6 Sep 2019

Is it Possible to Overstay Your Welcome?

by Klipka | posted in: Adventure, Africa, Overlanding, PJ, Travel | 0

Pre & Post Wedding

We arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa the morning of July 11th and headed right to our hostel, the Westmoreland Lodge (little did we know… this would become our second home). This place was beautiful, safe, and so comfortable. Comfy beds, hot showers, and it served the best hostel breakfast we’ve had thus far on the trip (and it’s free!). We took a long and deserving nap, and then upon waking faced our reality. Our ready-to-overland vehicle fell through and we needed to be in Zimbabwe in exactly one week. We had expected to make our way to Botswana to look at cars but instead met with our new friends Mike and Alison, and we went through a game plan to check out a car (singular) that they had found in Joburg the next day.

The next day we met PJ. We didn’t expect to love PJ, but something felt right. We purchased the Pajero and started the paperwork to transfer the title in our name. In the meantime, we drove off the lot, outfitted it quickly with a rooftop tent and fridge at 4×4 Mega World, and started the journey to Zim. It really was a longer ordeal than mentioned here, but you can read all about it in our PJ blog.

Coons stopped at a very manly salon named Hines and Harley Men’s Grooming Lounge and got a hair cut and beard shape/trim (it was time!) before the big day and picked up his rental suit. Otherwise, we were at malls trying to buy supplies for life on the road. We hope to say that we visited more national parks than malls during our time in Africa, but at this point, it is heavily swayed in the latter direction. They really do have everything you need though: grocery shopping, hair salons, nail salons, outdoor gear, clothing stores, cinemas, etc.

We made it out of South Africa through our first African border crossing into Botswana which was pretty much a breeze. We had read about nightmare crossings that take all day and involve several bribes to police but didn’t encounter anything of the sort. This was great! Our Botswana drive was amazing and our campsite for the evening — even better as we were dining with elephants at their waterhole! We made it to Zimbabwe and had the most magical wedding either of us could ever imagine! All in nine days. We call that getting $h!t done!

After the mini-moon in Hwange National Park, it was time to head down to Cape Town to get Kristian! Roughly an 800-mile drive, this meant four days of driving 8-12 hours a day in the daylight, because of course, it is too dangerous to drive at night (rule number one of driving in Africa) due to the animals on the road and the numerous reported robberies — not to mention African drivers are not always the best.

You never know who you’ll run into on the road in Africa.

The morning of the 28th, we broke the rules and left at 6 am, thinking the sun would rise around 6:45 am. In the South African winter, the sun does not rise until closer to 7:30 am, but it was beautiful when it finally did. On our drive to retrieve Kristian, there were multiple rainbows, and Kourtney could barely contain her excitement. At the airport, we waited patiently for her arrival, but she did not come. Rushing around the airport, looking for intel, Coons finally realized that she would not be here until the same time the next day. We contacted Mark Kenney, a firefighter, to tell him the unfortunate news, and he informed us this was always the plan. To say that we were excited about her arrival was an understatement.

Kristian Comes to Africa

The 29th, the actual scheduled day of Kristian’s arrival, really felt like the start to our South African journey. No strangers to jet lag, we decided to keep her up as long as possible after her 36-hour journey. After dropping off our luggage at the hostel, we went to the V&A Waterfront for some lunch. There are tons of restaurants and shops all along the waterfront. We all especially enjoyed the food court which is a hipper version of Faneuil Hall in Boston. We booked a great white shark cage dive, although that never materialized due to some very uncooperative weather while Kristian was here. We kept waiting for the weather to turn, so perhaps we could see the top of Table Mountain and take the cable car up to the top, but the weather just stayed cloudy and rainy (the downside of winter in Cape Town). Determined not to let the weather get us down, the next day we went on a free walking tour of the Bo-Kaap neighborhood to tour the colorful houses heavily influenced by Muslim, Dutch, and African culture.

One of the most photographed places in Bo-Kaap for a reason.

We got a recommendation from our guide to try Cape Malay food at a restaurant on top of the hill and it was exquisite — full of spices and curry sauce with a variety of meat. We also visited a restaurant called Brownies & Downies, a restaurant that trains workers with FAS, Autism, and Downs Syndrome to help them get on their feet in the working world. Kristian and Kourtney support any organization that promotes brownies for breakfast. They are the best!

On Sunday, when everything was closed we decided to do our own DIY brewery tour. Microbreweries are just starting to pop up in South Africa — a lot of them in the Woodstock neighborhood. We visited Devil’s Peak Brewery, Woodstock Brewery, Shackleton, and Stone Circle Brewery (the latter on Monday). The beers were tasty, but we all really enjoyed Stone Circle because they encourage people to play board games while sampling their beer. We had a blast!

Card games & beer — Coons was in heaven.

After one cancellation due to weather, we finally found an opening for the ferry ride (the day before we planned to leave Cape Town) to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was held prisoner during the apartheid era. The ferry boat was rocky, and in fact, the captain announced it would be the only trip that day (and probably that week). We toured the island on a bus and then went into the prison where we met our guide, Sopi (his name means “gift”) who was also imprisoned on the island during Mandela’s time there. We were able to hear his first-hand account of life under the rule of a malicious government and how the prisoners maintained their will to resist even in prison. We saw where he slept and also visited Mandela’s cell. This was an incredible experience as it gave us a chance to learn about South Africa’s history through the eyes of someone who lived it.

After our humbling tour, we headed down to the coast to the Cape of Good Hope. Unable to actually make it to the point before dark, we walked along the boardwalk past a lighthouse on the coast to watch the sunset. We stayed at a lovely Airbnb on the hill in Simon’s Town with an excellent view of the ocean. The next day we went to Boulders Beach where the penguins hang out. These little guys are called the “jack-ass penguins” because the noise they make sounds exactly like their donkey cousins. We watched them shake their tail-feathers, swim around, find their mates, and warm their babies.

There were hundreds of penguins on the beach and in the water.

Then we made our way along the Garden Route to the Garden Route Game Lodge; this reserve specializes in rescuing and rehabilitating wild animals that used to inhabit South Africa before everything was turned to farmland. We were upgraded to the Sunset suite which was baller. It had a shower and bathtub both inside and outside and a patio overlooking the park.

We hope Kristian realizes this isn’t typical Africa…

At dusk, we set out on our first game drive. Quickly, our driver Arnis spotted a cheetah and we sped off in her direction. Eventually, she charged a group of springbok who were able to disperse and escape her attack. We learned that the herd of zebras follow the cheetah to keep track of her movements so they are always aware of danger (how bold of them).

We saw buffalo, kudu, eland, and waterbucks. After a stunning sunset when night was fast approaching, we all saw our first rhinos of the trip! This mother and son duo were absolutely enormous but still gracefully chomping the grass. On our way out of the park, the hippos were getting ready to leave the water and also feed on the grass for the evening, and we got to watch them for a few minutes. We were dropped off near a huge bonfire with an outside bar where we enjoyed a cocktail. We were the talk of the town so to speak because a lot of people have been safari chasing to see a cheetah spring into action, and we got to see that the very first time we went out. We planned that, Krig! You’re welcome. We enjoyed a lovely buffet dinner where we got the chance to try ostrich and kudu. Once we were stuffed to the brim, Kristian set out to use all of the baths and showers. We wished everyone at home a Happy 4th of July before bed; another safari awaited in the morning.

The next morning the group met in the lobby for some coffee and tea before the Land Cruisers arrived to bring us out. Immediately we saw elephants munching on leaves in the trees. As the sun was rising we found a cheetah with her five little cubs. We watched them climb trees and wrestle each other while their mom was spotting their next meal. We set out in search of the lions who were sunning themselves. These creatures are absolutely magnificent! We were all just speechless. When we headed back to the lodge; it was time for a hearty breakfast and then we had to be on our way. We had a wonderful time at the Garden Route Game Lodge and appreciate their efforts to protect these beautiful animals.

These little guys look like honey badgers when running.

Now it was time for Stellenbosch, South Africa’s prime spot for wine country. We visited Annandale which had a wonderful port wine; the owner was a quirky man who didn’t seem to mind his dog running over the picnic table spilling patron’s wine. “Just pick up some rocks and throw them to keep him busy!” He told us to head to the famous Peter Falke winery and so we did another tasting as the sun was setting. We went out to dinner and then to rest up for another big day of wine tasting.

Peter Falke winery. Apparently, he makes socks too?

Rather than drive around or use Uber to get to different wineries, we found a hop-on/hop-off bus (Vine Hopper!) that stops at six different wineries during the day. They had scheduled pick up times at each winery during the day and you could stay longer if you wanted. They picked us up at 9 am and brought us to our first winery, Neethlingshof. By 9:30 am we were trying our first variety of whites and reds. The dessert wine here was scrumptious! Now we’re cooking with gas! The next stop was only for those “cooking with diesel;” it was the Van Ryn’s brandy distillery. By now we had picked up some late risers in the van and we all decided to get out because there was a lovely tour of the premise. They hand make all of their barrels and it takes a full day to make one! They only age the brandy in the barrels one time before they sent them off to a sherry distillery. The tasting came with a chocolate pairing which was Kristian and Kourtney’s favorite part. Coons got to sneak some of Krig’s brandy because she was not a fan. Next, we went to Spier where we had the most delicious meal of pulled pork, ribs, jalapeno poppers, and cheesy broccoli.

Nothing like a good feast in the middle of a wine tasting day.

We were rested and recharged for the next two wineries. Haskell had some whites that Kristian really enjoyed and then we all met up as a group at the last and final stop, Kleine Zalze. Sitting at a huge table, chatting with new acquaintances, we found out that two other couples were celebrating their honeymoons, there were two other nurses in the group, and a bunch of MBA nerds for Coons to talk to!

The next day was a very sad day as we had to drop Kristian off at the airport. It had been a whirlwind of a week and we fit a lot in, but this day came too soon. We miss you so much already, Krig!

The Garden Route

While PJ got some new shocks and a service, we were finally starting to see the sun, and that meant that we could finally climb Table Mountain. We accidentally took the most challenging way up to whip ourselves back into shape, which was a blast with its chains and bolts attached to the rocks.

It was finally time to leave Cape Town for good. We had our sites set on the famous Garden Route which runs along the southern coast. En route, we finally got the go-ahead from Marine Dynamics to shark dive — sorry, Bug! — and so we stayed outside Gansbaai until the next morning. Shark diving was awesome! We were the first group into the cage; the water was sooo cold that it gives you a headache, but the adrenaline and the sharks passing around the cage kept us entertained for the 20-30 minutes we were in the water. For the rest of the time, we listened to a vivacious Mexican family take their turn screaming bloody murder while we watched from above. It was just as cool watching the sharks jump in the water for the chum as it was being in the cage. Up top, you could really appreciate just how big and powerful these sharks were — the biggest was over 12 feet long!

After Gansbaai, we stopped at Cape Agulhas where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet and officially marks the most southern point in Africa. There was a huge topographical map of the continent that we had fun climbing on to locate all of the places we might go.

“Oh, the places you’ll go – Dr. Suess” — Michael Scott

The next morning we stopped just shy of Mossel Bay to hike via the St. Blaize trail into town along the cliffs overlooking the Indian ocean. We got lost a couple of times along the 14km (~8 miles) trail, but with the ocean on our right, we finally found our way to the lighthouse at the end of the trail. After a quick taxi back to our PJ, we made a stop at ShopRite (the only grocery store always near a liquor store) in the sketchiest part of town — unfortunately this was not the first time … we have got to stop going to ShopRite’s. We were on our way to Wilderness.

This coastline hike was a nice way to find our hiking legs again.

We stayed in Ebb & Flow National Park so we could go do a waterfall hike the next morning. Seriously, have you heard of a cooler name for a town (Wilderness) or a national park (Ebb & Flow)? The waterfall hike gave us a chance to use the new ND filters that Kristian brought so that we can capture that smooth water look with long exposures while not capturing too much sun. Coons really nailed it!

Once lunch was finished, we drove to Plettenberg Bay (known as Plett by us locals). Our campsite was right on the water which was beautiful but meant that we woke up to an even more saturated tent. Now on top of the outside of our tent being wet, the blankets on the inside were starting to become damp. We needed to get off the coast, but not before we completed a hike around Robberg peninsula to see the cape fur seals. There were hundreds of them! At the point,, we stopped for a snack and got to watch them jump into the huge waves. It was a beautiful day for a hike. After the hike, we made our typical tuna sandwich lunch and then drove to the next town.

The water and surrounding rocks were full of seals.

Stormsrivier is the final town along the Garden Route. We were finally in an area that was warm and dry for our tent so we popped it open in the hotel parking lot as we began our hike. We decided to end our Garden Route drive with the Striptease Trail for fun. It is a picturesque New England trail along the river with multiple little pools all named something different, some a little naughty. There’s even a bell before the last pool that you’re supposed to ring because it’s named the Kaalgat Pool (aka the stark naked pool). Since it was our honeymoon, we decided to follow directions, and stark naked and all jumped into that freezing cold water! Then immediately jumped out! Thank goodness no one rung the bell!

Honeymoon pool — one of the more PG pools along the trail.

Now we were on the road to make it as far as we could on N1 to Joburg … except that we broke down in this no-name town, Winburg, three hours shy of Joburg. Will we find an engine and continue our journey as planned? Spoiler alert, no, we did not (read about it here).

Drakensburg Mountains

Determined to get out of Winburg and not let our car issues derail the trip, we took a Citybug bus to Johannesburg to visit the Westmoreland Lodge again. They probably missed us. We decided to rent a small little white car and drive to the Drakensburg mountains so we wouldn’t miss our chance to visit Chris’ swanky log mansion. We had so much fun hiking during the day, cooking in the evening, and relaxing by the fire at night! Chris only mentioned one thing: don’t leave the door open even for a few seconds as the baboons will run right in the house! Even though they were adorable and practically knocking at the door (and climbing on the roof), we didn’t let them in.

We know Chris said not to, but we really wanted to let this guy in.

Our first hike was to a point named Blind Man’s Corner in Monks Cowl National Park. It was a hot walk up but the scenery was beautiful with the different colored landscape surrounded by mountains. By different colored landscape, we mean that some of it had been burned to prevent wildfires and some of the tall yellow grass was left. On our way up, there was this large rock formation that looked like a sphinx which was one of the more popular things to look at. The Blind Man’s corner was by no means a summit, but it just felt wonderful to be out in nature. Did we mention that we both had to get new shoes? After 10 months of everyday wear, our old ones were in rough shape. Coons was able to find the same pair of shoes at (you guessed it!) the mall, and Kourtney upgraded to a pair of Keens.

Our path on the way to Blind Man’s Corner — we feel bad for the blind guy!

The second day we drove two hours one way to the northern area of the Royal Natal National Park through the most awful town (full of speed bumps) to do the Amphitheater hike. However, the wind was whipping around 55 miles per hour, and they wouldn’t let anyone hike anywhere that day. We got a voucher to come back on Friday as we already paid the entrance fee, and we were on our way back to do the Rainbow Gorge hike much closer to the cabin. The Rainbow Gorge was beautiful, although not marked well and not correct on Maps.ME. It reminded us a little of the Narrows hike at Zion National Park with less swimming involved. We were able to take some trick photos too which is always a good time.

It’s not salt flat, but still fun to play with perspective pictures.

The third day we drove to the Injisuthi section in the central Drakensburgs which was a bumpy ride in our little Nissan Micra. Here there are ancient cave paintings and one particular set depicting a battle scene, which gave the Battle cave its name. We took a wrong turn and went five clicks down another trail through waist-high pointy grass (if you’re Kourtney’s height), but the end result was well worth it. There were paintings of women gathering, men hunting, rhinos, eland, buffalo, and more. These were created by grinding different types of rock into fine powders and mixing it with animal fat. We saw where the sun hits the rocks and is fading the paintings and where others are well protected under overhangs. While these paintings are difficult to date, the San people lived in this area somewhere between 40,000 and 100,000 years ago. It was such an incredible experience to see these caves where the San people recorded their history and pictures, acting as the first form of language and communication — thus we have the word “rhino” for that enormous thing with horns on its nose. Truly humbling.

One of the two battle scenes that gave the cave its name.

The next day was Friday and that meant it was finally time for the Amphitheatre hike, a switchback climb on pavers turned into a narrow (maybe 15 inches across) walkway along the cliffs of a mountain. We reached the chain ladders which filled us full of adrenaline and made for some pretty awesome selfies. At the top is supposed to be the second tallest waterfall in the world behind Angel’s Falls in Venezuela, but there was no water! Silly winter. We got some great views of the rock formation (Amphitheatre) in the background and Kourtney still got her kiss!

We relaxed the next day to make the most of our time at the house, packed our big bags, planned our next move to Lesotho and our trip home to see family and friends. After a whirlwind week at home, we returned to Westmoreland to get our things, planned a stop-over in Eswatini (Swaziland), and headed to Winburg to put some pressure on Ian, the mechanic who had PJ for a month at this point. We got the car back from him and headed to Joburg to get a second opinion on it. Of course, the car broke down en route and we barely made it. Stuck in Johannesburg again, we tried to keep our spirits up by going to the mall to watch a remastered The Lion King in 3D and Hobbs and Shaw Fast & Furious.

National Parks

After spending a couple of uneventful days in Johannesburg, we decided it was time for another compact car adventure. We’re happiest when we’re looking for animals and Kruger National Park is perfect for just that! We were able to book camping reservations in Malelane Camp for a couple of nights. We got there just in time for the sunset; thank goodness we purchased some backpacker meals while at home, because without a fridge, our food options were limited. The ablutions (African for bathrooms) even had hot water on tap! We spent our days driving the park and our nights playing cards and listening to the hyenas howl as we fell asleep. We were able to spot four of the “big five” both days we drove which means we spotted our first leopards on this trip to Kruger. Buffaloes, elephants, rhinos, and now leopards. We only needed to see lions and we would complete the “big five” and on self-drives to boot!

The next morning we planned a route where others had spotted lions before we exited the park. At a particularly congested area, we thought we had found them. Trying to get a good look at what all the fuss was about, we both stuck our extremities out of the car window to get a closer look.

Quickly, we were pulled over by park police disguised in a small white car like every other person there. She said the fine for both of us was 3,000 Rand, which is about $200 USD. Coons balked at that amount, so she asked “what can you afford?” We told them we only had 300 Rand on hand (about $20 bucks). After a quick conference with her partner, she said they would take that instead. And they drove away. Back in the mass of people, we realized that one of the officers still had Coons’ driver’s license. Struggling to get back through traffic again, we flagged down the first police car we saw. The woman stepped out of the vehicle and we said that other officers had stopped us and had our license. She immediately asked us if we paid a fine, how much, and where our receipt was. Damnit, lady, they took all the money we have so we don’t have enough to pay you too!

“Ma’am, please I just need my license back!”

She instructed us to follow another vehicle to the nearest camp. We figured he was radioing the officers and/or going to make us pay the full fine. On the way, we saw the original officers and flagged them down. The man walked up with Coons’ license. Clearly his secondary concern, he asked numerous times what we said to the other officer and was very relieved when we told him we didn’t mention anything about the money (not true, but we just wanted the license back!). We just want to continue our day, sir. Finally back on the road with the license, we realized they had turned around and were following us, and then they flashed their lights at us. Seriously. What. Now! The man walked up to our car for the third time and handed us back the money. He told us there is no “fine” and that he would let us off with a warning. Somehow the other female officer must have made it known she knew about their scam, and they returned the money. We just wanted to stop talking with the police and look at some lions.

After leaving the park, we stayed that night at a beautiful campground with panoramic views of the mountains and an infinity pool. We had the most delicious curry dishes and recapped what an emotional roller coaster the day had been. At this point, we were still trying to decide whether to stay in Johannesburg waiting for PJ or explore Namibia.

Namibia… No way.

Since all of our discussion centered around seeing the crimson red desert, we decided to be bold. We woke up early to watch the sunrise, got in the car towards Joburg to drop off one rental car from Hertz, rent another from Thrifty with entrance paperwork for Namibia, and drove as far west as we could before the sun went down. We made it to Red Sands Lodge which was a lovely campground with buffet dinners and fantastic WiFi. Coons was missing his fantasy football draft so he was able to FaceTime with some of the guys and watch a lot of the ridiculous Snapchats.

The next morning we got up early and drove five hours to the border. There we realized that Kourtney had overstayed her visa and was registered in the embassy database as an “undesirable person.” What this means is that once she leaves the country, she is not allowed to enter the country again. It’s looking like a year at this point, unless we can win an appeal. So, Kourtney is an illegal alien at this point — Marla will be so proud!

We explained everything. We arrived June 11th so were still within our original 90 day visa. Kourtney got a new passport when we married. When we were coming back through the South African border from Eswatini, it was extremely busy and the woman asked her two questions: Where are you going? How long are you staying? She answered the questions and she stamped the passport August 19th — we showed up at the border on the 25th. Unfortunately, we didn’t notice at the time and Coons didn’t get a new stamp since he was using the same passport.

There was nothing they could do. We could go to Namibia and not return to South Africa, or we could turn around and drive back to Johannesburg and return the rental car. Defeated, we took our passports back, got information on appeals, and left.

Sensing that all of Kourtney’s optimism had run out, Coons suggested we keep the car as planned and visit another national park in South Africa that borders Namibia and Botswana.

“Lonely Planet says it’s the best place to see big cats!”

So we went to McDonald’s for some comfort food, made reservations for the park, grocery shopped for more non-perishable foods, and headed north towards Kgalagadi TransfrontierNational Park.

This park is big cat central! Lions, caracal, and cheetahs — oh my! We did another two-day self drive where we saw lions each day and a pair of cheetahs the final day! We saw a male lion in a food coma moments after devouring an oryx. We decided to let another person drive us around one night and went on a sunset safari where we saw new animals we hadn’t encountered before. We saw honey badgers, foxes, owls, and rodents that hop around like kangaroos. The guide’s eye was impeccable! Safaris are definitely worth the information and knowledge. He told us about the giant bird’s nests that we’d been seeing in the region — ones that take down full telephone poles and trees! One type of warbler makes the nest with an entrance underneath which makes it a prime spot for cobra snakes to slither up and invade. So the warblers invite another type of predator bird that will hang out and defend the nest. How cool!

Feeling more refreshed, and pretty excited we finally checked off the big five, we headed back to our primary residence in Johannesburg with a big decision to make. Freek, our new mechanic, said he’s still waiting on head gaskets for the car and they should arrive by September 6th. Coons’ passport expires on the 9th. So we’ll stay in Johannesburg another week; we’ll blog, read, and keep ourselves busy visiting a couple museums, although looting and rioting immigration in downtown is keeping us pretty cooped up.

“And by September 9th, we leave South Africa with or without PJ.”

3 Sep 2019

PJ In Africa Part 3 — The Saga Continues

by Ben & Kourt | posted in: Africa, Overlanding, PJ, Travel | 1

Just in case you missed them, you can read Part 1 & Part 2 here.

We arrived in Winburg on Tuesday, August 13th expecting to stay one night and be on the road the next day. PJ had other ideas. Our mechanic, Ian, discovered a water pump leak the next day and being in the middle of nowhere, no replacement parts were on hand. Unable to locate one in the surrounding towns, we contacted the company we purchased the second-hand engine from and had them order one. Thankfully, Mike and Alison were heading our way the next day and graciously offered to bring it down to us. Mike showed up the morning of the 16th with the pump and we delivered it to Ian — hopefully, this was the last component. Of course, there was yet another road accident requiring Ian’s attention (the downside to working with the only mechanic in town) and he wasn’t able to finish the car until Saturday afternoon, August 17th. What had we been doing all this time, you may wonder, while stuck in the middle of nowhere with no wifi, heat, or a shower? Thankfully, the room was equipped with a television that got 4 channels, two of which showed movies nonstop. While there were some lowlights (Spy Kids, animated movies, Beatriz at Dinner), we were treated to three different installments from the Step Up franchise (none of which were # 1 or 2), so not a total loss.

Saturday finally rolled around and we sat in the room anxiously awaiting Ian’s arrival. Once he got there, we asked him how the engine was and he replied “Not good.” Greattt. We were still holding out hope of making one of the park reservations that Coons had made months ago. If we left then, we would have just made it to Sossusvlei National Park in Namibia, home to some of the largest sand dunes in the world. Rather than drive to Namibia, Ian suggested we head back to Joburg to get the car checked out by someone with a computer (you don’t have a computer?!) because the engine was misfiring and didn’t seem to have enough power. He assured us that we would be fine to make the three and a half-hour drive back to Joburg.

Resigned to the fact that we would not be making our reservations, we tossed our gear in the car and took off. Or tried to anyway. Coons stalled multiple times trying to back out and the gearbox was a struggle to shift. We finally got the car moving and headed to the highway. While merging, we noticed a significant lack of power. PJ was struggling to get any kind of speed and could not maintain speed in 5th gear up any sort of incline. This was not good. Determined to complete the drive even in 4th gear, we were cruising along for about 30 minutes until Coons noticed the engine had begun to overheat. We pulled over and popped the hood — the radiator was boiling and there was green fluid leaking from the car. Just what we needed!

We phoned Ian and told him what happened and he arranged for another mechanic who was close by to come help us out. Colin showed up after about 15 minutes with some water and got the radiator cooled down enough for us to follow him back to his shop. Once there, he and 3-4 other guys set about to diagnose our car. After a while, they noticed that the fan wasn’t properly attached and wasn’t cooling the engine down at all. They popped that off, drilled some holes in it, and reattached it to the front of the car. With that blowing properly, Colin and Coons took it for a test drive. The engine stayed cool, but he was amazed at how little power PJ was putting out. Back at the shop, they tested the engine coils and discovered that two of them were dead, meaning our V6 was now a V4. They said we would be fine to make it to Joburg, but we’d be going slow and guzzling petrol.

Back on the road again, we still had another three hours to Joburg and would not make it before nightfall. We were about to break rule #1 of Africa — no driving at night. We were determined to make our hostel and there was really nowhere to stay en route, so we decided to push on to the city. Any attempt at turning on the air condition led to the engine temperature creeping up, so we rolled down the windows for some natural ventilation. After an hour and a half of driving at 80 km/h (about 50 mph) on a major highway, the sun started falling and Coons switched on the headlights, or rather, tried to.

I know my eyes aren’t great, but are the headlights even on?

Turns out, no, the headlights were not on. High beams didn’t work either. We switched on the hazards and kept driving, hoping that we would make it without incident. We were pulled over once coming out of a tollbooth, but after explaining our situation she let us go, saying she hoped we made it safely. Around 7:30pm we finally pulled into Westmoreland Lodge and could relax.

To recap, we left PJ with Ian for a month and now had a car with a misfiring engine, a gearbox that was incredibly difficult to shift, were missing one-third of our power, couldn’t use the air condition because the engine would overheat, and the lights didn’t work. What did we pay him for?! And the cherry on top — we tried starting it on Sunday because we were blocking someone in and the engine wouldn’t start! We pushed it out onto the road and tried to kick start it down the hill, but only succeeded in placing the car further away from the hostel. We couldn’t leave it on the street (people will steal tires, tent, etc.) so one of the hostel workers called her boyfriend to come help us out. We thought it could be the battery, but even with his new battery, we couldn’t start it. They towed us back up the hill and we pushed the car back in the parking lot.

Monday morning Coons was up early making calls. We knew we wanted to bring it to Freek (pronounced free-ahk) since his shop specialized in Mitsubishi and had been recommended by multiple people. We had actually talked to him a couple weeks ago when he offered to rebuild our engine, but we were hoping to get on the road quicker and chose the used engine. Big. Mistake. His shop recommended a guy with a trailer to come and tow us, and after pushing it out of the hostel lot and onto the trailer (who needs Crossfit when you have a car that won’t start?), we finally arrived around 11:30am.

About as close as we get to driving PJ these days.

Freek took one look at our engine and started going off about how this was the wrong engine and would never work and that no mechanic should have ever installed it in the first place. We contacted the shop we purchased it from and told them we would be returning it — thankfully we were within their 30-day guarantee window. Freek decided the next course of action was to get our old engine. We figured he would send someone down in a couple of days, but nope, he was going now. This was the mechanic for us! He dropped us off at the hostel and continued down to Winburg to collect our engine and the money that Ian owed us for the stolen items (oh did we mention, one of his guys stole some stuff from our truck?). Fortunately, we were able to return the used engine for a full refund.

All these engines, and none of them the right one.

Of course, Freek was able to get all of the original parts to rebuild the engine except the head gaskets, which proved to be in short supply. We grabbed another rental while we were waiting and visited two of South Africa’s premier parks and saw some amazing wildlife. Thankfully we had our camping gear so we were able to camp everywhere we went. Once we were back in Joburg, Freek still didn’t have the gaskets and said they wouldn’t be in until September 6. We started making calls and visiting shops, but everyone either had the wrong size or aftermarket gaskets, which wouldn’t last us very long.

So this is where we’re at, grounded in Joburg at the beginning of September, waiting for the head gaskets. Coons’ visa expires September 9th (Kourtney’s is already expired) and that is our line in the sand. If the car can be fixed and we can drive it out of the country by then, we will continue on our merry way. If not, we’ll have to leave the car and try to sell it remotely while we continue traveling elsewhere. Not the best options, but traveling in Africa has taught us absolutely nothing will go as planned (except our wedding — that was awesome!).

19 Aug 2019

Countries Within Countries

by Ben & Kourt | posted in: Adventure, Overlanding, Travel, Uncategorized | 1

Lesotho

Once we decided to visit home for a week, we had a couple of days to kill before we flew out of Johannesburg, just enough time to pop into Lesotho to snowboard at Afriski. We called Hertz to apply for a permit to cross the border with their rental car, but it was Friday and it takes two business days to process. So we decided since Africa is fairly lax with paperwork in general, we would wing it and see what happens.

So we arrived at the border and it was empty. This should be relatively easy! We got our stamps and the border security told us to pull the car up for inspection. And what was the first question he asked …

“Is this a rental vehicle?”

Ugh.

We told him it was and he asked for the cross-border permit. We told him that we applied for it and were waiting for the email. He said they only accept paper copies. So we said the phrase that starts it all which we learned from Trevor Noah’s book…

“Sir, is there anything we can do?”

In typical African fashion, he said he was thirsty and if we could help him out, he could get us across. So in exchange for a “drink” we gave him PJ’s registration which he put in the system. Coons gave him a sly handshake with 100 Rand (~$7) and we were on our way in Lesotho. After an hour and a half driving through Lesotho, we rounded the corner and saw a long strip of snow surrounded by a lot of dirt. We made it!

At Afriski, we were able to snag a couple of bunk beds in the Backpacker Lodge, and we made reservations for dinner at their Sky bar where they have live music every night. The food was great, the drinks were cheap, and the music was classic acoustic American. We were stoked for tomorrow.

We started the morning off snowboarding. The single trail they made was about a mile long and we hot lapped it on the t-bar until the afternoon where we decided to switch to skis. The weather was so lovely, similar to spring skiing conditions at home, and Coons went full tank top (one of his favorite things to do)!

As the sun started to set, we watched an overrated demo show over mint hot chocolates before our dinner reservations. At 8pm, there was a quiz night, so we teamed up with three South Africans to win it all! The South Africans were part of a bigger group that invited us back to their cabin to continue the party, and we stayed up chatting over snacks and brews like we were in college again. It was a great day!

The next morning we grabbed breakfast and headed back to Joburg. We dropped our big bags and laundry off at Westmoreland Lodge for safekeeping and headed to the airport to drop our car and wait for our flight.

After our whirlwind week visiting friends and family, we were back at our second home, Westmoreland Lodge in Joburg. Ian, our mechanic, hit us with a phrase that was becoming all too common:

Your car still isn’t ready.

Eswatini

Still determined not to let the absence of PJ derail our trip, we rented another car to visit Eswatini. Fun fact: for their 50^th anniversary of Independence in 2018, Swaziland changed their name to Eswatini which means “land of the Swazis.” This time, we did apply and receive a permit to enter the country – albeit after several hours at the counter on a Friday of a long holiday weekend. The border crossing took two hours longer than expected, and of course no one asked us for a permit this time, but we finally arrived at Legends Backpacker Lodge, navigating the last hour in Eswatini through the rain and thick fog.

In Eswatini we visited three parks: Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, Hlane Nation Park, and Malolotja National Park. The first nature reserve was close by and we did two small hikes where we saw zebras, springbok, and some huuuge crocodiles. We saw the warthogs cross our trail and they were so close to us!

The second day we ventured to the most popular park in the country, Hlane, to do a rhino-specifc game drive that had us driving around looking for white rhinos so we could get out and walk up close to them. We were the only two people on the midday tour and had the truck all to ourselves! After driving around for almost an hour, not seeing anything and getting a little worried, we came upon a mom and her enormous three-month-old baby. We nervously hopped out and followed the guide single-file to get a closer view. While they certainly knew we were there, they thankfully stayed put in the shade.

Thankfully it’s too hot for her to bother with us.

We hopped back in the truck for another five minutes before stopping to walk a little into the woods to find another set of three. All of a sudden we heard a noise behind us and looked back at the safari vehicle to see two more in front of the truck. We were surrounded! We slowly walked back to the rear of the car with the guide and got back into the car once the rhinos walked further into the woods. What a humbling experience to be so close to these humongous creatures. On the way back, we encountered a huge group of about 14 more rhinos, one of which was sitting right in the middle of the road. Once he saw us coming, he begrudgingly got up and walked over to the others, and it seemed like he wanted to charge us for a second. We left the park safely with our guide and then we did some self-driving where the coolest thing we saw was the marabou stork. This bird looked pretty menacing perched up tall in that African tree. The park must have been big because we didn’t see a single elephant, giraffe, or black rhino in the park (driving around in the heat of the day didn’t help either).

The next day we left Legends and went to Malolotja. We walked 1,000 feet down in the hot sun to this two-tiered waterfall that wasn’t all that impressive due to low winter water levels and then all the way back up. We wanted to go to another set of falls but it was closed because of endangered species nesting, so we hopped back on the road for a much quicker border crossing this time.

In total, we spent less than a week in these two countries combined, and although that wasn’t the plan, we think we did some of the coolest and most memorable excursions. This is now the fourth continent we’ve skied on. And we walked with white rhinos! Despite all the car trouble, we certainly have made the best of a crappy situation. It’s things like this we’ll remember forever!

12 Aug 2019

Owning a Car in Africa — Our Firsthand Education with Murphy’s Law

by Ben & Kourt | posted in: Africa, Overlanding, PJ, Travel | 1

Did you buy a jalopy?

Coons’ grandfather posed this question to us at an extremely poignant time. He may be in his 90’s, but he’s still got it. Neither of us knew what the term meant (a dilapidated old vehicle), but could guess from his tone. The answer… maybe?

It all started out fine, as it always does. The car checked out fine with the mechanic when we bought it with its “reconditioned” engine. We drove 750 miles from Joburg up to Victoria Falls for our wedding. After that, we took our mini-moon in Hwange National Park, easily navigating the rough dirt roads as we spent three days searching for animals. Then, we turned around and started the 1,700-mile trip down to Cape Town to meet Kristian. After a particularly long first day on the road from dawn till dark, we finally arrived in Johannesburg, exhausted. We had a reservation at Westmoreland Lodge, basically our second home at this point. They had a lot of cars in the main parking lot so they directed us to another gate. Not thinking and ready to be out of the car, we pulled in. SMASH!!!

Noooooo. We forgot to check the height with the rooftop tent. We had hit the barrier the spans the top of the gate. Devastated, we surveyed the damage. The tent, our home for the next six months, was mangled. We dejectedly checked in and headed to our room for the night. Ever one to be proactive, Kourtney found a tent repair company in Cape Town that we contacted. After we described what happened and sent a few pictures, they weren’t too worried about being able to fix it. We could finally breathe again.

In significantly worse spirits, we took off the next morning for Cape Town, stopping at some nondescript truck stop town en route for a night (way more expensive than camping). Once we arrived in Cape Town on the third day of straight driving, we headed straight for Shorty’s Adventures. Shorty is a jovial guy and assured us he had done this multiple times himself and had fixed numerous tents in the same condition. Phew! He took the tent off the car and said he would have it ready in a week.

Once we picked up Kristian, we drove PJ almost every day, venturing out along the Garden Route and into wine country to explore the best South Africa had to offer. Everything went great (minus some weather) and PJ had no issues. After a teary goodbye, we set our sights on the next stage of our trip – a road trip up the coast along the famed Garden Route.

We knew we needed a new suspension system and wanted to get a full service before we headed out on along the coast. After taking care of those things in Cape Town and getting our tent back from Shorty, we thought we were golden. We spent our days hiking and driving along the coast and our nights cooking outside and sleeping in the rooftop tent. This was the African dream!

Sunset view from our tent beats a hostel room any day.

But, alas, the good times did not last. We were due in Joburg on the 18th to get Kourtney (Coons!) a new passport. After a few hours of driving on the N1 (their equivalent of route 95) on the 17th, PJ started making some noise and losing power. Kourtney quickly pulled off to the side of the road and killed the engine. We checked the oil – empty after an oil change a week ago. 9 liters in a week… not good. Coons spent some time trying to call a tow company, to no avail. A roadside patrol stopped and thankfully put us in touch with a mechanic from the nearby town of Winburg. We also took Shorty up on his offer to help us out wherever we were and had him contact a nearby mechanic. Turns out, Winburg is not a big town and only has one mechanic — Ian. Thankfully, after he received two separate calls, he decided we were important enough to come help out right away.

We started the car up for Ian and he immediately told us to kill it. Instant diagnosis. Never a good sign. Turns out we had blown a bearing in the engine and wouldn’t be going anywhere in a hurry. He towed us back to a guesthouse in Winburg and got us settled in for the night. $40 per night, excluding breakfast, without Wi-Fi, and with only a bathtub. WHERE ARE WE?!

Tow rope on the highway — only in Africa!

After checking out the engine, Ian informed us that we had two options: buy a new engine or have him completely rebuild ours. OUCH! After some angry calls with the place we bought the car (they don’t guarantee the second-hand cars) and rejecting their shitty offer for us to pay to tow the car to them (they won’t answer our calls anymore anyway), we told Ian to go ahead and order a new engine. We just wanted to get back on the road and continue our trip. We still had a long journey ahead of us… we were still in South Africa!

Given that it would be a few days to get the car fixed, we set our sights on getting the hell out of Winburg. This place was in the middle of nowhere. We decided to enlist the receptionist at the guesthouse for some help.

Coons: Can we get a taxi to Welkom (where we could rent a car) or to Joburg?

Receptionist: Oh no, don’t take a taxi – they’ll definitely rob you.

Coons: Cool, cool, cool. How about a bus? We can just hop on and pay cash, right?

Receptionist: No, you have to transfer money to their account to secure a ticket. They don’t accept cash anymore, too many hijackings along the highway.

Coons: Ah right, hijackings. Great.

Thankfully, Ian finally found someone who had the same bank as the bus company and could transfer money to them to pay for our bus tickets. Johannesburg, here we come!

After spending the weekend in the city and with no good news from Ian, we decided not to let this stop our trip and rented a car so we could still spend the week at Chris’s hiking cabin in the Drakensburg mountains and snowboarding in Lesotho. During the week, we got periodic updates from Ian:

“The engine I thought I could get you is the wrong one, I’ll keep trying.” Shoot!
“Seems like they did the heads on this engine as the gaskets look new.” Baxter, you know I don’t speak Spanish.
“Your engine has been discontinued, so all I can do is take it apart and see if we can rebuild it.” Are we going to have to go home early?!
“We found an internal water leak as well” Well that can’t be good…

At this point, we had made the decision to go home for a week to visit Coons’ grandfather whose health had taken a turn for the worse. Ian had been trying to source parts for a rebuild but was having trouble finding some key parts. Thankfully, Mike (who helped us buy the car) had found a used engine in Joburg that was imported from Japan. We had Ian call the shop and it looked like it would work. We stopped by the shop before heading to the airport, paid for the engine, and told them our mechanic would be there the next day to pick it up. Not an ideal situation and we know we’re taking a gamble on a used engine (although it does have a 30-day guarantee), but at least we had a plan and the car would be ready when we returned next week.

After being home for a couple of days, we checked in with Ian on Friday, Aug 2th to make sure he was able to pick the engine up alright. Response from Ian – “No! My bakkie (truck) stripped its diff!”… great! So Ian said he would send a courier to go and collect it. This eliminated one of the main reasons we wanted him to go get it, so he could make sure it was the right engine, but ok, nothing we can do. After a couple of days of nothing, we finally get word on Tuesday, Aug 6th that he got the engine (we were set to land the following day).

Coons: Did the engine make it?

Ian: Yes, but it’s the wrong model

Coons: Noooooooo!!!

Ian: But it’s not a big problem! I just have to build your engines intake, exhaust, and coils to this one.

Coons: (You couldn’t have led with that, Ian!?) Ok… so it will still work?

Ian: Yes

Coons: Wow. Ok. So when will it be ready?

Ian: It should be ready on Friday

Spoiler alert… it was not ready on Friday. Turns out Friday was a holiday — must have slipped his mind! Determined not to let this derail us, we rented another car (and this time actually paid for the cross-border clearance) and spent the weekend in Swaziland walking around with rhinos. On Monday, we got confirmation from Ian that the car starts, but there is a water leak in the middle of the engine. He’s hoping it will be a quick fix. We’ll return the rental car on Tuesday and head on down to Winburg.

So that’s where we stand. Twenty-seven days after we initially broke down, we’re set to take a bus down to Winburg to collect PJ and hopefully continue our African overland trip. Thankfully, we’ve been able to make the most of our time apart, but we’re really excited to be reunited with PJ. We’re hoping we’re past the most difficult part, but it’s Africa, so who knows. It’s all part of the adventure! Stay tuned for our third PJ installment, which will either have us crossing the Namibian desert and entering one of the worlds most remote areas in Botswana’s Central Kalahari Game Reserve, or selling the car and going to Europe (kidding… maybe).

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