The year our family traveled the world: South Africa at last

Today we drove another 3-400kms to the Orange River which seperates Namibia from South Africa. We spent about 1.5 hours clearing South African Customs, Immigration and Police checks. I guess after 18 days camping and driving an average of 300kms/day, we looked a little seedy!

We saw our first ghetto on the Namibian side of the border since leaving Tanzania and this one was worse than most.
We were told they work for the farmer who grows the biggest wine grapes in Africa. All I know is that I couldn't sleep if I knew my workers were living like that. Lappies, our SA friend told us this was a very typical SA shanty town and we'd see many more on the outskirts of any SA town. I'm sad to say he was right.

Anyway, enough of that for the moment. We camped at a site on the SA side of the Orange River and as soon as we got the tents up, Shawn and Rachel promptly swam back over to Namibia! Thankfully, there are no Crocs on this part of the Orange River.

We had another good Gerti dinner by the campfire and then off to bed as we had a relatively late start at 8:00am! We were all looking forward to the sleep in but the other Nomad truck which had arrived before us was full of young Germans that had other ideas. They ran about the campsite til about 2am and then got up at 5am for their early start and started horsing around again. I was in foul humor and some nasty German was coming to mind. I got out of the tent to tear a strip off and they had all piled into their truck and were heading off North so I figured I might as well have a shower only to discover they ran the well dry (after I'd managed to undress with one hand and stand under the dribble. I was not a happy camper that morning for sure!

Anyway, after I got the tents down the water came back and I had my shower and all was well in the neighborhood again. Then it was back on the truck for another long day (on good paved roads we were told after 3 days of dirt roads) only to find that they'd just pavbed the washboards! My arm was aching from being thrown around so Jen fashioned a sling from my towel and I managed a bit better although the tensor bandages I'd been using weren't doing a lot to immobilize it. At about 3pm we pulled into a nice campsite at Clan William Damn. It was very windy (our first experience with the Cape Dr. - that Northerly wind that blows all the smog away from Cape Town. We had to use tent pegs to hold the tents down. The kids went swimming in the nice lake above the damn. The water and wind were cool and the scenery could have been in Canada.

This was our last night together so the Village Elders gave some speeches about how great the guides were, how great the kids were and how accommodating the adults were for putting up with them!

Another early start and then we stopped at a Bushman exhibit/farm for another bushwalk with them. This was a very touristy performance across manicured pathway and the like. The bushmen who gave the tour talked like they were no longer Bushmen but did give a decent account of the various plant species and their uses. Unfortunately, we think the kids must have rubbed up on the wrong ones again as they both picked up minor rashes again! We still had some of the creams but its been a battle of the itches again.

Then it was off to a quick stop for a last minute photo shoot of Table Mountain before heading into downtown Cape Town to get dropped off. I realized that we stopped right in front of the Condo where we'd be spending the next 6 nights! Funny that they'd pick that spot but they said it was THE spot for Table Mountain shots as we'd soon find out from our balcony! They asked if we wanted to get left there but we had to go into downtown to pick up the rental car anyway so we continued on. They dropped us all off at Green Market Square and we said some hasty goodbyes to our new friends before throwing all our possessions on our backs and walking 10 blocks like the Flashpackers (backpackers with style - and unnecessary electronics) we were.

The car was a Budget Toyota 6 speed and we had no trouble getting out of Cape Town without getting robbed or otherwise molested which had been Jen's biggest concern. She'd been scaring Herself silly with Lonely Planet warnings. Cape Town, as Lappies and Bonnie had told us was actually very safe and easy to get around. No problem driving on the left and I was back at one with my trusty Roundabouts again. All was well.

No issue getting back to the Condo where Elizabeth Cook the property manager met us and showed us the ropes. It was a very nice two bedroom, two bathroom condo with kitchen and livingroom. Its best feature was a large balcony overlooking the Atlantic and Cape Town/Table Mountain. We never got tired of the view but that Cape Doctor could raise the dead. The constant howling got on our nerves. I don't know how they can put up with it.

We also had a 10 mile long white sand beach but as we discovered the water was 10 degrees! Only the crazy kitesurfers would brave it for more than a minute. Speaking of which, we often could see dozens if not hundreds of them racing in and out of the huge waves. It was very entertaining and I would have loved to try it but for my broken wing.

My thumbs are killing me (I'm doing this on the Blackberry as Jen is monopolizing the Netbook) so I'll call it a night. Next post will be on my new favorite city. Here are some shots leading up to our 6 days in Cape Town. The net is that we loved our camping tour, met lots of new friends but the pace was grueling and we were very happy for the rest stop at Cape Town to recharge our batteries. 6000kms in 20 days is a lot! Especially when much of it is over unimproved roads. It wasn't for the feint of heart that's for sure!

The largest grape farm in Southern Africa

The Orange River

Rachel having fun at Clan William Dam

With our Austrian friend Martin (often the butt of Rebekka's "Oi! Do ya waaana Plaaay Maaarrrtin?"

Shawn's putting all of his calories into height... he's a good two inches taller than Jen now.

The last time setting up the tent.

Even spiders are scarier here!

Simon, Tim, Mattie, Carrie, Josh, Gerti, Jen, Judith, Rachel, Monica, Rebekka, Martin, Bar, Andrew, Emma, Helena, Dingy, Helen (missing Craig, Rebecca, Lappies, Bonnie)