Leaving Singapore we flew direct to Johannesburg and arrived there quite late in the evening. Knowing it would be difficult to catch a connecting flight we stayed over in a B&B next to the airport and flew to Cape Town the next morning. We had Mathis organized a car transfer for us and 20 minutes after leaving Cape Town airport we were in our apartment on Long Street right in the center of the city.

Catching up with Amber and Mathis was the primary reason of our stay in Cape Town. Also we know and like the city and figured out it would be a good base for us to prepare our trip in Southern Africa. It was good to know that we would be in one place for more than 4 days. We could finally sit back and relax until we met Amber and Mathis for dinner and ended up drinking few more drinks at a bar after. They both have been doing safaris in South Africa and Namibia and had a lot of tips to share with us. We knew it was just the beginning and more questions would come with our preparation over the following days.

We had only a rough idea of what we wanted to do. South Africa, Namibia and Botswana were on the destination list and we had to have a proper 4×4 vehicle with a roof tent. That was about it, everything else we had to read about. Soon we realized that few days would barely be enough to get ready. When we started thinking about this trip back in Japan we had a total of 3 months in mind for Southern Africa. Having stayed a bit longer than expected in Polynesia and after our detour via Singapore, we were in South Africa a bit later than expected and we finally decided to focus on Namibia and Botswana for the time being.

First we had to book a vehicle. We wanted to leave beginning of August but were flexible on the day. We didn’t have much choice anyway. July and August are a super busy season in Southern Africa with South Africans and Europeans traveling for holidays. All vehicles are quickly booked, sometimes months in advance. At the end only one company replied to us with one vehicle available on August 1st. That would be our first day then, leaving us about two weeks to finalise our circuit. Our idea was to be free to go where we want, stop where we want and camp where we want. It doesn’t really work like that. Camp sites are very limited in the national parks of Namibia and Botswana and most are booked 12 months in advance. With only 2 weeks to go we were just a bit late. The dunes of the Namib desert and Etosha National Park being high on our list we decided to push that in September to avoid the crowd of August. Once we had our nights secured in Sesriem and Etosha we could start filling up the gap and that when the fun started.

We quickly booked sites on the South African side of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. They have a decent online booking system and it was almost straightforward. It is a different story for camp sites in Botswana. They have different offices that manage different parks around the country. You never know which one you are talking to as there is only one phone number. Most of the time after speaking to two different persons you are asked to send an email and you happily do that until you realize that you never get an answer. So you call again. Most of the time they tell you there are no camp sites available until they realize they got your dates wrong, but anyway there are no camp sites available. Then you call the companies that have concessions within the parks to manage different camps. And the story goes the same, phone calls, emails, phone calls, wait and do not relax, phone calls and no camp sites available. And when you are lucky, then you have to spell your name over the phone. Here patience is key and you better know the radio code, A for Alpha, B for Bravo, C for Charly and so on. If you pass this step you have a booking reference and are asked to send an email with that to obtain the provisional booking and the payment method. It can take up to 72 hours but the reply will eventually come and you will be able to pay to secure the booking. Anyway, bit by bit, we got things sorted out. We managed to book what ever we wanted either within the park of interest or close enough that it would not take long to drive in and out in the day. Soon we’ll be driving through the Namib desert, the Kalahari, Chobe and Etosha to name a few.

While preparing our trip and waiting for emails, we took the time to enjoy Cape Town and spend as much time as we could with Amber and Mathis. We had dinner with them most evenings. On Friday night they told we would go to Mathis boss’ place to have a drink before going out for dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant. Fayçal, Mathis’ boss, is a former colleague of mine that I hadn’t seen in 10 years and it was super nice to see him again here in Cape Town. A bit worried he asked me if I had recognized him after all this time. Fayçal made the choice to go bald a long time ago so he couldn’t change much, not like me who has lost quite a bit of hair since the last time we saw each other! One more great moment drinking wine and catching up with old friends. We then went to the restaurant where Fayçal true to himself had to put on a bit of a show to ask if he could get as a main the same thing we had as an appetizer. The restaurant had to be called and he finally got what he asked for. Fayçal never takes a no for an answer! And we went back to Fayçal’s for one last drink after dinner. He took out one of his pear schnapps bottle and served us a shot. That was all I needed to go to sleep and wake up the next day with a headache.

Our visit telescoped a bit with Mathis and Amber’s schedule and they asked us if we were keen on seeing the “Kinky Boots” musical on the Saturday afternoon. They had extra tickets and would be happily pass them to us if we wanted. They didn’t have to ask twice and off we were to the theatre. The start of the musical was a bit slow and we looked at each other with Vee wondering if we were smart to have accepted the offer. Our doubt didn’t last long. Soon the main character made his first solo and waouh that was amazing. The guy is supposed to be a backup but what a voice and presence on the stage. The whole play reminded us of “Priscilla, queen of the desert”. We had a fantastic time and highly recommend the musical to anyone who has a chance to see it. We followed that with a dinner at our favorite Ethiopian restaurant. Only the second time we go there but is definitely on our not-to-miss list when we go to Cape Town. Fayçal joined us after dinner for the late evening drink.

So far the weather was not great with a lots of rain and wind. After all it is wintertime here in the southern hemisphere. Yet the idea was to go to Camps bay for brunch on Sunday hoping the weather would be much better. And we were lucky as we had a beautiful sunny day with rather warm temperatures. Just what we needed to sit outside drinking a good Chenin Blanc while people watching. We then had a small “digestive” walk on the beach before hitting the road again heading towards Signal Hill where we watched the sun set of the city. The rain returned the next morning giving us a good reason to go back to our phone calls and emails with Namibia and Botswana. All these days we had our breakfast at the cafe next door where they have decent croissants and pains au chocolat.

We initially planned on leaving Cape Town for the wine region on the Tuesday but with all the setbacks we hit while trying to organize our African road trip we decided to stay a bit longer. That gave us time to see a doctor to get anti-malaria pills and to do a bit of shopping. We both had cloth items that needed urgent replacement. That gave a good reason to go back to V&A waterfront for lunch at the food market. They have different food stalls there and you can pick a selection from different vendors to make an excellent lunch. Don’t forget to stop by the biltong shop there, it is just too good. Few more evenings to spend with Amber, Mathis and Fayçal and it was time to move on to Stellenbosch our next destination. But before that we did a quick stop in Bo-Kaap. At last the sun had returned and it was the perfect time to visit the old and colourful neighborhood of Cape Town.

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