19 November 2011 Said good bye to a family and friends and we were given a lovely farewell by the 4x4 Western Cape Club in Somerset West. They even gave us a number of goodies including an inverter which will come very handy for our 220V appliances (NOT hairdryers). Thank you everyone for the event. 20 November 2011 Distance Covered: 995 Total Distance since start: 995 Highest Elevation: 1567m Start: Cape Town Sleep: Bloemfontein - With Arina's friends...

Up at 6h30. Well, the body not the mind which does not function with less than 7 hours sleep. Straight to the city to collect the passport with now only 1 visa in because of all the issues with the Visa handling agent who did not do their work properly getting both Sudan and Ethiopia as well as these embassies taking a few days off. Got there and the next saga develops - the visa handling agent did not check that the Egyptians handed us the right visa and now the...

It is nearly 2am and struggling through the 'To-do' list but I believe working on a tight deadline is part of the fun. And no, the Ethiopians did not come to the party. In fact, they are having a party because they are closed for some obscure bank holiday back home for the REST OF THE WEEK! So, our idea to leave Saturday to go via Botswana to Livingstone and beyond, got sunk. TIA. This is Africa. Plan B: head straight up for Joburg, and hopefully get there by Su...

Another day closer to Saturday and today we have to start packing. That is going to be REALLY interesting because the amount of STUFF we have is the size of Table Mountain. This is just a short list of it all: - Food, tools, medical kit (can open up a hospital and do a brain transplant with all the stuff), spare parts, a toilet chair (the knees don't bend so well anymore behind the bush), clothes (need to prepare for some very cold nights as well when we hit E...

Time is ticking and still so much to be done. Our biggest head ache at this stage is visas. We need visas for the following countries before arriving at the border posts: - Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt and Europe Today we were told by the Southern Sudanese consulate that they will be closed till Thursday AND we still have to get Ethiopia and Europe before Saturday. Had to call the courier company to collect the passports from them and take it back to the Ethiopians...