week 96 - 97 - Morocco, our last country in Africa to explore - a diverse and beautiful place

We arrived at the campsite where Moritz and Ben were staying. It was not very busy, and we got a spot right next to them. Before we wanted to go out for dinner altogether, Tom and I wanted to plan our route through Morocco for the upcoming days. We only had ten days until we needed to be in Tangier and take the ferry back to Europe. Since Ben and Moritz had already spent several weeks in Morocco on their way south from Germany to Ghana a few months earlier, they were excellent at helping us choose some nice routes. We wanted to drive up to the Atlas mountains and also explore the desert again. Morocco has countless impressive offroad tracks; we got ourselves a guidebook and tried to select our favorite routes. After finding three beautiful tracks we would try, we were ready to go and stroll trhough town with Ben and Moritz and find a place for dinner. A small town festival was happening right next to the campsite, so we mingled with all the locals and sat down in a nice little restaurant where we enjoyed our first tajine, a famous Moroccan dish.

The next morning, we all drove to a big supermarket where we could stock up on groceries before it was time to say goodbye. Tom and I drove to Taliouine, where the first 4x4 track started. There, we left the main road onto a beautiful gravel road all the way to Foum Zguid. For three days, we were following this track, taking a break when we felt like having a snack or to take some nice pictures. We crossed some dry riverbeds drove over a very old pass roead and sometimes, the track was very narrow and in a very bad condition, but our Defender managed it well. We found two amazing spots to spend the nights and really enjoyed this time off the beaten track. Since we were mostly in the highlands, also the temperature was quite nice. This, however, was something we only realized when we arrived in Foum Zguid, the town where we filled up diesel and water before continuing on the next track through the Erg Chegaga, a part of the Sahara desert.

We started on the sand track just before noon and I was getting hungry, so we tried to find a spot with some shade, which was not very easy. There were only a few trees around us without any leaves - of course, since we were driving into the desert. Nevertheless, we stopped and ate a quick lunch, which we speeded up a lot when we stepped out of the car and stood in the heat. Without the wind from driving, the heat was brutal. We do not have an A/C, so the only cooling effect we get is when driving with our open windows. We continued into the desert and soon there were no more trees around us, just sand and more sand and then we saw the first dunes. Our initial plan was to spend the night in between the dunes, but it was waay to hot and to early to set up a camp. So we decided to go into the dunes and drive up and down, which is fun of course, but for us, it was also the only way of surviving in this heat. At least, we had a small breeze in our faces. The temperature was close to 50 degrees Celsius, almost unbearable. At around 5 pm, we were too tired to keep on driving, so we started to look for a place to spend the night. At least we now had some shade of the car to hide from the sun, but it was still boiling hot. We also didn’t feel like cooking and eating, so we were just laying around like dead flies until the sun finally went down and the air started to cool down a little. We thought it would be a good idea to take a shower in order to cool off, but the water in the water tank was literally boiling hot, there was no way for us to take a shower, we would have burnt ourselves with the water. Around midnight, it was still close to 40 degrees Celsius and therefore almost impossble to get some sleep. Our decision for the next day, therefore was an easy one, we wanted to leave the desert again. August was not the ideal time to explore this part of Morocco.

We left the desert in Tagounite and drove to Ourzazate. Our first stop was the supermarket to get an ice cream :) We then had to make new plans and decided to visit the Atlas Studios, the Hollywood of Morocco. Many famous movie sets were built there from movies like Gladiator, Cleopatra, and Passion of the Christ to name a few, and what’s special about the movie sets is, that they remain once the movies are finished. Like this, they can be reused for movies with a lower budget. We had a very interesting tour through the various film sets.

From there. we continued a few kilometers east, where we drove to a lake, it was nice to have some water around us. At Lake ‘Barrage El Mansour Eddahbi’ we spent a quiet night, the only visitors were the various street dogs from around this place, which all slept around our car.

Our last 4x4 track we had chosen was waiting for us, luckily, it led through the Atlas mountains again and therefore we were hoping for some cooler temperatures. It was a more touristy route through the Dades Gorges and over the ‘Col du Duano’, so unfortunealtey, most of the track is paved by now. On the bright side, there were almost no other tourists, since it was not the high season. To spend the night, we drove all the way to Lake Tislit, a truly breathtaking scenery with a lake up in the mountains. Hassan, a Berber who takes care of the lake, stopped by when we had set up our camp. He spoke French and some English and we had a nice chat about this place and his life up here. He invited us to visit his friend and his family the next morning for tea before we would leave again. It was a very nice experience to meet the traditional family and taste their delicious bread and have some tea altogether. We really enjoyed this stop a lot.

From Lake Tislit, we drove straight to Fès, a traditional Morrocan city in the north. These towns are mostly car free with very narrow streets, so we decided to park our Defender and treat ourselves to a nice Riad in town where we stayed for two nights. We both had our first job interviews online, so it was nice to have the possibility to have the video calls in a hotel room, and since it was the low season, we got some great promotions. We really enjoyed the two days in Fès. We went on a “Free walking tour”, something we really enjoy in every city we visit, and we learned a lot about Morocco and its culture. We also visited the Hamam and tasted delicious food in some nice restaurants, it was a real treat after the many 4x4 tracks and wild camping spots from the past days.

From Fès, we drove to Chefchaouen, our last stop in Morocco. Chefchaouen is also known as the “blue city”, since everyone started to paint their houses in all shades of blue. Now, it is a beautiful traditional city to visit. This time, we stayed on a campsite just on top of the hill of Chefchaouen, a very nice campsite, where it was easy to explore the city by foot. We also went on a “free walking tour” and enjoyed our last two days in Morocco a lot, before it was time for us to catch the ferry back to Europe. Tom went to the barber to get his last shave on African grounds, then, we chose a nice little restaurant for our last dinner and we had an amazing dish, Chicken Bastilla, we were definitely in food heaven. We then returned to the campsite to go to bed early, the next morning, we had to wake up very early to reach Tangier in time for the ferry.

We had to leave very early to reach the ferry to Spain. It was unreal and sad and exciting at the same time to be leaving Africa and go back to Europe. What a journey this has been. Our luggage is full of amazing memories and our hearts are touched from countless beautiful souls we got to know along the way.

week 91 - 93 - happy festivals, aweful history and very sad reality

The border crossing from Togo into Ghana was straightforward, but it took some time because Olga’s Carnet de Passage (CDP) was expiring and they wouldn’t give us a ‘Temporary Import Permit’, which you need if you don’t have a CDP. But after a couple of hours of discussions, the officer wrote an approval letter to extend the CDP for a few days, so we had time to cross through Ghana. We entered Ghana and took the road to Akosombo, a town a little bit up north from the coast. Shaun, an old friend of Tom, who came with us to the AfricaBurn Festival in Cape Town, is a huge fan of Ghana. He had spent quite some time here and he fell in love with a place called River Cottages in Akosombo. He wanted us to see this place as well and invited us to stay there for a night when he heard that we would be passing Ghana on our way back home. River Cottages sn a small little paradise with a few cottages in a beautiful setting right by a river. We arrived and jumped right into the river and enjoyed chilling a few hours at this beautiful spot. We had a bungalow to ourselves and there was also a pizza oven which we could use, so we decided to have a pizza night, which was a lot of fun and delicious!

Martin, another guest from the UK who was also staying in a bungalow on the property, joined us for some beers. He was in Ghana for work and has spent a lot of time in this country. He told us a lot about it and he loved listening to our travel stories. In fact, he was so excited to meet overlanders that he connected us with his business partner Alpha, a Ghanaian who lives in Accra. So the next day, we headed towards the capital, where we met Alpha, who invited us to stay at his house.

Alpha is an architect and owns a beautiful house on a compound where he is building more houses. He is a very interesting guy with many skills and interests, but most of all, he is an enthusiastic overlander himself. He drove from Ghana all the way to Sweden in his beautiful Deux-Chevaux, a crazy trip! He is also a passionate filmmaker and made a documentary about ‘Sodom and Gomorrha’, the world’s biggest electronic waste dump in the middle of Accra. Tom was really interested in visiting this place as well so Alpha told us where to go. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to join us, but he assured us that it was not a problem to go there on our own. The township that developed around the e-waste dump is considered to be safe. So the next morning, we took a taxi to the place and went on a stroll by ourselves. It was an interesting but also intense and shocking experience. The amount of trash was unbelievable but what was far worse, was seeing all these people living right in between these mountains of waste. For them, it’s an opportunity to make money, by collecting precious metals such as copper and bras. In order to collect it, they have to look through the trash and burn the plastic, which is very poisonous and bad for their health. It was truly devostating to see this. However, the people were very friendly and we talked to many of them and everyone was very happy to tell us about their life.

When we returned to Alpha’s house, he introduced us to his brother, who invited us over for dinner. We had a fun evening and later went out to meet a friend of Shaun, who showed us some bars and the food night market in town. We could have easily spent a week at Alphas place, but after two days, it was time for us to continue our trip. We decided to drive along the coast and visit Elmina, a fishermen’s town with a beautiful old castle that was initially built as a trade port but was later used as a slave house.

When we arrived at the castle just after dark, the security guard told us that we could camp on the parking lot. The next morning, some curious people came to talk to us. One of them was Sam, a local journalist, who was in town because of a special festival that was happening that day. He offered to take us on a stroll through the town and we explored the area together. We met many local fishermen who were repairing and building their boats and there were soo many local tourists around, all visiting for the festival.

Since we still had some time left until the ceremony started, we decided to take a tour through the Castle. Sam and his assistant joined us and by coincidence, we were joined by three girls from Ticino, the Italian part of Switzerland. They were there for a vacation. The tour was very interesting and when we were finished, we decided to walk back into town to watch the big parade that was happening for the festival. It was a big parade, where also the king attended, and the streets were packed with people. The parade ended in the small port, where people hopped on decorated boats and everyone was singing, dancing and celebrating either on the boats or on the piers.

From Elmina, we continued further west along the coast. Unfortunately, traffic was terrible and it took us a while to get out of the city. We initially wanted to drive to another beach but since it got late and we were stuck in traffic again in the next town, we decided to stop at a local church and ask if we could spend the night there. The people were very friendly, and we were welcome to stay. The next day, we crossed the border into the Ivory Coast. The border Crossing was simple and easy and we continued straight to the coast. We were welcomed by heavy rains, it was the first country where we actually really realized that we were traveling in the rainy season. When it rained, the road transformed into a river, but shortly after it stopped, everything dried very quickly again. Luckily, the rain only lasted for a few minutes every day. The landscape we drove through was very green, but unfortunately, it was not the green rainforest you would expect, but thousands of hectars of plantations. It weas either rubber tree plantations or palm tree plantations that we saw next to the roads.

Our plan was to spend a few days at the beautiful beaches, the Ivory Coast has to offer. Our first stop was in Assouindé, a small town before Abidjan, the capital of the Ivory Coast. Unfortunately, there were many signs which forbid driving on the beach and wild camping, so we asked at a little beach hotel if we could camp on their premises. The owner allowed us to camp in the parking, which, unfortunately, was behind the hotel and not facing the beach, but the restaurant and pool area were quite nice. We were all tired from driving and the border crossing, so we ate dinner at the restaurant and went straight to bed.

We had been texting with another overlander, Paulo, who was driving in the opposite direction towards us and told us that he had found a nice spot to camp at the beach a bit further west from where we were. We, therefore, decided to join Paulo and his friend the next day. On the way, we stopped in Abidjan, the capital of the Ivory Coast, to get some groceries and Toby needed to buy a new convertor because the old one unfortunately broke a couple of days ago. We found everything we looked for in the very big and busy town of Abidjan, but getting out of this place was another mission. They were repairing the highway, so traffic was rerouted, and everything was just one big mess. It took us about 4 hours to reach Jaqueville, which is only 70 kilometers outside of Abidjan. But finally we managed to get out of the city and arrived at the beach in the late afternoon. There was still time to relax a little, have a beer and chat with our overlander company. We cooked a risotto for dinner and we enjoyed a lovely evening.

The next day, we still had time to share some information about the upcoming route and exchange Sim Cards, and then it was time for us to continue. We tried to find a last spot somewhere along the Ivory Coast where we could wild camp, but it turned out that it was not so easy. The coastline is highly populated, so finding a hidden private spot was almost impossible. We looked at the map and decided to drive into a small fisher town and ask them if we could stay at the beach. The people were very welcoming and happy to have visitors and they let us stay at a beautiful spot right at the beach. It was not private, but this didn’t matter. Everyone from the village came by to say hi; they also brought us some jerrycans with water to shower.

Just when we had set up our camp, a young boy came by. He brought a backpack and sat down with us and started unpacking everything he brought with him. He told us, that his name was Frédéric. Apparently, a white man had bought the land we were staying on at the moment, where he wanted to build a hotel. He was the one who gave the fishing gear to Frédéric, to keep it there until he would come back. He also gave him two surfboards and taught him how to surf. Frédéric told us that he wanted to go fishing and surfing together with us the next day. We agreed, and expected Frédéric to go back to the village for the night, but just when we were about to climb into our cars and go to bed, Frédéric put up a tent in between our two cars and told us he would stay here for the night as well. So just like that, we had some company at our camp :D When we got up the next morning, Frédéric had already caught some fish. He told us a lot about the village and his life here and his plans in life. We ended up staying two nights and we enjoyed the place and company a lot. On our second night, we decided to watch a movie and set up our little beamer outside. We informed Frédéric and he spread the word in the village, so many people joined us to watch a movie – that was an exciting experience for us and probably for them as well 😊

Before we left the next morning, the fishermen from the village proudly showed us a small crocodile that they had caught and killed to eat. It was sad to see the dead crocodile, but we were also happy we didn’t ran into it alive at our camp. Even though it was still quite small, its teeth were super sharp.

We left the small fishermen’s village and drove inland towards the border to Guinea. We spent the night close to a town in the Ivory Coast, where we found a perfect wide open field and asked the local family who was living next to it, if we could camp here for a night. They were super lovely and excited to have foreign guests. After we showed them our cars and the camping set-up, they brought us some fresh passion fruits from their garden. Before we left the next morning, they asked us to take some pictures together. Of course we agreed, but then everyone left again into the house. We were already wondering if they had changed their mind, but then they all reappeared again. They went to change into their most beautiful dresses! It was so cute to see how excited they were about having us as guests. Luckily, we still carry our polaroid camera, so we were able to take some pictures and give it to them, so they don’t have to look at the pictures only on their phones. From there, we drove to the border to Guinea.

week 76 - 77 - sea, sand and beaches in Mozambique

We were very excited to get to Mozambique - we expected endless beaches, sun, fun and nothing much to do. After exploring the eastern part of South Africa and the two small kingdoms of Lesotho and Eswatini, we were ready to slow our travels down again and just relax at a nice spot. We therefore didn’t make too many plans for Mozambique, we wanted to pick a few campsites where we could chill for some days, without packing up and driving further every other day. We were still traveling together with Barbara and Urs for the first bit, before they would continue further north, heading towards Malawi, while Tom and I wanted to exit again to Zimbabwe eventually, the last country in Southern Africa we hadn’t visited yet.

The border crossing took time but was relatively easy. We had a booking confirmation and invitation letter from a lodge in Mozambique ready and printed out. The immigration officer called us to his office one by one and we received our visa against a payment of 50 USD per person. There was another Swiss couple (what are the odds?) crossing the border at the same time than us, who went through the full process of applaying for an e-visa beforehand - it turned out that this wasn’t any faster at all and even more expensive, the online fees for the visa were 100 USD per person, so we were glad, we went for the visa on arrival :)

We drove to the Gala Gala Eco Resort in Ponta do Ouro just after the border, our planned first stop, since it was the owners who had sent us the invitation letter and booking confirmation to get the visa. Unfortunately, when we arrived, they apparently had forgotten that we were about to arrvie and there was only one small campsite available, which wasn’t too nice. We therefore decided to continue without feeling bad for not staying. We quickly stopped in town to get sim cards and a snack, before we continued on the sandy road along the beach to Malongane Beach Resort. This was a great decision, the campsite was sheltered beneath some nice trees and just a stone throw away from the beach. Also the small village was cute and offered two simple but great restaurants, where we enjoyed dinner and tried the first local beer as well as an “R&R”, a local cocktail with local rum and a strawberry-flavored add-on; it’s a terribly sweet drink we definitely won’t order it again, lol. The local beer on the other hand, was amazing, very light and refreshing! Our neighbors at the campsite were the other two Swiss who we met at the border, so we had a small Swiss gathering at the Mozambiquean beach :)

After two nights, we continued through the Maputo National Park to Santa Maria. We weren’t quite sure if we wanted to drive up all the way or stay in one of the campsites within the national park but it turned out that this decision was unnecessary. Only a few kilometers into the national park, we came to a river crossing, where another car was terribly stuck in the mud. A second car was also there, already trying to pull him out, but without a chance. Of course, we stopped to help; we first lent them one of our ropes to attach to the car, after their rope was torn apart in the first tries, but the car did not have enough power to pull the other one out. We, therefore quickly decided to try it with our winch - and were more successful! We got the car out of the mud and the drivers were beyond happy and thankful. They told us that they were on their way to Bemugis’ Lodge in Santa Maria (one of the places we had in mind as well) and told us we had to come with them and that they would invite us for dinner. We agreed and followed them all the way up, which easily was another 3 hours drive on very sandy roads, until we reached our destination. But the very long drive payed off! Bemugis was a little jewel! Luxurious campsites with private ablutions, a nice swimmingpool and chill out area, a lekker restaurant and bar and even an additional special sunset bar at the beach. To our suprise, it turned out that Bertus (the guy who got stuck in the mud) was the brother of the owner of Bemugi’s. So we were not only invited to a small little braai on a campsite but to a huge braai at the restaurant of the Lodge, we were definitely spoiled and in food heaven!

We spent a lovely time at the beach and pool and also joined Bertus and his people on a boat trip to Inhaca Island, where we got to snorkle and stand-up paddle and enjoy the beautiful turquoise ocean.

After three nights, Barbara, Urs, Tom and I left this little paradise and drove all the way back to the Futi exit gate. From there, we drove north again on the main road into Maputo. Usually, we make a big circle around capitals in Africa, they’re usually not very nice and also not very safe, but especially Urs and I were curious about Maputo, after hearing and reading a few interesting facts about it, so we decided to make a stop and spend one night in the city. I checked for a basic hotel, where we could park our cars safely and found “Angel guesthouse”, where I bargained two rooms for 2200 MZN each (about 35 USD). It would have not won a beauty contest, but it was safe and clean and even had an A/C, enough for one night.

To explore the city, we wanted to go on a guided city tour, but unfortunately I couldn’t get ahold of the guy offering tours. However, we found a list of the “must sees” and decided to walk around ourselves, after asking a few people if it would be safe. In deed, we felt very safe and enjoyed our stroll through the city. We visited the fortress, where we also learned a bit about Mozambique’s history: turning into a communist state after being a Portguguese colony and then suffering in a terrible civil war, which only ended 30 years ago. Unfortunately, Mozambique still is one of the poorest and underdeveloped countries in the world and HIV/Aids as well as Malaria are still big problems here… From the fortress, we went to see the train station, which is ranked the third most beautiful train station in the world! We also stopped at the central market and went to see the independence square and the cathedral. From there, we took a taxi to a restaurant at the waterfront, where we enjoyed an amazing Baracuda, sea food and Sangrias.

The next day we left Maputo again after stopping at a big mall to stock up on groceries and drinks. We wanted to continue to some loney beaches further up north along the coast. Our next destination therefore was Tofo, where Tom intended to go on some dives at a diving center a friend had recommended to us. We had to make a stop in between though, because the distances in Mozambique are quite far. Even though it looks like a short stretch on the map from Maputo to Tofo, it takes a lot of time to get from one point to another.

So we camped at Nhambavale Lodge for one night, which is located at a nice lagoon. We just arrived in time for sunset, and when we started to cook shortly after, we were disturbed by some weird spiders which were running around the floor. Apparently, they started hunting after dark. I do feel like I have lost many fears along this trip through Africa - a spider in the shower I can handle (as long as they stay in the web and don’t move too much), and even frogs (a huge fear of mine) do not have to listen to me screaming around anymore, but these spiders definitely were too much for me to handle after one ran straight over my bare foot. They were easily the size of my hand and they were very fast. When I tried to look at one more closely with my head torch on, the thing ran straight towards me (probably following the light) - however, I was out this time. I managed to sit and eat while keeping my feet off the ground (praying that these creatures do not know how to jump) and I went straight to bed after dinner, ready to leave this place the next day. Before we left, we went for a drive along the beach close to Nhambavale Lodge, where we first got stuck in the deep sand, but after deflating our tires, we got out easily and enjoyed the ride in the sand a lot.

Barbara and Urs wanted to check out a campsite on the northern beaches of Tofo, while Tom and I decided to stay at the Mozambeat backpackers. Eventhough this place is not located directly at the beach and therefore does not offer a beach campsite, they have a very nice pool area and bar/restaurant to chill. They also offer special deals together with the Peri Peri dive center, where Tom wanted to dive, so we decided to stay.

We were warmly welcomed by Ray, the owner of Mozambeat, when we arrived in Tofo. Tom went straight to the dive center to schedule some dives for the upcoming days. On the way back to the hostel, we bought some fresh fish from the local fishermen and made a little braai at the hostel. We enjoyed our time at Mozambeat a lot and ended up staying for 5 nights. Tom went on a few dives and got to see mantas and even whalesharks while I enjoyed some yoga classes at the place next door, strolls along the beach and reading some books. Furthermore, we enjoyed the company of the other guests a lot. It was quite a cool mix of people from all over the world staying at Mozambeat. We had a few spontaneous parties and after they saw Tom and me braaing the local fish on the first night, one after the other asked if they could join us for the next day. So by our last night, we were a group of ten people and bought a whole 7kg baracuda to cook on the braai; we had a blast.

Barbara and Urs enjoyed the more quiet time in the north of Tofo, and since we did not know, if we would meet them again before they would drive to Malawi and we would continue to Zimbabwe, we also made plans to have another dinner together. We met with them at Sumi, a very delicious Japanese restaurant in Tofo town and enjoyed a very nice evening together with them.

week 72 - some more rain, new cultures and reunions

We woke up on our second day in the Addo National Park, and it was still raining. Furthermore, we received a message from friends from Jeffrey’s Bay warning against roadblocks in the area just outside of the National Park. Unfortunately, we have heard about this happening especially in eastern South Africa. Because some people are very poor in this country and unhappy with the government leaving them with nothing, they demonstrate and sometimes block roads and even damage cars, and rob people. This warning message triggered us even more after our experiences in Angola, and we realized that maybe, we haven’t completely processed what had happened to us up there… Of course, the shitty weather also didn’t really help with getting back into our positive travel mood. Tom suggested to drive to a hostel in Hogsback, a place he knew from his previous travels. It would be a safe haven and a good place to recharge our batteries, sit out the bad weather and plan our next steps. He texted Shane, the owner of Terrakaya Backpackers, who was happy to host us and had a room for us at his beautiful eco lodge. The weather stayed bad, but the place was lovely, with very welcoming people, dogs, cats, and many horses, a perfect place to chill. Shane also recommended a coach in the area who is dealing with people’s traumas. We decided to give it a chance and meet him and talk about our Angola experience. It turned out to be helpful in overcoming the fear of bad things happening on the road. We stayed four nights at Terrakaya, and on our last day, the rain finally stopped. Shane took us on a beautiful horse ride through Hogsback, so luckily, in the end, we still got to explore this beautiful place in the sun. We cooked a traditional Potjiekos, a traditional Afrikaner dish, cooked over a fire for our last dinner together, a delicious meal and a fun experience.

With new energy, we left Hogsback again, and even though the weather forecast didn’t look amazing, we decided to stick to our intended route and drive into Lesotho. This place was also new to Tom, so we had something new to explore together for the first time in a while. We spent the last night close to the border on a small campsite, had our car cleaned, and also washed our wet and dirty clothes from the past rainy days. After this, we felt ready to hit the road again. However, an unpleasant surprise waited for us at the border… What was supposed to be a straightforward and quick border crossing didn’t go according to plan. When we wanted to exit South Africa, the immigration officer told us he couldn’t let us leave since our application to extend the South African visa, which we handed in more than two months ago, was still pending. We showed him the receipt from the application, with which we were told we could travel freely in and out of the country. We already knew that the Visa office was far behind with handling the applications; they even informed us that, most likely, we would not hear back from them before the end of our granted visa but that this wouldn’t be a problem, we would just need to show our receipt and it would be fine. Apparently, the immigration officers at the very small land border to Lesotho weren’t informed about that. The officer told us that we should wait for his manager, who would be here in 2 hours, or alternatively, we could drive back to the next town with a VFS office (e.g., a two hours drive) to handle the situation there. Knowing that they probably wouldn’t be a big help, we decided to wait. I was already devastated because I was so much looking forward to visiting Lesotho. Finally, the manager arrived, telling us the same story we had heard from his colleague: If he would let us exit South Africa, the system would kick out our pending application, resulting in an overstayed visa for us and therefore, he would have to give us an “undesired” stamp, meaning we could not return to South Africa for 5-10 years. Of course, we didn’t want this, and also, Lesotho being a landlocked country surrounded entirely by South Africa, we would have been stuck there forever… The manager, however, understood our dilemma, and he also understood that it wasn’t our fault since we applied on time, paid the extension fee, and had done everything we needed. Luckily, he was very helpful and started to make a few phone calls. We waited again patiently, and another two hours later, he called us into his office again and informed us that he would let us pass. We were allowed to exit without being marked as overstayed. We were beyond happy and entered Lesotho.

The vibe after the border was very different to South Africa; we felt like being back in east Africa. The streets were bustling, kids were waving at us when we drove by, the houses were more basic and the people wore very traditional clothes. Above all, we felt very save and welcome. We bought two sim cards just after the border and were surprised by the excellent coverage throughout the whole country! It was definitely worth buying them. Our first stop was at Mount Moorosi Chalets, a cute little lodge and campsite, run by a local guy named Telang. He was very welcoming and even offered us a Rondavel for a reduced price. Since it looked like it would actually not rain for a night, we decided to camp. We were lucky and had a dry night; even the morning remained dry, so we decided to hike up the mountain, which is a historical place in Lesotho because in the early 19th century, an important battle took place at this place against the British. Telang knew a lot about it, and it was an interesting hike up.

Can you see the waterfall behind us? yeah, we didn’t see it either …

From there, we drove to Semonkong, another Lodge with a campsite. As soon as we sat in the car, the rain started again. We texted the lodge owner, who informed us that the campsite at the Semonkong lodge was VERY wet. We decided to go there still and see what we could do. The owner, a lady originally from St. Maurice, was very friendly. She had spent a lot of time in Lesotho and told us a lot about the culture. The lawn of the campsite was indeed very wet, already the road to the lodge was super muddy, and our car looked again like we had just driven a Ralley. But luckily, they had a nice indoor kitchen and sheltered area for campers, so we decided to stay and sleep in the car - after all, our roof tent is waterproof. The following morning, the rain had stopped again, so we got up early and joined another couple for a hike to the highest waterfall in Lesotho. The weather stayed dry for our hike, however, the ground was very wet. We crossed many fields, and our feet were soon soaked. Still, we got to enjoy a breathtaking scenery; it was amazing to explore these even more remote places on foot. We enjoyed the hike, but when we finally reached the waterfall, it was hidden behind some big clouds; we literally didn’t see anything of the waterfall; we only could hear the water falling over the cliff. Thanks to our drone, we still got to take some pictures of the waterfall ;)

We hiked back to the lodge and enjoyed a hot coffee before we continued further north in our car. Our next stop was the Thaba Bosiu Cultural Center, a small museum, where we learned much about the Lesotho history and culture. Again, it was raining in the afternoon, but luckily, not very severely. We found another homestay on iOverlander, Metolong Backpackers, run by a very friendly man named Tlali. He welcomed us warmly, and because the rain picked up again, we spent the evening in a local bar close by, playing pool against the locals. When we woke up the following day, the sun was out again, and we walked down to the dam with Tlali’s trainee, a girl who studied Tourism Management in the capital city of Maseru and was here to complete a three-month internship. We were only her second guest, but she did a great job showing us around, and of course, she had lots of questions about Europe and all the places we have traveled to.

After these three rather wet days in the car on basic campsites, we looked forward to a hot shower and some shelter. All our clothes just didn’t seem to get dry anymore, it stayed damp inside the car. We asked a hotel in Hlotse, a town along our route, if they had a room and they offered us an excellent deal to spend the night. Along the way, we stopped again to visit another old cultural village with huts built into caves. The young local tour guide spoke English very well and explained much about the place’s history.

When we arrived at the hotel, we were amazed: It was a beautiful place, the rooms were clean and modern, and we enjoyed the strong hot shower and the comfortable bed a lot. We wanted to eat at the small restaurant but forgot to tell them when we checked in. When we walked to the restaurant around 8 pm, everything was closed already. So we returned to our room and cooked a small dinner on our gas stove just in front of the room :D

We woke up excited the following day: today, we would meet again with Barbara and Urs, our fellow Swiss overlanders with whom we had spent a fantastic time in Zambia and Botswana. They were back in Africa after a visit back home, and we had made plans to travel together again. We met them at a campsite called Mamohase, about an hour away. En route, we stopped at a car wash (yes again, the muddy roads kept our car very dirty) and at a tourist site, where we could see dinosaur footprints. Unfortunately, half of them were underwater because the river was very high. Nevertheless, we got to see two of them, and the size was indeed very impressive.

Mamohase was another locally-run campsite with a lovely view. The sun was shining when we arrived, and Barbara and Urs were already waiting for us. We sat together, and of course, we had plenty to tell each other. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t stay dry, soon again some clouds appeared, and we had to move our gathering under some shelter. The lodge owners, three cousins, were very helpful and brought some dry wood, so we could still make a braai. It felt like no time had passed since we last saw the two; we were excited to hit the road together again for some weeks.

week 59 - 64 - arrival in South Africa and settling down for a little while

The past three months went by in a blink of an eye, but they have been wonderful. We left our camping life and had many friends visiting us from Switzerland, and we made many new friends here in South Africa, as well, so writing this blog was not at the top of my priority list. Now I finally have time again to write, and I have to dig far back in my memory to tell you about our first weeks in the very south of Africa…

The border crossing was the shortest ever in South Africa; we got a free visa on arrival for three months and did not have to stamp our Carnet since Namibia and South Africa share a customs union. The border post in Vioolsdrift is in the middle of the desert, and the landscape stayed dry for the first few hundred kilometers in South Africa. We passed a couple of towns, but none of them seemed so appealing to spend a night in, so we pulled through to the Highlanders Campsite just before Clanwilliam, a place Tom already knew from his previous travels. It was a very long and exhausting driving day, but the owner Mike warmly welcomed us at the campsite, and we really enjoyed our first night in South Africa. Of course, we started with a proper braai as well as a wine tasting to get into the right mood :)

The next day, we had to continue because we needed to get sim cards and some groceries. The previous day was a Sunday, and everything was closed when we entered South Africa. We found everything we needed in Clanwilliam, and after a short lunch at the Rooibos Tea House, we continued into the Cederberg to the Jamaka Organic Farm & Resort. Karin, the owner, is German and was happy to greet some German-speaking guests. She and her husband own a huge area where they farm, but they also built super cool campsites with over 150(!) spots to choose from. We even could go on a 3-hours hike on their premises; it was unbelievable how big their plot of land was.

After two nights, we continued towards Stellenbosch, but not before going on another little hike, starting from the Algeria Campsite in the Cederberg to a beautiful waterfall. It was not a very long hike, but one of my favorites on this trip; once you reach the waterfall, you truly get the feeling that you have reached paradise; it was a magic spot

From there, we continued further South because we wanted to meet our friends Claudia and Florian in Stellenbosch on the last day of their honeymoon. After missing their wedding in Switzerland, it was super nice that it worked out to meet them in South Africa just before they flew home again. Therefore, we rushed southwards and spent the first night at the famous African Overlanders Campsite, a place well-known amongst Overlanders. The owner, a guy from Germany, helps anyone with shipping their vehicles in and out of Cape Town, and he also offers storage of vehicles on his premises. The place, therefore, looks more like a car storage than a campsite, but we met nice fellow overlanders there, like the Australian couple who had just arrived in South Africa at the beginning of their trip. The next day, we decided to move closer to Stellenbosch and check out another campsite at a lodge. We met Florian and Claudia the next day for lunch and went to eat at Tokara, a wine estate and amazing restaurant we can highly recommend. We enjoyed a couple of hours together, hearing all the news from back home and had a delicious meal and wine. Then, it was already time to say goodbye again, the two had to catch their flight, and we continued towards the west coast.

Before we entered Cape Town and its big city life, we wanted to check out some other nice places and campsites along the west coast. We drove north again and checked out the West Coast National Park, where we enjoyed a lovely picnic at the beach.

The night we spent at the caravan park in Langebaan, usually not our favorite camping spot, but it is right next to the famous Strandloper Restaurant, where we went for dinner and had a seafood feast (do not go there if you don’t like or eat fish and seafood, it’s all they serve). We enjoyed it a lot and went to bed with a very full belly.

The next morning, we continued north and visited Paternoster, a very charming town on the west coast. The night we spent in Tietiesbaai, where you can camp in the Nature Reserve. They have ablution blocks there, and it’s a famous spot amongst the locals for camping as well; the one night we spent there was quite busy, but it was nice to see all the South Africans enjoying the weekend.

The following day, we drove back to Cape Town and moved into a cute little apartment in Hout Bay, where I would start my Yoga Teach Training in a couple of days, and Tom wanted to join some Jiu-Jitsu classes. Our very first stop after entering the city, even before getting the keys to our new home base, however, was Table Mountain. Since South Africa and Cape Town marked the symbolic destination of our whole trip, we wanted to celebrate “reaching our goal”. We, therefore, brought a nice bottle of wine, some cheese, biltong, olives, and freshly baked bread to the top of the mountain (it was already late afternoon, so we had to opt for the cable car to go up and down) and cheered to us at the top of Cape Town. We were lucky and had a view without any clouds; it was a magical moment for us.

We then drove to Hout Bay and checked into our apartment, and it was a very weird but also nice feeling to know that we would not be moving for a while. We unpacked everything, all our clothes and everything else we had in the car - the two-bedroom apartment soon looked terribly crowded, and I kept wondering how everything of our stuff fitted into the car.

Tom, who had already spent some time in Cape Town a few years back, got in contact with some of his mates. That’s how we found out about Pangea, a festival happening in the Karoo a couple of hours outside of Cape Town. Luckily, we still got tickets and spent a fun weekend at a beautiful festival; it has been a while since we last danced, and we enjoyed our time. Of course, we had to decorate our Defender accordingly :)

The Yoga Teacher Training was a great experience as well. I chose Wellness Connection in Hout Bay because this Yoga School seemed beautiful, located in between the forest, but also they have a science-based approach of teaching, which I liked a lot. The Yoga studio was indeed very beautiful, but also our group was super nice, mostly South Africans and some other international students from Germany and France. I loved my time there, learning a lot of new things, not only about Yoga, but definitely improving my practice a lot, and making new friends.

Tom, in the meantime, went to a few Jiu-Jitsu classes, which he also enjoyed a lot until the very last lesson, where he accidentally bruised his rips. An injury which still, two months later, hurts him occasionally and is only healing very slowly. The rest of his time he spent meeting some mates, and we soon started running into people we knew from back home; Cape Town definitely is a popular winter escape destination for the Swiss. We also visited people we met along our travels, Kris and Karoline from Norway, who we met in Malawi, stayed in Cape Town as well. Ed and Mike, the guys we met in Tanzania and then later in Malawi again, invited us to their homes to meet their families. We met for sundowners with Leo and Paddy, a couple who also traveled in a Land Rover Defender and were just shortly behind us on the trip. After exchanging many messages and tips, we finally got to meet in person in Cape Town. We really enjoyed our time in this city a lot. After only a few weeks, it felt like a new home, just when it was time to say goodbye again.

At first, only for Tom, who picked up our friend Flo from Switzerland. He was the first one to arrive before all our other friends would come as well. Tom and Flo enjoyed a week out in nature in the Cederberg area while I finished the last week of my Yoga Teacher Course. The two had a blast, roaming around in nature with the Defender.

I met them again just before Christmas in Piketberg, where the three of us rented a cute little cabin and spent Christmas in between Zebras and Springboks :) For another two nights, we moved to a lovely cottage in Tulbagh, where we went for a hike and enjoyed the big pond in front of our cabin. Then, it was time to drive to Franschhoek, where we would meet the rest of our friends who arrived during the following days; we were, of course beyond excited to finally be reunited with them all.