South Africa and the end of the tour

Our campsite was just a short drive from the border and we arrived in time for lunch. Some of us had opted to canoe down the Orange River which ran behind the campsite and provided a border between Namibia and South Africa. I was a little dubious about how enjoyable it would be due to the blazing sun and lack of shade in the middle of the river. However, once Nick and I jumped into our inflatable canoe (it was his turn to steer) it turned into a relaxing float down the river which was high and moving fast with a refreshing breeze. Every now and again we would have to direct the canoe, turn it round or steer through some small rapids, but apart from that we just sat back and relaxed. The guide showed us when the water was deep enough to swim and Nick jumped out of the canoe for a swim - the hard part was getting back in afterwards, but he managed it very elegantly!

Views of Namibia from our campsite in South Africa and our canoeing river

After a delicious oryx dinner we were entertained by a group game of "Heads Up". If you haven't played it download it now! It involves one person selecting a category along with a method, for example animals miming, famous songs humming, and then one person holds the phone on their head and up comes, for example, the animal that has to be mimed, the rest of the group then mime that animal and the person with the phone has to guess which animal it is. If they get it right they tilt the phone forward and a new one appears, if they get it wrong they tilt the phone back and a new one appears. The aim is to get as many right as possible in the time limit. During this time the phone's camera is filming the group in front to capture the comedy that ensues. This game led to much hilarity with so many people joining in along with a number of first languages and cultures shared between us. It was surprisingly hard to mime a sabre tooth tiger and the humming round was particularly disastrous! The evening then moved into the bar which the two guys who ran the campsite had, over time, decorated with foreign bank notes, bottle caps and oars with messages hanging from the ceiling. One of them was playing the guitar in the corner of the bar which made for an entertaining evening. A group of us played high tension games of Jenga whilst we watched the rest getting merrier and merrier playing the drinking game ring of fire/kings.

Bar at the campsite

The next morning was a slow start with eggy bread/French toast for breakfast. The day was a driving day through South Africa with quite a few scenery changes along the way. We had an early stop at a particularly large Spar supermarket and we excitedly, although only at the last minute, discovered that it had free wifi. 

We arrived at a beautiful campsite in the Cederberg mountains for our last night of the tour. In this area many farmers in recent years have started to use part of their farm for tourism as an extra income stream. The owner of our farm explained that what started as a small campsite was now a successful business in itself with accommodation, a swimming pool and bar. We sampled some of the rooisbos tea which had been grown on the farm and I enjoyed it far more than normal. The farmer explained that this was pure rooisbos tea whilst some European producers mix their rooisbos to make it cheaper. We abandoned an attempt to explore the farm after "the devil's claw" - vicious 3 pronged thorns started piercing my flip flop - there was at least 15 in each shoe!

the campsite with the best facilities of the whole tour

We were treated to a traditional South African dinner of chicken cooked on the braai with salads, mash potato and farm made bread and some local beers and wines and a shot of locally made passionfruit vodka.

the braai

This was the final night in our tent (we'd had the same tent from the second night onwards) under the stars. Nick decided it would be amusing to fill Chook's tent with all the left over mattresses. We heard him come back to the tent and discover the 12 mattresses and instantly guess who the culprit was and start piling the mattresses up against our door. On reflection, if we had been really clever we should have moved our tent!

The next morning, after a minor sandwich incident, we were off on the final day of our tour, but we still had two stops to make. The first was at Fairview, a large winery with beautiful gardens and well set up for tourists, in the Stellenbosch area not far from Cape Town. We were booked in for a cheese (produced on site) and wine tasting. The cheeses, particularly the goats cheese, were delicious! We liked some of the white wines, particularly the Sauvignon Blanc, but were disappointed by the red wines, particularly the pinotage, they just couldn't beat the Malbec from Mendoza!on our way out we made a few purchases as we would be heading to an Airbnb for the next few days. 

Wine and cheese tasting

Fairview - well set up for visitors

Our final stop was Table View, a beach with an excellent view of Table Mountain. Unfortunately clouds obscured our view, but it was still an impressive sight. 

A cloudy table mountain

Farewell group photos

We piled back into Whitney for the final time to be deposited on the side of the road in the centre of Cape Town. There was a speedy distribution of tour t-shirts which showed the routes we had taken, some quick goodbyes and then everyone went in their separate directions.

The overland truck tour was a great way to cover over 5,000km, do so much and see so many things in less than three weeks. At times it felt like we spent hours just sitting in Whitney receiving an "African massage" as we bumped along the African roads, but already the driving days have become a distant memory and all that stands out is an amazing African experience. 

- Jess