Lusaka to Cape Town

In Zambia you see a lot of bicycles along the road. All of them are heavily loaded.

This is my host's collection in Lusaka

Often I got the question "where are you going?" 

When I answered "To Cape Town", nobody would believe me. 

"With this bike?" they would ask. 

"Yes" I would say, I started two months ago in Stockholm" 

"But Cape town is too far! Is it a race? Will you become rich when you get there?"

"No I just like travelling. I only spend money on this trip"

Then most of them would answer: "I think the government should pay you!"

My interpretation for this opinion is that Zambians firstly never bike without earning money and secondly often expect the government to assist with money.

After I left Lusaka I passed giant ant hills in southern Zambia.

Close to the town Choma I met the first touring bicyclists since I left Europe. It was a couple from Germany. They had taken the road through Botswana which I was planning to take and it was good to hear from them that although they had seen several wild lions and elephants, they did not attack them.

Strangely enough I met another touring bicyclist only half an hour later, in Choma. Then I would not meet any other (except Ken) in entire Africa!

In the town Zimba I filled my water bottles in a lodge and forgot to take may camera with me. Next morning I found out that it had found a new owner... 

I was happy that I had uploaded all pictures to my dropbox when I was in Lusaka! Anyway, the videos I did not upload and they are gone together with a 32 gb sd-card. It is a pity but I think I have to blame myself...

The pictures in this post are taken with my cellphone.

Soon after Zimba I came to Livingstone.

This is the Zambezi river only some kilometer above the Victoria Falls:

It is difficult to take a picture of the landscape between Zambia and Zimbabwe, you can see it in this model:

The canyon is more than hundred meters deep and the waterfall is about 1,7 km wide!

First I rode on the 109 m high bridge to the Zimbabwean side, then I walked several hours on the paths of the Zambian National park.

Around the small bridge there was rain forest!

In the evening I decided to ride back to Livingstone and then west, towards the Kazungula ferry. Outside Livingstone I met a rhino which tried to go over the road right in front of my bike. It wanted to go down to the river of course! I also saw wilder beast, antelopes, zebras and elephants. When I met a bicyclist riding home to his village I asked if I could sleep in my tent there.

I pitched my tent between their kitchen (above) and their sleeping house (below) and felt safe.

Next day I took the ferry to Botswana.

On the map I saw that there would not be any village for 200 km.

So I carried 10 bottles of water. The same day I got my puncture in Africa (actually with this bicycle the first puncture since several years!). I took one of my bottles and cut it up to find the hole.

When I came to Francistown I had a diarrhea and decided it was time for a resting day in Tapi River Lodge.

The water was not as warm as it looks like!

In Botswana the population is very sparse. I saw almost no bicyclists at all. Probably because the distances are too far...

Finally I came to the capital Gaborone, where I had contacted a warmshower host.

In this house I stayed for two nights. There lives a dutch family.

This is the view from a hill south of Gaborone.

The same day as I left Gaborone I got an email from Ken, a Korean touring bicyclist. He had got my address from my host in Lusaka and he asked if I would like to ride together with him the last 1500 km to Cape town. I never had tested to ride so far in company and I really wanted to test it!

We managed to meet not far behind the border to South Africa (he hitch-hiked to catch me up)...

...and then we had a really good time together!

We started to visit a farm north of Vryburg, where we had a resting day.

Corlize and her husband really spoiled us with excellent food, safari and barbecue.

Then she made a huge packed lunch and sent us to her friend in Victoria West.

On the way we passed the beautiful Karoo semi dessert and even the town Kimberley, where we visited the largest hand made mine of the world. In the end of the 19th century people were digging for diamonds there.

The hospitality of white people in South Africa was far over my expectations. We were not only sent from friends to friends, one evening when we pitched our tent at a gas station we also were picked up at a gas station by people we did not know. They said it was not safe to camp there and offered us to stay for free in their guest house. Then we got a luxurious breakfast and a packed lunch for free as well!

The nights in the Karoo were quite cold. Several times the water in our water bottles was frozen in the morning.

But spring was coming!

Soon there were flowers everywhere!

This is at Steenbokkie Private Nature Reserve, where we stayed for free because their owner was a friend of a friend of Corlize, who is the mother of a touring bicyclist.

From Beaufort West we turned south because we wanted to see more of the South Africans Mountains and then follow Route 62, the famous wine-route.

The road seems to go uphill but actually we followed a river in a narrow valley called Meirings Poort.

It was adorable!

This is the canyon

We crossed the river about 27 times on low bridges

And on the other side of the mountains the landscape was completely different

Everything was green! We also passed many vineyards and wineries (with free wine tasting...)

One morning it was raining a little. Apart from one cloud break in Bulgaria, this was my first rain since I left Sweden in may (which was three months before)!

After the rain we found a thermal spring in Warmwaterberg. 40 degrees C!

Then we passed another chain of mountains.

Amazingly beautiful...

And finally we came to Sir Lawry's pass with a breathtaking view over False Bay.

In the background you can see Table Mountain, about 50 km west.

At Gordons Bay I dipped my front wheel.

And then we rode the last day very close to the coast to Muizenberg and around the Cape Peninsula.

In Simon's Town we saw a lot of Penguins!

The last week of August I spent in Cape town, visiting the Botanical Garden,

and of course the Table Mountain!

can you see the animals?

South Africa was really a highlight of the trip!

Ken flew home to Seoul in Korea and I flow home to Stockholm. 

To ride alone has its advantages. You are completely free and do not have to discuss anything. You can change your mind whenever you want, you do not have to  wait for each other. You also can more easily come in contact with foreigners. 

But to ride together with a friend is even better! (in case it is a nice friend with approximately the same speed). And this Ken was. We had the very same speed! We really had a good time together! Some advantages  of being two are that if one has a bad day he can ride behind in the wind shadow of the other. Somehow you anyway ride faster when you are in a group of two or more. 

Then you have more time to explore the country. You also do not need to have so much equipment because you can borrow from each other. For example Ken had a good camera so he became my photographer but his phone broke the last week, so I became his navigator and could borrow him my spare phone. (Unfortunately I could not unzip the photos on the link to his Dropbox he sent today...).

Of course you are also safer when you are two or more. For example when we stopped for visiting the bathroom or shopping one of us could keep an eye on the bicycles. Last but not least you can learn from each other! When we made dinner we could make several dishes because we had several pots and two gas stoves. And of course, we had a lot of experiences and recipes to exchange!