Saturday 17th March 2013

South Africa.

7^th March 2013

Arrived in Johannesburg. The van is on its way. We tracked the ship this morning and it is well on track to arrive on Sunday evening.  We now have words from the shipping agents that Santander have finally managed to transfer the money to pay them, so they will release the necessary paper work.

On Monday we will travel to Durban to find out how quickly (or not) we can get our van.

Before we go into detail about our onward plans it seems appropriate to just review the trip so far. We have done very little classic tourism. This is partly because much of our attention has been directed to just getting about and the belief that this kind of travel is about ‘being there’.

When we passed through France and Spain we saw lots of evidence, especially in Spain of great developments during the ‘economic boom’ that had been halted. This continued into Morocco where it was still plain to see and became less pronounced as we continued through more impoverished countries.

It seems to be that as we have moved further away from the better off and arguably more sophisticated countries we were more likely to encounter people who were more interested in the stranger and often displayed great kindness and generosity. 

We have visited places where people struggle to find a living. We have seen the gulf between rich and poor expand and contract in different places. We have met people who are against all odds are trying hard to make a difference where it really needs to be made. We’ve seen countries where the government simply fails to meet the needs of their people as well as in places where the people are driving the government to make changes.

We have made the personal acquaintance of people as poor as church mice, but would still unconditionally give you their last ‘rollo’ if it were needed.

Our patience has been tried to extremes by petty officials and bureaucracy. We’ve been frustrated by the inability to get things done or get done the way we want them done. This is often accompanied by a shrug of the shoulder, a sigh and the phrase “Ah this is Africa” - sometimes used as an explanation and other times as an excuse.

We have visited places that are dominated by the sight of numerous Big White Toyotas of the UN, major NGOs and many charities. These are such a controversial symbol of Foreign Aid – often we question the fact that the cost of providing fleets of Toyota 4X4s and some of the seriously plush accommodation for the foreign workers could fund another ‘water, food or health’ project in a village for longer – let’s not get started on this……. 

Ping and myself have spent many hours over the scrabble set discussing the pros and cons of foreign aid – who benefits more, the provider or the receiver? The more we discussed / argue, it seems that there is not going to be a right answer. We've been forced to reconsider again and again, our views on the right kind of aid and foreign intervention, some we see are misguided and some really creating positive change. 

We have met people, some motivated by religion and others by humanitarian desire, all working hard, some for little or no pay in order to make a difference to people who live in great hardship. It may seem like we are criticising how or what they are doing  but, whatever views may prevail there is one important feature in all of them, and that is they all have a desire to a greater or lesser degree to make the world a better place. We will never criticise that. We continue to learn alot about ourselves, the people we meet and the difference between frustration (eg because the air conditioning is not working) and desperation and despair. To us everyday is a school day!

Deforestation:

We have all heard of talk of forests being destroyed at a rate of an area the size of Belgium each year; you know the kind of thing.

Does anybody know how big Belgium is? I don’t.

One time rich deep rain forest

Driving through Cote d’Ivore was a bit of an eye opener, most of the landscape is savanna grassland, vast areas of what was once dense rain forest, thousands of years old were gone and with it, the habitat of much of its wildlife. A feature of much of West Africa is the absence of wildlife not just the interesting stuff, but simply the absence of wild life! I withhold comment but that was what we saw (or did not see).

African cultures:

We were lucky to participate in some great music especially in Senegal and we have been kept awake by drumming which can sometimes go on for long periods. It can be very exciting but can also keep you awake. 

We have seen innumerable wooden carvings which are everywhere. Some are, frankly poor quality tourist trash and some have been breathtakingly beautiful.

I am building up to the most bizarre piece of art of all.

On our last day in Ghana, so I was unable to include this in the last offering, we were taken to an art gallery.

There were a lot of exhibits of all kinds but far and away the strangest of all was a display of coffins!  Not just any old coffins, but these are wildly special.  As you will see they are modeled to represent everyday items that reflect the deceased person.These are not meant to be comic or lighthearted they are intended to reflect and to celebrate features and aspects of the life of the departed. Take a look and judge for yourself.

Its not the cough that carries you off its the coffin they carry you off in.

Everything  on the top floor is a coffin and you can get your phone topped up or get your fridge mended downstairs.

Was it worth it?

So after all of the frustration, disappointment and sometimes sheer hard work, has it all been worth it?  Oh yes! it has been worth every moment. We have been permitted to visit the lives of others not to change anything just to have a look, for no greater purpose than our own fulfillment. Thank you West Africa we are really glad to have met you!

• We have met some remarkable fellow travellers who have touched our lives
• Bikers pushing their motorcycle on, sometimes to the limit just  for the enjoyment of it
•  Adventurers pushing their 4x4 cars to the limit just because they can
• Other overlanders all travelling their own way in their own time
•  Extraordinary travellers riding pushbikes from Dublin and Poland all across Africa. A special message to Oliver and Dermot “Don’t give up on your extraordinary odyssey! Hope you manage to catch up with us some time”.

Dublin2Cape town

From each and all of these people we have learnt so much.

There are people, expats, who have offered us extraordinary hospitality, support and assistance who for a variety of reasons do not wish to be mentioned here but who must be acknowledged and thanked just the same. You know who you are. Thank you.

This might sound a bit like the end credits. Not so, but this has been such a period of challenge and reward that it seems important to have a round up at this major juncture.

Despite innumerable punctures and one significant mechanical problem, our van has performed very well sometimes in punishing circumstances.

10^th March 2013

Sometimes it is necessary to report contemporaneously here. As I write I have just flipped over to look at the vessel tracking thing. I looked about 12 hours ago and the ship was just passing Port Elizabeth. Now I look again and see that not only has it made good progress but it has bypassed Durban and sailed on to Maputo. This is Sunday evening and there is nothing to do until the morning but it is seriously looking like our van is in Mozambique, which is a bit of a concern. And there is nothing to do but to carry on with our blog!

Shoestring Lodge

We are in Jo’burg it is very nice here and we are staying in an extraordinary place called the shoestring lodge. It is an inexpensive Hotel type place run by a really nice family. The place needs a full description, which would make the Hotel Inspector turn pale.  However once again, having settled in and started to get to know the owners, I feel this place is an absolute gem!

Breakfast at Shoestrings

Once a large family home built in a rather grandiose Mediterranean style, the original owner had decorated the whole place and its grounds with statues and artworks from an age just gone by. For the last 18 years it has remained largely unchanged and run as a backpackers hostel/hotel by Rob Hicks and his wife, Thabitha.

This quirky and rambling residence does kind of defy description. It has a lovely huge garden full of exotic birds, traditional African out buildings and a fleet of minibuses that are parked here.

Nothing in the place is new by any means. Much of it has seen better days but don’t be misled, it is so hard to say why but this is quite the nicest place that we have stayed in ever. Rob, the owner will pick you up from the airport and from what I have seen, at pretty much any time. He does not ever grumble. Nothing seems to be too much trouble.  The place is not so much a diamond in the rough, much more the very nicest ‘Mushroom’ you have ever tasted. We have now been here 4 days and feel very comfortable, we come and go as we please and if we need to go shopping or other small errands then Rob is usually willing to fit it in with one of his numerous trips to the mall or the airport. 

More about Shoestring lodge later. We will return there as we have been told that once we get the van back we are welcome to camp here and to do the various repairs and servicing that we need to do. I just know it will be a pleasure to return.

I have to interrupt this entry further to say that while I have been writing Ping has phoned Dickson from the shipping agents in Ghana. It is Sunday evening, and without a trace of complaint he has phoned the shipping company who say that it is still ahead of time and assures us that it will be returning to Durban on Wednesday.

Rob has just booked us on a bus which specialises in catering for backpackers and will take us to Durban on Wednesday.

Thursday 15th March 2013
We are now in Durban having had an 8 hour bus journey yesterday through stunning countryside. The bus dropped us outside our hotel which we chose as it is close to the docks.

Last night we tracked the ship as it approached Durban. This morning we awoke to check again to find that not only had it berthed during the night, but also the map was sufficiently detailed, that it showed the berth and our hotel.

'Sittin on the dock of the bay whatchin the ships roll in'

I rushed to the window and looked out and there it was. I have a picture to prove it.  We were both very excited and we walked down to the docks found the ship, took some more pictures and while I took them Ping spotted our van sitting in the car park nearby!

That's our van!

We really are thrilled.  I phone the clearing agents to find that far from our assumption, their office is not in the docks but is actually 30 km away across town. How inconvenient!

Any how the clearing process has begun and the agents seem again to be really helpful. They do say that it will probably be cleared by Monday which of course means we will be here for a few more days.  But really we have nothing to complain about,

Flushed with our surprise and excitement of all this we went and took a long walk in the city.

The central area that we walked around was very interesting with a combination of architectural styles that, while smaller in scale, rivals many other cities that I have seen.Some modern buildings sit comfortably alongside art deco blocks and a city hall that I can only describe in my ignorance, as baroque, very beautiful. Lots of interesting shops and very very busy.

The magnificent City Hall Durban

We then walked back to the hotel, taking in the magnificent beach and a really interesting block of restaurants and tourist shops. I accept that any seaside resort has to have a pier or an esplanade on which they sell whatever the equivalent is of rock and ‘kiss me quick’ hats.  This was the best I have seen the shops were interesting and the restaurants nice and a good choice.

We ended our day with Ice cream and coffee. I had a large Bubblegum flavoured double thick milk shake. It was about a litre of ice cream with a marshmallow on the top and I am ashamed to say that I just could not manage to eat the marshmallow.

Friday 16^th March 2013

We need to get our van cleared from the port by this afternoon or we will have to stay in a hotel for at least three more days. Our non existent hotel budget is  being stretched considerably. This whole shipping business has really tested us out, financially speaking.

The day started with a call from the shipping agent to say that he is working on our case. Rather disturbingly a while later we got a call from another person asking, actually for the fourth time, if I knew where our customs indemnity (carnet) document is. So for the fourth time I explained that I have it but I am only 10 minutes walk from the customs building and I will bring it. By now it was heading for midday and I realised that this enquiry meant that they had so far failed to make an appointment to clear the van. The agent had already said that they need 48 hours to make an appointment.  Going into the weekend not only meant that we would have to pay for accommodation, but also the dreaded storage charges would kick in.  

What really happened above all was that we both switched from the excitement we experienced at seeing our van locked in a car park to something close to panic and a need to take charge of events.

We went immediately to the Customs office. I confess I was really expecting a kind of blind bureaucratic response to our woes.  Far from it, an officer, a dog handler as it happens, sensing our distress, offered to help. It was once again an act of unexpected kindness, he heard our tale and he explained that they have the 48hour rule in order to manage their backlog, but not to worry “I’ll get the boss out so he can help you”, which he did. The boss said, “no problem we can fit you in”, and he then set about finding out who the ‘Cargo agent’ is. We keep learning the new language of the secret society that is the ‘world of the docks’, the upshot of all this is that suddenly everyone kicked into gear and the cargo agent ‘Lucien’ was helpful, pleasant and professional.

I almost run out of adjectives to describe his qualities. He rounded up a tame customs man who he knew would be helpful. It seems odd but I got the impression that he was off duty and out shopping at the time. He was in civvies and was wearing sandals. This also posed problems later when he was not allowed into and area without safety shoes. “It’s more than my jobsworth” said the guard. Once we realised that he really was not kidding, Lucian, like a magician produced not one but two pairs of safety shoes, so I was able to go in as well. I spent the afternoon doing the rounds with Lucien and others getting all the paperwork  done and all the clearances completed.

Lucien now a proud member of our hall of fame 

Meanwhile Ping was sitting in the reception at the customs office.  As it now turns out the guys at the clearing agency were responding magnificently to being berated by Ping (God it makes a nice change to  have somebody else to be getting this treatment!) they were actually moving heaven and earth to get all their procedures completed.

At 5 pm we rolled out of the dockyard in our van!

finally moving on

Our thanks go to all of the people involved sorry if we got a bit upset. Most especially to Rishaad and his team whom we did not meet in person. Really good job guys!

Once again, completely knackered we returned to our hotel locked the van in their garage for the night. We went and had a lovely meal followed by ice cream and for me a rather smaller milkshake, this time with no marshmallow. 

And so to bed………

Now look all you lovely readers. We love that we have so many readers. It is truly astonishing how many people are looking at our ramblings. Although we are getting some emails telling us about what is happening to you, we would certainly love to hear from more of you, please keep the emails coming.

By the way if it ever appears that we gloating over the weather Be assured that we really are aware how truly awful it has been in Britain over the winter.

Love you all

Cheers

Noel+Ping

By the way. We are unable to reply to  people who comment on the blog. We would like to it won’t let us. So drop us an email and you will get a reply.

Noelbow51@gmail.com   pingbow54@gmail.com