Category: Africa 2026

After getting our fill of South African wines at the Spier Winery in Stellenbosch, we headed inland to Tankwa-Karoo National Park:

Here’s a link from last year’s post on the Tankwa-Karoo, which provides some background information on the natural and cultural history and, of course, pictures of our visit:

http://overlandwithkmcgee.com/september-20-21-tankwa-karoo-national-park/

In case you don’t review last year’s post, briefly, the Tankwa-Karoo is part of what is referred to as “Succulent Karoo”, which is dominated by succulent plants prevalent in the western region of the Karoo, and it is also within the “Lower Karoo” as it is located below the great African Escarpment. In fact, the Park is sandwiched between the Great Escarpment, specifically the Roggeveld Escarpment, on the north and the Cape Fold Mountains on the south.

Any visit to the Tankwa is special for lots of reasons, but its roads are notorious for tearing up tires. We succumbed to the treachery of the these roads shortly after getting there, but our crew pulled together and changed the flat at a speed that would make a Formula 1 pit team jealous:

Despite the challenging road conditions, we managed to get in a little 4×4 driving in to add to the fun:

Our campsite this year was in a spectacular setting at the end of a 4×4 road at the base of the Roggeveld Escarpment, and at the site of an old homestead. And the hot showers were to die for:

The difference between this year’s visit to the Tankwa and last year’s was the vegetation. Last year, albeit 3 month later in September at the end of Winter here, the ground was practically barren of vegetation – think moonscape. This year, the region had way above average precipitation and abundant rainfall just 3 weeks prior to our visit. The result was a sort of mega-bloom of wildflowers. The basin was awash with grass and forbs and colorful wildflowers – a greenscape to behold. Here’s a few pictures to wet your appetite:

Our exit from the Park involved driving up to the top of the Roggeveld Escarpment via Ganaga Pass, which is a marvel of 19th century engineering built on the backs of convicts with pick axes and shovels, but nonetheless breathtaking:

OK, we are off to the Khalagadi Transfrontier Park for a wildlife adventure, hopefully to match last year’s sightings. See you there!

Nancy finally arrived after an agonizing 2-day delay in transit (Argh!) and we met up with Mark, Kirsten, John and Annette to begin our journey – the first leg of this year’s overland for me. Our first destination was Cape Point and Table Mountain National Park, with a brief visit to the African Penguin colony at Boulder Beach.

Does this portion of the trip sound familar? It should, as this is identical to what Nancy and I and Steve and Ki did last year at the end of our trip. Here’s a link to the post from last year that covers things pretty well and includes lots of pictures.

http://overlandwithkmcgee.com/september-22-24-cape-point-and-table-mountain-national-park/

The penguin colony at Boulder Beach is a must stop, because penguins are really cool, but the viewing is quite commercial – one of those places you have to stop at and simply accept that it is not going to be an intimate wildlife experience, kind of like stopping at the south rim of the Grand Canyon and looking over the edge with the throngs of other tourists. I have no new photo to offer this year as I was busy picking up Nancy from the airport while the rest of the gang visited the penguins, so check out last year’s post if you want see penguin photos again.

We stayed two nights at Smitswinkel out on the Cape next to the entry to the Park at Cape of Good Hope. You may recall that this is a really nice site in the trees, with beds in tents for each couple and a full kitchen and louge area – pretty easy living, and an easy transition into the campground camping coming up next. Here’s a reminder of what this site is like:

Next, of course, were the hikes out on Cape Point. Spectacular setting, of course, and some wildlife and Fall flowers to boot. Here’s a few shots:

OK, that’s it for the Cape. Next stop, Stellenbosch and the Spier winery for a very “soft” segway into the Wild country ahead! This was a bit of overlanding South African style (i.e., spare no expense at comfort):

Are you now rethinking doing some overlanding yourself? OK, enough of the easy life; we are off to the Tankwa Karoo to experience some real remote and wild country. Try See you there!

With time still on my hands, in part because Nancy got stuck in airport hell on the east coast and was delayed in transit for 2 extra days – argh, I took another short 2-day expedition to the Cape Fold Mountains, this time to the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve just outside of Stellenbosch, about 45 minutes from Cape Town.

I don’t have much to say in this post other than to point out again that there a quite a few private “Nature Reserves” in the Cape Fold Mountains. I put Nature Reserve in quotes because these Reserves are truly multi-use and not always primarily focused on preserving nature. Jonkershoek, for example, is a mountain biking meca, with many miles of tracks, ranging from easy to insane, but it also has some hiking trails too. Some of these Reserves include tree plantations, orchards and other land uses besides just protecting areas from further development. You might notice in some of the pictures below that this Reserve includes non-native pine plantations. On the positive side, the area “protected” by private reserves is substantial and adds to the national Parks and Reserves in a non-trivial manner. On the downside, you have pay for a permit to enter each of these reserves. Here’s some photos to make you Dolores hikers – you know who I am talking too – jealous (at least a little):

Next stop, Cape Point, with the whole gang. See you there!

Cheers

After several days of “taking care of business” in Cape Town (i.e., a few improvements and servicing of the Green Dragon, purchasing supplies, and getting the vehicle registered in my name, FINALLY), I had some free time before Nancy, Mark, Kirsten, John and Annette arrive to explore more of the beautiful Cape Fold Mountains that lie just north and northeast of Cape Town.

Since this is my first real post on this year’s African journey, I should refer you first-time blog followers, or those with a short memory or wanting a refresher, to my post of a few years ago on the country of South Africa that presents some interesting facts about this country and its history. In case you are interested, here’s a link to that post:

http://overlandwithkmcgee.com/may-5-south-africa/

During my “free days and nights” I ventured into the Cape Fold Mountains outside of Cape Town. Some of you may recall that I did the same last year while waiting for my vehicle registration. The Cape Fold Mountains are a series of mountain chains two or three deep running parallel to the western and southern coast. The name of these mountains suits them well, as they are literally a series of folded and faulted moutains, as if they were crumpled up, created by extraordinary tectonic forces some 250+ million years ago when the tectonic plates collided to form the supercontinent of Pangea. The mountains are dominated by mountain fynbos vegetation, which is low-lying shrubby and herbaceous species of extraordinary diversity (many of which are endemic), whereas the lower-lying areas support more succulent karoo vegetation that is also low-lying shrub and herbaceous species but of a slightly different mix. Well, in reality, most of the low-lying valleys have been converted to vineyards and orchards, so there is actually very little of the natural succulent karoo vegetation left within the Cape Fold Mountains outside of the few parks and reserves. The landscape is quite stunning, with rugged mountains rising above lush valleys with small settlements interspersed throughout to support the region’s booming wine and fruit industry.

My first venture was for two nights to a place called Simonskloof nestled in a valley at the end of a 10 km gravel drive. Not surprisingly for this time of year, I was the only visitor, so I had the small campground to myself. I switched sites between nights because of the frost covering on everything in the open to a site nestled under a 300-year English Oak tree. This tree, obviously planted by the earliest colonial settler to this place, was a stark reminder of the dark and bloody history of this country, in which the technologically superior white settlers (initially the Boers of Dutch origin, but later on the Brittish) displaced, enslaved, and massacred the natives – an all too familiar story throughout history and across the planet that I won’t reflect on further in this post. Here are some photos of my campsite:

On my hike, I was delighted to get a small taste of the last of the Fall wildflowers in the mountain fynbos:

The hike to the ridgeline and peaks above the campsite afforded me some great views of the landscape:

OK, that’s enough for this post. See you on the next Cape Fold mountain.

Cheers!

To all my Africa overland blog-followers, welcome back to my not-so-conventional travel blog for my 2026 overland adventures in Africa! For you followers of my African travels over the past few years, you may recall that this blog is very light on travel logistics (in contrast to your typical travel blog) and heavy on wildlife sightings and observations of stunning landscapes, with a smattering of observations on the human cultures encountered, and a sprinkling of pictures on the campsites and companions.

Importantly, this year, with a few exceptions, I will mostly be revisiting places that I have visited before and have already described in this blog. For you followers of previous years, I don’t want to sound like a broken record and repeat the background information on the natural and cultural history of the Parks and Reserves that I visit again this year. Therefore, for your benefit, I will go very light on these topics in this year’s posts. Instead, I will try to refer you to the relevant past posts and instead focus on what’s new this year, as well as perhaps more of a focus on people pictures and any special landscape and wildlife photos and videos. We’ll see how it goes. I just don’t want to bore some of you with a repeat of all that background information on the places I visited before.

Now, a couple of repeat business items pertaining to this blog. If you are subscribed to my blog then you are receiving email notifications of new blog posts. If you no longer want to receive these email notifications, then simply click on the “unsubscribe” link located at the bottom of the email notification (in very small print) and you will no longer receive these automated emails. Of course, you are still free to visit my blog site at “overlandwithkmcgee.com” at any time to view any posts whether you are subscribed or not. Also, as per last year, I love to hear from you via comments on a post (and it keeps me motivated to continue this blog), but rather than replying to you in the post (which would require you to return to that post to see my reply), I will generally respond via email directly to you and only you. Now, on to my plans for this year’s journey.

You may recall that my original plan for overlanding Africa was a three-stage, three-year journey through sub-Saharan Africa. In 2023, I traveled from Cape Town South Africa north through the inlands of South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, and Kenya, ending in Nairobi at brother Mark’s house. The trip took me a little over 4.5 months and I visited some 35 or so National Parks and Reserves. My focus was on traversing up the middle (or inlands) of south and east Africa, with a strong emphasis on seeing as much African wildlife as possible. I commented frequently on the landscapes and the people, but I devoted most of my commentary, pictures and videos to my incredible wildlife encounters. And you may recall that I traveled in my fully kitted out Toyota Land cruiser troopie, affectionately named the “green dragon”, camping along the way in the Parks and Reserves, and sometimes in very remote places well off the beaten track. Visit the 2023 Route page on this website for more details, including a map showing the approximate route.

In 2024, I departed from Nairobi, Kenya with Nancy, Caitlin, Mark and Kirsten in tow and eventually returned south to Cape Town, South Africa, this time heading down the east coast of Africa, focusing on the Parks and Reserves located on or near the coast. Specifically, I toured parts of Kenya that I missed in 2023, the coastline of Tanzania, with a short excursion to Zanzibar, the safer parts of Mozambique (i.e., avoiding the northeast province), southern Malawi, Lesotho and the east coast of South Africa. My trip was a little shorter in 2024, lasting a little over 3.5 months, owing to a later start. In addition, this trip featured more landscapes and hiking, but with some wildlife parks thrown in to keep me motivated. Visit the 2024 Route page on this website for more details, including a map showing the approximate route.

In 2025, I departed from Cape Town, where the Green Dragon overwinters comfortably in storage, and headed up the west coast of South Africa through the Western Cape Province en route to Namibia. There, I was joined by Nancy for a few weeks touring northern Namibia before we hooked up with our great friends Steve and Ki for 6 weeks of exploring more of Namibia, the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in northwestern South Africa and southwestern Botswana, and then back to Cape Town and a week on the coast before calling it end to the trip. Visit the 2025 Route page on this website for more details, including a map showing the approximate route.

The original three-year plan is now obsolete, as it is now 2026 and I have returned (on June 2) once again to southern Africa to what has become my second home – or at least it seems that way. For the first leg of this year’s journey I will be joined by Nancy, brother Mark and wife Kirsten, and friends John and Annette Gerard for about 5 weeks as we visit Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope, then the wine country north of Cape Town, then Tankwa-Karoo National Park and the Khalagadi Transfrontier Park in northwestern South Africa, then the Namib Desert on the coast of Namibia, before making our way to Windhoek, Namibia, where Mark, Kirsten, John and Annette depart home. Nancy and I continue on through part of the central Kalahari Desert in central Botswana before meeting up with great friends Frank Isaacs and Jane Olsen in Maun, Botswana. First, we head to Nxai Pan National Park en route to Parks in northwestern Zimbabwe, before reaching spectacular Victoria Falls. After getting soaked by the spray of the Falls, we head back into northern Botswana along the Chobe River front and then do the long and remote overland drive down through the interior of Chobe National Park and through the Moremi Game Reserve in the lower Okavango Delta, before returning to Maun. Nancy, Frank and Jane depart to home from Maun, while I head on solo to Gonarezhou National Park in southeastern Zimbabwe, before crossing back into South Africa in Kruger National Park, after which I make my way back to Cape Town and the end of the trip.

By now, most of you know me well enough, at least from this blog, that not much gives me more pleasure than spending time observing diverse landscapes and wildlife in Africa (and elsewhere), especially when sharing my passion with others – this year including Nancy, Mark, Kirsten, John, Annette, Frank and Jane in person, and all of you reading this blog virtually. Hope you enjoy this year’s postings, but it won’t match my pleasure in actually being here.

See you on the never-ending journey!