothed trying to scramble back onto his canoe. The rest of the trip went better and Jared slowly got the hang of it, slowly.

The way back was the best part, we had some good food and all the stars were out. In the distance we could see lightning, we paddled to the middle of the bay (Jared stayed dry this time) and just chilled there, looking up at the stars. It was romantic... there I said it!

By day 4 we decided we were getting too comfortable, so we moved on.

Fawlty Towers

2007-03-12T08:23:00.000+02:00

Okay, as everyone may have noticed Botswana was crap. Though adventurous, the beer was terrible, and there were way too many tricksy salt pans everywhere. We did bond a little, and the phrase "i love you guys" has been bandied about a hell of a lot recently. Oh we saw some elephants too which was a minor redeeming quality. But we were all eager to get out, and what a good idea it was to make the trecherous Zambezi crossing as soon as possible, and literally stumble upon the Fawlty Towers backpackers. Pd picked this backpackers, and as you can well imagine he's standing behind me right now.

The dark squirell is igor, he's new courtesy of shayno. Theyre looking over the back of the falls, almost.

Fawlty Towers: heaven, and so unexpected. Pool, dstv, internet, pool table and beautiful girls, and a guy, named Guy. First day we went to Vic falls. Its in fllod so we couldnt really see too much, but we were having too much fun to notice. Its more like wild water park than seventh wonder of the natural world, kind of like standing in a tropical cyclone with rain in every direction (Jared says "angle rain"). So the falls were good. Im in malawi now, so the beer is twice as cheap as it was yesterday, hance this makes less sense than it would ordinarily have. Sorry

That night we procured some cheap illegally imported dark rum, Admiral. A game of kings/ring of fire later and everyone was happy, especially Anne the danish girl. We continued our night at the club, called Fairmount where we danced like fools. What else can i say about Fairmount? Its like Greenman with flatscreens everywhere, fantastic!!! Let me take this opportunity to appologise to the other guests at Fawlty towers who may have been disturbed by shouts of Marco Polo, i am sorry, we all are.

The plan was to leave the next day but circumstances led to us spending the day on the couch, this was not a bad thing. The bulls and Sharks won. And the day ended with a fantastic braai courtesy of Nick the Australian, so technically it was a barbeque, but whatever.

Okay paying for internet sucks. Thats about all from me. Were in the midst of changing route a little, and going through mozambique, but you'll here more of that later.

Stuck in the pans

2007-03-09T06:21:00.000+02:00

Picture this. A beautiful day. We were driving through proper bush with barely enough space on either side for Stanley's fat arse. (For those not yet informed, Stanley is the name of our '89 Hilux) We stop the car and standing on the roof to see where we were, the first roll of thunder is heard. The decision to move on and find the infamous Kubu island in the middle of the salt pans of Botswana is made.

We eventually find the pans (much thanks to the GPS unit lent to us by the Hiemstras) and are so stoked to finally be there that we forget to stick to the outer edge of the pans. We recieved this advice from an experienced traveller and ignoring it proved to be lank stupid. So driving through the pans, extremely proud of ourselves for finding them, we get stuck. And not the ordinary kind of stuck. Stanley was actually sinking into the ground. So out we jump, a little freaked out, and begin to fix the situation. While Matt & Pd find some grass and wood to prevent the car sinking (pretty difficult when the nearest bush is 1.5km away) while I began to unload the bakkie to lighten the weight and hopefully slow down the sinking nature that Stanley was quite used to by now. By the time we were done, all the luggage, the fridge, spare battery, 50 litres of fuel, the spare tyres and all spare parts and tools were lying on a plastic sheeting, itself sinking into the depths of the pan.

After much planning and a number of attempts to rescue our ride, we decided the best course of action was to find some trees, jack Stanley up and put the trees under the tyres. So off we set to the bush on the edge of the pan, not before marking the coordinates of the car should the sun set before we returned. It was 5.30 pm at this stage, three hours into the whole charade.

Hunting for trees proved quite successful until we tried to carry them back. Pd's hernia meant that he couldn't take much, although he tried his hardest. (Thanks dude) The trouble now was that the sun had indeed set and it was complete darkness on the pans. Cloud cover also made night vision not possible. So we turned on the GPS to start navigating, while pulling 5 trees through the mud in the pitch black. We felt like real animals. Grrrr.

Awesome, we're saving ourselves. Mood is good. But wait, GPS batteries die. Rats. We are now completely lost, shin deep in mud and an extremely vague idea of where the car is. But after half an hour or so we stumble across the tyre tracks we previously laid down and found the car. (Seening the path from that walk in sunlight the next made us realise we dragged wood for over 2 km's. Not cool. Although we're all lank ripped now.)

So we get to the car, jack it up, it falls, we jack again, dig, hack wood into size, place wood, find a dry place to camp and braai some wors. We were all lank despondent by this stage. We didn't have much food, about 10 litres of water and hadn't seen a soul (or sunshine) for 40kms of bush. But we slept well and awoke to what proved a beautiful day.

The plan was to let the sun dry the mud as much as possible after the previous day's rains, and then, using the trees as grip, simply drive the car out. The morning was good, we got the labour done and were planning to attempt to drive out at around 3 pm. But then the rain started falling once again and we knew it was now or never. So we dashed for the car. We decided what the best plan of attack was, I jumped in the car and all was like clockwork. With Matt and Pd guiding we managed to slowly move the car away from the wet stuff and next to our tent on a small patch of dry land some 250m away. Absolute joy.

Nothing can describe the feeling of rescuing Stanley from the pans. We were the happiest men in the world. We worked together as a team and not once did anyone lose their cool. We are a wicked team and are very proud of ourselves.

We then drove out as quickly as possible, deciding the Kubu Island is so 20th-century, and headed to Francistown. Watching the rains fall heavily over the pans as we drove away we knew we had made the right decision.

Day 1 photos

2007-03-09T05:35:00.000+02:00

Internet is lank slow so here are the delayed pics from Pd's post. Enjoy.

Day 1 out of SA

2007-03-08T07:50:00.000+02:00

The first day was excellent, we had the farewell breakfast at the Doppio Zero and said our goodbyes... And onto the last few admin issues before we left SA. We got our medical supplies, back to jareds and onto Macro for some beer. Then the N1 to the Botwana border at Groberlersburg where we had the first mild encounter with African beurocracy. It was awesome, the reason was that I tried to declare my camera using the invoice. After wasting 30 min I ended up just declaring it without any docs. But all was well once we crossed the Limpopo and entered Botswana. Fists impressions of Botswana was clean, friendly, rich and big. We did our immigration bit, paid our road toll and were on our way.

We entered Botswana at 18:05 and the sun was slowly setting. The firsts stop was meant to be at Palapye, but that proved to be out of our range. Therefore we made a plan. We spotted a friendly looking guy waving us by at the the first foot and mouth disease control point. We pulled a U-turn and offered him beer for a place to camp. He gladly accepted, so there we were chilling on the side of the road, in front of the squirrel guarded tent, drinking our well deserved case of castle. Elias, the guard, joined in the festivities, hesitantly at first, but soon loosened up and told us all about his country, without any of us understanding a word. None of us ended up any wiser, however we did learn that Elias cannot handle his booze. At all.

2007-03-05T07:19:00.000+02:00

Well Joburg was a hoot, drifting between Shayno and Jareds houses, trying to strike a healthy balance between getting the last things sorted out, saying goodbye, chilling and partying. The Doors disrupted this balance a little on Tuesday night when i learned, along with Shayno that R22 is far to cheap for a bottle of vodka and leads directly to tears.

It seems as if every day we made a list of 5 important things to do, including finishing buying medicine, malaria pills, equipment, etc, and managed at least one, putting the other 4 off for the next day. The result of this being that we still dont have malaria tests, pens or beer. But these things have a way of sorting themselves out.

Now its off to breakfast for a final last goodbye to the Goedhals parents and Pd's mom who flew up to see us off, before we venture towards Botswana, or something? Jared is in charge of directions, for now. Then to the shops, Makro, travel clinic, petrol station.....okay maybe one more day. Or two

2007-02-27T10:03:00.000+02:00

First picture!!!

This is us saying goodbye to the mountain and Cape Town, although it was a good few days before we leave, Pd left us the next day for Durban so we needed to get this out of the way. Note the hard-core explorer poses (Jared this is not a good start), and the "bring-it-on" angle of the front wheels. The car is also actually pointing directly at Cairo. Its symbolic of the journey ahead.

Bon Voyage!!!??