On our way to Cairo!

We are on our way to Cairo! The 2011 African Odyssey Cape to Cairo is officially on the road, and moving.

Firstly, to introduce the expedition members. We are a team made up of 22 travellers - Irish, Scottish, English, Welsh, Australians, Canadians, Portuguese(well actually from Madeira) and a South African.

Just so you know who we all are in the first (formal) group photo, from left, back row: Jane, Mike, Jennifer, Tom, Dianne, Caitriona, Monique, Jon, Adam and Abby. Middle from left: Graham, Peter, Dave, Lee, Martin, Elaine and Denise; and in the front Kath, Ana and Matt. The crew Rogan and Alison were taking the photos but you’ll see us in some pics further down the line (and recognize us as the ones who weren’t in the group shot!)

We left Cape Town just over a week ago and have wound our way up the Garden Route and into the Wild Coast. First stop was Stellenbosch and the winelands. Nothing like wine tasting first thing in the morning for a group to get to know each other. That was followed by exploring the avenues of Stellenbosch and then our First Night Camping.  I’m afraid we were ‘initiated’ into the whole camping thing early on, as the first morning of breaking camp saw us packing up in the rain, which seemed to follow us to Hermanus. So after an afternoon of whale spotting and a windy night, we made a quick stop at Cape Aghulas, the southern most tip of Africa, and then deviated from our original plan and headed inland for fairer weather and to discover somewhere new for Odyssey and off-the-beaten-track, which is what Odyssey is really all about.  We found a lovely spot in the Little Karoo between Calitzdorp and Oudtshoorn, a region known for good port production and ostrich farming. Had to sample the local produce so we bought a couple of ostrich eggs to scramble – 1 ostrich egg is the equivalent of 24 normal eggs, so 2 eggs literally fed all of us for breakfast.

Beautiful Stellenbosch

Elaine, Abby & Graham

Adam, Lee & Jon

Peter & Dave

Dave & a chameleon

Adam & Jon

Al, Dianne & Adam

African penguins at Betty's Bay, on the way to Hermanus

Camping - our faithful Athena is meeting up with us in Swaziland due to new regulations in South Africa, so the yellow truck is only temporary!

Caitriona

Plenty of opportunities to practice putting up your tent!

Rogan at Cape Agulhas

Elaine & Abby, on their second Odyssey, having travelled on the London to Australia expedition with Odyssey in 2009

Caitriona & Tom

David

Sunset over the Little Karoo

Sundowners, Kath, Elaine, Mike, Jane and Rogan

We joined the coast and the sun for a couple of awesome beach days near Knysna, and then headed on to Tsitsikamma National Park for another gorgeous summer afternoon, where some of us hiked along the cliffs to a waterfall with an icy pool at the bottom to swim in. Others were recovering from the world’s highest bunji. That’s right, a quarter of the group took the plunge and jumped off a 216m high bridge. Well done Abby, Ana, Adam, Jon and Martin!!

Dianne & Denise

Monique

Martin, getting harnessed up

Last minute checks for Adam

3 ...2....1...bungy!  Ana makes it look easy!

It is always exhilarating camping right next to the crashing waves, but what was very special was to see the waves glowing at night, as if they were luminous. Our guess was phosphorescence – an upwelling of plankton – in the water. It was magical.

Next was Addo, via a locally famous pie shop near Paterson. Addo Elephant National Park was the first of the game parks on this journey, and the first game-viewing for many of the group. It lived up to its name and provided lots of ellies for us, with an especially good sundowner show at the camp’s waterhole :)

We are now exploring the Wild Coast for a few days. Summer has temporarily left us, but that didn’t affect a good night of drumming in the bar, and it’s giving everyone time to catch on correspondence, photos, washing etc etc. We still have just over a week left in South Africa, which will take us up to the Drakensberg, in to Lesotho, and further on up the coast to St.Lucia.