Adventure Big Five ABF2202 (the other way around!)
The previous tour is over, but the motorcycles have "somehow" to go back to Cape Town, so why not with another tour? :) A very well mixed group with partecipants from Switzerland, Germany Austria, Italy and USA has arrived in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, and we are all eager to explore southern Africa! Follow us during the next two weeks!
Today we left Victoria Falls and Zimbabwe and headed (by bus) to Kasane in Botswana, where the motorcycles were waiting for us! And then, after the motorcycle handover and some paperwork, we were ready to jump on a comfortable raft for another highlight of this tour, the boat safari on the Chobe river, where we felt like being on National Gepgraphic! Impressive the amount of animals we could see!
Time to jump on our motorcycles and start our engines!!! Today we took it quite easy from Kasane to Nata, a long straight road where we had to watch for elephants crossing... and some potholes, and after reaching our lodge everybody was eager to try some offroad in the Nata Bird Sanctuary, and that's where we went for a loop before sunset!
Another long and straight stretch of road between Nata and Maun! After avoiding many potholes, we reached Gweta where we stopped for quite a long break at the Planet Baobab lodge, surrounded by many huge baobab trees. There we had time for a coffee, a light lunch and some pictures! After that, not many potholes anymore, but (much better!) animals crossing! Giraffes and Elephants were greeting us along the way, until we finally reached Maun, where we are going to spend the next two nights. Tonight we have to go to bed early, because tomorrow the alarms rings at 5:30 am! Stay tuned!
Can we still call it a rest day if we had to leave at 6am for the jeep safari? :) We entered the Moremi Game Reserve in the Okavango Delta and spent almost the whole day there looking for animals! Enjoy the pictures!
Also this day started early, we had to be at the Maun airport at 7:30 to go on a helicopter scenic flight over the Okavango delta! That was simply amazing!!! Back on land after 45 minutes and then back to our lodge for breakfast (yes we didn't eat before flying... just in case!). After that, we were ready to leave and after around 280 kilometres we finally reached Ghanzi, today's destination. Tonight we have to go to bed early, because tomorrow will be a long day!!!
A long long stretch of road from Ghanzi to Windhoek, and we also had to cross the border between Botswana and Namibia, but everything was fine and we made it in time to relax a little bit on the rooftop bar of our hotel before having dinner... with a special surprise for Stefano, today is his birthday!!!
We made it to the Atlantic Ocean! After leaving Windhoek we headed to Okahandja where we stopped for a coffee break and to refill our motorcycles. Back on the Trans Kalahari highway, our next stop was in Usakos for lunch and then, before reaching Swakopmund, we went for a "side trip" of 60 unpaved kilometres to Spitzkoppe, an incredible rock formation and one of Namibia's most beautiful landmarks! What an amazing place!
The temperature in this part of Namibia drops by the coast because of the cold air coming in from the Atlantic ocean, so we departed on a very chilly morning and headed to Walwis Bay, where we stopped for some pictures at the Flamingo Lagoon and then tried the brand new "Dunes Mall" for a coffee break and the to buy something (especially to drink!) before entering the Namib Desert. After that, we said goodbye to the paved road and we entered the desert again! Tonight we sleep in the Namib desert, what an incredible place!
No morotcycles today, a big offroad car was waiting for us (very early departure!) and took us to visit Sossusvlei, one of Namibia's most visited attractions, famous for its large red sand dunes which are some of the tallest sand dunes in the world! After some hiking and a picnic between the dunes, we drove back to our beautiful lodge and had time to relax by the pool before admiring the amazing sunset!
Another long day was awaiting us! Leaving the Namib Naukluft, the road was unpaved (and sometimes though!) for more than 200 km, but the landscapes that we could admire especially around the Tsarishoogte pass made it worth the effort! We all made it to Maltahohe by lunch time, then back on asphalt we quickly reached our lodge but, if you are thinking that the riding "fun" for today was over, you are wrong because the driveway is a three kilometres sand (the red sand of the Kalahari) road!
After riding in the Namib desert, we definitely needed an easier day! Today we started a little bit later and headed southwards (South Africa is not far anymore!) straight to Keetmanshoop on asphalt, we reached our lodge in time for lunch and then, after some relax, we went to see the Giants Playground, a very bizarre rock formation. Arrived there, we could also see two beautiful cheetas and we came just in time for their lunch!
A short but wonderful ride today! We left Keetmanshoop on a sunny morning (as usual here!) and after a few kilometres we left the asphalt again to reach one of the wonders of Namibia, the magnificent Fish River Canyon! But we had no hurry to get there, first a good coffee break near the Naute dam, then lunch at the beautiful Canyon Roadhouse and finally we entered the protected area. What an amazing sight! We spent more than one hour there, going from one viewpoint to another before finally reaching our cozy lodge located nearby. A beautiful day!!!
Time to leave Namibia and to add another country to our list, South Africa! We spent the whole morning still in Namibia, riding (on gravel, of course!) from our beautiful lodge first to Ai-Ais for a coffee break and then to Noordoever, just before the border, where we had a quick lunch. As soon as we entered South Africa, suddenly flowers started to appear all around us, this is the so called area of the "blooming desert", and the flowers mean that there was rain not long ago... let's hope for good weather in the next days!
Flowers all around us, as I wrote yesterday, mean water... and that's what we got this morning! But fortunately it wasn't a heavy rain! We quickly reached Garies for a coffee break and then continued heading southwards to Vanrhynsdorp where we had a great lunch! After that, some of us went straight to Citrusdal and others reached the coast at Lambert's Bay, facing some gravel (and a little bit of mud!) before reaching the final destination. Cape Town, we are coming soon!!
We made it! Today we reached Cape Town after more than 4000 kilometres from the flat savannah of Botswana to the southernmost (almost!) city of the African continent! We left Citrusdal under a grey sky but fortunately it didn't rain today! After 20 kilometres of gravel on the Middelberg Pass, and another 90 kilometres through the hills and mountains of the region, we reached Ceres where we stopped for a good coffee break, and then back on the road to face the many curves of the Bain's Kloof pass! Another stop in Paarl and from there we could already see Table Mountain! Cape Town, we have arrived!!! What a beautiful tour it was, a lot of memories and experiences we'll never forget!!! Thank you Amparo, Thomas, Warren, Tom, Dan, Stefano and Daniel! See you hopefully soon around the world!