Wild Coast Trip March 2022 : part 1

The Wild Coast is a long stretch of rural coastline stretching from Port Edward in KZN down to East London in the Eastern Cape. It's undeveloped, beautiful and isolated. There are few beaches in the world so remote and undeveloped. You would do best to travel here with a 4x4. 

Saturday 19 March to Tuesday 22 March

We chose to take the Freestate route to reach the Southern section of the Wild Coast. 

Saturday

Back to the farm to pack up the caravan and enjoy a braai with Pam and Richard.

Sunday

We usually start our road trips from the farm and we like the scenery of the Free State especially in late summer when everything is green, the mielies are ripening and the cosmos is flowering.

We're always looking for comfortable and interesting places for overnight stops in  South Africa. Nic's Place in Smithfield is no exception but it is exceptional. What a nice evening we had with owners Ian and Fabrice and their dogs. 

Monday

Rhodes is an out of the way village, high in the mountains, close to the Lesotho border and one of the few places in South Africa that gets regular snow in winter. We caught up with Hanlie and Andrew at Alpine Swift, named after an endemic bird which didn't get to spot. How special to have the whole valley to ourselves, though. Especially over a long weekend.

And it rained.

Tuesday

Rhodes Hotel is another place on our list of interesting overnight stops.

What amazing mountain passes you travel from Rhodes to Barclay East. And we didn't see another car. Maybe a tractor or farm bakkie or two. 

And then you are in the "Transkei" region and seeing rural Eastern Cape life unfold as you trundle along. We arrived at Trennery's Hotel just before dark. Just time to set up camp and get the braai going.

The Busy Lull

Monday 14 February to Friday 18 March

Some people have a dry month which means no wine. Our dry month meant no trips longer than 3 nights away. We caught up on admin and medical and dental appointments that had been neglected since the start of lockdown. Dad had a hip replacement and I was very happy to be around for that. And it was great to finally catch up with friends. 

We did a short Zebula trip.

And a weekend at Maizefield to sort out the caravan and have a pizza party. 

For her birthday we took Neil's mom on a trip to the Freestate to revisit the places where she grew up and went to school.Our first night was in Parys. Hoi Poloi is a fun eatery.

Granny and Pop's house is now a dental practise.

Central Bloemfontein is very run down.

But you can always find a gem if you know how to search. 

Nelson on Naval Hill.

 Wepener is also down at heel.

We stayed at the historic Lord Fraser Guest House.

This is Fraser's Trading Store head office, when Pop worked there and now.

Driving through the Eastem Freestate is very beautiful but all these country towns with their corrupt and incompetent ANC municipalties are pretty grim nowadays, it's hard to see how tourism can thrive again. With no jobs and no outside income things will only get worse for the people living here. Even I can't recommend stopping in places like Wepener, Ladybrand, Hobhouse, Fickburg, Fourieburg or Harrismith.

Clarens still looks lovely but apart from three british tourists we saw in a gift shop, I think we were the only guests in town. 

Our only company at dinner.

Botswana February 2022 : Mohave and Zebula

Tuesday 8 to Sunday 13 February 

It's a full day's drive down to Northern Tuli from Gweta especially when you have to stop in Selebi Phikwe for PCR tests. Mohave Bush Camp is a hidden gem run by Tuli Trails. They offer a fully catered option but we chose self catering, so we had to tow our caravans in for access to our fridges, freezers, food and drinks.

The camp is in the middle of the bush. So serene. The staff are wonderful. As soon as you arrive you feel like you could stay for a week.  For the first 2 nights we heard lion roaring very close to camp. Sakao our game guide took us out on the vehicle after 10pm to spot them.

This boy was about 800m from camp. 

There are no fences, so take a torch when you venture off to bed in the evening. We dodged the rain and loved all our drives.

We visited the hyena den.

We enjoyed an awesome bush dinner.

We swam. We lazed. We read. We will be back.

En route home we were lucky enough to spend a few days at Zebula with Hanlie and Andrew, easing back into civilisation after a five week camping safari. 

Botswana February 2022 : The Pans

Thursday 3 February to Monday 7 February

Elephant Sands near Nata is always a favourite place to chill for a night heading to or from Kasane. We like to arrive early to spend a few afternoon hours overlooking the waterhole with a bottle of wine and a plate of hot chips. Oops, my photo features a beer! It must have been Andrew's!

The elephants come and go all the time.

We had to hastily vacate our chairs when these two groups of young males got aggressive with each other. 

After the hearty breakfast we hit the road to Boteti River Camp. We set up camp under the trees and spent the afternoon relaxing, swimming and cooking.

It's always fun to cross the river on the ferry and spend the day in Mkgadigadi Pans NP.

Especially driving alongside the Boteti River to Hippo Pools.

Once again we had a whole NP to ourselves; there wasn't even anyone to take our entrance fee at the gate. 

It's not too far back to Planet Baobab, another fabourite of ours. This quirky lodge is built in between a grove of ancient baobabs. Tracey and Denise joined us here. 

On Monday we drove into Nxai Pan NP. The roads were easier than expected for the rainy season. The place was so beautifully green and the game was pretty abundant.

We enjoyed a late jaffle lunch at Baines' Baobabs before heading back to the planet.