No visas, no vaccinations, no problem
Travel to Africa is intimidating to many people, and for good reason.
Political unrest, staggering poverty, and animals that would like to make a
quick snack of you all rank high on the list of fears. But taking a step back
reveals a whole continent that is just as expansive as it is diverse. On the
trip featured here, mine workers striking in Johannesburg didn’t affect our
adventure any more than school teachers striking in Chicago would affect your
daily routine. Armed with nothing more than a camera and a Lonely Planet
guide, I booked a flight to Cape Town to meet up with a college friend—no
visas, no vaccinations, no prescriptions.
Travel to Africa
is intimidating to
many people, and for good reason.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because I had previously made
a similar trip that was documented in the Feb. ’11 issue of Four Wheeler (“Two
Men And A Landy”). That just whet my appetite for more, and when my friend
Royce informed me that he was moving back
Much of Namibia looked like this, with
empty dirt roads. Don’t expect rest stops or AAA out here though—you have to be
self-sufficient. Also note that they drive on the left side of the road in
South Africa and Namibia. This was not an issue in the back- country but took
some getting used to in more populated areas.
The Ostrich Wing awning on the side of our
rental Land Cruiser was great. It swings from the side around the back of the
vehicle to provide 270 degrees of coverage for sun, rain, or any other adverse
conditions, and with no ropes or poles, it can be set up or retracted in just
minutes.to the States soon, I knew that I needed to make another trip to South
Africa post haste. This time we upped the ante with a 1,700-mile road trip that
included international border crossings, living out of a truck, and over half
of the trip on dirt roads. When I arrived in Cape Town, Royce’s Land Rover LR3
was in the shop with electrical issues (insert Rover joke here) so we had to
come up with a contingency quickly. Day One and the lack of planning was
already biting me in the butt. Would this be a harbinger of things to come?
When
I arrived in Cape Town, Royce’s Land Rover LR3 was in the shop with electrical
issues (insert Rover joke here) so we had to come up with a contingency
quickly.
Fortunately, there are many rental agencies
that cater to tourists, and we were able to find a fully outfitted Toyota Land
Cruiser from KEA Rentals (see sidebar for more on the Cruiser). When I say
“totally outfitted,” I don’t mean that it comes with a dash-mounted GPS or
satellite radio like you might find at Enterprise. This Toyota was equipped
with an African Outback Products camper shell with an integrated rooftop tent,
an Engel freezer/fridge, and more. KEA also provided sleeping bags, a fresh
water tank, pots and pans, chairs and a table—basically everything you would
need, short of clothing and food. That was good, because that was all I had
packed. This made it very easy to fly to Cape Town and just hit the road.
Before the ink could dry on the rental
contract, we pointed north for destinations unknown. Along the way we stopped
for fuel and chocolate crunchies in small towns with dirt streets and no stop
lights. Chocolate crunchies are these delicious chocolate cookies that made up
the base of our food pyramid for the trip. As a bonus, South Africans call them
“biscuits,” so we did not feel as guilty about eating meals consisting entirely
of cookies. We spent our first night in Namaqua National Park on the Northern
Cape where the wildflowers were in full bloom.
We
spent our first night in Namaqua National Park on the Northern Cape where the
wildflowers were in full bloom.
