Wicked Campers Africa Blog

Well…where do we start? Yes, we know… the start. Yes, it was a long time ago- about 10 weeks. YES, we have been slack. We’re allowed to, we are on holidays! Our WICKED adventure began in Gaborone way back in March. We picked up Beans and our first night was spent amongst the wildlife in the stunning Mokolodi game reserve, just 10 km out of town, in their beautiful campsites! The next morning we drove about 900km to Upington in South Africa. It was going to be another immense drive the following day, all the way up into Namibia, and when our neighbours got out a pair of massive speakers and decided to party, Beans showed his true worth; with Nat snuggled up cosily in bed, Simon relocated us to the granny/quieter end of the park.

The first stop in Namibia was Fish River Canyon. This was spectacular scenery, but we want wildlife! We spent a couple of nights at the awesome Chameleon backpackers in Windhoek (thanks for everything Jackie!!!),then made a quick detour to soak up some amazing coastal dune scenery in Swakopmund. We took an amazing drive south along the coast to Walvis Bay so Nat could see where Angelina Jolie spat out a bub. Heading north the coastline was littered with slowly rusting shipwrecks standing sentinel to the sea; testament to the ferocity of the ocean here. This whole stretch of coast was so dramatic and stunning; a photographers dream! If only we could do it justice!

It was then full steam ahead to our next wildlife destination, Etosha National Park. We stayed in Okaukuejo camp and we weren’t disappointed. The game was plentiful + the floodlit water hole made for exciting night viewing (glass of Amarula in hand. mmmm). We saw our first lions for the trip in the park, attracted by the congregation of gazillions of zebra, springbok and wildebeest. Old kills littered the plains here, scattered amongst the still grazing ‘fast food’. We also were fortunate enough to have rhino, elephant, hyena and a few of the previously mentioned zebra visiting the waterhole over the few nights we were there. Not to mention the sneaky jackals that shared our campsite, and a squirrel with the biggest nuts we had ever seen- and no, these weren’t the type he could store for Winter…!

Next on the agenda was the Caprivi Strip which was absolutely beautiful. There had been extreme rainfall further north this year, which meant that the river system was literally bursting at the seams. This lead to some amazing scenery and at times we were driving along the road, overtaking mokoros and waving to the friendly fishermen on the road verges and cheeky children splashing around in the water. At other stages we drove along long stretches where the speed limit was reduced to 80kms due to the high concentration of elephants in the area-and trust us, you don’t want to be running into one of those big guys! The only problem with the flooded Caprivi was that a lot of the campsites on the river were under water- which meant that you really had to take the signs warning about crocs + hippos very seriously! Shouts go out to the fantastic staff at Nunda- undoubtedly one of the best campsites in 2 and half months of campsites.

Seeing the volume of water that was flowing down meant that a visit to the world famous Victoria Falls could not be missed! We stopped at Tutwa travels in Katima-Mulilo and enlisted the help of the very knowledgeable and friendly Karen. As it turns out it was a lot more expensive to go into Zambia, so Zimbabwe it was with our good friends Leon & Charmaine to look after us if things got too scary! The falls were AMAZING, well, what we saw while we weren’t being SOAKED!!! A horizontal rainstorm pummeled us periodically, Simon was in his element (water baby) and the giant condom ponchos were deemed ineffective and soon abandoned, with Nat wishing she’d had the foresight to wear bathers!

Next stop was a return visit to Kasane and the amazing Chobe National Park, an absolute highlight of our trip 3 years ago. We “accidentally” spent close to week in Kasane, mostly due to the presence of our new found friends Jo & Michael. The abundant wildlife coupled with the fun times made leaving very hard (we miss the crazy Kiwi and her local yokel hubby; who would have thought we would hear somebody recite Kevin Bloody Wilson in this part of the world!?!) It was while staying in the campground of the Chobe Safari Lodge that the hippo warning signs really hit home. A pod had decided to claim the sodden front campsites as their new home, and one afternoon we found ourselves face to face with one big mutha… this bugger was as big as beans (no, the van, not a bean, u idiot)!!! Needless to say our hearts skipped a few beats and we made a ‘hasty’ retreat (in Australia this is usually referred to as a piss-bolt) before they decided to chase us down. And not even time for a photo to prove the encounter . On a positive note, we didn’t get bitten in half .

Our other new found friends, Leon and Charmaine were also kind enough to put up with our company through Chobe National Park for an amazing, wildlife-filled day. At one stage we were completely surrounded by a herd of ellies, which made us a bit nervous! We also saw the HUGEST elephant any of us had even seen; this thing dwarfed all the others, and towered over the Landrover! Simon then repaid our companions kindness by showing Leon how to braai ;o)

Next up we made our way down to Maun to experience the delta. And experience it we did!! The crew at Old Bridge Backpackers thankfully talked us out of a standard mokoro and into a boat trip, accompanied by Adrian and Catroina, who we had a ball with! This voyage took us on 7 hours of motor boat madness, winding our way deep into the heart of the delta to camp on an extremely remote island. This proved to be a VERY wild, exciting and, at times, drunken adventure! Some of the highlights included;
• Camping on an island in the heart of the delta, hearing the hippos grazing just outside our (very thin and seemingly vulnerable) tent at night
• Going on a walking safari on an island and hearing some lions roaring VERY close (BTW hard to describe, but that noise goes right through you. You feel it as much as you hear it!)
• Having an elephant herd cross (not quietly) onto ‘our’ island in the middle of the night,
• Swimming in the clear waters, only to go upriver 100mtrs and witness a HUGE croc that was making its way towards whatever stupid animal was splashing about asking to be eaten
• Being charged on 2 separate occasions by what we now know as ‘Satan’s Pigs’ (hippos), which was VERY intense; cornered with a weed-choked propeller hindering our escape made our tinny all of a sudden seem WAY too small!
• Simon landing his ‘monster’ fish, much to the dismay of all the other fishermen on board (see photos; it was bigger than it looks… promise)

It was then back to base in Gaborone to catch the WICKED crew for a few drinks and a future-venture brainstorming session (choose your own adventure movies ©Simon and Nick 2009… yes, we know; GENIUS!), before spending another awesome day and night in Mokolodi (thankyou Neil!), getting to meet couple of beautiful Cheetahs before forging on toward Kruger. Along the way we stopped into Pillanesberg game reserve, and were VERY pleasantly surprised… We hadn’t heard a lot about this park, but the facilities and game viewing were AWESOME! We literally saw about 12 rhinos amongst plentiful game, and there were quite a few leopard and lions spotted around the park as well… unfortunately none by us. Did we mention we saw lots of rhinos though?

Finally we reached Hoedspruit, near the Kruger park’s Orpen gate; but first, one more stop. Hello, Moholoholo Animal Sanctuary. These guys are doing an amazing job of rescue and rehabilitation, and also have a great awareness program. We learnt a lot about the poaching and stuff that goes on STILL, and also got head-butted by a baby rhino in the process. Oh yeah, rhino horns (a black market asian aphrodisiac) are actually made of HAIR! Yes, HAIR!!! How can snorting ground up hair give you a stiffy?! After spending the night outside the gate it was finally time to head into what had been described to us as the “Jewel of the South African National Parks”.

We were in animal heaven. The daily game spotting boards at Satara were peppered with sightings, and we actually DID manage to whack a few up ourselves; THE BIG 5; lion, buffalo, elephant, a lucky leopard spot and more rhinos than you could poke a stick at (WARNING; don’t try this at home kids…) additionally almost ALL of the other animals we day dreamt about seeing in Africa. Our days in Kruger began before dawn (yes, we have photographic evidence people!) and out into the wild as soon as the gates were opened. This was such an exciting part of the day, driving through the pre-dawn mist on the lookout for any lingering nocturnal animals. Our excitement did not diminish at any point throughout the day, with every sighting fuelling our enthusiasm. These perfect days would finally conclude with us crawling toward the camp gates at about 10km/h hoping for that one final spot before we were secured within the camp grounds, then a braai with the hopeful hyenas giving us puppy dog eyes through the fence wire (they can be really cute when they want to!) Bed time came with us getting cosy in our cocoon, Beans and drifting asleep to the chorus of cackling jackals and howling hyenas…there is no lullaby that competes!

When it was finally time to leave Kruger (sob!) we decided that seeing as we were so close to Mozambique we might as well pop in for a look. Well, only after letting scissors, paper, rock decide for us (seriously…we actually did). We organised transport up to Inhambane, which was an amazing journey; 1) for the postcard perfect turquoise coastline scattered with palm trees and 2) the fact we navigated the pothole ridden road without incident! We then headed out to another magnificent stretch of beach called Tofo. We spent a couple of amazing days perfecting our beach bumming skills whilst waiting for calmer seas. It was during these beach days that Simon proved that you actually can be shit at frisbee! We were keen to explore the underwater world and hopefully run into one of the giants of the deep; the whale sharks and manta rays that were apparently abundant off the coast. Unfortunately this was not to be, as the weather had decided not to co-operate with our plans; but we were not complaining. Not at all.

On our way back to South Africa 2 very hairy hitchhikers from Capetown made themselves a home on the ‘Beans safari couch’©, and after a couple of Tipo-tinto (cheap but yummy Mozambican rum) fuelled sessions became good mates, who we then proceeded to dump in the middle of no-where. Literally. Glad to hear you made it home safely Neil and Vic!!! We eventually crossed the border into Swaziland. The Swazi people we met we’re genuinely friendly (even the policeman who booked Simon… sorry I didn’t tell you Mum xxx) and we were given such a warm reception everywhere we went. We really didn’t spend enough time exploring this country… yet. We will definitely be returning sometime though.

This bought us back into South Africa where we discovered another gem, St Lucia. We camped at Cape Vidal, situated in luscious rainforest tucked behind the dunes. Here we were surrounded by rare Samango monkeys, with various other small but menacing wildlife wandering through our campsite. 8:25am; the mongoose raid would begin. Armies 40 strong would infiltrate the campsites leaving in their wake a path of destruction. No one was safe. Especially not the monkey- proof bins. Next was the monkey assault; these were skilled foes, foiled by the bins, but could breach enemy lines with the old “you distract them, I’ll grab the food” tactic. But all the efforts Simon went to defending our food came unstuck when the most devious of the scavangers entered the realm; a single doe-eyed gaze from the bambi-esque bushbuck had Simon sacrificing the food he had so gallantly defended. Animals: 1 Humans(if Simon falls in this catergory?): suckers.
We intended on staying for one night… yeah right. We eventually tore ourselves away, and sped down the Wild Coast. Port St John’s was a funky little hippyish stop though. As for the garden route, Jeffrey’s Bay won Nat over instantly. Picturesque beaches, fresh seafood, lots of hot surfies and surf factory outlets had Simon constantly rolling his eyes.

Addo Elephant National Park was our next stop, and once again our ‘1 night stop’ was not the case. We saw so much game, and just missed sharing our ‘secure’ picnic area with a momma lion and 4 cubs by 1 hour. Spewing, actually. We could have shared lunch – if they liked cheese and tomato rolls! Fortunately there were plenty more lions to be seen in the park, along with our first caracal. And, funnily enough, there were a few elephants to be seen as well. They were so tolerant that we could have reached out and touched them if we were game! We also got up nice and close to a genet, once again attracted by our awesome braai. It was definitely less intimidating than having a hyena watching us eat…

We then cruised down the coast, stopping in at Tsitsikamma National Park, with big waves absolutely pounding the coastline fronting our campsite. We then continued along the coast through Plettenberg Bay, Knysna and Wilderness before heading along a stunning drive inland to Oudtshoorn, with the scenery upping the ante along route 62. We have to mention ‘Ronnie’s sex shop’ here, we did visit and it there IS a perfectly good bar here. No pun intended. Ronnie himself explained the story behind the name…

So… this pretty much brings us up to date, and Capetown, without doubt one of the most stunning cities in the world! We love this place, not our first visit and definitely not our last. We are currently considering our next leg: watch this space!