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Day 1 – 01 November 2011 – Cape Town – 0km
I arrived in Cape Town in the late morning after an 11 hour flight direct from Frankfurt. I immediately caught a cab and stayed at Long Street Backpackers. I was pretty hungry after the long flight and walked up the street to have my first South African meal, a steak and egg sandwich with chips (fries).
Long Street where I stayed and a lot of bars are located
After settling in, I headed to Victoria and Alfred Waterfront (V&A) to find the BMW Motorrad shop where I was renting the bike from. When I arrived, I met Danie and we decided to do the paperwork then so I could just pick up the bike and ride away the following morning. I was surprised that he wanted my credit card again so he could put a R 35,000 (~$5,000) insurance deposit on the bike. I have rented many bikes before but have never seen this before. I essentially paid for the entire bike up front which left me wondering what their insurance actually covered.
Victoria and Alfred Waterfront
So many choices...
That evening there was a braai (BBQ) at the hostel and I spent most of my time with Lars (German) and Lietl (Norwegian). Lars was from Cologne and had been living in Joburg (Johannesburg) for six months doing an internship for university. Lietl was traveling around Africa for six weeks and was pretty cute.
Day 2 – 02 November 2011 – Cape Town to Mossel Bay – 600km
I loaded up the bike (a 2008 BMW F650GS that I came to call “Ginger”) in the parking garage and headed east straight out of Cape Town. I rode up to Gordon’s Bay and followed R44 around the peninsula to Hermanus where I stopped for lunch and had a lovely smoked salmon and cucumber sandwich (they don’t have chicken fingers here). It was a beautiful coastal road with high sea cliffs that reminded me of Hawaii.
I carried on to Gansbaai where I hoped to do some shark cage diving but the tours only depart in the morning. From there, I began taking dirt and gravel roads through the countryside to Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa. The first time I saw the Indian Ocean I remembering thinking how much more blue it was than the Atlantic.
While there, I had the first of many problems with the bike as the battery had died and I was at the bottom of a small hill on difficult rocky terrain. Luckily an off duty police officer and his family offered to help me out. First they pushed me up the hill and we attempted to bump start the bike to no avail. Then he grabbed his Land Rover and a tow strap and towed me the few hundred meters back to tarmac (asphalt). It was only then that I was able to get the bike started again after many tries in 4th gear. He said to do it in 6th gear next time I ran into trouble. Well I soon had the opportunity to try that and it didn’t work any better.
(insert video)
The opportunity (battery failure) came when I had to refuel in Heidelberg and the gas station attendees (every gas station is full service to employ more people) pushed me multiple times without success. We eventually jumped the bike with their car.
I made it all the way to Mossel Bay but when I pulled over to check the map to find the hostel, the bike just shut off. Luckily I was only two blocks away (and mostly downhill) from Mossel Bay Backpackers where I met Cindy who was the manager there.
She took me out with a few of her friends to a bar where we had Vetock??? which is a bread cooked in oil and ours was served with mince (meat). Apparently there was some law in either Mossel Bay or greater South Africa where you had to serve food in order to serve alcohol. The Vetock??? was there attempt at food and it was actually pretty good and super cheap (R8 or $1).
Day 3 – 03 November 2011 – Mossel Bay to Oudtshoorn – 130km
In the morning I walked around town and bought some jumper cables and Cindy offered to give me a jump but it didn’t work because I didn’t give it time for it to charge as I was nervous about her car sitting in the middle of the road. I walked around town some more and found a Batter Centre only another two blocks away (and downhill!). I pushed it down there and the fellas gave me a jump for free. Only then did I remember that I had to put my panniers back on which required the key. After running back up to the hostel to get the panniers and sorting everything out I stalled as I was leaving the shop. I offered to pay R20 since this was the third time they would be jumping me. I spoke to Danie from BMW Motorrad and he asked me to ride up to George where they have a dealership that would take a look at my bike. I made it to George but after getting off of the highway I pulled over to take a quick look at the map and the bike died again. I waited two hours for the guys to show up since they were only two km’s away. Finally, I pulled out the jumper cables and asked a guy to jump me and I limped into town.
Waiting for help
Working on the bike
There I met Donovan who identified the problem was the stator coil and that it was not charging the battery. He didn’t have a spare one on hand so the plan was to give my battery a full charge and send me on my way. Because of all the trouble I had, BMW Motorrad Rentals offered me a few days on the back end and would be meeting up with me in P.E. (Port Elizabeth) in two days with a new stator coil. Since it took him two hours to work on my bike (he was busy with other customers) I went next door to a restaurant called Kingfisher where I had an interesting B ‘n’ B pizza (bacon and banana) which was actually really, really, good.
After dinner, I hopped on the bike and rode north to Oudtshoorn where I stayed at Backpacker’s Paradise. Around a campfire, I talked with a British lady who was a specialist who dealt with Soldiers who had PTSD. Needless to say, we had a lot to talk about. I also spoke with three American guys who went to a Mennonite college somewhere west of D.C. They were “studying” abroad in South Africa for a semester which was required for anyone to graduate from their school. I found out that Mennonites are basically Christian hippies that preach non-violence. We had a good discussion on various ways of how to handle the current issues facing the world today.
Day 4 – 04 November 2011 – Oudtshoorn to Jeffrey’s Bay – 500km
Oudtshoorn is the ostrich capital of the world and I some of their eggs for breakfast which taste like normal eggs, only they are enormous.
After breakfast I rode across town and took a tour at an ostrich farm where I got to ride an ostrich. They are a lot faster and more difficult to ride than I had imagined.
I packed up the bike and headed north to the Swartberg Pass which is an dirt and gravel road that leads through the Swartberg Mountains to a town called Prince Albert (yes it's called that).
That was fun, but I enjoyed the Meiringspoort Pass more which was a tarmac road that carved through the canyons south to Oudtshoorn. It was honestly the best road I think I have ever ridden. It was here that I had my first wildlife encounter as two red-assed baboons ran across the road in front of me. Unfortunately, I thought I had the GoPro on for this ride but I am an idiot…
Green side (southern side in this hemisphere) of the mountain range
After the good riding of the morning came the long stretch of boring highway in order to make it in time to do the world’s highest bridge-based bungee jump at Bloukran’s. I went with a couple of British guys and it was the first time for all of us. We were bloody scared but we all managed to heave ourselves over the edge. I was shaking for nearly 30 minutes afterwards.
The walk out to the middle of the bridge
Of course with a day like this there has to be some kind of karma to offset the euphoric happiness…and there was. The bike wouldn’t start again so I asked the bungee staff to give me a jump before I rode off for Jeffrey’s Bay. I had to get fuel again before I reached Jeffrey’s Bay which meant another jump. I rode into J-Bay and missed my turn and ended up in one of the many townships (housing projects) in South Africa. I’m really glad I didn’t stall it in that neighborhood. Once again, I limped into Jeffrey’s Bay Backpackers where the manager Terry helped me get sorted out. We talked of racism in South Africa, his days in South African Army, and as a hippie biker in the 1970’s. Reverse discrimination against the “white man”…especially against the English, was a common theme among many conversations I had with people.
Day 5 – 05 November 2011 – Jeffrey’s Bay to Addo – 286km
I left J-Bay early (after jumping it of course) to meet Lawrence at the P.E. Airport by 0815hrs. The timing was perfect and he sent me in the airport to have breakfast while he replaced the stator coil. After about an hour he was finished and the bike started up just fine after one final jump start to get the battery charging.
Old vs. new stator coil
The plan was to head back to J-Bay to try to surf but Ginger (the bike) had other plans. After only a few minutes on the highway I noticed a lot of smoke coming from the bike in my rear view mirrors. I pulled over under and overpass (that’s fun to say) where I discovered loads of oil all over the right side of the bike and rear tire (yikes!).
I called Lawrence and he asked me to just make sure everything was tight and that some sand probably got in the gasket since it was tremendously windy that day. I tightened everything down which slowed, but definitely didn’t stop the oil leak. I rode back to P.E. and the Continental BMW dealership just before they closed where the Motorrad representative, Joel, hooked me up with a private mechanic since all of his were off (Saturday). The guy’s name was Guy (hah!) and he had been laid off and felt it was due to reverse discrimination. Well he had a couple of adventure BMW's and turned out to be one heck of a motorcycle mechanic and sorted me out in no time with the blessing of Danie and the boy’s from Cape Town.
Okay, so now I have a bike that works, I mean completely works. So I began to head North towards Addo where Mama G said a coworker's family lived. I rode up and met Brian, Jenny, and Andrew who had just purchased 200 hectares of land (~500 acres) and a hotel only seven months earlier known as Kudu Ridge. Jenny’s sister and Mama G work together in the hospital (small world). Andrew had been a sponsored racer/tour guide for KTM in the United Arab Emirates for six years. They were an incredibly nice family who fed me braai and beers until bedtime.
One of Andrew's projects, a bus bar!
Day 6 – 06 November 2011 – Addo and Kudu Ridge – 0km
After a wonderful night’s rest in one of Kudu Ridge’s luxury tents (even has a bathroom in it and I preferred it to their fancy chateaus), Brian took me to the Addo Elephant Park adjacent to their property. It is an enormous national park with over 600 elephants residing within its boundaries. We saw over 100 elephants which is more than Brian had ever seen there at one time before. It must have been bath day because they were all at the waterholes playing and bathing. We also saw zebras, kudu, warthogs, buffalo, and even lions. It was the first time Brian had seen lions in Addo but it was the middle of the day so they were just cat napping (haha!).
Afterwards, we had a nice lunch with Jenny back at Kudu Ridge before relaxing for the afternoon. The only thing I did was refuel in the village of Addo which is literally three buildings: a small convenience store, a gas station, and a bank. Just before sunset, they took me on a ride through their property and we saw kudu, all kinds of bok (South African deer), and other types of wildlife on their impressive land. Their son Andrew had already built a picnic area and even a “bus bar” on the edges of the property. They had a couple of sweet Land Rover safari vehicles which reminded me of learning how to drive on an old British Army Rolls Royce jeep in the cornfields of Ohio.
I had the last of my wonderful homemade meals for dinner with the family and spent the evening talking to Andrew and archeologists from all over the world that were staying a few weeks at Kudu Ridge to do some research. Apparently they found some artifacts on the property that date back to 4.2 million years ago. They were an incredibly smart bunch and a really interesting to talk to about various scientific-type things. Maybe I should have gotten a real college degree…
Day 7 – 07 November 2011 – Addo to Hole in the Wall – 560km
This was the longest and hardest riding day I’ve had yet. The temperature was constantly above 30C and peaked at around 35C (100F) which was the first taste of heat I’ve had on this trip. I also did about 100km off road today which was nice but challenging. I had to skip through some neat looking towns to make time but Port Alfred reminded me of a small town on the ICW. East London is where I ended up refueling and grabbing lunch but it was a depressing town to be in.
Random cows, goats, sheep, donkeys, and other animals were everywhere and had to be watched closely because they would jump out in the road randomly.
After lunch, I’m not sure I saw another white person until I arrived at the hotel. This part of the country is dreadfully poor and dreadfully hot. There is nothing down here including gas stations. This is the first time I am concerned whether or not I will run out of fuel. I rode 8km along the coast to Coffee Bay but the pumps were already closed at 1800. The hotel is really quiet and a lot different from the backpackers’ hostels I am used to.
Hole in the Wall
First time I touched the Indian Ocean
Just outside the hotel is a beautiful secluded beach that a bunch of local kids were playing soccer on. There was only one other guy watching him and he had three boxes of brand new cleats that he gave to the kids in a raffle after the game (he let me draw the winning numbers). This is apparently something he has done before and the kids loved it.
Day 8 – 08 November 2011 – Hole in the Wall to Sani Pass – 686km
This was a brutal day. Things started off with me getting some suggestions from fellow hotel guests Bruce and Mary who suggested that I bypass Umtata via Matatiele where they were from. Having no legitimate map (other than the small ones in my guide book), I went ahead with their recommendation. Hole in the Wall / Coffee Bay are almost 100km from the main highway and there is no way to proceed but go back directly from where I came. The Coffee Bay gas station still didn’t have any petrol (gas), only diesel. The bike read that it had 80km or so before it was empty so I nervously headed off. Sure enough, about 10 km from the first available gas station, the bike ran out. I was pretty heated because the stupid fuel indicator still read 15km in the tank. The BMW continues to impress me…I had to ask for help from some local Xhosa guys who were doing some type of construction next to where I broke down. For the first time on the trip, I was forced to leave the bike unsecured on the side of the road. I downloaded my two bags and hopped in the truck with them as they got a container and 10 liters of “95 unleaded” from some podunk gas station. The whole thing ended up costing me R300 (not including fuel) due to my inability to communicate with these Xhosas. Anyways, they really did help me out so it’s not that bad after all. Funny thing is, they drove me all over the place for 45 minutes when there was a gas station just 10km up the road. I’ll never know why we didn’t go to that one.
Even the most remote places in Africa have people (mostly children) walking along the sides of the roads. Luckily I was received with greetings and waving instead of rocks.
So I was back on the bike following Bruce and Mary’s directions which were dodgy at best: “Turn left at the Shell” and “Turn right where you see road construction” (which happens everywhere here). So while making one of many "U" turns today the bike stalled in first gear and fell over. The damn bike is geared so high but it was my fault for not paying attention. Some guy pulled over and helped me get it back up. Not sure if I’d be able to do that on my own…
They said the distance was the same as the route I had planned to take. Well I ended up doing nearly 700km and was riding until 2230hrs so I doubt that. I did reach Qacha’s Nek before 1700 which surprised even me given the trouble I had throughout the day. I was attempting to reach Sani Pass through Lesotho which sounds easy given it was only 14 miles away as the crow flies. But between me and Sani Pass were the Drakensburg Mountains and the route I wanted had not been created, and if it was, I didn’t have the right map or GPS for it. So after goofing around for an hour or so, I headed back to South Africa.
Riding through Lesotho
Thankfully the border was still open but the sun was going down. I ended up riding from Qacha’s Nek all the way to the bottom of Sani Pass in the dark which I absolutely hated doing but I had to make up for the day's pitfalls. The nice thing about traveling at night (on major roads only) is that there is very little traffic. I wouldn’t have done it at all if it had been dirt or tarmac without the reflective lines. So I skipped dinner (well I did have some Doritos) and made it to the Sani Pass Lodge at 2230. The night manager let me have their last room. I need to start having / following a plan…
Day 9 – 09 November 2011 – Sani Pass to Durban – 302km
I rode up Sani Pass first thing in the morning (0900) and it didn’t take too long before I got into trouble. It is 24km from the lodge to the top and the last 8km past the SA border are supposed to be the toughest (particularly the last 2km). I gave it a little too much throttle and ended up on my side but was able to pick the bike up again out of a ditch which I’m particularly proud of.
I had more trouble in the last 2km at a rocky section but some guys helped me get the bike up and me on my way without off-loading everything, which is nice. I did finally make up to the top and was pretty excited about my beer at “the highest pub in Africa.” Unfortunately I arrived before all of the tourists so I would be celebrating by myself.
The road winding up the pass
On the way back down I fell another two or three times before some people offered to carry my stuff in their car. Without all the additional weight, I was able to make it the rest of the way without incident. The 24km downhill was still challenging and I was sweating from the work by the time I reached the SA border.
I carried onto Durban using major roads since I was tired of the dirt and gravel routine after Sani Pass. Clouds loomed overhead and I sped through Durban, which looked sketch anyways, for south of town where a beach backpackers was located. I sought cover at a gas station from an afternoon thunderstorm and waited it out before proceeding to the hostel. I still don’t have my stuff loaded on the bike that will keep everything from getting wet during a rainstorm. I had dinner and drinks with some Dutch girls which was nice after the solitude I have experienced over the past couple of nights.
Day 10 – 10 November 2011 – Durban to Swaziland - 598km
I rode out of Durban in a misty haze and asked the hostel staff for a trash bag for my things to keep them dry. I wasn't feeling too well for a couple of hours but as I got off the highway north of Durban the weather and my stomach improved. The secondary road I was taking was very nice until it turned to gravel for 50km due to road construction. There were some kids that ran up to me as I pulled over for a rest on the side of the road and I offered to let them sit on the bike but they didn't want to. I then offered them some fruit snacks which they wanted me to toss to them as they didn't want to get too close to the foreigner.
As I entered Swaziland, the main road ran north to Manzini through miles of sugar cane fields. I saw a BMW dealership as I entered Manzini and asked them to take a look at the bike but they were closing and suggested I come back the following morning. I found the hostel in Elewini which was very nice and the first time I went for the dorm room instead of the private because I was supposed to be the only one in there. I went to dinner at the "Pub and Grill" in the shopping center down the street. Much of Swaziland looked more like America than anywhere I had been in Europe or Africa. I had a chicken snitzel for dinner which came with some cheese sauce and was easily the best snitzel I ever had. I wouldn't have known I was in Swaziland if it weren't for the cricket on the tele and the two guys in traditional red togas sitting at the table behind me.
That night I hung out with Michael (pronounced Michelle) who was a Pond's security guard who worked at the Stuttgart barracks and Eve who was a MP in the Dutch Army. She was using her eight week holiday to teach kids at the local school. The children in Swaziland must pay for their uniforms and often don't have the money to do so. Not every child is entitled to go to school which is how the King wants it. The kids are fed maize pop and beans everyday and it is often the only food they receive. What she was doing made my trip seem pretty lame...
Day 11 - 11 November 2011 - Swaziland to Kruger - 329km
Instead of hanging out at the school with Eve and the kids like I should have I headed back to Manzini and to Carson Motors to have the guys look at the bike. The owner didn't charge me because he said he should have done something like this when he was my age. They washed it up and no leaks were visible. After all the leaking from earlier the bike was only low one pint of oil.
As I was heading through Mbabne I got a speeding ticket for 113kph in an 80kph zone. They had the speed trap set up perfectly and the officer asked me "what was he to do" and ended up fining me R120 on the spot which is nothing so I gladly plead guilty and got on my way.
Crossing a dam (lake) in Swaziland.
I thought about going for a swim until I saw this sign
I decided to stay in Hazyview since it is pretty much the closest town to Kruger National Park. My Lonely Planet guide steered me wrong for the first time as it suggested "the popular" Big 5 Backpackers. The place was a real shit hole and the owner and staff were all strung out hippies. The only bonus was the curio (craft salesman) Richard who was from Malawi. For some reason, I stayed up until 0130 drinking with these idiots even though I had to be up at 0500 the next morning for the game drive (safari).
Day 12 - 12 November 2011 - Kruger - 0km
I was an addition to another group of about fifteen people at a camp site down the road so I had to sit in the front with the guide. Of course I was much lower and didn't have as good of a view. The people weren't too nice and were very yuppie-ish. The only ones who did talk to me were a bartender from Canada, a girl from Ireland, and a French couple. We saw just about everything except for a leopard which is the most difficult big game to see.
Giraffe
Black Rhino
Wildebeest
Crocodile
Buffalo
Impala crossing road
More impala
Baboons
Lions after a kill. Female lions do the hunting then lay around lazily after the first feast while the male is left to guard the kill.
Elephants
Some bird
During our break at the rest camp, these two young local boys told me that they liked my "specs" (sunglasses). I told them that I liked their bicycle but they said it wasn't working. The chain had come off and I was able to fix it in a matter of seconds. They were very impressed and told me that I was very strong. Bikers always help each other out. I also ended up giving them some of my North Carolina silly bands.
Some monkeys that joined us for lunch. Can't be sure, but I think one of them had a pouch like a kangaroo because they had a baby attached to their stomach.
Bats sleeping in the roof of a gazebo
After dinner at a dive bar down the road, I tried to find some beers to get Richard. The only place that served them was this sketch as bottle store with fifty drunk guys standing out front. Obviously I just drove by and went back to the hostel empty handed. Richard told me he doesn't even go to that place at night and he's (black) African. That evening I was too tired to do anything because I had only slept three hours the night before and been in the sun all day. Aside from Richard, the company wasn't worth staying up with anyways.
Day 13 - 13 November 2011 - Kruger to Tzaneen - 156km
Allen, the hostel owner, and Richard advised that I not go to Beitbridge which was the South Africa-Zimbabwe border crossing because it was dangerous and that they didn't like Americans. I decided to go the the Martin's Drift border crossing into Botswana. It was extremely hazy and I tried to head towards the Blythe River Canyon which was supposed to be a beautiful ride but I could hardly see 50m in front of me because the fog was so thick. I turned back to the main highway and stayed out of the clouds but of course the fog cleared not even an hour later.
I was traveling west on R71 across a bridge just outside Gravelotte at about noon when the bike began to wobble violently. These things are common on some bikes and come and go without much trouble. I had only experienced it once before on this bike. Unlike the ones I had experienced before, this one came on so fast and so violently I knew right away I was screwed...
I came to about an hour later in an ambulance and was confused for rest of the day and had many bouts of dizziness and nausea because of the concussion. I had road rash on my right arm, left ribcage and thigh which is the only lasting injury. Surprisingly I had no broken bones or other injuries. The van der Gryp's were the ones that found me and were about 500m behind me when I crashed. Everyone says I'm lucky a minibus taxi didn't find me first because they would have taken everything and left me there naked. Leon v/d Gryp said the bike and I slid about 100m and likely fell at around 120kph. The bike was on its side in a ditch on the left side of the road and I was lying unconscious in the middle of the road with my clothes torn apart and they thought I was dead.
They tried to speak to me in Afrikans but I didn't respond. When they tried English I responded only with moans and after a few minutes I got up and took off my helmet, jacket, ear plugs, and shirt and walked over to the bike. They said I was very thirsty and kept asking where I was and what the hell I was doing in South Africa. The paramedics showed up about 15 minutes later and the ambulance didn't arrive for about 45 minutes after that.
In the ambulance and at the hospital I couldn't help but be scared to think that one of these people or one of these needles was going to give me HIV/AIDS. I guess I will find out in six weeks when I get tested...
Day 14 - 14 November 2011 - Tzaneen
I didn't sleep very well in the Tzameen Medical Clinic which was a private hospital. Leon says I am very lucky I didn't end up in one of the government's hospitals where I most certainly would have gotten some type of disease and would have slept on the floor and got pumped full of morphine until I would mostly likely overdose. I didn't know how to work out all of the Tricare insurance payment things so I paid the five different bills myself which amounted to about $800 (Tricare later reimbursed me once I filed a claim).
I checked out and went to stay at the v/d Gryp's guest house.
Their little dachshunds that they had at the guest house and their house
They have around 400 hectares (1,000 acres) of property and have all kinds of domestic and wild animals on their property.
Giraffe
Goats
Long strips of leather they were drying to make into whips
Ant hill
Asses
Eland
Ostrich
They even took me to meet Hippie, their hippo, and let me feed and pet him which was incredible because I didn't get a good look at the hippo we saw at Kruger.
Day 15 - 15 November 2011 - Tzaneen
I had to go back to the hospital to pay some bills and went with Leon to have lunch with one of his friends at Spur's which is supposed to be their version of "American" dining. It has a Native American theme but I don't think it is as good as a Chili's or Applebee's. We went to some of his job sites because he owned a heavy construction equipment business like what I used to do in the Army. I visited a few of his other friends but all the conversations were mostly in Afrikaans so I didn't get much out of it. All of his friends think I am getting screwed by BMW Motorrad Rentals for spending R75,000 on this bike and since I lost the deposit and the contract is unclear about what kind of insurance the bike is covered for.
His one friend, Peter, actually took the time to speak to me in English. Like Leon, he is also a big guy (180kg) who used to play rugby but now is a farmer for the Dole corporation. All of his friends are ridiculously rich and have black servants who maintain their homes for them. It is a very normal part of life there for the wealthy Afrikaans. I think the servants make around $200 per month but they get a place to stay, food, and their medical bills paid for.
Day 16 - 16 November 2011 - Tzaneen
We went to drink with a bunch of Leon's friends in a gazebo-type place in the afternoon at one of their farms. These guys remind me of the KKK with how racist they are but they maintain that it is a necessary to survive in South Africa. They tell stories about what happened to the white farmers in Zimbabwe and how they were all chased from the country not long ago and that they too will one day be chased off or killed. Julius Milena is a senior figure in the political party that runs the country and recorded a song that talks about "killing the farmer and white man" which shows how bad things may get for these Afrikaans farmers.
That night we had a Bos Braai (BBQ in the bush) on Leon's compound. One of his buddies who owned a mechanics shop came over with his family. He was a pretty intense, but uneducated, guy that got into some pretty good conversations with me. It seems like the more they drink the more English they are willing (and able) to speak. Typical things they talk about are American and South African politics, racism, and why the hell are American Soldiers stationed in Germany. Again, these guys are all so extremely right wing it is often difficult to have a conversation with them but they are certainly interesting and entertaining.
Day 17 - 17 November 2011 - Tzaneen
Leon took me hunting for the first time in my life. There was a wild dog on the property somewhere that we had to shoot so that it didn't kill all of the game's offspring. We didn't find the dog but he did see a bird he didn't like and asked me to shoot it. My right arm is pretty beat up, particularly my shoulder, but it was only a .22 caliber so I said I would. It was a Czechoslovakian rifle with a cheap 4x scope and we were sitting in a golf cart about 150m from the bird that was resting on a branch in a dam (lake). I missed the bird to the right and I'm not sure if I meant to miss or not. I have never shot anything like that before and the Army only trains us to shoot things that look like people. Anyways, we came back to the guesthouse empty handed. Hopefully the baby impalas and zebras are going to be okay. That evening we took it easy and relaxed on the farm.
Day 18 - 18 November 2011 - Tzaneen
Monique took me to rent a car from Avis in Tzaneen. Unlike the motorcycle, the insurance excess deposit was only about R4,000...anyways I rented the car so I could drive to Hoedspruit to take pictures of the bike and attempt to determine what happened. The only likely conclusion I came to was that the axle nut came loose on the left side which caused the wobble and the fork to detach from the axle. Unfortunately there is no way to prove this.
Johan was the guy who owned the towing company that picked up the bike. We drove in his El Camino-like bakkie (truck) to his house for a quick lunch. His two boys and a servant were there. He showed me the Hayabusa that is sitting in his living room which is something I definitely would do (meaning park a motorcycle in my living room). He threw his boys on some mini-ATVs before we headed back to his shop. Only now did I realize that they messed up the left side of the bike when they were recovering it. Oh well.
When I returned to Tzaneen, Monique took me to the pharmacy to get some advice from a friend of hers who his a nurse. She gave me some more bandages and creams and what what what (South African term). Monique was teasing me that all the girls in the pharmacy liked me since five or six of them came around the register when I was checking out. I'm so oblivious to these things. I also bought a suitcase at a mall since one of my bags had been destroyed in the accident.
That night we had a surprise birthday party for Leon's dad. His birthday is 24 December and is always overshadowed by Christmas so they had a party for him and invited some of his friends. For some reason, they included me in all the festivities as if I was one of the family.
Day 19 - 19 November 2011 - Tzaneen
I woke up early because Leon and I were going to shoot a pig to have for dinner that evening. He never came to get me so I laid in bed and watched the tele which was nice. Then for some reason I had to vomit and I only did it once. I have no idea why. Then everyone was up at the picnic area for lunch which they asked me to join. It was kind of a lazy day and I even took a nap in the afternoon. That night we went back to the Bos Braai for dinner. They did something that was interesting where everyone got a small gift of some sort for a superlative. For example I got some sweet for having come from the farthest place and Leon got a Red Bull for having the fastest car (Nissan GTR, which I didn't get a chance to take a ride in).
Me, Monique, and Leon
Day 20 - 20 November 2011 - Tzaneen to Port Elizabeth
I woke up early and had the leftovers from the Bos Braai for breakfast with Leon and Monique. We then said our goodbyes and I drove of to Hoedspruit where I would be catching my flight to PE (Port Elizabeth). The airport was smaller than most homes yet it was very confusing. No one was quite sure how to check in, check their bags, go through "security", etc. The electricity was out so they did our boarding passes and luggage tags by hand. I flew to Jo'burg first and caught a connection to PE.
Andrew was at the airport waiting for me and we went straight to the Barney's which was right on the beach. The waves looked pretty good and Andrew said they were better earlier in the day. We had a few beers there before going to the Oyster Catcher which was in an industrial area on a small bay. I was in rare form at this point and hit on a blonde South African girl named Stacy. For some reason, she put up with my heinously bearded, bandaged, and drunken self and kind of liked me. We didn't head back to Addo until 0300 and I slept the whole way home.
Day 21 - 21 November 2011 - Addo
I had a lazy day, which was nice, in Addo just hanging out with the Bowrens. It was very relaxing just lounging around Kudu Ridge with no plans in particular.
Day 22 - 22 November 2011 - Port Elizabeth
Andrew drove me to P.E. in the morning to pick up a rental car which I will be using to drive back to Cape Town. Afterwards, I picked up Stacy and Angy who I met at a bar on Sunday night. We spent the day eating and drinking at beachfront establishments which was awesome and went out again at night. It was a Tuesday night and the only place open was letting DJs practice their trance music which got old pretty quick. Drug use was also pretty heavy (and open) in this establishment...
Day 23 - 23 November 2011 - Addo
Another day of recovery in Addo and finalizing plans for the drive to Cape Town.
Day 24 - 24 November 2011 - Addo to Port Elizabeth
I left Addo just after lunch and drove down to P.E. where I met up with Stacy and Angy. We went to a seafood restaurant downtown and thankfully didn't go out afterwards. Stacy and I had a ten hour drive ahead of us the following day and I was happy to get some rest.
Day 25 - 25 November 2011 - Port Elizabeth to Cape Town
It was a long day in the car but the weather was beautiful and the scenery was outstanding as is usual for South Africa. A bonus was that I had another Bacon and Banana pizza at the Kingfisher restaurant I went to last time I came through. We didn't make it into Cape Town until 2000 and stayed in a proper hotel next to the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront.
Day 26 - 26 November 2011 - Cape Town
Because I was still a bloddy mess I ruled out shark cage diving, surfing, kiteboarding, etc. The weather was chilly and overcast (for South Africa) so I decided not to go to the beach with Stacy but I still wanted to see the African penguins. It was a great drive there through Chapman's Peak and the Cape Peninsula and it made me wish I was still on a bike.
Hout Bay adjacent to Chapman's Peak
Penguins!
Day 27 - 27 November 2011 - Cape Town
The Volvo Ocean race boats started arriving and we were lucky enough to be having lunch on the waterfront when the second place boat came in. They had been sailing nonstop from the Mediterranean for 21 days and I can imagine they were happy to be on land again.
More V&A Waterfront
Stacy and I
Pirate ship!
"Camper" boat coming in
Telefonica (lead boat) resting on the docks
After that, we went over to the Botanical Gardens for an Afrikaans concert which I didn't understand but the music was still good. One of the performers was this goofy rapper that wears a baseball hat with a giant bill. I learned a few things that day. Concerts in Botanical Gardens do not have beer vendors. You can only get alcohol of any kind in "bottle stores" (liquor stores)...can't believe I didn't notice that before. Finally, you cannot buy alcohol in South Africa on a Sunday. Despite all this, we were in Africa so of course we found the right guy that sold us a bottle of wine out of his store even though it was illegal.
That night we went out to a Cuban bar but it was very sketchy and Stacy didn't feel comfortable and wanted to be around English-speaking people. We ended up at an Irish Bar on Long Street, just down the road from the hostel I had stayed at a month before.
Day 28 - 28 November 2011 - Cape Town
We checked out of the hotel and drove up to Signal Hill, which has a nice view of Cape Town from above.
Table Mountain and Lion's Head
At noon, we were scheduled to go paragliding off of Lion's Head, a peak within Table Mountain National Park. The hike was a little more than expected, especially in the mid-day heat. It probably took us 30-45 minutes to get up to the takeoff spot and I thought Stacy would be mad at me but she kept it to herself if she was.
Lion's head, which we hiked a good way's up
As soon as we got up there we suited up and were off in minutes. It was really crowded because a bunch of older Swiss guys had come down to para glide themselves (not tandem). Stacy was up first and didn't show any hesitation. Although after the flight many of the guys mentioned they could hear her screaming...
At the launch point
I took off at ~650 meters above sea level and was really surprised at how thrilling it was. We flew back and forth across Lion's Head and actually went up to the same elevation as Table Mountain (1084 meters) due to the thermals and ideal flying conditions. My pilot said this was the best day they have had in as long as he can remember and even he was bragging to his buds about how good it was once we landed.
Stacy's pilot was from Argentina and specialized in acrobatics. At one point I looked over and they were spiraling straight down and I thought something had gone wrong. My pilot assured me they were fine before doing some acrobatic maneuvers ourselves. We did a couple of wing overs which were some of the most intense "G" forces I have ever experienced. He let me fly as well and I did alright but was too tense and kept braking (slowing down) the wing.
It was completely beautiful and a perfect way to end a vacation. All that was left was one last seaside lunch before we sped off to the airport. I didn't realize that it was almost 1700 and I hit traffic for the first time in South Africa. It was kind of a bummer because I pretty much had to give Stacy an abrupt goodbye before turning the rental car in and checking my bags.
To top it off, as if South Africa hadn't taken enough of my money, South African airlines wanted to charge me over R4,000 ($500) for my checked bags. I had flown with them not even a week ago and paid somewhere around $75. They claimed that on this ticket I wasn't eligible for the "extra bag" fee and instead had to pay the "weight fee" which was R300 ($30) per kilogram and I was 16kg overweight. So I had to buy another carry on bag and distribute the weight to avoid the fees. They airline representative was nice to me about it until I pulled out my propane tank that was in one of my checked bags and she got upset...oh well.
My last look at Table Mountain and South Africa at dusk
What I learned...
1) I should have bought a motorcycle, insured it myself, and sold it at the end of the trip (even if I had wrecked, I could have collected on insurance).
2) Racism is a serious issue in South Africa (although it may be necessary).
3) South Africans are some of the most friendly people I've ever met.
4) White South Africans have homes with security similar to that of a combat outpost in Afghanistan.
5) South Africa is cheap, even if you get scammed out of money at every turn.
6) South Africa, and it's people, are truly amazing
