2016 - Africa

December 2016

Observations along the road in Swaziland

Sometimes unexperienced tourists with rented caravans act very special. At the Hlane Royal National Park in Swaziland we were alone on a campsite with more than 50 generously sized spots. While we were absent for a short time a Frenchman parked his caravan about ten metres away from our vehicles. The next morning he asked us if

November 2016

Kruger National Park South Africa

More than two weeks our trailer was parked on different Camps within the Kruger National Park.
On our daily game drives we travelled several hours on the tarred main roads as well as the gravelled side road of the national in our Toyota. In total we searched for animals on a route stretching for more than 1,200 km. More or less successful.

The photographic yield can be seen in our November gallery.

October 2016

Our stay in Switzerland

5 weeks Switzerland with a detour to Germany.

We have spent a good amount of time with people that mean a lot to us. Interesting and sometimes critical conversations resulted from this.

The hustle and bustle 

September 2016

Tricky national park bookings in Namibia

As we were travelling with visitors we wanted to be on the safe side and thus pre-booked the popular and often booked out campsite Okaukuejo in the Etosha National Park. We booked from the 09/09/2016 to 13/09/2016. Until someone actually picks up the phone at the reservations office of the national park is already an ordeal.

August 2016

Family journey

We travelled for nearly 6 weeks with my brother Thomas, his wife Sandra and their two children Lara and Noah through Namibia and Botswana. It was the third time for the family to travel with us around southern Africa during their summer holidays.  They drove a Toyota Landcruiser offering inside sleeping space for four people rented from Avis Safari Rental.

July 2016

Franschhoek Motor Museum, www.fmm.co.za

Over 100 years of motoring history documented by 80 well-maintained old-timers and rarities displayed in the refurbished buildings of a former wine estate.

June 2016

Preperations for the Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park (KTP)
at the tri-border region Namibia, South Africa, Botswana

In Upington, the gate to the Kalahari, our Toyo received his 40‘000 km service. As this was a big service we had it done by the official Toyota representative within on day.
For safety sake we rather replaced the bearings of our off-road trailer a bit earlier at an off-road centre. Thus both vehicles were fit to tackle the challenging roads of the KTP.

May 2016

Winelands in the Cape Region

In South Africa wine is cultivated mostly in the south east. Here the conditions for the winelands are simply the best. The maritime climate brings mild seasons for the winelands.
In order to explore the interesting winelands around Stellenbosch and Paarl we found ourselves at the Bergriver Resort outside of Paarl directly at the river – just like 17 years ago.
Wine, art and architecture are virtually inseparable. But you still find the old, grand buildings...

April 2016

Why did we sell Action Mobil Robusto?

We answered this some time ago as follows:  

A lot of speculations and questions were mailed to us from virtual fellow travellers. We want to answer these.

• We are certainly not the only ones that are surprised to read that Robusto is up for sale. We attentively read the text, but were not able to find out why. Of course we hope that the reason for selling is not health related and that you are well. After 8 years traveling with Robusto, many things became a habit. We wanted a change again.

 • You really want to rid yourselves off your Robusto. We are to some degree surprised.

March 2016

Advertisement in Mosambique

Coming from Malawi we entered Mozambique from the north-west. At the beginning we did not understand why there were so many Vodacom shops (Telecommunication Company). We quickly realised after encountering dozens of houses painted dark red with the Vodacom logo in every single village we passed that it was only advertising. Sometimes complete streets are lined with red houses and every house bears the Vodacom label. The actual name of the restaurant, butcher bakery, etc. is written significantly smaller next to it.

February 2016

We have nothing.

The Zomba Plateau Nature Reserve is known to be a touristic highlight. A dam, a waterfall, a trout farm and special ferns are being promoted.
The formerly hard to access road onto the plateau has been reconstructed and tarred in order to facilitate deforestation. Now that most of the woods are gone the whole area has been proclaimed a reserve.
We were mainly interested in the trout farm and drove up to shop for a nice dinner. Tragically the whole site is completely run-down. The former breeding pools are dried out and covered with debris and waste.

January 2016

Malaria

For over two weeks we stayed at a gorgeous place at the Blue Canoe Lodge on the northern shores of the Lake Malawi on the Tanzanian side. After a visit of the nearby Matema Village I did not feel well. Two hours later I really didn’t feel well and 8 hours later I ran a shivering fewer of over 39 ºC: Malaria.