ABF2402 - Adventure Big Five return to Cape town

The tour kicks off with an early breakfast start in the hotel and then the group heads down to take a scenic walk along the walkways to view the impressive Victoria Falls. There is a lot of spray this morning which keeps us cool as it's already starting to warm up. We make our way around admiring the views - it's great!!! But we cannot tarry - our bus transfer to Kasane departs at 11:00 so we have to be back for that. The border crossing into Botswana goes remarkably smoothly and we arrive at the Chobe Marina Lodge for lunch. Then we are off again - this time on a boat safari around the Chobe National Park. Today there are Elephants, Hippos, Crocodiles, Buffalo and Marabou Storks in abundance. We watch the sun set then are back to the Lodge for dinner. Most people are taking an early night - tomorrow morning we have a game drive starting at 06:00!!!!
Wow! what a start to the day - our lucky number is 1!!!! We head out at 6am sharp for the game drive and make our way into the Chobe National Park. We soon see elephant and then giraffe. We head down to the river and see a pride of lions making their way back from the river to the bush, and commence to follow them. In the end they are running between the jeeps, almost within touching distance - it's awesome!!!!! We continue to the river and see more hippo, buffalo, marabou storks, impala, kudu - its a really great drive first thing in the morning. We get back to the lodge for breakfast and it turns out there was an administrative mix up and the game drive was for free :-) real lucky #1!!!! We head out from Kasane and are back on the highway with bush/brush either side seemingly endless apart from a few breaks in the woodland where we can then see almost to the horizon. We make it to the lodge by mid afternoon and half the group decides to ride on to the Nata Bird Sanctuary, where we watch the sun go down - nice :-) We ride back to the lodge in the dusk and head to the bar for refreshment and from there straight to dinner. It's been a long day and everyone is tired and heads off to bed, but the memories of today will linger forever.........
HOT HOT HOT!!!! That was today. The second half of the group went for a ride around the Nata Bird Sanctuary this morning - it was actually harder to see the sand conditions with the sun directly behind us, but we made it to the lookout point, took some fotos, and then rode back to the lodge without any issues. We team up with the rest of the group and ride to the gas station in Nata to top up just to make sure we reach Maun - good job we did as it seems there's no gas anywhere, even in Maun when we arrive! It's already almost 30 degrees as we leave Nata and head out riding through the salt pans, which we can see only now and again as they are mostly hidden in the scrub. We stop at Planet Baobab for some refreshments but no food as the service here is "all ahead dead slow" at best. We head out again and by now it's 35 degrees and little cooling when riding. We make another stop for drinks and a few minutes rest and head out. As we approach Maun we start to see wildlife drinking at the broken water mains along the main road. Elephant and Zebra mostly and we stop to watch and take some pics, but it's too hot to stay long. We eventually reach Maun and straight away take some refreshment - it's been a long hot day. Time to freshen up, have dinner and then bed. Tomorrow is a rest day - for us that means 6am departure for a game drive!!!!!!!
We head out of the Lodge just after 6am and it's chilly - but forewarned is forearmed and we are all wrapped up well against the cold. We watch the sun come up as we drive to the South gate of the park across the rutted sandy tracks, but we can tuck into breakfast once we arrive and it's time to take layers off as it's warming up nicely now. We enter the park and at first it seems deserted, but the further we venture in the more game we start to see. As always plenty of antelope, but there's also many giraffe, elephant and zebra along with a lone hyena. But we are lucky today as we stumble across a couple of lions just resting under a bush and we sit there for a while watching them and taking photos. Then it's time for lunch so we find a secluded spot and cowboy and bb set everything out for us - there is even a young giraffe intently watching us! After a relaxed lunch we pack up and start to make our way towards the park exit, driving past more wildlife on the way stumbling into a baboon having a tasty lunch of elephant cake just before we reach the exit. It's a long dry and hot drive back to the hotel but we arrive by 16:30 so there's time for a dip in the pool and some drinks before dinner.......
We start the day off at Maun Airport where we all embark on helicopters to take a scenic flight over the Okovango Delta. It's a totally awesome way to start the day as the perspective from above is totally different and we can see the waters slowly coming into the delta and starting to fill up the dry areas. You just see so much from up here it is breath-taking and everyone agrees it's a highlight of the trip so far. After the trip we go back to the lodge and take some refreshments as it's only a short ride today to Ghanzi and we still have some time to spare. We head out in small groups into the stifling African lunchtime heat - it's already 35 degrees - and try to get a bit of speed to help cool us down. It really is very dry here as we head out of Maun and it shows that they really had hardly any rainfall for the last 2 years. We plod on and the further south we go it does ever so gradually start to get a bit greener. We take a few stops just to quench our thirst and sit in the shade for a while and eventually cross over into Ghanzi province. The roads here are substantially better so we can up the pace a little and eventually we roll into Ghanzi around 4:30pm, so easily time for a few post ride drinks and a freshen up. Tomorrow we will make an early start as we are heading into Namibia with a 500km+ ride ahead of us..........
It's another lovely day as we head out of Ghanzi and refreshingly cool at about 17 degrees - we have only started in the afternoons until now as we have been busy with other activities in the mornings. After about 30 minutes we join the Trans Kalahari Highway which will be our main route from now until we reach Walvis Bay, but for now we are heading to the Namibian capital, Windhoek. An hour passes as we progress through the dry Kalahari brush and then shortly before the Namibian border we stop for fuel. The border crossing costs us a couple of hours but it could have been worse and we continue to Gobabis, where we stop for more fuel and a quick lunch break. We are making reasonable progress but still have 200km+ to go so we don't hang around for too long. There's not much to see along the way and today is really just about getting km's under our belt to reach Windhoek. As we continue along there's evidence of some more greenery and this afternoon is a much more pleasant 26 degrees compared with the mid 30's heat of the last few days. We reach Windhoek late afternoon which allows time for a quick walk around town for some and sipping drinks on the rooftop bar for others..............
By the time we manage to get out of the Windhoek traffic time is already chugging along and it's not helped by the fact that we get shaken down at a Police roadblock just so the Namibian police can noise us up and have a bit of fun. That ordeal over we continue up to Okahandja where we stop for a coffee break and the temperature is creeping up nicely to the 30 degree mark. We head west from here and make for our lunch spot at Usakos where we gas up and then take some refreshments. Time is really running on now and it's 2:30 by the time we head out, with the Spitzkopppe as our next destination, and the first real gravel test of the tour. Things don't quite go to plan and by the time we have done some gravel testing it's clear that Spitzkoppe will end up with us riding to Swakopmund in the dark, so we turn around and head directly to the hotel. Out near Spitzkoppe it's been a toasty 34 degrees but the nearer we get to the coast the more the temperature drops and about 20km outside the sun disappears behind banks of clouds and we at 15 degrees - chilly! We gas and then park the bikes in the hotel garage before rushing off the freshen up before dinner. Then it's a 10 minute walk to go back in time to the days of German Colonialism in the Hotel Hansa our dinner spot for the evening.......
There is a puncture to repair this morning, so our start is delayed a little. But that's a good thing as by the time we leave the sea mist has gone and things have dried up a little. We ride down to the pier for a quick look at the sea then head off towards Walvis Bay where we visit the Flamingos. As per usual they are just milling around on the seafront without a care for us or the other tourists and we can take fotos at our leisure. We head to the dunes Mall where we take some refreshments prior to the long gravel stretch ahead of us and to buy from snacks and drink for along the way. We head off but immediately get another Police check - somebody is pulling chains in the transport department it seems. We head off again and luckily the hard-pack mud road has dried out and we have no issues. We stop for some more fotos at the Vogelsfederburg and are then onto the gravel - it's not so bad but there are some deeper sections and some corrugation. Over the Kuiseb pass it's paved until we reach Windhoek district and we are back on gravel again. We make a nice foto stop at the Tropic of Capricorn sign and then head for Solitaire, where we need to take on gas and stop for some of their famous apple pie. But we make a super quick pit stop there as dusk is coming and we need to get to the lodge in time for a couple of sundowners - mission accomplished.
It's another super early start for us today - after a snack breakfast we are in the jeeps at 06:30 and heading towards Sossusvlei. The road is horrible but the jeeps handle it and we arrive just before the park opens at 07:30. We wind our way along the valley towards the dunes and stop for fotos before the group ascends dune45 (well most of them). We head further along the valley until we reach the deadvlei where we walk up again to see the remains of the river and the petrified trees that are there. It's good we are early as it is still relatively cool and not too strenuous for walking. Afterwards we have a picnic brunch before starting to make our way back to the lodge. We rattle along the gravel again at the end but nothing breaks so we arrive back at the lodge by 2pm - time to relax by the pool and wait for sundowners.......
We have a great breakfast on the terrace while looking out over the vast expanse in front of the Lodge - the scenery is stunning here. We make our way out of the lodge and head towards Solitaire but then turn off beforehand to join the C14 to take us to Maltahohe - the C19 is in really bad shape. But this road is really awesome as it winds its way through the mountains here and the road here is in excellent condition. After a while we leave the mountains behind and head out over the rolling plains. It's a great temperature for riding and everyone is loving it. We arrive in Maltahohe and stop for lunch there - but there's also a tour group here and it takes a long time. However there is a local traditional dance group there to keep us entertained so it is not so bad. Eventually we leave and head towards Mariental - the roads here are long, straight and just go on for ever. After a while we arrive at the entrance to the Kalahari Anib lodge and now the only thing left in front of us is the 3km sand road to the lodge! We make it without any mishaps and decamp to the terrace bar for sundowners and to watch the springbok grazing around the pool area.
As today is a reasonably short ride we decide to take a relaxed late breakfast and enjoy the Lodge for a little longer. We eventually leave around 11am and head back towards Mariental where we stop for gas. A few of us ride into Mariental to look for a Pharmacy and are lucky enough to get a Police escort to take us there!!!! Afterwards we are on the long straight roads of Namibia again with a long escarpment to our left and just a vast plain to the right. There really is nothing out here, just the road stretching into the distance. Every now and again we see a few buildings and maybe a bus stop with people milling around. Who are these people, where do they come from, and where are they going, we ask ourselves! We arrive in Keetmanshoop in the afternoon and have time for some light refreshments before heading back out to the Giants Playground and Quiver Tree forest. The scenery out here is also amazing with the giants playground just stretching out into the horizon from where we are standing. We reach the Quiver tree camp in time to watch the feeding of the 2 cheetahs they have there, then ride back to the Maritz Lodge for a BBQ dinner.
We leave Keetmanshoop a little later as it's a fairly short ride today. It's sunny and warm again as we head out on the asphalt for the first 30km or so. Then we turn onto the gravel and head towards the Naute Dam - but the road is in great condition so it is easy going. We stop at the dam for a few fotos and then head down to the Naute Kristall distillery for coffee and a few minutes of relax time. There's a group inside doing some gin tasting, so we listen to the spiel for a while and then afterwards there's a few bottles of gin being loaded into the van! We press on and its nice easy riding until we stop at the Canyon Roadhouse for lunch - it's a great lunch spot with lots of historic automobilia here and some pretty big burgers get eaten as well. After lunch we head to Fish River Canyon and gaze out over the expanse taking in the awesome views we have from the different viewpoints around here. Once we have finished it's a short ride the the Canyon Village and we have time for a couple of beers before taking a scenic walk up onto some of rocks in front of the lodge where we can just sit down looking out over the desert sipping cold beer as the sun goes down - it's magic.
It's another glorious sunny and cloud free day on our last day in Namibia and we can still see the moon over the top of the lodge as the sun is rising. We head out into the desert and can see for miles until we run into the mountains and then wind our way all the way along to Ai Ais. It's really is a sublime rid this morning, the scenery is magnificent, the weather perfect and it is just us and nature here - nobody else around and no traffic - it doesn't get much better than this. We stop at the end of the Fish River Canyon at the Ai Ais hot springs and have a coffee break revelling in the perfect ride we just had. Coffee is a relaxed break and afterwards we head off towards the South Africa border, stopping briefly at the gas station shortly beforehand to gas up and have a quick bite to eat and drink. The border crossing is much easier than going the other way and we are through is a very short order and then press onwards into South Africa. Almost immediately it starts to green up, but at the same time there is a rapid drop in the temperature and we have to stop to put another layer on. But it is super pretty here in Namaqualand and already we can see flowers sprouting up along the side of the road, and as we enter into the outskirts of Springbok it's an explosion of orange all around. We can only hope that tomorrow morning as we move further south we get the same or an even better floral display as the day goes on.......
Wow! What a change in temperature. This morning it is really cold so we delay our start by half an hour just to let things warm up! As we leave Springbok we see the flowers in bloom that Namaqualand is famous for. First it's oranges, then yellow mixed with purple, and finally some whites - amazing. But it is super windy today and we are being blown everywhere on the road. We stop for lunch in Vanrhynsdorp and decide to cancel the trip out to Lamberts Bay - it's just too dangerous to ride the gravel with this wind. We head to Clanwilliam and stop for a nice afternoon coffee there, and pick up some trinkets in the Padstall shop. Then we have a nice relaxed run down to Citrusdal, the sun is behind us warming our backs and we can really enjoy the scenery as we run along parallel to the Oliphants river - it's a great way to end the day......
It's pretty cold again this morning as we set of, but there is a temperature inversion so as we start to climb the Middelburg pass it actually starts to get warmer. It's a mix of gravel and tarmac but by now no issues for the group. The scenery is again gorgeous up here and it's a lovely morning ride. We stop at the Gydo pass to look down over the valley and towards Ceres where we will make a coffee break, and to shed some layers as it is warming up nicely now. After coffee we head out and up over the Bainskloof pass and it's a spectacular last pass of the tour for us to finish on, especially with the stunning views over Paarl from the top. We stop for lunch at the Afrikaans language monument and then late afternoon head over to table view for a last group foto with table mountain in the background. Then we finally head into the city, gas up for the last time and park the bikes at the hotel. It's been an awesome tour - thanks to all of you for making it such a great one. Safe travels and hope to see you again soon.