20 - 23 September 2011

Tuesday 20 September 2011

A tappet was found - eventually – a tappet from a Land Rover – so Modesty is now working thanks to a Land Rover – we managed to have a anxious morning although we were trying to relax, remaining ever so positive that a tappet would be found.   Dulllah arrived after 2 pm – with tappet in hand it was installed  it was working with a couple  of praise to Allah off we went to see DHL – it was just fantastic seeing everyone – loads of staff changes but a great welcome and well worth the visit.  We also managed to catch up with Simon Maitland – we had arranged to meet at the Southern Sun at 5 pm.  It was wonderful to see him and to catch up with all his exiting times in Dar.  Blaze from DHL also came to see us and wonderful to meet him and hear all about his times with DHL (so far) in Dar.

We were also expecting to get our passport after receiving a sms  message from MDS Couriers advising us that the passports would be waiting for us in the Hotel – Adam Fuller and Judith went on the search – after a phone call to MDS we were informed that the Passports are now in LONDON – and the UK Customs are holding for a verification from the South African Embassy that the passports are not fraudulent and that this process may take 3 – 4 days – we leave Dar tomorrow morning – Oh my goodness what more could this bloody company put us through – at this stage our trip looks like it will be going from Cape Town to Nairobi???

A lovely evening was spent at the Southern Sun Hotel in Dar – Adam Fuller and his team of staff are indeed a brilliant example of how service and customer care should be done – well done Adam – brilliant??

Wednesday 21 September 2011

A very early start so we could attempt to miss the horrific traffic in Dar – we got up at 04h30 – Scott the Head Chef of the Southern Sun had arranged with his Kitchen to have everything ready for us by 05h15 in the morning plus we would received “take away boxes “ and to help ourselves – amazing service yet again – Thank you Scott.  We were off to Arusha a 629km Drive – The MG and us – Chris was dying to have a drive in the Mustang and it was arranged that we would meet at Mombo where Gordon (owner of Mustang) and Chris would take the drive up to Soni and then, due to the speed of the Mustang, meet us in Arusha.  Sadly today was not the Day – The Volvo has no clutch.  Chris had to drive.  With no Clutch you can only change gear if the vehicle is actually moving – so we both knew we were going to be in for an interesting 400km odd drive.

As explained previously the Traffic Cops in Tanzania clearly do not have a life – as they continually stop us and as long as we were in the law i.e. not speeding we are then asked the same standard questions – Where are you from?  Where are you going? What a lovely car can I buy it?? As if they benefit from the information they receive – so we were stopped and all the questions answered – we then informed this intelligent policemen to push us so that we could get the vehicle into gear.  One would imagine that at this stage they should have given us a fine for a vehicle that clearly does not have a clutch and should really probably not be on the road.  Well nothing to them they pushed us and off we went.

The next incident was a speed hump – the Tanzania roads have serious speed humps you have to almost come to a stop to clear them – really bad for low old vehicles.   We came across a speed hump that the vehicle in front of us had come to a halt – we attempted to change down with no joy so off we went into the bushes – passing low Acacia Bushes, ducking trees, passing a farmers home and eventually into gear and back on the road.  The MG thought that we were on the wrong road so bless them immediately turned around only to find us join them back on the road facing the right way – they had managed to find themselves parked right across the road after the dreaded speed hump – a large Track had to come to a halt whilst the MG slowly sorted themselves  out to rejoin us.

We eventually arrive at the Impala Hotel at about 3pm – thank good ness for Gordon (Mustang) between Chris and Gordon they managed to get the Clutch sorted and we are back in business. 

We continuously meet interesting people on the route as most men are interested in old cars – we had a suggestion from Justyn Lane of Massey Ferguson (who lived in Malawi and knows our lodge) to go to a Lebanese Restaurant based a mere 50 metres from the Hotel – a wonderful surprise to find Geoff Denton at the lodge – so off we all set to the restaurant – they had never had a group of this size – although the food was great – when it eventually arrived some 3 hours later – we all had lost our sense of humor and abusive demands were made to eventually get the service – a long long day

Thursday 22 September 2011

A mere 193 Kms today to the Ngorongoro Crater – something both Chris and I had been so looking forward to doing – a late start 08h00 – a disgusting breakfast served from the Impala Hotel – we had a cup of coffee and off we went.

It was Chris’s day to join Gordon in the Mustang he was like a naughty little schoolboy – he was so looking forward to this day – off they went. For us to meet them at the gates of the Conservancy.  Peter (from Hong Kong) and I drove in Modesty.

 The initial plan was to leave our vehicles parked at the entrance of the Ngorongoro Conversancy – this was not to be as safety and security could not be assured – so we all drove the approx. 30 kms up to the Sopa Lodge on gravel road – straight up the hill to the crater ridge – the TR4A overheated due to a faulty fan – so a quick fix half way up and off we went.  Modesty went well with no overheating.

Chris was so chuffed with his drive in the Mustang and raved about it all the way up to the crater ridge – I am afraid we will now definitely be buying a Mustang.

The viewpoint of the crater a mere 6 kms up the hill – breathtaking and just emotionally moving – its just incredible – not sure what words can be used to describe the incredible beauty and magnitude of the crater – you just must come and see it for yourselves.

A little further on and we reached to Sopa Hotel – lovely rooms and wonderful service from Justin and his staff.  A delicious lunch and then we all went down the crater with Leopard Tours Safari Vehicles.  We saw so many animals from Cheetah, Lions, Hyena, Jackal and all the other standard animals – loads and loads of animals – very dry and dusty but fantastic.

A la Carte dinner and a game of bridge and off to bed.

Friday 23 September 2011

A early start – and Justin and his team came to the party and opened the lodge by 05h15 so that we could have a lovely cup of coffee and pick up our breakfast packs – the best packs so far – well done Justin.

Chris and I were the first to leave at 05h30 – in the dark we managed to drive in the wrong direction and landed up in the Safari Vehicle car park and were unable to go any further.  The Fuel pump was completely buggered – we were going nowhere. Michael (TR4A) advised us that Ron & Wendy (Volkswagen Kombi) had just recently changed a fuel pump and that we should catch them before they left.  I ran up the hill to advise whoever was left behind of our situation whilst Chris arranged for the lodge vehicle to tow us back up the hill to the lodge.  The lodge vehicle failed to do this so one of the Safari Drivers who pulled us up with a 4 x 4.

Gordon to the rescue – thank goodness the Mustang, Pajero & Volkswagen were all still at the lodge.  Gordon is incredibly fast and efficient at changing these things – with a lot of people looking into Modesty Bonnet – and comments from loads of Safari Drivers, Guests from the lodge – Gordon the wonder man got it all sorted and off we went at 07h00.  An uneventful trip to Nairobi, the border posts were easy, the road from Arusha to Nairobi has just newly being constructed – fanatastic.  The Kenyan Border was the first Customs Official on this trip to query our Temproary Travel Passport purely because we had now run out of pages and he barely had space to put the entry stamp – after assuring him that we would be receiving our passports in Nairobi and that we merely we attending the Kenyan Concors d’Elegance in Nairobi on Sunday 25^th September. He kindly did not want to see any documents regarding the hijacking of our passports and allowed us to enter.

We arrived at the hotel after a 2-hour traffic jam at 16h20. We had enough time to check in, have a shower and get to the Opening Cocktail party at the Nairobi a Club for the Concors.  A lovely evening but exhaustion set in and we went to bed early.

Moving to new Blog

Hi folks,
Just to let you know that from now on I'll be posting on Peter's blog: more piccies there!
The Cape to Cairo 2011 Blog is here

(http://capetocairo2011.blogspot.com/)

12 - 19 September 2011

Its not that I have not been writing up on our blog daily – finding a place that has internet is starting to become rather impossible – I think I have have caught up to date – so the next blog will be in 3 days time when we arrive in Nairobi.  I have not checked this - its 22h00 hours and we will be woken up at 03h45 to get out of Dar - the traffic is extremely bad????

 Monday 12 September 2011

Woke up at 05h00 to do a Game Drive – very nippy morning and really pissed off that they do not give Rusks and Coffee on the drives – I suppose its all to save money – furthermore our room in the Hotel was the only Tea/Coffee station that was missing – so no coffee to start our day???  We saw nothing of great interest – Impala, Buffalo, Zebra, Kudu, Dyker, Steenbok and a Giant Eagle Owl – so off to breakfast after 2 hours of driving around.

Never did much the rest of the day – arranged for our washing to get done which eventually arrived back in our rooms at 10pm – I guess things are slow in Africa and patience is definitely required.

All off to bed early so that we can wake up early 5am (again) to catch the ferry to Kariba.

Must comment that we stayed in the lodge for two nights – huge imagination from the Management and Chefs regarding dinner – we had a BRAAI for two nights – the food was terrible???

Tuesday 13 September 2011

Early to rise and off to the ferry – we all arrived on time – and slowly loaded the vehicles onto the ferry – quite terrifying – but we all managed to the vehicles squeezed on– we left the harbor of Milibizi at about 09h00 to head off to Kariba and arrive the next morning by 07h00 – a night on the ferry – well not much happened other than the beauty of Lake Kariba with all the lovely islands - we placed mattress on the deck and slept with a howling wind and under the boats front lights – not the best sleep but all okay.  During the long hours on the ferry we established that we had 4 bridge players – however not one of us on the tour or others on the ferry had brought cards, must buy some in Lusaka.   Comment – the kitchen team produced brilliant meals for us – better food than the Hwange Safari Lodge – what’s that all about.

Rob (the owner’s son) was brilliant – his commitment to ensuring that all guests knew what would be happening and times expected for wake up  - his commitment to service was excellent.

Wednesday 14 September 2011

After not much sleep we were all up at about 05h30 – lovely hot coffee and tea ready for us – breakfast at 06h00 and we were expected to get off the ferry at 07h00 however with the strong head winds we were delayed by nearly 1 ½ hours.   Getting our vehicle off the ferry was all a bit terrifying however all managed to get off without loosing exhausts.  We managed to get through the Zim Boarder with not much problems however every single vehicle had to be checked – i.e. they wanted to see the engine numbers and chassis numbers – 2 vehicle’s had issues – the Mexicans in the Camper Volkswagen had a major problem as the engine number did not match the Carnet???  With a small bribe they got through – David in the Pajero could not find his Chassis number but after quite sometime it was found and everyone was at the Zambian Border. Roger The Classic Car Events Organizer) had arranged for Crispin (Zambian) to assist us through the intricate vehicle formalities of the Zambian Government – thank goodness for Crispin – we eventually got through the Border 2 hours later – and then off to Lusaka – Chris and I headed straight for the Game Shopping Centre in Lusaka to get tennis balls for the rear suspension of the car and cards to play bridge – then it was a mere 30 km’s to the Safari Protea Hotel.

Great Hotel – lovely Buffet dinner  - arranged for packed breakfast, paid our bills an off to bed another early morning.

Thursday 15 September 2011

Up and out of the lodge by 05h30 – grabbed our packed breakfasts and headed off with the TR4A and MG in tow – a stop after 250kms for some lovely coffee and my sisters home made rusks – and a destination that we were really looking forward as we had both read the book Africa House about the Gore-Brown Family – Our first night of camping – not really looking forward to this but it has to be done.  Kapishya Hot Springs – we met Mark Stewart – the grand Child – we arrive at about 16h30 after taking photographs of the Tower Clock that had been shipped from Brook lands Race Track in the UK.  When we were standing in front of the clock tower the MG arrived sounding like a tractor they had managed to completely take out there exhaust on the gravel road with quite large speed bumps.  The poor MG another problem to resolve.  Once we had sorted the camping spot and put everything up – Chris headed for the hot springs for a quick dip – it was that hot that he only managed a minutes.

We had a lovely homemade cooked dinner by Mel – Roast pork with homegrown vegetables. Mark and Mel joined David & Jackie (Pajero) Michael & Paula (TR4A) and ourselves – we sat for quite sometime listening to Marks stories about the family – too many glasses of wine – but a lovely evening spent with brilliant hosts and splendid hospitality – brilliant – so sorry we could not spend another night here. 

A must for would be travellers.

It was off to the tent????? 

Thank goodness for the extra glass of wine as the mattress is paper thin – we also fell asleep quickly but managed to get freezing cold about 2 hours later?? An interesting, cold, unprepared night.

Friday 16 September 2011

For our Dwangwa family and Friends – THE TENT – Chris was too tall for it – his feet were pushing extremely hard against the bottom of it – it certainly pops up quickly however putting it back in its little condom holder was another mission all together. – Andy - Chris managed to break it!!!!  So one night – one use and throw away – buy another one in DAR?  Bigger and hopefully not as hard to store away!!!

We had the most brilliant breakfast and wonderful tour of the Gore-Brown home – brilliant – so nice to see and experience – mostly imagine how the family lived way back in 1932.

Yeah off to Tanzania – Chris and I had already made a decision not to go to Zanzibar and to give our room to Peter (Australian) so that we could spend some time with our really good friends Geoff and Suuze and to see my godchild Rosi and Harvey.

The borders (out of Zambia and into Tanzania) were interesting – hectic, with no form of order what so ever but fun as we had no option but to smile and enjoy the madness.

A mere 193 kms and we were at Utengule Lodge – up on a hill and overlooking the coffee plantations – we played some bridge – had our dinner, and to bed, for another early start.

Saturday 17 September 2011

OOOOPS - I had forgotten to change our time on the alarm clocks – so when it eventually went off we were 1 hour late for everything in fact Michael whom had washed our vehicle the night before woke us up – well I guess we should have been in a slight panic but we were not as we knew where we were going and we thought we knew the road.  We eventually departed from Utengule Lodge in Morogoro at about 08h15 the rest of the gang had departed at 7 am – so off we went on a merry way only to be alarmed at the amount of speed humps every single village has 3 lots of small rivet bumps and then 2 lots huge humps – which could take the bottom of your car out – so not only were we hindered by these things the traffic police were out on mass – we managed to get stopped for a speeding fine but a little persuading we paid them Chia (tea) Money and we were off – we managed to catch up with David and Jackie (in the Pajero – our sweeper vehicle) and we headed off to Baobab River Camp to see Darren – the place was empty – nobody to make lunch and nothing cold to drink so we opened up our cooler boxes and got things out and had a small picnic lunch in Darren’s lounge area – we were just about to leave when out popped Darren – a little catch up chat and off on our way to Morogoro  - The Oasis Hotel – we arrived in good time at about 17h30 – the Mustang and the Tr4A had already arrived and met us in the car park – with beers in hand – the Mustang (Australians) paid 3 fines whilst the TR4A paid one fine – when everyone eventually arrived only 2 out of 11 cars did not pay the Tanzanian Traffic department  - most of the fines had been paid to Chia (tea money) – total corruptions???

We placed our bags in our rooms and immediately sat down to order our dinner – which had to be curry as the chef was a Indian – Chris and I were innocently sitting with the Australians when a altercation with the Group Organizer ensued he ridiculed me front of the Australians and Chris – I was extremely upset as I had being making a concerted effort of avoiding any form of communication with the man as he had on numerous occasions passed horrible cutting remarks to me – which clearly indicated that he had a personality clash with me,  and that was enough for me to head to my room and have a good cry???   Chris and I joined the Australians for dinner and we were off to bed – a sad night for me as I would like to head home and get our money back – if this is what its going to be like for the rest of the trip it certainly will not be worth it??

  

Sunday 18 September 2011

We thought we would have a little lie in bed this morning – but not to be – Chris had set the alarm for 05h45 as he had promised Michael whom is travelling in a red TR4A as far as Nairobi – to assist him with some gear problems – we then we were awake – I managed to wake up with eyes that looked like dog balls in the snow from crying last night.  After a shower we headed down to the car only to find the 3 Mercedes (all from Namibia) still all in the parking lot and frantically working on an alternator problem – time was running out for them to catch the ferry in Dar es Salaam. We offered different option should they arrive at the Southern Sun Hotel (old Holiday Inn) and find the rest of the group gone.  However time was matching on and deep concerns about them finding and getting to the hotel on time became a huge concern – they followed us into Dar.  We were stopped once by speed cops and managed to talk our way out of the fine however poor David was caught then we were stopped by the traffic police – they were looking to find something wrong with the car or our licenses etc. – however a very interesting confrontation ensued with a large truck whom Chris had passed on the left hand side as the idiot clearly did not understand that the road had widened for the slower vehicles to drive on the left??  – He then stopped to advise the police that we had showed him the middle finger to get him to move – after a couple of minutes explaining that this was not the case and then a lecture from the police on how to behave in Tanzania we were then allowed to move on – whilst this was on the go, Walter (Namibian) drove passed and shouted

“HEY Krrris Fuck Him Up” – this immediately relieved our tension, we swopped drivers so that Chris could calm down. 

We stopped in Chalinze to get fuel and then where advised that if we went like bats out of hell we may just make the ferry – the traffic in Dar was horrific with loads of weaving in and out of traffic and all following us like snakes we managed to pull into the Southern Sun with about 8 minutes to spare – the ^ Namibians managed to jump out their cars with all baggage ready and into the bus – with frantic waves goodbye – they made it?

We then headed off to see Geoff and Suuuze Denton – lots of memories driving through the streets of Dar.  We stopped off at Shoppers Plaza to get some wine, whiskey and beer.  Great Excitement to see every one – we immediately sat down to beers and loads of chatting and catching up – Clare Lee and Glen Clark popped over to see us and eventually stayed for dinner – a lovely lovely evening spent with good friends, my god child Rosie and Harvey.  Dullah came to see in the afternoon – it was just great to see him – he is looking so good – Dullah was my driver when I worked for DHL.

We managed to get to bed early as we had all started drinking early,

Monday 19 September 2011

Woke up early and had a little chat with Harvey and Rosie before they headed of to school – Chris, Susie and myself went for a nice long walk on the beach, quick shower and off to do some shopping, mainly a tent as the brilliant tent that we purchased from Game In Malawi was not only too small but after one night was broken.

We a re spending a day cleaning the car – tappets and oil change – Chris Managed to snap one of the tappets so than goodness for Dullah he was off to the market to try and find another one – Thanks so much to Blaze for allowing us to have Dullah for the afternoon.

Hwange Safari Lodge - 11 September 2011

Sunday 11 September 2011

Fantastic night at the Protea Hotel  Kalimo Mulilo – one comment though was service was seriously lacking – anyway we are in Africa and its sort of expected – a short day today with only 380 kms – The Ngomba Bridge which is the border out of Namibia and into Botswana went so smoothly no problems.  We saw loads of Elephants whilst driving through the Chobe Game Reserve, a lonesome Giraffe and a single sable antelope – so not much but 300% more than we saw in the Game Reserve through Namibia. 

We exited Botswana with a huge interest in our vehicle from the customs officials – all of them came outside and individually had their photographs taken next to Modesty – what lovely people.  Not sure what the Zimbabwean had eaten for breakfast or how come the change in attitude – but an absolute pleasure – off we went to Victoria Falls.

Okay so now I have a bit of a wingeing session about MEN – Chris managed to literally smash the front left fender of the bumper whilst trying to attempt a sharp turn into the garage.  I sad nothing – the funny thing about this is – If I was driving and this had happened I would have been shat on and my driving skills would have been put on the line, I never said anything and again this was wrong however if I had apologized on his behalf I would have been shat on and told in no uncertain terms that it was merely a accident – after filling the car we pulled out towards Hwange PLEASE remember I had said not a word about the small accident and about 6 kms out I was accused of being scratchy – so I guess saying nothing does not work, saying something, does not work, being the driver does not work –so fuck knows what us woman can do to get it right.

The Hwange Safari Lodge must have been built in the sixties and no changes to the place – its pleasant but needs desperate refurbishment – We hope to see a lot of game and relax in the next day – as we have one day of rest and recuperation before we head off to ferry on Tuesday morning.  If anything really exiting happens tomorrow I shall let you know.  

9 - 10 September 2011

Friday 09 September 2011

We had a brilliant breakfast - Thanks to Korne and his team – in fact the breakfast spread was the best that we have had to date – we had made arrangement with Ian and Val whom are driving MG to Cairo, they had already had major problems with overheating on the first day of travel and got as far as Clan William – their car blew a gasket so they had to stay behind and get it fixed and then played catch up and joined us in Windhoek.  At one stage we thought their trip might be from Cape Town to Clan William.  Anyway due to the overheating issue we travelled behind them – well thank goodness we did a mere 18 kms out of RUNDU having done 702 kms their MG’s gear box completely packed in – they were towed into Rundu – a spare part is being flown from South Africa with a mechanic to work on the vehicle – they should have it fixed by Sunday which means they will have to play catch up again and believe they will meet us in Zimbabwe at Hwange Game Reserve.  What a day – beautiful scenery – no people and vastness – miles and miles upon miles of vegetation and nobody. 

The lodge in Rundu was a pleasant surprise as someone from the Old Wheelers Club had warned us that it was reportedly not very good.  It was great right on the river – lovely dinner and a good night sleep.

Saturday 10 September 2011

521kms to Katimo Mulilo – through Game Reserve – which we managed to see some elephants – only – there was nothing else to see – again beautiful and again lots and lots of space – we arrived in Katimo at 13 h45 after leaving Rundu at 07h30. Staying in the Protea Hotel – well its like any Protea except we have a beautiful view of the Zambezi.  A boat trip has been arranged for all of us – I have opted not to go – need to rest and get this blog updated  - I am doing my best to get this done daily however it seems that not everyone has heard of Wi-Fi or even have the privilege of internet – so I am sure we will continue to have days where I will not be able to down load. 

6-8 September 2011

Tuesday 06 September 2011

With little to no sleep what with the excitement of leaving this morning, saying goodbye to Jemma the evening before and having the welcome dinner at Leisure Bay Leisure Suites to meet all the team – hardly any sleep – the alarm went off at 5 am – it was a mad rush to get dressed, get the car packed, and have ourselves some coffee and a bite to eat and off we went to meet everyone at the Table View Beach for the photo shoot – beautiful clear day with table mountain in the background.  We had to be there at 07h30 and quite naturally I am always on time in fact rather be early than late – thank you DHL – it was a blistering cold wind blowing (no wonder you could see Table Mountain Clearly we could hardly stand up in the wind so everything else that thought of hanging around definitely was blown away) – not sure where to hide to keep warm – the coldness seemed to have gone right threw you – with the photographs done we were off to Vioolsdrift a drive of 790 kms.  A mere 300 kms out of Cape Town I thought we had driven to the centre of the earth – it was boiling hot – not only were we suffering from the intense heat but the old lady (Modesty) started to overheat as well – we literally had to drive up all the hills with the heater on – so not only where we dying of heat from the hot sun and hot air – it was coming at us from inside as well. 

We were lucky to be able to see the Namaqualand Daisy’s – mostly purple waxy one but also the full array of yellows, oranges, pinks, purples and whites – incredible sights however you do also go through kilometer after kilometer of very little else in fact a whole lot of nothing other than 1 mt scrub bush. The mountain ranges are magnificent and the afternoon sun certainly gives you beautiful hues of brightness, blacks and grays as the sun is setting on the mountain – stunning – breathtaking but bloody hot.

We eventually arrived at our destination at 16h45 after being in the car since 08h00 in the morning a long day of mixed weather, beautiful scenery and then as dull as anything – so a good day.

The  Ouwerberg Tented Camp site – Bathrooms clean with decent toilets and decent showers – what more could one ask for.  The owner Neville was on his own so was crazy busy as his staff were on leave – their season is only expected to open in 2 weeks time.  So Service was slow to just help you and fit in.   The tented camp is based on the Gariep River (Orange River), which is on the South African side – Namibia across the river. A Hot shower, Pizza for dinner and to be by 21h30 – bloody exhausted nearly starting to loose my sense of humor.

Wednesday 07 September 2011

With the heat of yesterday Roger Pearce (The organizer) decided we had to leave early so we had breakfast at 06h30 and left by 07h15 – a good early start with 490 km’s ahead of us.  The road was going to be challenging as we had been informed that only 140 km’s was on tar road whilst the rest on gravel – challenging it was – we had the choice of either closing all the windows and putting the most pathetic fan on hence sweltering to death or leaving all the windows open and swallowing dust – we choice the dust option – Bloody hell was it challenging we ate dust and more dust.

We were a little nervous about going through the boarder as we only had our Temporary South African Passports – Well it was absolutely no hassles what so ever – the South African’s Customs official were friendly and extremely pleasant – the Namibian Officials were better – were we in Africa.  We headed off to get fuel and draw money only to be told that the ATM was not working, we arrive after this challenging trip to the smallest village – one hotel one garage and one shop – in the middle of no where –experiencing high hot winds with loads of dust???  The place is called Helmeringhauser – so the only hotel is Helmeringhauser Hotel – Katja was here to greet us and after politely asking if she could assist us with Visa Cards handing over USD’s to try and obtain cash – it was a very emphatic German NEIN??? What a great help – could almost be going off Namibia.

Although the road, dust and heat were challenging – the openness and beautiful mountains of Namibia are just outstanding – it gives you a feeling of almost being lost in vastness.  Beautiful, quite and peaceful.

Katja improved obviously with a little bit of “man” influence – thanks to Roger we had a wonderful evening meal – had to report at 19h00 sharp and got served a lovely quiche, springbok steak (for those of you that know me something I was really looking forward to) and a malva pud – our take away breakfast was ready for us straight after dinner – so off to bed for a 05h30 start for us – we wanted to get our exhaust and a few other things sorted with the vehicle,

Thursday 08 September 2011

Not much to say for today – we set off as planned at 05h35 and again on a challenging stretch of gravel road for 110 kms and then on tar – loads and loads of vastness – we stopped off to get money, coffee and petrol and then continued on our merry way – the rest of the cars only left at about 07h30 so we were well in front – the reason for this was to get to the garage to sort out our Silencer – Once again we sounded like a tractor and again we had to get it fixed – so with all the promises from the garage in Port Elizabeth – thank you Eastern Cape it all had to be done again – we also had a problem with the back left hand tyre it was leaking brake fluid which Chris managed to get it sorted out .  We are all staying in the Hotel Pension Mondi – very comfortable and clean. 

We were invited to the Old Classic Car Club for a braai, which was lovely meeting many people from the club whom also have the deepest interest in old cars – the press was there to take photographs. Ian and Val Gallagher whom had done a mere 300 km’s out of Cape Town and then broke down in Clanwilliam due to overheating –blew a gasket - they managed to get it all resolved and played catch up with us.  Great to have them back on track – as they stated after one year of planning and getting the vehicle ready an absolute disaster to be stuck in Clanwilliam.

Just for your interest the rules are the team will assist you as much as they can then it over to you to get your vehicle sorted out and back on track – its not a race but a Classic Car Event which has booked accommodation and you are to get to it.

Speak Tomorrow – apologies for the slowness in getting the blog written up – its not so easy getting Internet coverage.

05 September 2011

Hi there

Tommorrow is the day we have been waiting for - we leave at 07h30 - tonight we have a Braai and Press conference - we have polished the car so hopefully she looks perfect for the photographs tonight - we have already been informed of changes to the journey as the bridges between Ghanzi (Botswana) to Maun (Botswana) have "popped" as in colapsed due to heavy rain - so tonight we will hear where and how we are going to get from Windhoek through to Zimbabwe - hopefully through the Caprivi Strip but you never know it may be through Gaborone - I will try and keep you all informed.

The weather in Cape Town has been bloody awful with high winds and drizzle however the last two days have been perfect which makes you forget about the shitty days.

We travel on our temporary passports and hope we do not have issues with the Namibian, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambian border posts  - our new passports have been handed over to the Visapak Company whom are frantically attempting to get them all visa's re-issued by next week Monday and then they will send the passports to us in Lusaka.

The organiser of the trip has arranged a vehicle tracking device so that those of you that are interested to see where we are please go onto www.anfs.co.za    User Name:  afriod  Password:   mg

keep well and hopefully tommorrow night I shall be able to give you news on our first day