week 56 - 57 - a beautiful side of Angola

The road from Lubango to the beach in Namibe was very good, and it was a scenic drive that reminded us a lot of the landscapes in Namibia. Of course, we were still in the Namib desert, so this was not surprising 😊 We drove to Villa Dorothy, where we knew it was possible to camp, but they also had some small beach bungalows for rent. Given our situation, we weren’t too keen on sleeping in our car, so we asked if a bungalow was available, and we were lucky. We even got a small discount and could spend a few days at the beach and slowly get back into our travel mode and feel comfortable again.

We were still struggling, though, and decided against the drive down into the very remote desert since we didn’t feel like exploring very remote places just now, and also, we had seen lots of dunes already in Namibia. We, therefore, drove straight to Praia do Soba, a place recommended to us and one of the few actual and official campsites in Angola. It was only a short drive, one hour on a tarmac road and another hour for the last 20 kilometers to reach the campsite, which was a beautiful off-road drive. When we arrived, we couldn’t believe what some people manage to build up out of nowhere. The owners, Andrea and Chris, warmly welcomed us and made us feel at home. Their hospitality was excellent, we were invited to have lunch and dinner with them and their kids, and we got to try lots of amazing Portuguese food. The campsite was right at the beach, built into huge caves; Andrea and Chris really had put a lot of work into their place. We spent three nights at the campsite and then continued our journey.

Initially, we were planning on driving up further north, but the problem was that we still did not feel like wild camping, and there were no official campsites along the way up north to Benguela, where we wanted to go. Tom wanted to drive back to Namibia, but he didn’t get the feeling of safety back and was struggling. I didn’t like to end our Angola trip early, but I understood his feelings and did not want to force something. We were in a real dilemma but had already agreed to return to Lubango and then return to Namibia when suddenly, a Defender crossed our path. We stopped and started chatting with the couple our age who was driving the car. They asked where we were coming from and where we were headed, and we told them about our situation and that we couldn’t decide where to go next due to what had happened. We couldn’t believe it when they told us they had been robbed at the same place just a few months ago. Noortje and Marijn are Dutch but have lived in Angola for almost ten years. Now, they were just on their way to spend the weekend at the beach with some friends, and they immediately offered to join them. Within 10 minutes, we changed our plans and turned around. We passed Praia do Soba again, but this time we continued up north to another very remote and hidden beach. We would have never driven that far on our own. And the place was truly amazing.

About a couple of hours later, their friends, Victor and Rachel, with their daughter Selena, arrived. We spent a fun and fantastic evening together, sitting around the bonfire and telling each other about our lives. The next day, we went for a swim and enjoyed the sun; Marijn even went spearfishing and caught us a nice lunch, and to top that off, a big group of whales passed the beach. They were swimming up and down in front of our camp; it was just amazing.

Unfortunately, Victor, Rachel, and Selena had to leave the next day again to return to work, but Noortje, Marijn, Tom, and I stayed for another night. We enjoyed another beautiful night, and the whales were back when I woke up early the next day. I cooked some coffee, opened the front of our rooftop tent, and climbed back in bed to enjoy a cup of coffee while watching the whales. It was a magic moment.

We enjoyed the rest of the day at the beach, went for another swim, and prepared a nice lunch before we drove back to Lubango. Noortje and Marijn offered us to stay at their house, and we gratefully accepted. The additional days at the beach together with them were just what we needed. We found that this was a great experience to take with us and to end our Angola adventure here. If we had continued to drive further north, we would have had to wild camp again on our own, and we didn’t want to do this. Inland, away from the beach, the rainy season had started in Angola, so the roads there would be very muddy, and we didn’t feel like driving into the rain either. We invited Marijn and Noortje out for dinner and then spent a comfortable night in their guest room. They even let us use their washing machine, so the next day, we were ready to drive back to the border with all our clothes washed and with some bad but, thankfully, also many beautiful memories from Angola to take with us.

I still struggled with mixed feelings on the drive from Lubango to the Santa Clara border. It seemed like we were driving in the wrong direction, and I was very sad that we did not get to explore more of Angola. I was very much looking forward to visiting this country, and leaving after two weeks only without having seen many of the places we intended to, didn’t feel right. But on the other hand, we did not want to travel through the country in fear. On the way to the border, we crossed paths with two German overlanders who had just entered Angola the day before. We stopped and cooked coffee and had a small chat by the side of the road, and Tom and I were debating whether to turn around and travel through Angola together with them. But in the end, we still decided to continue to Namibia. We did have a few fantastic days with Noortje and Marijn and some great memories to bring along from Angola, this had to be enough for the moment, and hopefully, we can come back again one day to explore the rest of Angola 😊

We filled up our tank one last time in Angola; the diesel price there was very low, around 30 cents per liter, so we were not the only ones who wanted to fill up the tank at the last petrol station before the border to Namibia. The line was huge and they also seemed to have a problem with the pump. But a friendly guy let us go in front of the long queue, so we were still able to cross the border back to Namibia before it was closed. The border crossing was super fast, it took us only half an hour, and we were back in Oshikango. We drove directly to the Piscas Hotel, where we also stayed the night before we crossed the border. Martha, the receptionist, remembered us and even our names and offered us a room; it felt great to be back at a familiar place with lovely people who were happy to see us again. We ordered dinner at the restaurant and went to bed very tired but ready to make some new plans the next day. We now had some extra time on our hands until we met our friends in December in Cape Town and had lots of possibilities for spending it.

week 55 - a not so warm welcome to Angola

The border crossing to Angola was not such a quick experience as our previous couple of immigrations because this country is not a very touristy destination. However, we were surprised at how quickly our online application for the e-visa was approved.

When we reached the border, we definitely stood out with our big car. The border is bustling since Namibians and Angolans do not need a visa to travel to their neighboring country. Because most goods are cheaper in Namibia, many Angolans were carrying big bags of rice or potatoes and other groceries and walked past us across the border. We, on the other hand, were first stopped by a guy who wanted to see our Covid Test, which we did not have… We heard so many different versions of whether it was necessary to bring a test or not that, in the end, we decided to try our luck. Unfortunately, we weren’t lucky, and this guy wanted to see the test results and was very strict about it, even though no one else seemed to need a test to cross here... Furthermore, he didn’t speak English, so we had to ask one of the fixers for help. We usually try to avoid using fixers for border crossings, but this time, we needed help to communicate somehow. We were lucky and found Lukas, a fixer who was quite helpful. He managed to bargain with the Covid-guy; in the end, we could cross without a test. We then went to immigration, where an officer asked us to follow him to his office. He checked our e-visa application and then prepared our physical visas, which took quite some time, but the officer was very friendly and asked many questions about our travels; he seemed very interested. We had to go to the bank to pay for the visa when he was finished. Lukas showed us the way; we practically had to enter Angola and go to the bank while our passports were still with the immigration officer, which seemed very weird, but it was what it was. At the bank, the next surprise waited: we could only pay for the visa in cash (?!), and of course, we did not have Angolan Kwanzas yet. The cashier at the bank was also unable to exchange our US dollars for Kwanza (!!!). Luckily, a client at the counter next to us was happy to help and exchanged some dollars at an excellent exchange rate. So finally, we were able to pay the visa fee and could return to the immigration office to collect our passports. After we let the immigration officer have a look at our car because he was very interested, we could drive to the next counter: customs. The counter was very busy, and we had to wait for more than one hour until it was our turn and we could pay the road tax. We were already prepared to walk again to the bank with our paper when a local guy offered to pay for us using his phone (no cash is allowed at official counters, but they have an Angolan payment system for phones which was ok). We gave the friendly guy the money in cash. There was one last checkpoint before we could enter Angola, and Lukas advised us to bribe the customs officer so he would not search through our whole car before we could leave. We weren’t sure about that advice, and we told him we wanted to see if he was even interested in looking through our vehicle. He wasn’t interested at all, so we could leave the border and enter Angola without bribing the officer.

Besides driving back on the right side of the road, the change to Namibia was quite significant; we immediately felt like being back in East Africa, with many people on the streets selling their vegetables and fruits and bustling roads with goats and cows crossing everywhere. In Namibia, the vibes were more western. We stopped in the first town after the border to buy a local sim card. At the Unitel store, only one lady spoke English and could help us, but she was very friendly and interested. She had not met many tourists, even less those who travel by car. Once we had our sim cards, we got some more money at an ATM since our international cards didn’t seem to work here in the shops; they mostly only accepted an Angolan banking card. It was quite a stretch to Lubango, the first town we wanted to visit, and there were few places of interest on the way. However, it was already early afternoon, so we decided to check out one of the wild camping spots along the way. Beneath a giant Baobab tree, some people have camped before, and everyone seemed to have liked this spot. We drove on a perfect tar road towards Lubango and left the road halfway to reach the camping spot. On the way, we passed some old abandoned military tanks, which were still there from the civil war in Angola, which only ended in 2002. We soon found the Baobab Tree, a lovely spot to spend our first night in Angola. A local farmer greeted us; we offered him something to drink and tried to communicate using Google Translate, which was quite funny. After he left, we cooked dinner and went to bed. The following day we enjoyed a little breakfast while talking about how we had met so many lovely people in Africa. We thought back about how we both were a bit afraid when we first arrived in Africa and how we were a bit overprotective – maybe we should have kept that feeling and been more careful, knowing now what happened shortly after…

We packed up our camp and drove to Lubango, where we first stopped at a restaurant to eat a little lunch. Angola was definitely a more expensive country, which we realized after we had to pay the bill, and it was almost like being back in Switzerland. We would definitely need to cook ourselves a bit more here. We continued and wanted to drive up to Tundavala, a touristy hotspot 20 minutes outside the city. It’s a beautiful cliff with a fantastic view over Angola.

On the way, we quickly stopped at Le Chalet, a restaurant and store owned by Swiss people who sell great cheese. We stocked up on some Gouda, Tilsiter, and even Raclette Cheese before continuing further up to the viewpoint. On the way, we debated whether we wanted to wild camp up there, which many overlanders had done before us, or if we should go back to the city and look for a hotel. When we arrived, we were the only visitors, but two security guards came to the parking lot as soon as we had parked the car. We walked to the viewpoint, and some local Himba kids ran after us and asked for food and money. We gave them some fruits we had with us and went on to take some pictures. By the time we returned to our Defender, some more cars had arrived with mostly local tourists. One of them started talking to us; he spoke English very well, so we asked him if he could ask the security guards if we could camp there. He translated for us and informed us that they said it would not be a problem. However, they told us to sleep in the parking lot, where they could see us, as they would be there all night. We thanked them and were still unsure if we should stay because some dark clouds were slowly coming our way, and we were afraid that a thunderstorm would soon arrive. There were some more hidden viewpoints along the cliffs, so we asked the security guards whether it would be ok to drive along the beautiful offroad trail along the cliffs and check it out. They said it was not a problem and that it was safe up here. We informed them that we would come back later and decided whether we would sleep up here, depending on the weather.

We drove along the gravel road and soon were out of sight from the parking lot. We decided to cook dinner up here and then see whether the thunderstorm would come here or not. If yes, we would drive back to the city again and sleep in a hotel; if it stayed dry, we would sleep in the parking lot next to the security guards. We stepped out of the car, took pictures, and started cooking. It must have been around 20 minutes after we had arrived there when suddenly two guys appeared from behind our car. We didn’t see them coming at all, they were wearing black masks over the head, with two holes for the eyes and one for the mouth. One was holding a knife, the other a beating stick. Of course, we immediately knew what was going on. And there was no one around who could see or hear us. They told us to sit on the floor, or at least that’s what we understood since neither of them spoke English. They kept asking for “Dolares” and wanted to tie our hands, but we told them we would get the money for them. I got up and returned with our wallet and gave them all the Angolan Kwanzas we had, which was quite a bit, because we only just pulled money. I hoped that they would leave, but they didn’t. They kept asking for more money. I remebered the Namibian and US-Dollars we still had and gave them the rest. They started looking through some compartments in the front of the car and found my apple watch and our GoPro, which they also took. They kept asking for more money and wanted to tie us again. One guy started to get very aggressive; he kept yelling “Dolares” and “more,” but we didn’t have more cash. The other guy started to take off my jewelry. Thankfully, I left all my valuable jewelry back at home, and I was so happy I did at that moment. I gave him my bracelet and the rings I was wearing. He probably thought the ring on my ring finger was my wedding ring and didn’t ask for this one, a robber with manners at least... By that time, Tom and I started to get very angry; these guys were taking forever and it was obvious that there was nothing more for them to take. Our phones, we had both thrown behind the driver seats when they were approaching, I’m not sure if they saw it, but I think they were not interested in the phones anyway because, without a code, they are useless. In the meantime, the thunderstorm had arrived; it was very windy, the sky turned black, and it started to rain and even hail. We screamed at them that they had everything and there was nothing more to take. Tom began to stow away our cooking gear, which was still out. I think they were a bit confused and of course still couldn’t understand a word we were saying. We started yelled at them that they should finally leave us alone, and one guy seemed to understand what we were trying to tell them or he just got nervous too. He pulled his aggressive buddy away and they finally backed off and ran in the other direction. We threw everything that was still lying around in the car, jumped in, and drove back to the main road. We didn’t even stop at the parking lot to tell the security guards about what happened; we were terrified and just wanted to get away from that place.

We drove straight to one of the nicer hotels in Lubango, which seemed like a safe place, and asked if they had a room. They did, and the receptionist named Saida was very helpful. We told her what had just happened to us, we were soaking wet and still under shock. She immediately offered to come to the police station after her shift and quickly showed us our room, where we first took a long shower to warm ourselves. We then went to the police station close by together with Saida. She translated for us, and the officers told us we needed to go to the central police station. Since we had left our car at the hotel, they offered to drive us, but the only vehicle available at that moment was the car from the troubleshooter guys. So we had to jump on the back of their car, together with four armed police officers, and they drove us with turned-on sirens to the central police station of the town. We there had to tell the whole story again, and the officer, in the end, asked us to come back the next day. He wanted to drive up to Tundavala with us so we could show and explain to the police how and what exactly happened. It was already after 9 pm when we walked out of the police station and of course, we didn’t feel like going back up there early the following day, but we did what we had to do.

Unfortunately, the next morning, Saida had to work again so she couldn’t join us. We drove to the police station the next day in our car and drove up to Tundavala with two officers. When we returned to the police station, an entire investigation team was waiting for us, and we again had to tell them everything so they could write the official police report. This time, we had to use Google Translate, so I’m pretty sure it’s a bit of a funny report to read if you speak Portuguese, but at least we could communicate. The officers were very friendly and took us seriously, which felt good. It took some more hours but in the early afternoon, we were finally done and could return to the hotel.

At around 8 pm, they called us and asked whether they could stop by to show us the final police report we would need to sign. 4 policemen came to our hotel to show us the report. There were some minor adjustments necessary and they offered to come back the following morning because we told them we were planning to leave Lubango the next day. So on Sunday morning, after the incident, which happened late Friday afternoon, we already had the final police report in our hands - we were very impressed with the Angolan police.

We hit the road again, but we were not very relaxed, to be honest. There was another viewpoint of the city; a smaller version of the Christ the King statue from Rio de Janeiro above Lubango. We drove up there, but everything reminded us a lot of Tundavala, and we barely dared to step out of the car when we arrived at the parking. There was a security guard up there, and we parked right next to him and only quickly left the car to take pictures. A little boy was begging for money and food, holding his blind grandfather and we already felt very threatened by the two of them.

We continued to Serra de Leba, another viewpoint. Unfortunately, we were all alone; just one other car with two local tourists was parked nearby. We sat in the car and had a little mental breakdown because we didn’t dare to leave our car. We realized that there was some recovery time necessary for us. We weren’t sure if we should turn around and leave Angola again, but somehow turning around and going back to Lubango didn’t seem very appealing either. We decided to continue and drive towards Namibe, a town at the beach, and hoped for some good weather and lovely places to get some new and pleasant pictures in our heads.

week 53 - 54 - wild life, wild hikes and good-byes in Namibia

It was already the last week we spent with my parents, but a few more highlights were waiting for us. For the next night, we drove to the Hoada Camp, another campsite run by a local community. It was a nice place to chill; there was a small pool where we cooled off in the hot afternoon and met some fellow tourists. For sunset, we climbed up some hills and enjoyed the view before we returned to our cars to cook dinner. The next day, we wanted to leave very early to get to the entrance gate of the Etosha National Park before noon. The entrance gate was quite busy. While we filled in all the necessary forms and paid the entrance fees, we also prepared some coffee and a little breakfast before we were ready to go on a safari. The national park roads were surprisingly good, against everything we had heard. Unfortunately, this was only true for the first few kilometers, but at least that 😊 We spent our first night in the park at the Olifantrus Camp. When we called there to make reservations a few days earlier, they told us they were booked out. Still, after Tom played his Austrian charm and kindly asked if they had any space somewhere at the camp for us, they let us stay at the picnic site, which turned out to be an even a nicer spot than the actual campsite, which was very crowded. We had a very private place.

At the Olifantrus camp, there is a big waterhole with a hide, where the visitors can sit and enjoy the view. Since it was the dry season, many animals came to the waterhole, and we spotted a lot. We even saw a group of lions when we returned after dinner in the dark.

The next day, we had to make our way to the Okaukujejo Campsite, where we had made a booking for another two nights. The roads got worse and worse as we drove into the park. On the bright side, the rain still hadn’t started yet. It was like all the animals of the Lion King movie were meeting up at each waterhole. Never have we seen this many elephants, oryx, zebras, springboks, ostriches, jackals, giraffes, and lions in just one spot at the same time; it was spectacular! The roads, on the other hand, were very tiring, and our two cars were covered in sand inside and outside. When we finally arrived at the campsite, we had to clean our cars and then ourselves before we dared to drive inside the gate. We were delighted to get out of the car, opened a bottle of cold white wine, and sat by the waterhole to watch the animals who came to drink. None of us felt like driving around in the park again, so I suggested going on a game drive with one of the safari cars from the camp the following day. Everybody found this a good idea, so Tom and I quickly booked a tour for the next day. We cooked dinner and then went to bed because our tour was leaving very early the next morning.

Our safari guide picked us up at 6 o’clock and gave his best so we would see a lot of animals. We soon passed a pack of lions chilling right next to the road. We stayed with them for a while and learned much from our guide about these royal creatures. Unfortunately, we were not lucky to spot a leopard, but we also met some elephants, and on our way back to the camp, we came across a spotted hyena, which was very impressive as well.

After we returned to our campsite, we all felt like enjoying some time at the pool instead of driving around the park again. We got hold of four sunbeds in the shade and enjoyed our little siesta at the pool. While Tom edited a million pictures, we took on this trip, the rest of us planned how and where to spend our last couple of days together. We decided to drive to the Waterberg Lodge and campsite, a nice and historical place where my parents could return to Windhoek the day after. Tom and I would drive north towards the Angolan border, our next destination.

When we left the Etosha National Park, our cars were thoroughly checked. When we asked the guards what they were looking for, they explained that they were checking because of poaching. We would soon better understand that this is still a big issue here. We drove on the perfect tarmac road to Outjo, where we stopped at the bakery to get lunch. Tom and I tried to find a place to fill our gas bottle, which we were not able to do throughout all of Namibia. Luckily, we could use our parents’ gas bottle to cook, but since we were soon on our own again, this became an issue. We could refill our European gas bottle all over Africa, but no one seemed to have the necessary adapter in Namibia. We continued and tried our luck in the next town, Otjiwarongo. We stopped at the Afrox shop, and these guys were finally able to help us. They had the correct adapter and refilled our bottle in no time.

It was not much further to the Waterberg lodge. When we arrived, my parents booked a rhino trekking for the following day, the last highlight to end their Namibia adventure. Tom and I had already done such a trekking in Uganda and decided to go on the (cheaper) historic hiking trail instead of the rhino trekking. Unfortunately, the rangers had to inform my parents that they could not guarantee they could go on the trekking the following day. The reason was that poachers had killed one of the rhinos just a few days ago; therefore, the herd was still very upset. We couldn’t believe who would do such a thing just because of the horn. But unfortunately, people still pay lots of money for such “treasures.” What made the story even sadder was that the rhino they killed was pregnant. The rangers told us that they needed to check on the rhinos the next day to see how they behaved towards people and then would let us know if my parents could do the trekking.

We drove to the beautiful campsite with private ablutions. It was still a few kilometers to drive from the reception to the camping spots. We enjoyed a shower and started packing up our cars, my parents would give all the leftover food to us, and we gave them everything we wanted them to bring back home for us. It was unbelievable how quickly the past four weeks had passed. We wanted to enjoy dinner at the lodge restaurant for our last night. This was still a two kilometers-hike away from the campsite. We decided to walk there, and instead of walking along the street, we wanted to follow the hiking trail. This turned out to be an actual hiking trail over rocky terrain and through thick bushes; our Birkenstocks were not the well-chosen shoes for this, and by the time we reached the restaurant just before it got dark, we were all sweating again. Well, one last adventurous memory for my parents, we thought and ordered a nice bottle of wine. The restaurant was a bit more basic than we expected, and there was only one fixed menu, so there was nothing to choose from, but after our first slight disappointment about this, we had a surprisingly lovely dinner; they had a good chef.

After dinner, we still had to walk back through the dark. We followed along the road this time, which was a great idea. Trying not to think too much about the leopard that would sometimes visit the lodge, we walked back to our cars. Instead of a leopard, we spotted a few scorpions on the way, which was also worrying but at least nothing we had to run away from 😉 We made it back without being stung or eaten and fell asleep very soon.

The following day, we enjoyed breakfast altogether, and then my parents left for their rhino trekking, which took place. Tom and I packed up as well and went on the historic hiking trail, where we could read and learn a lot about the horrible battle which was fought here between the Germans and the local tribes that lived here before the German settlers arrived in Namibia. We all met again at the reception; my parents were fortunate and spotted a newborn rhino on their trekking, one which even the rangers hadn’t spotted before. They told us about their experience and showed us some pictures.

We couldn’t change anything about the fact that the time had come to say goodbye ☹ But we all spent four amazing weeks with lots of highlights and great memories to bring home and along the journey. After many hugs and kisses, we sat in our cars and drove back to the main road, where my parents continued to Windhoek, and Tom and I drove up north. Our destination was Tsumeb, a town before the border to Angola, where we also heard of a very good mechanic. It was time to recheck our car and get a service for our Defender; after all, we had driven more than 3000 kilometers in Namibia alone, and the roads were not always very smooth.

We arrived in Tsumeb and first had to bring our laundry for washing and then also had to wash our car. After everything was cleaned again, we drove to Kupferquelle, a campsite, lodge, and resort. We spent a few nights here to prepare for Angola, we had to apply for the visa, I had to catch up on a lot of writing before making new memories, and Tom wanted to work on a video from Namibia. We also could pass by Frank, the car mechanic, who was very friendly and could do a service the next day. We spent the day at a cafe next to a gym, and I joined a Cross Fit class in the afternoon. Tom couldn’t participate because he didn’t bring sneakers (some say it was on purpose). I could barely move for three days straight after this gym experience, but it was still fun.

After four nights at Kupferquelle, we had a clean car, clean laundry, a Defender that had been given all the necessary treatment, and two approved e-visas to go to Angola. Therefore, we drove to Oshikango, the border town, where we spent a night at a hotel to go straight to the border the following day. We slept at the Piscas Motel and were very surprised when we entered the gate. The place looked awful and shady from the outside, but inside the gate waited a little oasis with very friendly and helpful people. Martha, the receptionist, printed many documents we needed for the border crossing and even offered to help us if we would get stuck at the border the next day. The vibe was already very different here as well. Most people at the motel spoke Portuguese, and on the menu were many Angolan dishes we had never heard of. We were excited to cross the border and learn about a new country.

week 52 - 53 adventures off the beaten track

We hit the road for our off-road adventure and drove on some gravel roads further north. We stopped at the “White Lady,” a famous ancient rock painting. From the car park, it is still a one-hour walk away, and a guide comes with you to show the way and explain some interesting facts about rock art. It was a nice but hot walk along a dry river bed.

After this excursion on foot, we jumped back into the cars and left the official roads. We followed an off-road track in a dry riverbed. The scenery was beautiful, and since it was the end of the dry season, driving in the riverbed on the very sandy tracks was not a problem. Liv’s parents seemed to enjoy it and got more confident on the 4x4 track. We knew in what direction we were headed and there were lots of different paths to choose from. Once we left the riverbed again, we started looking for a nice spot to spend the night and found a beautiful place behind a bit of rock, sheltered from the wind. Tom and Roland were taking care of a nice fire, Evelyne and I prepared our dinner, and we enjoyed a fantastic night out in the wild.

The next day, we continued our trip. We read about a simple camp called Ugab Rhino Trust Camp with very basic infrastructure, but supposedly, they had water for showers, which we found reason enough to stop there since we planned on staying out in the wild for a couple of more nights. Shortly after we left our camp in the morning, we saw springboks and even ostriches, who ran in front of our cars. We continued through the wide open fields, and slowly, the scenery became rockier; it looked like we had landed on the moon. The track we chose is called divorce pass, and we soon found out why. The road got increasingly rough and very steep until, eventually, we had to stop and check on the road conditions before we dared to continue. Tom and I quickly had to teach my parents some offroad basic skills we learned in our training back in Italy. We only had the option of continuing or turning around, and after a six-hour drive on a bumpy road, the second option didn’t seem too appealing. We also knew that we had two excellent and strong cars capable of driving almost any route, so we decided to continue. Only this last bit we had to pass, and then we could follow a riverbed again, which led straight to the camp. The “last bit” turned out to be more than just one steep climb; after every climb, there was another even steeper descent and another ascent again; our (and more so my parent’s) nerves got tested, but we managed the divorce pass without any divorces 😊 Back in the riverbed, we saw lots of elephant dung, but unfortunately, we did not spot any desert elephants. When we arrived at the Rhino Trust Camp, it was very windy, so we tried to find a place with some shelter. Unfortunately, we only just arrived to find out that the showers were not working. But it was, what it was; we still prepared a nice dinner and calmed our nerves with a bottle of wine ;-) The next day, we were ready to leave the rocky terrain. 

When we got up the next day, we saw some local people from the village getting some water from a close-by water station. We asked them if we could also fill our water tanks, which we could. This was great; we knew we would have enough water to take a shower that night, which was something very nice to look forward to. The people from the village also told us about a waterhole a bit further down the river, where the desert elephants usualy stay, and they also informed us that the road we intended to take was not possible to drive at the moment. So we quickly had to change our plans. We first tried our luck and went to the waterhole to see if we would meet the desert elephants. Unfortunately, they were not there. On the way, we passed an old and abandoned mine, which Tom and my Dad found very interesting, but my mom and I just wanted to finally leave the stones and rocks and drive back to open fields with easy sandy tracks instead of rock climbing trails. We let the boys take some pictures, and my dad and I switched cars for the next bit. I was driving with my Mom and my Dad was getting his Defender experience. We maneuvered the two vehicles out of this valley, which still included many bumpy tracks. Unfortunately, the Landcruiser did not have the same ground clearance as our Defender, and it was almost impossible not to hit a stone once in a while. We still managed to get out, and finally, the roads became more sandy again, and the view slowly changed from the rocky moon landscape to open fields. We stopped to prepare a little snack and continued to the “Dolores Crater Rim,” where we intended to spend the night. A giraffe crossed our way, and when we arrived at a crater, we agreed that it was a nice spot to spend the night, also a bit sheltered from the wind. We took turns taking a short but very nice shower before the sun went down and it got cooler again. And then, we started to prepare dinner. Only then my Dad realized that the big fridge they had in their car was lose. The fixation apparently broke, so while my mom and I prepared our dinner, the boys tried to fixate the fridge since our bumpy rides were not yet ending.

We enjoyed a nice breakfast the following day and continued further up north. We wanted to reach De Riet, a town where we heard that people are in need of basic things, that’s why we had bought some bags of maize and rice and toilet paper as well as other essentials, which we wanted to bring to them. The scenery on this day was very beautiful again. We came back into desert land and even passed some dunes again after driving over plane wide fields of nothing, and just when we were driving in a dry river bed again shortly before De Riet, we finally spotted the desert elephants. It was a big family eating the leaves from some trees. We did not only see the elephants but also other cars, which seemed just as special after three days of meeting no other vehicles. After watching the elephants for a while, we drove to the town of De Riet and gave the people there the goods, and they seemed to be very grateful. It was windy like crazy; we could barely keep our eyes open and were very impressed by how these people lived here in their very basic huts in this rough surrounding.

We spent our last night next to a dry river bed again, close to the main road, which would bring us the next day to Palmwag, where we had made a reservation for two nice campsites with ablutions, which we were all very much looking forward to. We enjoyed our last night in the wild together and sat around the fire until late, talking about the adventures of the past few days. It is always so special to spend some days far away from everything else, with no phone connection, no other people, just the car and yourself is all you need. In these days, it is very easy to forget the busy world we usually live in.

We arrived at the Palmwag Lodge and Campsite, and while I was talking to the receptionist to check us in, the rest of us were refilling the water tanks of our two cars and then they spotted, that our Defender had a flat tire. It was still slowly deflating, but once again we were more than lucky. Literally about 50 meters away from the spot we parked, the lodge had its own workshop where they could fix tires. The place to detect a flat tire couldn’t have been more perfect. So while my parents already drove to our campsite to settle in, Tom and I went to the workshop, where a very skilled guy was helping us to locate the hole and fix it again. Within no-time, we were ready to join my parents at the campsite. We all took a nice shower and spent the rest of the day chilling at the pool, before we treated ourselves to a dinner at the restaurant of the lodge.

week 51 -52 - hot desert, sandy dunes and the ocean breeze

We slowly made our way north, and another big highlight was waiting for us: the Sossusvlei Dunes and the Sesriem Canyon. Unfortunately, the roads got worse the further north we came, but we still made it just in time to climb the famous Dune 45 before sunset, after we quickly checked in at the campsite. It was a bit windy, but we had lots of fun running up and down the dune and enjoyed a sundowner (sprinkled with sand) before driving back to the campsite.

We had a very short night ahead of us and quickly cooked some pasta for dinner. To get rid of the sand, we also jumped under the shower before going to bed, and soon again, our alarm clocks woke us up early the following day. We wanted to drive into the park right when the gate opened one hour before sunrise. We hoped to make it to the Big Daddy Dune for sunrise, the biggest and most famous dune in the park, which lies 65 kilometers from the entrance gate. It is about 350 meters high and the biggest dune in the world you can climb. It was nice to drive in the park (on a perfect tarmac road) while the day slowly began. We arrived shortly after sunrise for the perfect golden hour and first walked around Deadvlei, a salt and clay pan at the bottom of the dunes, which used to be an oasis with several camelthorn trees that later died due to a drought in the area. The remaining skeleton of the trees give a beautiful picture in the white contrast to the white pan in front of the dunes.

Of course, we also wanted to climb Bid Daddy, which looked very exhausting to the looks at the other tourist who directly started the climb. They looked tiny on the tip of the,dune, and it seemed like they didn’t make any progress.

Since it was still very cold when we left the camp early in the morning, we wore too many layers of clothes and almost died of a heat stroke on our way up. But it still turned out to be a lot of fun, and running down the dunes afterward was a lot easier and made up for all the struggles in the first place. We ate a small lunch back at our cars and then drove straight to the lodge outside the park, where we met Melissa, our pilot, for a scenic flight over the dunes. It was a bumpy flight but so impressive to see the dunes we just climbed up and down from a bird’s view.

After the flight, we still had to drive to our next sleeping spot, Ababis Guest Farm and campsite. Luckily, it was not too far away, and when we arrived, we were warmly welcomed by Uwe, the German owner, who showed us around the campsite and quickly heated the donkey showers so we could get rid of all the sand. We cooked dinner and chose a nice bottle of wine to go with it to celebrate a beautiful day as well as my parents’ 36th wedding anniversary 😊

The following day, we decided to leave without breakfast and directly drive to Solitaire, a small town on the way to Swakopmund. The bakery there is very famous for its delicious “Apfelstrudel.” Of course, we also wanted to taste it, and it was very yummy indeed. We then continued on a terrible gravel road (African massage included) to Swakopmund, a town on the coast of Namibia. The weather along the coast differs greatly from the hot and dry climate inland. It is mostly windy and cooler, so when we arrived at the campsite, we quickly concluded that it would be nicer to rent an apartment for the three nights we planned to stay here. We found a place on Google maps and contacted the owner, Armin, who was happy to host us for our time in Swakopmund. Armin recently bought the placesiteopened the guesthouse with his mom, who were fabulous hosts. They invited us to join them at a restaurant for dinner, where a band played live music and we enj,oyed a fun evening together. On our first day in Swakopmund, Tom and I had to sort out some things again. We wanted to check the draggling steering wheel of our Defender and therefore went to a mechanic shop while my parents went on a sightseeing tour through the city. Luckily, Swakopmund is a city where you can get everything sorted. The mechanic quickly diagnosed our problem and sent us to another shop where our wheels got adjusted, and the Defender ran as smoothly as ever again. Before we returned to our apartment, we stopped at a place where a German was building camper vans, and he’s doing a fantastic job. He showed us around his workshop, and we saw some pretty cool examples of camper cans – lots of inspiration for a future trip in another vehicle, maybe 😊 Afterwards, we met with my parents again for dinner, for which we reserved a table at the famous Jetty Restaurant, and we were not disappointed by the tasty seafood.

For the next day, we booked a tour to Sandwich Harbor, a place further south along the coast, where the dunes meet the sea. For once, we left our Defender and jumped in the back seat of another car to enjoy a tour where we did not have to drive ourselves. Unfortunately, Tom was not feeling very well and needed a day to rest, so he decided to stay home. My parents and I enjoyed the tour a lot. We spotted many flamingos and other birds saw the pink salt lakes, and got the whole rollercoaster experience while driving up and down the dunes.

When we got back, Tom felt better again, so we went out for dinner one last time before leaving Swakopmund again the following day. We got up early and drove to the grocery store to stock up again for the next couple of days. Our destination today was the Spitzkoppe, a famous rock formation in Namibia also known as the “Matterhorn of Namibia.” A local community is running a rustic camp there with very spacious sites. Before dark, we went on a short hike to see some of the old rock paintings.

The following day we continued to the Erongo Rocks, another rock formation a couple of hundred kilometers away. On the way, we visited the San Living Museum, where the San people show you how they used to and still live today. We went on a bush walk with a san warrior, who taught us many interesting things about their life and culture. From there, it was not much further to the Erongo Rock Lodge and Campsite, where we planned to stay for two nights. Once again, we were warmly welcomed by the owner, Didi, who put much effort into his place. The campsites are very spacious and beautifully built into the rocks. We enjoyed the camp a lot and hiked up to the viewpoint early the following day, before the sun got to hot. As a treat for the morning exercise, we went to the neighboring lodge, where we enjoyed the afternoon at the pool and celebrated our “travelversary” (1 year on the road!) with a bottle of bubbles. To top it off, we cooked a Swiss cheese fondue once we returned to our campsite, which my parents had brought along with them. We couldn’t have asked for a better way to celebrate this special day.

For the next few days, we wanted to leave the official roads and explore beautiful Damaraland off the beaten tracks on some 4x4 roads. Before we headed off, we drove to Uis, the last town in the area, where you could stock up on fuel and some basic groceries. We stayed at the Daureb Isib Campsite, a lovely campsite where we also enjoyed some delicious cake and coffee while planning the last stops on our offroad-trip for the upcoming days.

week 39 - 41 - a transit that turned into an amazing extended stay in Tanzania

Our next destination was Malawi, the first country in southern Africa after spending 7 months in East Africa. From Rwanda, we “had to” pass through Tanzania again, the country where we already have spent 2 months when we climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and went on a family and friends holiday to Zanzibar back in Fabruary and March. Since this country is huge, we still only had seen very little of it. We discussed different options, which route we should take to Malawi. We considered driving all the way to the beach again in a big loop in the south of Tanzania, we also debated whether we should go back to visit some people we met along our travels but in the end, we decided to skip the extra miles and just drive straight from Rwanda to Malawi along Lake Tanganyika, the second deepest lake in the world. We figured, instead of making many short stops along the route, it would be nice for a change to drive straight to a camping spot midway, and spend more time at one place and then continue the trip straight to Malawi. After stocking up on some very nice cheese from “La Fromagerie” and meat from “the German butchery” in Kigali, we headed off and we were both very sad to be leaving Rwanda. It took some time until our mood lifted again. A lot of times it is hard to leave a beautiful place behind, but this time it felt even worse after we made some new friends and had to say goodbye to them as well. It took us 2,5 days of full driving to reach from Kigali to the Lakeshore Lodge in Kipili, the lodge we chose for our travel-vacation. We spent the two nights in basic guesthouses along the way to save time and money.

After this very long drive, mostly on gravel and dirt roads, we finally reached Lakeshore Lodge and couldn’t have asked for a better welcome. The place was absolutely stunning. There was a big open restaurant overlooking the lake and the owners, Lou, Chris and Thomas warmly welcomed us. Thomas, a guy from Germany and an overlander himself, just recently joined and helped Lou and Chris, the founders of Lakeshore Lodge, to run the place. He showed us around the place and asked some staff members to clean our car (it really needed a wash after driving on these dirt roads, the dust was EVERYWHERE) while we could enjoy an tasty lunch (fish from the lake and veggies from their garden - I was amazed how they prepared such a delicious dish out in nowhere since this place was very remote, the closest town is two driving hours away).

The next big surprise was waiting, when we met the only other campers, Karin and Daniel from Sweden, who we met back in October last year when we had just started the trip and spent some days in Austria. They were our neighbors on a campsite in Styria, where the weather was horrible, and we barely spent time outside and just quickly talked in the morning while cleaning our dishes and trying to hide from the rain and wind. Their route went up to the UK, from where they shipped their car to Capetown, and they were doing the exact opposite route from ours, driving from south up north to Kenya. We didn’t exchange contact details back then, and we couldn’t believe that our paths crossed just like that at Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania - what are the odds?! It was so lovely to have company on the campground since, for the previous months, we’ve mostly been the only campers wherever we would stop. We spent some amazing days together and barbecued at each other’s campsites; even Chris, Lou, and Thomas joined us for some nights (they told us in 14 years it was only the second time for them to have dinner at the campsite instead of the restaurant). We truly had a blast. Tom went on a dive in Lake Tanganyika, and Karin and I joined him on the boat and went snorkeling. In the morning, we could take the kayaks from the lodge and paddle around the bay; Thomas (the owner) joined us and brought some coffee which we enjoyed on one of the islands. The campsite was quite busy too, some Overlanders from South Africa came and joined in on our nightly barbecues (they really do know how to braai) and every night we had a beautiful bonfire and watched the sunset, one night the owners even invited us to a sunset cruise on their boat - there was one highlight after the other.

Unfortunately, after a few days, Karin and Daniel had to continue their trip; we had to say goodbye but not before exchanging all the top secret spots along the route since we literally just came from the opposite parts of Africa. Tom and I were in no rush and decided to spend some more nights. Our new camping neighbors were a family from Switzerland who had lived in Africa for years so we had again some nice company.

After our rather unhealthy lifestyle in Rwanda (all the dinners and drinks minus the skipped workouts, lol), we wanted to get back in shape. The beautiful yoga platform Lou and Chris built was perfect for that. It almost felt like having a new routine after walking to the platform in the morning, doing a workout or yoga session, and walking back to our campsite to make a nice breakfast. I could have stayed there forever. But to top everything up, Lou and Chris invited us to stay two nights in one of their beautiful bungalows. Tom took the drone with him on the boat tour during the diving trip, and since he started to like making short movies during our travels, he made a short clip for the Lakeshore Lodge, which they could use on their channels and, in return, we got to spend two nights in paradise. I’m afraid we cannot top this stay even for our honeymoon, the bungalow was built into the water with a private little beach and the most giant and most comfortable bed I have ever slept in - it was heaven!

For our planned last night (after ten days!) at Lakeshore Lodge, we had one last barbecue with Chris, Lou and Thomas on our campsite and we planned to have a movie night with our beamer, but it got too late, so they invited us to stay another night in their bandas so we could make a movie night there and leave very early the next day. Yes, it indeed was hard (once again) to leave this little paradise.

On our way to Malawi, we planned to stop at Utengule Coffee Lodge, a coffee farm and lodge run by Swiss. The farm was huge, and we met the manager, the owner’s son Lui, who offered to give us a tour the following day. After walking through the coffee plantations and buying some coffee, he introduced us to “cupping” the tasting of coffee, which was a lot of fun.

We continued our trip to Mbeya, where Chris and Lou insisted that we should go and visit their friend Paul, a guy from the UK who has lived in Tanzania for years and started a butchery. We met him, and he immediately offered us to stay at his place in the guest room. We were treated to amazing burgers and hospitality; he is a true legend! We stayed for two nights and climbed up to Ngozi Crater Lake, a short hike up a mountain nearby. Paul introduced us to many of his friends, and everyone advised us to drive down to Matema, a place at Lake Malawi but on the Tanzanian side. We took their advice, and after filling up our fridge with the most excellent meat (1.4kg of beef filet, burger patties, and five chicken legs), we continued to the lake and stayed again at a place called Lakeshore Lodge, but this time at another lake. The drive was very scenic, and the lodge was beautiful, too; we enjoyed two last nights in Tanzania reading books, keeping up with our workouts, and enjoying delicious barbecues at night. What a great time we had “transitting” through Tanzania :)

week 36 - 37 - arriving in Rwanda - Africa's Switzerland but also much more

The border crossing to Rwanda went very smooth and easy, we even got a visa for free, because Switzerland is a francophone country, just like Rwanda. We heard so much about this country, about how organized and structured it is, and very different to all the other African countries - they also call is “Switzerland of Africa”, so we were very curious to what to expect. The very first impression was not that big of a difference from driving in Uganda, until we came across the first speeding camera, and then the second and third. We have not seen as many speeding cameras even in Switzerland and for sure not anywhere else in Africa. Having a size of only 26.338 km² (which is just a liitle more than half the size of Switzerland), Rwanda is the most densely populated country in Africa. After the genocide, which ended in 1994, Rwanda has developed from one of the poorest countries in Africa to one of the most developed. We already experienced this on our first stop in Musanze. It was the first city after the border we crossed, where we stopped for one night to get settled. The usual procedure after entering a new country like getting cash and a sim card was on our schedule. There was a huge queue in front of the mobile phone store, but it went surprisingly quick and unlike other experiences we’ve had in Africa, the people working in the shop were very efficient and not sleeping behind the desk :-D We were hungry and looked for a restaurant and were treated to some freshly made pasta, freshly baked bread and an amazing coffee in the end. We also find a very nice but not expensive hotel, where we spent our first night. The next day after getting a car wash, we continued our trip to Kibuye at Lake Kivu.

We found Hotel Musaya at the lake, where we were allowed to camp directly at the shore of the lake on their lawn, the spot was just beautiful. Unfortunately, it was raining when we arrived. The rainy season in Rwanda was supposed to be coming to an end but Rwanda didn’t welcome us with sunshine - we were already worried if the weather would now stay bad for the next weeks after we were super lucky in Kenya and Uganda, where we barely had any rain eventhough it was supposed to be the rainy season there for the past two months. Due to the rain, we decided to have dinner at the restaurant of the hotel, where we met Simba, the owner of the place. We had nice talks with him about Rwanda in general and what he’s doing here. After growing up in South Africa, he came back to his origin country Rwanda a few years ago and started doing business in tourism. Simba is just about our age and besides running the hotel, he is also building a house boat for tourists to explore lake Kivu - amazing!

The next morning, the rain had stopped and we set up our camp and were served a delicious breakfast to our car, which was ordered by Simba as a welcome gesture. Eventhough the weather was still not too good, we made plans to hike part of the Congo-Nile-Trail, a hiking trail along Lake Kivu. If you hike the full trail, it takes 10 days, however, we decided to do only parts of it. We took a boat from Kibuye to Musasa and walked from there to Gisenyi in three days. We first intended to go on the hike without a guide, since it is very safe and well marked it is possible to do it on your own. But then we met Jean.Paul, a young local tour guide, and after negotiating a price that was in our budget, we decided to take him with us, which was a great idea. This way, we were able to interact with the locals along the way and we learned a lot about the culture and life in Rwanda.

We slept in basic guesthouses along the route. At the first stop at Kinunu Guest House, we met a French couple and another Thomas from Belgium. We had a fun evening together and since they were walking in the other direction than we were, we made plans to meet again in Kibuye, where we had left our Defender, in a couple of days after the hike. We really enjoyed walking along the beautiful Lake Kivu and experiencing this country by foot and for once not in the car, it was a great change.

Back at Hotel Musaya, we met Thomas from Belgium, and since it was his birthday, we had a spontaneous little birthday party at the lake together with Simba and his friends and some other local guests of the hotel. We stayed for another couple of nights and could have easily stayed for another month. Lake Kivu is for sure one of the most beautiful spots we have seen on our trip, the sunsets were magic with the fishermen singing and going out on the lake. We loved doing some yoga in the morning with that amazing view and jumping into the lake afterwards before eating breakfast and reading a book in the afternoon or speaking to the locals who stopped by. Rwanda turned out to be a country of Defender lovers, we had two Defender owners who came to vist us at our campsite in Kibuye because they heard that someone in a Defender was camping there, and many more came by and asked if we would sell the car - of course, we had to decline, since our trip is not even half way through, but now we know where we can go to in case we need money before we go back home lol.

We really could have stayed at Lake Kivu forever but we decided to continue our trip together with Thomas from Belgium, he had the same route in mind but unfortunately, he was running out of time, because his flight back home was already in a few days. To continue the trip with two Thomas’, I sat in the back of the Defender, which was a new feeling and way of travel for myself :D

We spent one more night at the very south of Lake Kivu, before we continued east through the Nyungwe Forest National Park, which is one of the oldest and the best preserved rainforest in Africa. During our drive through the park, we enjoyed looking at the many different plants and trees and also saw some very curious monkeys who almost jumped inside the car. After we left the national park, we continued to the Murambi Genocide Memorial, one of many memorials that have been set up in Rwanda to remember the ones who died during the genocide and to inform about what happened and to ensure that something as terrible as this will never happen again. It is quite intense to visit this place and it needs some time to process. At this specific memorial, over 50.000 people are buried and some of the bodies are preserved and shown to the visitors together with the stories of the cause of their injuries and deaths. A truly tragic part of Rwanda’s and the world’s history but also remarkable to see to what this country has risen within not even thirty years.

Thomas, Thomas, Roch and Olivia

We continued to Butare, where Thomas’ (the Belgium one;) ) uncle Roch lives. He invited us to stay at his lovely home and we were spoiled with a delicious dinner. We enjoyed the talks about live in Africa and how traveling changes your view on the world. One phrase that stuck with me was: “When you travel or live abroad and you come back home, the place you find usually hasn’t changed a lot - but you have “. All the experiences we’re having , people we’re meeting and memories we’re making along the road have for sure have a big impact on our world views and that’s what I love most about traveling.

The next day, Roch took us with him to see and check on his bee hives. Roch is originally from France but has moved to Rwanda many years ago and started a honey business. We were able to taste some honey and it for sure was delicious - in fact, we learned that Rwanda is quite famous for its honey. Before we could visit the bees, we were all dressed up in bee suits to be protected from bee stings. Together with Roch’s students, who are being thaught on how to produce honey, we went to check on the hives. It was very interesting and we learned a lot about bees and the process of gaining honey. Did you know, that bees only live around 45 days? Except the queen, she can live up to 5 years! After our bee visit it was time to say goodbye to Roch and the three of us continued our journey to Kigali, Rwanda’s capital city.

week 26 - 28 - safari camping, Maasai culture and a lake get-away

Mara West is a camping site outside of Mara West, but when we arrived there, it was like driving through the famous national park. There were zebras, impalas and giraffes in front, behind and to the left and right. We were cooking dinner and a herd of zebras was grazing next to our car, the secenery seemed so unreal. Andrew and Francis, an American couple who run Mara West, were very helpful and gave us many tips about the area, and they told us that we could drive through the Masai Mara National Park without paying the horendous entry fee, if we would ask for a transit permit at the gate. This allows you to cross the park in your vehicle within a certain timeframe for free. So after two days of enjoying our neighborhood with the lovely giraffes and zebras, we drove through the famous Masai Mara.

It was not a problem at all to get the transit permit, and eventhough we only spent 2 hours in the park, we saw so many animals - besides the giraffes and zebras, we also spotted some hyenas, elephants, a crocodile, a big group of hippos in the water, many pumbas, austriches and other birds. We spent the night at Aruba Mara, another campsite just outside of the National Park on the other side. It was a nice spot at the river but there was not a lot to do other than going for game drives, therefore, we left the next day already. Eric, the lovely Massai guard of the camp, told us to drive to Maji Moto, a town on our route towards Lake Naivasha, where they have a camping site which is run by real Maasais, a great place to learn more about their culture.

When we arrived at Maji Moto Maasai Cultural Camp, we were welcomed by the Maasais in their beautiful red dresses. They showed us where we could park our car - in between a forest of huge cactus-like trees - and offered to show us around the village and the camp and take us to the vulcanic hot springs, where “Maji Moto” has its name from (it translates to “hot water”). We walked up Loita Hills and enjoyed the beautiful scenery, they showed us their warrior skills, like throwing a speer. Tom tried as well but found it was not that easy. When we came back to our camp, we decided to do a quick workout before taking a shower, to the amusement of all the Maasais who were watching us doing mountain climbers, push-ups and sit-ups next to our car. After a nice hot shower (they take the water straight from the spring) we enjoyed a drink at the bonfire, which the Maasais made for us in the original way, without any matches or lighters but only by rubbing two wooden sticks against each other. Salaton and Susan, the owner of the camp, joined us as well and we talked about their project here. Susan originally is from the United States but came to Keny for charity work over 20 years ago, fell in love with Salaton, who is a Maasai Community Chief. Together, they run Maji Moto Maasai Cultural Camp, where they try to share the ancient Maasai culture with their guests and support Maasai tribes to live as a self-sustaining communitiy where they can keep their traditions but also to positively impact the lives of Maasai people by providing free education for children, or teaching them how to plant and grow their own fruits and vegetables. It was very interesting to talk to them about all the challenges they face while trying to combine the good from the traditional Maasai world and the new modern way of living. Salaton told us that the next day he would go to the Maasai kettle and sheep market, which occurs only once a month, and he invited us to accompany him, For the Maasai, their kettle and sheep do not only serve as food, it’s also their “bank”. When they need money, they will go to the Maasai market to sell a sheep or cow in order to buy whatever they need.

At Maji Moto, there were also two volunteers, Zara and Jessica, who stayed and worked with them for a few weeks. Zara studied bee-keeping and her mission was to teach the Maasai how to keep bees, so they would not have to go and “steal” the honey from wild bees (and distroy the hives while doing this) but to sustainably gain honey from bee hives they keep. Zara and Jessica invited us to help them check on the hives during the night - they need to do it when it’s dark, because African bees are very aggressive and they are a bit more calm when it’s dark. This didn’t sound very promising to me, but Tom was all in and I didn’t want to chicken out. Later that night, when we were about to get ready for the bee action, we found that Tom didn’t fit into the bee suit, he was too tall. Because they needed 4 people to go check on the hives, I had no choice but to get dressed (wear as many layers as possible so the bees can’t sting you - was their advice) and go into bee land. It was scary but very impressive too stand in the middle of thousands of bees (desperately praying that there is no whole in the suit) and listening to this enormous sound they are making. My task was to hold the torch, Jessica held the smoker, which imitates a forest fire and therefore makes the bees either leave the hive or stay attached and calm in order to protect the honey. Zara and the 4th guy were checking on the honeycombs. They were not ready to be harvested yet, the experience was still unique and defiinitely one to remember.

Our next destination was Lake Naivasha. On the way, we stopped in the town of Naivasha, a quite big and touristy place with many shops where you can get all the groceries our European stomach was craving. We stocked up on food and drove to Camp Carnelley’s, a camping site at the southern part of the lake, which enjoys a very good reputation. We weren’t disappointed at all, the place was beautiful and there were not many people, in fact, we had the whole lawn to ourselves and chose the perfect camping spot directly at the lake. There was only an electric fence a couple of meters in front of us, scaring the hippos away at night. From the fence, we got to pull a cable into our car, so we had electricity, there were bathrooms with hot, strong showers just a few meters behind us, we had our own fireplace beside our Defender and enough privacy, since we were at the one end of the camp - it was the perfect spot and since we were in so many different places for the past weeks, we decided to stay for 5 nights. The first morning we woke up and there was a hippo very close by, eating the delicious gras. We cooked coffee and made some breakfast and enjoyed watching the hippo having its own brekky. I must admit, I was a bit nervous, knowing that hippos are very dangerous and responsible for the most death of human by animals in Africa. I wasn’t quite sure how much effect this electric fence would have, if the hippo would get angry or scared. Luckily, it was a very chilled hippo and we got to enjoy a very close and unique experience with it. During another night, we decided to hide inside the car though, when we were watching a movie outside on our beamer by the bonfire and suddenly two hippos started fighting only a few meters away. The noise they were making was very loud and scary, and when we got the torch and saw how fast they were running into each other over and over again, we decided to move our movienight inside the Defender ;-)

We had many people admiring the Defender and coming up to us to ask us about our journey, two of them were Max and Sonja from Germany, two friends who were travelling in Kenya for some weeks. We got along very well and decided to cook dinner all together. We shared a fun night making burgers and sitting by the fire and making plans for the next day, which was to rent bikes and cycle through Hell’s Gate National Park. Ironically, it is the park from where they took a lot of inspiration for the movie Lion King, however, in this park there are no lions nor other predators, which makes it safe for hiking and cycling. It was a great experience, cycling in between Zebras, Giraffes and Buffalos eventhough we went for the long route which turned out to be quite tough. When we were back at Carnelley’s, we really enjoyed the cold beers and pizza they serve.

Our anniversary was coming up and we therefore decided to treat ourselves with a nice, cozy Airbnb cottage. We found a lovely place a bit further south on Lake Naivasha. Sam & Alicia, the owners of the cottage, are a couple from England who have been living in Kenya for a few years and decided to build a house and a cottage to rent out on Airbnb. They invited us to a barbecue on the first night when we arrived, and we had a great evening together with their friends who were also joining.

On our anniversary, we went for a late lunch at the Ranch House Bistro, a nice restaurant by the lake. We had a delicious meal and a nice bottle of wine.
Sam and Alicia invited us to stay a bit longer for free, since they did not have another booking and of course, we accepted gladly! We really enjoyed the luxury of having our own bathroom and a bed in which you don’t have to climb up to for a few nights.

We started planning our trip up north to Lake Turkana. Since this area is quite remote we asked in the Overlanding Africa Group Chat if someone was around who would maybe like to join us. We actually found a couple from Germany, who was interested in joining us, they were just on holidays and did not have a lot of time, but they still wanted to drive up with us, however, they intended to to the east side of the lake, Tom and I were planning on going up the west side, since there was a community project we knew about that we wanted to visit. We dicussed our options and came to the conclusion, that we would just do both sides, driving up east fist together with the Germans Jana and Malik and afterwards drive up the west side, since we had plenty of time and were in no rush. Janna and Malik still needed a couple of days until they were ready to start, they were traveling with their families at the moment, so Tom and I drove to Lake Elementaita, a place which is famous for it’s flamingos and camped there for 2 nights until we met up with the others.

There was one problem left to be solved - Kenya was suffering a fues shortage and it was almost impossible to find petrol and diesel. The reason for the shortage was, that the government was behind with paying out subsidies. We had to wait in line for over 2 hours and the maximum allowance was 20 litres per car only. Luckily, the guy at the petrol station let us fuel up our tank, since diesel was a bit less required than petrol. We were ready for our Lake Turkana adventure and drove towards Maralal, where we were meeting Janna & Malik, to start our trip.

week 25 - mountain climbing, family business and a huge lake

After two nights on the incredible Plantation Lodge it was time to drive on. We headed towards Lake Babati and decided to take the more direct way which wasn’t a paved road but a dirt road through beautiful sceneries. It took almost 6 hours for roughly 120 km to get to the Royal Beach Hotel in Babati, which wasn’t actually a running hotel anymore but we were told that it was possible to camp there directly at the lake. We arrived just in time before it got dark, and two locals welcomed us as soon as we parked the car and showed us where we could camp fo the night. The spot directly at the water was beautiful, but unfortunately, the mosquitos liked it, too. We quickly cooked something simple and easy, watched the beautiful sunset and ate dinner inside the car, hiding from all the insects that were flying around. The next day, our two hosts came early in the morning to greet us and offering us some tours. We told them that we didn’t want a tour but were looking for a car wash and they were able to help us too :) They brought us to the car wash place of their friends and our Defender received a well deserved shower after the offroad action. After hanging out with half of the village while waiting we still decided to go with the two guys on a short little tour on the lake in their canoe to maybe see some hippos - the tour was only a few dollars and we were lucky, we spotted a hippo-mom with her baby in the water.

Our next destination was Katesh, from where we intended to climb Mount Hanang. After Kilimanjaro, we were keen on some more hiking, but unfortunately, most hikes in Tanzania cost a fortune due to the national park fees that usually come with them. Luckily, there was another nice mountain on our route which did not lay in a national park. After some research, we found Thomas, a local tour guide who was also able to rent us a tent and sleeping bag, so we could do the hike including spending a night on top of the mountain. Thomas lives in Katesh at the foot of Mount Hanang, and he invited us to camp at his house the night before and after the climb.

He met us at the Summit Hotel, the place where tourists usually stay before they climb the mountain. We had a drink and then drove to Thomas’ house, which was an adventurous route which definitely required a 4x4. As soon as we arrived at the house, we were warmly welcomed by Lucy, Thomas’ wife as well as their 3 children and even the neighbor’s kids came to say hi. While everyone was amazed by our Defender (the kids couldn’t get enough climbing in and out and in and out) Tom and I were stunned by the hospitality we were experiencing, seeing how little they had. We couldn’t believe how well behaved the kids were, they never argued or fighted with each other nor with their parents, they were never complaining, even though they didn’t have a sinlge toy - nothing! The house was built of mud, it had three small rooms, one was for cooking/eating/chilling and one bedroom for the parents and one for the three kids (they shared one bed!). There was no running water and no electricity, for washing, they took a bucket and went to the backyard, the same for using the toilet (for number two, they shared a pit toilet together with the neighbours). Our Defender with a 130 litre water tank was pure luxury, we emptied our whole tank into bukets for them and offered to drive down to fill it and up again but Thomas and Lucy refused, they said they had enough water. Lucy cooked an amazing dinner for everyone and we were playing with the kids while the dog and the little cat and the chickens were running in and out of the house. An older man stopped by, asking for some food, and Thomas invited him to stay for dinner. He explained to us that he knew him back from school and that his wife had left him and now he didn’t have a real home, so he would come by every now and then and they would invite him to eat with them. Also the neighbor’s daughter (she was maybe 3 or 4 years old) stayed for most meals. Her parents had a little baby to take care of, so Lucy and Thomas took care of the older one who was about the same age as their kids -simple as that. It was so nice of Thomas and Lucy to open their home to us, so we would actually get a chance and see into their life, something we definitely wouldn’t experience at any camping site or nice fancy tourist lodge. From the Plantation Lodge to Thomas’ house, the difference couldn’t have been any bigger but it was probably exactly what made it so powerfull and impressive.

We started the hike up Mount Hanang the next day after Lucy made sure we had a big breakfast and enough energy to climb the mountain. Besides the two of us and our guide Thomas, there was also a porter joining, who helped us carrying the tent and sleeping bags. The hike only took around 8 hours in total but it was a very steep climb, we started from 2,000 meters up to 3,423 meters in only 7 kilometers. After three hours, we reached the camp at 3,100 meters where we set up the tents. After a small lunch, we continued to the summit, which took another hour and a half but it was do-able after the break. We walked back down again to the camp, the last bit we had to use our head torches because it was already getting dark. The night was quite windy, we ate our pre-cooked dinner in the tent and went to bed, tired but happy. We woke up the next morning just in time to watch the sunrise above the clouds. The hike back down was an easy one after the previous day but we were still happy when we finally reached the gate again.

Lucy was already waiting for us with a nice lunch. After we ate, we washed our clothes and gears and Lucy was already starting to prepare dinner again. I asked her to show me how to cook the nice spinach she always prepared and in return we told her we would show her how to prepare some meat balls. Tom therefore went to town together with Thomas to get some minced beef, which was a mission on itself. They went to a butcher, explaining him what kind of meat they needed. However, the butcher did not have a meat grinder, so Thomas called at the summit hotel to ask if they could use theirs. They agreed, but only for beef meat and not pork. In the end we had our minced meat and we were able to prepare some meat balls for everyone and they really loved it :)

After 3 days at Thomas’ and Lucy’s house it was time for us to say goodbye and continue with our trip. We were heading towards Lake Victoria, the biggest lake in Africa and the second largest fresh water lake in the world, its size is 1.5 times the size of Switzerland! Unfortunately, you cannot swim in Lake Victoria, due to the risk of catching bilharzia, an acute and chronic disease caused by parasitic flatworms.

To Mwanza it was still 533 km, so we decided to stop in Shinyanga on the way for one night. Since this is not a very touristy area, we couldn’t find a camping site and therefore got ourselves a room in a hotel for 15 dollars for the two of us including breakfast. The road was a tarmac road, however, it had tons of wholes in it, which made driving quite exhausting. Our first stop at Lake Victoria was at Rocky Bay Resort & Camping, which was a beautiful spot at the lake, unfortunately, the “camping site” was only the parking lot of the resort and they wanted to charge 40 dollars for that, the same price they charged for a bungalow. We were a bit disappointed but decided to sleep in the bungalow anyway, since it also started to rain and there was no other camping site close-by.

The next day, we left and drove into the town of Mwanza, the second largest city in Tanzania. We both didn’t know what to expect from this city but it was a nice surprise. On iOverlander we read that it was possible to camp at the Yacht Club directly at the lake, so we headed there and were warmly welcomed. We were the only campers (like so often) so we could choose our spot wherever we wanted. There were many restaurants close-by, the peninsula, where the Yacht Club was situated, looked like a very nice neighberhood. We went for a walk through the city and it was very refreshing how it was not touristy at all. No one asked us for money or wanted to sell us a tour, we could jsut stroll around the city and check out the shops. We had an early dinner at the Rooftop Restaurant & Café, which was a great choice. They served amazing Indian food and fancy cocktails without alcohol and the view over the city was nice as well. On the way back to the Yacht Club we decided ot go check out the sunset at the Bismarck Rock, which turned out to be a very beautiful spot as well. We then headed back to the Yacht Club and went for a “Absacker” (last drink) at the Hotel Tilapia right next to the Yacht Club, which was a very nice place, so we decided to come back the next day to hang out and write our blog and edit pictures.

On the second day, we also got company, Christine, a Solo-Overlander from Malta joined us after we told her in the Overlanding Groupchat where we were staying. Christine is enjoying her early retirement by traveling through Africa for six months each year. She therefore bought herself a car with rooftent in South Africa and has already done various trips through Africa from there. However, since Covid, there are not many Overlanders around anymore. I think Chrstine was quite happy to have some company, and we loved hearing all her travel stories and receiving recommendations for where to go. We enjoyed dinner at the restaurant of the Yacht Club all together and had a lovely evening.

The next day, we had to drive a bit further up north, since our visa was running out and we had to cross the border into Kenya soon. We decided to make one last stop at Lake Victoria for two nights, before we would leave Tanzania again. Christine was heading into a different direction, so we had to say bye again. We drove to Tembea Mara at Balili Village, another place we found on i Overlander that looked nice. We were greeted by a friendly lady and after some bargaining about the price, we decided to stay and set up our camp. We enjoyed a day of doing not much and cooked ourselves a nice dinner, before we drove towards the border very early the next morning. The border crossing went very smooth, the border was not busy at all and it only took us 1,5 hours to cross. We already held our E-visas and also the health check procedure was very easy since we were vaccinated and therefore didn’t need to show a PCR test result. Driving on Kenyan roads again did feel a little bit like coming home :) It was a lot more buzy than Tanzania, but also it was not a problem to speak in English to anyone on the street. We headed straight towards Mara West, the camp we chose to spend our first nights back in Kenya again, another great decision of ours :)