Go dirty or go home (Lesotho)
30/12/2016
EsCape Town
13/01/2017
We felt that the time was running too fast in Lesotho already, but after one day of driving and one (overprized) night spent in Mthatha, we realized that we really didn’t have much time until we had to give back our rental car in Cape town.
We decided to extend our contract, after all we want to travel unlimited and not have to worry about dates and time.
The first Avis shop that we visited couldn’t help us and the woman on the desk told us to drive to the airport- and critized us for not speaking Zulu (she thought we were from Swaziland, not Switzerland). At the airport they told us that we couldn’t simply extend our contract because it would be longer than a month then and cost way too much. They said that it would actually be cheaper to give back our car and then rent a new one.
But the whole point for us was to not have to give it back in Cape town, because we were still a long way from there and we wanted to spend as much time as possible on the wild coast.
Well that we couldn’t and we really regretted it.
Our plan had been to visit Mdumbi and the Coffee Bay, but in Mdumbi everything was booked out because of the high season. The only place that had room for us was [the Coffee Shack], on Coffee bay, but we had to book two not-so-cheap dorm beds, because the camping was full.
We booked two nights at first but then after arriving there we realized that we were supposed to leave on the 31st of December, which would’ve been stupid.
The receptionist was really nice and even though everything was booked for NYE she managed to make room for us.
So at least we had three nights on the wild coast.
We spent the first two days getting sunburnt on the beach but it was really relaxing after driving around for days!
[Coffee Shack] was crowded, but we were glad because we wanted to meet people and of course we instantly did.
The first night we had a very good talk about politics and other stuff with two german women who are on a worldtrip as well.
Then we all met a group of young locals and almost-locals (people from New Zealand with roots in South Africa) and played a drinking game, which didn’t work out that well because the bar was closed and soon enough no one had a drink left.
We spent our second night working on our blog and videos and then went to bed early since we had planned to hike up a hill the next morning and watch the sunrise above the sea… to celebrate the last day of 2016. Which we did, by the way. And it was incredibly beautiful!!!
We decided to extend our contract, after all we want to travel unlimited and not have to worry about dates and time.
The first Avis shop that we visited couldn’t help us and the woman on the desk told us to drive to the airport- and critized us for not speaking Zulu (she thought we were from Swaziland, not Switzerland). At the airport they told us that we couldn’t simply extend our contract because it would be longer than a month then and cost way too much. They said that it would actually be cheaper to give back our car and then rent a new one.
But the whole point for us was to not have to give it back in Cape town, because we were still a long way from there and we wanted to spend as much time as possible on the wild coast.
Well that we couldn’t and we really regretted it.
Our plan had been to visit Mdumbi and the Coffee Bay, but in Mdumbi everything was booked out because of the high season. The only place that had room for us was [the Coffee Shack], on Coffee bay, but we had to book two not-so-cheap dorm beds, because the camping was full.
We booked two nights at first but then after arriving there we realized that we were supposed to leave on the 31st of December, which would’ve been stupid.
The receptionist was really nice and even though everything was booked for NYE she managed to make room for us.
So at least we had three nights on the wild coast.
We spent the first two days getting sunburnt on the beach but it was really relaxing after driving around for days!
[Coffee Shack] was crowded, but we were glad because we wanted to meet people and of course we instantly did.
The first night we had a very good talk about politics and other stuff with two german women who are on a worldtrip as well.
Then we all met a group of young locals and almost-locals (people from New Zealand with roots in South Africa) and played a drinking game, which didn’t work out that well because the bar was closed and soon enough no one had a drink left.
We spent our second night working on our blog and videos and then went to bed early since we had planned to hike up a hill the next morning and watch the sunrise above the sea… to celebrate the last day of 2016. Which we did, by the way. And it was incredibly beautiful!!!
Everyone, including everyone we had met, had signed up for a NYE hike which took all day. We hadn’t because we had planned on going back to sleep after watching the sunrise. We awoke before ten and saw everyone leave and regretted not having signed up as well because we didn’t feel like spending the whole day on the beach. Again.
When we asked the receptionist about the surfing lessons, she informed us that the only thing to do that day was the NYE-hike and that we were too late for that.
At least the beach dogs were glad to see us again.
Our local and almost-local friends came back from the hike soon enough and we had a great time drinking gin tonic and talking about the past year- before going to the Coffee Shack NYE party.
It turned out that everyone had a bracelet for the party in the Coffee Shack- except us.
Gladly, they let us in anyways, since we were able to present our dorm key.
The party was fun, though René had to leave it early and Nici stayed until the next morning. Some hiked up the hill to drink “sunuppers” while watching the sunrise. Nici joined them but it was too cloudy to even slightly see the sun. Good that we had already done that the day before- and we had even been the only ones :-)
We knew that continuing our roadtrip on New Year’s Day wasn’t a good idea, but our tight schedule didn’t leave us many options.
René was too sick to drive and Nici had only gotten 2 hours of sleep but she hadn’t drunk that much so she took the wheel.
And promptly we were controlled by the police.
They didn’t seem to care about our rental contract (which only mentioned one driver and that’s René), so nothing happened.
A local had advised us to drive to Hogsback and stay in the [Away with the Fairies Backpackers], which was on our way and only took 5 hours to reach.
That place is absolutely amazing!
It lies in the middle of a magic forest with trees that are hundreds of years old. People say it’s the place where Tolkien got his inspiration for “the Hobbit”.
It does feel very mystical with all the big butterflies flying around and the birds singing and the backpackers place itself was painted beautifully with elves and flowers.
It would’ve been lovely to hike through the old forest, but unfortunately, we could only stay for one night and had to drive on early the next morning.
The next drive took us very long and the road led us along the Garden Route- which we absolutely had not wanted, since it’s boring and very touristic…
We stayed one night in Oudtshoorn, in a backpackers with very nice people. But there we were glad that we didn’t stay longer, because that area is very touristic and offers many attractions that are just downright stupid and exploit animals. We were asked if we wanted to ride ostriches or go cage diving or pet lions and cheetahs. There was also cage diving with crocodiles or go fishing. NO, THANK YOU.
We already mentioned that we don’t support attractions that exploit animals and we honestly don’t understand how anyone could. People should learn to respect nature and enjoy its presence without feeling the need to destroy it.
After all you can enjoy a lake without killing its inhabitants, visit ostriches and other animals in sanctuaries or nature reserves without petting them and if you ever want to dive with a shark, you can do that without a cage. Sharks are made aggressive on purpose to entertain the tourists. Usually people attract the sharks by spilling animal blood in the water or putting a fake bait (a thing that looks like a seal) on the surface near the boat and when the sharks come and realize there’s no actual food they get frustrated. Obviously.
Anyways when we left we took route 62, which is stunningly beautiful and offers a similar view as the route 66 in the states.
When we asked the receptionist about the surfing lessons, she informed us that the only thing to do that day was the NYE-hike and that we were too late for that.
At least the beach dogs were glad to see us again.
Our local and almost-local friends came back from the hike soon enough and we had a great time drinking gin tonic and talking about the past year- before going to the Coffee Shack NYE party.
It turned out that everyone had a bracelet for the party in the Coffee Shack- except us.
Gladly, they let us in anyways, since we were able to present our dorm key.
The party was fun, though René had to leave it early and Nici stayed until the next morning. Some hiked up the hill to drink “sunuppers” while watching the sunrise. Nici joined them but it was too cloudy to even slightly see the sun. Good that we had already done that the day before- and we had even been the only ones :-)
We knew that continuing our roadtrip on New Year’s Day wasn’t a good idea, but our tight schedule didn’t leave us many options.
René was too sick to drive and Nici had only gotten 2 hours of sleep but she hadn’t drunk that much so she took the wheel.
And promptly we were controlled by the police.
They didn’t seem to care about our rental contract (which only mentioned one driver and that’s René), so nothing happened.
A local had advised us to drive to Hogsback and stay in the [Away with the Fairies Backpackers], which was on our way and only took 5 hours to reach.
That place is absolutely amazing!
It lies in the middle of a magic forest with trees that are hundreds of years old. People say it’s the place where Tolkien got his inspiration for “the Hobbit”.
It does feel very mystical with all the big butterflies flying around and the birds singing and the backpackers place itself was painted beautifully with elves and flowers.
It would’ve been lovely to hike through the old forest, but unfortunately, we could only stay for one night and had to drive on early the next morning.
The next drive took us very long and the road led us along the Garden Route- which we absolutely had not wanted, since it’s boring and very touristic…
We stayed one night in Oudtshoorn, in a backpackers with very nice people. But there we were glad that we didn’t stay longer, because that area is very touristic and offers many attractions that are just downright stupid and exploit animals. We were asked if we wanted to ride ostriches or go cage diving or pet lions and cheetahs. There was also cage diving with crocodiles or go fishing. NO, THANK YOU.
We already mentioned that we don’t support attractions that exploit animals and we honestly don’t understand how anyone could. People should learn to respect nature and enjoy its presence without feeling the need to destroy it.
After all you can enjoy a lake without killing its inhabitants, visit ostriches and other animals in sanctuaries or nature reserves without petting them and if you ever want to dive with a shark, you can do that without a cage. Sharks are made aggressive on purpose to entertain the tourists. Usually people attract the sharks by spilling animal blood in the water or putting a fake bait (a thing that looks like a seal) on the surface near the boat and when the sharks come and realize there’s no actual food they get frustrated. Obviously.
Anyways when we left we took route 62, which is stunningly beautiful and offers a similar view as the route 66 in the states.
And then we arrived in Cape Town- the city that everybody loves. Everybody? Well we’re not everybody. But more about Cape Town in our next blogpost…
