Links updated and corrected

Hi everyone,

sorry for the inconvenience, but I eventually managed to correct all the links to the web albums. Right? Feel free to check! :)

The Complete Trip (Go... (1)

September 8th until 1... (127)

September 6th, Centurion (3)

September 4th and 5th... (52)

September 3rd, on the... (5)

September 1st&2nd, Au... (36)

August 31st, Kalahari... (6)

August 29th and 30th,... (20)

August 25th until 28t... (46)

August 19 and followi... (61)

August 16th until 18t... (18)

August 12th to 14th, ... (34)

August 11th and 14th ... (4)

South Africa - Niel &... (14)

Cheers!

Stefan

Google Earth: The Complete Trip

For those who are interested: here's the full trip (excluding the tracks inside the parks) as a Google Earth screenshot. Arathusa airfield to Skukuza airfield and then to O.R. Tambo International airport of course isn't a roadtrip. Don't know how to change that in MapSource yet.

Cheers!

Stefan

Sept. 11th: taking off.

That'll be my last posting from South Africa. At Jo'Burg O.R. Tambo airport now. How quickly the time has passed, eh?

Sabi Sands. Beautiful Sabi Sands. Stunning Sabi Sands. I flew out to Skukuza airfield at the Kruger Park with a little Cessna bush plane. On the co-pilot's seat. Then with a slightly bigger one to Jo'Burg. Very cool.

Anyway, time flies, more additions to the journal when I'm back in Germany. Have a look at the pictures in the meantime. I have uploaded lots and lots more.

Cheers!

Stefan

September 8th until 11th: Sabi Sands Private Game Reserve

Hey, another post before I go back home. No, wait! Home? That's here, no? ;)

So there I am in Sabi Sands. Getting here wasn't easy (my GPS led me right into a military airbase) but now i am in paradise. It's supposed to be the greatest place to see leopards. The highest density in whole Africa, no, the whole world. Which I can confirm now. During five game drives I have seen leopards seven times and these were at least 3 different individuals. One of which is the legendary Safari, a fifteen year old female who lost one eye while defending her cubs against a lion a couple of years ago. She has given birth to lots of the leopards roaming around the reserve and Kruger National Park, the fences to which are open. Her blind eye looks really nasty, but she seems to be doing fine and it apparently doesn't cause any trouble while hunting.

Besides we saw lions mating, lots of kudu, waterbuck, impala, warthogs, giraffes, genets, elephants and even rhinos. You name it! Very cool. And I love how the rangers treat all the animals with the most respect possible. One does recognize immediately because none of the animals are bothered by the game drive vehicles.

So the last two nights I stayed at the beautiful Arathusa Safari Lodge and drove out with Jason (ranger) and Roy (tracker). Today I was brought over to the Nkorho Bush Camp. Very cool place, too, but what's special about it is that they offer photography courses. André "Kalahari" showed me a few tricks before we went on the first game drive and I must say it was really cool! We saw Safari and one of her sons again as well as a couple of hundred buffalo. Quite a thrill to stand right in the middle of such a huge herd!

So tomorrow at 5am we'll get a wake up call and lets see what's to discover on that last game drive and wildlife experience of my holiday. But no, wait, it's followed by a breakfast and a bush walk. At 1:30pm I will fly out to JoBurg in a Cessna and at 7:15pm I'll take off to Frankfurt. Wow, this is a proof for the way time flies when you enjoy something.

Ok, I'll get some sleep now, lets hope the lions come to drink water out of the swimming pool like they did a couple of days ago. So cool! :)

Have a good night everyone! Ah...before I forget: PICTURES!

Cheers!

Stefan

September 5th until 7th: on the road to Centurion and Lajuma

Sept. 5th: Groundhog Day. I could keep the hiking-thought alive. Pretty cool trail, very impressive to actually walk for a change. :) Mostly plants along the way. Well, except for lots and lots of insects. And a Reedbuck. Thank god there were no snakes in what I would consider being their perfect habitat. Cause the trail guide mentions the puff adders and cape cobras that might just lie on some rock to heat up for the day. Pff. It felt a bit strange while walking through the long grass every once in a while. Ahem.

Anyway...at 3pm I took off from Royal Natal National Park sweaty as I was. Only shortly after I found myself seriously talking to myself for the first time during my trip. My GPS had suggested a really weird route and I suddenly was in some area around Harrysmith neither a tourist nor a local would really want to see himself in. Some young guys went to jump in front of my vehicle to get a lift. Or whatever. Well, I just kept going and they hardly managed to get out of the way. Not my fault. :-S. Anyway...with sweaty palms and blood rushing in my ears I reached the N3 and then was on my way to JoBurg. Finally. I don't know who put up the N3 road signs but they must've had a sense of humour. JoBurg: 288km. Then JoBurg 297km. Then JoBurg 278km. Another road sign: "Welcome to the Gauteng province. Enjoy your stay!" Ironically it had three bulletholes in it. :-|

But anyway. I arrived in Centurion at7:20. More than enough to hit the Godfather on time. If only we hadn't chatted as if the last visit would have been ages ago. ;) Well, we made it to the steak house at 9 and had a great evening there. It's so nice to be around Nicolette and Niel and I feel as much home as possible when I'm there.

Sept. 6th: After another great breakfast and with Niel's support I managed to fix the tent one of the poles of which broke in the Kalahari. I would have hated to return Ian's tent in a damaged condition. I also managed to finally fix the Avis issue, cause I will rent a different car to get to Sabi Sand tomorrow. That's a huge load off my back now. Made a few enquiries for accomodation in the Waterberg area but Nicolette convinced me to stay for one more night since it would have been a waste of money. Both don't mind even though it's their 5th wedding anniversary. Well...cool! ;) We went to Ludwig (Nicolette's boss) birthday party instead and I met a bunch of new and nice people. We had some delicious braai meat (what else?) and Ludwig and I had quite a chat about cameras and photography. We had a good time over there and finished the evening with watching some really cool stuff on YouTube (especially the three "Simon's Cat" clips are hilarious).

Today we also took it quite easy and I will take off to Lajuma at noon. (More) pictures and pictures.

Kind regards to everyone!

Stefan


P.S.: I would really love to get your opinion about some of the pictures I took so far. Well, those which are online. I've taken roughly 3700 now.

P.P.S.: Hardly any cell signal in Lajuma and no clue how it is in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve so I might only be able to post once I'm back in Germany...

September 4th: Golden Gate and Royal Natal NP

Ok. Lets call this the hesitation day (I'll explain later). I woke up in my beautiful hotel room (right, hotel room!) in the Golden Gate National Park way too early this morning because a rather big group of teenagers had decided to start their day rumbling down the hallways at approx. 7am. Great. I would have been up an hour earlier if only someone had dropped a few predators in the park. But nobody did, unfortunately. Since the mountains are patient and don't run away I decided to sleep in. Good plan, bad execution. But anyway...

The landscape, however, was not exactly as I had expected. No. It was much more than that. It was was jaw-dropping!!! Sure, I've seen Marakele NP, I've seen the mountain ranges in the Karoo and those on my way to Bloemfontein, but this cannot be described nor represented with only a picture. Wow! No predators, hardly any bucks but still wow!! Or maybe wow because I had to get my thoughts off the animals and my eyes onto the landscape.

This is the northernmost end of the Drakensberg mountains which nestle up against the eastern border of Lesotho and it gave me a rough idea of what was about to come. Well...maybe...or...I had no idea. Because that's when the hesitation began to set in. I just wasn't sure whether I should drive all the way down to Giant's Castle NP in the center of the Drakensberg mountains. 250km to see birds (especially bearded vultures) and bucks (especially oribi and elands)? And all this for only two nights down there? Hmm. I stopped several times to look at the maps and trade it off against driving up north right away and staying in a game reserve that has more animals to offer. But after I had passed the Sterkfontein dam and Nicolette had given me a few descriptions of what she knows about the area I finally gave in. Which was a wise decision. Giant's Castle NP was now the declared stage for that day but I was to be disappointed soon.

First of all it would have been a 4 hours drive from where I was at the time and I wouldn't have arrived early enough to get the keys for just about any type of accomodation. And they only had a chalet for 500+ Rand to offer which would have been too much anyway. So I decided to stick around the area I was in and check a few B&Bs. While searching for some braai meat I passed by a "farmstall" where they make homemade hamburgers. Guess who couldn't say no? Yes, the "fastfood junkie". So the actual cheeseburger was great and I then went to a backpackers to ask for a good place to see clawless otters. The guy just didn't care about my seriously articulated enquiry, he rather wanted to offer me some accomodation in his four walls. Desperately. Since the whole establishment more or less gave me that "from dusk till dawn" feeling I decided to decline politely and hit the road again.

Which is why I finally "ended up" in one of the nothern Drakensberg nature reserves, the Royal Natal National Park. And what a beauty this park is!! I, however, still haven't understood why some national parks out there would administered by the government's organisation SANParks and others would be owned by privately run organisations. Anyway. It's beautiful here and very quiet. Suspiciously quiet. No jackals, barking geckos, teenagers, birds, no nothing. Wait! The "from dusk till dawn" feeling starts creeping up my neck. ;) I guess with all the braaiswors, gem squat, butternut, baked potatoes and pineapple in my stomach I would serve as a good meal. Funny thought initially, not so funny when I further get into it. Ahem.

Anyway...after some nice chatting with friends (strange how that is possible even in the remotest places) I am now likely to call it quits for today. I plan to go on a hiking trail tomorrow, maybe I manage to keep the thought alive until then. Have a look at the pictures but be aware that they only reflect a fraction of what I have actually seen today.

Cheers, thanks for reading and have a good night!

Stefan

September 3rd: on the road again. Golden Gate is calling...

So I finally managed to take off. I was quite indecisive as to where I should head since Golden Gate mostly has scenic mountains and bucks to offer. Hardly a chance to see big cats. But I went eventually. Evan had recommended not to take the fast route but rather the one that's going along the border of Lesotho. Well, that was a very good advice!! What a great landscape once more! The problem is that it is especially difficult to actually conserve each overwhelming visual impression in a single picture. I guess I will have to make a couple of 360's tomorrow, maybe that helps creating some sort of a similar feeling. Besides that the people were really creative in giving the cities over here proper names. I just hope it weren't any weird missionaries. ;)

I only arrived at the park 3 hours ago so it was already pitchblack outside. Lets see what tomorrow brings and if I decide to either stay until friday or take off to have a look at the Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve nearby JoBurg. Or maybe... :) Well, did anyone say there are no cats in the Golden Gate NP? Wrong according to the Lonely Planet's 'Watching Wildlife in Southern Africa'. It raises hackles (at least mine when I read it), but they have the guts to print the following as a watching tip: "At Golden Gate Highlands NP, the eastern loop road encompasses the home range of a female african wildcat." Oh my! I wonder whether she's happy with her unexpected celebrity status. If she even exists.

Well, decide for yourself and have a good nite!

Stefan

Pictures.

September 1st and 2nd: Augrabies Falls and Bloemfontein

So I finally got to see the falls. The "Place of Big Noise" is what Augrabies stands for. It's a tiny little park compared to the others I have seen so far but very impressive it is indeed!! There might be times when a lot more water from the Orange River comes rumbling down the falls, but this was quite a panorama! Very nice canyons and a beautiful mountain panorama. I didn't get to see a lot of animals, but that's simply not what you look for when you come to that amazing place. Thanks to the SANParks wildcard I didn't have to pay the conservation fee and I had four great hours in the park.

So I headed back to my guesthouse to pick up my laundry they went to take care of in the morning and then headed for Bloemfontein, a 700km drive from the West to the mid-East of South Africa. And what a great ride it was! Very scenic with lots and lots of vineyards surrounded by beautiful orange-red mountains. I reached Kimberley, the diamond capital (remember the "big hole" story?), at approx. 18:40 and with another 160km to drive in the dark I rushed to pick up some diesel quickly. Besides the family from Bloemfontein that had offered me a place to stay when we met in the Kalahari was to prepare dinner for everyone. So thanks to the GPS I arrived at 20:40 and I can tell you...I was happy to be there because I was tired and they gave me a really warm welcome. How cool is that??! You chat with someone you meet in a national park and talk about the pictures you have taken that day and after just a few minutes they offer you a place to stay. Just like that! I guess you would not make that kind of an experience in Germany, right? At least not too often. And they are incredibly cool people. Which is why we chatted all day and since I couldn't make up my mind over the next stage of my trip I have simply been offered to stay another night. Did I mention that South Africans are cool? A big HI to Niel and Nicolette at this point! ;)

Besides I was quite happy to be able to take a nice hot shower and then slip into a bed with electric blankets! No-no-no...don't you think of those thingies that only old people would use to warm their bums at night. No. It's very cold over here at the moment and since the isolation of the houses isn't that good these blankets provide some incredible luxury. Well, at least my perspective has changed quite a bit since last night. :) And believe me...I will switch it on AGAIN! :p

Before I forget...you might already know that I'm kinda happy when I am offered the opportunity to take pictures of (wild) animals. Which I also did today. Don't get mislead, not all South Africans have cats. But the ones I know do. And dogs. Well, see for yourself.

Have a good night everyone!

Cheers and sweet dreams!

Stefan

Pictures are to be found here.

On the road to Augrabies Falls

So today I slept in. Until 7:30. Hehe. I took it quite easy, cleaned my cameras and had a few rusks for breakfast before I left the bushcamp and chatted with Prof. Anne Rasa for a while. I took a few pictures of the main building and the very cool Land Cruiser until I headed to Upington at 12. 2 hours later I was on site and stocked up at the Pick'n Pay. Most people looked at me as if I was some sort of an alien. Must've been because I looked like Mr. Crocodile Dundee himself with dirty shoes and clothes. Or the redneck farmer's boy who comes to town once a year. Anyway...nice to be able eat some fruits and vegetables again!!!

I took off to Augrabies right after but couldn't make it to the gate before 5 which is why I went to the "Quiver Tree Guest House" quite early. Three crazy dogs went to greet me at the entrance and they carefully watched every move and every piece of luggage I unloaded from the car. Later tonite I went to give that lady who runs the place my laundry and when I went back to my room the fourth dog, which had been in a kennel before gave me a not too tender bite to the thigh. Strange place. The lady had told me that he doesn't like "blacks". I wonder if they trained the dog and whether this also applies to bad smelling tourists. :) Well, I hope not to be too politically incorrect here. ;)

But it didn't ruin the braai for me, which this time consisted of beef filet, butternut, the obligatory baked potatoe and a pumpkin-like fruit the name of which I cannot remember at the moment. And I have to admit that after all this writing I am seriously tired. Better sleep now...if the bush baby on the tree above lets me cause it's dropping stupp on the roof. Damn bugger! :) Well, the alarm is set to 6am. I hope I'll make it...!

Have a good nite everyone! Cheers and sweet dreams!

Pictures!

August 29th and 30th, Nossob and exit through Twee Rivieren

Did I ever mention that it was kind of quiet in the park, even around Nossob? Well, it must've been, because I took pictures of the ground squirrels in camp again. Some of which are, however, really cool! Since I (we) didn't see much, we called it quits rather early on the 29th and took off again late in the afternoon. All I found along the way were leopard tracks and droppings. Saw a cool secretary bird at Kwang waterhole though. They are soo cool and they look as if some Muppets puppeteer is hidden in the tree above. Plus they have great black trousers on. And they sip water very gentleman-like. Shortly after I spotted one of the juvenile bateleur eagles at the Cubitje Quap waterhole. And a lanner falcon diving down on a few doves.

So we had a goodbye-braai on the 29th and I took off at 7 on the 30th in order to have lots of time for the way down to Twee Rivieren. Well, i couldn't leave camp that early because I bumped into several people I had met during the days in the park and we chatted quite a while. That even happened three times while I was on the main road, but it's actually cool to meet and talk to so many of the other visitors. And as if someone up there had been graceful with me saw three cheetah cubs crossing the road while I was just a few k's south of the Marie se draai loop. They were then calling for their mother which shortly after came rushing down the riverbank. Both sides kept on calling but they either didn't see each other or it simply was some sort of a strategy because quite a few cars had piled up at the time and they looked quite agitated. I was really pissed off because some of the other visitors would be extremely rude and park their car right in front of me chasing the cubs away which is why I eventually took off after the mother went up the riverbank again.

A few shots of a yellow mongoose at the Dikbaardskolk picnic spot and off I went to the 16,7km Leeuwdril 4x4 trail. Another breathtaking landscape. Unbelievable. Well, I had to leave the park eventually and then took off to spend one night at Prof. Anne Rasa's Kalahari Trail Bushcamp. Another really cold night in the dunes but the sheer beauty of the Kalahari makes up for it a hundred times...

Pictures? Pictures! :)

August 25th until 28th: The 4x4 Eco Trail

The infamous 4x4 eco trail. After a short chat at Twee Rivieren main camp at 9 o'clock we drove up to the Kij Kij waterhole to leave the main road at approx. 11. We let the tire pressure down to 1,3 bar cause the 214km ahead of us would be sand and nothing but sand. Well, despite of the 4x4 I was sitting in the initial thought about all the dunes was a wee bit scary but we didn't spend much time there to go deeper into it. Every one in the 5 cars had a walkie talkie so that we were able to communicate while driving. The first few dunes were ok until I got stuck in one that would even be rated. Anyway...I found out that in my bakkie the front wheel hubs have to be locked manually to make the 4WD work. Well, after that was done it dug through the sand like a charm. I even managed to conquer "Big Sister", one of the two biggest and steepest dunes of the trail.

Not too many animals along the way, but Francois had told us before. But the landscape was simply breathtaking! Just like the thought to sleep nearby a waterhole having no fence around the tents and just a guide with a rifle. So as a preparation for the first night "out there" we pitched our tents at the Witgat campsite. The bush luxury was well represented by open-air showers (just a plastic container to fill with your own water, can you believe that 2,5 litres are sufficient for a full body shower? Well, I don't need shampoo and conditioner ;) and so-called longdrops. Which were quite a luxury, because that way you don't have to dig a hole and burn the toilet paper when you're done. Speaking of luxury...being the only real tourist (all the others are South-African citizens) I felt a bit weird that evening because the only stuff I had brought besides my camera and laptop were my backpack and the big plastic box with my kitchen tools and food. I had not even brought a chair. Well, not the others. Their 4WDs would be equipped with boxes and even more boxes containing everything you can imagine. From gas-stove to a full bush kitchen, solar shower, spotlight...you name it! But anyway...despite of the great start into the evening with our delicious braai it was frickin cold that night and it must have been below zero because the water on Francois vehicle was frozen the next morning. Besides one of the hundreds of scorpions had chosen the underside of my tent as his area to discover. Nice thought, ey? Thank god he wasn't inside the tent, because according to Francois the Kgalagadi dunes are home to Africa's most venomenous scorpion. Well, I wouldn't be able to figure out which one it was just because of the tracks it had left. And despite Francois' 80% hit rate for lions and hyenas roaming around the camp we didn't have any bigger predatory visitors. Too bad, especially because the others had told me quite a few stories of people being stuck in their tents because lions would be waiting outside playing around with the coal for the braii. Hehe. So we took off at 10 for the next 60-something kilometres. No challenging dunes this time, which might also have been the case because I knew how to handle most of them by now.

The second stop was at Rosyntjiebos camp, situated in an area that is nick named "The Serengeti" because it's like a pan surrounded by dunes. A lovely place and we could hear the hyenas and jackals singing at night. It wasn't as cold as the night before, but still chilly enough. :) No visitors during that night either. :(

Our third and last stop was at the Swartbas camp. This time Francois let us arrange the cars and tents around the campfire in a circle so that none of the predators would have a chance to sneak in unseen. I took a few pictures of the beautiful sunset before I was asked to come back into camp because it was too dangerous out there. I had a quick thought whether I would really be able to stand my ground in case lions or hyenas would offer me their company. I do believe that especially out in the dunes they are much more scared of humans than we are of them, but hey...that point has to be proven. :) All the preparations, however, were in vain because again no visitors. Which might have been a good thing because we had to prepare for the biggest challenge of the trail: "Big Brother", the father of all dunes. Francois calls it overrated, I can confirm. He said that none of his guests had made it up with just one attempt, but it was almost too easy. might have been because my tire pressure was down to 1 bar at the time. I guess I made the other 4WD enthusiasts grind their teeth a little, but hey...it also worked when I went up there once more. Anyway...the trip ended at 1pm on the 28th and we all agreed that it was one of the coolest things to do in the park. Besides the group was very nice and from the first day on it was possible to joke with everybody. South Africans are a cool bunch of people!

So after a short excursion to the Polentswa campsite we all went to Nossob where most of us had booked for the following 2 nights. Our evening there started with...guess what? A braai, of course! ;)

tbc...


Pictures of the 4x4 eco trail.

A new hope...uhm...strategy!

So there I was at the Monro waterhole at 7:25 this morning. I had even taken a look at the plains east of the Nossob to check for the cheetahs they had seen 3 days in a row. Well, I didn't. Anyway...so there I was at the Monro waterhole expecting the 3 leopards that were sighted yesterday. Another lesson learned: don't believe all that people tell you and don't expect the animal's behaviour to be forecastable. Not at all. Guess who waited at the waterhole until 10 and the only animals he spotted were those on wheels?

I gave up after I talked to a couple who has seen the lioness and the four cubs again one waterhole further south, the name of which I don't seem to be able to pronounce in Afrikaans: Houmoed. Damn, that's quite a tongue breaker. So I saw them again, took a few pictures (mum was quite grumpy), reported my sighting to a really cool South African family I had met yesterday (and who had to take off this morning to make it to Bloemfontein on time) and then went back to camp at 11 to get my tire fixed. That and even more: after some welding and getting some new screws on the shield that protects the engine my car now sounds like a tiny bulldozer. Very cool! I could now sneak up on any animal until I'm only 150 metres away and they still wouldn't know that someone's taking pictures... ;) Oh, not to forget...I almost had a roadkill on my way to the camp. A yellow mongoose. Luckily I didn't run it over and took a few cool pics instead. So in camp I also checked my tent and the other equipment cause it's eco trail's eve today! I then went to check the Twee Rivieren camp for meerkats/suricata to find none and took off at 4pm to spend some time at the Leeuwdril waterhole where a leopard was spotted in the morning. These cats usually don't roam around too much during the day so I thought I'd just give it a try. I waited till 6:10pm and all I got to see were the leopard tracks and a very shy and nervous jackal. I really had to rush back to camp and I made it just on time (6:30pm), cause the guard was about to close the gate that minute. I gave him a lift to the reception and then lit up the braai again. Chicken and baked potatoes for a change. Damn, I will miss that when I'm back.

What's quite funny is that I don't have to tell any of the officials my name anymore because they all seem to know me. Wanna know why? Because at the moment I'm apparently the only guy traveling alone in the whole park! Can you believe that? I hope they don't know my name because they pity me... ;)

Ok, so Francois, our trail-guide was here tonite to give me instructions and answer my questions. Everything seems so be ok, although I feel a bit strange because you should see the 4x4s most of the South Africans travel in. They're compartments on wheels. And in there you'll find anything you can imagine. Even a VCR and a TV. Damn! Well, at least I will be able to put some of my stuff in his electric fridge inside the car so that I'm not stuck with canned food all the time. Besides a bat is in my kitchen, carefully watching every move...

So I'll go to bed now, wanna be in shape tomorrow and drive to Monro/Houmoed before we take off at 9!

Cheers and sweet dreams everybody!

Stefan

P.S.: I have uploaded a few more pics! I will be offline now until at least August 30th. No cell signal in the bush...

August 23rd, back to Twee Rivieren

I went through the gate at 6:58h. This time there's no excuse! I rushed to the Marie se draai waterhole to be the first to welcome the lions. Well, it's 8:25h now and they must have slept in today. Can't blame them because supposedly the have 4 cubs and that must be an exhausting mission to accomplish in the bush every day. I guess 6 cars have alread stopped just to take off after only a couple of minutes. Should I be rushing, too? Should I reconsider my strategy? Do I have a strategy at all? If not, is there some way to come up with one?! To be honest: I don't know. I guess all I can do (just like everyone else) is to rely on my luck and appreciate the small animals along the way. Besides I have 7 more nights im the park, so what the hell...ok, so it's 8:31 now, I have spent 1:15h here the sun is blinding me by now, pictures would come out bad anyway, so I guess I just call it quits at this place. Sad but true.

There's, however, hope. :) Maybe I should concentrate on the small animals now and then the predators come as a side dish. Hehe.

***

So now it's evening and I have to admit that this day really had its ups and downs. At a certain point I was quite pissed about having to drive myself all the time because you get to see much less than being at least two people. Except for some beautiful birds of prey I almost saw nothing today. I had to wait until 4:30 to finally see a lioness with 4 cubs at the Houmoed waterhole close to Twee Rivieren camp. Some idiot would park his car right in front of mine. Diagonally. So I decided to close the distance. Well, after I did that I was closer to the lions than everybody else, but 30 seconds later they all took off and went up a hill not to be seen again. Must've been my car again. It could've been my imagination only though it seemed as if everbody around me was a wee bit agitated afterwards. But hey...4 days in the park and there it was...my first big cat sighting! Who cares about the pissed spectators? ;)

I went to the camp right after to get my tire fixed (the tube, remember?) so I stopped at the reception to ask whether the tube has arrived. They told "yes, it has, someone is on his way to bring it to your chalet!". Good job, but why would someone bring it over? That alone doesn't fix, does it? The lady at the reception just looked at me blankly. Despite the fact that the guys in the workshop had told me they'd fix the tire on Saturday, the lady at the reception now told me that the workshop's staff is on "stand-by" over the weekend. Which means: nobody's there. But I can have the tire fixed on Monday morning right before I go on the eco trail starts. Good afternoon, South Africa! :)

Now, after some delicious braai (very creative this time: lamb&baked potatoes) I'll watch a movie and will see, what tomorrow brings. But I'll upload a few more photos for you.

Cheers and sleep tight!

Stefan

August 22nd, on the road to Nossob camp

Guess what? I made it at 7:25 this morning! Only a few kilometres after I had left the camp I talked to 4 Italians who had apparently seen 2 cheetahs just 5 minutes earlier. I was a bit suspicious, they're Italians after all and maybe they had just seen a few springboks in the distance that they had mistaken for...nevermind. So no luck there. Further I went to spot a huge martial eagle in a tree and that was pretty much everything until I reached the Kij Kij waterhole approx. 50km to the north.

Again everybody told me about the resident lion pride over there but all I found was a sleeping jackal who didn't give a shit about me. Why would he care anyway? ;) I guess the coolest sighting I had there was a very shy cape fox that went to hide in a burrow when I approached him with my not too stealthy sounding car. That car rather makes a noise like a russian world war II tank, so I can't blame the poor little guy. He must have felt like a complete orchestra playing jingle bells came marching in. To my surprise it only took him a couple of minutes until he came out again to look at me curiously and another couple of minutes after which he fell asleep. I couldn't help but think of Fritz Pölking's (a famous German nature photographer) words that it's the biggest compliment for a nature photographer to actually make the animal comfortable in a way that it would just be dozing away. Well, an alternative approach would be to say that the nocturnal cape fox after last night's hunt was just too tired so that he simply didn't find any reason to stay awake. Whatever. I love the pictures. :)

So after that I took off again to hit the worst road ever! Funny definition of a "road" anyway. Sandbumps perfectly lined up, that's what it is. I'll come back to that later. A black-backed jackal would roam around Dikbaardskolk picnic spot and I was able to get a few shots until I hit the road again rather quickly. At that point the sun was burning down like crazy again and it felt like you're way too close to your campfire. Unbelievable. Then another cool sighting. An american couple in a VW Chico had stopped by the road and I asked them what they were looking at. They had to repeat it three times, because I simply couldn't believe that they had spotted a duck. Until I finally understood that they got stuck. In the sand. Being the cool guy I am I offered them help and I checked for the rope that every car should have somewhere in the trunk to tow another car to where ever. Well, not my car. To my surprise this wasn't the only disappointment at that stage. Cause now my car was also stuck in the sand, too. Can you believe it? I really had to dig deep into my McGyver toolbox to get it out of there again (incl. low gear 4WD and locked wheels, front and rear). By the time I was out of there again 2 more cars were stuck while everybody in there expected to see something spectacular. Well, nothing apart from us trying to get out of there. So the couple in the Chico finally made it with the help of a guy who actually had a rope to pull them out and we all went to Nossob camp afterwards. By the time we arrived there it was 2pm and the Americans told me that they'd still have to go all the way back to Twee Rivieren. Funny comment since it had taken me 7 hours to reach Nossob. Well, I didn't rush, but I didn't take it easy either. I found out later that they got stuck at the same place again. Anyway...

So I booked a sunset drive which supposedly takes off from Nossob at 5pm every day. There was some time left which is why I decided to put my stuff into the chalet and then take off to the Marie se gat waterhole/loop where they had seen lions in the morning. Guess what? Right, no lions, only a few gemsbokkies one of which to my amusement was quite interested in my screaming car and came pretty close. So I went back to camp, prepared my stuff for the game drive and showed up at 4:55h. Our guide then said that we'd take off at 5:30pm. Nice one! Thanks for telling me beforehand. I went to the reception and the guy just told me that this is something they do because every once in a while tourists would arrive too late just to find out that the game drive car has already taken off. I felt reminded of a few friends back in Germany who tend to do the same for me to arrive somewhere on time. :-S The game drive was 3 hours long and we didn't see shit except for jackals and spring hares. No, we actually *stopped* for spring hares. Can it get any worse? No wait: I saw my first meerkat!! I have to admit that it was roughly 100 metres away from the car. But it was still a meerkat, no doubt about that. After the game drive I went to have some Brutal Fruit (it's what we call alco-pop in Germany) with the German couple I had met in Kilie Krankie. Nice chat there (man, do they have some camera equipment!!) but I went to bed at 10. Lets hope for the best tomorrow.

Cheers and good nite!

Stefan

Back in Twee Rivieren

What an afternoon. I went up to have a look at the lions everybody except me had seen at the Kij Kij waterhole. And it was supposed to stay that way. I didn't see anything but a small group of (still very impressive) red hartebeests. When I finally reached Kij Kij I was so tired that I actually fell asleep. Well, 45 minutes of napping and all the lions were gone again. At least I thought so. They must've arrived and left while I was asleep. Ok, so even on day 2 still no Kalahari leopards, lions or meerkats to see for me. But my braai was a real feast again. Rump steak, baked potatoes, red pepper and carrots. 2 Michelin-stars for my cuisine de bush! I had cooked way too much carrots which is why I offered half of it to my neighbors in chalet no. 12. They confirmed the 2 stars immediately. :)

Tomorrow will be the time for some serious business in Nossob. It should take me approx. 3,5 hours to get there and I have planned to spot cheetahs, leopards and lions along the way. This shouldn't be a big deal because I have even met 2 french girls who were able to see 3 cheetahs, so what the hell. Tomorrow will be the day!

Ok, so here are today's and yesterday's pictures.

Cheers and goodnite!

Stefan

August 21st, taking off from Kilie Krankie

So this morning I went to help one of the German couples repair their rental, a Land Rover, because the brake's shield got stuck in their tire. That delayed my take-off for roughly an hour, but I was on my way at 8. Went down the Auob river again and this time I spotted my old friends, the big herd of springbokkies and a red hartebeest, one of the bigger antelopes in the park. They look a bit evil and apparently they can be really vicious should lions attack them. Besides they can outrun most predators easily and a cheetah wouldn't dare to tackle any of these giants, not even a young one since the mothers are very protective.

Now (at 12) I'm back in Twee Rivieren again. I managed to trade my camping site for a chalet, but it comes at a rediculous price. Anyway...I'll take off for another drive now. Thanks for keeping your fingers crossed! :)

Cheers!

Stefan

P.S.: more pictures tonite!

August 20th, up the Auob river to Kilie Krankie wilderness camp

Early riser? Yeah, but this time I didn't leave the camp to watch what's going on in the riverbeds of the Auob and Nossob. When I went to pick up some diesel at the gas station I saw that one of the tires was flat. So I went to the workshop to get it fixed and even though they found the tiny hole they weren't able to repair the damn thing. Well, put the spare tire on and off I was. They'll order some sort of a tube to fix it on Saturday. Which is perfectly alright cause eventually I got the opportunity to take part in the 214km long 4x4 eco trail (4 days, 3 nights) starting on Monday. I went to speak to the Twee Rivieren camp manager and he was even able to squeeze me into Nossob camp the two nights after the eco trail. Now that's really cool!

So I finally managed to take off at 1:15pm and drove up the Auob to see what's going on there. This morning people have apparently seen two leopards, meerkats and even lions. Well, that was this morning. I didn't get to see nothin so I hope that I won't have any more flat tires from now on. ;) But I, however, wasn't the lonesome guy all the way up there, cause I saw quite a few animals no matter what. Amongst them was another huge herd of springbokkies, blue wildebeests, a ground squirrel that had quite some trouble to get around a lot of curious antelopes in order to reach its destination, a little artificial waterhole. So after I went up the Auob I checked in at Killie Krankie wilderness camp. What a beauty!! 4 chalets with space for 2 people each overlooking a little waterhole and a massive desert scenery! Simply stunning. And guess what? Two German and one South African couple would be staying in the other chalets. The Germans both are photographers and it was nice to have a little chat. So after the check-in at 4pm I went to take off for another little drive. Spotted a huge Kori Busstard, a few of the very graceful gemsbokkies as well as a beautiful pale chanting goshawk 3m away from my car and stopped by a waterhole along the way until I finally decided to drive back and prepare for some serious braai in the wilderness camp.

Well, if at any point someone heard me complaining about being alone out there...he did something about it. Just name any kind of insect you can imagine that doesn't have a sting on its tail...it was there to give some company and provide hungry mouths(?) for the leftovers of the lamb chops and the baked potatoes. Moths, huge flying ants, grashoppers, beetles...you name it. The whole family gathering! If I'd have the choice, company-wise, I'd definitely go for the two leopards, but that's alright to start with. :) Well, although our heavily armed guard (assault rifle) told us there were leopards and lions around the camp last week nothing really happened that night. But hey...don't bring it on all at once, right?

August 19th: The last stage: Kuruman to Kgalagadi

A new lesson every day? No problem. Ever had problems with a GPS leading you into some dead end? Same here. The only difference being: over here you might be...basically...what's the right word again? Fucked? In the middle of neverland. :) Well, listening to what my stomach told has saved me approx. 50km of driving because the GPS and I had quite an argument when it wanted to guide me on a gravel road earlier than expected. But anyway. Nevertheless the real adventure began approx 90 kms after I left Denise's "Guest house on Main" in Kuruman. Out of a sudden the tar road ended and I was in the middle of a construction site for the soon to be comfortable driving to the park. I have to stress soon-to-be here, because driving over this kind of dirt and rocks is a real shaker. But after a while I remembered once more that is's not always a good idea to listen to other peoples advice. Like keeping a speed of 60km/h on gravel roads. Just fuck that. Seriously. It's much better at 100-110km/h because then you (and the car) don't feel the horrible bumps as much as you rather float above it all. :) A thought that came to my mind was that at this speed the only thing that might overtake you are your own wheels. No, not so funny. ;) I therefore reached my intermediate stop Van Zylsrus an hour earlier than anyone incl. my GPS had told me.

Prof. Clutton-Brock from Cambridge University has a huge research project on meerkats going on over there but when I arrived I didn't bother to ask anyone about it since the place with its 5 buildings was dead and a bit creepy plus I still had a bit of time pressure in my neck. So I continued my journey rather quickly. When I was halfway through the last part in between Van Zylsrus and the park I decided to have lunch in the shade of a huge camelthorn tree and the birds in it would almost be mocking me. "What are you doing here, white-nosed guy? You should be out on the tar road just like the other tourists!" What do they know? Or maybe they ignored me completely. What do I know? You just try to interact with something when you travel alone. Maybe I'll start talking to bushes 3 days from now... :D

Back to the driving. I had talked to my mum and told her that the countryside is not much of a difference to what I had seen before. But that changed out of a sudden when the dunes and the red sand became visible. I seriously can't think of any appropriate superlatives for this part of the country. It's terrific, heart-stopping, wonderful, breath-taking...all of that times 1001. Don't you ever lokk at books only! Come here! It's a-ma-zing!!! Have a look at the sunset and the other pictures.

But before I arrived at the Kgalagadi Twee Rivieren camp at 16:45h (over an hour earlier than my GPS had told me initially in Kuruman) I made a short stop at a supposed B&B called Kalahari Trails which is more of a lil paradise in the middle of the desert. Anne Rasa, a former Professor from the university in Bonn runs the place and it seems to be really beautiful plus it offers cheap accomodation. I might spend a couple of nights there too.

Alright. So I was at the camp. Had booked for one night only. Now it's 5 nights. I spent the last one in a beautiful family cottage, the next is gonna be in an unfenced wilderness camp out in the wild. The second will be...I can't believe that I could actually get my hands on it...a cottage in the Nossob rest camp, the place that is booked out all year because of it being the hub into all other remote camps and its spectacular sighting opportunities. Yie-ha! The following two nights will be in Twee Rivieren again and if I am lucky I will participate in the guided 4days/3nights eco 4x4 trail through the wild. We'll see soon.

Well, what do you do when you're in a national park like this one? Right! You participate in a guided drive. Which is what I did after my arrival. We started at 6pm and went until 8:45pm. Pretty cool, because we were only 4 people including the guide. And we saw a huge herd of springboks (approx. 600 animals), a gemsbok, an aardwolf (VERY rare!), lots of cape and bat-eared foxes, a large-spotted genet, a spotted owl, jackals, two porcupines and...an african wild cat! My third one in 5 years!!! Very cool.

After the drive I was cold and exhausted but really happy to be here in this beautiful place. Finally! And of course happy that I'll stay in the Nossob camp for at least one night!

Will post more in three days as there is no cell phone signal in any other camp than Twee Rivieren! :)

Cheers and kind regards to everyone!

Stefan

P.S.: I have updated the "on the road" pictures and for those of you who can't wait to get the news from here there's also a RSS feed available. Subscribe in the menu on the right. :)

Dawn in Kuruman

I'm trying to remember who told me about the Eye of Kuruman just recently. How it is the biggest manmade hole in the world and everything. Well, not exactly. Or did I get that wrong? Let me tell you, what it is then: The Eye is a natural fountain delivering approximately 20 million litres of crystal clear water daily. Apart from domestic use it also feeds the Kuruman River and spills water into two 7km irrigation canals.

The first white person to discover’ The Eye, on Sunday, 22 November 1801, was Samuel Daniel, the secretary, journal writer and painter of the Truter-Somerville expedition. It was this unfailing source of water that led to the establishment of a mission here in the early 19th century. This also led to The Eye being described as the ‘fountain of Christianity’. The world's biggest man made hole is referred to "The big hole" in Kimberly, where they dig for diamonds. Just for the records. :)

Dunno if I'll have the time to look at it today, but I might when I come back from the park. On my way now...

On the road to Kgalagadi. Second stop: Kuruman, August 18th

Man, what a ride! Didn't quite make it at 9 because I had a hard time packing my heavily guarded stuff (see pictures) so I hit the gas station in Centurion at 11. Filled the tank and the 2 jerry cans (25l each) with diesel. Just to realize that one of them has a little hole in one of its top corners. Well, I realized when I had spilled a good load of diesel over my new jacket. Damn! Besides I had to buy a new jerry can at Midas which cost me additional time. So I finally took off at 12:30h. AAH!

The trip itself was rather mindnumbing. Mostly one straight road to drive on with a few mongooses and suicide birds here and there. And, of course, guys riding their bicycle on the emergency lane of the highway in Pretoria. :) Another odd thing: at some point the N14 would simply be closed, which caused a tiny detour of 35kms. But hey...a lil nothing on the Kalahari-scale. After another stunning sunset I arrived here (the "Guesthouse on main", Kriek Street) at around 7pm which called for approx. 45 minutes of driving in the dark. Not only does no one here pay attention to their permanently switched on brights. What's even worse is that you discover the pedestrians only a few seconds before you have a good chance of hitting them at 120km/h. Luckily I got no roadkill on my checklist today. So, if possible, no more driving after dark! And last but not least I was a bit spoilt by the N1 (tolled) coming from the North down to JoBurg. I can tell you...the N14 does not deserve it's name. It's at max some sort of a mix between a tar and a gravel road. You seriously look for a place to hide when a road train comes rushing towards you with the brights on...!

In case you didn't know: South Africa's always good to teach you a lesson! Never rely on something the locals tell you about the national parks and game reserves. NEVER! I was told that the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park has a great infrastructure and accomodation is easy to get. Well, when I called SanParks to make a reservation for Twee Rivieren tomorrow they would reply that the park is fully booked. Except for camping sites. Guess what? It's winter and the temperatures in the desert can fall to minus 10. Right. Minus 10! I just hope that I'll get something else when I am actually at the gate tomorrow. Got three blankets and a sleeping bag in the car, but does it make sense at all? And what's even worse: NO availability at the apparently spectacular Nossob restcamp. I, however, feel a bit of an Africa-newbie today. Strange to realize that with all the advice you got from the locals you're riding a dead horse after all. :)

No assumptions, we'll see about that tomorrow. Have a good night everyone, I'll try to sleep a bit despite the slight reek of diesel in the room. :D

Cheers!

Stefan

On the road to Kgalagadi. Second stay: Centurion , August 17th

Couldn't get my ass up and had too much stuff to do which is why I decided to stay with the Pieters for one more night. The breakfast Nicolette had made for me was out of this world and for a short moment I caught myself thinking about staying even longer. Hey, after all I'd be able to take pictures of at least 4 wild animals here. Well, 6 if you count Niel and Nicolette in. :)

ok, so back on the road tomorrow at 9. The eye of Kuruman's calling...

Cheers and good night!

Stefan

On the road to Kgalagadi. First exit: Centurion , August 16th

I really get used to the South African time. I actually wanted to take off at 8 this morning and I made it at 10. Cool, eh? After I had breakfast enjoying that stunning view from the wilderness camp I picked up two spare fuel tanks at Stephan's house and had a look at the tame bush baby again. This time it wouldn't bite me though. Very cute thing, whenever Stephan's there it sleeps under his pullover. I'd sleep all day too, what else is the use of scientists calling me nocturnal. :-| Speaking of which...man, do I look tired on these pictures?

So I arrived in Makhado to get some diesel (I have to admit that I was -and still am- a bit nervous about getting on this trip all by myself...but it'll get better as time goes by) and then went to the post office to pick up my books I had forgotten at Niel's and Nicolette's place on Monday. If I had known earlier that I would show up in Centurion even before I actually take off to Far, Far Away, I wouldn't have forced Niel into the hustle of sending them in the first place. But anyway...

So the actual ride was ok. AC/DC to start with, then Metallica, Machinehead and Danko Jones full throttle. I saw quite a few funny signs (or not so funny ones like "status tombstones") by the road which distracted me from the really boring straight-line drive to Pretoria at 34 degrees celsius. One stop in Polokwane, one just before I reached Pretoria and that was it. 4 hours, 397 kilometers. I hope it'll be as easy on my way to Kuruman tomorrow...

So guess what we had for dinner? Right! Godfather spare ribs, prawns, baked potato...you name it! Now I am full and tired like hell...

Have a good night everyone, sleep well or enjoy the Saturday night out!

Lekker aand ("good night" in Afrikaans)!

Stefan

P.S.: in case you haven't noticed: Kruger and Lajuma pictures are online now...

Lajuma: making plans for the big mission, August 15th

So there I was sitting at Retha's kitchen table with all my maps and the big plans to either drive to Botswana (Chobe, Kalahari, Okavango Delta, Kalahari Gemsbok Park, Upington and back) or along the South African coast (Swasiland, Durban, East London, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, Upington, Kalahari Gemsbok Park and back). Besides that none of the students would join me Stephan, Retha's son and Retha herself finally convinced me that both trips are too far, too much of a hustle and I would probably spend most of the time driving. Plus Botswana has a rather underdeveloped road infrastructure and most of the camps in the Delta are supposed to be really expensive (€300+ per person per night...damn!). Well, as usual I'd rather plan a wee bit too much and then narrow it down to a reasonable amount. But still...it all looked so good on the maps.

Well, what have I finally decided for? Yes, the Kalahari Gemsbok Park and Augrabies Falls. It's supposed to be amazing for game viewing and it'll be at least 2-3 days of driving for the approx. 1500 kilometers. Hey, maybe I even get a peek into Prof. Clutton-Brocks meerkat project in Van Zylsrus. Well, should I really enjoy it I will stay in the area until the 5th of September. And if not or if I plan do add a bit more spice to the recipe I might drive all the way back to St. Lucia at the eastern coast. Damn, I would still have loved to see the Delta. What the heck...next time.

But now, however, it's really getting exciting. I am a bit worried about my camera equipment and driving in the Kalahari desert, but I have an insurance and last year I had mastered basically every 4WD trail I chose to drive on, so what the heck. This time I will have 2 spare tanks, a tent, lots of water and food with me so that will not necessarily be a problem. Ian has just brought me the car and I will take off at aroung 8 tomorrow morning. My first stop will be...make a guess...Niel and Nicolette in Centurion. THe second one will probably be in Kuruman or Upington, but we'll see about that. It looks as if my GPS hasn't arrived in Makhado so this time please cross you fingers with even more enthusiasm, ok? ;)

Kind regards to you!

Stefan


P.S.: Funny how August 12th made it to the blog twice. Whatever... :)

Kruger Park, August 12th until 14th

(Have a look at the pictures!)


Thursday, August 14th, 2008

That day everyone had planned to sleep in and leave the camp at 9. Luckily I could convince 3 students to take off at 6 and drive along the Shingwedzi river because every morning in Kruger simply is a unique experience. We saw a few beautiful male nyalas and shortly after action came to town when a hippo mum fiercely protected her little one from a crocodile that seemed to wait for an opportunity to snatch it away. It took only 5-10 seconds and the hippo had apparently hurt the croc quite seriously by stomping on its back. Well, the way it swam away afterwards didn't look like it was in really good shape. :-|

We came back to camp at 8, had breakfast and took off to Parfuri gate at 9:15. On our way there We passed elephants a few of which were kind of nervous and started a mock charge. One of them was an elephant bull which missed one of his tusks, it must have broken off in a fight or something. A short stop at the infamous Parfuri picnic spot with its vervet monkeys and off we were through the gate and on our way back to Lajuma. We were quite agitated and stressed out because of all the driving out in the sun. I took a few more night shots at the Lajuma wilderness camp and went to bed at 1 wondering what the next day's talk with Retha regarding my travel plans would lead to...


Wednesday, August 13th, 2008

Mopani Main Camp, 6am. I was on time, waiting for everybody to come out of the cottages and pack their stuff into the cars. What I didn't know: while at the restaurant the night before all the others had agreed on leaving at 6:30. Well, that didn't really make my mood any better, which I went to start the day rather grumpy. Must be the bad communication flow when "newcomers" like me are involved. Or maybe I smell funny. Anyway...I sat in the co-drivers seat since Retha and her sister stayed in the camp, so we were to pick them up around noon. My special spotting position next to Ian wasn't exactly to the pleasure of the others, but I hadn't seen any thinking ahead the night before, so wtf...

So we took off to Satara, the surrounding area of which is supposed to be great for watching game including the big predators. And so it was. First of all we almost bumped into a young male lion which crossed the road right in front of us. I didn't take pictures cause all I would have got is a good shot of his bum. Which wasn't really what I was aiming for. There's also an abundance of elephants and we were pretty sure that we had spotted one of the rare and old big tuskers. We passed a few warthogs foraging by the road and then we got a glimpse at what Kruger can offer to the ones who are really lucky. People had spotted a leopard in the grass (have a look at the pictures, could you tell?). Since there was no hope for seeing him/her standing up anytime soon we took off again only to see a leopard in a tree a couple of minutes later. This one was high up in a tree approx. 80m away looking out for prey. Or maybe he was just trying to escape from the burning sun out there, cause at the time it had 34 degrees. Just imagine that some people come here for 20 years now and they have never seen a leopard. Yes, we were lucky!

The next thing we saw was actually a kill. It, however, was one on a rather small scale, because a ground hornbill, one of the huge and not too beautiful birds with the long eye lashes got a little quail from somewhere in between the bushes. One snap and the neck was broken. Poor little thing, but I guess Kruger is not a place for sentimental moods anyway. Besides that Arathusa Lodge and Nkorho Bush Camp in Sabi Sand Game Reserve have confirmed the provosional booking so I will spend my last 3 nights in the area with the highest density of leopards in whole Africa. :)

Another pretty cool sighting were a few tsessebes, a light brownish and very rare kind of antilope with short, curved horns. Well, they are extremely fast (up to 90km/h) and could easily outrun lions but sadly they're not the brightest of them all. Which means that sometimes they wouldn't realize that a lion's around until it almost gets them. In case you don't notice: one of the pictures was taken at the tropic of capricorn. "Was taken", because it was one of the rather rare occasions in which I gave the precious into the hands of another person to have a picture taken of myself. :) So that night we went to stay at Shingwedzi main camp, in which I only got one of the rediculously expensive BG2-bungalows for 465 Rand. Damn! But hey, this time I made it to the restaurant, had crocodile cakes and a good rump steak with spinach and butternut, a delicious local vegetable. And back I went to the honeymoon bungalow. The nightshots I took of the site are, however, amazing!


Tuesday, August 12th, 2008

We took off from Lajuma at 7:15 in the morning and I was surprised that nobody (including me) was late. Funny how I always make it over here. Well, Ian had planned to be in Kruger at 11 and we almost made it - according to african time. Which means we were at Phalaborwa gate at 1pm. Bushes and animals went flying by since we had an appointment in the Letaba main camp. One of the scientists would hold a lecture about the elephants in Kruger. Over the years the situation has become rather problematic because Kruger now is home to at least 13000 individuals which according to some scientists exceeds the carrying capacity of the park by far. So there are actually ideas to start culling them again like they did in the 80's. On the other hand nobody's really able to make estimates regarding the actual carrying capacity there is in Kruger due the complexity of the ecosystem. Kind of a catch 22.

After the lecture we went to the restaurant to have some sort of a lunch. Well, the birds had lunch, too. As you can see on the pictures. I wonder why nobody from the staff keeps the visitors from feeding them. So from Letaba we would take off to Mopani, our rest camp for that night. Along the road we spotted a couple of elephants, one of which was especially playful, he would almost be posing for us. Just before we reached camp we saw a spotted hyeana with her pups, they often tend to raise their young in the sewer pipes underneath the tar roads. Same here.

So in the camp we were and everyone went to put their stuff into the rooms. I went to take a shower and when I came out, nobody was there anymore. Retha told me they planned to have a braai (barbecue) so I rushed to the shop to get some meat and guess what? When I arrived back at the cottage somebody told me that everyone rather likes to eat at the restaurant. Hm...nice to be stuck with braai meat and no coal. So I asked the neighbours whether they'd have some free space on their braai. I guess I was much better off with my blue bull steak and the baked potatoes anyway because last year we had to wait almost an hour to place our order at the Mopani restaurant. And the day after I got really sick. So that's that. :-S No more plans so I went to bed right after.

Kruger, August 12th

We took off at 7:15 this morning. Freezing cold. Luckily my (old) watch has "given up the ghost" which is why I need to find someone to change the battery. Might be a bit of a difficulty with a Junghans. Otherwise I'll just buy myself one of the fancy digital watches the guys sell in the streets. Maybe I'll get one that has an Atari-style car race installed. That'd be cool. Just like in 6th grade. :)

Anyway...we got here at 1 whereas we had actually planned to hit Phalaborwa gate at 11. Nice South African timing, but look who's writing. Hehe. Since we got a lecture about the elephants in Kruger at Letaba camp we really had to rush. Besides we wouldn't have seen a lot anyway because this area is dead dry at the moment and the animals gather around the waterholes of which here there are only a few. So the lecture was sort of okay, but not more than that. We took off to Mopani camp and just before we got there we saw a bunch of cars piling up ahead of us. Everyone thought it would be lions, but no, it was a hyena with little pups. I was able to take a few pictures, you'll see later. So now we are at the camp, everyone except me has gone off to the restaurant, because apparently they don't ask the new additions to join. Hm. Well, I had some blue bull steak and baked potatoes that I had cooked on the neighbors braai. Now I'll go search for my charger to convert and upload a few pictures. Until later tonite! :)

Lajuma, August 11th

(That's what I actually wrote last night)

Lajuma. Just a couple of minutes up here and -thanks to the campfire- I already smell like a smoked salmon. There are 19 students doing their projects 10 of which will be going to Kruger tomorrow. I will stay in the wilderness camp tonite and it's fucking cold! Just the way you wouldn't imagine South Africa at all, but hey, it's winter.

I went to pay the students in the barn a visit and they have a very cute tame bush baby roaming the building. The first thing it did for a greeting is give me bite in the thumb. Must've been because I tried to pick it up while it was trying to steal food from the plates, lil bugger. :)

So tomorrow we'll take off for Kruger and we'll enter through Phalaborwa gate which means we have to prepare for a 3,5 hours drive. Accomodation ois booked in Mopani and Shingwedzi. That'll be a lot of fun and I wonder what 15 pairs of eyes (including Retha, Ian, Retha's sister and husband and myself) are able to spot.

Have a good night!

Cheers!

Stefan

Northwards. August 11th

Well, here I am on the bus to Makhado. I feel a bit shitty cause I haven't slept much last night. Niel brought me to the bus station this morning and once again it is tough to see how time flies when you're having fun. Thanks to all of you (including Jinx and Rascal, who really kept me going last night) for the great weekend! I already know that I will miss you a lot should you follow your plans to go to Australia!!

So we just went to have a break at the infamous Translux bus stop by the N1 which has a little supermarket and a Wimpy's inside. The only thing that made it a bit of a cool place today is that they played Aerosmith videos endlessly! I have just burned my tongue when I took my first zip from the crappucino I got there. I can't help but smile because someone seems to sense that I don't really like this place. :) Maybe the bugs I found on the bus are fefugees that abandoned the place, too. Sorry, it just got me.

Should the bus be on time today -which I seriously doubt- then Retha and Ian will pick me up at 14:40 and we'll buy some food at Pick'n Pay or Checkers. We'll drive up to Lajuma afterwards and I'll possibly spend one night there before we'll take off to Kruger for three days. Might be a good thing to get acquainted with those students who are interested to join me for the "big" trip, of which I currently don't know where it's gonna be heading (either Botswana, Namibia or Swasiland, Mozambique and down the South African coast). Hey, that's actually a cool thought. :) Besides Tapio has offered to talk to the guy again who wanted to send me the Garmin Colorado 300. It'd be soo cool to have it here, especially because down here these devices are at least 30% more expensive than in Europe. Which is rediculous if you ask me. So I wonder whether that's gonna work out. Fingers crossed. Everybody please! :)

Well, yesterday, after having recovered from the feast at Godfather on Saturday, Niel went to drive me all the way to Menlyn to do a few errands at that huuuge shopping mall. I now call myself proud owner of a new fleece jacket, a multi-functional outdoor-shirt, a pair of camo-pants, a drinking bottle and some supercool shades! I hope that the shades are my last resort to eventually scare lions away. Unless they can't stand the smell of me after 2 weeks in the bush. Nicolette took care of washing the new clothes and the tumble dryer, which was on in the middle of the night scared the shit out of me and Rascal, who went to sleep on my lap after we had some serious fighting&biting going on. Man...that thing should be called rumble dryer because of the thundery noise it started to make out of a sudden. Plus I only found out that it actually is the tumble dryer that makes this horrible sound after I woke up this morning. I can tell you...the knife was right under my pillow all night. Sheesh...the bald, paranoid German. Hehe.

Back to "the mission"...I have actually planned to spend my last 3 nights in Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve (there is an abundance of leopards, probably the highest density of leopards in the whole world) and I have gotten offers for available accomodation before I went to South Africa. Today I went to call the lady at the reservation office of one of the rather luxurious lodges and out of a sudden she told me that she had misunderstood my email and had given me the wrong price. After approximately 10 emails did exchange. Since I am travelling alone she apparently cannot get me the "per person sharing" rate. So now the whole thing is 25% more expensive. South Africa, what can I say...but I'll see about this since she's going to ask the owner for his opinion. Again: fingers crossed, please! :)

So now that the bus driver has finally switched off the A/C and I don't feel like sitting in a fridge anymore I will try to take a little nap...will keep you posted! Could you tell that the UMTS-card is working? ;)

Cheers and everything so far is chabchab...kind regards from somewhere on the N1!

Stefan

Back again! August 9th and 10th

So JoBurg's got me back. The flight was ok, I didn't get to sleep much, watched "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" and a hilarious "Top Gear: Best of 2007/08" on the plane. Best quote: "The R8 is an amazing car, it doesn't have a V17 quad turbo enginge that needs a gallon of fuel a mile or has to be fed diced lions!" How cool is this Jeremy guy?! Anyway...I guess I was responsible for some serious snoring, cause some people in my direct social environment gave me nasty looks before breakfast. Nobody gave me an elbow, so who cares, eh?

Well...pretty cool feeling to be here again. But the first thing I still do although it's my fourth time over here is attach the knife to my belt. Just a habit, but it makes me feel better somehow. Talking about better: it's so cool to have Niel pick me up at the airport cause I don't have to argue with the cab drivers anymore. Besides this time I don't take off to Makhado immediately. That'll be happening on Monday morning. So here I am using Niel's computer while I am breathing South African air again. We'll have breakfast soon, Nicolette bought fresh fruits for me and this afternoon I will look for a Garmin Colorado myself, I hope I can find one, fingers crossed. Tonite we'll be having dinner at the Godfather, a superb steak restaurant in town.

Have posted a few pictures of Jinx (the russian blue some of you might already have gotten introduced to in various image collections) and Rascal, her adorable little sister. Clicke here to have a look. I might, however, post pictures of Nicolette, Niel and the kids too, but I will ask them for their opinion first. ;)

By the way...Niel has given me a UMTS-card which I, nerdy as I am, might be able to use somewhere in the bush...think what you like... :D

Have a look: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/myshot/gallery/35750

Preparations II

Oh my. The backpack with my outdoor equipment and clothes might be waaay to heavy, but we'll see about that tonite. Plus I hope I can "sneak" all my photo stuff into the plane. It might not be troublesome in Frankfurt, but bet that JoBurg will be a problem once I'm on my way back to Germany. As usual. But hey...that's five weeks from now, so why bother? :p

Too bad that Garmin couldn't deliver the Colorado on time. I had my fingers crossed every day. Dammit. Well, I might buy one in South Africa, cuz geotagging is a pretty cool thing...call me nerd, will you?!

Thanks to those of you who have sent me all the good wishes!

Preparations

2 days to go. No. 1,5. Will be taking off tomorrow evening at 20:45 from Frankfurt. To JoBurg. Niel's gonna pick me up at the airport in the morning. Will stay with Niel, Nicolette and the kids over the weekend and then take the bus up north to Makhado on Monday at 9. Ian and Retha will then pick me up and we'll drive up to their land, the Lajuma Mountain Retreat (www.lajuma.com).

2-3 days in the mountains and then to either Mapungubwe, Chobe, Kalahari NP, Okavango Delta, Kgalagadi, Upington and back OR Kruger, Swasiland, Durban, East London, Port Elizabeth, Capetown, Upington and back. We'll see once I have talked to Ian and the students, a few of which might join me...