One of the first impressions you get on entering South Africa from anywhere on the continent, is how organised our wonderful commercial farmers are…

Gone are the unhealthy, straggly, weed choked subsistence farms of our neighbours…
Now, appearing never to end… Stretching over the horizon in every direction, are big, strong, robust crops…
Mielies shining dark green in the sun…
Soya…hundreds of kilometres of soya…
Sunflowers… Oh Yesss, all bowing in the same direction, following the sun…
Like millions of monks at prayer.

I imagined they were welcoming us home…
Indicating the way forward…
The heading back to our beloved Natal.
Roads lined with mile after mile of purple, blue & white cosmos… Hey hey hey… We’re BACK.

It even rained… A lot… It poured down.
Nyati’d never driven through rain.
I wished we could’ve experienced these conditions,  just for a few hours, in the Kalahari… The karoo… Imagine the Namib.

Nyati simply bowled along, rev-counter fixed on 2200, up hill & down dale…
We’d left Nyati’s natural environment, the backroads, far behind…
No desire for sightseeing now…
Bring on the N roads…
National tarred highways…
Even the despised toll route…
The quick end will justify the means.

It did… Nyati drove back through the gates of home.
Home we’d left so long ago.
It now felt as if we’d never been gone, but thanks to my son, Adam, who managed this blog, which enabled me to record Nyati’s epic roadtrip, I can relive it… all of it.

I’ve been privileged, no BLESSED, to have met SO MANY amazing people, on this trip…
Seen sights of such incredible beauty, they took my breath away, & lived through experiences that’ll remain in my memory to savour for the rest of my life.

I’ve laughed & I’ve cried…

WOW Nyati… What a ride.

May God bless ALL the people of Africa, & show mercy to the animals that live among them.

Thank you for reading.

Hamba Gashli.

Barbara had proven to be an excellent choice of name…
Cleverest bitch I ever knew…
Named after "sailing Barbara" who knew everything… could tell you anything.
Gods parents names… Anything.
She's never been proven wrong either.

They say, "Give a dog a name & it'll live up to it".

If I'm able to get another puppy I'll have to come up with something bloody good to match Barbara.

No puppy would last a day here though, deep in the Okavango delta… Crocs, hyaena…

But oh, I DO miss a dog.

Thoughts of going on to Zambia alone, or returning to Kloof with all the comforts of civilisation… And a new puppy.

It's been a long, lonely year…
But oh wow… what a ride Nyati's given.

What a truck.
What an experience… Epic.

What does Zambia have to offer that's different from Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya ?
I've travelled through them all before.
There's no difference…
Apart from all the different permits to be bought… Different currency &, of course, the "officials".
It's the same shambles everywhere.
When I look around me here, I could be anywhere…  Kwamashu, Gweta, Mombasa or Maputo… It's Africa.

Shambolic seems to be the African way.

It makes me think of that old story about the guy who returned to the former colony he'd spent so many years working in.
He commented to a local that he found everything to be in such a bloody mess now.
To which the local proudly replied, "Yes it IS in a bloody mess, but it's OUR bloody mess".

Eish.

When Nyati left the Republic, we were leaving the best of Africa.

You want Animals, Mountains, Desert, Forests, Jungles, Rivers, Hot or cold, Big or small, Thousands of miles of coastline with warm or cold oceans, High-tech   ?

South Africa's got it… & MORE.

Thank God Nyati's exploration started in SA…
We found a delicious surprise around almost every corner…

Home's calling… It's time.

www.rv-nyati.com

www.rv-nyati.com

Low ratio box growling, tyres deflated to 3.5 bars, Nyati rolled North over a track through the marshes…
Momentum all important now…
We were on our own, no support vehicle if we stuck.

"Oh God, more fucking Elephants… Hoot, move the basterds off the track".

There it was… Just like that… I knew…
The Gypsy was "Gatfol" with this African adventure…
She looked back at me from the mirror…
Eyes brimming with tears…
Gone was the wonderful cavalier, combative attitude toward ANY challenge… "BRING IT ON"…
Tired now…
Worn down by the grinding reality of continuously taking on todays Africa alone.

Poverty & pestilence. Stupidity & greed. Ignorance & arrogance.

I wonder what the Chinese'll make of it ?

Even the omnipresence of these magnificent giants wasn't enough to rekindle the adventurous flame that had been flickering for some time now.

I imagined her slowly, sadly, dejectedly,  walking away down the track…
Even took a pic.
This was a momentous occasion, she'd been with me through the maelstrom of Indian Ocean storms, faced exhaustion on a bicycle, in berg caves, dodged lightning strikes, marauding sharks, two divorces… Everwhere… Everything.

This changes things for Nyati & me…
I pulled off the track, under some trees.
I needed a couple of days to think.

www.rv-nyati.com

I've been told this blog's long on talk & short on pics.

www.rv-nyati.com

Ja, the month flew by… So many kilometres travelled, so many memories.

www.rv-nyati.com

"Can I come out yet" ?

Not very brave, our Gypsy.

Helens long anticipated visit had started a couple of days early, & run for a couple of weeks longer than expected, leaving little room for an extroverted alter-ego.

From Windhoek international, Nyati cruised down to Swakopmunt on the Atlantic… Very cool, but the drive up the skeleton coast, apart from Henties Bay, quickly became tedious.

We turned inland to visit Spitzkoppen… Terrific…  What a place… A "must see".

Etosha's a world renowned, very big, nature destination… Yup, it's all there to be seen… lion, ellie, rhino, all sorts… Some of the game viewing from the camp "hide" facilities is truly spectacular… Especially under lights.

Lion & Elephant drinking not more than 4 meters away… If you're lucky… & quiet.

Visitors from all around the world are blown away by Etosha …
Ah, but I think that's because they haven't been to Kruger or even Umfolosi yet… There's really no comparison.

We had a great time in Etosha…
We made it great.

There's a bloody great big lump of iron laying in the veld between Tsumeb & Grootfontain… 
The Hobas meteorite.

A fascinating thing to see & feel…
It intimidates your senses in it's own silent way… Cool.
I couldn't help imagining the utter chaos, the heat, noise & light, the explosion it's firey arrival must have caused.
What a grand entrance THAT must have been.

The Caprivi strip proved to be heavily forested, & the campsites along the Okavango river are run by some of the most amazingly hospitable people it's been my privilege to meet…

Salt of the Earth living in Rundu.
Why ?  Why ?  Why ?
Maybe it's the boat trips…

On the Okavango river, we shared the February full moon rise from dining table chairs balanced on the deck of a rickety boat, with eager eyed crocs, in Angola.

Crossing into Botswana was easy… African efficiency of course, but all pleasant, with not a hint of corruption on either side… Lekker.

Drotskies campsite, on the banks of the Okavango's another "Must visit"…
As was "Ngepi" before it, in the Caprivi…
Hippy… Very hippy… Carved out of the jungle.

It's a long, straightforward drive to Maun, down the Western flank of the delta.
Bugger all to see except for donkeys, lots of donkeys.

From Maun international, we took a fantastic helicopter flight over the delta…
Such a great experience…
Big game everywhere… Unseen, except from the air, & the little chopper got in quite close.
Barry, a very skilled pilot, was fully aware of the disturbing effect our presence could have, & got the most out of every encounter.

The highlight of this trip so far… Terrific.

Just as quickly as it started, February's visit was over, & tomorrow we're back to "solo" with the remote backroads of Botswana beckoning.

Ja, you can come out now.

www.rv-nyati.com