Crazy stuff happened...but we won't tell you here!

After the wild drive, beautiful beaches, and delicious Indian food along South Africa's Wild Coast, Joe and I started our journey inland toward Nelspruit and Kruger National Park. Exhausted already from the extensive drive, Joe and I found comfort in knowing that this leg of our journey was going to be the last, long drive! At last, we arrived at our tented safari camp in Mthethomusha at 1:30 in the morning, and promptly crashed. We would call this luxury safari tent home for the next five nights.

On game day in Nelspruit, Joe and I decided to take it easy, update our blog, and attend the Italy vs. New Zealand match. We are rapidly becoming experts in "game attendance" - waiting patiently to find parking at the park & ride, yet cleverly managing to skirt to the front of the masses to ride the bus and get into the stadium. What was once at least a 2-hour process in Cape Town, we quickly whittled it down to 45-minutes. The Nelspruit game day presented itself as quite the dilemma for Joe as he was uncertain about his allegiance - Italy or New Zealand. Having lived in Christ Church, New Zealand for 6 months during his college years, Joe was ecstatic to experience the Kiwis' only second appearance in the World Cup, but his Italian heritage equally pulled at his heartstrings. Eventually, luckily for Joe, he didn't need to make a decision as the match ended in a draw. Italy's yet again lackluster performance against this underdog, foreshadowed their subsequent destiny in World Cup 2010. Despite the mediocrity of the game, we enjoyed the quaint feel and beautiful sunset at Mbombela Stadium.

Italy vs. New Zealand

Italy's equalizer goal off a penalty kick

New Zealand playing well against the defending champs

Joe, a proud Italy supporter!

The beautiful sunset behind Mbombela Stadium

Our remaining days in Nelspruit were reserved for self-drive safaris in the world-renowned Kruger National Park - an impressive 2 million hectares, three times the size of Yellowstone, of diverse African life forms. We drove around the southern most area of the park, merely scratching the surface. A discussion with an honorary park ranger informed us that most of the game had migrated to this southern region. Unusually dry weather in the north had forced the game to migrate to the wetter south, which contained lush vegetation and better opportunities for food and prey.

Springbok at Kruger National Park

Excited to take Joe on his first ever safari, we were pleasantly greeted by Lady Luck. During our two, full days at Kruger National Park, we were some of the few lucky people this season to have seen the Big 5 - Cape Buffalo, Elephant, Leopard, Lion and Rhino. Whether driving along paths less traveled or staying on the main paved roads, we were indeed fortunate to have our own "private" moments of game viewing, with no one else around to experience the uniqueness of those awe-inspiring, individual moments. As we drove around Kruger, Joe and I started to categorize groups of safari people - crowd seekers and lone spotters; crowd seekers were those people who wanted to see game by finding the biggest group of people parked on the side of the road, and lone spotters were people like us, who found excitement in trying to find the game on our own! Although, at points, we too played the role of crowd seekers in our quest to locate the more hard-to-see lions, especially from the low profile of our Kia Picanto.

Our first giraffe encounter, right on the road!

A similar awesome encounter with elephant population

Our second attempt at seeing a lion...success!

The white rhino is an endangered species

It was so hot the hippos never left their watery haven

Needless to say we had quite the adventure in Kruger! While we attempted to maintain a good schedule for our safari drive, somehow we managed to exit the park after the gates closed, on both nights. As fate would have it though, as we rushed to leave the park in dusk, we had two very thrilling encounters - seeing the stealthy, elusive leopard cross our path on its way to hunt prey, and catching a glimpse of a new nocturnal mammal, the African civet! What a great way to end our safari! We ended our stay in Nelspruit by taking a short day visit to Swaziland and appreciating their local arts and crafts. Along the way, we stopped at one of the most lush forests of Southern Africa, tucked in the high hills of Swaziland.

A wild drive along the Wild Coast

The drive

We embarked on our marathon drive from Cape Town to Nelspruit along the coast with no set plans or reservations, other than a four-day window to get to Nelspruit. No problem, right? Well, it turned out to be an epic 1,800-mile drive. Wildly passed by speeding cars at least 50 times. Passed another 100 trucks, cars, and vans ourselves. Down here, shoulders turn into lanes and the center line is more of a guideline than a rule. Thousands of South Africans walk up and down the road, casually crossing between cars speeding at 140km/hr and stepping in front of our car to hitch a ride. It's all part of the excitement, eh?

In between the long stretches of driving, some of the country's greatest gems can be found along the Garden Route and Wild Coast. I'm not talking diamonds, but instead beautiful beaches, river mouths, and coastal forests. Based on numerous recommendations, we stopped in Knysna for their fresh, local oysters and seafood along the Garden Route. A must-do! From here, the 5-day rainstorm finally ended as we drove into the night, arriving at Tsitsikamma National Park, the third most visited park in the country. However, we accidently arrived at the wrong side of this 47-km-long coastal sanctuary and back tracked back to the N2 highway. Finally in the right place, we set up our tent and cooked a quick meal while listening to the second match for South Africa—bafana bafana! Despite their attempts to equalize at 0:1, the game turned disastrous when the ref gave the goalie an undeserved red card, and Uruguay capitalized, finishing the game with a 3:0 win.

Our Tsitskikamma campsite below the Indian Ocean night sky

We fell asleep to the crashing waves just a hundred meters from our tent and awoke to expansive views of the turquoise blue Indian Ocean. Camping or lodging at Storms River Mouth is highly recommended! We enjoyed a quiet hike on the Blue Duiker Trail amongst remnant forest giants; the Outeniqua Yellow wood trees where heavily logged starting in the late 1800s, and much of South Africa’s temperate forests have been permanently lost…a familiar story across the globe, whether it’s the old growth of the Pacific Northwest, the native beech forests of New Zealand, or the yellow wood forests of South Africa. Already behind schedule, we joined the main throng of tourists for a quick walk out to the mouth of Storms River. The river’s water, brown from the rich tannins, flowed slowly out of the canyon, clueless of impending clash of ocean waves. We quickly got back on the road for a 9 hour drive to Coffee Bay. Despite a local climber’s recommendation to NOT drive through the Transkei region at night due to poor road conditions and stray animals, we pressed on. The Transkei region was a central relocation area of blacks during Apartheid rule and received very little government services until recent decades. As warned, I swerved around potholes and the “Transkei Big Five” (donkeys, goats, pigs, sheep and cattle) with the mission of safely arriving at our ocean front thatched rondavel by 11:30 pm.

Tsitskikamma coast


Blue Duiker Trail


Bushbucks graze and hyraxs scurry near the rocky shore


Storms River Mouth

Or so we thought. On day 3, another visitor pointed out a flat tire in the morning. We replaced it with the dummy spare tire and briefly blanked out the problem for a few hours to visit a neighboring Xhosa village. Many of the native Xhosa people still live traditional lifestyles: families live in thatched rondavels constructed with mud-dung bricks, teenage boys undergo circumcision ceremonies, and the dowry is paid in cattle. Our tour guide, Cylas, went to college in East London and now organizes visits to his home village. His career goal is to manage a hotel. Nelson Mandela’s homeland is not too far away and even he returned to his home to stay in a circumcision lodge. From here, the local Magic Tyre Repair Shop did their magic in removing the nail and patching the hole. Six hours later, we made it to a backpacker’s lodge in Pietermaritzburg—the home of Alan Paton (author of Cry, the Beloved Country) and the location of Ghandi’s arrival in South Africa where he was thrown off the train for being colored.

Coffee Bay


Arun and a local Xhosa woman


Cylus' little sister


Taking on Bafana Bafana's next generation of football legends.


Inside Cylus' rondavel


The village above the ocean


Cylus stands over a tap for potable water, installed by the government after ongoing issues with cholera


The Sacred Pool, where generations have come to honour their ancestors

The next day, we cruised into Durban’s densely packed Indian district where we walked the markets and sampled some Indian cuisine. We also visited the local mosque, Juma Musjid, the largest mosque in the Southern Hemisphere. A volunteer guide from the Islamic faith center gave the tour, but it was mostly a lesson in Islam. From here, we finished the drive into Nelspruit where we were led to our safari tent tucked between a township and tribal authority nature reserve. Arun drove a few occasions when she could, but it was a bit of a crash course in driving a stick shift. Driving on the left side, the dubious road conditions, and the South African drivers were a bit much. Most importantly, this third leg of the trip ended safely in time for the next World Cup game and visits to Kruger National Park (next post!)

Durban's Indian District

Dr Yusuf Dadoo Street and the minarets of Juma Musjid

Juma Musjid

Viva Italia, vino, y pinguinos!

In the spirit of the World Cup and our favorite team, Italia, we're writing the blog title in Italian. Now we will attempt to write in Afrikaan..."skool...accommodasie...dankie".

Alright, enough kidding around...Afrikaan is a pretty complicated language that we're not attempting to, let alone write!

Since we left Rocklands over 10 days ago, we noticed a couple of key features of South Africa - 1) It rains a LOT here, and 2) South Africans in general are impatient and often crazy drivers. Our few days around the Western Cape started off with rain - torrential downpours at time. We realized that it had rain for four straight days - no joke. The rain however did not dissuade us from exploring this impressive area.

Our first day in Hout Bay naturally started as a moderately rainy day. Ideally, we would have enjoyed a hike up and around Table Mountain, but a tragic incident the night before left us cautious of the dangerous and slippery conditions of the trails during rainy days. Given the wet weather, Doreen, our gracious hostess at the Makuti Lodge, suggested that we take the day to explore some of the cape peninsula and perhaps enjoy some wine at the local wineries. Being the “over achievers” that we are, Joe and I decided to take Doreen's advice to the next level – it's amazing what one can get done in a day!

We started Sunday off with a scenic drive through Chapman's Peak, along the rugged coastline of the western cape. The winding road overlooked picturesque scenes of small coastal towns, nestled in the mountainside of Table Mountain National Park, while the fog and dark, wispy rain clouds hung lowly over the confetti of conifers and native South African canopies. While passing through the townships, we infrequently encountered amusing, picture-worthy road signs, paving the way for a short track of jokes and off-shoots. The beautiful coastal drive landed us at the tip of the cape peninsula – Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. The Cape of Good Hope is known as the “southwestern” most part of Africa and it is incorrectly associated with the phrase “two oceans, two shores”, where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean. The correct point where these two oceans meet is at the southern most tip of Africa at Cape Agulhas. Regardless, the area around the Cape of Good Hope is stunning and a must-see for any visitor to South Africa! The sheer beauty of icy waters of the deep blue Atlantic crashing energetically onto the rocky, white coast that meets the rugged, tall cliffs overlooking the ocean, is simply breathtaking.

The tranquility of this area was soon replaced with a brief period of anxiety as we noticed that our gas tank was showing “empty”. Not sure exactly how much gas was left and how far the nearest gas station was, made for a nerve-wracking driving back up the other coast of the peninsula. Nervously, we drove into the quaint little town of Simon's Town, where we filled our gas tanks and bellies. You can't be in a coastal area this vibrant and not enjoy fish and chips! Precisely, that's what we did – a simple yet delicious lunch on the pier at the Salty Sea Dog was the perfect midday break. After lunch, there was a small window of sunshine during which we visited Boulder's Beach, a marine conservation area for African (aka “jackass”) penguins. The conservation area provides a safe nesting area on the coast for these penguins to breed and raise their young. As the rain returned, we concluded our drive along the peninsula and headed into the mountains for a warm fire and wine tasting. The Steenberg Winery, a local favorite, rapidly became our favorite winery in South Africa – their staff is incredibly helpful and the wine is delicious at a surprisingly affordable price range. Even in the mist, the grounds of the winery was lovely. We ended our evening with a yummy dinner at The Raj in the trendy Camp's Bay area.

Monday – game day – started again with rain; this time it was torrential and no signs of the sun appearing that day. As we drove along the Stellenbosch Wine Route, we secretly hoped for clear night skies during our evening Italy vs. Paraguay game. Wine tasting in Stellenbosch ended up being the perfect rainy day activity – sitting near warm fires and enjoying world-class wines made in South Africa – couldn't have asked for anything better! There are over 30 wineries in this region and it's impossible to visit all of them, especially in a day! We wrapped up our afternoon with four wineries and rushed off to meet our camp mate Helen, for an early dinner in Cape Town before our 8:30p game. This turned out to be way more hectic and tricky than we anticipated – thankfully, we had a local with us to take us to dinner and drop us off near the stadium. Yay for Helen! Our first World Cup game together was absolutely incredible and completely memorable. The game itself was rather mediocre, but the atmosphere and spirit of the world was unforgettable – driven with energy, enthusiasm, and cheer. I wanted to dress up as a crazy football fan, but buying all the accessories would be incredibly expensive, so I resorted to painting my face and dawning the Italian gear. Joe wore his jersey and waved the Italian flag proudly as Italy scored to tie the game. Returning to the car after our game was completely mayhem mixed in with order – we felt like cattle being herded – literally. Pushing and shoving our way through 63,000 people is no small feat! Long lines, buses, and a car ride later, we returned to the serenity of our quaint lodge around 12:30a. Not bad :)

Tuesday, our final day around the western cape was slow-paced as we decided to explore Cape Town itself a bit further. As usual, the day started off cloudy and drizzly, with brief pockets of sunshine. Joe and I had lunch on the Cape Town Waterfront and made our way up to Table Mountain for a cable car ride. Unfortunately, the cable car ride had just closed as we drove there, but Joe managed to get some lovely shots of the city and bay in sunset. This would have been the perfect end to the day, expect that we ran into internet troubles during our blog post – after spending 3 hours writing our post and uploading pictures, it turned out that Blogger was unable to actually make the post...so here we are, 5 days later, attempting to post again!

Our second game, Italy vs. New Zealand, in Nelspruit will be starting in 2 hours – with that, we're signing off til next time! In the meantime, enjoy our photos!

Hout Bay and the Sentinel from Chapman's Peak Drive




Cape Point


Cape of Good Hope




Penguins at Boulders Beach


Steenberg Vineyards just outside Cape Town


Stellenbosch wine country


Morgenhof Vineyards Cellar


Arun at Morgenhof Winery...yes that's SNOW up in the mountains


The game! Italy vs Paraguay, 1:1








The Cape Town Harbor


Cape Town at sunset from the flanks of Table Mountain

Raw skin, pre-game jitters, and robots ahead

South Africa has a lot of rock...and we haven't even travelled beyond the Western Cape. We finished our last post in Clanwilliam and left you with a sampling of photos of Rocklands. Lets start there.

First off, its impossible to sum up Rocklands if you only spend 6 days exploring the area. The plateaus and outcroppings of boulders extend for miles and a solid 3-month season will only scratch the surface of what's possible. Nonetheless, each day is special in this place, even the rest days. Arun and I stayed at De Pakhuys campground, an international dirtbag climber's paradise. Tucked between a farm and the boulder fields, laptops around the fire are as common as boerewors (South African sausage) on the braai (bbq). We were greeted by a friendly host of climbers from South Africa, England, Australia, US, Canada, Germany, and Norway.

There are a few different bouldering crags within a 10 minute walk from camp and the Roadcrew area is higher up at Pakhuys Pass in the Cederburg Wilderness, a World Heritage site. We spent our time exploring these two main areas. Running from boulder to boulder reminded me of days spent bouldering in Castle Hills, New Zealand, fully overwhelmed by the maze of boulders. Overall, Rocklands is 10 times more extensive, yet clusters of well-featured boulders are more spread out. And of course, this is sandstone, not limestone. The boulders present more features, especially in the overhangs, and chickenheads of every shape cap the tops. Just as the mountains energize my spirits, the emotions from climbing these boulders flood my body. With Arun at my side and the lovely company of new friends, I climbed.

A quick word on access. Permits are required at all crags whether public or private land. Climbing at De Pakhuys is free if you are staying on the farm. Permission is always required on other farms. As for the Cederberg, you must pick up your permit from Cape Nature in Clanwilliam. Arun and I picked ours up for the remainder of the week, since it was free with our Wild Card pass. However, the system does not work seemlessly. Driving to Clanwilliam is out of the way, rangers do not regularly patrol, and some climbers feel like the primary purpose was to generate revenue from international climbers and not to improve trails or mitigate impacts. In South Africa, public recreation is not a given assumption.

To sum up, go to Rocklands. And let me know if you are planning a trip. In fact, there is so much rock in South Africa, plan to boulder, trad climb, and clip bolts. Wolfberg is around the corner (but cold in the winter) and crags dot the entire country. We left the rack at home but may hook up with some partners for sport at Waterval Bovin outside Nelspruit in a week.

From Rocklands, we travelled back into World Cup mayhem, resupplied in the Cape Town mall, and arrived in Hout Bay at our self-catered cottage tucked up behind Table Mountain. We enjoyed a great day circling the Peninsula and driving to the southwestern-most point of the African Continent: the Cape of Good Hope. But we will save these stories and photos for our next post. I hope you all enjoyed the US-England match last night. Italy vs. Paraguay tomorrow!

Enjoy the photos:

Campground at De Pakhuys


Drew and Kane enjoying morning espresso


Evening gathering around the fire pit


A rainy day drive into the Cederberg Wilderness


Arun working a fun overhang at Roadside, Cederberg


The Roadside Crew: Me, Helen, Ingveld, and Arun


Arun on the approach to Roadcrew, Cederberg


On De La Lune at Roadcrew


Truly messing around here!


Working the last problem of the day at Roadcrew with the sun setting


Raw skin = great time climbing