The Beginning

5 Countries 2 people 1 bakkie

Duration 6 months - Departure 13 Oct 2014

South Africa

Zimbabwe

Malawi

Tanzania
Mozambique

& back again

Lets see what Happens

That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run. So I ran to the end of the road. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd run to the end of town. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd just run across Greenbow County. And I figured, since I run this far, maybe I'd just run across the great state of Alabama. And that's what I did. I ran clear across Alabama. For no particular reason I just kept on going. I ran clear to the ocean. And when I got there, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well turn around, just keep on going. When I got to another ocean, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well just turn back, keep right on going. – Forrest Gump

The boring stuff
-but probably interesting to people planning a trip like us

Vehicle : 2005 Toyota Hilux 2.5 SRX 4x4

Equipment : 

• Alu-Cab canopy with drawer system
• Roof Rack
• Stretchers
• Tracks 4 Africa
• Garmin GPS
• Two extra Tyres + 4 new BF Goodrich All terrain Tyres
• Howling Moon Roof top tent.
• Tentco Combo - Dome + extension

The Rooftop to be used for a 1 night stay & the Tentco for longer stays.

Health

• Yellow fever injection
• Malaria Tablets - Mefliam - to prevent you from getting Malaria
• Coartem - in-case the above doesn't work & you have indeed got malaria
• Travel Insurance - incase none of the above work 
• And a whole lot of other tablets that I can't pronounce, let alone spell, that control your bowel movements
• Extra tent - for when I snore

Other

• US dollars - Universally revered by all

Mzungu

We decided to call our trusty steed "Mzungu", she is after all white &  will be responsible for getting us to Uganda & back

Sept 2014

When we first started planning our trip, it was like looking through the wrong end of binoculars - everything seemed so far away.  Six months later we still needed to get our injections, Carnet and police clearance for Mzungu, US dollars for us & who-ever will be liberating us of them, Malaria tablets for the mozzies &  a plan to get the kitchen sink into the back of Mzungu.

 At one stage, Kenya  demanded that all  South Africans needed to obtain a visa before they arrived & they had to get  it personally, in Pretoria & it was only valid for 3 months.  This was due to a tit-for-tat political squabble with SA.  After some frantic phone calls to the Kenyan embassy, we were told very diplomatically what every embassy advises  its citizens ..... “Please Hold “.   I am now happy to say that South Africans can obtain visas at the border.

 I am also happy to say that for now we will be able to travel  safely through Mozambique.  Renamo has put down their weapons ,  joined the peace talks & said they wouldn’t target South African registered cars like the police do

Robert Magabe is a man of integrity & should be nominated to the Nobel Peace Prize & I will be travelling through his corrupt free & prosperous land soon.  I know he luvs reading blogs – luv you Bob & I hope you are reading this.  P.S. Please pass this on to your henchmen.

Early Oct 2014

They say that time moves fast when you are having fun, but I think that time is relative to amount of stuff you need to get done.  The more things you need to sort out – the less time you will have to do it in, and before you know it, you are about to leave.   In 4 days time, we will be heading into those dusty lands of Africa, where the biggest unknown, will be our naivety.  We will be saying good-bye to Robertson, for at least a year.  A town we have called home for the last 13 years.  It was 6 months ago that we decided that if a fat kid on a bike could cycle through every country in Africa,  then we could at least get to Uganda and back by car.

Good-bye, totsiens, sala kahle, kweheri every-one ….see you when we get back