Getting around
This is more a travelling and planing blog so if you are looking for my daily life, you’ll have to look somewhere else :)Archive for 2008 South Africa, Botswana and Zambia
A South African Namibian called Peter
On my way back I met Peter, I marine biologist from Namibia.
Well he is actually born here but lives in Namibia. He kindly invited me to share a bottle of wine and so we did. Don’t worry mum, I didn’t drink that much. I knew I still had to go down Swartberg Pass. Now I have a standing Invitation to Namibia – nice!
Die Hel (The Hell)
Today me main goal was to get down to the Hell and back again. Die Hell is a Valley that is quite hard to reach.
From above, the valley looks really nice. A green stroke through the grayish surronding mountains.
You can only go there with a 4-wheel driven car or by an off road bike. There is a kind of gravel road down, but I’m glad I used a rental bike instead of my own. It was a thrill, extremely bumpy and some parts of the road were only doable in speeds below 20 km per hour. Fences are none, so you shouldn’t have fear of heights. Especially the last part down is breathtaking.
The sign says it will take you 2 hour to go there. I took me one and a half. But I think cars will need that extra half hour, they can’t avoid some rocky parts like a bike can.
On five places I had to pass over water covered roads. 4 of them were easy, one was very slippery and I felt I had the wrong kind of tyres. Luckily I have GoreTex boots and my feet remained dry. All went well but on my way back I was extra careful.
Down in Die Hel I had lunch, I could only get some sandwiches and that was ok for me. They hardly have electricity there so I understand that it is hard to have a “menu”.
On my way back I found this sign, luckely I didn’t see it at first. (or perhaps I did…)
House of Port wine
House of Port wine
This night I stayed in this very cosy B&B called The House of Port. It was my most luxurious accommodation so far.
For sale – pick up in Ladismith SA
Volvo Amason ’65 Call +278827143 for details.
I couldn’t resist… I wonder though, did Sweden export to SA during the apartheid? Or did the sanctions start after 1965?
Greetings
I have noticed that many people wave at me as I drive by. It can be anyone, children, workers etc. The first time I thought they would warn me for something but now I understand that they are just being nice. I give them a thumb up in response.
Road signs
I have come across some nice road signs. I find the SA ones more artistic than the Swedish ones. Look at this; showing a road with lots of curves (I don’t actually know the correct name in English). Isn’t it more swung fully drawn? By the way, the road after the sign was a beauty.
I have also seen sign of turtles and this, showing a road under water 😉
Road under water
At one place I had to cross some water that had flooded the road. I bunch of German guys didn’t dare, they just had a normal car. They took of their shoes and measured the water. It was no problem for me, this is the right environment for a 1200GS 🙂
Shaken, not störd
That’s a joke only my Swedish friends will understand. Störd could mean in Swedish bothered or disturbed and it is pronounced as the English sturd. As I went down to Agulas I used for the first time gravel roads. Sooooo nice. After the heavy rain last week they where quite bumpy so I got shaken up. But I enjoyed it.
No further
As you can see I ended up at point Agulas, the most suthern point of the African continent. It is very different to the Cape Point. You can go very close to the water and it’s very flat.
For the first time in my life a saw two oceans at one time.
Whales and seasick..
This morning I went on a whale safari. I saw a lot of southern right (?) whales and thousands of dolphins. It was great until I got seasick. As you can see below it was not a calm sea.
Getting around 