This is my third visit to Kameel in a bit over two years. Kameel means camel. It is a tiny town with more silos than people (49 silos with 27 residents). They grow maize locally, although this year more sunflower, because the rains came late in January. The trucks and tractors come past where I am camping throughout the day. When I visited last year, a local facility had been converted into a hatchery producing chicks. This is still going, diversifying the economy. This visit there are several workers staying who are installing solar farms locally. South Africa is so behind Australia in installing solar farms. The area is perfect with blue skies and lots of sun all winter. So that will be another good thing for the locality.
Its a nice campground. Its a B and B as well. Patrick delivers a fresh loaf of bread not long after you arrive, it is delicious. I was going to only stay two nights, but I am going to stay a third and do some more electric fixes to Clancy.
I arrived at OR Tambo airport in Joberg on a Monday night at about 6:30pm on August 11th. It was odd arriving at night, nearly all the flights I have taken, I have arrived early in the morning. David from the camping storage place wasn’t picking people up from the airport at night anymore (which I don’t blame him). So after getting my baggage I had to get myself to the Uber pickup point in the parking garage at the airport. My Uber ride arrived, but I still wasn’t in the right spot, but after a time I figured out. I was wrangling my usual enormous case filled with spare parts, weighing in just under 30kg.
This trip was originally going to be a couple of months long with a trip into northern Zambia. Life got in the way, and it has turned into a month trip into Botswana, still it should be great.
I got out to the campsite, David had started Clancy the camper up (started first time after being stored for a year) and shifted it to camping area. I went to move it. The parking lights were on but the headlights wouldn’t work. This would prove to be a problem a few days later. I dragged stuff out (boxes, the bike, starlink dish, other stuff put inside to keep it out of the weather) to make room so I could make the bed and sleep. I had the start of a sore throat on the plane to Joberg, this also would prove to be ominous.
The next morning, stuff spread everywhere
The next morning was cold (ice on everything outside), but was soon sunny so I got to work fixing things. I was aiming to leave for Kameel on Sunday. Kameel is a good staging post for the Botswana border where I was going to cross at Bray. First job was replacing the solar panels. I had broken the solar panel two years earlier. The panel came on Clancy the camper from Australia, but replacing it because of its large size was tricky. I ordered from Takelalot (a South African online retailer) the same size solar panel twice. However each time they supplied a panel of a different size. Eventually I found a 4×4 place in Boksburg that had two smaller panels that together made up the right size, and I had picked them up on the way back from KZN last trip. So I had to install them.
The solar panels on the left lined up ready to screw in
I got my bike together and rode into Brentwood shopping centre for some supplies. When I get there I store my bike with the same car guard every time. Car guards are a mostly South African thing. They watch a group of cars in exchange for tips. Each car guard is assigned an area in the car park. This car guard I know is from Malawi. I met him just before my trip to Zanzibar via Malawi three years ago. So three years later he is still at Brentwood getting tips from shoppers parking their cars. He wanted a gardening job, but never managed to get one. He is sending money home to his family in Lilongwe Malawi, and visiting them by bus once a year. He is a cheery guy, he doesn’t come across as bitter. This is life for some in Africa.
Once the solar panels had been installed I found that the hinge of the right side flap was about fall apart. These plastic hinges promised years of trouble free use when I bought them, but they were not. They degraded in the UV, and then started to split apart. However I was stuck with them. Everything fitted with the hinges, replacing them with something different would required a huge amount of rebuilding, which I didn’t want to do. So I had spare hinge with me (I had already replaced the door hinge and the left flap hinge). However it really tricky installing the replacement hinge. Its almost impossible to line up the screw holes, and it is hard holding it all up while you attempt to screw into the top hinge into the camper. After much stuffing around however it was all done.
Old broken hinge still attached, new hinge to install
The flap problems didn’t end. One of the gas struts had failed. So I order replacement ones from Takealot. I get 100NM ones because the 200NM ones are out of stock, and hope they will work. I get them express same day from Takealot for the vast shipping price of $A8.
My sore throat from Monday night had turned into some sort of full-blown virus. It was Thursday and I was feeling terrible. I tested myself for Covid, but it was negative. I made up the bed Thursday afternoon telling myself I would rest and listen out for the Takealot delivery. I woke up just before dark, to find the Takealot delivery of new gas struts was sitting outside. The next day I was worse, and spent the whole day sleeping. Friday I felt a bit better and drove down to Oakfields shopping centre for some more supplies, but even then when I got back, it was back to bed.
Saturday I tackled the small problem of the headlights not working. I try my hardest never to drive at night in Africa, however I have done some desperate nighttime drives (Zambia border for example three years ago). Clancy the HJ75 Landcruiser has very simple electrics, but even then they can be fiendishly complicated. I found that the parkers didn’t work at all (even though they were working Monday night). I spent hours pulling stuff apart. Eventually I found one fault. A fusible link, that looked absolutely fine turned out to be broken only when you pulled it off the battery and really looked at it.
The broken fusible link
Fixing the fusible link solved the headlight problems, but did not solve the parkers and tail lights. Eventually after pulling the steering wheel off and removing the indicator stalks I found that the wire for the parkers had burned out including burning out the fuse. Very strange. I manage to jury rig a fix for the tail lights if I absolutely needed them. During that process I found one of the brake lights had another bad connection and required fixing. Some of this is just the vehicle sitting for years in the open. Things after six years have just corroded.
digging through the wiring looking for the faults
Each day I was gradually getting better. A lot of coughing, runny nose, finishing early and going to bed. I missed my Sunday departure. I got some more supplies Monday, and Tuesday aiming for a Wednesday 8am departure.
David let me out of the gate 8am Wednesday. I told him I would be back September 22nd. I headed down towards Benoni, then Boksburg until eventually I got onto the N17. Usual thick Joberg traffic with me travelling much slower and hugging the left lane, playing with the trucks. Then onto the N12 heading south east towards Kimberly. I turned off the N12 onto the R501 working my way towards the N14. I got stopped at a police stop about 150km out. They were just checking rego, and they let me go pretty quickly, I talked about Australia but their only knowledge was Sydney and the 2000 Olympics. I tried to talk about the eucalypts that we were stopped next to, and how much the terrain looked like Australia. However they don’t see eucalypts as anything from Australia, they are so common in South Africa. Its about 400km all up to Kameel. Once you get about 200km out the traffic thins, and slows and it gets much more rural. Made it to Delareyville about 3pm. Then out of town a couple of km onto a little rural potholed road for about 40km to Kameel. I arrived about 4pm, and set up camp.
Camped at Kameel, silos in the backgroundThe route to Kameel, also showing the border with Botswana
Our last day in Injusuthi turned cold and rainy. The temperature peaked at 6C, and we ran the diesel heater all day in the camper. We left Friday morning.
We moved a whole 8.7km straight line from Injusuthi to Monks Cowl, however it required 50km of driving. Part way through the drive we stopped to look at some vultures, and I found oil leaking from the engine. We pulled a way off the road, and examined things, and it looked quite bad. However I re-clamped the alternator return oil hose, and it was fixed. We were on the road again, after a oil top up.
Monks Cowl is a valley over from Injusuthi. However the Monks Cowl valley is totally different from Injusuthi. The Injusuthi valley has a spread out village, that ends at the park border. Then 12km of nothing until you get to the campsite. It feels pretty remote. The Monks Cowl valley is full of tourist facilities. Bakeries, restaurants, zip-lines, hotels and more.
We got to Monks Cowl and found a good campsite. We had to be careful again, Vervet monkeys and Baboons were around. It was still pretty cold and overcast, so we didn’t do much the afternoon we got there. Next day in the afternoon we did a walk out to Sterkspruit Falls, when it was sunny.
On the way out Sunday morning we visited the Falcon Ridge Bird of Prey Centre, which puts on a display every day. It was an hour long with lots of Eagles, Falcons and more put through their paces.
The clouds came down and filled the valleyClouds and rain, we put up the newly fixed awningCamped at Monks CowlThe up to 3200m Drakensberg peaks overlooking Monks CowlFishing Eagle at Falcon RidgeFalcon ridgeFalcon Ridge
We arrived at Injusuthi camp Monday afternoon, finding we were the only campers there. It is such a stunning location. The camp is at 1500m, while around the camp towers the Drakensberg mountains from 2000m to 3500m.
The campsite is plagued by Baboons, we have to be careful keeping everything closed up.
The next day on Tuesday, in great weather, about 28C and sunny, we spent the afternoon walking to Grindstone cave. It was only about 3.5km, but 350m of altitude gain. We were already at 1500m, so we found it hard, and gave up and turned back 2/3 of the way in.
On Wednesday we headed for Battle cave, about 6km away, and again 350m of altitude gain. The weather was good, sunny and warm. We headed along a river valley following the river on a track cut into the hillside above. We crossed the river, continued on the other side and then crossed at a confluence of two rivers. The rivers flow well, fed by creeks and waterfalls high up the hills. Eventually we got to Battle cave, and unlocked the gate with the key we got from reception. Some of the San paintings under the rock overhang were very detailed, with fine lines for things like spears.
We headed back to camp. We were trying to get back before a cool change came through the area.
Drakensberg Walking to Grinders CaveWalking the track to Battle caveBattle CaveSome of the cave art in Battle caveCave art Battle caveWalking in DrakensbergWalking in DrakensbergA weaver bird that took a liking to usSunset over the DrakensbergLooking eastThe cool change came clouding the hills
Our St Lucia accomodation was one of two campsites behind a guesthouse. The only campsite in town had bad reviews, being run down and expensive. An overlander had come a few years ago to their guesthouse and camped out the back in their garden. That overlander left a review on the iOverlander app, and thus grew their little camping business.
St Lucia is a tourist town. The side streets are full of guesthouses, and the main street is restaurants, tour operators, and shops catering to tourists.
The first day there we headed into iSimangaliso Park. We drove into side loops off the main road to Cape Vidal. The first loop went to a waterhole with maybe 10 hippos all out of the water because it was a cool overcast day. We headed down another loop, but it was eventually closed of by flooding. We drove down to Mission Beach, a rocky beach on the Indian Ocean.
Then along the main road was a traffic jam of cars because a herd of maybe 20 elephants were blocking the road. We waited 30 minutes or so for the elephants to clear the road, so we could pass. We headed into another loop to see if we could follow the elephants, but they had disappeared onto scrub. This loop led to an unsigned posted lookout tower called Kawashelini. This was an interestingly designed lookout tower that was gradually falling apart as a result of lack of maintenance.
We then drove out of the loop to the main road, this time blocked by three white rhino, including a suckling baby rhino.
The next day we walked a 10km route around St Lucia including the boardwalk and the beach. The boardwalk is probably one of St Lucias biggest tourist attractions, a tour bus was there when we walked it. However the boardwalk is falling apart and needs maintenance.
Sunday we headed off south along the N2 to see how far we could get to the Drakensberg. We decided to go right into Durban, only to find some of the N3 was closed, and we were forced into a detour through suburban Durban. Durban is a dense city, way more dense than Joberg. Around 5pm we made it to Glensheiling caravan park for an overnight stay which was located in an area called the Midlands, an area full of food and art places.
The morning we headed into the strangely named town Nottingham Road. We got more supplies at the Spar supermarket, and then headed to Injusuthi campsite in the Drakensberg.
Hippos at a waterholeThe view from the Kawashelini lookoutElephants blocking the Cape Vidal roadWhite Rhino blocking the Cape Vidal roadThe very windy beach at St LuciaRough waves at St Lucia beach
Six days in Kloof at an AirBnb, luxury. I got my bike off the back, cleaned it up and rode into Kloof a few times for supplies. I got floats from the fishing shop to fix one of the water tanks. I fibreglassed new supports for one of the inside seats, storage boxes. I fibreglassed more of the damage from when I hit a tree branch in Zimbabwe. I glued carpet back on, and variously other fixes. While I was doing this Karen was working, slaving away writing papers.
We left Kloof Saturday morning, and headed 25km into Durban. We stopped first at the Durban Botanic Gardens. We were aiming to find the loneliest plant in the world “Wood’s Cycad”. Woods Cycad was discovered in KZN in 1895, and there was only one male specimen. Part of the plant was removed and planted in the Durban Botanic Garden. It has been cloned about 500 times, but no female plants have ever been found, no other specimens have been found at all. There were other interesting plants. There was a Fever tree growing in an island in a lake, and it was full of weaver birds making nests in the tree.
We then went onto the Phansi Mueseum, where we were guided around a large collection of African artifacts.
Then we went off to Bluff Eco Park, and made camp. We then had a walk up to the Flakey Hake Fish and Chip shop for late lunch early dinner. After that we walked down to a busy Brighton Beach, and walked along the coast, then back to camp.
Next day we headed north along the N3 highway 150km to Mtunzini and the Umlalazi Wildlife Park to camp for a few days.
reinforcement for the seat part of the storage box
Worlds loneliest tree, Woods Cycad
Weaver birds making nests on a fever tree in the Durban Botanic Gardens
We flew back to Joberg from Italy arriving on the morning of August 8th. First job was to drive to Blue Hole where I had left the awning and seats for some sewing work. Blue Hole put on a new awning, with thicker reflective material, new awning bag, and made two new bags for the folding chairs, plus a couple of seat covers. They did a great job, and it was cheap at $A280.
Then it was of to Harvest Place shopping centre for supplies for the next few weeks.
The next day we went to lunch with Marion and David the couple that run the storage place Airport en Route. We went to the Shed and Silo about a kilometer away. It was packed out, we had to wait about 30 minutes for a table, but it was a nice lunch.
Next day we headed out at around 9am headed towards Durban in KZN. Traffic was light as it was a long weekend. It was a holiday on Friday for Woman’s Day in South Africa. 337km out at around 5pm we arrived at a campsite at Spioenkop Dam nature reserve. A few other campers at the reserve. We had power and reasonable ablutions.
Next day it was back on the road and back to the N3. We had lots of the traffic on the N3, it was the last day of the holiday weekend. A long stretch of roadworks that were tricky to navigate. After a bit over 200km we arrived in Kloof where we are staying for 6 days in an AirBnB.
We stayed 2 nights at Rossi Pools. It was a good campsite with a lapa (shelter) looking down into the river bed maybe 20m below. There was an island of crocs, some large ones. A few other animals, but not a lot of animals compared to other areas of Gonarezhou.
We got going in the morning heading out towards the highway where we thought we could camp at a motel. We left the park through one of the gates after a bit of delay checking paperwork, and we headed west. The road deteriorated, we only passed a couple of cars. We then drove through Gezani, which had a few shops, and not many cars. Then about 10km out of Gezani our Tracks4Africa app had us taking an even smaller track west. We went along this track about 1km, but there was no sign anyone had driven this road for months. There was 80km more of this track to the highway. We decided we needed to abandon this track and head back to Gezani and then head south. Once we got through Gezani we headed south and then west along a road that followed the Limpopo river a few kilometres north of it. The road would vary. Sometimes good, then deteriorate to a 4wd track, then get better again. We knew we would have to wild camp, and started looking about 4:30pm. A bit after 5pm, we drove through some scrub, squeezing between bushes and getting under a Baobab tree. With our battery powered reciprocating saw, we cleared more bush away for a campsite, and settled down for the night.
We had hardly seen any vehicles on the road during the day, but after dark, probably 10 vehicles drove past. Most were buses driving on a very, very corrugated road. We were far enough into the bush that I didn’t think anyone could see us. However late in the night three donkey carts drove past. I am not so sure that they wouldn’t have seen us, but if they did, they didn’t stop.
The next morning we cut our way out of the bush, cutting more bushes, making it easier to reverse. Then it was still another 35km of very corrugated road to the highway. We made the highway, after several hundred kilometres of dirt tracks, to find a brand new highway in perfect condition.
It was 20km drive to Beitbridge, a border crossing that we had heard many bad things about. The Zimbabwe side is very fancy, with multiple brand new buildings, lots of electronic systems. I wandered from place to place handing over TIP forms until eventually we both went to the immigration building. There we paid $USD28 for a new building fee, and $USD9 for a bridge toll. Then we went back to the carpark to find our rego on a big sign that meant we were allowed to leave. We drove out, handed over our fancy gate pass and headed to South Africa. We couldn’t help think of the hundreds of kilometres of roads we had travelled on that desperately needed grading, while instead the money had been spent on a fancy new border post.
The South African side while organised was very slow. We queued for an hour or so to get our passports stamped. Then the thing I thought was difficult, the TIP (temporary import permit) was easy, and only took a few minutes. We passed the police checkpoint, and we were out and back in South Africa.
We aimed to get around 375km south along the N1 to a campground at Modimolle before dark. A couple of stops for food, lots of stops at toll plazas, and we made it to Modimolle ten minutes before sunset.
Next morning we had made arrangements to meet Lilli in Pretoria who I had last seen 5 years ago at Christas place near the Mozambique border. Lillis HJ60 Landcruiser had recently not had a good time. She had rebuilt her 2H diesel engine about 2 years ago, and it needed yet another rebuild. Lilli was in good cheer, and has an encyclopedic knowledge of Africa, from the experience of her many many trips.
After lunch we headed of towards Marion and Davids place at Airport en Route. It was good to be stationary, and in familiar surrounds.
Looking down into Rossi Pools from the lapa
Karen working in her office
Overlooking the river 20m below
Balancing the solar panels on top of the cliff
One of the buses we passed on the road back to the highway
Its a pretty poor area of Zimbabwe
Another collapsed bridge in Zimbabwe, never repaired
the early morning after our wild camp, the very corrugated road
There were lots of large Baobabs along the road to the Beitbridge Highway
Another really large Boabab
And we hit the brand new Beitbridge to Harare highway
Our rego appears on the big screen, meaning we can leave
The footbridge over the Limpopo between Zim and South Africa
The truck queue south of Beitbridge
A very nicely designed bridge south of Beitbridge
Clancy and Toyo together again. Toyo is just missing an engine.
We spent 3 days at Fishans camp. We had two elephants wander through camp passing within 3 metres of the camper. We had the occasional Baboon stalk us. A monkey managed to get a small bag of flour. There were lots of birds. We had various antelope nearby almost all the time. The mornings were cool, but build up to a warm day in the high 20s.
One of the elephants wandering past
Another elephant visits
The Runde river bed below the campsite, with the solar panels set up
Gregs feet are big, but elephant feet are bigger
the Chilojo cliffs
the Chilojo viewpoint on top of the cliffs
Looking down onto the Runde river from the Chilojo lookout
Another cool morning, we started the diesel heater for a while. Or we are getting used to the warmer weather, and we are getting wimpy in the morning needing the heater. We headed into Humani compound, and paid for four nights camping. We headed south, stopping at a dam along side the road. it had a couple of locals washing clothes. However in the dam we counted 7 crocs, that we could see. About 100km south we got to Chiredzi. We visited the Pick n Pay supermarket, finding we couldn’t get any tissues (this has been the case at several supermarkets), or any aluminum foil. We also couldn’t find any bulk supplies of water.
We headed out of Chiredzi towards the gate of Gonarezhou National Park about 50km away. A very helpful ranger gave us some camping options. In the park if you book ahead it can be as much as $USD65 per night per person. However if you just roll up it can be as cheap as $USD27.50 per night per person. However there are park charges and other charges, meaning that 10 nights was costing us $USD1000. We topped up our water supply at one of the campsites and headed via the winding and at times rough track into Fishans. We passed elephants, kudu, zebra, lots of antelopes, and baboons. Close to sunset we crossed the Runde river via a rough stone causeway, and just on dark made it to Fishans campsite which is about 20km from the Mozambique border.
