Exploring Africa on motorbike: June 2013

After two inspiring weeks in Windhoek, capital of Namibia, the road was leading me east, towards Kalahari desert in Botswana. As my plan after Kalahari was to re-enter South Africa, I needed to handle my SA visa in advance in Windhoek. Of course it was long procedure like always, I drove off Windhoek in early afternoon and was caught by the night still in Namibia. I decided to sleep at Xain Quaz, nice lodge & camping facilities just 10 kms before Gobabis. At Xain Quaz I've met the owner Dannie, his wife, their few months old son and springbok (animal), called Diggy Ding. I booked the night at the hut, I was the only guest anyway. I slepted like a baby, covered with two blankets, the night was freezing, close to 0C. In the morning I was surprised by hot black coffee and bisquits waiting on the table in front of my hut. Fresh air, combined with Diggy Ding company was more than enjoyable for me, not mentioning the sunrise.

Still the same morning I arrived to Gobabis, last town in Namibia before entering Botswana. Soon after leaving Xain Quaz I noticed some bad sound, coming from my rear wheel. I assumed it was bearings. In minutes noise became louder and louder. I stopped in the town. I went to petrol station and asked for mechanics. I was driving from one to another and at the end found Pottie's Mechanical Store & Workshop. They told me they have no spares. I insisted to open my rear wheel. As they opened it, the mechanic smiled and said, 'hey, it's the same bearings as for Hinda XL250. And you know what, I have them. :)'. They replaced my wasted bearings with new ones in one hour. That was big luck for me. I hit the road in direction of Kang still on the same day. Yihaaaaa!!!! :)

I started around thousand kms long drive on Trans-Kalahari highway. I've heard it is very lonesome & long road and you meet only animals and almost no cars / humans. It came out true. I saw lots of cows, donkeys, sheep and warthogs. Most of them were freely walking in the middle of the road. I really needed to be careful not to hit some. Luckilly didn't meet any lions, hyennas or similar.

Around 200 kms before reaching town called Kang, I was again caught by the night. I drove for another hour but then decided to stop somewhere and find a place to sleep. As there was nothing to see for long long time. But then I saw the sign "Lone tree camp". I thought it might be a camping or so. I turned off the road and stopped next to the fence. In a minute or two there were two off-road cars arriving just after me. I was really surprise as I was in the middle of nowhere and I didn't see cars for a while. People in cars didn't care much about me. They opened the gates and entered. As they locked the gate, I asked them 'What about me? Are there some camping facilities or similar?' They told me this is not camping but camp for anti-poachers. Anti-poachers?? I asked if I could possibly stay overnight somewhere as it is freezing outside. They let me in and I sent me to Isaac, chief of anti-poachers in that camp. Isaac was kind and he offered me a place in his house. I accepted. Thank you Isaac.

Next day I drove to Kang, drank a coke and drove another 500 kms to South African border. I crossed the border on Wednesday June 5th at Lobatse border post. I drove to Pretoria, actually to University of Pretoria where I held a presentation of my life experience for UP students and the staff. It was nice gathering and I really enjoyed it. Thank you to Prof. Heino Heyman and Dean Mr. Marion Meyer at Plant Science department for inviting me. I've met these two guys in Sesfontein in Namibia, one month before. They were there for business, doing research on so called 'fairy circles'.

After nice days spent in Pretoria I drove to Johannesburg where I've visited very cool folked Rise and Shine Acoustic Music Festival. Thank you Misha for the tickets. :) I also attended Converse music festival in downtown Joburg to enjoy the music and said hello to Misha Teasdale and Jeremy Loops, camerades from Cape Town. The other day I visited Markex exhibiton in Sandton and that was it. More than enough for five days overall staying in Joburg. Thank you Zarko, Henri and Nick for having me in Joburg and Cobus & co. for the dinner and so good bread. :) Thank you Joanne for taking me to the airport. What a wonderful experience and memories I have on Johannesburg and Pretoria. And Namibia and Botswana. And South Africa in general and Mozambique. And Kenya and Tanzania. And Swaziland. :) And ........ :))