CapeTowntoCairo

Kitting out the Defender and heading up the east coast

2010-03-11T22:17:02Z

When I began my trip in May 2009, I envisioned traveling from Cape Town to Cairo over roughly one year; to do it primarily solo and via public transport.

Ten months later having made it only one quarter of the way to Cairo while traveling around southern Africa via mostly minibus taxis, hitching and a few stints with a rental car, I have found a comfortable pace. Many of the best experience have been in places less-traveled - in the countryside away from the cities - places that are difficult to get to via public transport.

It was great to be back in Cape Town
and meet up with family and friends

Making it from Cape Town to Cairo via public transport and hitching is certainly doable, but I began to think that if I want to continue to spend time zigzagging around off the main path and complete this trip in a timely fashion it would be best done with my own vehicle. That thought was cemented as I spent a week with fellow overlanders Steve and Roxy in Tofo, Mozambique. They had come down from London via the western coast of Africa in an impressively large overland truck and raved about the benefits and freedom of doing the trip with their own vehicle.

I returned to South Africa to look for a vehicle and after a few weeks of searching I settled on a 1994 Land Rover Defender 110. It came with some overland gear and 308,000km on the odometer. After a few thousand kilometers of driving, a hole in the radiator and a cracked head cylinder it needed some work. I slowly made my way back to Cape Town to get a stock of spare parts and a new head cylinder put on the engine.

Spending time with the locals in a
shebeen outside of Port Elizabeth

With the Defender back at 100% I am now making my way north with three friends. My sister Liz took a three-month leave of absence from her job in New York and came over in early February. Friends Jon and Victoria came over in early March. Together the four of us are going to spend the next couple months making our way up the eastern coast and traveling throughout the interior of South Africa.

Our first stop was the winelands of Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Paarl. We experienced some incredible wine and by the time we left Stellenbosch we had accumulated a few additional boxes of it. With the extra load, space inside the Defender became a little tight. Jon and I found some large containers to mount to the roof rack and clothes, books and camping gear were moved upstairs.

Getting a little work done at our mobile
office at the Simonsig Vineyard

We all pack lightly when it comes to clothes but are a rather tech heavy and wired group. Among the four of us there is a handful of macbooks, HD video cameras, D-SLRs and point-and-shoot cameras, GPS units, 3G modems and over 6TB of external hard drives to store all the photos and video.

With the amount of tech gear we were carrying in the car and security issues in some areas some additional modifications to the Defender seemed to be in order. The rear sliding windows of Defenders are not incredibly secure and are held shut by a small plastic latch.

With a dual-battery power inverter and 3G
modems we can connect almost anywhere

Over the past few months I've seen a number of ways people have tried to make Defender rear windows less attractive to uninvited guests including tinting the windows, installing mesh wire security grates or mounting sand ladders over the windows. I spoke to a few shops and was going to have brackets made to lock sand ladders over one side and a rack for jerry cans over the other. The week that I was going to get the work done I came across a Defender with a far more unique solution - remove the rear window and frame entirely and rivet in a diamond plate aluminum cabinet to hold glasses, mixers and a few bottles with a door that folds down to make a mobile cocktail bar. We found the shop that did the work and the following Monday we brought the Defender in at 8am and waited the entire day as they drilled out the rear side windows and installed the custom fabricated aluminum cocktail bar.

With the new in-car bar stocked and a battery powered refrigerator/freezer to make ice for cocktails and a fridge to keep the whites cold the four of us happily began our journey up the east coast.


Removing the window	Installing the cabinet	Riveting on the new door

A Three-Day Bushwalk into the Wild of Mpumalanga, South Africa

2009-11-11T09:35:20Z

Gliding in a Mokoro Through the Okavango Delta, Botswana

2009-11-11T09:33:46Z

The Long Road to the Kalahari Elephants in Savuti, Botswana

2009-11-11T09:31:44Z

A Three-Day Bushwalk into the Wild of Mpumalanga, South Africa

2009-11-11T08:02:45Z

Months ago while traveling in Mpumalanga I met Jimmy at one of the hostels I was staying at. A former ranger and guide at some of the more popular game reserves including Kruger National Park, Manyeleti and Sabi Sands, he appeared quite knowledgeable about the bush and the animals within. He also seemed to have an interesting perspective on animal instincts and human interactions with animals in the wild. He told stories about his adventures in the bush, including walking up close to rhinos and sitting near a watering hole and being surrounded by buffalo.

A young rhino calf watches us as we
walk past

A good friend of mine that I'd known since elementary school, Steve, was planning on coming to visit for a couple weeks. I thought he'd enjoy a few days of camping and close encounters with some of the Big 5 so I asked Jimmy if he would be interested in taking us on a multiple day bushwalk. After confirming he could get four days off work he agreed to take us on a bushwalk for free as long as we sponsored the transportation, food, and drinks. I ran that by Steve and we agreed that sounded like an exciting time and it was within our budget. Four days in the bush, no cell phones, no showers, no one else - just us and the animals.

A few weeks later Steve flew into Johannesburg. I picked him up at the airport and we drove four hours to Mpumalanga where we met up with Jimmy. The following morning we packed the car, bought supplies and were ready to head North. Just as we were about to depart Jimmy ran back inside and came out with an oxygen tank and mask, threw it in the back of the truck and told us that he was recently diagnosed with emphysema and needed the oxygen sometimes.

Cooking our chicken dinner over coals

We drove up to the area where we planned to camp and drove about 20km into the bush. Part of the way on dirt roads and then we turned off and drove straight into the middle of nowhere. Eventually we punctured the sidewall of one of the tires and decided that's where we would make camp. The next couple days were full-day 20km bushwalks with up close encounters with a number of large animals including hippos, elephants, giraffes, zebras, rhino, and wildebeests.

The first day of bushwalking we packed our cameras, food, and water, turned on the GPS units and headed out. Jimmy liked getting very close to the animals. Steve and I observed a few close encounters a little further back at first but then followed suit, getting an incredible adrenalin rush from being in the wild only a few meters from animals that were 10-50 times our size.

A zeebra had her stripes reset from an
attack on her rear end

Six hours later we were 10km northwest from our camp and had eaten most of our food and drank most of the water we were carrying. As we started heading back toward camp we ran across some lion footprints in the sand. As we continued to track them Jimmy started stopping to rest about every 300m, then his rests got progressively longer as the distance we covered in between became shorter. It was about 5pm and we were still about 5.5km from our camp. If we walked straight back without stopping we would probably make it to the camp just after dark.

I took Jimmy's small pack and we pushed on. Then Jimmy started puking and soon was on the ground cramping up. He said he wasn't going to be able to make it any further today. We briefly discussed camping where we were but there was only about two cups of water left between the three of us and we were all quite thirsty.

This lazy lion let us drive within
10ft/3m of it

This is the only time in the four days of camping that things were slightly serious. Jimmy was in rough shape, we all needed water, we were about two hours from our camp and it was going to be dark in an hour and a half. We decided that Steve would stay with Jimmy and I would walk back to camp, get the truck and come back. We marked the location on my GPS, split the remaining water and I headed off. All day we were searching for animals but now it was getting dark and I was walking alone - now I didn't want to see any animals. I was worried that I wasn't going to be able to see the animals in the dark and might startle one as I walked past it.

I made it back to the camp just after dark, drank some water and then jumped in the truck and started navigating around the larger trees and across riverbeds making my way back to Steve and Jimmy. I was about 100m away when Steve appeared with a flashlight. Steve and Jimmy chugged from the warm 5 liter bottles of water that were in the truck as Steve told me about his time waiting with Jimmy. After it got dark they could hear the lions roaring. Steve gathered some wood ready to build a fire as Jimmy laid on the ground moaning and vomiting. After we all had our fill of water we just laid on the ground and rested for a while. An hour later Jimmy got up and said that he was feeling much better now. He cracked open a beer, we jumped in the truck and slowly made our way back to the campsite. We arrived dead tired and went straight to sleep.

Gliding in a Mokoro Through the Okavango Delta, Botswana

2009-10-24T08:59:51Z

The source of the Okavango Delta starts in the highlands of Angola, flows through Namibia and enters northwestern Botswana as the Okavango River which empties into the sands of the Kalahari Desert creating a 15,000 sq km maze of lakes, channels, marsh and islands that make up the largest inland delta in the world.

A hand dug Mokoro - the main method of
transport in the Okavango Delta

The water in the delta is so clear that you can see to the bottom of the channels and clean enough that you can drink straight from the delta without filtration.

The delta is home to lions, elephants, hyenas, wild dog, buffalo, crocodiles, red lechwe and numerous other animals, but because the main mode of transportation within the delta is via small hand carved wood canoes (mekoro) pushed by a pole, the hippos are the most feared and respected animals of the delta. During the day the hippos stay in the deeper channels of the delta, making the shallow papyrus reed marsh area safer to navigate by mokoro.

A view of the Okavango Delta from
above

The water level in the delta area fluctuates significantly throughout the year. Only a few of the camps within the delta can be reached by vehicles in the dry season leaving planes and mekoro as the only reliable method of getting deep inside the delta. Because it would take a number of days to get into the middle of the delta by mekoro the vast majority of visitors in the central delta area arrive my small plane.

A hut wall built with Coke cans in a delta
village

We flew into an area of the delta near Chief's Island and spent majority of our days gliding through the delta marsh by mekoro. Each time we would cross a channel the poler would stop and check for hippos, which would be within sight most of the time. Sometimes the hippos would be far away enough that we could safely cross the channel. One morning we saw hippos at a fair distance and crossed the channel only to run into thick reeds on the other side of the channel. Unable to push forward through the thick reeds with most of the boat still sticking out in the main channel a hippo charged the mokoro making a sizable wake as he rose to the surface and moved toward us. I wish I would have captured the moment with my camera but as soon as it was clear we were stuck in the channel and couldn't move forward I looked back at the poler and he was visibly scared so I quickly put down my camera and slipped on my shoes. As the hippo continued to advance the poler smacked his poling stick into the water and stopped the hippo about 15 meters from the boat.

A Zebra in the delta marsh

In addition to riding the mekoro through the delta we spent an afternoon walking through one of the few remaining delta villages and the rest of our time walking on the islands watching giraffes, zebras, elephants and red lechwe running through the marsh.

>> Check out more photos from the Okavango Delta

The Long Road to the Kalahari Elephants in Savuti, Botswana

2009-10-06T12:58:45Z

I met my parents at the airport in Livingstone, Zambia. They came to visit and we spent the next 10 days road tripping through Botswana; spending most of our time in Savuti - in the center of Chobe National Park, and the Okavango Delta.

Elephants cross infront of the
two-track path

They got their fair share of African border crossing experiences on their first day: waking up early in South Africa, flying to Zambia where we viewed Victoria Falls, crossing into Zimbabwe to view Victoria Falls from the other side and then driving to Botswana for dinner. All border crossings (with the exception of South Africa) required some sort of unofficial payment for which there was no receipt. This was in addition to the "official" fees: visas, road tolls, bridge tolls, carbon emission tax, vehicle import fee, and mandatory purchase of "approved" third-party insurance.

A one-eyed hyena approaches our dinner
table after drinking from the swimming pool

Once in Botswana we headed straight for Savuti in the heart of Chobe National Park - home to the highest concentration of elephants in Africa with over 120,000 Kalahari Elephants. In addition to hyenas, zebras, leopards, warthogs, wildebeests, kudu and impala, we saw hundreds of elephants from lone bulls off on their own to large breading herds with baby elephants drinking and cooling themselves off at watering holes.

The length of the park is roughly 450km / 280mi but took about 12 hours to drive over the course of a couple days. The slow pace was a result of deep dry sand, flooded rivers, and occasionally heavily corrugated dirt paths.

A bull elephant in musth

Driving on the main dirt roads we passed a few gates where we had to stop and fill out a logbook with our name, date, vehicle type, registration number and the direction we were heading. Upon reaching the final gate we were told that the Khwai River had flooded and that the main dirt road ahead was not passable - even with a 4x4. The options were to take a couple hour detour into Moremi National Park or a shorter detour over a series of less traveled dirt roads to where there was a bridge to cross the river. The ranger said that he hadn't heard of anyone using the bridge in the past few days and that we should make sure to check the bridge before driving over it. As we followed the ranger's hand drawn map to the bridge it seemed odd to have to "check the bridge" before using it, but that made sense once we arrived at the bridge. It was slightly submerged under the river and constructed of logs tied together by rope and wire. That was okay, however there was about a 10 foot section on the right side of the bridge where the logs were broken, leaving a hole about 5 feet deep.

Making it over the "bridge" with
a little speed

After about 45 minutes of chopping trees, moving logs, breaking the axe, falling in the water, loosing the shovel and my flipflops in the river, we tied the logs together with extra wire left on the river bank and put wading plugs in the engine and gearbox just incase the truck didn't make it across. I took my laptop and camera gear out, my dad backed the vehicle up to get a little speed and successfully made it over the makeshift bridge without slipping off the logs.

>> Check out more photos of the river crossing and animals in Chobe

Umhlanga Reed Dance Ceremony at the Queen's Royal Village, Swaziland

2009-09-02T08:56:37Z

Tens of thousands of unmarried and childless Swazi girls and women travel from their villages and gather at the Queen Mothers royal village in Ludzidzini each year to participate in the eight-day Umhlanga or Reed Dance ceremony.

Marching on the way to the Umhlanga
Ceremony

After arriving at the Queen Mothers royal residence the women disperse the following night to surrounding areas and cut tall reeds. The night after they cut the reeds they bundle them together and bring them back to the Queen Mother to be used in repairing holes in the reed windscreen surrounding the royal village. After a day of rest and washing the women prepare their traditional costumes consisting of a bead necklace, rattling anklets made from cocoons, a sash, and skirt. Many of them carry the bush knife they used to cut the reeds as a symbol of their virginity.

King Mswati III and his men making
their entrance

Today's Reed Dance ceremony originates from the Umcwasho custom where young girls were placed in age regiments to ensure their virginity. Once they reached the age of marriage they would perform labor for the Queen Mother followed by dancing and a feast. The official purpose of the annual ceremony is to preserve the women's chastity, provide tribute labor for the Queen Mother, and produce solidarity among the women through working together.

Two of the Royal Princesses leading
a group in dance

However many people, including some of the women participating in this years ceremony believe that King Mswati III uses the Reed Dance ceremony to select his next wife. This belief is likely a result of Mswati using the event to announce a couple of his 14 wives to the public in the past few years.

The women sing and dance as they parade in front of the royal family as well as a crowd of Swazi spectators, tourists and foreign dignitaries. After the parade, groups from select villages take to the center of the field and put on a special performance for the crowd. The King's many daughters also participate in the Umhalanga ceremony and are distinguished by the crown of red feathers in their hair.

Marching past the King and Royal Family

Twice during the event the King, his bodyguards, and many of the men from the Royal Family rushed down from the stands and danced as they toured through the scores of women lined up and grouped by their village. After the dancing festivities were over the King ordered a number of cows to be slaughtered to provide meat for the women and to thank them for traveling from their villages to participate in the ceremony.

>> Check out more photos of the Umhlanga Reed Dance

Umhlanga Reed Dance Ceremony at the Queen's Royal Village, Swaziland

2009-09-02T08:41:42Z

Barefoot Miners Dig Up Fossilized Coral Calcium

2009-08-17T09:43:45Z

South African Municipal Workers Trash Towns in Dirty Protest

2009-08-17T08:13:39Z

There were lines of vehicles backed up and all traffic lights were out in Nelspruit as I drove through the city Monday morning. About an hour later I arrived in Barberton, a small town near the Swaziland border, where the main road was blocked by burning tires, piles of rocks, cut down trees and piles of trash.

Burning tires in the street

It was Monday, July 27, and that morning over 150,000 South African municipal workers throughout every province in the country went on strike and trashed cities and towns throughout the country. They were protesting after wage agreement negotiations failed between the South African Local Government Association and South African Municipal Workers' Union. The municipal workers rejected an offer of an 11.5% wage increase and were demanding a 15% increase.

Jaco is Corrupt & SAMWU Demands
15% painted on the street

I camped in a park in Barberton on the edge of town on the main road for the next two nights and each morning woke up to a crowd of municipal workers marching down the street, chanting and dumping bags of trash in the street. Downtown they were doing more of the same, cutting down more trees to drag in the road and burning tires and garbage cans.

Two protestors work together to cut
down trees to block roads

Armed private security personnel closed roads and redirected traffic as the group moved throughout the town. The reactions of the non-protesting citizens in the town was quite mixed. There were plenty of racist and degrading comments, many people were scared of the protesters, some were curious and observed the activities from behind the protection of armed security guards, some shook their head in disgusts, and others sympathized with the municipal workers despite their trashing of the town.

The protests continued for five days until SAMWU agreed to a 13% wage increase on Friday afternoon. The streets in many areas remained a mess with trash, broken bottles, burnt tires and overturned garbage cans until those on garbage duty returned to work on Monday morning.

South African Municipal Workers Trash Towns in Dirty Protest

2009-08-16T09:59:48Z

House of Judah Nyabinghi Rastafarian Grounation in Khayalethu South Township, South Africa

2009-07-19T09:43:54Z

After a few wrong turns a local couple walking on the road offered to jump in the car and navigate in exchange for a taxi fare to where they were heading. Five minutes and 20 Rand later we arrived at Judah Square - the largest Rastafarian community in South Africa located just outside of the city of Knysna in the Khayalethu South Township and home to about 80 Niyabinghi Rastafarians.

Entrance mural to the House of Judah

Brother Leo - sporting some heavily matted dreads - was the first member of the House of Judah to greet us when we arrived telling us that we were lucky to come at the time we did because it was a special night for the community. The House of Judah has a binghi or holy day on the first Saturday of the month and people were just starting to gather around a pile of wood outside the of the temple. Leo brought us over and introduced us to 10 men as another group from the community joined us. The introductions were mainly fist pumping followed by "irie, one love or I and I."

Brother Leo getting down with his 8 inch
thick dread

As it began to get dark the group outside of the temple continued to get larger as four men played the drums and the group sang songs. The two friends I was travelling with weren't interested in sticking around for the night so we made plans to meet back at Judah Square the following morning and they left.

I met Sister Keri who ran "Sista Keri's B&B" in a separate room about three feet from her house with two bunk beds, a toilet and a sink. She offered to cook a vegetable dinner for me if I was hungry, but I wanted to get back to the binghi so headed back to the temple.

Dancing around the fire

By then it was dark and the pile of wood that was in the center of the ring of people was a healthy fire. The rasta's were singing songs about the fire and dancing and after a while they began to move in closer and circle clockwise around the fire. More people from the community came into the circle as they all walked around the fire and then proceeded into the church. I was standing outside the circle shooting video and taking photographs. One of the rastas came over to me and told me that I first needed to walk around the fire seven times and throw into the fire any negative feelings I had and then I could go into the temple.

House of Judah Niyabinghi Temple

Inside chants to Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie were interspersed with singing, dancing, smoking, beating the drums, sermons extolling the virtues of Rastafarianism, and calls by the priest for the community to act in unity on current political matters. Another member of the rasta community read from a teaching of Haile Selassie on the importance of the functions of a legislature and the need for the community to financially support the legislature and made an effort to relate the reading to the need for his fellow rastas to put money into a box he was holding.

As midnight approached a few rastas trickled in and a few others left the temple, but for the most part it was still a full house. After more than six hours of binghi and no end in sight I headed off to Sister Keri's place to get some sleep while the grounation continued well into the morning.

Cage diving with Great White Sharks in Mossel Bay, South Africa

2009-07-15T11:26:43Z

Malealea Band in Malealea, Lesotho

2009-07-15T11:24:24Z