Overland Travel With KMcGee

This post is mainly a photo journey of my road trip up through southwestern Namibia from the South African border in the Ai/Ais-Richtersveld Transfrontier Park to Windhoek, mainly to give you a visual picture of what the landscape is like in this section of the country.

After leaving the Transfrontier Park, I drove about 6 hours north and overnighted at a wonderful private campsite called Tiras just north of the town of Aus. There were only two fully equipped sites nested in the rocks of a hill on the edge of the Tiras plains. I was the only camper and had the elevated site perched up on the rocks overlooking the plains and the mountains beyond. Check out this site – if only Nancy were here with me to enjoy a glass of wine on the deck:

The following day I drove another 6 hours or so to just north of the town of Solitaire (near Sesrium on the map) to another wonderful campsite called Bushman’s Desert Camp. This time I opted for the exclusive bush site in a little riparian oasis in the desert a few kilometers from the main camp. Check out this for desert solitaire:

I left campsite before sunrise to get an early start on my last 5-hour leg of the drive to Windhoek and look who I ran into just outside my campsite:

For the remainder of this post, I am simply going to upload random pictures of the landscape along my route. No descriptions other than to say that this area has some spectacular desert mountain landscapes almost completed uninhabited by humans. In fact, in the 16 or so hours of driving I passed a couple of small villages and perhaps a dozen vehicles. That’s right, less than 1 vehicle per hour! And these are on the main roads between the widely scattered “towns”. This puts to shame the “loneliest highway in North America” (i.e., Hwy 50 in Nevada). This is true lonely driving at its best:

Next stop, Windhoek and happy reunion with Nancy!!!

From the Wildside:

After leaving Namaqualand, having had to skip my intended visit to Namakwa National Park, I headed north to the transfrontier park known as Ai-Ais/Richtersveld National Park on the border between South Africa and Namibia:

This transfrontier park, encompassing 2,334 square miles, was formed in 2003 by combining the Namibian Ai-Ais Hot Springs Game Park and the South African Richtersveld National Park. Most of the Park forms part of the buffer zone of the Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape World Heritage Site. The most distinctive features of the Park are the hot springs (Ai-Ais translates as “fire-fire” in the native tongue) and the Fish River Canyon, purported to be the largest canyon in Africa and is considered the “Grand Canyon” of Africa.

Fish River Canyon is the second most visited tourist attraction in Namibia, after the dunes of Namib National Park (to be seen later). The canyon features a gigantic ravine about 100 miles long, up to 17 miles wide in places and up to 1800 feet deep – nothing to compare with the dimensions of the Grand Canyon in the U.S., but spectacular nonetheless. Fish River itself is the longest interior river in Namibia. It only flows during the summer months; during my winter visit, it was just a series of long narrow pools.

The Park landscape is extremenly dry (~5 inches of precip on the high, but less than 2 inches in much of the park), stony and sparsely covered with hardy drought-resistant succulent plants, including some unique plant life, such as the critically endangered giant quiver tree (which I showed you in my previous post) and some other tall aloes sparsely distributed among the sem-desert shrub vegetation. Another of the so-call mega-succulants is the “half-mens” tree. The local Nama community hold the half-mens tree in high regard, believing that the human-like figure it assumes is their ancestors longing for the Namibian home. Here’s a not-to-great shot of one:

Given the aridity of the environment and sparse vegetation, it is amazing that this ecosystem can support much animal life. Amazingly, however, I saw 4 kudu, 1 gemsbok (photo below), 1 springbok, and 3 klipspringers on my drive between campsites this morning. I don’t know how these animals scrape a living off this barren landscape, but it demonstrates the incredible evolutionary adaptations of the animal kingdom. Not the best picture, because gemsbok generally like to only show you their ass as they move away from you, but here it is nonetheless:

I had orginally intended to spend several days in this transfrontier park to take advantage of the opportunities to get in some nice desert canyon hikes, but I had to reduce to two full days due to my delay in Cape Town. I spent my first night at the Hobas campsite located close to the Fish River Canyon. Here are some photos of the upper portion of Fish River Canyon, that is very reminiscent of the Grand Canyon in northern Arizona, but on a much reduced scale.

My second day I did a half-day hike up the lower Fish River Canyon and then move farther down canyon to near the confluence of the Fish River and the much bigger Orange River (which forms the border between South Africa and Namibia) to a campsite call Boplaas, which I had entirely to myself. The campground sits adjacent to the Orange River and I opted for a solo morning kayak trip on the river for a change of activity. Darn, another camper just pulled in – Europeans no doubt, as they seem to be the dominant tourists here, so it looks like I will have some company tonight. Here are some pictures of the desert drive to Boplaas, my campsite, and the river from the kayak.

Next, 3 day road trip to Windhoek to pick up Nancy!

From the Wildside:

New Species:

• Pale-winged starling
• Ruppell’s bustard
• Karoo long-billed lark
• South African shelduck
• Mountain wheatear
• Southern masked weaver
• Common reed warbler
• Lark-like bunting
• Short-tailed rock thrush

As the picture above reveals, I am “On the Road Again” – I can’t get Willie Nelson’s song (or at least his version) out of my head. Finally got that precious document that I needed (2.5 weeks later) and then spent last two days driving north to Namibia.

In addition to the hiking I reported on last time, I should note that I did use that extra time in and around Cape Town to work some more on the Green Dragon by installing a new solar charge controller (regulates energy flow from solar panel to liesure battery) and DC-to-DC charger (regulates energy flow from the engine’s alternator via the duel engine batteries to the liesure battery) and, of course, a new water filter and pump for the potable water tank in the vehicle. All good things to have and to have working well.

This is a short post just to catch us up on the past couple/few days before I go dark for the new few days – or at least I am expecting to be dark, but you never know. Now that I am in Namibia, I don’t know how well the cell service will be, so I could be surprised. BTW, I just crossed the border post and cruised right through in about 20 minutes. No other vehicles crossing at this early hour so it was a very relaxed and pleasant experience.

Basically, I just wanted to post a few pictures about the region I drove through known as Namaqualand. This the northwest corner of South Africa in the Northern Cape Province. Unfortunately, due to my delay in Cape Town, I had to bypass my planned visit to Namakwa National Park, but I did manage to glimpse some of what the Park is famous for. The Park and surrounding region is part of the Karoo semi-desert and is dominated by succulent vegetation. The succulent Karoo is dominated by dwarf, leafy-succulent shrubs, and annuals, predominantly Asteraceae, popularly known as Namaqualand daisies, which put on spectacular flower displays covering vast stretches of the landscape in spring-time (August–September) after good rains in the winter.

To my good fortune – and I needed some after Cape Town fiasco – I caught a few glimpses of early flowering in a few patches, which was a tantalizing tease of what will undoubtedly follow in several weeks. Here are a few pictures the tease. Note, it is possible that later in September, when Nancy, Steve and Ki are passing inland through the Tankwa-Karoo section of the desert we might catch more of the display.

Here’s a picture of my “wild” campsite my last night in South Africa. Simply drove a few km off the highway into the boulder-strewn hills for a nice hideaway.

New Species:

• Dusky sunbird
• Karoo eremomela

I am entering the country of Namibia for the first time on my African overland journey, so as per my custom it is worth sharing a few factoids about this country to put things in better context and to educate myself (and you, if needed) a little about this corner of the world. Here is what I learned from my research.

• As you can see in the map above, Namibia is a coastal country located on the southwest coast of Africa between the latitudes 18-28 degrees south, which in terms of distance from the equator is the southern hemisphere roughly equivalent to central and northern Mexico in the northern hemisphere. Namibia borders Angola to the north, South Africa to the south, and Botswana, and has a small border with Zambia along the Caprivi Strip – a very narrow strip of land along the Chobe River separating Botswana and Zambia.
• At 318,772 square miles, it is about 20% larger than the state of Texas.
• Roughly 3 million people, compared to ~332 million in the U.S., and is one of the 10 least densely populated countries in the world.
• English is the official language, but there are several other recognized national and regional languages. Only 3% speak English as a home language. Oshiwambo is the most common language spoken and Africaans is the most widely understood national language similar to South Africa.
• Government is described as a unitary dominant-party, semi-presidential presidential republic with both a president and prime minister and a bicameral legislature. The parliament has a lower house (or National Assembly) of representatives elected via proportional representation – just as it should be done in the U.S. -and an upper house (or National Council) comprised of members indirectly elected by regional councils, each with duties roughly comparable to our House of Representatives and Senate. There is an independent judicial system similar in structure and responsibilities as the U.S. system. 
• Currency is both the Namibian Dollar and the South African Rand.
• Major exports include diamonds, uranium, gold, fish, and petroleum oils, with China being the major receiver of exports.
• The unemployment rate is alarmingly around 34% and almost half the population lives in poverty. Not surprisingly, there is a huge income disparity between the rich and the poor, which not much in between – a disparity that is growing each year here and elsewhere throughout the world, including in the U.S.
• Like most of the region, it was occupied by humans for probably 10,000 years until it was “colonized” by the Bantu people in the 14^th century from west Africa. The country was ruled by separate tribal kingdoms until 1884, when the German Empire established a white-minority apartheid rule over most of the territory, forming a colony known as German South West Africa. Between 1904 and 1908, German troops waged a punitive campaign against the Herero and Nama which escalated into the first genocide of the 20th century. German rule ended during the First World War with a 1915 defeat by South African forces. In 2021, German and Namibian diplomats created a “reconciliation agreement” acknowledging atrocities from the German colonial period. In 1920, after the end of the war, the League of Nations mandated administration of the colony to South Africa. From 1948, with the National Party elected to power, this included South Africa applying apartheid to what was then known as South West Africa. In the later 20th century, uprisings and demands for political representation resulted in the United Nations assuming direct responsibility over the territory in 1966, but South Africa maintained de facto rule until 1973. That year the UN recognized the South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) as the official representative of the Namibian people. Namibia gained independence from South Africa on 21 March 1990, following the South African Border War. However, a couple of areas on the coast remained under South African control until 1994.
• As of March, 2025, Namibia has its first female president, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.
• Namibia is considered to be one of the most free and democratic countries in Africa.
• Namibia has one of the highest rates of literacy in Africa, estimated to be >92%.
• Namibia has a high HIV/AIDS prevalence rate, with an estimated 12% of adults aged 15-49 living with HIV!
• Namibia is the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa and hosts the famous Namib desert along the coast, considered the oldest desert in the world, and the southwestern-most part of the Kalahari Desert.
• Namibia has the largest free-roaming cheetah population in the world and is one of only two countries to support desert elephant populations!
• Depending on the source, Namibia has between 17-40% of its total land area protected in some form, such as national parks, reserves and community conservation areas. Based on the World Bank’s estimate of nearly 40%, it is one of the highest rates in the world. Interestingly, Namibia was the first country in the world to explicitly include environmental protection in its constitution.

As the title implies, yes, I am still hostage in Cape Town. I am told via a second party that my license disc (the registration document I need to legally drive here) is coming today or tomorrow, but that is according to a third party. Do I believe it? Not until it is in my hands. So, in the meantime………

Now, the sole purpose of this post is to follow-up on my “2 lies and 1 truth game” – and yes this is a real game, which a few of you will recall we played around the campfire on our “brothers plus” sea kayaking trip in Prince William Sound, Alaska.

First of all, I was shocked by how many of you thought I would actually cheat and give you three truths instead of only one. Would I really do that to you? Some of you thought I either did all three or should have. I deny the former and probably should have done the latter, as they all had strong merits. The honest truth is that I did option #3, the all-day mountain climb to Perdelop Peak off of Franschhoek Pass, and staged the other two. Specifically, after my hike, on the way back to my campsite I stopped off at a winery and had a glass of wine solely for the purpose of this game (well, not solely, but mostly), and as soon as I got back to camp I staged the first option (reclining chair with book and binos). I think Brenda knows me best as she was smack on with her conclusions (see her comment in the post if you like).

OK, shall we play again? No, let’s not. I will simply tell you the truth that I spent a second day doing another long hike, but this time up a mountain valley (off Bainskloof Pass) to several waterfalls, including one that was the perfect representation of what inspired my patio waterfall at home. Here are some pictures of my hikes. Enjoy! And I very much hope that my next post is from far down the road on the way to Namibia.

And let’s not forget that in Africa you have to share the roads with baboons at times:

New Species:

• White-throated canary
• Cape white-eye
• Yelloq bishop

What do you do when you are frustrated beyond belief and downright angry at the incompetent and ridiculously slow and antiquated system for processing vehicle license registration requests, and consequently, are kept hostage to the system and unable to go anywhere too far from Cape Town, and certainly not across an international border, for fear of getting stopped by the police and either given a hefty fine or thrown in jail? Such is my state of mind, as I am STILL in Cape Town waiting for my vehicle registration, which was promised to me more than a week ago, and then promised me again a few days later, and then again, and again. I want to scream at someone, but it wouldn’t do any good and probably would delay the process even more. So all I can do is work really hard on my patience and understanding – which can be very difficult for me at times – and wait for the “system” to eventually bear fruit.

SO, if you were in my state of mind and had time, days possibly, to kill in the vicinity of Cape Town, what would you do? I thought of three viable options:

First option: find a nice campsite, preferably next to a stream or river, nested in the mountains and surrounded by nature’s majesty, and just kick back on my reclining camp chair with binos by my side and let the birds come to me while I read “Cry of the Khalahari” for the third time. And let the story of the Khalahari and the birds bring peace to my mind.

Second option: visit half a dozen or so of the hundreds of wineries in the area and sample some of the incredible wines – and there are literally hundreds of wineries of all sizes and varieties to choose from, and they are usually situated in a beautifull setting with a lodge, restaurant or cafe, and wine tasting all to be had – and let the wine dissolve my troubles away, at least after the second or third glass.

Third option: go on a really strenuous mountain hike involving physical exertion and lots of sweat – and there are lots of private nature reserves in the mountains surrounding Cape Town with lots of hiking trails and peaks begging to be climbed – and let the mountain splendor melt away my troubles.

OK, these are the viable options that I thought of. Let’s do pros and cons:

Option 1: PROS: there is nothing so relaxing as lying back in the recliner listening to the birds sing, with the sound of running water and a light breeze blowing through the trees in the background, especially with the sun shining and warming the body to a comfortable temperature when the ambient temperature is around 60 degrees Fahrenheit. And sometimes the best birding is to sit still and let the birds come to you. And Cry of the Khalahari is an epic wildlife adventure story that resonates. CONS: the only exercise obtained from this activity is the arm bringing the mug of hot chocolat, or sweet apple juice once the ambient temperature rises enough, to the mouth every so often. And the pastries (i.e., homemade doughnuts and cinnamon rolls from the several visited local bakeries) eaten over the previous couple of days simply turn into fat deposits. And when there are breaks in the bird song, or the Khalahari story gets too familiar, the mind can wonder back to why you are so miserable being hostage to the system.

Option 2: PROS: There’s nothing like a good glass of red wine straight from the winery to remove stress, and after enough glasses the whole world looks beautiful and perfect and troubles simply float away to oblivion. And when you’re in outstanding wine country, it just makes sense to experience the local culture, doesn’t it – “when in Rome”. CONS: There’s nothing worse than drinking your troubles away by yourself; it’s one thing to do it with good company, but quite another to be that loner getting sloshed all by themself. And if money is a concern, it is a very expensive treatment for anger; indeed, it would be cheaper to pay for the therapy session.

Option 3: PROS: Physical exercize is a proven effective method for stress reduction, and it comes with the added benefit of being really good for you. And there’s no better way to ensure a good night sleep than to tire out the body from a good day of exercise. And pure untrammeled nature is the greatest thing that the world has to offer, so what better way to counter negativity than immersing ones self in nature. CONS: climbing mountains is damn hard and can be dangerous, especially when hiking alone. And there is always the chance of getting bitten by a poisonous snake – and there are plenty of them out there, most notably the Puff Adder, which is extremely aggressive and highly poisonous – and dying a slow, painful and agonizing death – all by yourself.

SO, there we have it: three plausible options for dealing with the frustation and building anger at being held hostage in Cape Town by “the system”. Let’s play the “2 lies and 1 truth” game to see how well you think you know me. Here are photos depicting me after choosing each option. Two are lies, one is the truth:

Now it is up to YOU to decide which one of the options above I actually chose. For those of you still reading this post and interested, send me your guess as a comment and I will compile the results and post the truth on my next post.

Good luck!

Here’s a quickie post to keep us all engaged while I remain hostage to the vehicle registration system for another couple of days. To kill a day, I decided to take a quick one day and night trip up the west coast to none other than the West Coast National Park, located roughy 200 km from Cape Town. But instead of heading inland to the Cederberg Mountains like last time, this time I headed over to the coast to a rather small Park that straddles a large shallow lagoon and supports one of only a handful of remaining patchs of coastal lowland fynbos vegetation. You might recall that last year I visit the De Hoop Nature Reserve in the Eastern Cape; this Park is a very similar landscape in terms of terrain, vegetation and wildlife, but located on the west coast.

This Park, as I said, straddles a large shallow lagoon, but it is connected to Saldanha Bay, a deep-water bay that has an important and storied history. Because the bay is protected from the storms on all sides, except for the narrow inlet, it provided a perfect safe harbor for boats partaking in the East India trade during the 16-18th centuries before passing around the Cape of Good Hope out on Cape Point near Cape Town, which was notoriously hazardous to ships under sail.

The Bay area was, of course, inhabited by natives (including the San) and early humans for more than 100,000 years before the Europeans arrived. Some of the earliest human archeological sites can be found in this area. But the European’s quest for trade with the East Indies brought the Portuguese, Dutch, French and Brittish to these shores, and they fought over possession of the Bay multiple times, with the Brittish ultimately winning out. There are all kinds of stories about ships from one country getting caught in the Bay by another and crews taken prisoner. There were even periods when pirates ruled the Bay. There are stories of starvation and disease among the sparse inhabitants because of the harse climate, scarcity of food sources and lack of fresh water, etc. They even had a colony site for people with small pox who were sent here to either die or recover. Anyways, lots of exciting things happened in this Bay years ago. Now, it’s mostly surrounded by upscale vacation communities, and the Park itself on one side.

I spent half a day in the Park, mainly visiting three different bird blinds and looking for wildlife – my first focused wildlife observations since returning to Africa this year! Saw Eland, Red Hartebeest and Bontebok antelope and lots of birds, including a few new species. The Park has no camping, so I found a campground just outside the Park on the bay shore in the town of Langebaan. Nothing too noteworthy, but I had it all to myself, so that’s a plus:

To close out this quickie, here are some pictures from the Park:

New Species:

• Levaillant’s cisticola
• Karoo scrub robin
• Angulate tortoise

It’s been 2 weeks since I posted my first entry for this year’s trip with a general overview of my plans for this year. Sorry it has taken me so long to post again – some of you have contacted me with concerns for my well-being given my total silence – but I spent the first full week in Cape Town getting some vehicle work done and making several upgrades to my vehicle accessories (e.g., new refrig, house battery, air compressor, etc.). Unfortunately, my business in Cape Town is still not finished, as I have yet to receive my updated, valid vehicle registration, which I need in order to leave the country and later return. SO, to kill some time, I just spent the last 5 days exploring the Cederberg Mountains, which are a rugged, mountainous area located in the Western Cape province of South Africa, roughly 200-300 km north of Cape Town.

The Cederberg mountains are part of the much larger greater Karoo semi-desert in southern Africa, which I introduced and described in the first leg of my journey in 2023. The Cederbergs are known for their dramatic sandstone formations, including the famous Maltese Cross and Wolfberg Arch, as well as for the numerous San rock paintings found within the area – all very reminiscent of the American southwest both in geological landform and ancient rock art (of the Anasazi or Ancient Puebloan People). The core of the Cederberg was designated as a wilderness area in 1973.

The mountains are home to the endangered Clanwilliam cedar tree, which is how the mountains got their name. This tree, once numerous in the Cederberg, was largely cut down for furniture and construction and now only survives at the highest elevations and most rugged locations. Although my hikes took me to some of the highest elevations and rugged places, I never saw this tree (or any other for that matter), so it must be extremely rare.

The vegetation of the Cederberg is dominated by high-altitude (or mountain) fynbos, which is predominantly low shrubland and heathland – again, very reminiscent of the arid American southwest in structure – and is found mostly along the coastal belt in southern and southwestern South Africa. Unlike the semi-desert of the America Southwest, however, the fynbos floristic biome is a major hotspot for plant diversity, with a large percentage of the plants being endemic (found nowhere else).

I camped my first nighs on the northern end of the Cederberg at a site called Kliphuis, which which situated along a stream in a small oasis of trees, and I had the place to myself.

I truly love South Africa this time of year because the Parks, campgrounds and trails are largely empty, and although the nights get quite cold and the mornings are a bit challenging to wake up to, the days are glorious with temperatures around 60 degree Fahrenheit – perfect hiking temperatures.

I did a wonderful half-day hike from Kliphuis, which was a perfect introduction to the Cederberg. Didn’t see much wildlife, except for a Klipspringer (dwarf antelope fond of rocky terrain), but the flowers and rocks were spectacular and I saw a really cool waterfall that cascaded down the cliff but flowed behind the rock in places and then emerged to fall over a ledge only to disappear again and then reemerge again below – very cool – it may not be too late to redesign my patio waterfall back home!

The following day was off-and-on rainy so I took advantage of the “bad” weather and took a long, mostly 4×4 trail over several passes along the eastern flank of the Cederberg and ended up down south at a campsite called Sanddrif, where I spent three nights. Along the way I stopped at an archeological site that feature some very cool San (Bushman) rock art dated to 5,000 years ago, along with some spectacular caves used by the San during that time, before they were extirpated by European colonists a couple hundred years ago.

From Sanddrif, I did an all-day hike that took me up about 3,000 feet to a spectacular rock formation called Wolfberg Crack and then on to Wolfberg Arch, a huge arch similar to those found in Utah’s Arches National Park. Traversing the “crack” was an adventure in rock scrambling and climbing. There were several hand-over-hand pull-ups on ropes to ascend boulders and walls, crawling on my belly through narrow rock tunnels, squeezing through extremely narrow clefts in the rock walls, and lots of climbing through slots in the rocks. It was an exhilarating experience that I wish I could have shared more with you, but I was mostly focused on surving the traverse that I took very few pictures – sorry!

The following day I drove a short distance to another “Nature Reserve” (more on this in a bit) called Kronriver and did another all-day hike up a mountain range and along the ridge past a couple of peaks in a big loop. Had the entire mountain range all to myself so far as I could tell. Again, as with my previous hikes and the entirety of the Cederberg, this area was a rock-lovers playground, with spectacular rock formations everywhere I looked. Got lots of inspiration for additional rock features at our home in Colorado.

I learned that the Cederberg has a core national Wildernes Reserve, but the bulk of the area is carved up into numerous private “Nature Reserves”. I put Nature Reserve in quotes, because what I observed was a series of working farms, mostly vineyards and fruit orchards (apples and pears I think), one located in each major valley bottom, each having a lodge and restaurant, cabins or chalets and a campground, and surrounded by tens of thousands of acres of wild, steep mountainous terrain with a few hiking trails and rock climbing features. You have to pay to access each “Nature Reserve” separately. These “farms”, of course, are all white-owned and run, and use cheap black labor to do all the farm labor. I am not quite sure if these “Nature Reserves” are truly motivated to conserve nature or simply labeled as such as a way to market themselves and attract paying tourists, or perhaps they get a tax break by designating themselves “Nature Reserves”. I visited 3 different “Nature Reserves” on my few hikes and paid separately for each hike.

OK, that’s all the rambling from me about my time in the Cederberg. Since I spent 4 full days hiking and driving in the Cederberg, I took a lot of pictures. Consequently, I put together a 7 minute slide show of my trip, depicting most of the things I described above. Enjoy!

The Cederberg slideshow

New Species:

• Karoo prinia
• Yellow canary
• African black duck
• Cape rockjumper
• Spotted eagle owl

To all my Africa overland blog-followers, welcome back to Africa 2025 and my not-so-conventional travel blog for my overland adventures in Africa! 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 – but noting that photos and videos of the people encountered are rare owing to a sense of respect and sensitivity for their privacy.

First, a couple of 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 by commenting on a post, 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.

As you may recall from, my stated 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.

Last year, 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.

My journey this year begins back in Cape Town where the Green Dragon is resting comfortably in storage. After taking care of some vehicle modifications and the usual overland prep work, I will head up the west coast of South Africa through the Western Cape Province en route to Namibia, where I will be joined by Nancy for a few weeks touring northern Namibia before hooking 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 another year’s journey. Visit the 2025 Route page on this website for more details on this year’s trip, including a map showing my intended and somewhat tortuous route.

Once again, on July 2nd of this year I will be heading back to Africa and what has become “my home away from home” – at least for the time being. As I am sure you are aware by now, not much gives me more pleasure than spending time observing wildlife in Africa, especially when sharing my passion with others – this year including Nancy, Steve and Ki in person, and all of you reading this blog virtually. So, if you love what you see here in Africa, remember that the clock is ticking, as the threats to Africa’s remaining wildlife populations are increasing every year.

See you on the trail!

After leaving De Hoop Nature Reserve, I headed south as far south as you can go on the continent of Africa to the southern tip at Cape Agulhas:

Cape Agulhas, also known as the “Cape of Needles”, is a rocky headland in thte Western Cape Province and it is the geographic southern tip of Africa and the beginning of the traditional dividing line between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. It is approximately half a degree of latitude, or 34 miles, further south than the Cape of Good Hope near Cape Town. Here, the warm Agulhas Current flows south along the east coast of Africa and retroflects back into the Indian Ocean. While retroflecting, it pinches off large ocean eddies (called Agulhas rings) that drift into the South Atlantic Ocean and take enormous amounts of heat and salt into the neighboring ocean. This mechanism constitutes one of the key elements in the global conveyor belt circulation of heat and salt.

Here’s the monument at the southern tip depicting the traditional dividing line between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Of course, the waters of the two oceans don’t literally meet at this dividing line, but rather they mix along a broad zone extending outward from this point. Nonetheless, it is a pretty significant landmark from a global perspective.

As I am sure you realize, I generally don’t take selfies, but I couldn’t help myself standing at such a geographical phenomenon:

Historically, the cape has been known to sailors as a major hazard. The sea off Cape Agulhas is notorious for winter storms and mammoth rogue waves, which can range up to 100 feet high and can sink even large ships. Over the past few hundred years it is believed that around 150 ships have sunk around Agulhas. Here’s one old wreck to support this claim:

The weather was rather raunchy at the Cape, so I opted to move on farther down the coast towards Cape Town while waiting for the weather to change, and I found a campsite right on the coast with the Green Dragon literally 20 feet from the rocky shoreline, but utterly exposed. However, the rain ceased, the wind stopped blowing, and a pair of black oystercatchers were calling from the rocks nearby – a I fitting last campsite for this epic journey.

From here, it is on to Cape Town, where I will service the Green Dragon and get it prepared for storage. I will undoubtedly have time to explore the penninsula of Table Moutain National Park and the Cape of Good Hope, and visit with the African penguins, but these are all things I reported on last year at the beginning of my journey, so I will not repeat it in this year’s blog, except I have show you at least a couple of penguin shots:

If you are new to my travel blog this year and want to hear about Cape Town and surroundings, you can find these posts on the blog way back at the bottom of the list.

So, until my return next year, it’s goodbye to all you dedicated followers that have accompanied me on this year’s journey and are still reading this blog. We saw lots of wildlife, explored some exotic places (e.g., Zanzibar), drove some off-the-beaten path roads, visited some really stunning landscapes, went on some amazing hikes, and met lots of different people. I hope you learned a few things along the way and enjoyed the wildlife, landscapes and people as much as I did. As hopefully this travel journey demonstrated, life is truly an adventure worth taking, again and again! The journey continues next year if all goes as planned….