week 37 - 39 - making new friends and great memories in a place that feels like home

In Kigali, we shared an apartment at the New Impala Hotel for three nights with Thomas from Belgium, until he had to leave again - his Africa adventure of 6 months was already coming to an end :( But we made the best out of the few days we had left together and went shopping for souvenirs, sightseeing in the city and enjoyed lots of amazing food, drinks, and of course the company. For the last night, we gathered some of the people we met along our travels who were also staying in Kigali, and we had an entertaining party night out with a big group - it was a lot of fun (minus the hangover the next day).

After Thomas had left, we moved into another hotel in a different part of the city to enjoy some more days of Kigali. Aimable, a Defender Lover we met in Kibuye at the lake because he saw us camping in the Defender, was also in Kigali and invited us to meet his friends. He introduced us to Patrick, a professional basketball player, Matthias, the owner of our favorite coffee place in Kigali, and some other friends. We had many fun nights out together. They showed us their favorite spots in the city, which was a great way to explore Kigali and get to know the Rwandese culture. When we told them about our continuous plans to drive to Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania, Aimable and Patrick decided to join us for a week. However, they had some work to finish first, so Tom and I decided to make another small tour through Rwanda in the meantime.

We drove north to the Twin Lakes and spent two nights on a nice campsite directly at the lake with a fantastic view. Then we headed again towards Lake Kivu, where Aimable runs a nice hotel, the Kivu Lodge. He had some groups of tourists there for the weekend, so he invited us to come and join him. We were allowed to camp in the parking and invited to a birthday party on Aimable’s houseboat on the lake. That’s how we met Syssie and Maurice, a couple from Kigali, some of their friends and Pitchou from DR Congo, and Manu, a Swiss guy from Zurich (small world once more!) who is in Rwanda often for business. We had such a great time on the boat; it was a big party! We were invited to join another group of guests at Kivu Lodge for dinner. They were also celebrating a birthday, five couples from Rwanda, and they welcomed us as if we were one of their longtime friends. Tom had to catch up on some sleep and went to bed early. At the same time, I stayed and learned about these lovely people's lives, many of whom lived abroad during the terrible time of the genocide, but now they all have come back to Rwanda and built up a life here - I was once more impressed by the people and how they have overcome and dealt with their past. When I told Tom the next day about the night, we promised to take an example of these people’s open minds and hearts; it’s sometimes overwhelming how welcoming they are!

After this fun weekend at Kivu Lodge, we drove back to Kibuye, where Aimable is renovating some bungalows directly at the lake. He invited us to stay there for free, and he took us out for dinners and even on a trip to an island with his houseboat, where he plans to build up a glamping campsite in the future. On the way back, we passed Napoleon Island, home to thousands of bats. One of the crew members went on the island to wake them up, and we had a spectacular view of all these bats circling the island and our boat! We enjoyed the days back at our lovely Lake Kivu, where we already fell in love the first time we were there. Aimable also showed us some beautiful places and a plot for sale, in case we would want to buy something here. But first, we’ll have to finish our trip and drive to South Africa, but building something in Rwanda could be an option for when our journey is over. In no other country we have met so many lovely people and places, and it truly felt like a home away from home. Tom and I have had many talks about the future, what to do when this trip is over, or even things we could do during the journey, like working somewhere and staying for a bit longer. But for now, we will continue with the trip so we can meet my parents in Namibia in September and spend Christmas and New Year’s in South Africa with some friends.

Together with Aimable, we drove back to Kigali after a few days at the lake to prepare for the upcoming trip to Tanzania. Unfortunately, Aimable had identified a problem with his Defender, so he had to call the mechanic to fix it before we could leave. Luckily, Aimable knows the best guy in town to work on Defenders; he also asked him to check our car and tighten all the screws that had become loose while driving all the bumpy offroad tracks. Luckily, our Defender is still in great shape; we only had to refill some engine oil and were good to go again.

Our days back in Kigali were a lot of fun. We met again for drinks with the “Lake Kivu Birthday gang” and spent another night at Rimera with Patrick and his friends; there is a car-free pub street, a nice place to spend an evening. Matthias, the coffee shop owner, invited us to stay at his house for free while he was on a business trip in Europe. Once more, we experienced generous hospitality in Rwanda. Patrick invited us to his place for brunch and mimosas and to meet his wife and kids, and another night, we all went out to the party mile in Kigali and hopped from bar to bar (and Tom hopped to a hairdresser in between to get a shave :D). Our last night in Kigali we spent at our favorite Indian restaurant with Patrick and his wife Rosie as well as Aimable and his wife and some other friends of theirs; we really could have stayed in Rwanda for much, much longer; it almost felt like we live there after making so many friends and having plans and invitations all the time. But for Tom and myself, it was time to move on, and unfortunately, Patrick and Aimable had work coming up, which they couldn’t postpone, so they could not join us on a trip to Tanzania. But we enjoyed the time we had together so much, and I’m sure our paths will cross again - we have left a small piece of our heart in Rwanda, and knowing that we have so many lovely people there we can visit, I am sure we will be back again.

Before leaving Rwanda, we stocked up our fridge with the amazing fresh bread, homemade cheese, and incredible meat Kigali has to offer. Ahead of us were a couple of days of driving - we needed to gain some land after spending more time in Rwanda than we planned, but it was soo worth it - thank you for having us Rwanda, and thank you for all the beautiful people we have met.

week 9 to 17 - pole pole, pumzika-tu and hakuna matata

If you are wondering, why we have been so quiet for the past 8 weeks on our blog, well, it doesn’t have anything to do with us not experiencing anything interesting. On the contrary, during the last weeks we were slowly getting to know and adjusting to Africa, or Kenya at least, which came with a lot of new, fascinating and sometimes challenging impressions, however, they all happened without our Defender. Currently we are still waiting for our baby to finally arrive and to really start into our adventure we’ve been dreaming of - overlanding Africa. But one of the many lessons we have learned so far on this trip over the past 4 months is, that barely anything goes according to plans. Very often, this has lead us to amazing experiences like unexpected beautiful places and people we met. And on the other hand, it has led to a few situations where our patience was tested. In Kenya, they will tell you “pole, pole” wherever you go, which means “slowly, slowly”, and trust me, this is not just a saying here (just like “pumzika-tu” which translates to “just rest” and “hakuna matata” which means “no worries”). So here we are at the moment, after 7 weeks since our arrival in Kenya, sitting on a beach and still waiting desperately to receive the message that we can finally go and pick up our beloved home on wheels. We have definitely had our moments when we were bored out of our minds and just wanted to take off and hit the road (we even considered to buy a Tuk-Tuk and start a small roadtrip on 3 wheels - but everyone here advised strongly against it :D ). Good news so far: the ship with our container has arrived at Mombasa Port, now we just have to wait for the costum clearance (which may easily take another week), but we are optimistic that we will be reunited very soon with our Defender. And in the meantime, I’m taking the time to tell you about what we have been up to during the past weeks.

We arrived in Mombasa on 3rd December and embraced the hot weather after the cooler ad sometimes freezing days in Europe. On the plane, we met Claus, an expat from Germany who has been living in Kenya for over a decade. He offered to share a taxi and gave us many helpful tips for our upcoming weeks in Kenya, like where to get a local simcard, what apps to use for payments, where to go eat and so on. He also agreed to store a big box we have brought with us to put on top of the Defender (since we placed the spare wheel on the back, we gained some space on top for light things, like for example our two big blankets which we definitely won’t need for the start). Claus kept the box at his place not too far from Mombasa, so we wouldn’t have to take it everywhere we went until the car would arrive.

Our first stop was Mombasa City for a few nights. It is a very busy city, a bit overwhelming and we soon had enough of it. After a trip to a mall to get a sim card and a bit of sight seeing, we headed up north to Watamu, where we found a beautiful place on AirBnb close to the beach, where we decided to spend a week. The villa belonged to an Italian couple, like many other places there. Watamu turned out to be quite the “Italian hotspot”, a lot of restaurants serve great Pizza and Pasta and many locals were fluent in Italian. Steven was the guy picking us up from Mombasa and he showed us a few nice places to eat and also introduced us to an old friend he grew up with who now lives in Switzerland (his mother was Swiss). Eventhough we started getting to know locals we struggled with fighting off souvenir sellers and tourist guides and people who just asked for money whenever we left the house and were walking around. Of course, we knew we were in a touristy place and of course as a Muzungu (white person) we couldn’t hide that we were most likely not local, but it was tiring us out at times when we just wanted to get some groceries or go for a walk on the beach without explaining to everyone we were not interested in buying anything and we also could not just give our money to everyone who asked for it. We also learned that it was essential to always always always agree on a price for anything beforehand, even if it is a “friend” or the brother of the friend taking you to a place. One example was, when we went from Watamu to Malindi (a 20 minutes drive) and Steven offered to take us - he then asked us for almost the same amount we payed him a few days before when we picked us up from Mombasa (2,5 hours drive). He said he wouldn’t charge anything for the ride but he needed some money for the fuel (the amount he asked for was enough to fill up his car twice). On the other hand, Steven showed us some nice restaurants and told us places to check out that we probably wouldn’t have found on our own. We did learn quickly, however, that there’s no such thing as a free lunch and that everyone was trying to make a business with us, which didn’t mean they were bad people, it was just a fact we had to accept and be aware of.

In Malindi, we only stayed for two nights since there was literally nothing going on. We were walking down the beach to find a restaurant the first evening and we just passed one closed hotel after the other - Covid also hit tourism in Kenya very hard. From Malindi we took the plane to Lamu, an island up north the coast. There, we were meeting our friends Jenny and Céleste a few days later, who came to visit us. We were very much looking forward to having our friends come visit and Lamu was a beautiful place to spend some time together and celebrate Christmas. We rented a small villa together (Shela Garden House), which (like most houses you can rent in Kenya) came with a chef (Enouch) and a housekeeper (Abu). The two were amazing hosts and Enouch spoiled us with lovely local dishes and a lot of fresh seafood. If you ever visit Kenya, we can highly recommend to visit Lamu - make sure to stay in Shela, the town closer to the longest beach I have ever seen. Tom and I actually walked to the end of the beach one day, which took us 4 hours and resulted in a bad sunburn (we did pick the worst time of the day to do so, I can only recommend this walk if you start very early in the morning).

In Shela, there are no cars, the only means of transport are donkeys who carry everything around the island. There is a very layed back vibe to this place, which lets you relax and just enjoy your time. We went to yoga classes at Banana House, enjoyed nice cocktails on the terrace of Peponi’s, went on a sunset cruise on a traditional dhow (sailing boat), visited Lamu town, where we got some nice souvenirs and visited the donkey hospital. We spent a few days at the very nice pool on the other side of the island at Majlis Hotel and we enjoyed some more amazing cocktails after our extended beach walk to Kizingo, a very beautiful hotel with the friendliest staff and best barkeeper. After almost 2 weeks on Lamu, we flew all together back to Mombasa, where we met Fabri and Patricia, two other friends from Switzerland, who joined us for the next two weeks. Our first accommodation was Swahili House, a small villa right on Tiwi Beach. In the middle of the first night, Tom woke up because he heared water pouring. First he thought it must be raining cats and dogs outside, but then he realized that the sound was not coming from the roof but from the bathroom. He quickly stood up and his feet already landed in a puddle of water on the floor. Our whole room on the second floor was already flooded. We quickly got up and turned on the light and saw the water spilling out beneath the sink in the bathroom. We rushed downstairs and outside to find the night guard who was sleeping on a bench. After trying to explain to him what happened he couldn’t help us much because he didn’t know where the water switch of the house was. So Tom started looking for it all over the place and eventually found it, but by the time, the water was already floating down the stairs to the lower floor, the house was literally under water. After we managed to stop the water, we went back upstairs to check on the damage - at first we thought we were very lucky, there was a spare bed in our room where we placed all our luggage and bags on so nothing got wet - nothing expect Tom’s MacBook who we placed under the bed after watching an episode of Netflix the night before. There was nothing we could do to safe it :( The bedroom downstairs thankfully stayed dry and the house staff quickly prepared another room for Tom and myself to sleep in so we all could go back to bed and get some rest. The next day of course we were a bit devastated and started looking for other places to stay, but it was Christmas and peak season and every hotel along the coast in Diani and Tiwi was sold out or redicolously expensive. In the end, we had to stay one more night in Tiwi and were able to move to the place we had booked for New Years the day after.

Our new home was in Kwale, a place a bit further up in the Shimba hills. The villa had a stunning view over an Elephant Reserve, it was breathtaking, The house was called Pumzika-tu, which is Swahili and translates to “take it easy”. Again, we were spoiled by the house staff (eventhough Enouch and Abu from our house in Shela did set an almost unreachable level of standard). We celebrated Tom’s birthday and New Years Eve on 31st December and enjoyed the quality time with our friends.

Then already the last few days we had together with our friends were coming up. We moved back to the beach into another beautiful house: Tiwi Waterside Villa. The hosts, Aussiemike and Sabine, a couple from Australia and Germany, who have also lived in Kenya for plenty of years, built their own little paradise at the coas of Kenya. Waterside Villa is a beautiful place we would defenitely come back to spend times with friends. We had an amazing 4 weeks together with Jenny, Fabri, Céleste and Patricia, but unfortunately, time flew by and their holiday (as well as ours) was coming to an end - it was time to say goodbye :(

During these past weeks Tom and I have treated us to all the nice houses we were staying in with our friends, since we also thought of it as a “holiday” from camping. Of course, we couldn’t afford to keep on travelling like this, but we enjoyed our time a lot together with our visitors from back home. If everything would have gone according to the plan, the Defender would have arrived just in time after our friends left, but unfortunately, this wasn’t the case. This was the time that started to pull on our nerves. After 6 weeks, we’ve had enough time to chill on the beach and we ate enough of all the nice food and we didn’t want to spend another penny for pricy accommodation. All we wanted was to pick up the Defender and hit the road and go explore the rest of Kenya, while sleeping in the car and waking up in different places every morning and finally start into our adventure on and off the road.

Since it didn’t look like this was going to happen very soon, we had to make new plans. We decided to stay in Diani Beach and get a cheap apartment where we could cook ourselves in order to spend as little money as possible. Furthermore, we also had the possibility to get the booster vaccination for free at the Diani Beach Hospital, which we did (thank God we were staying in an apartment with A/C, the two days after the vaccine we barely were able to leave the bed). The rest of the time we tried to research and plan things for the upcoming weeks, like planning the route and looking up nice camping spots, applying for the visa for Tanzania and so on. After 10 days in Diani Beach we desperately needed a change of scene and went to the very southern part of the Kenyan coast, Shimoni, where we spent a week at Wasini Lookout, a cozy little Lodge just across the channel of Wasini Island. We stayed in a tent, a luxorious one we must add here, it was equipped with a bed and a fridge and a ventilator, but still it was a tent. Monkeys were climbing around the trees and would steal our food if we didn’t properly close the tent and we could hear all the other animals and the waves of the ocean when laying in bed. We had to adapt again to looking for the headtorch and go outside in the middle of the night if we had to go to the bathroom (the only thing I really don’t like about camping ;) ).

Wasini Lookout hosts a very interesting NPO - REEFolution. Their mission is to protect coral reefs and grow artificial corals and plant them out again to restore habitat for fish and other animals of the sea. We had a chance to meet the Dutch founder, Eric, as well as some of the local reef rangers, who explained their work to us and also took us to a sea weed farm close-by, where they grow sea weed which is then processed into soaps, shampoo, lotion and also food.

Finally, 3 weeks later than scheduled, the ship with our container arrived at Mombasa Port. We were very close to reunite with our Defender and didn’t want to wait another minute. The agent from Mombasa port pormised that we would be able to come pick up our baby two to four days after the arrival at the warehouse of the shipping agent, already released by customs and ready to drive off. We went back to Diani Beach for another night or two in the apartment we already stayed in the week before and waited for the magic phone call. But it didn’t happen - we waited and waited and the agent told us every day that tomorrow would be the day where the car would be released from customs. At least, the container made it to customs, one step closer, but from there, nothing happened. After five days the agent told us that we would have to come in person to have the car released. So on Friday, one week after the ship already arrived, we took a Matatu (public bus in Kenya on which I could write a story by itself) and after an Odyssee arrived at the customs, where the officers opened the container together with us. There was our baby, safe and sound tucked in - we were so happy! We drove out of the container and waited patiently until the customs officer checked all our belongings and compared them with the packing list we handed-in in Athens. After another four hours in the heat (it was noon and there was close to no shade between all the shipping containers) they told us, it would take at least another two to three hours until they would release the car, so we decided to leave and go grab some food. When we returned 3 hours later, we were accompanied to our car and asked to wait a little bit longer. We weren’t allowed to touch or open any door of the car until customs would release it. Time went by and at around 5pm our agent showed up to tell us that they would not be able to release the car today, because they had to wait for an approval which came from the office in Nairobi and after 5pm, chances were zero to receive such an approval. Meaning, we had to go on the same Odyssee (TukTuk, Ferry, Matatu, TukTuk) back to Diani without the Defender. I will not elaborate on the mood we both were in, it was sooo frustrating. At least, we managed to get the confirmation of the custom officer that, as soon as he would receive the approval, they would stamp the Carnet and hand the car over to our agent so we could just pick it up from him and we did not have to come back to cusoms again. The next day, Dylan and Flurina, two friends from Switzerland were already arriving in Kenya, so we told our agent that we would come either Sunday or Monday to pick up the car, because we wanted to welcome our friends first. Also, we didn’t really believe that they would receive the approval the next day after all our experiences and we were certainly not in the mood to come back to Mombasa for nothing one more time. By Saturday night, our agent informed us that he was able to pick up the Defender, so we arranged for Sunday morning to come and pick it up. Besides the Carnet, which was stamped on the export section instead of the import section, everything went well. We finally were able to take the Defender with us and drive on African ground for the first time. Our agent took the Carnet and went back to customs the next day, to get the stamps right, and sent it to us afterwards - just in time before we took off on our first Safari.

We enjoyed a couple of nice days at the beach and went on a whaleshark snorkeling trip together with Dylan and Flurina, we saw two of them - it was breathtaking to swim with those huge creatures. There were a few final things we had to sort out and pack up and get the Defender ready and then, together with Boniface, a Kenyan Safari tourguide who drove our friends in his Toyota Landcruiser, we left the coast and drove towards Tsavo West Nationalpark, where we would spend the next three days all together on safari. We were amazed by all the exotic animals we saw, giraffes, zebras, hippoes, crocodiles, impalas, dikdiks and all their relatives, elephants. Dylan and Flurina stayed in a beautiful lodge and Tom and I parked on a official “camping ground” of the nationalpark. There was nothing more than a sign post, which told us we were on a camping ground - no facilities, no fence. We were indeed a bit nervous when we drove to the spot in the darkness after dinner with our friends at the lodge. When we turned off the engine and shut off the lights we couldn’t even see our hands in front of our eyes, it was pitch dark. But nothing helped, we had to leave the car to open the roof tent, which we did as quickly as possible. Then we hopped into our bed, turned off the lights and listened to the various sounds from all the animals around us. We couldn’t really believe that we were actually finally in Africa and spent our first night in the Defender in the middle of nowhere in a nationalpark - it was unreal. The second night, we already felt a bit more comfortable. When we woke up in the morning, I heard something very close walking by in the bushes. When we looked out the “window” we saw a hyena pass by just 2 meters away from the Defender. I desperately had to pee but waited for another hour until I dared to quickly leave the car ;) Our two first nights in our Defender in this national park offered all you would expect from Africa: bumpy dirt roads, wild animals, countless stars, wilderness and absolute solitude.

week 8 - preparations for Africa, exploring Athens and a very short pit stop back home

After enjoying the beautiful sunrise tucked in the rooftop bed of our Defender, we packed up our home for the last time in Greece and drove into the busy city of Athens, where we had booked an Airbnb apartment for the last few days. We had some final preparation tasks on our Todo-list, before we had to drive the Defender into the container for shipping. At first, a “Lavasz” was desperately needed, so we searched for some carwash places and found one very close by - the guys did a great job, we almost didn’t dare to sit back into the Defender, it was super shiny. The next day, we spent all day in the car repair shop. We just reached our first 5000 kilometers of the trip, it was time to have our baby checked if everything was still fine (breaks, engine oil, air filter, you name it). Additionally, we wanted to get our roof checked. We were a bit worried since we have put a lot of heavy stuff up there such as the toolbox as well as the spare wheel. Of course we knew that it wasn’t the best to have the heavy stuff on the top of the car, but these were the things we didn’t use on a daily basis (or at least we hope so), therefore, it was still very handy to store them up there and have them out of sight. Going on like this driving on worse roads in Africa wasn’t probably the best idea. So we discussed the option to get a spare wheel carrier for the back door. Greece was definitely one of the last chances to find such a carrier. The car repair shop we went to event had one in storage. Unfortunately, it was not a very cheap deal, but after we have called Anna, our mechanic from Switzerland to get a second opinion, we decided to spend the money and move the spare wheel down from the roof. 11 hours (!) later, we got to pick up our baby.

We also got to enjoy beautiful Athens besides all our preparation work for Africa. Of course we went on another Free Walking Tour through the city and learned a lot about its history. We visited many ancient places like theatres, the Olympic Stadium and of course Acropolis. Other than its overwhelming history, Athens also offers amazing restaurants and bars and very friendly people. A guy we met at the car repair shop invited us to his place for a Thanksgiving Dinner Party. Of course we accepted the invitation, it was a lot of fun. In fact, we enjoyed our time in Athens so much, we almost forgot to get our final tasks done, which included:

  • cleaning all our camping and kitchen tools and store them away in the car safely

  • writing a packing list with everything that will be in the container (this is necessary for shipping)

  • deciding what to bring with us for the first weeksin Africa and pack accordingly

  • driving the Defender to the warehouse where it was stored away into the container

Unfortunately, we weren’t there to see how our home on wheels was stored away in the container, we had to leave earlier to catch our flight. It was such a weird feeling when we drove to the warehouse and handed over the Defender and the keys together with everything we left in it - the Dender really did become our home over the past two months and now the first part of our trip was already coming to an end and we were about to leave Europe. What an amazing time it was and a perfect start into this adventure.

We were off to a very very short visit back home to quickly see our family and friends and enjoy one Raclette and Fondue before we flew to Kenya, where we will have to wait for our Defender until it hopefully arrives safe and sound at Mombasa Port - fingers crossed :)

week 7 - making new friends, surprising morning views and greek hospitality

Receiving shelter from lovely camper fellows

After spending our last Leks (Albanian currency) at a grocery store, we headed towards the border to Greece. The border crossing however took longer than expected. There was quite a car queue in front of us due to the custom check. Two guys wearing a uniform looked into every single car. Everyone had to open the truck - the car in front of us even had to take of the cover of its sparewheel which was attached to the rear door and another British off-roader had to drive to the side and take EVERYTHING out of his car before he was sent to drive through the X-ray. This procedure easily took him half a day, but the custom officers were very strict! We were already a bit worried about how much time we would waste here, but luckily, after asking us a few questions and quickly looking into the back of our Defender, we were allowed to pass (yaay). In Greece, we stopped at the first small coffee place we found to have an espresso and to use the bathroom and we almost forgot to put on our face mask before we entered the place. In Albania, no one really cared about the Covid measures, in Greece it was a lot different. We had to show our vaccine certificate just to sit outside of the restaurant, the measures were a lot stricter here. We drove on towards the Vikos Gorge, which is listed as the world's "deepest gorge relative to its width". We first stopped at the stone forest. Since we packed up very quickly in the morning due to the rain, we were still wearing our yoga outfit, (leggings/shorts, a shirt and Flipflops (thongs) - all the Greek tourists in their winter jackets were looking at us a bit strange :D It was indeed a lot cooler up here in the mountains, so we quickly put on our jackets. We then headed towards a viewpoint of the gorge which was quite impressive. Bianca and Andi, our Austrian friends, texted us that they were still on the road, since they had to take a detour with their massive truck. We figured we would already drive on and check out a few possible sleeping spots. We found some wild camping spots close-by on our app. We shared our location with Andi and Bianca and then we left the paved road and drove up a gravel street and it was a beautiful drive. Unfortunately, the sun didn’t come out. We were already a bit worried about the temperature during the night… We drove up and up and just when we figured that we should turn around to go and find our Austrian friends (we didn’t have any service up here) they showed up behind us in their truck. We figured that it was a beautiful spot to spend the night even though it was a bit cold. We played with the dogs, drank a bottle of wine outside and discussed some dinner possibilities to cook with what we had in both our fridges. It soon got dark and even colder so Andi and Bianca invited us inside their truck to cook and eat dinner. We were very happy to not be left outside 😊 Together, we prepared a very tasty ceaser salad – it was a cozy and fun dinner.

Introduction to the Greek camping community

When we got up the next day, it was very foggy and freezing, it was hard to leave the bed. We decided to quickly pack up and go find a place to have breakfast somewhere inside and make some further plans from there. Bianca and Andi wanted to check out the viewpoint of the gorge. They did not have a certificate, therefore, they really could not get into any restaurant ☹ we said goodbye, hoping we would see each other again somewhere along the trip. We would have loved to go for a few hikes in the area, but unfortunately, the weather wasn’t on our side this time. So we decided to go down further south to the Peleponnese peninsula, where the weather forecast was better. It was quite a long drive down there and it got already dark, so we decided to stay on a camping site for the night. We found Ionion Camping, a huge site which was actually quite beautiful and well equipped. There were still a few campers who all were camping close to the beach, but the rest of the huge camping site was empty. We could only imagine how this place must look like during summer. There was even a small bar but they only served frozen pizza, so we decided to cook some pasta on our own. On the camping site were a lot of other German speaking campers from Switzerland, Germany and Austria, and they were all very interested in our Defender and the trip we have planned, so we barely had time to write some more in our blog or plan our trip because we were talking so much :D In return we received many tips for places to camp in Greece, since most of the campers came here every year.

Learning from Archimedes

The next day we left the camping site and headed towards Olympia, the place where the Olympic Games were invented back in ancient Greece. The archelogical site was huge, we were walking around for a couple of hours and there would have been more to see, but we were getting hungry and really wanted to find a restaurant to enjoy some Greek dishes. We found the Symposio Tavern, a very traditional Greek restaurant and the food was delicious! Most restaurants were closed, so we were lucky to have found this place. There weren’t many guests so we talked to the owner for a bit, who was a very friendly man and told us a lot about his family-run business as well as life in Greece. On our way back to the car, we passed the Archimedes Museum. It was open and there was no entry fee except for a voluntary donation, so we thought we will quickly check it out - a great decision!! It was an amazing little museum which showed many of the great inventions of the ancient Greeks. The woman working there took the time and walked with us through the whole museum and explained everything we wanted to know, it was great and very interesting. We definitely lost track of time and when we stepped outside again, it was already getting dark. We quickly stopped at a grocery store to get some things and then drove towards Elea beach, a place that was recommended to us to spend the night. Apparently, it is the beach where a lot of long-term campers meet for wild camping during the off-season. It was pitch-dark when we arrived there and there were not other campers. We parked the Defender between the pine-trees and went straight to bed.

Local shopping

It is always exciting waking up in a place which we didn’t really see the day before if it was already dark when we arrived :) We got up and found ourselves in a little pine forest at the beach. We started the day with a yoga session and took a (cold) shower and then packed up to drive off again. Just before we were ready to leave, a car drove towards us and stopped – we were already a bit worried about getting a fine, instead, it was a very freindly couple from the town who own an olive farm and they came to sell olives, olive oil and more delicious things. Since we figured, it would be nice to bring some Greek olive oil to Africa, we bought 2 big bottles and also treated us to some nice olives. Our next stop was Elea again (same name, different town). This time, it was a town a couple of hours further east on the Penelopesse peninsula. We read about a nice spot directly at the beach where we wanted to camp. We found it without any trouble and spent another night on a private little beach. For dinner, we prepared a Greek salad and in the morning, we woke up early with the sunrise and enjoyed a coffee and the view. After our daily yoga flow (we started a 30 day yoga challenge by Tim Senesi :-) it is available on Youtube if you’re interested), we packed up our things and headed towards Monemvasia.

Exploring Monemvasia

Monemvasia is a small town on an island, which is linked with the mainland by a causeway. It is a BEAUTIFUL little town with very narrow streets - really, if you ever happen to be on the Pelenopesse Peninsula, make sure sou’ll visit this place!! We were strolling around and after every corner we wanted to take some more pictures because everything looked so nice. Again, not many restaurants were open but there was a nice bar on the top of the small town with a breathtaking view, where we enjoyed a cocktail (ok two). Then we headed back down and just in front of the entrance gate, there were another few bars and restaurants open. We went for another drink at Emvasis, a very nice cocktailbar and they were just putting up a super cute christmas decoration (I am a huge fan of that!!) The waiter recommended us to drive to Neratziona Beach and camp directly on the beach for the night. He told us it would not be a problem during off-season and that the place was beautiful. He also helped us to make a call to a mountain refuge, where we wanted to book 2 beds for the next day, but the guy working there only spoke Greece, so we were very happ to get some help :) The beach which he recommended was just a 30 minutes drive away, so we drove there after dinner at Oinomelo, a very nice restaurant and we were indeed rewarded with a beautiful spot to sleep. The next day we got up and decided to take the ferry to Elafonisos, an island that looked very nice and could be easily reached from where we were. When we got to the ferry port, there was only one other car. The man in the car told us that he lived on the island and he explained that during off-season, there was nothing going on over there. Nevertheless, there was one restaurant open where we could have breakfast, so we decided to park the Defender and just go on the ferry without it and go check out the restaurant for breakfast. We found the place and ordered a fresh orange juice, a cappuccino and scrambled eggs on a toast. The weather was turning again and at one point, we could barely see outside the window of the restaurant due to the fog and rain, but then it cleared up again and we took the ferry back to the mainland. We then started the drive towards the EOS Spartis Mountain Refuge. We wanted to climb Taygetos mountain, the highest mountain of Peleponnese (2’407m) and therefore slept at the refuge hut where the hike started. Since we knew that it would be freezing cold up there during the night, we figured it would be nicer to sleep in the hut. The drive up there was quite easy, the road wasn’t too bad against all the reviews that we read. We were the only guests inside of the hut, however, there were about 20 guys sleeping outside in tents! They were preparing for some bigger outdoor excursion and therefore spent the weekend up here. We were quite happy that we didn’t have to spend the night outside in the car because it was getting very cold! The hut was basic: one room with a table and chairs and a few mattresses to sleep on. It was a quite uncomfortable night, but we got up early anyways to start the hike. The summit of Taygetos mountain gives shadow in the shape of a pyramid at sunrise and sunset, which we wanted to see, but the tour guides recommended us to not start the hike that early because it could be dangerous due to the ice and snow.

Reaching the summit

We therefore left the refuge at 7am just a little before sunrise. The hike was very beautiful and well marked. At times, it was very windy though and on the very last part before we reached the summit, there was indeed some snow. The view from the top was beautiful and we even saw the shadow of the pyramid, not in the clouds but the mountain threw its pyramid shadow on the other surrounding mountains. We were the first one on the summit that day but on the way down we crossed a few other hikers who were on their way up. The sun was out all day and once we left the exposed ridge of the summit where it was very windy, it was actually quite nice to hike back down. When we reached the Defender and the refuge, we prepared a small meal because we were a bit hungry after the hike and then drove back down towards the coast again where it was very warm, around 20 degrees Celsius. We headed towards a camping because we desperately wanted a nice warm shower. We found Camping Argolic Strand in Drepano. It was a very very nice camping, in fact, we both found it to be the cleanest camping of all camping sites we have seen so far on this trip. The owner, a lovely old lady, was very nice and welcoming, we were more than happy with our choice. There were even a few restaurants open in walking distance, so after a shower, we enjoyed another delicious greek dinner.

Last nights…

Eventhough we loved the camping, we still decided to leave the next day because it was already the last night which we would spend in our Defender before we would ship it to Africa!! And we figured, it would be nice to spend it once more at a lonely hidden place somewhere on the way to Athens. First, we went to visit the Ancient Theatre at the Asclepieion of Epidaurus, another ancient greek landmark. It was a nice surprise when we got there and were told that the entrance was for free that day because it was a Sunday (and off season). The theatre is still used nowadays for some concerts and is therefore in a great shape. Afterwards, we drove to the Corinth Canal, a man made canal of 6,4km which connects the Ionian Sea with the Aegean Sea. We lost a bit track of time with all the sightseeing, and when we started checking for spots to sleep at, we realized that it was a Sunday and all the shops were closed and we didn’t really had food to cook. So we had to look for a restaurant and a sleeping spot close-by. We found both, however, once again it was already dark when we parked the Defender for the night. We were a bit disappointed because of our bad planning since we really wanted to enjoy the last night on a lovely spot. When we woke up the next day, we found ourselves on a lovely little private beach and without intention, we parked the car perfectly so we could watch the amazing sunrise over the sea without even leaving our bed :) It was in fact the perfect spot to wake up to in the Defender for the last time on the European continent (at least for this trip).

week 1 - austrian cuisine, family visits and rainy autumn days

“When life throws you a rainy day, play in the puddles！”
— unknown
Facts & Figures
● 908 kilometers in the Defender
● 85505 steps by foot
Highlights
● Salzburger Nockerl in Salzburg
● Apfelstrudel by Oma
● wine tasting in Südsteiermark
Lowlights
● rainy days...

And there it was, October 3rd, 2021 - the date we planned to leave Switzerland and drive off in our Defender. And we did, with the usual delay of a few hours, but hey, what are two hours compared to the time we have planned for this trip. From now on, we won’t have deadlines and strict schedules to stick to.
We got our last coffees in our favourite coffee shop down the road from our apartment, Liv smoked her very last cigarette (new life, healthier habits - or at least that’s the idea) and then we started the engine. Unnecessary to tell you how unreal it felt to drive off, knowing we won’t come back for such a long time. Destination: Africa, next stop: Germany.

We spent our first night at a beautiful camping spot in Berchtesgaden (Germany). Since it was already the end of the season, we didn’t have trouble finding space on a campsite. Unfortunately, the warm summer nights have also passed... We parked the car and opened a bottle of a costly champagne Tom once received as a gift, but we figured the first night of our trip would be the perfect moment to drink it :) The next day we drove onto the “Rossfeld Panoramastrasse” and parked at “Ofnerboden,” from where we hiked up to the “Purtschellerhaus.” The mountain hut is built on the Austrian and German border, and you can reach it from both sides. We chose the Austrian way up, enjoyed a “Brettljausen,” “Kaspressknödel,” and a “Radler” in the sun, and walked the German way back down. There was a distillery next to the car parking spot, and we got the opportunity to taste some “Schnaps” and learn about different methods and ingredients of distilling. We then headed towards Salzburg, and when we arrived at Camping Schloss Aigen, which we chose for our sleeping spot, we found that they were just about to close; however, we got to stay the night for free. We cooked dinner and enjoyed the (foggy) view over Salzburg, where we were headed the next day.

Going to bed early when camping due to the lack of light comes with the benefit of being up early in the morning. We packed our stuff and went straight into the city for our first coffee. Ordering a coffee in Austria is not that simple as you might think. My first Cappuccino came with whipped cream and I learned, that if I would like to receive a Cappuccino with milkfoam I must order a “Melange”. We went from coffee place to coffee place and tasted different coffees (“kleiner Brauner” = similar to an espresso, “grosser Brauner” = doppio, “Verlängerter” = Cafe Creme or filter coffee, “Einspänner” = espresso with whipped cream on top). The list doesn’t end here, but our capability of drinking more caffeine and tasting more sweets (definitely recommend the Mozartkugeln and Punschkrapferl). We went to see the Salzburg Fortress, strolled through the Old Town and passed the birth place of Mozart, walked around Mirabell Palace and the beautiful gardens and went to the Bärenwirt for lunch, where we ate the famous “Backhendl” and of course “Salzburger Nockerl” for dessert. Salzburg definitely seduced us with culinary highlights!

For the night we drove to Wolfgangsee, a beautiful area a couple of hours outside of Salzburg. Unfortunately, the weather was very cloudy and cold but we still enjoyed the night directly at the lake at Camping Wolfgangsee Berau. For dinner, we walked along the lake to Strobl and we just got back in time before the rain. The next morning, we made use of the gym at the Camping Site and then drove to Judenburg, where Tom’s Oma (grandmother) lives. We got to stay in Tom’s parents apartment close-by, which was perfect, since it didn’t stop raining for 2 days straight.
The weather didn’t spoil us, but Oma Hilde did. She cooked and baked and we ate until we almost bursted: Wiener Schnitzel, Leberknödelsuppe, Apfelstrudel, Schupfnudeln, Frittatensuppe, Kürbiskernroulade - we got it all and it was delicious! We enjoyed the time together very much.

Our last stop in Austria led us to the Südsteiermark, e region famous for its wine. On our way from Judenburg to Gamlitz we stopped to see the Hundertwasserkriche, a colorful church designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser. We stayed two nights at Obstgut Ledinegg, a beautiful fruit farm with only five camping spots. The weather was not great but nevertheless we were not the only campers. While setting-up our little camp, we talked to our neighbours, another couple who headed to South Africa on a different route, two retired couples who enjoyed camping in a bit more luxurious campers but were very interested in the Defender - it was very interesting exchanging our camping experiences. Walter and Gabi who run the farm were very welcoming and even lent us their motorbike so we could quickly drive to Gamlitz to get some groceries. The next day, the sun came out again and we took the chance to go for an extended hike through the vinyards, tasting differents wines on the way, eating Jausen and enjoying the beautiful scenery.

The next morning it was raining again, so we quickly packed our things and took off to the next destination - Slovenia.