Cape to kenya!!

Day 4 (Acacia day 1)

Our group meet up today to begin our overlander to Kenya. Once we loaded our bags on the truck (which is named Rufunsa after a river). We took off with a local operator to go to the District 6 museum and then a township tour.
District 6 is an area of Cape Town that was primarily a non white neighborhood before appartheid. One of the first things apparthed did was to outlaw the different races living together and to designate areas for the different groups to go. District 6 was designated as a whte only area and the residents were forcibly removed and their homes demolished. The religious buidlings were not torn down and a museum to the area and forced removals all over South Africa. It was a really good museum with some great pieces. I actually ran into some of the people from the wine tour in the museum… the tourit/backpacker trail has some pretty standard stops on it so its not uncommon to run into the same people sometimes.

Then we went out to the township of Langa. Our driver/tour guide was from Langa and he knows a lot of the people that we were going to see. The Township tour was really good but at times you felt intrusive and a bit bad because we were invading their lives to come look at how they live. The Townships are hard places to live. We went to a community center and saw some children dancing and playing music. They even got some of us up to learn a basic gumboot dance step.

We toured the various areas of the township and saw the different houses from the hostels (sort of like over crowded dorms), actual small houses, shacks and even some shipping containers are used (several of them are hair salons). Then we stopped at a local homebrew pub and tried some homemade beer… eh, not horrible but wouldn’t go out and look for it.

We had lunch at Mzoli’s in Guguleto. It is a local place that is popular with tourists and locals that does braais (Afrikaans for a BBQ). We had some pork ribs, chicken, pop (maize dish similar to mashed potatoes) and a few beers. The Township tour was awesome and definitely an experience worth doing. It was sad, moving and inspiring all at one time.

Finally we said good bye to Cape Town and headed north. We had several hours drive to our campsite, so we got to know each other and Rufunsa some. That night we stayed at a campsite called Highlanders. After setting up camp and learning about our gear (tents, stoves…) we had another braai (yup they’re popular) for dinner. The campsite had a bar and dining area and they actually cooked for us. Several of us sat around the fire for a bit and hung out. It was an absolutley awesome place, looking out over vineyards and a river with mountains in the distance.

Day 5 (Acacia day 2) – Orange River
We packed up in the morning and started our drive to the next location – Orange River. We only had a few hours to drive and so we had lunch by the roadside when we needed it. Otherwise we basicaly just went to the nothern bit of South Afirca and actually camped in grounds that on the river – which is the natural boundary with Namibia. We went for a swim in the river – its getting hot… really hot now. And just hung out until dinner.

I am getting used to the idea that we will do a lot of driving and that Rufunsa really be my home for the next 40 or so days. Its starting off amazing and I am constatnly in awe that I am in Africa!!

Our group has started to gel and eveyone seems to get along fine – at least for now. A trip this long where we are around each other 24 hours a day wil likely get tought but there aren’t any obivous issues at this point. We have a Swiss guy, 2 German guys, 1 German girl, 1 Korean girl, 3 English girls, 1 Aussie girl and me. The tour is designed so that we help cook, clean, set camp, so our ability to get along and work together is going to be key for all of us to have a good time.
The truck (yes it’s a truck – calling it a bus is a definite no no) is really cool. It has space for 24 (with two tables in it) so with only 10 there is tons of room. It also has tents, camp chairs, cooking equipment, a water tank, sleeping mats and individual lockers and a small safe for valuables – i.e. passports. It really is out little home on wheels. Thankfully there is an amp with a headphone jack so we can plug our Ipods and laptops in, as well as some power points. We do have a duty roster/rota that outlines what days people are to help with the various tasks (cleaning, cooking, packing the truck…) but everyone pretty much helps out all the time with most tasks anyway.

We had neighbours here too. There was another tour at the campsite (it can accommodate several). This one had a group of University students on their fall break, including 5 girls from the US. I forgot how inane and droll some of the conversations could be. I am sure I had them when I was 19 or 20 and probably do now, but there is just something so stereotypically annoying about a group of US girls around that age sitting together and talking. I lost count of the number of times they said “like” in like the first like 5 mintues, you know like what I mean? I am sure they were nice and all but I am glad I am on the truck I am!