How Africa changed my life - in just four weeks, and 5000km. Part 1

This little travel blog is just a fond memory of the continent I call home. I believe Africa's tourism industry is really, in its infancy. Which makes it the perfect holiday to have.

Part 1: Cape Town, South Africa --> Ai-Ais, Namibia

Brieg far right, me next to him, middle right:

So it had been 2 or so years since I left university and I hadn't seen my closest friend and housemate since graduation. Going to university in Wales and moving back to Zambia after studying makes it fairly hard to maintain normal proximity with friends! So Brieg who should be joining steemit soon, I'll add his user tag when he does, my Welsh friend - he's Welsh first language which is coincidently one, if not the oldest continually spoken language in Europe - and I decided to organise an epic reunion. He'd been working as a farm hand in south Western Australia for a few months driving combine harvesters on a quite literally gigantic Wheat farm. As the environment is so bollocks for farming - dry, low nutrient soil, scorching temperatures - they really need to be huge in order for economies of scale to tip in a farmer's favour. Anyway, I digress. I decided, seeing as he was coming to Africa for his first time we should really do it properly. Only way to see a place for what it is, is to do it on your own steam (steam/steem, see what I did there? Little joke for the fans.). So we began putting plans in motion for a road trip, THE road trip.

African hangover cure in mom's pool, Cape Town

I was on holiday visiting my mom in Cape Town, South Africa, a place that regularly and consistently delivers worldwide as one of the world's most beautiful cities, best holiday destinations, choice model and actor retreat, affordable travel option, food capital of Africa yada yada yada. It's essentially my spirit home, and the best place I've been to in a life that has revolved around travel (I went to 10 schools in 12 years, on 3 continents - 7 countries lived in so far). So he flew out to meet me. After a debaucherous new years at The Bungalow where we lived the scarface fantasy for the night with a huge group of my friends and family:

We set off, heading north in our rented 4x4, with absolutely zero plan whatsoever.

I really wanted to do this trip because even as an African I hadn't really had much opportunity to do something like this, a few thousand kms of tar/dirt/mud, an epic playlist, a great mate, a gigantic bag of pot and limitless opportunities. Our first hop was just a few hours in the car to Elands Bay in Northern Cape, it's known as one of the best surfing spots in the country. When we got there is was pretty bleak weather so we didn't hit the water, just the bar. Was a nice way to start though, quiet, and we took about 35mins to figure our rooftop tents out - became a huge unspoken challenge, we raced each other each day, got it down to about 3mins i reckon :). It was also a great opportunity to take stock of the the food and drink we'd bought for the trip as well as learn about the car. It was a 2.5L Diesel Toyota Hilux Double Cab with all of this: raised suspension, all terrain tyres, bullbar, winch, adjustable beam headlights, spotlights, solar showers, rooftop tents, 80L fridge, 80L water tank, barbecue, gas cooker, medikit, all food and drink eating/drinking/cooking utensils, dual battery system for complete power to name but a few.

Day two we left super early, hit the Namibian border by lunch time, then cruised through to our first main destination, the hotsprings of Ai-Ais on the footsteps of the fish river canyon a literal oasis in a gigantic, martianesque desert.

Spent the evening chilling in the biggest pool I've ever seen, which is built on top of the hot rocks, so this olympic sized pool is a really nice temp! And being the dessert, it gets pretty chilly at night so it's actually a blessing. It was also our first night cooking on wood, something that would end up being one of the highlights of my trip - being a foodie and all!