Heading East: Potholes And Blyde Canyon

After Praetoria we headed east for two days, initially on the excellent freeways, then off onto secondary roads to see the sights...the Sabie region, up and over the Drakensburg mountains, Dullstrom and South Africa's fly-fishing capital (introduced brown and rainbow trout), spending the night at a campground near Sabie town. From Praetoria, it's high dry plains, dotted with gigantic gold mine complexes and mountain-like tailings, powerplants, small towns, heavy industry. Then you climb into the mountains, the Drakensburgs not particularly high but pretty, Next day we drove on to Pilgrim's Rest (a restored mining town; we've seen lots of gold mining towns, in MT, the US West, New Zealand, etc.; so no pix), Long Tom Pass, Bourke's Luck Potholes, and then the impressive Blyde canyon. The cloud ceiling was quite low, so we skipped God's Window and the Pinnacle, other canyon sights, stopping at another campground near Blydespoort. All this occurred August 27th-28th.

Gradually we are getting used to the new camper, the routine, the campgrounds, the driving, our new companions. Jet lag continues to be an issue, but it will pass. [Drafted and posted (?!) September 15th.]

Among first of many interesting signs...the top says "no stopping," and the second
says "no road-side vendors"

Bourke's Luck Potholes are a small gorge; Bourke was a miner,
of course

The potholes; a few days later we'd see more than our share of other potholes,
as we drove out of South Africa north to Botswana

Also little waterfalls

Low clouds and a bit of Blyde Canyon, one of the world's largest, we read

Sort of like Grand Canyon, but with trees, as Vicki observed

At the campground in Blydepoort, the southern hemisphere flora beginning to show;
it's late winter/early spring here

Campground showers...the last ablution block I remember was outside a mosque
somewhere

More helpful signage

And more, the next day, of Blyde Canyon

Pano

The Hornbill, no respecter of signage...

Millenium Bobo And Initial Days...

On Saturday, August 26^th, we picked up our new 2017 rental camper and met our tour companions and leaders.

The camper is on an Iveco 3500 truck chassis, the motorhome built by Worldwide Motorhomes of SA and rented to us by Bobo Campers of Joburg. We are still pondering possible names for it, including perhaps "Le Bobo," consistent with our current campers in North America and Europe, or "Millennium Bobo," consistent with our previous camper rental, in New Zealand, the Millennium Bongo, way back in 2008. We are open to suggestions until something sticks.

Anyhow, the vehicle is about 7 meters long, 3 meters high, 2.5l diesel, 8-speed automatic transmission, with a big overhead. It is overall the largest camper with which we have had experience. There are two dinettes, both making into beds, and altogether it can sleep six. We use the overhead for storing suitcases, etc., the middle dinette as the dinette, and the rear dinette made up as a permanent bed. There is a two-burner stove, microwave, an all-electric fridge, air conditioning, wet bath, running hot-and-cold, a small Thetford cassette toilet, table and chairs for outside, pretty much the usual amenities, except...there is no gray tank. In South Africa, the gray water (sinks and shower) just dribbles out onto the ground underneath the camper. This would be unthinkable in Europe or the US or New Zealand (especially!), and so we try not to think about it. So far it is arid, sandy country, mostly, so the water goes away pretty quickly. Interestingly, the bathroom light switch is more than 7 feet above the floor. The vent higher than that.

We have been in the camper 12 nights as I write and have found it adequate. A bigger fridge and more counter space would be nice, as well as a dry bath. On each of the first three nights' encampments there have been group meetings, and, ominously, the first was mostly about how to change tires. Call AAA? I asked. Unusually for us, all the nightly encampments have been at campgrounds, mostly with electricity and other amenities. Some have been very nice indeed. The 38 nights we will be on this tour are the longest stretch in recent years in which we have known where we are going and where we are laying our heads.

Our companions are six other couples, all from the UK except Don and Kay, from Perth, bloody Australia. Our tour leaders, "escorts" they are called, are Chris and Hilary, from near Birmingham. The most popular member of the group is Donnie, from Jobuurg, the Bobo mechanic who travels with us in a camper laden with spares.

A good group, admirably led and assisted.

These first 12 days have been an extended learning experience, about the camper, about driving, the traffic, the roads, the countries we are visiting, the flora and fauna. (Alas, we are driving on the left ("proper") side of the road, but this is no longer much of an issue with so much recent/previous experience.) The distances between sites on our itinerary are considerable. One day was 300 miles, others less than 200, still others quite short. (OK, 300 miles may not seem like much, but consider these are two lane roads, mostly well-paved, sometimes not so much).We were three nights in Kruger National Park but otherwise have been on the move to get through northeastern South Africa and now into Botswana. We are now 4 nights near the Chobi national park in Botswana, with an over night to Victoria Falls coming up.

Demands of travel, lack of strong, or any, wifi, and also electricity now and then, mean that I am more than a full week behind on the blog. I'll catch up as I can—there are already more than 2 thousand pix to view, select, edit, down-size, etc.--and our first scheduled "day at leisure" isn't until September 19^th. At least we now have our circadian rhythms at the proper beat, being 12 full days and time zones out of San Francisco. And the tour, despite some minor hardships and mishaps, has been everything that we hoped for and much more. We are happy campers.

Our fleet; moving in day

Le Bobo; Millennium Bobo...

At our first night's encampment, at Monateng Safari Lodge, near
Praetoria ("we're driving to Praetoria, Praetoria, Praetoria"); note
electrified fence to keep bad critters out

At a group dinner some days later; a fun group

Some teasers of pix to come...

African Odyssey Genesis*

We arrived in Johannesburg Wednesday evening, August 23^rd, and made our way to the Mercure hotel, across from the Eastgate Mall, well east of the enormous city. It was dark by 7PM, and temps were dropping into the 40s. No sign of Jungle Jim or Tarzan. 

Just for the record, the flight from Atlanta to Joburg is the second longest of all non-stop commercial flights, 13,582 miles; but it is the longest, #1, in terms of time, 15 hours, 55 minutes. The time zone of Joburg is the same as Barcelona, but, conjoined with the flight from San Francisco to Atlanta, 5 hours or so, we were tired puppies. More like tired zombies. It's Friday evening as I write, August 25^th, and we are still moving very slowly. We summoned enough energy to see the Apartheid Museum this afternoon, and have visited the mall twice, but that's about it, apart from unpacking and trying to sleep. Tomorrow we pick up our camper. (Camper? you ask).

I had always wanted to visit Africa, especially if we could be back home in time for cocktails. We did precisely this in 2010 or so, taking the fast ferry from Tarifa, Spain, to Tangier, Morocco, returning to Tarifa by 5PM and a snifter of Soberano. I was pleased to cross off another continent, but cognizant I had not had the fullest of African experiences. Vicki had visited Egypt in the early 80s and certainly was ahead of me, but not by that much. Imagine our intrigue, however, when, in 2016, at a British RV show, we learned that the UK's Camping and Caravaning Club (the friendly one), of which we were members, conducts guided RV tours of southern Africa (as well as many other places). This through the firm of Worldwide Motorhome Holidays. They rent you an RV, provide a wagon-master/mistress, and, in the company of other RVers, you are off on a 4 or 5 week road tour of the southern bit of the continent. There is a set itinerary, and you camp together in the evenings, but you are otherwise independent. We were intrigued; the intrigue led to inquiries, which led to real interest, which led to a deposit...and now, 13 months later, here we are, in Joburg, moving into our RV tomorrow morning, ready to begin our African odyssey. So much by way of explanation.

August 22nd bon voyage with Penelope, who can pronounce
"bon voyage" properly

Over the Bay, The City to the left

Over the Sierras

Landing at Atlanta

On approach to Johannesburg

At the Apartheid Museum in Joburg; if you have any moral
sense, this is the one place in Joburg you have to visit

Entrance to the museum; so much of this happened during our
lifetimes...as a philosophy student, I remembered the murder of
Stephen Biko...and so much else; as a citizen of the US, whose
record is so appallingly much worse, it is difficult to be
critical...justice still has an appallingly high price in most of
the world...

The museum is extensive, graphic, sparing
little, and recounts the experiences of so many
people still alive; no photography is permitted;
understandably

Downtown Joburg from the museum

The most popular family restaurant in Joburg, and in what we
have seen already of South Africa, is Spur...Spur Steak Ranches;
good and reasonably-priced food, but an exercise in cognitive
dissonance...the name is cowboy, the decor is Native American
...who didn't use spurs so much, nor eat steak, nor have
anything to do with Africa; but it was here I discovered peri peri
sauce

Climbing wall in the Spur kiddie room

Exploring the Eastgate Mall and the impressive
Checkers supermercado; South Africa is a big-
time wine producer, but we'll get into that toward
the end of the trip

*Nice Hellenistic/Hebraic allusion, right? African Genesis is the title of the seminal work by Robert Ardrey, which I read c. 1963, and which was life-changing. Dogmatic slumbers, etc. Thank you, again, Mrs. Henry, my high school Latin teacher, who taught much else in addition to Latin. The Odyssey, by Team Homer, is another story, but still among the favorites for a multitude of reasons.

Tea For Three

Tea has been a thing for Vicki and P since toddlerhood, and Mama and Grandpa have often joined in the tea parties too. This summer our visit to California ended (apart from the usual packing, storing the RV, etc.) with a marvelous tea party for the girls Rebecca had arranged at Lovejoy's in Redwood City.

Yosemite, 2017

We returned to the Bay area in another quick three-day trip, this time mostly I-15, I-84, and I-80, and spent a few more days preparing for a moderately successful flea market experience at Palo Alto High School. Rather a different experience from Route 200 in East Missoula! (No one practices open carry in Middle California). After that, and its aftermath, we took P to Yosemite for a promised camping trip. We were there--Northern Pines in the Valley and then Crane Flats--five days and four nights. Yosemite was a little less smoky than Missoula, but there were still large fires in the vicinity. And people, thousands of people, including many Europeans.

Our site at the Paly High flea market

At Yosemite, P contemplating the Merced River

Half Dome from our campsite

On a hike near El Cap

In the campground, playing with a new friend

Another day, another hike, taking the Junior Ranger oath

On a hike to Lower Yosemite Falls

Close encounter with a parking lot deer

Taking the measure of one of the big trees, at the
Tuolomne Grove

With grandma at the Dead Giant

Observing a squirrel devouring a large pine cone

Northern Lights; Not

As it turned out the only lights we saw were reflected in the eyes of passing deer. We had read that there was a good chance of seeing the aurelia borealis one night from Missoula, so Vicki and Kim and I hauled some lawn chairs over to a good vantage point. (Our friends the Rotts live high above Missoula in the South Hills). We waited, hopefully, but then someone turned on his/her phone and read that the chance from Missoula was only 20% or so. Looks like our trip to Iceland is still on.

Looking north from Missoula's South Hills, awaiting the
appearance of the Northern Lights

Ditto

Ditto again; this is pretty boring; my thoughts turned to poetry

"Darkness warshed over the Dude, darker'n a black steer's tookus
on a moonless prairie night..."

Click to enlarge and look smack in the middle and you will
see a yearling staring at us, wondering why humans do things
like this...