Photos from South Africa

Day 93 - 97, South Africa

We entered South Africa, aware that the main chunk of our trip was now over. Ahead of us were roughly 1000km to Johannesburg, where we were headed to return our trusty car/home. First stop over the border was the town of Upington, in the Northern Cape province. Here we found a nice and extremely cheap camping site, on the banks of the Orange River. In the evening we headed into town and had a rather fancy meal in a very nice restaurant on one of the main roads. Although the town itself seemed deserted, we nearly crashed into a car whose driver decided to speed through a red light. Our light had just turned green and thankfully we were going slow. It does make you think though, how a fraction of a second can make such a big difference.

After a rather cold night (worse for our hitchhiker friend John who didn't have a mattress and duvet like we did), we drove off to Kimberley. This city was the heart of the diamond industry in its heyday, and it's where De Beers originates from. Although we were on a tight schedule to head back to Joburg, we stopped here for a tour of "The Big Hole". A 450m wide, 200m deep hole, it was dug using picks and shovels by thousands of miners who migrated here in the late 19th century. The museum shows how mining conditions were at the time, as well as a chance to see some of the precious stones inside a tight-security vault. There's also a platform that allows you to see the actual hole from above.

It was in Kimberley that we said bye to John, who was hitchhiking his way down to Lesotho. We instead were heading on the opposite direction and the plan was to drive as far as possible, to anywhere that brought us a bit closer to Joburg. The place ended up being Wolmaransstad, a small nondescript town where we found a comfortable lodge. Here we had some food, re-packed our stuff and cleaned out the car, which, after more than 30 days serving as our home, really needed it.

Thankfully our whole experience driving in Africa had been problem-free, so it was a bit ironic that our only issue happened as we entered Joburg, arguably the biggest city of the continent. A policeman stopped us for what looked like a routine check, as other cars were being stopped too. Kai handed him his German driver's licence, the guy looked at it and claimed that to drive here we needed a temporary licence (whatever that meant). We told him we were sure that we could drive with the one we had. I think he realized that we knew what we were doing, since he then moved on to ask us for something for his lunch. We refused to bribe him so openly, but when he asked for money for a cold drink, we handed him a bottle of Coke and drove off.

Rather than heading straight into the car rental office, we couldn't help ourselves to a last glimpse of the king of the jungle and stopped for a visit to Joburg's famous Lion Park, to see a few last furry animals. Here we had a chance to hang around with lion cubs, petting them and obviously taking advantage of the great photo op. In our many safaris/game drives in three countries we got amazing chances to see lions in the wild. Seeing them in the lion park was clearly not as impressive, but they are still magnificent animals to look at. And getting a chance to play with the cubs is just too cute an opportunity to miss! On top of that we also saw meerkats, which I had been looking out for all over Namibia to no avail, and got a chance to hand-feed a giraffe.

After that is was only 50km or so to the car rental station where we arrived an hour before closing time. Having done around 8500kms across 5 countries in 31 days it felt strange to give the keys to our trusty companion to a stranger, and we left the place with mixed feelings, reflecting once again on the various highlights of the trip and discussing how our last remaining days would be spent.

Photos from Southwestern Namibia

Day 87 - 93, South-Western Namibia

After two days of "city life" it was time to get back into wilder territory, so after returning from the boat trip and playing with the pelicans we turned the car eastwards into the direction of Sesriem and the famous dunes of the Namib.

Our first stop turned out to get us right back into wild territory proper. After a short stop at Dune 7, a dune popular with locals running up and down it, and after driving east for a few hours, we turned off the "main" road (which was still only gravel) to get to our destination for the day. This campsite had been recommended to us by the family in Palmwag, who had mentioned that it had been the most spectacular campsite of their trip. When we arrived, we learned why. High up on a hill, with a little cave dug out of a cliff wall, we could look out over the empty land for kilometers and except the farm house there wasn't a sign of human habitation around. The facilities were integrated into the environment, with our shower consisting of a handle bolted into the sheer rock face. Our hosts, a farming German/Namibian couple were very nice as well and Yeya got to befriended Linus, the tame mountain zebra of the farm.

Unfortunately, the wind picked up substantially in the night, so we didn't get as peaceful a rest as the setting could offer. In the middle of the night we repositioned the car for more wind protection and we slept in as the wind eased towards the morning. Off again on the gravel road, we made our way towards the dunes, with a stop in appropriately called Solitaire, a place of 5 houses that serves as a well-known stop for travelers. To our surprise, they had a bakery with the most delicious apple pie! We arrived in Sesriem in the afternoon, but realized that not booking ahead would cause us some problems, as the main camp sites were all full. After mulling over a few options and checking the still prevailing wind, we decided on the overflow camp area which lacked in wind-protection, but was the shortest approach to the dunes for the early morning we planned. For the evening, we only took a short drive into the park, checking out some of the dunes and concluding the day at a lookout point.

5am was the time for the alarm clock the next morning, to get a glimpse of the famous Sossusvlei sunrise. 5.45am saw us crossing the park gate (still in darkness), where one of the rangers hitched a ride with us to the dune area. We were running a little late unfortunately, but managed to get up on a dune for the big moment due to some speedy driving, although we had to "abandon" our car in the middle of the track to run up the dune to be in time. Sunrise itself was not as impressive as we had been made to believe, but the dunes in general were very impressive and gave us a certain Lawrence of Arabia feeling. After a slightly chilly breakfast we slowly drove back, admiring the massive dunes and letting the atmosphere sink in. Originally, we had planned to spend two days in the park, but we decided that we had seen enough sand for the time being and carried on southwards.

After another long day of driving through the at times dramatic but always vast and long-distanced countryside, we arrived at our next stop, another curious artifact of the colonial times. A German baron had built a mini castle to impress his wife and do some horse farming in the early 1900s, but after dying in World War I, his wife never returned to claim her property. The result is an authentic but still strange place, which was interesting to see. As there was still a good bit of wind going, we decided to go for four sturdy walls for the night and call it a day. With the walls came a kitchen and a nice bed, so dinner and a good night of sleep were on the agenda.

We slept in the next day, savouring the comfort of a house before going back on the seemingly endless gravel roads. Our destination for the day was the imposing feature of the Brukkaros, a 2km wide crater of a giant volcano that had exploded 18m years ago. We arrived well in time, but were surprised to see the community camp site deserted and empty. We drove as close to the crater as possible and pitched camp on a site that rivaled the Rooiklip camp in its spectacular setting and loneliness. Unfortunately, it also rivaled it for the force of the wind whipping up the side of the mountain and after cooking dinner and observing the situation we decided that putting up the tent on top of the car would not really let us sleep due to the noise from the wind. After experimenting a little we found that the inside of the car offered more than a comfortable setup including light, so we took our books and retired into the car for the night.

Our last major destination in Namibia before crossing back into South Africa was the Fish River Canyon National Park. One of the largest canyons in the world, it is said to be on par with the Grand Canyon in regards to scenery and visual impact, so we were pretty excited to go. The way proved to be yet another long drive through empty countryside, which we only broke by a short stop in Ketmanshoop, the only town of any substantial size in the south of Namibia. We arrived at the Hobas camp site at the north side of the canyon in the early afternoon and this time we were more lucky with our plan-as-you-go approach as there was plenty of space on the camp site. We chose a nice spot (wind-protected!) before heading out to the rim of the canyon in time for the setting sun. I'm not sure how it compares to the Grand Canyon (I was 12 when I saw that), but the landscape must certainly be called dramatic. The Fish river has dug a double canyon into the land, which snakes for nearly 100km through the barren land and reaches depths of more than 500m. We were properly impressed! Coming back and doing our last barbecue of the trip, a French guy dropped by our camp spot and wondered if we were going to South Africa as he was looking for a ride. It turned out we didn't go quite the way he intended, but we left the invitation open anyway.

The next morning, he (John) dropped by again and said he had decided to join us for a ride to Upington on the other side of the border (~400km away), despite us spending another day in Namibia. We loaded him and his luggage into the car and drove off towards our last stop in Namibia, the thermal springs of Ai-Ais at the southern end of the canyon. Before getting there, we took a long drive along the edge of the canyon that offered a wide variety of views and lookouts into the canyon itself. After that, it was just a 100km drive south to the camp, which beat all of our expectations. Instead of a simple camp site with some thrown-together hot water pools (as we had seen in Chile and Peru) this place more resembled a flashy resort in Europe or the US. The pools had been shaped into a large outdoor pool and an inside spa area complete with full massage and beauty treatments. The campsite itself was right next to the river, with glorious views and very good facilities and there was a nice restaurant attached. As a result, lots of South African and Namibian tourists were present, probably also because it was a Saturday and people had come out for the weekend. Plenty of braiing (African BBQ) was happening, but we decided to treat ourselves to dinner and went for Kudu steak and some nice red wine in the restaurant. The wine and the calm night meant that we were in for a good nights sleep.

A last drop in the spa pool in the morning and we were off to the border. 100km into the drive we left the gravel road for good and the drive went by eventless. So did the border crossing and within 15 minutes we had left Namibia and were back in South Africa, which we had left nearly 30 days before.

Photos from North-Western Namibia

Day 82 - 87, North Western Namibia

We had left Etosha in the morning to start touring the North Western part of the country. Our first stop was the town of Oujo, where we fueled up and asked in the local garage if they could weld our by now severely cracked car. The answer was negative, as they said the result would only last minutes once we took to some of the more remote roads. So we continued with the duct-tape arrangement. Before heading to our next stop, Oujo did delight us with a traditional German-style bakery, though. It seems curious to find such a place in a small Namibian town but it is not uncommon, as there are still remnants of the colonial times peppered across the county from the days when it was known as German South West Africa.

Some roads that afternoon proved to be pretty bumpy, leading us through many small, traditional hamlets with rondavel mud-huts. Our @house@ survived and that night we camped in Palmwag, but before retiring for the night, an oryx steak was in order. The taste could be loosely compared to beef, but it has its own distinct flavour and we really enjoyed it. The next morning we had visitors to our campsite, when two German kids started talking to Kai, asking him if he was writing a book (he was on the laptop writing the blog offline). They were heading to Etosha, so we were able to make some recommendations, whilst they happily shared their tips for the opposite direction and showed us their best pictures.

Next stop for us was Twyfelfontein, or "Doubtful Spring". The land in this part starts getting drier as it gets ever closer to the harsh Namib desert and people have managed to live in this area for centuries, but were highly dependent on the random water springs. Here we did another community sponsored tour, where we were shown some very impressive and very old rock paintings. Although originally we thought we could make it all the way to a mountain formation called Spitzkoppe, a "closed road" sign and the emminent sunset stopped us about 80km short of it. We ended up spending the night in the tidy and well-organized town of Uis, near the Brandberg mountain, at nearly 3000m the highest point in Namibia.

In the camp we asked about the closed road, as we really didn't feel like having to drive the extra 50kms on gravel to get to our destination. The guy assured us that with our 4x4 we could safely take that road and ignore the sign, so we did just that the following morning. It was a good thing too, as the landscape was stunning, with beautiful yellow hills, the odd-river bed and although hazy at first, a very good sight of Spitzkoppe, the so-called Matterhorn of Africa. It was at the foot of Spitzkoppe where we stayed in one of the more rudimentary, but probably most amazing camping areas of our trip. It was basically our car, surrounded by really interesting huge rock formations that turned fiery red as the sun set. We climbed the rocks to get a better view of the surroundings, and enjoy yet another stunning African sunset, next to the lizards and the rock dassies. Because of the remoteness of it all, the night was dead quiet. Although the moon was nearly full, we could also see clearly the Milky Way.

From Spitzkoppe, we headed west to the South Atlantic coast. As you drive through the dry desert towards the cold, wet sea, you can see the huge fog cloud that engulfs the coast, similar to how it is in the north of Chile or Lima. Our destination was the town of Swakopmund, but we first made a stop at the Cape Cross seal sanctuary. Here we were met by around 90,000 seals, all lying on the beach close together. Before we could see or hear them, we surely had smelled them - or rather their fishy excrements. Although rather smelly, it was really an impressive sight to see that many seals of all sizes, going about their daily activities in total oblivion of the dozen or so human visitors.

We then drove on to Swakopmund, a quiet German-style town, where we found a hostel to spend the next two chilly nights. In Swakopmund we checked out the lighthouse, bought some books in a quaint pretty bookstore and even went to the cinema. We also had lunch in a restaurant that looked like it could have been anywhere in Germany: The Swakopmund Brauhaus.

One of the highlights of the area is to drive into the Namib Desert, taking in the Welwitchia drive and Moon Valley. After having seen the Atacama desert in Chile, here we found ourselves in yet another moon-like landscape, with rugged valleys and alien looking flora. Kai certainly enjoyed driving the rougher desert roads and gave the recently abandoned 4WD mode a spin!

For the following morning, we had booked a boat trip leaving from Walvis Bay, 30kms south driving through the desert dunes. Soon after launch, we had our first surprise. A (rather large) cape fur seal swam behind the boat and climbed onboard. The captain teased the seal with some fish and encouraged it to reach up and put its flippers on my lap. I really wasn't expecting to have a seal partially on top of me, and between the laughs and excitment, I realized the seal was super soft and not smelly at all. We also got to see dolphins swimming by the boat, and plenty more friendly seals cajoling in the sea. On the return trip to the shore we were offered fresh oysters and champagne, as well as other finger-food, and we enjoyed the rest of the cruise with warm sunshine breaking through the coastal cloud cover.

At the harbour we were welcomed to the sight of a few very large pelicans walking casually amongst the tourists. And with that, we took off and said goodbye to the north-western part of Namibia.

Photos from Etosha National Park

Day 79 - 82, Etosha National Park, Namibia

After having been to three magnificient national parks, we were slightly concerned that Etosha might be turn out to be "just another one". Boy, we shouldn't have worried. If Kruger had been our entry park and Chobe and Moremi had given us ample wilderness and driving through the untamed bush, Etosha turned out to be another jewel with good infrastructure and more cat sightings than all of the other parks combined.

We arrived in the morning to Namutoni, our first camp of three, which is set around an old German garrison fort that housed a range of conveniences: shop, restaurant, swimming pool to name a few. Before settling down for the day we decided to try our luck on an afternoon game drive and although we missed out on any cat sightings at our chosen waterhole just before sunset, we did see quite a few other animals. The big draw of Etosha is that water is very limited in winter, so most animals crowd together in a small area of the park close to the waterholes. Conveniently, that area is criss-crossed with a number of good roads - which we now explored. Besides a fairly large number of springboks, zebras and other plains game, the highlight was a huge rhino crossing the road just in front of us.

Coming back just before sunset, we went to check out the arguably biggest attraction of the park, right outside the fort. All of Etosha's camps have an man-made waterhole next to the electric fence that runs around the camp. You basically show up, sit on a bench or stand around, and the animals drop by to drink all through the day. This is a markedly lazy way to do spotting and you had to share the moment with a few dozen other guests, but it proved to amazingly satisfying nonetheless. It is also the next to only way of spotting any wild animals after dark, as driving in the park itself is not allowed on your own after sunset. Contrary to initial assumption, a wide variety of animals showed up and weren't bother the slightest bit with the rather large amount of camera lenses and binoculars pointed at them from a few meters away. This makes Etosha a paradise for easy photo tourism and there were some ridiculously large cameras around when we arrived at the observation area. Our "welcome committee" consisted of three large elephants drinking, mixing with a few giraffes and antilopes. And half an hour later we hit the jackpot, as a fully grown leopard jumped out of a tree at dusk at the opposite side of the waterhole and slowly walked along the edge of the water. Leopard almost exclusively move at night and under stealth which makes them extremely difficult to find on self-drives, so we were super excited to finally get to see one. Even though it lasted only a few minutes, we were buzzed!

Day two in Etosha saw us moving to Camp Halali, slowly moving through the park from east to west. We got up early and took our time, leisurely driving around the park and looking out for the wildlife. We were rewarded with lots of sightings, including some hartebees (new animal!) and a pair of lions at one of the waterholes. Despite an armada of cars and people with monster cameras pointing out of the windows we initially didn't know about any lions and were trying to understand what everbody was looking at. There were so many other animals at the waterhole that we thought it unlikely for predators to be around. Only after about 10 minutes and changing observation point, we could see the twitching ears - which also explained the extreme caution of the Kudus and other antilopes around.

We arrived in Halali at noon, and after a quick lunch Yeya made a visit to the freezing cold pool which also served as the hangout place of about 30 odd junior rugby players from England that were touring Namibia. We decided to skip our customary afternoon drive in favour of a siesta and a longer sit at the waterhole in Halali and an arranged night drive, which turned out to be an expensive but very good decision. On arrival at the waterhole an hour before sunset we saw our second leopard of the trip, this time still in daylight. And during the night drive, the searchlight from the car hit a springbok on a ridge and seconds later we could see a lioness storming towards it. It missed out on the kill and our guide explained that the searchlight had probably disturbed her stalking and that she had had to attack before being in position. We felt sorry to have disturbed her dinner plans, but seeing her sitting 5m away from the car, reconsidering her next move and mustering us disapprovingly was breathtaking nonetheless. We saw about a dozen more lions on the drive, but most of them were further away and difficult to observe, so we felt very lucky that we had been so close to a hunt.

We had learned much about the prides of lions walking around Etosha from our guide during the drive, so come next morning we decided to try and capitalise on this information. We went back to the waterholes that were most promising and sure enough, we struck lucky when a huge male lion came striding right towards our car at one of the waterholes. Growling, marking his territory and drinking, he walked around for about 10 minutes before laying down for a siesta, giving us the opportunity for some fantastic pictures and videos. The rest of the morning drive gave us tons of more animals, including a giant (500+) herd of zebra, plenty oryx and springbok, another lion and two elephants before arriving in Okakuejo, our last camp in Etosha.

After the success of the camp waterholes, we decided to dedicate the evening exclusively to waterhole watching, again striking lucky. At least three black rhinos and a large pride of lions showed up over the course of the evening, together with the usual suspects of elephants and antilopes plus a surprisingly large number of black-backed jackals. We sipped red wine and enjoyed the show!

On our last day we leisurely ambled around the backroads of Etosha one more time, before hitting the exit gate at around noon. Happy and satisfied with our last animal-centric highlight of the trip we kicked the car into high gear and rolled of on the tarmac towards the Namibian hinterlands...

Photos from Okavango Delta

Day 74 - 78, Okavango Delta, Botswana & Namibia

After Chobe and Moremi National Parks, Maun, the so-called gateway to the Okavango Delta was overwhelming and compared to where we had been for the previous days Maun felt like a metropolis. We made the most of our couple of days in "the city" to get things done. Our comfortable lodging including a fully-functioning shower, there was a laundry service in town under a large tree, a sports bar for the inaugural TGIM Maun (whilst Johnny Logan played on the radio!) and even free wireless in the local fast food joint. During our Moremi drive we had managed a slow puncture thanks to those massive thorns that cover all the bushes, so we got it fixed whilst in town. This took 45 minutes to repair and the invoice was for the incredible amount of 2 euro! We also met up with Gill, the local agent from our 4x4 rental company, so that he could check out the crack in our canopy that had started to grow considerably from what had originally been a simple fissure. He assured us that the crack was nothing to worry about and that we could continue on to Namibia as planned. His main suggestion was that we could avoid excess dirt and dust coming into our canopy by duct-taping the car. With another 20 days still left on the road ahead of us, his prognosis made us fell more assured.

Before leaving Maun, we got to do a scenic flight on a small cessna-type plane to take in the expanse of the Okavango Delta from the air and also catch a glimpse of buffalos, elephants and giraffes from above. The animal-sighting was made much easier by having a Zimbabwean guy as the third passenger on the plane, as he could spot much better than I.

Afterwards we headed north along the Okavango delta to Sepupa (350 kms north), where we took a sunset trip on the Okavango river with our guide "Fish". This guy was able to spot a crocodile hiding in the reeds at full boat speed and he also showed us the papyrus so common to the area. Sepupa is on the way from Maun to the northern border with Namibia, but before heading there we took a 40km detour to visit the Tsodilo Hills, known for it's ancient rock art. Here we took a good community based tour, and were able to see the San rock drawings of giraffes, rhinos, anetelopes and much more. And onwards we continued to the Namibian border, which we were impressed by, as it only took a few minutes to cross-over. No crazy hassles, or deep-rooted bureucracy. Just a new stamp on our passports and off we went.

A couple of Capetownians had recommended a campsite just over the border, called Ngepi. Rather than camping, we opted for our own little tree house, which basically meant an open hut by a tree next to the river. It had a comfy bed, sheltered by a mosquito net, and not much more. A hammock, and and outdoor toilet and shower completed the accommodation. The whole camping and lodge area was really nicely done, and we would reccomend it to anyone visiting that area. The night was a little chilly, but listening to hippos and other animals, and seeing sunrise between our toes the next morning completed the experience for us. The next stop was a short game drive throught the Mahango Reserve, where we saw the usual suspects, but a family of hippos close by to us and a sable antilope (new animal!) were the highlight.

Only a few dates on this trip were actually pre-planned and pre-booked and one of those were the days we were to spend in Etosha National Park. In order to make it on time, we left Mahango early and drove basically non-stop to Tsumeb, via Rundu (as close to Angola as we would get). Our only stop was at the Hoba farm, where the world's largest meteorite remains. That night in the Kupferquelle camp site, the wind picked up considerably and we tried to fix our tent so that it would make less noise. We weren't able to fully solve the situation, but at 3am or so, whilst groggily doing this, I saw the brightest shooting star I have ever seen.

Photos from Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana

Photos from Chobe National Park, Botswana

Day 69 - 74, Chobe National Park and Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana

Wild animals, bad roads, wilderness camping and waking days from sunrise to sunset and defined the next days of our trip. Before we could fully embark on one of the key parts of our 4x4 safari adventure, we had to make some last minute preparations though. First: Fuel up and lower tire pressure to 2 bar on all wheels. Second: Negotiate with the campsite guys to change our bookings last minute. Third: Stock up on plenty of food and water.

Our first day was meant to be a dry run, with only a daytrip to the Chobe waterfront and another night outside the park. It ended up being an amzing afternoon with animals literally left, right and center of us. Probably a dozen herds of elephants, a pride of nine (lazy) lions, a huge herd of sable antilopes and tons of other animals crossed our path - in less than 6 hours. We didn't even have to make an effort to see anything, it all came to us as we drove through the most Northeastern corner of the park. For long times we just parked the car next to the river front and watched as the animal kingdom unfolded itself around us. We still like zoos, but after seeing this it is very difficult to not be somewhat underwhelmed by what can be shown in the confines of even the nicest man-made enclosures. Properly impressed and thoroughly exhausted we returned in the evening to our campsite outside the park, equipped with a tremendous respect for the park and its wildlife. We also brought back some valuable experience with the famous Botswana sand tracks. Besides the animals, driving in full 4x4 mode in seriously sandy conditions was the second big thing of the afternoon and should be a defining part of the next few days.

The morning of the next day saw us refueling one last time before we got on our way through central Botswana to the town of Maun, five days away on sandy tracks. We quickly learned that our 4x4 experience had its limits still, as we got stuck in deep sand about 10km from the park gate. To be very clear, it was not the fault or inability of the car to handle the conditions, it was stupid driving on my side. Luckily, a local drove by with 8 or 10 guys in the back of his truck and after 3 minutes work with our spade and a quick push from the guys we were free again. No harm done, luckily, but the road conditions stayed challenging and concentration was needed. There was less wildlife around than the day before, so we pushed on fairly quickly, knowing that we had a really long drive ahead of us for the day. We met some Swedes on the way who we had seen previously and wished each other luck for spotting something spectacular. A short tar section gave some respite from the sand, but Yeya quickly hit some hard and heavy conditions afterwards, bringing us and the car to its offroading limits. We made good progress though and by 2pm we had reached our last designated break, where we had lunch and gave notice to the rangers of our existence and plans. Then we were off to our final destination for the day, the remote camp site of Linyanti.

We had been warned about this last stretch of road, but except for 6 nasty kilometer of sand the road was much better than expected and as a result, we reached our camp early. Inexplicable, we managed to end up doing most things pretty late though, as darkness fell quickly. Botswana national park camp sites are not fenced, and Linyanti is home to anything from lions to hyenas and elephants, so we didn't like the idea too much to hang around outside after dark. When an elephant "dropped by" (as in coming up to about 20m from our car) while we were barbequeing our steaks, we decided that dinner would have to happen inside the car, rather than at our carefuly laid out camping table. In the end it became a bit improvised, but it was still an enormously tasty dinner and we very much felt as being part of nature (despite being a potential dinner to other, more adapted species).

Getting up at 6 and being last at the bathroom facilities was interesting to say the least. Animals are most active in the mornings and afternoons and we were determined to make the most of it, but apparently others were even more eager! With us there were two Swiss couples at the camp site who had the same route as we did, so we chatted a bit before heading out back into the park at around 7.30am. The first two hours were quiet though, until we hit some open plains with wildebeest, elephants and other grazers. This is where the physical map we had failed us. Two diverging roads of decent conditions were indicated - we chose the left. We obviously don't know what the other road looked like, but ours essentially disintegrated into a barely visible track across the grassland, rigged with waterholes, deep potholes and overgrown with grass for most of the way. If we hadn't had a trusty Google map with enabled GPS to let us know we were still on a road at all, we would have turned around. As a consolation, we did see quite a few animals on the way and got to drive through a thoroughly deserted part of the park, giving us a true explorer feeling. And finally, trust in technology and our gut feeling turned out well and we reunited with the other road. Conditions still weren't good though and we also knew that parts of the road ahead had been flooded and we would be forced to take a 100km detour as a result. Not something we were looking forward to when the average speed of driving was 30km/h. Nonetheless, we made it and pitched our tent at the North Gate of the Moremi Reserve before 5pm. What was more, the sightings book at the gate showed plenty of sightings over the previous days, so we went to our rolling bed hopeful.

Over the next three days we explored the Moremi reserve in all its glory (and from sunrise to sunset). A few key takeaways upfront. Rains were heavy this year, which means that the Okavango delta (which Moremi is a part of) had high levels of water - which in turn meant that roads had high levels of water. Result: Some roads were closed and for all others we learned to drive through water. Also, once you figure out how to drive on sandy tracks, it becomes pretty straightforward and you can look out for animals at the same time. Lastly, Moremi is fantastic for game viewing and we added a ton of animals that we hadn't seen before, either in Chobe or in Kruger. Over the course of the three days we saw honey badgers, cheetahs, wild dogs, black-backed jackals and a red lechwe, most of which we managed to get photos of. The cheetahs had just killed an impala when we saw them first, so they didn't move much for the next 24 hours and we ran into them a few times. We also got stuck in a big herd of about 25 elephants on our last morning, with one of them coming to within 5m of our car. Let me tell you, it is a pretty terrifying feeling sitting in a 3 ton car knowing that the 6 ton animal in front of you can easily demolish your only safety mechanism if it is in a bad mood. There was no sign of hostility from the herd though and after about 15 minutes we all went our separate ways again.

Other notable events included yet another encounter with the monkey world, and predators in camp. Our monkey encounter happened on our first morning and went along similar lines as the first two ones in Kruger and Livingstone, only that this time the monkey was a fully grown male baboon and he wasn't scared. We were guarding our breakfast closely, but when we took our eyes of the table for a moment he sprinted towards us, grabbed our (only) loaf of bread and made into the nearest tree before we were able to react. Slightly shaken and with the baboon 25m above the ground, we concluded that cereals was to be our breakfast of choice from now. The next morning, we saw some tracks next to our car and on inquiring, we learned that a hyena had checked us out in the night. The next night, a group of lions tramped through the campsite, maybe 50m away from our tent. Luckily - or unfortunately, depending on your view - we were fast asleep for both events. We also had frequent run-ins with our friends from Sweden and Switzerland, with who we continued to share tips and sightings as we all made our way through the reserve.

All good things had to come to an end at some time, so after a last morning game drive we left Moremi three days after we had arrived on our way to the town of Maun, where we arrived in the afternoon.

Photos from Victoria Falls

Day 67 - 68, Victoria Falls, Zambia/Zimbabwe

We had more plans for Botswana, which is arguably the destination in South Africa for wildlife viewing. Before we were to dive down into the wilderness in search of game, we had another must-see stop on the agenda though: Victoria Falls. The Zambezi thunders down 100m on a lenght of more than 2km, rivaling the Iguazu and Niagara falls for its size and splendour. It also shares the fact that its waters are bordered by at least two countries, in this case Zambia and Zimbabwe. As the avid reader will have recognised, we were in neither of these. Luckily, the Northeastern corner of Bostwana has border crossings with both though, so our genius plan was to cross into Zambia, then go over to Zimbabwe at the falls and come back from there to Botswana. There were a few inherent flaws with this plan, but we couldn't have known beforehand.

We started out with a short 20 minute drive to the border in the morning. The Botswana post is on the south side of the river (5 minutes), then you need to cross the Zambezi on a rickety ferry that leaves the second the single truck that fits on it has stopped its engine. In fact, it left that fast that Yeya had to jump across half a meter of water to make it as she had to travel as a passenger (only driver in car). The Zambia side then resembled what our story-book expectations of an African border had been. Various ramshackle buildings with hand-written signs on it, half a dozen "helpful" friends showing us the way and us - clearly unprepared - not having a clue what the current exchange rate for Zambian kwatchas was. That said, after a bit of negotiation with the street money-changer, a 60 minute treasure hunt between immigration, customs, the police, the tax office and some third party car insurance brokers and the payment of US$50 and roughly 300.000 kwatchas (check Google for the rate) we - and more importantly our car! - were officially and legally in Zambia. One interesting learning: Irish nationals don't have to pay for a visa in Zambia (all others pay US$50).

We had to briefly recover from this experience with a nice lunch in Livingston, before making our way to the falls. Another US$45 changed ownership from our pockets into Zambian state coffers, but it was fully worth it. We walked every meter of available path on the Zambian side of the falls, got soaked by the "mist that thunders", saw a big family of baboons close up and had some great views on the very, very impressive falls themselves. We both have seen Iguazu, and Victoria Falls certainly can hold its own against that. At the height of the wet season, up to 7 million liters of water flow over the edge every second(!), which in layman's terms, is a whole lot of water! To give some things away, we saw the falls from the Zimbabwe side the next day and liked that one as well, but our vote goes to the Zambia side both for the views and the diversity of things to see and do. All in all it took us nearly three hours to see everything.

After all the excitement, we had to relax and since our wallet was taking a beating anyway, we decided on a decadent sunset cocktail at the Royal Livingston. This posh, colonial style hotel sits directly on the Zambezi river about 300m away from the edge of the falls and you can both see the sunset and see and hear the thunder of the water going over the edge. We both laughed when we saw a group of monkeys swiping cucumber slices from an empty table right next to us by the riverfront (we had seen something similar in Kruger at breakfast), but sure thing we were next in line. Not three minutes later the same monkey jumped on our table and grabbed my (full!) cocktail glass. In a reflex motion I grabbed it as well and for a split second things were undecided as we both held on to the glass. The monkey then accepted my considerable weight advantage and decided to retreat - without my cocktail. This kept us talking for a while and hadn't the majority of backpackers in our lodge that evening been drunk and unpleasant, we might well have shared the story over a drink. Given their state, we preferred to keep to ourselves, though.

The next day saw our next border crossing. The Zam/Zim border (as it is lovingly called) across the bridge over the Zambezi at Victoria Falls is quite a common one for tourists, so organisation was much better than at the ferry. Extortionism was alive and kicking here as well though. Road tax, carbon tax, car insurance and a "commercial vehicle fee" for our rental car were due and this time the Irish visa was nearly twice as much as the German one (which came at US$30). All in all, we supported the struggling Zimbabwe government with nearly US$250 for an 8 hour visit to their country. We had learned by then that doing the trip the other way around would have been much easier (and considerably cheaper!), but in hindsight that was easy to conclude and since we already had done half the trip there wasn't much we could do.

The main activity of the Zimbabwe part of the trip was the aforementioned visit to the falls (which was not as good, but even more expensive than on the Zambia side). We added a short drive through the city, during which we bought a couple of trillion Zimbabwe $ for substantially less Botswanian Pula. For those not quite fluent in currencies, Zimbabwe had hyperinflation until 2009, when he government decided to introduce the US$ as legal tender. Before that, the largest bill that still got printed was a staggering 100 trillion Zim $. Really! Speaking of money, we had hoped to do some activities at the falls such as rafting, but the pricing was prohibitive given our substantial border expenses, so we decided to take it easy and head back to Botswana (or Bots, as the locals call it). On our return we drove through the Zambezi National Park in Zimbabwe, but either chose a bad time or a bad road, since we saw nothing of interest at all. Our third border crossing in two days went very smooth and once again, the efficient, friendly - and cheap! - Botswana border procedures delighted us.

Day 65 - 66, Limpopo, South Africa and Eastern Botswana

After a quick good-bye from Liliana (who had even given us a breakfast-to-go!) we were off to the car rental station. If you think renting a regular car takes time, try getting a 4x4 with a boatload of equipment for a month. It took 90(!) minutes for everything to be finalised, but we learned a ton about the car, from deflating tires for off-road driving to how to set up our rooftop tent and use the built-in fridge. 10am finally saw us on the road and to my big delight our first stop proved to be very fruitful. My hat had been handed in by the taxi driver overnight and we were able to pick it up at the airport!

Finally on the road for good, we were both quite eager to start this part of our trip, so despite a comparitively boring stretch of road we were excitedly planning distances, calculating driving times and getting acquainted with our moving home. We also soaked up the atmosphere outside the car, especially as we got further and further north into Limpopo province. About half-way to the Botswana border we passed through the town of Mokopane, where we got a good view at the non-Johannesburg part of South Africa (and were the only white people in the whole area). We also got used to various things venturing onto the road, humans as well as domestic animals of all types.

Two hours later we crossed our first African border from South Africa into Botswana, something that took much less hassle than we expected and only set us back 14€ (or 140 Botswanian Pula) in fees. Go Botswana border police! The road in Botswana didn't get any more interesting, but setting darkness caused some unwanted excitement, as cattle and goats kept crossing the road and people suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The fact that we didn't know where out camp site was didn't help, but we ended up pulling into a nice, but somewhat deserted bush lodge at about 8pm. After our first 500km, we were happy to give tent, cooking equipment and everything else its first official workout.

The music from the nearby bar had been going until about 5am, but we slept decently enough to be up by 7.30am, but only managed to leave the camp site by about 9.30am. Packing needed to be optimized, we concluded. Our first fuel stop followed (diesel = 0.75€) and then we were off to travel the lenght of Botswana along its Eastern border. This stretch didn't have many highlights, but a group of elephants casually crossing the road about 100m in front of us sure had us excited! After a short trip to the town of Kasane for cash and food, we concluded the day at our second campsite, further practicing packing and unpacking, as well as cooking in the dark. All in all, we thought we were getting better.

Photos from Kruger National Park, South Africa

Day 60 - 64, Johannesburg & Kruger National Park, South Africa

Our stopover on the way to Jo'Burg was Dubai, where we arrived at 1am local time. Nonetheless, the pilot happily announced 35°C when we touched down and we could certainly feel it coming down the gangway. A rather uneventful stopover was made little more exciting due to a late gate change, but besides me making key signings on the football simulator nothing much happened otherwise. 4.45am saw us boarding the second leg of the journey.

On touchdown in Jo'Burg, Yeya's Colombian friend Liliana waited for us at the airport and we drove to the apartment complex she lives in. Helpfully, it's situated on top of a shopping mall, which proved useful for running all sorts of errands. Most importantly though, we had to reconfirm our plans for the next day. It took a fair bit of convincing to the travel agent that our flight and camp reservations for Kruger Park still came through (we had convieniently forgotten to confirm anything over the last weeks). Thankfully, we could use Liliana's local Blackberry for the calls we had to make and also were able to use various office equipment for last minute scanning and faxing. Well worth noting here that everyone in SA seems to have a Blackberry - very unusual to see after the iPhone and Android craze in Europe and the US. After meeting Liliana's family and having a quick bite to eat in one of the ubiquitous shopping malls, we went up to see the lodging for the night, which Liliana had organised. It turned out to be an empty corporate apartment of the highest standard, with a standout shower. Before heading to the very comfy bed we went out to meet some friends of Liliana's though, a lovely Chilean family who made sure we were well fed and watered (or wined) by the end of the night.

The next day started quite early as we were picked up by a taxi transport to the airport at 8am. The distance to Kruger Park is drivable from Johannesburg, but the flight saves a good few hours which helped us to maximise our time in the park itself. On arrival in Nelspruit, we made our way to the most Southeastern corner of Kruger Park. It took us about 30 seconds inside the park to see the first wild animals (Impala) and within 10 minutes we had seen an elephant crossing the road in front of us. Good start! Thirty minutes and numerous animals later we arrived at our home for the next few days, a beautifully positioned and very well done safari lodge with the name of Sheshangeni. In a sign of things to come, we started off with a sizeable lunch, followed directly by our first afternoon/evening game drive of the visit. Our guide Simon proved to be a very knowledgable guy, pointing out various animals, plants and features of the landscape to us. We continued to see a good few animals, most importantly some rivaling male Impala, Giraffe and our first Zebras. The Singaporean family that shared the car with us was hoping for a Leopard viewing, but despite all efforts we couldn't spot the elusive cat. An oppulent dinner concluded the day, before we crawled into bed around 9pm.

Despite the early night, we didn't get that much sleep. Most animals are more active in the mornings and evenings, so that's when the game outings are scheduled and in the bush 6am counts as morning. We had the car to ourselves and managed to add some buffalos and hippos to the list of sightings. Most importantly though, we saw our first big cats, as two male lions were lazying around in the grass right next to the main road. We spent a good amount of time next to them, but they didn't really get up from their bed of grass. Back home, we had an enormous breakfast, so enormous that we had to follow it up with a nice snooze in the sunshine on our veranda. Falling into a repeating pattern not unlike Turkey, the snooze was directly followed by lunch, which we - now in the know - ate only selectively (we knew what was to follow at dinnertime). The afternoon drive was shared with a few very nice and excited South Africans, who were quite talkative and we learned a few things along the way. It was great to see other people who were as excited about seeing animals as we were. As a highlight we sat by the river for a while and added crocodiles, hippos and rhinos to the list of animals sighted. We should also note that there was a really nice picnic set up during sunset, which (obviously) was only a prelude to what was to come at dinner. It featured some nice wine though and also introduced us to biltong, the ZA version of beef jerky. Very tasty!!

Dinner and breakfast came and went, as did our (comparably quiet) morning drive with Simon. Large parts of the area had actually been burned by the park management three weeks before we arrived, so we think that this might have pushed some animals further out into other areas of the park. On the positive side, the view on the remaining animals was very good, as there was less vegetation for them to hide in. To mix things up a little, we changed location mid-day and transfered to a bush camp a little further into the park, where we traded our little chalet for a luxury safari tent, also with a nice little veranda. Not much else changed in our routine though, as lunch was followed by another afternoon drive. Our new guide was called Dixon, who was a really interesting guy. His grandfather had been part of the group of rangers who had created much of the Kruger infrastructure and he had quite a few stories to tell and some strong opinions on poaching and animal conservation in general. We spent much of the drive chatting and learning. We also managed to see a rhino family with a little baby rhino and a huge herd of buffalos lying around in the grass after dark, probably upwards of 100 animals. The day ended - as you may guess - with a lovely dinner, where we met a German couple who was traveling South Africa for three weeks.

Our last day brought us mixed emotions. The last drive proved fairly uneventful, but we really enjoyed seeing the landscape one more time and saying goodbye to Kruger Park. Our travel back to Jo'Burg was a little difficult though, and we lost both a little bit of money (inexplicably, although we suspect somebody got themselves an extra tip) and a much loved hat on the way. We also struggled with some of the car rental logistics, leading to a slighly sour mood. Yeya took the motivating part and successfully got me to go for our first big shopping in the supermarket underneath the apartment, which proved to be a super useful decision and helped to lighten the mood again. A really nice Italian dinner with Liliana and some of her friends also helped and in the end we went to bed with positive thinking.

Photos from Turkey

Day 53 - 59, Bodrum, Turkey

On Monday we started part two of our stay in Turkey, heading down to the southern coast, more specifically the city of Bodrum. We had planned to spend some more time with Thomas and Gökce after the wedding and had all agreed on a four day boat trip, aka honeymoon with friends.

Our travels brought us to the world's best airport (according to them)for our short flight to Bodrum. Our hotel, booked the day before was nice and simple, but we didn't spend much time there anyway and headed out for dinner to the much posher Doria hotel, where the others were staying. A georgous pool terrace, a gentle, warm wind and a fantastic view onto the bay and city made a great setting for the conclusion of the day.

The next day started out hot, only to get very hot. As we arrived at our meeting point, I sweated my heart out and it didn't get better when I had to walk to the ATM to get the remaining money needed to pay for the boat trip. Only a substantial amount of water and ice tea was able to cool us down again. Gökhan and Vural had arrived before us, so we chatted while the others navigated hotel issues and other hurdles. Finally, everybody had arrived and we boarded the boat, only to then send out a delegation to buy the required liquids. 1.5 hours and 500TL later, we were all set to sail. Once we left the marina, the wind picked up and in combination with the water, temperatures on board started to become acceptable, if not quite reasonable. The first stop that day led to the first (but certainly not last) jump into the Mediterranean Sea. It was a delight to wash off the sweat worked up throughout the day and we all felt majorly refreshed afterwards.

After our swim, we started to fall into what would become a repeating pattern for the next three days. A period of sailing was followed by a stop in a protected bay. Swimming and jumping from the boat ensued, followed by a short drying period. Next up was normally a very tasty (and healthy) meal, skillfully prepared by the crew. Most people would then take a rest either reading or sleeping, while the crew would get the boat ready for the next leg of sailing. Rinse, lather, repeat. Rinse, lather, repeat. As a result, we literally didn't do anything for the four days of the trip. The activity highlight was a brief land excursion, which ended in more or less artistically performed football kicks off a swimming platform in the harbour. Nonetheless there were achievements, including three books and plenty magazines read, various games of skat played and pülnüdel experiments conducted. I also celebrated my birthday on the last day of the cruise, complete with singing, presents and a birthday cake! Combine that with the nicest company imaginable, 33°C, a light breeze, four swims during the day, three meals and some cocktails in the evening - and you have pretty much a perfect birthday.

Saturday saw us return to Bodrum in the morning. Packing everything didn't take too long and soon we were back on the trip to Istanbul, having said good-bye to our Turkish travel companions and Thomas, who were going back to Izmit. After a slightly hazardous taxi drive we checked into our very posh hotel for the last night in Turkey and gathered one last time for a nice dinner, this time on top of the roof terrace next to the Aya Sofia. Jens took over some of our luggage as did Max the next day, not without a last roof terrace lunch and a visit to the Blue Mosque of Sultan Ahmed. And who knew that the Grand Bazaar was closed on Sundays! Throughout the day anticipation started to build for the next leg of the trip and by 8pm we were on the way to Johannesburg.

Day 49 - 53, Istanbul/Izmit, Turkey

We arrived in Istanbul on time after a rather uneventful flight (excluding some substantial confusion in Madrid airport) and our apartment shuttle already waited for us. First impression: It was very warm, despite being midnight. The friendly driver navigated the roads quickly, but had some issues with the apartment door. A few minutes later everything was sorted though and we could adore the fantastic view from the window across the Bosporus. The gang (Max, Kathi, Patrick, Chris and Alex) dropped by a few minutes later and a "quick drink" ended up with going to bed at 5am, since it was great to see everybody again and we had tons of things to catch up on.

The next morning was mainly dedicated to sleeping in, but we managed to squeeze a buffet breakfast, Aya Sofia visit and a bus sightseeing trip into the - again scorching - afternoon part of the day. The previous night showed their impact though and we were quite sleepy throughout the day. This changed a little when Thomas and the rest of the group arrived in the evening and we went out for dinner on an amazing roof terrace in one of the trendy bar areas of Istanbul. More important than the food itself proved to be the musical entertainment in the place, as a three person traditional band went all out for the full three hours we were there, playing right next to our ears at near-deafening volume. Conscious of the still present jetlag, we opted out of follow-up drinks, but ended up lying awake for a few hours nonetheless, falling asleep at around 4am.

Saturday was Thomas' and Gökce's big day, so the whole group made their way to Izmit in the morning. A short train ride ("tünel") was followed up by a boat ride across the Bosporus and a bus ride to our hotel just outside of Izmit. The hotel was very nice, but before we were able to lounge around at the pool we went on a shopping trip to the nearby mall. Suffice to say, we were sweating afterwards and the pool looked enormously inviting, but all in all we were quite relaxed by the time the wedding started at 8pm. The wedding itself was very nice and tastefully done, Gökce's dress was very beautiful and everybody was in a great mood. Things happened outside, including the food and a really nice fireworks show. Jan had a "Dancing with the Stars" performance that received standing ovation from the crowd, everyone joined in on the dancing and the European crew closed down the venue at about 3am in the morning. Not that this stopped the party though, which only ended after sunrise on the rooftop of the hotel. The next day we continued festivities by driving out to the countryside for a fantastic brunch, all organised by Gökce's family. After taking transportation back to Istanbul in the afternoon we were all pretty knackered and only managed to hang out in the apartment for the evening, ordering in food and chatting until about midnight.

Day 46 - 48, Lima

Having friends in many places can be difficult, but it has its clear benefits. In this case, we were picked up at the airport by a private driver, courtesy of Mirko, a friend of Yeya from high school. We also got to stay at his great apartment with view over the golf course in the centre of city. Nice!

After salivating over the lunch menu at Segundo Muelle for about 20 minutes and eating for two hours, we savoured the wide selection of seafood available. By evening we were again good to go out with Mirko into one of the in-neighbourhoods in Lima for some food and cocktails.

Sleeping in a super-comfortable bed was really nice, but unfortunately we had picked up some nasty bug the day before, so neither of us felt like doing much throughout the day. We mainly hung out in bed, used the web, slept some more and watched TV. When Mirko came back home later, we still weren't up for much unfortunately, although we made it up for some tea and soup in the evening and Yeya and Mirko shared some extensive memories and caught up the whereabouts and developments of common friends.

We were quite disappointed that we didn't get to sample the food in Lima more, since we had had excellent food in Peru so far and Lima is supposed to be by far the best city (food-wise) in the country. At least we recovered enough to head out for lunch the next day to meet Deb, a friend of Yeya from her stay in Argentina. We got to see the Lima Google office (which is tiny for now) and also got a feel for the business district of Lima, walking through the area littered with shopping malls and office buildings. After lunch the main thing left to do was to catch up with Mirko one more time to say bye and then grab a taxi to the airport for our long flight back to Europe. We had thoroughly enjoyed our time in South America, but were excited for seeing everyone again on the next part of trip: Turkey.

Photos from the Machu Picchu Trail

Day 41 - 46, Inca Jungle Trail, Machu Picchu and Sacred Valley

The jewel of South America is how the LP titles Machu Picchu and we fully intended to make the most out of our visit to one of the "Seven New Wonders of the World". Therefore we decided to give ourselves four days to move towards our destination in every imaginable form of transport. Always on our side was to be our trusty guide Rolando, who did a fantastic job in giving us plenty of information on the area and details on flora and fauna as well.

We started with a bus ride to a 4300m high pass on the eastern side of the Andes, followed by a 50km mountain bike ride down said pass on the other side. Despite the downhill part it was quite chalinging to cycle, but the views were simply spectacular and passing multiple climate zones within a few hours was super interesting. We ended up in Santa Maria, at 1200m the lowest point of our journey and we learned that even in tiny towns, Peruvians can cook very well. We walked around the village through nightfall but since not much happened, we went to bed early.

Good that we did as well, because the day began early with breakfast at 7.30 and a transfer bus to our next transport option: boat. More precisely, two rubber rafts waited on our little group and we rafted down the Urubamba river for about 1.5 hours, including a capsizing (of the other boat) and some voluntary overboarding (on both boats). We got soaking wet, but had loads of fun during the trip, definitely something to repeat! After riding, driving and boating the time then came for walking. We dried up pretty quickly as we made our way up the path through the valley. Throughout the trip Rolando pointed out plants, animals and history of the area, so we never got bored. The path itself helped as well, as the original Inca trail that was part of it clung to the mountainside in a highly precarious way. In the afternoon it got easier and we ended the path with a cable bridge ride and a bath in thermal pools that had nearly been destroyed by a giant landslide earlier in the year. A final hard walk brought us to our overnight destination Santa Theresa at 1700m above sea.

Throughout the night it became clear why this part of the country is considered "rain forest": It rained without interruption - our feeble attempt at drying some clothes was thoroughly doomed. We actually delayed our departure by an hour to wait for the rain to stop, and so arrived fairly late at our next mode of transportation, flying. Well, it wasn't really flying, although it looks like it from about 50m away. We had decided to do some zip-lining or, as normal people would say: Hoping that the steel rope on the top of our heads won't give away before we reached the other side of the 150m deep valley underneath. Despite the vertigo-induction, the whole thing proved to be quite fun and we criss-crossed two valleys on six cables with a total lenght of 3.2km. Accompanying us was a group of Irish gap year students, who constantly complained about the missing "thrill" component and that the ride was to slow. I had no idea what they were talking about... The rest of the day we spent walking again, this time by the train tracks, arriving in the town of Aguas Calientes, which is the de-facto base camp for Machu Picchu. Civilization welcomed us back and laundry, internet, pizza and the opening game of the Copa America were the result. We also said good-bye to our trusty guide Rolando in the evening, not without him assuring us that he would get us a place in the queue for the buses in the morning - we were "only" to show up at 5.15am.

We realized in the morning why he had said "only". When we arrived, the queue was a good 250m long, but kindly enough he had started queueing earlier and we skipped ahead a few dozen people to be in one of the first five buses to go up. In terms of practicalities, the story of the day is quickly told. It rained a lot, we should have bought rain ponchos right away, we spent the whole day on the mountain and took a funky train in the evening to the village of Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley. The real story about this day is Machu Picchu itself though. That anybody can build a city 600m really steep above the valley ground is stunning in the first place, but he sheer, breathtaking location has to be seen to be believed. Terracing is everywhere, going down the mountainside at slopes of 70° and more. The city itself sits perched on a ridge between two mountain tops and is surrounded by cloud-covered peaks on every side, while you can see the river 600m further down snaking around the mountain. All of this comes in lush green with orderly rows of grey stones and if you have a tiny bit of imagination, it's really easy to imagine how life must have been here about 500 years ago. It was an item at the very top of our list of places to visit and it didn't disappoint the slightest, despite or even because of the rainy conditions.

The last day of our trip was spent "wrapping up" the Inca period. We first visited some nice ruins in Ollantaytambo before grabbing a street lunch of anticucho (beef heart skewers) and grabbing public transport up to the village of Maras. From there we visited the agricultural laboratory of the Incas at Moray, where they experimented with various microclimates to identify ideal climate conditions for their various crops. This area now looks like a alien landing strip. We continued to the visually truly stunning site of Salinas, an age old salt "factory". A stream of salty waters coming right out of the mountain is being diverted into hundreds of shallow pools, in which evaporation occurs and salt can be scraped of the bottom of the pool afterwards. Many of the pools go back to Inca times and according to public lore, the Inca built pools are actually much more stable and need less maintenance than anything that has been built since. A packed public bus ride brought us back to Cuzco afterwards, where we concluded the day with yet another splendid dinner.

Photos from Arequipa and Cuzco

Day 36 - 40, Tacna, Arequipa and Cuzco

The border crossing into Peru's border town of Tacna was uneventful, and we headed straight away to one of the many bus stations to buy our bus ticket to Puno in Lake Titicaca, as our intention was to make our way north as soon as possible. We then went to a seafood restaurant reccommended by Antonietta. "Mar Adentro" was closed, but the place next door was open for business and as they shared a menu we went in and experienced the first of many delicious meals of the well-known Peruvian cuisine. A proper ceviche and pulpo al olivo was in order, together with a real Peruvian pisco sour.

Well-fed, we headed out to catch our night bus. An interesting three hours followed. First, we heard that there were strikes in Puno, so many buses weren't going. Second, we were told that our original bus wasn't going, but we had been transferred onto another bus instead. That bus proved to be a really nice one (royal class), which indeed left the station. The bus had huge comfortable armchairs, and we were likely the only non-peruvians on it. There were several indiginous ladies travelling next to us, carrying more stuff than one can imagine possible: food, chinese alarm clocks for sale, a couple of kids, and countless wool blankets. They all seemed very restless, going up and down the aisle, speaking Aymara, seemingly getting ready for the long journey ahead.

Unfortunately, the journey was not to be. After arriving in the second Tacna station, the bus stopped, and although nobody gave us any information we deduced we had to get off. We suspected the strikes in Puno as well as road-blocks, but another theory was that the police had stopped our bus and one of the shift-drivers did not have a licence. Either way, we certainly were not heading to Puno, so we got our money back and a friendly lady called us a taxi to take us to a hotel in town. There we watched the news, and realized the situation was a lot worse in Puno than we had imagined, with 5 people dead and loads of disturbances in the surrounding area. Maybe not such a bad thing after all that we didn't leave that evening.

We took a bus to the city of Arequipa the next day which was also quite comfortable and sported a bingo game for good measure. In Arequipa we continued our food quest and had some excellent dinner to conclude the day. The next day was reserved for sightseeing. Arequipa lies in a valley surrounded by huge volcanoes, which makes for a pretty impressive backdrop. The highlights of our sightseeing activity was the convent of Santa Catalina though, a 400 year old areal which covers a full city block. Both history and the actual place were fascinating and well worth the visit. Speaking of fascinating, we also visited the museum of "Inca maiden Juanita", a mummy found on a 6000m high mountain top in the direct vicinity of Arequipa. Very well done and very informative!

Juanita gave the start to our own Inca period, which had only one natural place to be continued: Cuzco, birthplace and long term capital of the Inca empire. An uneventful night bus took us there and we quickly realized that we had made it back to nearly 3300m above sea level as the steep streets and steps literally took our breath away. Our first day was slow as a result, but at least we managed to organise everything for the upcoming trip to Machu Picchu. Day 2 was much more active as we trawled the city and its surroundings for insights into both its Inca and colonial history. Convent, cathedral, the Inca ruins of Sacsaywaman were the highlights and we also managed to go shopping. And last but not least, we also sampled the Cuzco style of Peruvian food, which turned out to be as good as any we had tried so far.

Photos from Altiplano Chileno

Day 34 - 36, Norte Grande 2 (Altiplano Chileno)

It's hard to believe just how long this country is. On our morning approach to Arica (which is pretty much as far north as you can go in Chile) we passed kilometer 2050 on the Ruta 5, which is the stretch of the PanAmerican highway that goes through Chile. Amazingly, this is measured from Santiago and there is another 2500km if you travel into the other direction. More amazingly, on the 500km or so from San Pedro we had actually covered nothing but rocks, sand and the many mines that dot the Atacama desert. This also became very evident as we left Arica in our new, temporary mode of transport - a well-used but trusty Nissan Terrano 4x4 pick-up truck. Our goal was the Chilean Altiplano, for which we first had to double-back on our bus trip for a good 250km. On the way the landscape became even more impressive and desert-like as we crossed huge valleys and got a view on the inhospitable nature of the far Chilean north.

After a lunch-and-fuel stop (which were 40km apart), we made for the Chilean altiplano, our real goal of the day. Our goal was to drive to three national parks: Isluga, Vicuñas and Lauca, getting a full experience of what the altiplano is like. 100km later we had climbed to a whopping 3500m in altitude and the landscape had changed. Instead of looking up to the mountains on the side of the road, we now were right in the middle of them. About 2 minutes after leaving the only paved road around we saw our first Llamas (or Alpacas, it's hard to keep them apart). The flamingo feeling of wild animals came back immediately and we went a bit picture crazy. A few hours later we realized that camelids were going to be a very (very!) common occurence for the next few days - which didn't diminish our fascination but slowed down our picture rate. After about 50km of gravel road we concluded the day with fording a little river (which saw the first activation of the 4x4 drive) on the way to a CONAF refugio in the Aymara village of Enquelga (population 20). We met two volunteers who were staying there as well. They are working with the villagers on how to negotiate with the government and make the best out of the national park's opportunities. It was really interesting to talk to them, just with a candle to lit the dark night, and see what issues they discussed, it's quite different from the everyday problems us city-people have...

We woke up the next morning with remarkably little signs of altitude issues. A little bit of a headache, but for sleeping at 4000m we felt pretty good. Maybe it had been our sunset walk the evening before or the amazing sky full of stars that we looked at as long as we dared to in the freezing cold, but we felt fine. Which was good, since we had a long day of driving and staring at breathtaking scenery in front of us. First off, we headed out to the Bolvian border post just to check it out. On our way back, we had the altiplano version of a bath, at a beautiful little thermal pool, with views to the volcanoes, all just outside of Enquelga. We swam for a while and dusted off the travel dirt, before we went for the major part of the route for the day. There is only gravel in this part of the world and Geraldine took it upon her to cover the first 100 or so kilometers, which turned out to be the toughest to drive of the whole day.

We more or less drove the rest of the day through a scenery that can only be described as majestic. The road swerved between mountains and volcanoes over altiplano plains, skimmed the Chilean-Bolivian border a few times, led us by inhabited and abandoned villages and gave us more astonishing viewpoints than we could count. One of the highlights was certainly the Salar de Surire, which is a lot whiter than the one in Atacama and also has decidedly less people around it. Speaking of people - excluding the two volunteers and a number of mining trucks, the only other people we met were the 5 cyclists we met on the road. Instead, we met about a thousand Llamas, Alpacas and Vicuñas on the way, roaming freely around the area. We took literally hundreds of pictures, but they unfortunately do not do the actual experience any justice. Navigation-wise, we were perfectly equipped using a guide book for general orientation and our phones as an improvised GPS device with pre-loaded Google Maps. The only thing it didn't show us as we climbed to the highest point of the day was altitude, but MyTracks came to the rescue and clocked us in at 4752m above sea level. From there is was "downhill" to Lago Chungara at 4500m, where we checked into a refugio again. A short walk by the lake just before sunset rounded out an amazing day, which had been certainly one and maybe the highlight of the whole trip so far.

During the next night and morning the altitude showed its impact, with both of us sleeping badly and waking up with some discomfort. We didn't waste much time and started our descent to lower altitudes. A planned stop at another termas didn't turn out to be possible, so we made straight for Putre, a town at the entrance of the national park, situated on 3500m. This was low enough for symptoms to disappear, so we camped out in a lovely cafe and recharged ourselves and most of our equipment. From Putre it was then an easy drive back down to Arica, although covering 3500m in altitude within less than 150km still boggles my mind. After returning our car to Osvaldo from Cactusrent, we packed our bags and hopped on a collectivo to the Chilean-Peruvian border.

Photos from San Pedro de Atacama

Thank you!

Hey all,

THANK YOU very much for all the good wishes and congratulations. The party is already being planned, so we'll keep you posted. :)

We are about to head out into the Chilean Altiplano for a few days, but we'll post all remaining updates after we have regained access to civilization. New pictures are coming as well!

Geraldine & Kai

Day 30 - 33, Norte Grande 1 (San Pedro de Atacama)

The far north of Chile. The Atacama desert, the driest place on earth. We hadn't seen much of it as we approached since it was night, but there clearly was a desert outside of the window as we approached our destination. For dryness though, not what we expected. Thick clouds covered the sky and within 2 hours of us being in San Pedro it had rained. well, there had been a few drops falling, but the locals clearly considered this rain and - according to them - that was highly, highly uncommon for the time of the year. And as so often with uncommon occurences, the unusual weather should define much of our stay in San Pedro de Atacama.

Most importantly, rain in the oasis town of San Pedro meant snow in the high Andes. Tours returning in the afternoon of our first day reported heavy snowfall and for the following four days, all tours going up into the Andes were cancelled. Due to the uncommonness of the weather the cancellations were happening day-by-day (everyone was hoping for better conditions the next day), which gave us quite a bit of waiting time as we hoped for improvements. Overall, we ended up doing much less than we had thought of, but still got a good impression of the area and got to see many very impressive places in this remarkable landscape. And we were much better off than the many travellers who had planned to move on to Bolivia or Argentina from San Pedro - the snow meant that all mountain passes were closed as well.

So we decided to make the most out of it. To get started, we took a trip to the Valle de la Luna, located in the Cordillera de la Sal. An integral part of the Atacama salt flat, this area of the Salar de Atacama has been shifted up due to tectonic pressure of which Chile has so much along its coastline. The result is a mountain/hill range composed almost exclusively of mineral salts, but mixed with sand and mud, which gives it a really interesting shape and colour. Our cheery tourguide did much to make this experience an interesting one and our first evening concluded with a (nearly sunless) sunset at the top of a high cliff overlooking the valley below.

Given the continuing weather issues, our next day trip was shortened as the altiplano lake area was inaccessible. Nonetheless we continued our education of the area with a trip to the Salar itself, walking around the area and doing some bird watching. It struck us how different it is to see animals in their natural habitat compared to a man-made environment - in this case it were the flamingos who were flying right to left and left to right above our heads, going from one lagune on the Salar to the other. We didn't get to see hundreds, but just the few dozens already shifted our minds and got us very excited about our upcoming Africa experience. The rest of the day was spent wandering the town and sampling the excellent food on offer in San Pedro. We also got to catch up on some logistics, such as booking upcoming flights and other travel arrangements.

By now we had settled in to the slow atmosphere of San Pedro and got up late the next day. For lunch we went to yet another nice place, but despite the very nice food lunch was somewhat overshadowed by the trembling earth we had experienced about an hour beforehand. It didn't seem strong to us when it happened, so we were surprised that it had been a 6.5 quake not even 150km away from us! We experienced it as a brief, slow shaking of the earth, almost like a spell of dizzyness and it was more of a "did you just feel the same thing" kind of experience than a shock. Nonetheless it was another fascinating moment. Later in the day San Pedro lost electrical power for about an hour, but we don't know if there was a connection between the two. The locals didn't seem to bother much, so our third and final tour in San Pedro again went to the Salar as planned and advertised. This time Geraldine confirmed her affinity for cold water and went for a swim in the extremely salty (and cold) waters of the Laguna Cejar. Even after rinsing off, she still had plenty of white flakes on her face as the salt crystalised. The tour concluded with a nice sunset (the clouds had thinned a little) and of course some Pisco Sours.

Our last day in San Pedro turned out to be our laziest yet. We tried to book a trip to Chile's second largest mine, Chuquicamata, but due to strong winds the tours were cancelled. The weather had ben clearing up over the last days, so ther was more sunshine, but we had arranged our transfer further north for the evening, so didn't bother with investigating other tour availabilities anymore. Besides confirming some travel arrangements, picking up our laundry, having yet another tasty lunch and buying our bus tickets we didn't get up to much. Until 4pm that was, when we got ourselves to finally take the short stroll to the Pukara de Quitor, a pre-Inca time hill fortress, eventually taken and destroyed by the Spanish around 1540. Walking back along the river gave us another long, beautiful view on the most impressive landscape around San Pedro de Atacama. For all its issue-causing in terms of tours, the slowly retreating cloud cover had actually given us a different view every day, from a grey nothingness at the horizon to a glorious panorama of snow-capped mountains and red-grey hills. Overall, when we grabbed out 8.30pm night bus to Arica, we were very happy with what San Pedro had offered us.

Photos from Santiago/Norte Chico

Day 25 - 29, Norte Chico

So now we're onto the next chapter of the trip, the Norte Chico or "Little North". It's known as "chico" to differentiate it from the Norte Grande; the former is 800kms stretching from just north of Santiago up to the start of the Atacama desert, whilst the latter is over a 1000kms of mostly desert until you reach the border with Peru. On our way to the small north we got on a bus in Santiago's Terminal Borja headed for La Serena, which we reached 5 hours later. Last year we had already used the Chilean bus system extensively and we can still totally recommend it, if you don't have strict time constraints. Trains are rare in Chile, and flying is a lot more expensive, so using the excellent buses is a great option.

The scenery starts changing dramatically as you head north out f Santiago, so it's actually quite interesting to just look out of the bus window and observe how the mountains and greener valleys give way to drier and drier landscapes.

The first night after the bus ride we spent it at my cousin Keny's house (after yet more parrillada and wine) and then it was off the next day to rent a car, see a little bit of La Serena and then to tour the Valle del Limari and Valle del Elqui. First stop was Ovalle, where we dropped my cousin as she was teaching there that afternoon. With a little hand-drawn map done by my cousin the night before we continued to Monte Patria, to find the house where my grandparents had lived and where my mum was born and brought up in. It took a couple of drives around the little town since we were not having any luck finding the house, and I'm sure people were beginning to wonder what we were up to. We tried one more final time from the other end of town, and found a small dirt road that lead us to the house in La Palma, 492. The outside wall was showing a few cracks from the 1997 earthquake that hit this area, but it was still as I remembered it from years back.

We then continued our drive to Hurtado, in a dark winding stretch of road. Days are quite short at this time of year, with the sun setting at around 6.30pm, so by the time we got to the little mountain village, and the hacienda we were planning to stay in, it was pitch dark. The Hacienda de Los Andes is actually owned by a German couple, and although they were not there, a German girl was there to greet us, make us some dinner and show us our room.

A really loud rumbling noise and substantial shaking woke us up the next day at around 6am: We were actually experiencing our first real tremor in Chile. Nothing happened, but we were still pretty much awake afterwards. Good time to take a walk in the really pretty mountain area that surrounds the hacienda, so after breakfast we headed out for the trail, going from sunburnt slopes to the little river running through the valley. The valley theme continued afterwards, as we navigated our trusty little Urban Cruiser over a certainly not urban road to the town of Vicuña. Not urban in this case meant a 90km gravel road covering a good 2500 meters of elevation up and down.

Vicuña made for a quick stop over only, our real destination for the day was Pisco Elqui, a little town in another valley, where the famous traditional drink comes from. Well, there is a longer story to it involving Peru of course, but that is a different story. As fitting for the place, we visited one of the oldest distilleries of Chile and got a taste of the product on offer. We also overnighted in a so-called astro-lodge: a two stories, open dome-shaped tent, with telescopes handy to watch the night sky - only that it was the night of full moon, so there wasn't much to see beyond our planet's silver glowing satellite. Sky-related issues continued the next day, as the famous observatories in the region had to cancel their public sessions due to weather issues. Instead we visited the Gabriela Mistral museum, Latin-America's first Literature Nobel Prize winner. We then headed back for La Serena early, well in time for another family dinner. This time we were invited by my cousin Carola and and her family, where we got to catch up on family news and we learned a lot about the South American train system from Ignacio, Keny's 18 year old son.

Early the next day we got a bus for another 400kms drive north to Copiapo, made famous last year because it was near here that the 33 miners were trapped. Our reason for stopping here, besides being on the way to our final destination, San Pedro de Atacama, was to stop over in the nearby town of Caldera. Here we met up with Barbara, a childhood friend of my sister, and also checked out Bahia Inglesa, one of the most beautiful beaches of the whole Chilean coast.

With over 800kms travelled, the Norte Chico did not seem so chico to us after all.

Day 21 - 25, Santiago, Chile (Continued)

... After those news we are back with the writing on what we did the next two days in Santiago. Saturday was a really happy family day, where we were able to celebrate our engagament news with a big chunk of my family (and my family is big). And as any good celebration in Chile, we kicked it off with pisco sours (can you see a trend here?) and a big asado (BBQ). My cousin Claudio and girlfriend Lia were there too, and it was a double celebration as it was her birthday as well. Later on my cousin Mario, his wife and two kids showed up and finally my cousin Adolfo and his girlfriend. Even more to celebrate as they are expecting twins for the southern springtime. From BBQ we had moved to "las onces" or basically a late tea time with bread and pastries. So we basically did not move much, but ate and shared with my Chilean family. The only downside to the day was that I managed to get a substantial cold, which basically meant that any wild Saturday plans to go into town and see the Santiago night life were canceled.

The next day we met up again with my childhood friends Vanessa and Carola, who drove us to Pomaire, a town about 40kms south-east of Satiago, famous for their clay pottery and for being a nice day trip to let santiaguinos breath some fresh air. We headed directly to a restaurant and shared a half-kilo empanada and then most of us had "pastel de choclo", a very tasty meat and sweetcorn dish served in the traditional clay pots. We then walked around the streets and stalls in the little town and even bought a tiny "chanchito de Pomaire", a clay-figurine in the shape of a pig, usually sold as clay piggy banks. The days in Santiago have been bright and sunny, and maybe around 20C degrees. Of course in the morning it's much colder, but remember we're starting winter here. So it was a nice chilled sunny Sunday afternoon that we continued enjoying as we headed back into Santiago to meet up with another childhoof friend, Antonietta, with her husband Jorge and baby Emma. And to top it all, we headed back to my other aunt's house, to share the news and enjoy an evening snack and more pisco sours.

The whole weekend was really special to us, as we were able to share and celebrate with friends and family who are very likely not able to travel to Europe easily. And plus all this food and pisco sours, who would not be happy?

Breaking News! :)

The previous blogpost had to be momentarily paused, since we could not continue with the Santiago diary without sharing with you, our friends and family, some very very good news. We would have liked to tell everyone in person, but due to our travelling circumstances this turned out to be a little difficult. So the blog it is.

On Saturday morning (day 23 of our travels), this happened:

Yes, we got engaged!! :)

Day 21 - 25, Santiago, Chile

It's a good feeling being back in Chile; it's still familiar in many ways, but also new to me and to Kai in many ways. The flight was uneventful (thankfully!) and we passed migration very quickly. Kai got his brand new passport stamped for the first time by a friendly lady, who saw we were staying in Maipu and was delighted as she was from Maipu herself. My uncle Omar was waiting for us outside already, and he took us home so we could nap, shower and have our first meal "a la chilena". Nothing fancy, and I'm sure I'm biased, but it was a beautiful steak with the most delicious salad on the side and some good red wine. My cousin Claudio was there too, and afterwards he took us on our first tour in Santiago: up the Cerro San Cristobal. My last time on this hill had probably been over 20 years ago, so it was a nice (re-)encounter with the city, although the pollution was clearly showing up again after what we were told were a few days of clear skies thanks to the rain that fell a few days prior. We then grabbed a beer in Bellavista (have we mentioned that Kai is starting to actually like beer??) and headed back home to see my aunt Toya and then to bed.

Second day in Santiago can be described as "food & drink comatose". We went over to my other aunts' house, where Tia Ana Maria and Tia Rosa were waiting for us with pisco sours, and a huge meal of pastel de papas, which some might say is Chile's answer to sheperd's pie. This was accompanied, again, with delicious salad of all types, and good red wine. We rolled down to Plaza Maipu aftewards and got ourselves a Chilean sim card, something we would highly recommend when you are travelling for a while in any country. In the evening we took the brand new metro from Plaza Maipu to Manuel Montt to meet up with some childhood friends, Carola and Vanessa as well as Daniel and Lorena in a gastro-pub in Santiago center, called Liguria. It's a really nice local place, with loads of food and drinks on offer. We still could not eat after the mega-lunch, but a pisco sour (grapefruit flavoured) and a couple of red wine bottles were in order!...

Photos from Switzerland/Germany

Day 17 - 20, Berlin, Germany

At 5pm sharp, my parents rang the doorbell, ready to pick us up for the trip to Berlin. After the long weekend in Germany, traffic was heavy on the way into Berlin, so we arrived somewhat late, but certainly still in time for dinner. Good thing that, since after climbing five flights of stairs with all our luggage, we were clearly in need of some food. Based on Bente and Jan's recommendation we went to a nice, little Italian restaurant in the neighbourhood before climbing the steps again and heading to bed.

Monday became our main sightseeing day, so the whole family  headed out for some of the finest sights Berlin has to offer. In the morning, Jan proved to be an excellent tour guide for the ladies, taking in the Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, Bellevue. Potsdamer Platz and a host of other sights, while the men were off on a secret mission. We re-united at the cathedral at noon, which we promptly checked out. It was also revealed that my father and I had been shopping and got two brand new Android phones for my parents, which obviously required some extensive testing over a late and much awaited lunch, for which my sister joined us after finishing work. Touristed out, the motivation for more sights was low and everyone was tired and hot (as Berlin weather was fantastic at ~28°). So, the best thing to do in this case was - obviously - to go cut my hair. After having thought about it for a long time, the warmth and hassle of having to constantly tie it up became too much and the encouragement from the family helped. Despite being Monday, we found an open hairdresser, who conservatively shortened the mess. Tea, shopping, dinner and playing with the phones concluded the day.

My parents left early on Tuesday morning, but we had said goodbye on Monday, so were able to sleep in. Which was followed by a very leisurely breakfast, a siesta after that and a break after that, before having strawberries for afternoon tea. In short: We didn't do much. We did get a lot of things done though, putting finishing touches on the blog and dealing with a number of logistical issues ranging from immediate travel bookings to tax issues. We concluded the day with Bente and Jan, an enormous amount of Spätzle and a very overwhelmed first-day waitress at another neighborhood restaurant.

Wednesday was planned as and turned out to be a travel day - with added company throughout. Except for missing our very first bus of the day (to Berlin HBF) everything went smooth as we went from my sister's house to the train station and from there to Frankfurt (where we had lunch with Paola), to Frankfurt airport. A small plane took us to Madrid, where we took the Metro into town for the evening, meeting up with Julian, Borja, Marta, Antonio and Eugenia for dinner (more jamon!). After having had breakfast in Berlin, lunch in Frankfurt and tapas in Madrid, we headed back to the airport to have dinner on board a LAN A340 en-route to Santiago de Chile!