Southern Africa Safari 2017- Days 11, 12 and 13

Southern Africa Safari 2017- Days 11 & 12

Day 11

This was a day off from driving and some important tasks needed to be accomplished, the first being laundry, and Denise said she would do the smalls when we saw the price list for laundry, which was split into wash only, iron only and wash and iron, without quoting prices all we can say is that laundry in hotels and lodges is a good profitable business.

To start the day off we went for a walk up the Chobe River towards the Ngoma Bridge, which took us nearly two hours, then the tasks, I had to tell you we were still in the land of the living in the form of the blog, which takes forever using the Lodges Wi Fi connection not to mention my slow typing speed and the up loading of photos, I vowed to do it daily after a marathon 3 hours by this time Denise had done all the washing, I think I owe her nearly R500 and that was just for underwear and socks and she read half a book, repacked her suitcase and one hundred other things.

We booked a boat cruise on the Chobe, which would take two and a half hours together with a Swiss couple. Other than some Waterbuck, Zebra, Giraffe, Buffalo and Baboons we did not see Elephant, which we thought unusual for this area, although it is some 70kms from Kasane and we only went 14kms down the river. What we did see was an abundance of birdlife, I cannot remember all the names and my bird book went up in flames so I had to rely on the guide, suffice to say it was considerable.

The other highlight of the trip was one free drink and the guide then handed out what he called the Buffet, which was dry salty cracks and that was the sum total of the snacks! As we got to shore he said “you have not eaten the entire buffet” we all managed to keep a straight face, but had a good laugh afterwards.

As we got back to the Lodge the sun was setting what a spectacular sight our Africa sunrises and sunsets are. As we approach the lodge we came across a herd of buffalo, which numbered close to a thousand and the sound of 1000 buffalo munching grass was quite an experience and unbelievable.

Our 5 course dinner consisted ravioli stuffed with butternut and sage, followed by delicious pea soup with small slice of toast with melted cheese, the mains course was roast Springbok, potato cake, carrots and broccoli and if you had room there was lemon meringue pie, not to mention the buffet on the boat, now we needed that walk to Ngoma Bridge.

Day12

Despite the huge meal we slept very well, I find it difficult to describe waking up in the wilds of Africa and hearing all the sounds, it is like an opera, it starts with the early bird giving a twitter almost apologetic asking if anyone else was awake, then another would join in the conversation and slowly the cacophony of sound would grow to a crescendo with the fish eagle giving the cry of Africa, only interrupted by the howl of a hyena, the barks of zebras and the croaks of frogs who were not going to be left out of the chorus, which consisted white egrets, yellow billed storks, pelicans, grey herons, pied and malachite king fishers, starlings, wood hoopoes, purple breasted rollers and  fork tailed drongo’s, all with their own welcome of the new day, but it all seemed to fit in and is pleasant on the ear.

Then there is the African sunrise and despite what my granddaughter Shannon says they are not all the same and they are wonderful to witness.

We leave the Chobe River behind and head for Katima Mulilo and the great Zambezi River where we are staying at the Caprivi River Lodge right on the banks of the Zambezi across which lies Zambia.

The lodge is owned and run by Keith and Mary Rooken Smith who hail from Kenya and Angola, Keith’s mother Heather lives here and we brought a small parcel up for her from her daughter Lindsay who lives in Albertinia in South Africa. Heather has written a book about her life in Kenya, Angola, Namibia and South Africa called Daisy’s Daughter - Our Lives for Africa, well worth a read especially if you have lived in one of these countries over the last 80 odd years or even if you have not had that pleasure it clearly describes the fortitude of Africa’s early settlers their resilience through some harrowing times and their contribution to the development of Africa.

We have two nights here before we go onto Namushasha Lodge near Kongola on the Kwando River also in the Caprivi now known as the Zambezi Province. We have 8 more days in Namibia before we cross back into South Africa.

Our house re-build is well underway and we thank Harry for keeping us informed and representing us at all the Friday site meetings. The house at one end is up to window height and at this rate it will be close to roof height in 16 days time we are in for some exciting times.

Day 13 
We went down the Zambezi by road to Schukmannsburg in the Zambezi flood plains, it is difficult to comprehend that this flood plain when the river is in full flood can be as wide as 70kms. For a long way you have no idea that the river is 200metres from the road or less, we saw some birdlife, but no wildlife at all, we hope to rectify that tomorrow.

Heather Rooken-Smith who is 86 years old shared some of her experiences of publishing her book Daisy's Daughter - Our Lives for Africa, which turns out not to be an easy task, she very kindly signed two books for us and one for Susanne in Eastford Vale who so enjoyed the book I loaned to her.

I have to apologise, I am hoping to load the words, but am having a problem uploading the photos, which I will do tomorrow Day 14     

Southern African Safari 2017 Days 8, 9, & 10

Mum and Baby, they are not all this cute

Day 8

After 3 days in Johannesburg staying with Michael, Elisma, Claudia and the girls Sinead, Amber lee and Naomi we set off for Martins Drift in Botswana, we thank Michael and Elisma for their hospitality.

We got away by 08h00 going via Bela Bela (Warmbaths), Molimole (Nylstroom), Vaalwater, Lephalale (Ellis Ras), Monte Christo Tom Burke and Groblers Bridge where we crossed the Limpopo River and the border into Botswana with no problems getting to our destination Kwa Nogeng Lodge.

Our room was the very same one that we stayed in on our epic East African trip right on the slow moving greasy, green Limpopo River. The road can be long and boring, but there are a lot of game farms bordering the road and we saw giraffe, zebra, hartebeest, duiker, kudu, and wildebeest amongst others.

We stopped at Vaalwater en route and Denise had to get some biltong and dry wors, the display was amazing you could choose from Giraffe, Eland, Kudu, Zebra, Wildebeest and Beef amongst others. The shop attendant said the giraffe had a distinct taste and some of her customers preferred it and she insisted they all tasted different.

Mopani Trees all colours and hues

Game farming seems to be the dominant activity although there are some big fruit and vegetable farms, maize and ranching. Like most of South Africa we have passed through it is very dry, but it is still officially winter.

We crossed the Tropic of Capricorn and no, we do not cross the Equator on this trip.

We had an enjoyable dinner and then it was lights out.

Day 9

We departed Kwa Nogeng at 08h00 after a nice breakfast where two eggs are compulsory. The last time we were on this section of road in 2013 Claudia drove and it was 120kms of hell, not because Claudia was driving, but because the road was so pot holed, if you drove in a straight line you would or could have been pulled over for drunken driving, but we were pleasantly surprised and the road to Francistown via Selibwe Pikwie was very good.

The Mopani shrubs/trees alongside the road were full of colour from green to brown and all shades in between.

Road works are, like in so many countries in Africa we have had the pleasure of travelling through, being maintained or built by the Chinese, there is even a Chinese oriental bazaar in Francistown. We spoke too soon as unfortunately the road for 70kms south of Francistown was very badly potholed and there is nothing worse than a pot holed tar road, but with the amount of very large vehicles travelling mainly from Zambia, many  loaded with copper billets it is not surprising.

I wanted to get off the beaten track and saw from my Africa map book there was a road that passed through Sowa Pan up to our intended destination of Nata, but alas my Tracks for Africa on my Garmin did not recognise such a road, so we turned around and luck was on our side. A vehicle was parked on the side of the road so we pulled along side and enquired of the two Tswana gentlemen if they knew of the road we were looking for and they said no not that one, but they knew of another one some 30kms back the way we had come and they would show us when we would turn off if we wanted to follow them, as long as we did not mind travelling at 120kph, which we agreed to do, after all that was the speed limit and we had been very diligent in sticking to all the speed limits and had escaped at least two speed fines.

At the turn off we got explicit instructions on where to go, that turned out to be better than any map or Garmin. It was a well maintained wide gravel road that appeared to service a diamond mine in the area and we arrived at Nata at 16h30 dying for a cold beer to wash the dust out of our throats.

The Northgate Lodge, they use the term Lodge very loosely in Botswana, it was more of a motel and if there had been any other choice I would have taken it. The room was clean, the shower worked fairly well and the bed was comfortable, three of Denise’s measures of a good establishment. However, the paint on the ceiling of the bathroom was flaking and was all over the floor, the TV had only 3 channels two in a language we cannot understand the third was a Supersport channel so we could watch some of the World Athletic Games in London.

We decided to try their restaurant, which was a big mistake, Denise only wanted a salad and asked for a Greek Salad, but alas there was no Greek Salad, but a green salad was available, which turned out to be also unavailable. I had a rump steak, chips and vegetables, which arrived after an hour. The beef was from a cow that had run all the way from Gabarone, the chips were cold, but the veg was hot and it cost R180. Oh well it is just another lesson on travel in Africa. By the way I had researched the hotels in Nata, the two I chose were fully booked 12 months ago and this one did not have rave reviews, now I know why. An observation is that a good staff training course would not go amiss not to mention cooking lessons.

This is what greets you at the picnic spots

Day 10   

We called him Ilean

We got away early having decided the night before that we would have breakfast or brunch en route to our next stop and the Wimpy in Nata has closed down.

We had not gone far on the road North to Kasane when, as Denise wanted to pass 3 trucks, an elephant decided to cross the road between the first and second truck as Denise was passing the third vehicle it was a close call for the second vehicle and the elephant, no guesses as to who would have won.

The route up to this point had fences now there are no fences giving game the option to move freely between Botswana and Namibia. We made good time to Kasane and pulled into Chobe Safari Lodge, where we have stayed before, at 11h00. We enjoyed an excellent brunch washed down with a beer shandy.

We decided to go through the Chobe Game Park to the Ngoma border post and saw considerable amount of game along side the Chobe river and as a word of advise this is where to see game either going to or coming from the river, because when we went away from the river we saw nothing, well almost nothing, we had just commented that we had not even seen an elephant when one strode out of the bush close to the road and blew into my ear, a second later and we may have known what it is like to hit an elephant, or not! We eventually find the A33 a bit like the last time in the Chobe when we exited observed a notice saying restricted access, military vehicles only permitted, but ignorance is bliss.

View from our room - Chobe River

Kudu

Game and more game in Chobe

Spoonbill with friend

Hippos cooling off

Play play between young bulls

 

Ngoma Bridge

We cross the border at 16h00 and other than all the paperwork it was uneventful. We are right on the river at Camp Chobe in a permanent tented camp. It is one of the Gondwana Group hotels and lodges and there is an abundance of birdlife and game in the area. Gondwana has recently acquired this property and are busy renovating and upgrading, but it is very nice and we have a very nice 4 course dinner with a bottle of wine.

Our lodging at Camp Chobe

It is a very moonlit night and the wildlife is very active and buffalo were munching grass right outside our tent.       

Southern Africa Safari 2017 Days 4, 5, 6 and 7

Eish Airways in the middle of nowhere. Forgot to include this photo with the last post.

Day 4

Unfortunately Denise came down with a dose of flu and we thought it wise to take it easy on our second day at Bushmans Nek so after a game of “Old Mans Marbles” bowls to those not in the know. This area has also suffered from the drought and is evidenced by the amount of veld fires in the area and the state of their bowling greens.

I had parked my car under some trees near our room and I recall Sinead saying “pigs cannot fly because they have not got wings” well the state of my car the next morning I believe pigs indeed do fly as it was covered in pig poo from top to bottom and took me well over an hour to clean enough for me to see out of the windows. I am hoping that I do not have a repeat performance having changed where I park to an area away from the trees.

We did drive down to the border with Lesotho only 3kms away and on asking the border policeman where the road went to on the other side he enlightened me that only people on foot or on horseback go through the border. A number of the Natal National Park trails do start from this point most of them going up to caves in the Drakensberg mountains, but we decided to give it a miss on this occasion.

Bushmans Nek have a lot of sporting facilities such as fly fishing for rainbow trout, squash, tennis, put putt, bowls and mountain bike trails so it is a good place for families with over active children.

We make plans with the hotel management to take a pack breakfast as we need to get away before 06h00 to get to Johannesberg by 13h00.

Day 5 

Well we get away by 05h45 after battling to find a receptionist who is supposed to be on duty 24 hours, pay the bill, load the car, which I am please to say had not been attacked by flying pigs. I was still dark when we got underway and it was a fairly slow 45kms to Underberg where we met up with the tar road which was to take us to Howick and then onto the N3 up to Johannesburg.

We regrettably left our pack breakfast that the hotel staff had diligently prepared so we pulled into one of the petrol stations and enjoyed a welcome breakfast. We made good time until we got to the Rivonia off ramp when we hit a traffic jam caused by SA roads authority deciding that lunchtime on a Saturday was a good time to paint the lines on the highway, but it did not end there; we were to meet family and friends at the Purple Tulip near Broadacres, which is on Cedar Road near Steyn City and on this road they are attempting to widen the road and keep the road open. I had forgotten the volume of traffic in Johannesburg and I did not enjoy this reminder after a journey of +/- 675kms.

We had a lovely afternoon with family and friends who were there to greet us and had brought with them presents that we will find very useful in our new home, what they forgot to do was give us a trailer to take them back to Knysna. It was a lovely surprise and although it was not hard for anyone to think of what to get us, as we have nothing, a lot of thought and effort went into selecting the gifts and we thank each and every one of those lovely people.

The only downside of the day was my team the Lions losing to the Crusaders in the final of the Super Rugby competition, but I thought they did well considering they were down to 14 men for at least three quarters of the game, I also think the red card was a bit too harsh, oh well it is only a game!!!

Day 6

Michael decided we needed fattening up and made us a wonderful Potjie lunch after we had a good sleep with a little help from a sleeping tablet. In all it was a relaxing day, which was very welcome after quite a bit of driving in the last 5 days.

Day 7

We had a little bit of shopping to do today and Denise and I ended up with Claudia and Granddaughters Sinead, Amber Lee and Naomi terrorising two centres in Centurion, surprisingly we did achieve what we set out to do. Tomorrow we start our trip into Botswana and will spend tomorrow night at Kwa Nogeng at Martins Drift in Botswana and we are looking forward to the second part of our trip and hopefully will bring you more interesting news of our adventure.

Three Labacher Granddaughters terrorising the Irene Village Mall

All ready for the concrete pour on Monday

Our good friend Harry who is our site manager on the rebuild of our house has kept us well informed although we could not help in locating where Telkom lines came into the house, but he will make a plan as we know he will.

Courtesy of Tanja a photo of Snuggles content in his holiday boarding accommodation

Southern Africa Safari 2017 - Day's 1, 2 & 3

Aye Aye Captain coming aboard

Southern Africa Safari 2017 – Day 1

Following a frantic last day in Knysna from haircuts to buying and collecting a second spare wheel organised by our good friend Harry we managed to get underway by 07h45 a minor miracle in itself. Wanted to pick up some biltong and dry wors at the Biltong shop in Plettenberg Bay, but we were too early, who buys biltong at 08h30 in the morning anyway.

We made good time getting to Port Elizabeth at 10h00; we took the coastal road to East London going through Alexandria the home of chicory, but did not see any growing a bit like hops in George? Then through Kenton and Port Alfred a lovely part of our Eastern coast line.

Kei River Mouth

I had set the Garmin for the shortest route and the Garmin lady took us via Kei Mouth Ferry, however on the way we come around a corner and lo and behold there is a complete Boeing from Eish Airlines which Denise captured on film. The route saved us a lot of time at the princely sum of R80 to cross on the ferry, the alternative route would be through Butterworth and then through Kentani to Qoloro Mouth where Trennery’s hotel is situated. It is over 30 years since I last visited this part of the world and from my failing memory it has not changed much at all, we were told that it had changed hands a few times, but it was clean, comfortable and just as Kim remembers we had an awesome seafood buffet consisting giant prawns, oysters, calamari, mussels, rock cod and more. You can eat as much as you like, it was a veritable feast that we and a coach full of German tourists enjoyed.

Sleep evaded us at first could it have been too much rich food I wonder?

Boarding the Kei Ferry

 

The pool at Trennery's

 Southern Africa Safari 2017 – Day 2

Denise was awake at 05h00 and by the time I awoke she had worked out how many tap mixers, shower heads, basins and sinks we needed for our new home that as I write is being built all because “Greg the Builder” note that it is no longer “Bob the Builder” had intimated that he would need this information before we got back, guess tonight it will be plugs and switches and their exact location

We had a leisurely breakfast and travelled up to Butterworth on the N2 and on to Idutchwa where I needed to get fuel and Denise wanted to use a toilet, first petrol station was Total and we could not get access so we tried BP and they said there was no water so off we go back to Total and after some considerable manoeuvring we got to the pumps. My last experience of this town was when I collected my General Manager from East London to go to Umtata, now called Mthata, he was starving so we called in at the Kentucky, but to do so you had to cross a stream of sewage flowing down the road right outside the Kentucky, needless to say our hunger pangs left us in an instant.

The small towns in the old Transkei have not changed much, you could be anywhere in Africa, throngs of people crowding the streets showing no concern for vehicles, taxis hooting and very loud music emitting from them and the sidewalk shops, competing for the loudest rendering of local tribal music, vegetables for sale on the pavement along with second hand clothes and shoes and a host of other items as well as pavement special dogs everywhere. This is the real South Africa not the westernised towns a lot of us live in.

They are rebuilding part of the road from Idutchwa to Mthata it said 17kms, but it must have been 50kms it certainly felt like that, it was stop and go and one had to be careful you did not get a huge boulder dumped in front or on your vehicle as they were loading the trucks right alongside the part of the road you were travelling on. Some 10kms from Mthata we turn of to Coffee Bay, if we thought the N2 was hairy, this road was quite scary very twisty, very busy and it was not only the traffic you had to worry about there were cows, dogs, goats, sheep, donkeys and horses all seeming just there for you to test your brakes and nerves, have to hand it to Denise she handled a very difficult section with aplomb cannot say the same for me.

Coral Tree in full bloom at Trennery's

We finally got to the Ocean View Hotel at 13h30, had a light lunch of fish and chips and went off to see the Hole in the Wall, it had to happen, as it does on every big journey we make, we got conned into letting a guide show us the way, the young man’s name was Joseph and our first impressions was that he was a very likeable young man, I tried to get him to tell me what he wanted for his services, but he would have none of that he said we will talk when we get back from his tour, another young man said he would look after our car whilst we went sight seeing, all seemed OK until we were nearly back at the car when Joseph said we must pay him now as he did not want his friends to see how much he was paid so I said what is the fee and he said R150 each for a one hour walk to the Hole in the Wall and back, I asked him what he had been smoking and offered him R100 for both of us, which I still considered too much. He was not happy with my payment of R100, and then his buddy wanted R50 for making sure our car was safe while we were away, I said a car guard in Knysna would look after my car all day for R5, I offered him R10 but be refused, so in the end he got nothing.

I suppose it could have got nasty, but let it be a lesson to you if you ever want to see the Hole in the Wall, it is easy to find just follow a well worn path, and you cannot go wrong. I later find that the Hotel charges R200 per person to take you there and back (14kms) for a 2 hour trip so I guess Joseph thought he was giving us a bargain.

Southern Africa Safari 2017 – Day 3

Denise at The Hole in the Wall

After a good nights rest we are having breakfast overlooking the Indian Ocean and Denise, my personal hawk eye, spots two whales frolicking and travelling up the coast line fairly close to shore, now we know we are going to have a fabulous holiday. I have the pleasure of doing the first drive today and I have to say it was far easier going back uphill than Denise’s journey the day before downhill. We make good time to Kokstad where we leave the N2 for the Drakensberg to be exact Bushman’s Nek a little south of Underberg. I was a little unnerving as there was a massive veld fire on the mountains ahead and it appeared it was in the direction we were heading. After losing our house and all we possessed to the Knysna fires we were not keen to go through another experience. When we get to the resort we ask what is happening and the receptionist was unaware of what was happening on her doorstep and nonchantly told us we had nothing to fear as the Park rangers would soon get it under control, we certainly hope so, but the smell of smoke brings back vivid memories of the 7/8^th June 2017.

We have had a game of putt, putt adventure golf and we hope to try our hand at bowls tomorrow. We have a two night stop here and then we travel to Johannesburg where we are looking forward to seeing family.

Denise and Alan with Joseph doing the photographic honours, at a price

Beautiful sea views at Coffee Bay

Hole in the wall with waves rushing through

The Boiling Pot near Hole in the Wall

The real Africa

As if we have not seen enough fire, National Park Rangers got this under control quite swiftly

Southern Africa Safari 2017 D Day + 7

Right on our doorstep at Storms River Camp

With all the excitement of the fire and its consequences I forgot to record a trip we did to Storms River in the Tsitsikamma some 100kms from Knysna, the purpose of the trip was to celebrate Denise’s birthday on the 4^th June. On earlier visits we said it would be nice to spend a weekend, and so it turned out to be. We had a chalet right on the sea side well within the sound of the sea breaking on the rocks, which at time sounded like rifle shots, it is amazing that something so loud and violent looking can have a soothing effect. We undertook walks along the coast line, which were quite strenuous, but very scenic and our walk to the waterfall is part of the Otter Trail. All I can say is I do not think we will be doing the Otter Trail in its entirety any time soon, if ever.

We spent two nights at the Storms River Camp and we would certainly do that again.

This was the Waterfall we walked too very little water which is the state of affairs
along the garden route at present

Birthday Breakfast for Denise

Our friends Roger and Julia Hogarth have been very good to us,  they brought down to us just about all the safari gear we need for our Southern Africa trip and as a result our cash flow will not feel the strain of equipping the vehicle with recovery gear, compressor, tools and a host of other items that we have not needed on earlier trips, but we all know that when you do not go with it, that is when you need it, so a huge thank you to Roger and Julia.

It is only one week before we commence our journey and we are starting to get excited, it will be wonderful to get away from Knysna as all anyone wants to talk about is the fire and all we want to do is move forward.

We are just waiting for the Insurers to come back to us with a final offer as we rejected their first offer, but it is a matter of negotiation and we are sure we will have an acceptable offer within this week. Our selected builder is ready to start we just need one more plan to be stamped by the Knysna Municipality.

We thought when we built our last house in Johannesburg that we would never build again and we never wanted to. It is back to visiting; tile, bathroom fittings, furniture, appliances, carpets, pots and pans, eating utensils, glasses, crockery, stoves, ovens, fireplaces etc, etc suppliers in Knysna where the selection is not great or George which has more shops and variety, thank goodness Denise has taken control of most of these aspects.

We have just had 10 days of the Oyster Festival here in Knysna and it was fairly busy, we did not even get to one event, the nearest we got was to eat some oysters when we had dinner with Roger and Julia A fair number of B&B’s and Guest Houses were lost in the fire, but we believe the attendance was quite good judging by the number of vehicles on our  roads and we got snarled up in one of the running road races, which was very well attended, of course touring the devastation caused by the fire was on the to do list of a lot of visitors.

We are having our “Christmas in July” event on Sunday at our good friends Billy and Anne McClelland who also lost their house, but are renting on Leisure Isle, which is much more spacious. There were 10 of us in total and it exceeded our expectations, the only downside was the landlord of Billy and Anne's house had not reactivated the TV and there was the British Open Golf, Tour de France and a host of other sports, but all was not lost it got activated at around 3.00pm. At least we were not distracted by the sport whilst having a traditional Christmas lunch. The Christmas in July  has become a bit of a tradition so we had to keep it going, fire or no fire, TV or no TV.

With all the excitement of the fire and its consequences I forgot to record a trip we did to Storms River in the Tsitsikamma some 100kms from Knysna, the purpose of the trip was to celebrate Denise’s birthday on the 4^th June. On earlier visits we said it would be nice to spend a weekend, and so it turned out to be. We had a chalet right on the sea side well within the sound of the sea breaking on the rocks, which at time sounded like rifle shots, it is amazing that something so loud and violent looking can have a soothing effect. We undertook walks along the coast line, which were quite strenuous, but very scenic and our walk to the waterfall is part of the Otter Trail. All I can say is I do not think we will be doing the Otter Trail in its entirety any time soon, if ever.

We spent two nights at the Storms River Camp and we would certainly do that again.

Our friends Roger and Julia Hogarth have been very good to us,  they brought down to us just about all the safari gear we need for our Southern Africa trip and as a result our cash flow will not feel the strain of equipping the vehicle with recovery gear, compressor, tools and a host of other items that we have not needed on earlier trips, but we all know that when you do not go with it, that is when you need it, so a huge thank you to Roger and Julia.

It is only one week before we commence our journey and we are starting to get excited, it will be wonderful to get away from Knysna as all anyone wants to talk about is the fire and all we want to do is move forward.

We are just waiting for the Insurers to come back to us with a final offer as we rejected their first offer, but it is a matter of negotiation and we are sure we will have an acceptable offer within this week. Our selected builder is ready to start we just need one more plan to be stamped by the Knysna Municipality.

We thought when we built our last house in Johannesburg that we would never build again and we never wanted to. It is back to visiting; tile, bathroom fittings, furniture, appliances, carpets, pots and pans, eating utensils, glasses, crockery, stoves, ovens, fireplaces etc, etc suppliers in Knysna where the selection is not great or George which has more shops and variety, thank goodness Denise has taken control of most of these aspects.

We have just had 10 days of the Oyster Festival here in Knysna and it was fairly busy, we did not even get to one event, the nearest we got was to eat some oysters when we had dinner with Roger and Julia, a fair number of B&B’s and Guest Houses were lost in the fire, but we believe the attendance was quite good judging by the number of vehicles on our  roads and we got snarled up in one of the running road races which was very well attended, of course touring the devastation caused by the fire was on the to do list of a lot of visitors.

We are having our “Christmas in July” event on Sunday at our good friends Billy and Anne Mc Clelland who also lost their house, but are renting on Leisure Isle, which is much more spacious so there will be 10 of us in total and we are looking forward to that event. This occasion has become a bit of a tradition so we had to keep it going.

This week and next week will be about tying up loose ends for our trip like ordering Pula for use in Botswana, putting all our travel documents together, last minute purchases, getting a nice new cage for Snuggles (Our Parrot) sorting out his accommodation and we think we will be ready by the 1^st of August, well we have to be.

Part of the rocky climb to the waterfall

  We will try to keep in regular contact on our trip, so please keep following us.  

Southern Africa Safari 2017 – Planning Phase – D Day plus 30 Days

The Great Knysna Garden Route Fire June 2017

 I thought I would have a problem with news from Knysna 3 weeks ago, how wrong I was and our preparations for our Southern Africa Safari 2017 have by circumstance become more complex and a good deal more urgent.

The circumstance was the fires that raged along the garden route and the devastation they wrought on places from Wilderness to Thornhill just West of Port Elizabeth, it is difficult to describe the events starting on Wednesday the 7^th of June and our photos do not fully show the tragedy that resulted from a “perfect fire” We have been in drought conditions for the last 4 months and as a result the vegetation was very dry helped along with a lot more days than normal of berg winds (hot winds from the North) over the last few months and these conditions were coupled on the 7^th June with gale force winds.

Dr Guy Preston, PhD (Environmental Science) Deputy Director-General: Environmental Programmes, Department of Environmental Affairs stated that “in 72 hours 10,000 hectares and in excess of 500 structures in the Garden Route were burnt, some houses simply reduced to a heap of rubble and vast swathes of pine plantations burnt.

1. The regional drought conditions,

2. The fuel load in the environment and suburbs,

3. Topography of the area,

4. Hot ambient air conditions,

5. The speed of the wind reported to be between 90km/hr and 100km/hr with gusts up to 110km/hr. Like a bellows, winds of this speed can fan a fire and superheat it in excess of 2000°C which is exactly what occurred on the 7^th June 2017.

Each of these conditions would contribute to a fire, indeed the combination of two or three conditions would generate a formidable fire, but the combination of all five factors produced a historical fire”

 We still do not know what started the fire but whatever it was it had the perfect setting for the disaster that unfolded, fires were still flaring up 3 weeks later and many have lost their houses and all their possessions and regrettably we were one of the unfortunate victims of what can only be described as a catastrophe. The very sad part is that we hear that 45% of those who lost homes were not insured.

On a positive note, if there can be one, is the incredible support given to the garden route communities by individuals, companies, charities, churches of all denominations, municipalities and the Western Cape government, aid has simply poured in from all over South Africa and beyond, so much so that it has restored our faith in humankind.

Denise has come up with a perfect analogy for how we feel at present and it goes something like this:-

“I equate this disaster to a unwanted pregnancy and as pregnancy's go you will suffer from morning sickness, indigestion, uncomfortableness  and cravings that cannot be satisfied, as well as labour pains when I come to term (opting for an epidural) I know that I will get over these conditions and blossom again there will be periods of great excitement, wonder and awe then after 9 months I will give birth to a new life a wonderful gift and I will give thanks to one and all”

A little about our own personal experience; we played golf on that fateful morning and had enjoyed the challenge of playing in the wind, that had not reached gale force, but made golf very interesting. At the end of our round we sat chatting over a glass of beer watching the heavy smoke that was building up in the West and particularly on the West Head and then we noted fire had broken out on the East Head. As we drove home we could see this was not a small fire like we had witnessed a couple of times over the last couple of months, which helicopters carrying large buckets of water had put out in a few hours. On arriving home we could see the fire had reached the area around the Montessori School and we were later to learn that it had jumped the Knysna River. The fire we are told started in Rheenandal and had come down towards Westward Bridge and the Red Bridge where we are told it jumped the river assisted by what were now gale force winds.

I was intent on watching South Africa play cricket in the Champions Tournament, but always had one eye on the fire that was spreading at an alarming rate towards the West and looked like it would miss us. Denise, ever practical said we should pack a few essentials and Snuggles our African Grey Parrot in the car all the time believing it was just a sensible precaution and we would be back in our home later that evening, how wrong we were.

The flames were over 30 metres high and they travelled along the top of pine trees at over 100km/hr

Our neighbour came to the door and told me I had 90 seconds to evacuate and if I did nothing else get my car out of the garage, I thought his timing was an exaggeration until he told me he had the ex Fire Chief was in his car who had told him that when the fire reached the Old Cape Road it would roar up the ridge due to the high wind speeds. I went back into the house to get more feeding bowls for our parrot Snuggles, not exactly an essential, and as I got into my car embers and ash were falling on me and the car, the ex fire chief was wrong it took 120 seconds.

We spent that night at Karen’s Guest House along with 7 others friends, but we could see the fires coming down from Pezula Estate and a friend, Billy McClelland, and I went out to assess the evacuation points they were asking people to go to, which was an exercise in futility as nobody had a clue. We then decided to go to our homes in Eastford Glen and Vale to see if they had escaped the fire, but sadly they had not and we had to take the bad news back to Denise and Anne.

We were fortunate to have Michael come down to give us any assistance we needed and the very much needed morale support, and our friends Billy and Anne were also blessed when their son Colin and his wife Andrea flew down to support them.

Of our group only Billy and I lost our houses, Ivor lost two vehicles and a boat with all his fishing gear and Kevin and Jenny were happily surprised to find their timber home in Paradise still standing when they went home, as was the house of Susanne, who Denise evacuated from Eastford.

To say we have been fortunate would be the understatement of the decade, firstly we have our lives, secondly through my brother-in-law Cedric, a Pastor, putting our fate on Facebook a member of his congregation in Witbank offered us his holiday home in Costa Sarda and although Karen, my daughter, told us we could stay in the Guest House we felt the offer from Cassie and Sanel was a no brainer what with many events like the Oyster Festival coming up and the guest house fully booked in early July. We are eternally grateful to Karen, Cassie, Sanel, Cedric, Loraine, Harry and Liz Mike and Dee, Billy and Anne, Colin and Andrea, Lorenza and Wiseman to name but a few.

We are also very relieved that the fire hit Knysna in the day as if it had come in the middle of the night the casualty’s would have been very much higher than the 9 lost lives reported.

Now we have to shop for everything required for our trip in a month’s time, the list goes something like this:-

Additional Spare wheel, Recovery equipment, Compressor, Tools, Jerry Cans (Fuel and Water) Storage Containers, Shovel, Axe, Clothes, Shoes, Suitcases and the list goes on. Luckily I packed our passports, vehicle registration papers, camera equipment, title deeds for the house, insurance file, computers, portable hard drive and although we felt we would be going back to our house there must have been something in our sub conscious that urged us to pack what we did. Some residents stayed and fought the fire and we wondered if we could have done so, but with both power and water cut off it is doubtful we would have been successful and could have died in the attempt.

We have decided that we will rebuild the house and we will be positive and start to rebuild our memories and next months trip will be a happy start to new memories. Having said that we both often remember something else we will never see again. We have battled to get a full night sleep, the mind just races away often about silly things.

I have to share one more event coming out of the fire, our African Grey parrot did not stop feeding his face for two weeks and basically until the smell of smoke had largely dissipated, Denise says it must be the smell of smoke that triggers animals to eat as they know food may be hard to come by, I think it is a highly probable behaviour.

One thing we do not have to worry about is what clothing we should take on our trip we just take what we have, it will all fit into one suitcase.

All we can hope for now is that the insurance settle with enough for us to rebuild, so far they have come to the party and have been very considerate, if a little slow, but as one of the Insurance staff said this is a very complex claim and it will take a little time.

 I will post more often now that we are into the final 30 days of count down.

Only 3 house below  us were gutted

The remains of our house and virtually all our possesions and memories

The house after the fire from the North West

A view from the North

A view from Cassies and Sanel's looking straight at the Heads

Southern Africa Safari 2017 – Planning Phase – D Day plus 70 Days

Can you believe it only 70 days to go before we start our next adventure, still a lot to do and prepare, but so much can only be done a week to 10 days to go, at least that is my theory.

I need to book “Salama” our car, in for a service as I do not want what happened to a family that was on our last Namibia trip with us, he had his car serviced the day before leaving Potchefstroom for Namibia and 200 kms down the road his wheel fell off causing an accident, he had to hire a car to join the trip, seems the garage did not tighten the wheel nuts properly, guess who will be checking his wheel nuts before departure and when "Salama" comes back from service.

  

A 3 wheeler from way back

AJS 650cc 1975 model

We have had a hectic time of it in our sleepy holiday town, Knysna, and we need a small break before the Oyster Festival in July. As I mentioned in my last post we had a vintage Car Festival, which included motorbikes and latest models of cars, it was fascinating, as you walked around you would hear comments like “My Dad had one of those and at the time it was “The Car” then there was “Look at that engine it was so simple even a fool like me could fix it” and one lady commented on seeing a 1920 Ford “you wouldn’t find me dead in that” I was also guilty looking at a 1970 AJS 650 Sports Twin I told Denise I had one of those, exactly the same colour, I must say it looked very puny against a                                                                            1000cc BMW of today.

                                                                                 

BMW 1000cc Sports Model

Brought back many memories this AJS 650cc Sports Twin

Denise and her MG choice

We spent a couple of hours viewing these fantastically well looked after vehicles and some looked like they would be a good investment IF you could pick them up cheap and fix them up to manufacturers specifications.

I think this was a Sunbeam

Denise said I can have a motorbike as long as it has 3 wheels

Then we had the Pink Loerie Festival and if you are into that sort of thing it was the place to be with lots of events for all the LGBTI participants I include some photos from the web sites. Google tells me that LGBTI stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (Questioning) the latter, it states, are not sure of what they are.

Whatever takes your fancy

Knysna supports everything that brings business to the town

Two of the lovelies attending the Pink Mardi Gras

The eventual winner overall

Then we had the Speed Festival over 3 days known as the Jaguar Simola Hill Climb they race their cars up Simola hill for 1.9kms at an average speed of 181.456km per hour, the winners time in qualifying in a 1989 Dallara T189 single seater sports car (Formula 1) with Andre Bezuidenhout behind the wheel. You had a Nissan GTR doing it in 39.892sec and a classic car, a Chevron B19 turning in a time of 42.795sec. I am told that it was very well organised and the petrol heads got more than their share of adrenalin. I am including a couple of photos of the cars to get you drooling if you are into cars and motor bikes old and new.

I thought the pace in Knysna had slowed down somewhat, but Denise had other ideas and for Mothers Day lunch we had 3 Mothers/Grandmothers plus two, thank goodness she did not have the view that she would do nothing and the lunch was a great success.

Then on Wednesday the 17^th May, Denise and two of our friends decide it was time for a Safari dinner and we get to cook the main course. The theme was South Africa and we all had a great time, that is one of the advantages of being retired you can have a party on Wednesday and not worry about how you are going to feel on Thursday.

Night skys over Namibia cannot wait