Diary

January

Coffee Bay, South Africa 2004-01-30 13:39

Hi there!

Now we have definitely fallen back into our old pattern again. Long days on the bike and nights spent in our, at the time, smelly tent. So nice! As we mentioned earlier we were pretty fed up and bored at the end in West Africa but now we have found the joy of travelling again and we are having a blast. There are so many things to se and to in this part of Africa. I don't think you can get bored even if you try.

After a couple of rainy days on the coast (in St: Lucia and Durban) we felt it was time for a new adventure. We therefore decided to go to the other mini country that's situated within the borders of South Africa, Lesotho (the same size as Belgium). We had been informed that Lesotho consists mountains, winding dirt roads and amazing scenery. In other words Lesotho was going to be perfect for us and the bike.
We entered Lesotho via Sani Pass, a road leading up to the mountains. This pass is because of the steep and slippery surface closed to regular cars but with the bike everything is possible. The scenery was nice all the way from Durban, but when we came closer to Lesotho it got incredibly beautiful with mountains, rivers, waterfalls, colourful birds and flowers, cows and horses everywhere. And it's so green. In Lesotho you stand a big chance of being blended because it's so green. During our first day in Lesotho we must have said "god, it's beautiful" at least one thousand times.
After around two hours driving on gravel, rocks, logs and water we came to the last really steep kilometres of Sani Pass. Since we were really high up in the mountains the bike was as slow as a poor moped. But considering the fact that there's only one stop, motor revs stop, we of course got to the top (2873m).
We thought that Sani Pass was going to be the highlight of our trip through Lesotho, but hell no. The amazingly beautiful scenery and the exciting winding roads continued throughout the whole country. Talk about brutal and dramatic nature. God, it was beautiful! Have we mentioned that we really think that Lesotho is a beautiful country?

But it was definitely a bit weird going from Durban to Lesotho. Talk about contrasts, one day you are walking around in a city as big and well developed as Stockholm and the next day you are back in one of Africa's poorest countries. One day you are shopping food in a mall so big that you are getting lost and the other day you have to spend to hours to find a simple piece of bread. A pretty ironic incident is when we in our desperate hunt for bread finally found a shop named "fresh bread". Do you think they had any bread? Of course they didn't. We are in Africa!!! We spent four days in Lesotho. Except from riding the bike and enjoying the surroundings we also looked at some old rock paintings and real dinosaur footprints, which was really interesting.

Yesterday we started to work ourselves back to the coast. It's time to get a tan now. Can you believe it? We have spent around four month in Africa and we're still white like two ghosts. After crossing the border between Lesotho and South Africa we spent one night in a small city named Lady Grey. This morning we were back on the bike heading to the ocean and Coffee Bay. After have being spoiled with a blue sky throughout Lesotho the clouds, rain, fog and wind came. And from being really hot it suddenly became really cold. I don't think that we have been freezing as much since we left Europe. Brrr!!! We almost felt some sympathy for you poor people back home:-) We had around 500 kilometres from Lady Grey to Coffee Bay. As if that wasn't enough in the horrible weather we of course had to drive in the wrong direction for about 100 kilometres. This is actually the first time on this trip we have been a little bit lost. Well, well, after a really long, not that enjoyable day, on the bike we finally reached our destination. Now we desperately have to do our laundry. Because of all the rain recently all our luggage is, not only dirty but also wet and "sour". We would have loved to sleep in a cosy warm dorm tonight but since our stuff is literally stinking I think it's probably best that we stay on our side of this hostel, in the tent. Otherwise it can get a bit embarrassing.

Take care,

Daniel and Helena

The road to Sani Pass	Helena is enjoying the landscape of Lesotho	Winding roads

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St: Lucia, South Africa 2004-01-22 13:50

Hi!

We didn’t get the chance to leave Jo’burg before last Sunday. Arranging everything with the motorbike insurance took a lot longer than we were hoping that it would take. In our last diary report we wrote that a visit to the centre of Jo’burg was equal to suicide. We definitely don’t have any suicidal thoughts but since we were waiting for a “post restante” letter from Sweden and since this letter of course arrived in the most central part of Jo’burg, we just had to go in there. And damn it was scary, like a real ghost city. Apparently Johannesburg was a really beautiful city up to maybe five years ago, which we could se. There were a lot of skyscrapers, nice buildings of every kind, mosaic in the pavements etc. The thing is that almost every building is totally empty nowadays, totally empty. Because of the high crime statistics all companies have moved outside of town. In our eyes the central part of Jo’burg looks like an empty and deserted Manhattan plus a lot of garbage and big black men crossing their arms in every street corner.

After EIGHT long days in Johannesburg we went straight to Swaziland. Swaziland is a really small country situated within the borders of South Africa and it’s one of Africa’s few remaining monarchies. And what a new start we got, Swaziland is a truly wonderful little country. It’s so incredibly beautiful and amazingly relaxed. We would say that Swaziland is the Austria of Africa with an obvious exotic twist. The country is really green, clean, hilly and just so cosy. We put up our tent in Sonzela Backpackers Lodge which is located in the middle of a national park (Milwane Game Reserve). There were heaps of ostriches and warthogs running around our tent and the view from our plastic tent window were like taken from a postcard.
In Milwane we went on a mountain bike safari. We cycled for a couple of hours and amongst other things we saw zebras, different kinds of antelopes, water beasts and crocodiles. Our guide was really close to stepping on a croc when he was looking for some hippos (which we are still dying to se). The croc was lying on the shore waiting for a dinner to run by. Luckily our guide didn’t seem to be “yummy” enough.
During our time in Swaziland we also visited a traditional Swazi village. The local people entertained us with a traditional and aggressive dance show, a real highlight. In the village we also met a medicine man/fortune teller and damn we have a good life ahead of us. We are going to have a very, very good marriage, we are going to be very, very healthy, we are going to make really , really big carriers and we are going to have three children. One pilot, one computer freak and the third one is going to have his own business. Well, well the future will tell.

Yesterday we left Swaziland and headed south to St: Lucia that is situated on the east coast of South Africa. There are a lot of interesting animals in this area like whales, sharks, lions, crocs, rhinos and hippos. Other animals living in this area, which we hope not to se, are the three very dangerous snakes, the black mamba, the puff adder and the spitting cobra. In Swaziland we actually met a European guy that was on his way to the river with a spitting cobra that he found in his house.

A big difference between West Africa and South Africa is the backpack atmosphere. Here you’ll find heaps of tourists and happenings. You also drown in different brochures about different safaris and other activities. Since we didn’t met that many tourists on the other side of the continent we are happy to be here, we do however feel that there’s a bit too much to do. You don’t know were to start and it always fells like you’re missing out.
Another big difference from West Africa is the climate. After three really dry months without a single drop from the sky, it’s now raining like cats and dogs. In Johannesburg the climate reminded us of a Swedish summer but here it’s really tropical, that'll say humid and hot.

See you in a week,

Helena och Daniel

Our picture gallery is updated!

Beautiful scenary in Swaziland	A traditional Swazi man outside his house	The first waterfall we've seen on this trip

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Johannesburg, South Africa 2004-01-14 19:50

Hi guys!

We and the motorbike are now in the biggest city of South Africa, Johannesburg. Sending the bike by flight turned out to be another “angry management” story. The first time we visited the British Airways cargo department we were informed that the price was going to be around 800 USD (depending on the final weight), but when we got there (8 am last Tuesday) with the bike they suddenly asked for 1100 USD. We became really angry and started to argue like bloody hell. After some hours of intense discussions the staff sent us to the big boss. The boss calmly explained that the price really was 1100 dollars referring to the volume weight. The volume weight? The last time we visited the cargo office we were informed that we had to pay for the weight, not the bloody volume weight. Because of that information the bike was packed in original size - really big. We asked the staff to give us the bike again (which was already packed and ready for transport) because we were going to make it smaller. It’s fully possible to take off the front tyre etc. The staff, that looked a little bit stressed up, followed us to the bike to see if it really was possible to make it smaller. After a quick inspection they tiredly looked at their watch, that was now 5 pm, and asked;

- So how much are you willing to pay?
- 800 dollars maximum, we answered.

And we got the price of 800 dollars. The staff looked pretty happy (probably because they were pretty tired of us) and we were definitely relieved. Since they didn’t accept credit cards we however decided to come back the next morning and pay.
When we got there the next morning the prise had raised again. Now they asked for 860 dollars. We turned red and started to argue again. The problem was that the man we shook hands with didn’t work this day. After an hour of hectic discussions we were again sitting in the big boss office. The boss calmly explained that they really couldn’t give us a lower price. We, not as calmly, explained about us making the deal and shaking hands the day before. This story ended up with a receipt of 860 dollars. We paid 800 and the boss paid 60:-)

Our flight trip did end up really good though. We knew that we, because of a flight transit, were going to spend on night in Nairobi, Kenya and that the airline would cover the charges of a hotel. What we didn’t know was that we were going to spend this night in a five star Hilton hotel. Talk about contrasts. One day we are sleeping in our tent and eating another plate of fried rice and chicken and the next day we are staying at the Hilton hotel eating a buffet as big as a tennis court.

Like we mentioned earlier we are now in Johannesburg. It feels pretty strange to be here we must say. Suddenly it feels like we have travelled centuries forward in time, when it comes to developments this is just like Europe.
As you probably know Johannesburg (Jo’burg) is known for being one of the most dangerous cities in the world. We looked through the horrifying crime statistics from 2001 and that year 2% of the inhabitants were victims of armed robbery. And remember, armed robbery is just one type of crime. We are however staying in a hostel in a white and rich suburb which feels pretty safe. All the houses around the area we are staying in are big and fancy as palaces but at the same time they are fenced like forts. If you want to visit our neighbourhood (just like any other neighbourhood in the rich suburbs) you have to pass a gate and a security guard. Going downtown though, is supposed to be the same as committing suicide. We are not going downtown.

Today we visited the Apartheid Museum, which was impressive and chilling from the very start with one entrance for the black people and on for the white. We haven’t been in South Africa very long but we have definitely noticed that the apartheid still exists. First of all we have noticed that the people really are split up. If you’re black you have black friends and if you’re white you have white friends. At least here in Jo’burg it’s also very obvious that the white people generally have the good jobs and that the black people generally have to take care of the shit. This is our three day opinion, more of this when we have been here longer.

Of course we want to leave this scary city as soon as possible. The problem is that we have to get a new insurance which seems to be easier said than done. To get insurance you need a bank account and to get a bank account you need to be a SA resident…
As the plan look today we hope to continue our trip on Friday. Our first destination will be Swaziland followed by southern Mozambique, South Africa (properly), Namibia, Botswana and Zambia.
After two pretty boring weeks in big cities having to fix too many things we are now really looking forward to get back on track!!! From now on the website will be updated exactly once a week.

Stay tuned

Daniel and Helena

A happy reunion with our bike	The entrance to the apartheid museum	A regular fence to a regular house in Jo'burg

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Accra, Ghana 2004-01-05 17:37

Hello!

To be honest we are now a little bit tired of West Africa. For sure, the past three month have been absolutely fantastic but right now we are a bit feed up and ready for something new; south and east Africa.

To sum up, travelling in West Africa has been a lot easier and safer than we thought that it was going to be. The local people are extremely nice and helpful and we definitely think that you run a higher risk of being robbed in Europe than here. Not once have we seen or felt any hints about people thinking about or trying to steal anything from us. Further on West Africa truly has been the adventure, the challenge and the experience that we were hoping for with highlights such us a surprisingly charming Morocco, the desert, an incredibly and relaxing Gambia, the pirogue river crossing and the mountain climbing in western Mali and the five day trekking through Pays Dogon (also Mali). It's been so good. It has also been educational. We have learned a lot about the countries that we have visited - about the people, the cultures, the landscape, history, politics etc. We have also for real learned to appreciate the small things in life and our values have definitely changed a bit.

Typically for West Africa is that everything takes so long. You definitely get an opportunity to test your patience in these areas. For example, the small shops NEVER have enough change. No matter how small the note that you're paying with is, the shop assistants always have to visit a couple of the other shops to collect the change. This usually takes ten minutes or so. Further on the service in those countries are ridiculously slow, especially here in Ghana. If you order your dinner at 4 pm you should be very happy if you get it around 5-5.30 pm. The ironic part is that most of the restaurants in Ghana are named something with "fast food". As we have mentioned before there are also people following us all the time. They want to be our friends, they want to sell something or they want money. These things can be pretty funny and charming sometimes but after three month it's enough.

After a couple of days in Accra we headed west to Cape Coast were we celebrated New Years Eve. We had a very relaxing and cosy New Years with good food, a local jazz/reggae band and fireworks. In Cape Coast we visited one of Ghana's many old slave forts (Cape Coast Castle), which was very interesting and touching. From the 16th to the beginning of the 19th century millions and millions of slaves were exported from West Africa to America and Europe. Ghana, especially the area around Cape Coast, was the centre of this business.
After Cape Coast we went to Kakum National park and then further west to se more of Ghana's coastline. The tourist attraction in Kakum is seven suspended heart-stopping bridges 35 meters above the jungle ground. Since we are tourists we felt like we had to cross these bridges, which was pretty fun.

Yesterday we drove back to Accra. Accra almost feels like our hometown now since we have spent so much time here. Tomorrow we are going to put our bike on a plane to Johannesburg, South Africa. Since the price for shipping the bike and flying it is about the same we have chosen to fly it. First of all it's quicker and second of all it feels safer. We can inform that the price for flying the bike is around 500 Euros. It's not cheap, but not too bad. Our flight tickets is around 400 Euros each.
If everything works out just fine we will be in South Africa within a week. We are really looking forward to this!!! It feels like we are going to start a whole new trip now.

Unfortunately our camera died in the beginning of last week. Because of this tragic death we don't have any pictures to this text. Today we have been all around Accra trying to find a new camera but since they only have like ten enormously expensive cameras in this whole capital and since none come with a guarantee, we have decided to buy a camera in South Africa instead.

See you soon,

Helena and Daniel

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