:: Carnet de Voyage ::David

// Nikon D7200 | -34.13282 : 18.33789 | alt. 13m

Cape Town in sight, and what a view !
This big city sitting on the atlantic ocean seems tiny with the massive table mountain behind it ! It reminds me of Vancouver, but instead of jagged snowy peaks, you get this big mountain, completely flat on top.
A bit too late to go deeper and explore the city, I should start looking for a campground before it gets dark. What I was not expecting is massive traffic jams…. something I didn’t see since a long time…. it took me nearly 2 hours to drive 20kms between the city centre to African overlanders campsite, all done in second gear (and my gears are short)
At last I made it, away from the noise and madness of the city, lost in the country side on a small hill offering a 360 view over farms and fields, this is African overlander !
Owned by Duncan, a fellow overlander from Uk, this guy spent all his time to setup a lovely place for people touring Africa to rest, and organise vehicle shipping from Cape Town to the rest of the world. You get pretty much everything you need here : hot shower, social area with kitchen and propane, running water, and 24h wifi. All this for only 70rand, it’s a steal :p

On top of that, you get workshops nearby to service your favourite vehicle, and a local pub for these evenings where the social area is definitively missing a beer tap.
Thanks Duncan for this paradise 🙂

And after driving nearly 10 000kms since I left southern France, it was time to service mister Fox. Oil change, new oil filter, something I can do myself, as long as you have a spot for it ! I could not do it at the campsite, you always drop a bit of used oil… so I found a parking spot in town. Took me some time to find a spot, safe, and where people would not complain…..
At least, the most important thing was done. Then I had to rotate the tires, repair one of them (my last repair in Namibia didn’t hold that much), grease the chassis (found a broken grease nipple on one wheel arch). First time using a grease gun, what could potentially go wrong ? It took me more time to wash my cloth than to grease the vehicle….

Then next day, some electrical fix, rewiring of a power socket for my laptop, and new battery monitor (I can now see how much power is left in each battery).

The van is now ready to go ! Before I left, I had time to have diner with Duncan, but also Eiji and Chizu, waiting for their landcruiser in Cape Town.

Next day, I had a few beers with James, fellow overlander I met in Cederberg area, and we are planning to do a 2 days hike to the table mountain. After my injury in Cederberg, having a partner to climb is more than welcome :p

I was planning to meet Eiji and Chizu in town, but since internet is extremely scarce, I didn’t know they sent me a message saying their landlord was an asshole, and he would not let me park in front of their location…..
I knew there was something fishy when I made it to their place : street full of huge and expensive villas, all heavily guarded…. It only took 1 hour before security came to knock on my window.
I’m trying to be nice, doing my best on it ! But these guys are just paid to be scumbags. I’ve got my last warning before they call the cops, and out of option, I had to hit the road again, at 11pm….. No official place to sleep in town, no campsite database available, no internet, I started roaming in the city at low speed, looking for a safe spot to sleep, and I can tell you, it’s not easy 🙁

Finally found a place 50m from a gas stations, but obviously, I didn’t sleep really well, expecting someone to wake me up at anytime, or worst. I set the alarm to wake me up at 6am, trying to move out before anyone could notice me….. It’s one of those nights…

Next day I felt like shit for a few hours, a few hours of stressful sleep didn’t help much. Time to get out of Cape town ! I took the beautiful road crossing the table mountain, and went for my first coffee of the day on a lookout. There was only one car parked there with youngsters, playing loud electronic music. At this time of the day, they were obviously ending their night, maybe a bit drunk, under acid or whatever (actually all it !). So I went for a small chat, offered cigarettes, and it was a lovely morning 🙂 Always better to make friends quickly !

Then came time to hunt for a place to sleep ! Yeah, cannot take 2 of these nights in a row. I paid premium price for an average campsite, but at this point, I don’t care anymore, shut up and take my money.

Now came some more relaxing time, driving south along the ocean, with nice rolling waves crashing on white sandy beach. Lot of people came here to surf, and I was a bit envious….. perfect conditions this morning !

Back on the road, I went to the boulder penguins colony (70rand per person), the only place with penguins in Africa ! Ok I’ve seen a lot of them in Argentina and Antarctica, but this time, they nest on a sandy beach with crystal clear water, and massive soft boulders, something looking like the Seychelles. I wish it was not a national park, ’cause I could happily swim with these little creatures !! These penguins are not stupid, they picked the best spot on the coast !!

Then I drove all the way to cape of good hope. It is said to be the most southern point of Africa and where the atlantic ocean meets the Indian one. This is a lie !
That point stands a few hundreds kilometers on the east, at Cape Agulhas.
And because this place is so famous (still a lie !), they made it a national park and you have to pay 135rand to get in…..
It doesn’t seem worth it at first, but wait for it, the final tip of the cape will surprise you !
Instead of diving slowly into the ocean, the cape goes up, forming a very thin wall but 200m high, with scary cliffs on all sides ! What a sight !!
You can then walk down to the west, where cape of good hope actually is, and this place is stunning during the afternoon.