Story So Far - By Ali

Trip around the world

Chapter 1: Departure

Virgin Atlantic flight VS601 from London Heathrow T3 to Johannesburg OR Tambo airport was an Airbus A340 800 plane. A final farewell to Anil who met us at the airport and picked up the car. We left him a few treats of course!! Then off to the Servisair lounge (which was located real close to the JAL lounge that I had been to previously). Had a few drinks to calm the nerves, especially Jenni's and final farewell phonecalls to the parents.

Plenty of room on the plane, so much so we got a centre row of 4 and 2 by the window and took it in turns to sleep. Jenni got special “bad flyer” treatment with champagne before the flight and regular check ups along the way.

It was a 10 ½ hour flight and pretty smooth the whole way. Once at Johannesburg we made our way to international transfers and checked in for our BA flight to Vic Falls. Then through security again and headed for the BA lounge where we relaxed, checked internet and had a bit of breakfast and snacks.

The flight to Vic Falls was on a little BA 737 with mostly americans and other foreign people on board. We arrived on time at Vic Falls and the airport was tiny. Got through immigration and got our first stamps, picked up the luggage from the area – there was no carousel! We were met by Mr Moyo, whom we were expecting and headed to Shoestrings lodge at Vic Falls.

Chapter 2: Africa

Victoria Falls

First impressions of Vic Falls is one of surprise as the roads were in such good condition despite the reported political situation. Had a pretty smooth journey in to the town with Mr. Moyo who gave us a run down of the town and so on. We had a relaxing afternoon just milling about the hostel, had dinner and headed for bed.

Up on Saturday morning, had breakfast and headed to the Zimbabwean side of the falls. It was our first jaunt out and was a bit of a surprise – it was a 20 minute or so walk to the falls and all along we were flanked by local hawkers trying to sell us their carved animals or begging for money. It wasn't nice but you had to harden up to it.

The falls cost $20 US to enter the national park and from there you could get a guide if you wanted. We decided to go it alone, how hard could it be! So we went left past the livingstone statue and saw the river before the falls, it was flowing pretty darn fast! Apparently the Zambezi was at a 58 year high.. We were accosted by some monkeys, prompting Jenni to shout “Shit, a monkey!” - it was very funny to see... We headed back towards the falls and down some steps to a viewpoint below the falls. The noise was tremendous and you only realised such when you went to speak.

Hopping from viewpoint to viewpoint it became more difficult to see anything as we got around to the main falls – with the high river levels, the spray was so vast that it shrouded the falls. From time to time the wind dropped and we were able to take in the sheer magnitude of the falls – also got well and truly drenched – but isn't that part of the experience?

We spent nearly 3 hours ambling our way around, taking photos, making sure we saw every nook and cranny and stopped for a minute to dry out watching the bridge activities. No-one throwing themselves off at that point.. So we finished up and strolled over to the Victoria Falls Hotel for a drink. It was a beautiful old hotel steeped in British colonialism, waiters in full get up and game trophies on all the walls. Pictures of the Queen Mum visiting and so on. We decided to have a spot of lunch and some cocktails and the view was superb, looking down towards the falls, you could see the “Smoke that Thunders” rising out of the gorge and the famous bridge. You could just about make out a Bungee jumper in the distance.. The baboons ran through the hotel liked they owned it but not close enough to trouble anyone and we headed back to hostel.

Saturday night was Boma night. Picked up about 6pm we took the free shuttle to the Vic Falls Safari Lodge hotel in the outskirts of town. We had a drink overlooking the waterhole which was spectacular in itself, then headed on the Boma shuttle to the restaurant. We were given traditional dress – a shawl to put on – and grabbed a drink before dinner.

We were sat at our table and given a welcoming shot of local brew, followed by nibbles of nuts, butternut squash and doughnut sort of things. Next came starters, crocodile tail and guinea fowl & ostrich pate. For mains was a barbecue of ostrich kebabs, buffalo and warthog, plus lamb from the fire. Warthog was definitely the favourite. We had our faces painted and tried out some drumming in a “follow the leader” style! It was fun. Chocolate Mousse and profiteroles was the dessert of choice before we had our fortunes told by “bones”. First child a boy, strong family with 8 grandchildren, work success in about 5 years, Jenni was asked if she was already pregnant! Ha ha.

Headed back to shoestrings looking out for the elephants that were roaming through the town, leaving devastation in their wake..

Sunday 19^th April we met up with the ATC truck and had breakfast and dumped our stuff at the Vic Falls Rest camp and lodges. A pretty well set up camp site with pool and bar, but we headed off to the bridge and watched the gorge swing and bungee jumpers. Took some time to relax by the pool and chill out.

We were escorted pretty much the whole way to and from the bridge by tourism police who were there to give a sense of safety to tourists. The harassment is annoying, but not particularly dangerous and it's so sad to see.

We did see the tin can kids who were aids orphans that some guy found on the street. They make their music from oil cans, car springs, using sticks and stuff to play them. Others were dancing including one real cute kid!!

The Truck

The Africa Travel Co (ATC) truck was called Tilly – as her registration plate was TIL 1015. In Tilly was a safe called Brenda – so as not to give away that we had a safe on board. The crew on Tilly were Sirus – the driver, Moses – the cook and Malu – the Tour leader. On board the truck from Vic Falls were: Peter & Selina, Ross & Jayde, Pim, Michael (Switzerland), Kara, Tanya, Sal, Sash, Cat, Derrick, 3 Russians who only stayed to Okavango.

Chobe National Park

After not sleeping too well in our tent, we headed to Botswana which was a short journey – had to trample through mats to ensure we didn't bring in foot & mouth. Headed to Kasane just over the border and it was like a different world. Spar was fully stocked, no-one to bother you.. We got some supplies – water, snacks and headed to the camp site. After lunch we went on a game drive to Chobe National Park on a canvas topped truck.

We saw Puku, Kudu, Impala, lots of elephants up very close to the truck and also splashing around in the water – including babies. Sable Antelopes, Hippos, selection of birds, crocodiles... The Chobe river was at its highest in 15 years and headed – slowly – to a ready set up camp site. Had a local beef stew and it was pretty dark, pretty quick. We were warned to look for reflecting eyes if heading to the toilet in the night! There were some honey badgers about in the night and we heard a lion roar and elephant trumpet in the night.

Up at 5 for a game drive, saw a huge number of Buffalo. Other general game species too. No cats though, but had breakfast and did a game drive back out of the park.

After lunch, headed to the river for a game cruise along the chobe river. We saw hippos up close, the odd crocodile and many birds.

Stocked up on supplies for a long driving day ahead and got a pillow and blankie for Jenni!

Maun

Up early for 6am “Twende” which means set off. A long 700km drive to Maun with bush stops and lunch along the way. The potholes in the road were pretty bad, but not surprising due to the floods and inordinate amount of rain they had in the region. Slept a lot on the truck, bought a pillow for me this time and stayed at Delta Rain camp site – there was a croc farm attached. Dinner, talking and bed – a bad night of hallucinations for me including snakes, spiders and I swear I heard Jenni say there was a bird in the room. I don't think she did, though

Okavango Delta

Up early again, not used to these 5:30am starts.. Took a Bedford truck for 1 ½ hours to the mouth of the Okavango Delta at Maun then into a mokoro for about 2 hours into the delta. KT was our poler for the trip and he told us about the delta, wildlife and so on. He was real nice, his English fantastic and he also secured us a good spot in camp. We were stationed in the remote bush camp for 2 nights, which included bush walks and mokoro safaris.

The scenery was stunning through the reeds, Jenni touched a painted reed frog. We set up camp, had a nap but there is not much to do in the wilderness, so I amused myself with a bracing dip in the delta! Took an evening walking safari at about 5pm for 1 ½ hours, saw a retreating elephant but that was about it. Back at camp we had a nice rice and chicken dinner before playing some cards – the bugs were the worst so far – but I guess we were in the middle of the bush! Slept the best in a tent so far – must be getting used to it.

Up early again – 5:30 and started our walk at 6:30 for 4 hours! We saw herds of Zebra, Wildebeest, the odd antelope and an Elephant only 400m from our camp! He could have walked there any time, as could lions and leopards etc.. I was struggling towards the end due to my hip and Jenni because of lack of water and fatigue. Needed the brunch waiting for us and the dip in the delta. Bit of a commotion around our tent as a green mamba (green tree snake) was lurking menacingly above it. The polers scared it away (thankfully it never came back). Turns out it can kill you in about 30 minutes, and since we were 2 hours from anywhere it is a scary thought.. Took a mokoro cruise to watch the sunset and did some fishing before Shepherds pie for tea then some singing and dancing with the locals. One guy was scrabbling round at my feet – most strange! But you gotta roll with these things!

Up at dawn again, took the mokoro back to the mainland, I took the chance to try poling it and was pretty OK at it. Never fell in which disappointed Jenni! Back to camp – some took a scenic flight (and nearly crashed) but we just headed for town and some supply shopping.

Rundu

Up early and headed across the border to Namibia and Rundu. Had another supply stop and headed for an alternate camp site as our intended one was under water. Played a bit of cricket and that was about it. Nice squishy grass to camp on at Ngandu camp site!

Etosha National Park

After another early start, we trekked over to Etosha National Park and set up camp at Namutoni, one of 3 or so camp sites in the park. That would be our base for the evening. We were able to make use of the facilities such as nice swimming pool, watering hole viewpoint and gift shops etc. Lions were spotted at the watering hole before we arrived – allegedly! We never saw them! We did see warthog and mongooses in our camp site – very cute.. It is a self drive place and we headed out in Tilly in the early evening to spot some game, and after about 2 minutes we spotted a Leopard under a tree – normally the hardest of the big five to spot... He was a beautiful thing, let us take photos for a bit before he stretched and left us. On we trucked to spot loads of giraffe and other now common game – zebra, kudu, impala etc.

We left camp next day pretty much as soon as the gates opened to the camp site. We headed for halali – another camp site in etosha – for lunch. We saw 2 Lion brothers in the bush, pretty far away and they didn't hang around for long, which was a shame. Also saw elephants, springbok and oryx – local to Namibia. We spent a lot of time spotting but didn't really get many good sightings – but that's game driving for you. The 3 sites in Etosha were really nice and well set up: Namutoni, Halali and Okakuejo. We stayed just outside the park for the night.

Cheetah Park

A lazy day! Up at 6:30 for a trek to Cheetah Park. We were very excited at the prospect of this – and couldn't wait to get there. A quick stop in Outje for water & supplies before arriving and setting up camp at Cheetah Park itself. At 3pm we met at the bush bar and were taken by truck to meet the domesticated cheetahs! Cindy and Bubba! We got to fuss them and have our photos taken with them and even were allowed to be licked by them! Awesome, but then they brought out a little cub – he'd had an eye problem so they took him out of the wild and were helping to fix him up. He was sooo cute. He was really fluffy and Jenni and Celina were very excited about getting to fuss him, and Jenni sneaked a kiss when he was being taken away!

Later on in the evening we took a truck to the compound where the wild cheetahs were kept – it was feeding time. So they followed the truck as we headed to the middle. The brothers threw out meat for the cheetahs and they caught it and ran off to enjoy their kills! Very interesting to be amongst it.

We then headed for a smaller compound where the cub was from and his little brother had escaped the fence and had to be put back in. He was much wilder, spitting and growling at us! With the other one so docile – we couldn't believe they were only apart for 3 weeks. Stayed the night at Cheetah park. Some of our trip mates got drunk and made a lot of noise, which didn't bother me, but made Jenni very angry. You just can't let things like that spoil your trip!

Spitzkoppe

Had to take the long way round to Spitzkoppe which was the only real diversion required in the trip despite the recent poor weather in the area. Spitzkoppe is a red mountain – some distant cousin of Uluru. There were a few mountains dotted about, real desert terrain, some cave drawings and the likes which were interesting to look at. We learned some click language, but the desert walk wasn't that good. Bush camping again, some of our fellow trekkies camped out in a cave, under the stars – fair play to them, but it was a little advanced for us! We just played some cards in Peter and Celina's tent then headed for bed nice and early. It's started to get a bit chilly at night!

Swakopmund

The most civilization we've seen for a while. A typical german or dutch town built on a grid system. A 3 day stopover designed to give a well deserved rest and also to do lots of adrenaline activities. Looked at them, but didn't do anything.

It was pretty cold and cloudy over Swakopmund when we arrived and it never really warmed up.

We ate at Napolitana restaurant – had Springbok and Oryx to eat – they were both really nice, before we headed to the bar upstairs in our lodge. Most other trippers called it a night after dinner, but we got embroiled in a free drinks extravaganza with Torsten – who called himself Max to me! He just ordered Jaegerbomb after Jaegerbomb – who were we to refuse... There were black guys in big jackets playing pool, carrying guns in case anyone had the audacity to beat them.

For a couple of days we milled around Swak, heading to the beaches, eating and drinking at the Lighthouse pub and de kelder. Drinking at Tiger Reef bar on the beach, but not really stretching ourselves...

Sesriem

Sesriem was the base for our trip into the desert and up dune 45. On the way we made a pit stop at Solitaire – a tiny outpost on the way – we had some cracking apple pie and marble cake from there, seems like the guy makes 400kg per month of apple pie – it was good though.. Put up the tents in Sesriem and headed out in the truck to Soussvlei – a series of sand dunes and desert places. We opted out of the desert walk and saved a few rand in the process choosing a walk on my own instead. I did run into some springbok and startled them but they weren't too bothered by me – not enough to do their boingy boingy bouncing anyway!!

As we headed back to camp for the evening we stopped at Dune 45. So called as it's 45 km in either direction to Sesriem and Soussvlei. We took off our shoes and headed up the dune. I made it right to the top for sundown which was pretty spectacular but Jenni didn't make it as she was afraid of the height. I never realised and tramped on regardless, unaware of her plight thinking she was fine. I did feel bad later, but she wasn't alone.. The views from on top were good, but the calves were aching from getting there! The run down the sand dune was surprisingly easy, but I didn't wipe out naturally, so I had to force a roll down the dune!!

I'm a bad husband.

Fish River Canyon

We had another long drive over bad roads to get to Fish River Canyon – staying at the Canon roadhouse camp site. It had a pool – more like a plunge pool it was so cold when I got in, and swiftly out again! Grabbed a shower and we spent the sunset hiking for 2km along the edge of Fish River Canyon – the 2^nd largest canyon in the world behind the grand canyon, I guess.. The views and scenery were again spectacular – watching the river cut it's way through the gorge and seeing how the inner and outer canyons were formed.

The night was so cold. Way too cold to be in a tent. We almost froze solid!

Orange River

Took a trip across the border into South Africa, not a long journey, but always takes time to cross borders. We stopped off at a petrol station to spend our last few namibian dollars – they are worth the same as rand, and Nambian shops accept either Rand or Namibian dollars, but they are worthless over the border – bit of a one way street methinks..

Anyway, it was only a few kilometres along the banks of the Orange River (forms the border between Namibia and SA) to our camp site – Fiddlers Creek. It was a nice little camp site, grassy and with a nice opportunity to get to the river if so desired.

Jenni and I signed up for canoeing along the river, neither of us would claim to be proficient at canoeing, paddling or even to have set foot in a canoe before. Which showed. Badly! We didn't have much chemistry to begin with and circles ensued as did a bit of discussion!! We had a rest, I cooled off in the river and when I go back in we paddled much better. Got some rhythm and enjoyed the ride and the scenery overall. Was a great setting to try it out.

Cederberg

We stopped at “Sparky's” place in Citrusdal, a wine farm. We were able to set our tents up on lush grass on a hill, turned out to be pretty windy later on and the tent needed saving somewhat! Jenni slipped on her way to wine tasting and ended up in a few tears, but the wine tasting obviously helped numb the pain for a while.. We tried 7 wines, favourites being the “Michelle” - a pink sparkling wine, and the African Ruby Vermouth – a fortified wine that had a great taste to it. In fact I thought all the wines were pretty good. You could tell they were locally produced, they just seemed so much better!!

There was a court session for the truck after the wine tasting, everyone was singled out for their misdemeanours and were rightly punished by drink. I was pulled up for being hen pecked by Jenni and being soft, Jenni was picked out for not liking sand even though our trip was through the desert!

We saw Cat, who got really drunk at the court session, fall over on the way back to the tent. It was so funny, aided by the fact we didn't help and let her struggle on, on all fours, or threes!!

Cape Town

Our last real day of the tour saw us head in to Cape Town along the scenic coastal route from the North. We had great views of table mountain and the waves crashing in at the bay. We had to clear out from Tilly and move into dorms for the first time – we were with Pete, Celina, Ross and Jade. We had a final dinner at a game restaurant on long street (Khaya Ngana or something) which I believe is real good. I just had a bad experience with my meal. I did get it free though which was nice. I just couldn't eat the meat! No matter, we had a late night coffee (hot choc) stop across the street at Lola's that made me feel better!

It's pretty obvious by the number of backpackers places along Long street that that is where the travellers scene was, but it was very busy and a bit daunting. We stayed with the group mainly, safety in numbers, but Cape Town definitely changes after dark.

We had to lug our stuff from Ashanti to Zebra Crossing lodge, our home for the next 3 nights which was pretty heavy – but we managed it OK. We walked to the Victoria & Alfred waterfront (not Albert as I still think it is!) and had a mosey around. Bought our Robben Island tour tickets for Monday and continued. Jenni then bust her ankle stepping down the last step, ended up in a heap on the floor.. A nice SA man – maybe a doctor, physio or sports freak – rushed over like “shit, lady – you OK?” and offered some advice. I'm sure I caught him laughing later on, but the gesture was there.. I thought she'd broken her ankle – but just weak I'm afraid – the ankle... We got her a cold bandage from the nearby pharmacy and strapped it up and just chilled by the waterfront – watched a seal swimming round the docks and headed back in a taxi of course!

Back to Long Street for a curry with Pete and Celina. Now, I have to confess that I probably was unsure of Pete and Celina to start with, brash aussies and so on.. But as time wore on they were our closest allies on the truck – being the other married couple – and I did enjoy their company. Should be able to catch up with them in Melbourne. Anyway, the curry was nice when it came, but selection was pretty poor. We said our goodbyes to Pete and Celina as they went home to Oz the next day.. We walked the now familiar gauntlet of Long Street to New Church street via Park Street to Zebra.

Somewhat hampered by clumsy Jenni ;-) we did laundry and hung around Zebra – calling home (gran was so excited!) then at 3pm took a taxi to Table Mountain, we would have liked to climb it, but not with the ankle as it was. We did enjoy the trip up there – made it round the etensive table top walks, but no further as the ankle was troublesome. Jenni disliked the cable car ride up – I think it's spectacular, but she didn't dislike it as much as I feared – otherwise I'd have used the word hate! The weather was perfect for the mountain trip, warm and still with perfect views in every direction. Our timing was impeccable as the next day it was really windy!

I had heard stories about taking the shared taxi – minivans but we took one home and had no bother. Ate at Simply Asia and the food was superb. Might be slightly addicted now.

We decided to check out the walk through the city centre of Cape Town. Best to do this is daylight hours I feel! There was a somewhat uneasy safety feeling around – we were becoming more used to wandering the streets during the day whilst still being wary. We found our way into the market area and were keeping an eye out for an elephant bread basket that we'd seen in the game restaurant. But we did come across a beautiful big 5 coffee table / chess board (you can flip the table over. Got the chess pieces and a bowl to hold them in thrown in. We bartered hard with the guy and got it for 330 rand, he probably wouldn't eat for a week now!!

Onwards, via a long way round in direction terms to the waterfront – we could feel the weather changing, the wind was whipping up and clouds covering table mountain. In fact the clouds were between the tall city buildings and table mountain, it was very strange! At the waterfront, we ate at Simply Asia again (see – addicted already) and on to the Robben Island trip. The weather was now very grumpy and the crossing by ferry to the island was a bit bumpy – not too bad though..

The tour guide on the bus we boarded at Robben Island, Yasser Mohammed, was very entertaining as he pointed out various aspects of the island itself. Turns out he took Barack Obama a couple of years ago. We couldn't really see table mountain from the island due to the weather – which is a real shame as it's a cracking view. Inside the prison we were guided by Sparks – he was the same guide I had last time I visited the island. We checked out Nelson Mandela's cell and the facilities within the prison, also told of conditions and behaviour in there. All quite moving.

We stocked up with supplies and headed back to Zebra in a cab. Made our own tea, probably not the last time we do that on our tour. Ross and Jayde came in a bit later all flustered, turns out Jayde had something hard shoved in her back and was robbed (so probably gunpoint, but you never know). Her bag was taken with camera and 600 Rand. Not massive amounts, but scary all the same. The police came fairly quickly, but didn't seem interested in doing much. So we supplied he shots of Apple Sourz and helped to calm them down. We were right to be continually wary – this was right outside Zebra – where we'd walked ourselves the last couple of nights. Whether it was due to them being tipsy and less aware than usual, we don't know. Thankfully they were OK, and that's the main point.

We packed up our stuff, got the rental car – a white polo, like a Bora at home, and headed off on our merry way, round the waterfront and off to Cape Point via the scenic route. It was closed, so we had to divert the usual freeway route. We made it in good time, the views of the most southern tip of Africa were stunning, the cliffs, the lighthouse, the water on 3 sides. We clambered up to the top, milled around, looked from all the viewpoints and headed back down. We then motored to the Cape of Good Hope – same national park, just at sea level, and took some photos.

We had a pang for fish and chips so we stopped at Fishhoek for a fish supper – snoek and hake plus chips. It wasn't that great but served it's purpose. We took the R310 up to Stellenbosch, a nice route avoiding the motorway routes.

Stellenbosch

We stayed at Da Stumble Inn, George was a nice fellow, it was pretty loud until 10pm when it stopped! We were able to drift off then.....

Woke up next day ready to have a cellar tour and cheese lunch, but when showering noticed a swollen groin area. It was squidgy when pressed and Jenni agreed that it wasn't a good sign. She insisted I went to the doctors, so I got George to point me in the direction of the clinic and we headed there. Thought about seeing the nurse, but went straight up to see the doctor. Only had to wait about ½ hour before going in and the result was a clear hernia. She called the surgeon right away and he was able to see me immediately. So we headed to his house and saw him. He verified that it was a pretty sizeable hernia. I had known something was up. I saw my own doctor and she sent me for physio on a strained hip or something. But I knew... So faced with the dilemma of what to do, was I covered by insurance and so on, I made the call to them. I didn't really get anywhere, so just decided to go for it – the surgeon could fit me in tomorrow!! Had to be at the hospital for 6:30 am, so we headed to the movies that evening right after dinner at Dros. We watched X-Men, Wolverine and it only cost about £3 for both of us to go!

So, the health service in England is certainly not as efficient... 6:30 I was at the hospital, less than 24 hours from discovery and diagnosis. 7:30 was checked in, weighed, measured etc and waiting. I sent Jenni back for breakfast as we checked into Malans B&B (real nice old antique furniture, Laeticia was very friendly to us). She came back about 10:30 and I went to surgery at 11. By 12:30 I was done. Strangely as I came round my shoulder was killing, so I had some painkillers under my tongue. After a little while, I was awake enough to go back to the ward – when a porter was avaiable to wheel me! The rest of the day I spent napping, hooked up to a drip feeling dizzy and sick if I got up too fast. I knew I had to try and pee so I went, all a bit wobbly, to the toilet and squeezed out a wee. The anaesthetist, Dr Scheepers and surgeon, Dr Leon Meiring made it round later on – about 7:30 to see how I was doing. Sent me home. We picked up KFC on the way and Jenni forced me to eat. All that happened was I threw up – no food, no water. Just air. I threw up air, it was weird – but necessary as I felt loads better.

Turns out that the hernia procedure via laparoscopy these days involves the surgeon inflating the outside of the weak muscle putting a patch in and then letting it settle. The gas goes to your shoulder and then hangs around until you get rid of it. Hence the sore shoulder and air vomiting. So I am now patched up! When someone's been poking around in that area, you get strange toilet habits. I could only make a little bit of wee come out at a time, so I trickled a bit before I could manage a proper wee..

Next day was spent napping, paid my bills at the hospital (got a precisely detailed bill of exactly everything used in my op) and headed to the surgeons. He said everything was fine and sent me off.. Spent the most of the day at Malans, fixed the laptop – the software needed reinstalling for some reason, an upgrade perhaps. Anyway it works agan..

Robertson

A days rest is all that's required to recover from a hernia so after the all night rain, it actually was pretty grim for a few days so the op was well timed, we headed to Robertson 3 days late. We took the scenic route through the mountains, over Bains Kloof Pass and saw some cracking waterfalls and scenery. Made it above the clouds I think. Weekends are pretty dead in Africa, not much opens on a Saturday or Sunday. So at Robertsons we watched a film – The Cleaner – after eating at Bourbon Street. Didn't really enjoy dinner. It was still pretty wild outside, a big storm so we just snuggled.

Oudtshoorn

It had brightened up somewhat since the previous evening and we made our way along route 62 towards Oudtshoorn. The scenery was spectacular along the way as we cut through the mountains. We stopped in Barrydale to have a nosey around and get petrol but continued on to Ladismith where we pulled in to a roadside shop. Enticed by cheese, olives and wine we went in and were greeted by a friendly local lady. We bought pink port, olives and a couple of bottles of local rose wine. We did get to taste some ports that were pretty nice, but we stuck to the pink port. The lady mentioned that we should head for Seweweekspoort as it was one of the seven wonders of South Africa.

Driving along route 62, we saw the sign for seweweekspoort and headed along the gravel road for about 15km. We stopped, had lunch and a bush stop before going on our merry way back the way we came in. It was indeed a spectacular road, right in amongst the mountains – we even saw snow!

We made it to Oudtshoorn, had dinner at Broncos – was suspicious that we'd be getting another average meal, but the food was really good. Reasonably priced too. We headed back to Oasis Shanti Backpackers and played free pool and played with Pixie the puppy and prepared for the coming days. The light outside shone brightly in through the window and that coupled with post hernia op pain kept me awake most of the night.

First thing (for us) we headed to Cango Caves, about 30km from Oudtshoorn, but one of the local attractions. Not sure you could actually get any further along the road than the caves. We had a look at the options of the caves; standard entry, just a walk in the caves; Adventure entry, squeezing through 23 inch gaps and so on for an extra hour or so. We opted for standard as I wasn't going to be squeezing anywhere! The caves were warm and humid – 19 degrees C all year round with 60-70% humidity. There were an abundance of stalagmites and stalactites (fact, the stalagmites on the ground grow faster than the stalactites) in different shapes and forms. Our guide, Eric (not his original clicky African name) showed us the different types. He also liked to sing so we could see the acoustics.

They used to have concerts in the caves but had to stop as the humidity and carbon dioxide from all the people was ruining the formations. They have become a little commercialised, but they are still very spectacular. It's a shame that some people had to break bits off over the years, ruins a perfectly good piece of nature.

We tried to take a look at the Ruste Vrede falls, but didn't want to pay to see them, so grabbed a home made lunch and headed to Cango Wildlife Ranch. The guided tour, costing 85 rand each, was very good as we saw many varieties of endangered animals including crocodiles, vultures, lemurs, tortoises, bats, pigs, pygmy hippos, an otter, then on to the cats: cheetahs, white lions, tawny lions, white bengal tigers and their cubs. We finished off with a look at the meerkats and the snakes.. After all that, we were offered the opportunity to go in and interact with the cheetahs or Tiger Cubs. We decided to go in with the Tigers. We paid the 300 Rand each (about £25) and headed in there. It was great to fuss the cubs, they were softer than the cheetahs, but we only got a few minutes each with them before we had to leave. It was all a bit of an anti-climax really. So we left feeling a bit hard done by, glad of the experience, but it wasn't good value for money.

We ate at La Dolce Vita, Dom Pedros with Amarula are the new tipple of choice and headed back for puppy fusses and free pool. No bright light tonight as I got the owner to point it away from our room!

Buffalo Bay / Knysna

We picked up a stray in Oudtshoorn, Ryan. He was due to get the Baz bus, but it never showed up. He was heading to Mossel Bay, so were we, so we did the decent thing and gave him a lift there to his accommodation – an old train that had been converted to a backpackers place. Very cool. Mossel bay was quite a nice place, sandy beaches, resort like, but we weren't for staying there, merely checking out a wildlife park. Jukani was the place we were aiming for but when we got there it was just a viewing place – no interactions. So we headed to George for lunch. George is a strange old place, we thought very americanised with it's little malls dotted around the outskirts. We had Nando's for lunch and then carried on our way to Buffalo Bay.

Buffels Bay or Buffalo Bay was dead. Like an air raid siren had gone off! It is winter, but there was literally no-one anywhere to be seen. We took a look at the backpackers place, it was right on the beach – a great setting, but not great facilities it has to be said. We were in no rush to make a decision, so headed for Knysna a few kms away. We shopped, grabbed our lunch and decided it was probably a little busy for our liking and we headed back to Buffalo Bay Backpackers. We played about on the rocks and with the rock pools as the tide came in and the sun set. We made our own dinner and relaxed by the fire with another couple of puppies running about.

The room was basic, but the plumbing didn't work so well and the place was clearly going to pot, which is a real shame as the location is amazing.

It was kind of nice to have the noise of crashing waves during the night – helped us sleep. Breakfast overlooking the beach and waves was beautiful before we headed for another walk on the main strip of the bay. There were about 3 people walking their dogs and us. Dead....

The Crags / Plettenberg Bay

We drove through Knysna again heading for Plettenberg Bay – our scheduled next stop. It's only a short hop away so a nice easy driving day. When we got to Plettenberg Bay we were led on a bit of a merry dance looking for Starling Backpackers. It was near the airport, miles away so we ditched that idea pretty quickly and headed back to Plett Bay itself. It would have been a nice place to visit if we could have got near the bay – roadworks closed off the main strip, so we headed for the mall, stocked up and decided upon our next move over a KFC.

We found a spot in Coast to Coast called Wild Spirit backpackers, just a few minutes drive from our intended targets of cat and elephant sanctuary – about 20kms from Plett Bay. We armed ourselves with discount vouchers from the tourist info place at the mall and headed over to “The Crags”.

What we found was beyond our expectations, a farm with separate buildings housing a self catering kitchen, the reception / bar area and the accommodation cabins. The view was amazing over the forest canopy and the best part was that they had discovered walks to go on into the woods. We ditched our bags and set off to the waterfall, ably assisted by the three dogs: Tandy, Jackie and Savannah. They came with us through the forest trail until we got to the rock pools and then waterfalls. It was a great walk, took about an hour in total. The place was so quiet and peaceful, we would have liked to stay longer if we didn't have prior arrangements...

Part of our plans for the day was to go to Tenikwa – a cat sanctuary. We got there just before 3pm and headed for our tour with Daniel. We watched a short educational film before heading out on our journey. We went into enclosures with wild cats, 2 cheetah cubs (who we got to fuss), Caracals (Jenni got to fuss Sotze the cub), Black Footed Cats (they were tiny – much smaller than even Vader!), Servals (very beautiful) and then in with a Leopard cub. He was a bit wild, even though brought up in captivity, Leopards still have a wild streak. I think he would be OK once you get to know him!! We then went to see Zulu and Duma, the 2 older Cheetahs. We had a photo opportunity and a chance to fuss the Cheetahs. A great experience and this portion was much value than the Cango Wildlife Ranch....

We washed our hands and waited for the finale, a sunset walk with the cheetahs. We returned to Zulu and Duma (Lightning and Thunder) and they donned harnesses and leads. We each took a lead – I had Duma, Jenni Zulu – and off we went for a walk. It was just like walking a dog, but these guys can run at 120 kph and accelerate to 60 in 3 seconds.. Our guides also had a lead so when they saw something they could take the strain of the cheetahs. We walked around the grounds for about 1 ¼ hours, stopping when the Cheetahs wanted to have a lie down – we were able to fuss and stroke them when they did that, also when we were walking.

Headed back to the wild spirit lodge in high spirits and cooked nice pasta and recollected the day with some of the other backpackers.

Reckon this day to have been the best since we got to Africa.

We had a nice night at Wild Spirit, although the bed squeaked a bit everytime one of us moved, the bathroom was newly done out. We had heard that the elephant sanctuary gave 50% discount to wild spirit guests for the 8am and 9am tours, so we went for the 9am tour. After a brief introduction about the elephants we were introduced to them. Taba, the Bull elephant, and 2 girl elephants – I forget their names...

Jenni walked hand in trunk into the forest and once there we interacted with them – touched Taba's trunk, tusks, skin, belly, tail, feet and saw right into his mouth. I was able to feed him too – just some pellets. After Jenni's turn and some group photos, I walked back into the day camp hand in trunk with the elephant. Wonderful experience, we learned a bit about the anatomy of the elephants then off to the curio shop – we didn't buy our dvd as we got some of our own video footage.

Stopped at the peppermill for “South Africa's best chocolate cake”. Left very disappointed as the cake was a bit rubbish. Moved on to the puzzle park where we skipped the 3D maze and instead did the forest walk where we attempted challenges on the way round a 600m walk. We needed to complete 7 out of 9 to win a free drink – we managed it successfully. The challenges were logic style puzzles, brain teasers and so on. We got 7 out of 9. We failed on flags of Africa and putting pieces that formed a rectangle into a square... Overall, it got our minds working and we enjoyed it. A small brown snake popped out on to the path – a boomslang perhaps? Back to Wild Spirit where we paid our bill and did the magic forest walk – took about 45 minutes, ably assisted by Savannah again!

After all that excitement, we headed on to Tsitsikamma Lodge – past the highest bungy jump in the world at Bloukrans bridge. Would not have fancied that in the wind we crossed in!! We got to the lodge in the afternoon, checked in and ordered for a Braai; wood, matches, blitz (firelighter), steak, braai starter pack including a chicken kebab, sausage and 2 lamb chops, 2 potatoes and a greek salad for 2. We successfully completed our Braai as the storm kicked in. Rained all night and cooled the place down.

The next day was spent doing nothing but relaxing – a 60 minute massage for Jenni and a 20 minute indian head massage for me. Planned out the next few days and watched IPL as Jenni napped and then we cooked the Braai again. 2 steaks, 4 chicken kebabs, a potato and greek salad. We used the wood and bits from the previous night. We watched notes on a scandal.