13.05

Handed money for Land Rover over to Warren, we get the papers. The purchase contract in Africa has to be witnessed and with this document we went to the traffic office to get an South African ID for me, with our South African address and got the rgistration for the car with the number we had to use for the car. In South Africa you must print your number plate yourself, so with the papers from the office we went to the number plate shop to get the plates. Joachim was not only driving us but also assisted with all the paper work. We can wait and 2 minutes later we got the plates.

Next day we attached the plates to our new Land Rover 109 and we did some maintanance, like lubing the steering relay. I had to adjust the sterring wheel and now it was operating more smoothly. Water Hose to radiator was dripping, just screwed it better, problem solved. Cigar lighter was taken out of the camper van and mounted in the Land Rover. Now also the navigation device could be used.

Now a joke cable had to be attached which Stan did from a suburban of Cape Town, but unfortunately even with the joke cable it did not start without starter spray.

I did change all the gear oils and lots of other maintanence as the Land Rover was not used very often and we had to ckeck everything for the big trip which we intended to do.

At the weekend we visited a second hand market in Milnerton the place where we stayed and bought some tools for the trip. Later we made a trip to Houtbay with Guide and Heidi who were still around.

Next morning we got the message that the guy who was buying our staff was stopping his business, so we ended up having no income at all. So I had to find something else to be able to continue our trip.

The days pass with maintenance work and nice restaurant visits with Guido and Heidi. I had the idea to load up all the video clips I had to Pond5, an agency that sells video rights, but the data was too much so I copied on DVD and sent to the United States to Pond5 and they promised to upload it to my account to be ready to sell. At least some light at the tunnel.

Previous: Our friends arrived

Next: Leaving South Africa

When started our journey we were in a group of other travellers with the same goal to cross Africa. One of these couples were Guido and Heidi from Germany. They were travelling in a VW T4 camper van and shipped back from South Africa to Germany in 2010. In Germany they changed car to an IVECO truck and shipped back to South Africa. Now we met them and had lots of things to tell as we did not go together as they had left us behind alread in Tunisia. We were exchanging experiences on our trip and had much fun.

We had to make a decision what we would do. We went to Citroen to ask what it would cost to repair the camper van. As Citroen is not very common in South Africa all the parts needed had to be imported so we would end up with 2500 Euros repair and a car that is not really suited for Africa. Also we had to think of our living and what we can do to earn money while on our trip. So we decided to work over the internet and had to stock up our techniques like hard drives and much more.

For the car the decision was made. We tried to get an old Land Rover as these are much more suited for Africa and the old modells are easy to maintain and to repair and parts are still available in Africa.

After having seen several Land Rovers we decided for the one sold by a guy called Warren, and for 23000 Rand the vehicles owner ship was changed on 11th of May 2011.

At Roverland Inc the owner Martin was a close friend of Joachim and Tina and had a look at the vehicle and gave advice of what we should change at the vehicle.

In the evening we made a trip with Guido and Heidi to the seaside in Cape Town on a parking lot, had some Pizza and stayed there overnight. Wild camping in Cape Town.

Previous

Next: Our Land Rover 109

From signal hill we can look at the Cape Town city center. The city is a large city, but completely atypical, because only the center has high-buildings. The center is surrounded by little towns like Milnerton, Table View, Bloubergstrand, Bellevile, Muizenberg and others.

Cape Town we like, we could imagine living here, but this is impossible because the immigration rules are strict and white-immigrants are not really welcomed. Even though Nick is married to a South African, and he had a good career in England, he received only a temporary resident permit.

From above we see the football stadium, a remnant of the World Cup, which gave the city a decent investment boost.

We admire Table Mountain, the landmark of the city to its feet spreads Cape Town.

We start to wonder. What now? We have achieved the goal and there is a certain emptiness. The trip was exciting and wonderful it was also hard, difficult and grueling.

We have traveled through 12 African countries, started with a lot of prejudices, of which none has been confirmed. We came through different cultures, have come to appreciate this, have found friends, had meetings from which we learned a lot.

We were warned that Africa was dangerous, we have consistently only had good experiences. Much is worse in Africa than in the so-called Western world, but there is also much that is much better and is better organized. We need to rethink our concept of poverty, have got a different understanding of what poverty is.

If we would make the trip again? Of course we would. We would include the experiences that we made in a new trip and would make much different, much more organized. Yes, we would do it again.

Approximately 500 days to Cape Town. It was a dream. That’s it. The End.

No, not yet the end. We have decided to go on. With Joachim’s help, we have found it then, our motorhome. A 30-year-old Land Rover, we registered on our name in Cape Town.

In the workshop of Roverland it is tested and we renewed key parts as a precaution.

It still needs to be converted into a motorhome, which we will make ourselves. Our plan is to drive from Cape Town to Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, along the coast up through Tanzania and Kenya, then on Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Zambia, Namibia and South Africa again and from there to ship to South America, if this plan will work, time will show.

Previous

Next

We are on our way from Namibia to Cape Town, South Africa again. This time with better infos from our friends in Oppi Koppi. At the local Vet there we got a so called “movement paper” for Tara, where you can cross border easily. So we leave Oppi Koppi and go direction South Africa.

In the South of Namibia we stay at the Keetmanshoop Geras Park Camp Site, a simple but idyllic campsite in the middle of quiver trees.

The quiver tree loves rocky hilly regions. Its straight trunk opens to a surprisingly symmetrical circular crown of branches that are pointed at the ends of tough leaves. Trunk and branches are spongy in which the aloe water is stored.

The next day we have crossed the border into South Africa at Onsekamp. Namibia to Cape Town, we are coming! This time we were smarter and have used a secondary border crossing. No one was interested in Tara, no one wanted to see the Movement paper.

After the gravel road we stopped in Poffadder a little town at the campsite. We were really tired .

Everything fine and we head on to Springbok. We pass Springbok. From now on, it’s just direction to the south. We drive through the Namaqua country, unfortunately at the wrong time, so we do not see the sea of ​​flowers.

We are tired and stay at Citrusdal at the campsite. We were already close to our final destination so we thought about our near future and what we will do for the next years. Going back by plane? Tara was already very old to fly. Getting another car and travel on in Africa? Shipping to South America. Lots of ideas. The owner of Citrusdal campsite was interested in our camper van but it turned quickly out that we could not sell the car in South Africa, because of import regulations.

Next day we drive on. At around noon we arrive in Cape Town at Joachim and Tina’s place.

We drive into the suburbs of Cape Town and see the first time the famous Table Mountain. We have made ​​it. We had driven from Austria with a two-wheel drive camper van through Africa to Cape Town. We have traveled about 40,000 kilometres and it has taken us a year and six months. Granted we were not the fastest.

In the district of Milnerton we stay with Joachim and Tina, and they show us Cape Town.

We had made it. It is 02.05.2011 and we had started on 29.10.2009. In the beginning of our trip it did not look like we will ever reach Cape Town. But in the end we believed in our dream and made it.

Previous

Next