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Updated Information
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Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
0km |
Meals
Restaurant |
Weather |
Livingstone, Zambia
Witt & Jen |
29 July, 2004 |
Zambezi waterfront |
17°15.220’S
x 25°50.665’E |
Odometer: 28860km |
Sunny, 86(F)
degrees |
|
After a quick breakfast we got on the bus to
the Zambezi Swing site. We spent the day doing a variety of activities,
beginning with a 30m abseil (rappel) into a canyon. Next we used the same
toprope to rap-jump into the canyon. Rap jumping is like rappelling except
that the rope is attached at your back and you are face forward. Next was
the flying fox. A dual cable is stretched across the canyon. There is a
pulley on the cable with a rope hanging from it. The jumper is connected
into a harness at the back and runs down a ramp, jumping into the canyon.
Momentum and gravity carries you most of the way across the canyon and you
are pulled back by a rope. The last activity was the Zambezi Swing itself.
Again a cable is stretched across the canyon and a group of climbing ropes
is attached to the cable in the center. The jumper stands on the rim of
the canyon and is attached to a climbing harness. Jumping into the canyon
gives you about a 50m freefall before the rope arrests you, swinging you
like a pendulum back and forth across the canyon. Once you slow down
enough, you are lowered down to the canyon floor to hike back up. The
morning consisted of an introduction to all these activities. The swing
was the most frightening, requiring you to step off the edge of the canyon
into a freefall. Everyone there that day managed to actually jump. After
lunch we were free to do any of the activities we wanted. Jen and I did
the flying fox a couple more times. We decided to do a tandem swing (both
of us attached to the rope and jumping at the same time.) We got to the
edge, but fear and the knowledge that we’d already done it got the better
of us and we backed out. We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying views
over the canyon and having beers. |
Jen makes a run at the flying fox Witt takes the plunge on the swing
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Updated Information
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Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
133km |
Meals
Calamari, cape salmon and sushi at the
Codfather |
Weather |
Camps Bay, South Africa
Graham & Connie |
29 July, 2004 |
Byron's house |
33°57.677’S
18°22.557’E |
Odometer: 39445km |
Cold, Raining 60(F)
degrees |
|
Woke to poor weather. We decided to make our
way back to Cape Town, stopping at Byerskloof vinyard on the way.
Byerskloof is a small operation, unlike Distel. They had no tour, but had
an excellent shop with all of their wines available for tasting. They also
had products made with their wine like salami. Good stuff! Once back in
Cape Town we looked up Byron Herbert. We had met Byron in Maun where he
was touring with the Cape Land Rover Club. He offered to let us stay at
his house in Camps Bay, which was very nice. The town of Camps Bay is one
of the trendiest places around Cape Town, and has a great beachfront with
excellent restaurants. Byron’s house has a guest wing where he let us
stay. For that, we took him out to dinner at the Codfather and had
fantastic sushi, calamari and cape salmon. |
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Enjoying the sunset over Camps
Bay |
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Updated Information
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Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
0km |
Meals
Grilled Chicken |
Weather |
Livingstone, Zambia
Witt & Jen |
30 July, 2004 |
Zambezi waterfront |
17°15.220’S x 25°50.665’E |
Odometer: 28860km |
Sunny, 87(F) Degrees |
|
Today was the day of our re-scheduled rafting
trip. After breakfast we piled into a big 4x4 truck and drove to the
put-in at Rapid 10. The drive was bone jarring over bad road. The hike to
the put in was very steep down log ladders into the roughly 500 foot deep
canyon. Jerrod was our guide, a young guy from Canada. We had a group of
six, Jen and I, Corby, a lady who works for the peace corps in Malawi, and
a couple of girls off an overland truck. The Zambezi has a legendary
reputation as the largest commercially run river in the world. The volume
is huge, about 800 cubic meters per second which translates to about
25-30k cfs. The volume is currently too high to take clients down the
upper part of the river (rapids 1-10) so we missed the biggest water the
river has to offer. It was still very exciting and we did get to see the
curling wave on Rapid 11. The river is very non-technical, it’s just a
matter of going straight through huge wave trains. The water is deep and
the rapids are separated by pools of flat water. There was a lot of
paddling during day, and the poor state of the access roads and the long
hikes in and out meant that we were off the river by 2pm. There is a cable
car under construction at the take out, but apparently poor design and
workmanship have killed the project. After another bone-jarring truck ride
we returned to the campground where we were given dinner (at 330) and
watched the video they took during the day. That evening we spent time
talking with Helen and Tony over beers on the deck. |
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Updated Information
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Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
174km |
Meals
Curry at the Curry Factory |
Weather |
Camps Bay, South Africa
Graham & Connie |
30 July, 2004 |
Byron's house |
33°57.677’S
18°22.557’E |
Odometer: 39619km |
Cold, Raining 60(F)
degrees |
|
We took a tour around the Cape today. Our plan
was to go down to the Cape Point, but the Cape of Good Hope park is quite
expensive to get into, and in the end we decided to skip it. Instead we
made our way to Boulders Beach to see the penguin colony. The area has
been made into a National Park, and has a very nice boardwalk down to the
beach so that you can observe the penguins without disturbing them too
much. In the parking area at Boulders we were subjected to intense
questioning from a group of American tourists who found it hard to believe
we had driven all the way from England. We had lunch at a restaurant in
Kommetjie and then headed back into town. Byron had told us of a Land
Rover specialist, and Graham wanted to pick up some parts. After some
searching we found LR, and bought brake pads, a timing belt and a steering
box rebuild kit. The steering box in the Land Rover was getting pretty
bad, now leaking fluid, and Graham though that having that rebuild kit
handy was a good idea. We then continued on to Century City where we had a
lousy dinner at a fast food curry place. We saw Hidalgo at the movie
theatre after than and then went back to Camps Bay. |
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Updated Information
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Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
0km |
Meals
Curry |
Weather |
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Livingstone, Zambia
Witt & Jen |
31 July, 2004 |
Zambezi waterfront |
17°15.220’S x 25°50.665’E |
Odometer: 28860km |
Sunny, 90(F)
degrees |
|
We drove into town this morning to use the
internet and try to set up a day of kayaking for Witt. Jen spent the
morning in the internet café while I went with Ollie, who will be my guide
on the river tomorrow. We found a Necky Gliss that I fit into, but just
barely. We took the boat and the rest of my gear to Fawlty Towers
backpackers where Emma let me use their pool for a little roll practice. I
spent about 30 minutes in the pool doing rolls and trying to get the feel
of the boat. The fit isn’t great, but I can paddle it for a day. In the
afternoon we went to Victoria Falls, the main attraction of the area. We
walked across the footbridge in front of the falls and got soaked by the
spray. Vic Falls is incredible because it drops into a deep gorge, and
tourists can walk out to the opposite side of the gorge providing an
awesome view of the falls. There were multiple rainbows and the sound of
millions of liters of water tumbling into the gorge was amazing. We
noticed Helen and Tony’s Landcruiser in the parking lot and went to watch
them do the bungi jump off the automobile bridge over the river, just
downstream of the falls. Watching them jump was good fun, and we were
tempted to do it ourselves. We went to the Royal Livingstone hotel (a five
star resort) for sundowners on their deck. It was all very civilized
except for the vervet monkey that jumped onto our table and stole half our
peanuts! After dark we walked back to the falls (the hotel has a private
entrance to the park) to see the falls by the full moon. As amazing as the
falls are by day they are even more impressive by the light of the moon.
The water disappears into a dense mist of spray and a rainbow cast by
moonlight arcs over the canyon. The scene looks like something out of a
Tolkein novel. |
Our friends Helen and Tony Tony takes the bungi plunge A small section of the falls and the Zambezi River
Our friends Helen and Tony
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Updated Information
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Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
21km |
Meals
Calamari at the Chapman's Peak Hotel |
Weather |
Camps Bay, South Africa
Graham & Connie |
31 July, 2004 |
Byron's house |
33°57.677’S
18°22.557’E |
Odometer: 39640km |
Cold, Raining 56(F)
degrees |
|
Spent our last day in Cape Town getting things
finished up. We went to the V&A Waterfront again where Graham completed
some web updates and sent them off. Connie did some shopping, but didn’t
spend any money. In the evening we took Byron out for dinner again. He
recommended the Chapman’s Peak Hotel which is supposed to have the best
calamari in Cape Town and it was quite excellent! |
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Camps Bay |
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Updated Information
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Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
0km |
Meals
Restaurant |
Weather |
Livingstone, Zambia
Witt & Jen |
01 August, 2004 |
Zambezi waterfront |
17°15.220’S x 25°50.665’E |
Odometer: 28860km |
Sunny, 93(F) Degrees |
|
We woke early this morning so that Jen could
drop me at Fawlty Towers to meet Ollie for another day on the river. We
left at about 830 and after another trip down the horrible road to the
put-in (this time a little less jarring in a Land Rover) we hired some
porters to carry our boats down. Our group consisted of myself, Peter and
Tim who are here from Australia just to boat, and Peter’s sister Sarah who
will be in a tandem kayak with the guide. Almost as soon as I got on the
river I realized that the water was harder than I thought. The eddie lines
are 3 boat lengths long and full of turbulent, boiling water. There are
lots of whirlpools and upwellings. The lines through the rapids are not
technical, just straight down the middle. The water is huge and more pushy
than anything I’ve ever even contemplated. I ended out swimming at least
half the rapids and had a very tough and exhausting day. Peter and Tim got
to practice their rescue skills, chasing me and my boat around the river
all day. I hit a couple of combat rolls, missed a few more, and by the
time the water started getting easier toward the bottom of the run I was
too tired to paddle aggressively. The day definitely falls into the
category of “Anything that doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
Fortunately for me the river is safe despite it’s size. There are pools
below every rapid and there are no exposed rocks and few sticky holes.
After the driver dropped me at the campground Jen and I had dinner and I
was asleep by 8pm. We were awoken at about 10 by some partying overland
truck passengers who had set up their tent in our camp site. I wasn’t in a
mood to be nice and told them off, which prompted them to move their tent.
Note that the photos below were taken by Pete and are not all from the day
I was with them. |
One of the Aussies surfing the famous wave on #11 The put-in at rapid 1. Mist from the falls drifts out of the canyon in the background Witt gets his first thrashing of the day on #11 Sarah and Ollie in the tandem
One of the Aussies surfing the famous wave on #11
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Updated Information
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Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
263km |
Meals
ham, cheese, potato chips and chutney
sandwiches |
Weather |
Arniston, South Africa
Graham & Connie |
01 August, 2004 |
South of Africa Backpackers |
34°39.217’S
20°13.242’E |
Odometer: 39903km |
Cold, Raining 63(F)
degrees |
|
Got up late and left Byron’s house. We were
planning on waiting to meet his family but they didn’t return from the
airport before we felt we had to leave. It’s a pity, because Byron was
very nice to us and very helpful. Making our way out of Cape Town, we
choose the scenic route along the coast. At Hermanus we stopped for
coffee, and sat on the bay watching the wright whales come in. We also saw
a group of dassies on the shore which was nice because they were a lot
closer than the ones we saw in the Karoo National Park. By evening we made
it to Arniston, and we stopped at a backpacker place right next to a
military base. We had sandwiches in the room and went to bed. |
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Updated Information
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Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
0km |
Meals
Restaurant |
Weather |
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Livingstone,
Zambia
Witt & Jen |
02 August, 2004 |
Mambara Camping |
Not Recorded |
Odometer: 28860km |
Sunny, 91(F)
degrees |
|
Hoping to be able finally to leave Livingstone
tomorrow, we spent the day grocery shopping and stocking up on supplies
for the next leg of our trip. We stopped at Fawlty Towers to leave some
money to pay for the kayak trip. Emma said that they still felt bad for
the thing with our car and wanted to buy us some drinks. We agreed to meet
her this evening, despite our better judgment (drinking with these people
seems to always involve LOTS of alcohol.) We went back to the falls in the
afternoon and hiked down to the boiling pot. The spot provides a great
view of the bridge and we watched a couple of bungi jumpers as the mist
from the falls drifted past in the canyon. We did some souvenir shopping
at the stalls near the park entrance, and then went to a new campground to
try to avoid the overland trucks at the Zambezi Waterfront. We ran into
Jeff and Jane, a british couple who have come down the east coast in a
Landcruiser. We talked with them for a couple of hours before driving into
town to meet with Emma, Nick, Fiona, and some other friends. We went to a
local restaurant for dinner, then came back to Hippos for drinks. We had a
good conversation with Emma and her boyfriend Aubrey who flies helicopters
and aircraft for a tour company. They invited us to a housewarming party
tomorrow night, and Emma even offered us a free room at Fawlty Towers. We
couldn’t turn down their hospitality and accepted their offer. If we don’t
leave soon, though, I’m concerned that we’ll have to look for jobs here! |
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Updated Information
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Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
385km |
Meals
Rosti |
Weather |
Wilderness, South Africa
Graham & Connie |
02 August, 2004 |
Beach House Backpackers |
33°59.714’S
22°33.950’E |
Odometer: 40287km |
Cold, Cloudy 60(F)
degrees |
|
The first order of business was to go to Cape
Aguhlas, the Southernmost tip of Africa. It was a very pleasant drive down
there, and we stopped at a coffee shop just before the light house for
breakfast. Unlike Cape Point you don’t have to pay to visit Cape Aguhlas.
We spent some time down by the marker taking pictures. Then Connie went
about collecting shells and rocks. We then toured the light house museum
which is in the light house and has an excellent display of some of the
most famous light houses in the world and all of the light houses in
Southern Africa. We left the cape just after lunch and headed into the
Garden Route proper. This is an area of South Africa with a lot of farming
and some very spectacular scenery. We stopped for a late lunch at a farm
stall and bought some excellent droewors. By evening we made it to
Wilderness, and we stopped at the Beach House Backpackers. As you may
expect from the name it is right on the beach, and we enjoyed a
spectacular sunset by the fire. We camped in the parking lot overlooking
the beach and the railway. |
Graham, life's ambition accomplished, walks into the sea Sundowners in Wildnerness
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August 3 ----> |
