The Story

Hello all!

We are Hennie and Mia Tait and we have been planning this adventure for more than 2 years. After a long wait and a lot of red tape we're about to embark on our journey.

We are planning to do a 9000km round trip through Southern Africa on motorbikes. Yeeehaa!

Why Zahelo.....we chose it before we googled the correct spelling which should be Tsahaylu, but we've decided to keep our version, just because it's ours!
It was the word used in Avatar when they connected to the "horse" and the "bird" that they travel on. We're planning to "Zahelo" with our motorbikes, the people we meet, the roads we travel and places we see. Join us on our journey with this blog.

Friday 24 February 2012

Springbok - Aus

Hello Everyone

We're back. Been off-line for a while and had some problems finding internet that works.  But the story continues....We left Springbok early Sunday morning and decided to change our route to a more adventurous one, so we headed for Sendelingsdrift via Lekkersing & Kuboes.

Good Morning Springbok


The road was beautiful but once we hit gravel things got tough. First my chain guard broke off so Hennie had to apply some of his mechanical skills. In Lekkersing even his bike had it's turn to meet the road..he forgot to kick out his side stand..lol!! Here the locals told us of a sandy patch on the road ahead where cars get stuck, which could pose some problems. I found it the  hard way.

The last bit of tar road





Hennie to the rescue




The people of Lekkersing




Bike meets gravel...where is my side stand?




I found the sandy patch


The rest of the way was tricky but without problems. The scenery was breath taking and ever changing, an artist's tapestry.It made me think that God really loves diversity, from the lush greenery of the garden route to this beautiful barrenness in the desert.

Road through Richtersveld



We arrived in Sendelingsdrift quite late so decided to stay in a self-catering unit. It was Sunday which meant no cold beer, which is all we wanted after the day we had. Lucky for us we met 2 couples from Durban who very generously shared their stash with us....thank you so much to Ian, Cheryl, Don and Lola. We promise to pay it forward.

Hennie, Ian, Mia, Cheryl, Lola and Don
Monday morning we had an exiting border crossing on the ferry across the Orange River. We were so excited to be in Namibia at last we took a wrong turn and headed for Rosh Pinah instead of Ai-ais. We quickly rectified our mistake and found the stunning road all along the river. We had enough time because the Namibian roads were so good that we stopped for a swim.

Ferry crossing - Sendelingsdrift






In Ai-Ais we met Ibrahim Matta who we enjoyed talking to and shared a beer with. Ai-ais is a stunning resort with a lovely camping site, just unfortunate that the beautiful pools are all hot as it got lose to 40 degrees while we were there.

Having a beer with Ibrahim at Ai-Ais

Beautiful pool but sooo hot!

The following morning we left for the Fish River Canyon.Here we stayed at The Canyon Road House close to the Fish River Canyon which had a cold pool.....Yeaha!! We liked the pool so much we stayed for 2 nights and got great views of the canyon. We did some laundry and had a good rest.We met Ibrahim again here....thanks for the chats...Zahelo!

Cool Pool!

Ibrahim with us as the sun set over the Canyon
Amazing

We were very impressed with the Roadhouse campsite and spent some time talking to Simon, the manager, who is also originally from PE. Thank you for your hospitality Simon, and the Pavlova  really was the best we've ever tasted.

Simon at the Canyon Road House


So from here we are off to Aus to see some wild horses and then to the coastal town of Luderitz....

Saturday 18 February 2012

Here we come West Coast!

After a late nights and an early morning we said goodbye to Henri and set off for Strandfontein. We took the beautiful road via Bettiesbay and stopped in Hopefield for lunch.
Thanx Henri and Bye Kleinmond


Hopefield's Mall

From Hopefield to Elandsbay we were presented with some obstacles. First the back route plotted on the GPS brought us to a road closed off with barbed wire..detour!
Getting lost on the next best gravel road with really bad corrugation and sand, Mia's favorite, took up the balance of our day on the road costing us her numberplate and mojo.
We decided to stop in Eland's Bay and setup our first camp for the trip.

Lost but smiling

Exhausted from all the adrenalin we passed out for two hours. Two foil wrapped potatoes with a 3 bean salad was our maximum effort for supper. We did however managed a beer afterwards in the local Pili Pili surfer's backpackers, new to Eland's bay.
Elands Bay Camp

Ag shame

Up early today to get a head start and take on the next bit of gravel road alongside the railway line to Lamberts Bay and then to Strandfontein. Mia's mojo was back!..She kept thanking Rony (rough and ready) silently for all he taught her and hearing Celine Dion's "It's all coming back to me now" ....rusted... but her desire for a milkshake turned us to Clanwilliam.
We stoped at a garden nursery in Clanwilliam for a milkshake break and found some really inspiring words in their loo... WHY the Loo??
Here we also managed to organise an EC numberplate in the Northen Cape thanks to the help of CMB's great service.

Miles of train











Clanwilliam
Loo wisdom
The scenery was changing every couple of kilometers. We could feel the temperature rising, open fields with no trees, towns I've never have heard off and a lots of crows.
From Clanwilliam to Springbok (330km) was all tar. Our aim was to get as close to the border for tomorrow's crossing into Namibia.

We arrived in Springbok at 15:00 and decided on a B&B for a really early start tomorrow.



STAY posted for the best of Ai-Ais and the Great Fish River Canyon.....

Thursday 16 February 2012

PE - Kleinmond

Surprise.....

Henri inspired us to start our own blog so we are learning from the master of all bloggers             
 ( africansupertramp if you have not checked it out yet)
So here we are day 3 of our adventure. So far friends and family filled...said goodbye to Ma Miriam and Pa Hennie and Storm (krokodil trane) and left for Glentana on Monday.


Beautiful roads and through Langkloof, mostly tar but a few gravel just to get into it again. Mist over the Outeniqua Pass but made it in good time for "well cooked pork" with Bok and Ma Nina.
A quick breakfast and another goodbye and off we were to Cape Town.

 Once again breath taking scenery, mostly tar with a little gravel. Lunch in Montagu which we needed because the distance took longer than expected and we arrived after 6.

Ate like kings with Conrad and Hestelle, and learnt about e-maketing ( Check out brandavenues.net ) and their new business idea. Lunch in Beautiful Big Bay with the bearded traveler (Henri). Happy Birthday Henri!!


The road to Kleinmond is officially my favorite road ever.What a place, like something out of a travel magazine.



Today we are resting so no bikes. Walked up Tandjies Kop and swam in the Palmiet river. Henri and I jumped off a rock 8m high but our courage failed when we wanted to jump off the 13m high bridge. Hennie took photo's....lol.












Tomorrow we'll be up early to officially start this adventure towards Namibia up the west coast. Yeaha!!