Another 500km travel day that took us from our overnight stop at the Kang Autostop to South Africa (SA), our last country before home. The Autostop was a strange place with motel like rooms, a petrol station, shop and restaurant - in fact everything one could need to break a journey across a desert. I’m not sure what the definition of a desert is but the Kalahari that we passed through certainly didn’t look like any other desert we’ve been to, just miles and miles of low trees and shrubs. Maybe the designated parks are better.
About half way along our journey we saw what we first thought was a small hill, very noticeable in the flat landscape, but as we got closer a sizeable town appeared and we realised it was the spoil from a vast mine. We’re not sure what they were mining but the town looked very prosperous and the level of traffic on the road increased dramatically afterwards.
As we neared the border the terrain finally started to undulate until we dropped into a significant valley to the border post. Like the SA - Namibia border, the Botswana side was a simply pull over with a visit to a small hut to have our passports stamped whereas the SA side comprised of dedicated lanes for trucks, cars and buses and large modern buildings all surrounded by high fences topped with razor wire. The transition was actually very swift and within 20 minutes (yup, that’s swift) we were back on SA soil heading along a toll road for the small town of Swartruggens. Like the rests of rural SA the roads were lined with people walking, especially when we passed two schools at leaving time, and hundreds of poor houses.
An hour or so later we’d just entered the town when the sat nav instructed to turn left along a dirt track that we bumped along, seemingly heading out into fields, until we found a sign to the Hadida Guest house. We drove down the long bumpy drive until we came to a small farm to be greeted by Alma, our host, who showed us to our charming thatched house complete with garden. Yes, garden, the first we’ve seen for a very long time. After unloading the bags we sat on the porch drinking tea while two of Alma’s dogs befriended Yvonne and curled up at her feet.
A short while later Gary, another SA guest, arrived and we chatted about football (he was a Chelsea fan), Brexit, the state of SA and the chances of him immigrating to the UK - like many young white South Africans he was looking to leave. Mid discussion Alma arrived with our dinner: Lasagne. We couldn’t remember the last time we ate that and it was a real joy, especially washed down with a lovely Cederberg Rose wine - we have 8 days left to drink the last 3 bottles we have left. A challenge but we’ll try our hardest.
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| The Kang Autostop |
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| Crazy people cycling across the Kalahari |
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| Our house at the Hadida |
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| Yvonne with here new best friend |
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