Our African Adventure

Two Months and 10,000 Kilometers in a Rented Honda

By Pete and Camilla Grimm- © 2011 All rights reserved

   Have you dreamed of visiting Africa? Does the unparalleled beauty and old-English charm of Cape Town, so rich in history of Portugese, Dutch and English explorers, call to you? Do you want to walk in the footsteps of terrorist-turned-peacemaker and statesman, Nelson Mandela, at Robben Island Prison? Perhaps, a stay in South Africa’s three hundred year-old wine country sounds inviting. In places, South Africa is as modern as any country in the world. Yet, a short drive off the beaten track, one can still experience the magnificent unspoiled Africa, as it was three hundred years ago. Of course, no visit to South Africa should be without a camera-only safari to hunt the big five, lion, leopard, rhino, buffalo and elephant. From the pristine white sand and warm waters of its Indian Ocean beaches, to the fascinating Koisan cave paintings of its west coast, South Africa offers a cornucopia of treats to visitors.

Any description of South Africa, should not gloss over recent history. Less than a generation ago, South Africa was a white-ruled country deep in denial, enforcing Apartheid, and the scars of that racism linger. Despite the relative wealth of South Africa’s city dwellers, fueled by modern technologies and enormous natural resources, including gold and platinum, the majority of the South Africa’s black population still ekes out an existence by subsistence farming. With the end of Apartheid, and the election of black governments, an almost predicable level of violence from dissatisfied, impoverished blacks on relatively well-to-do whites occurred.

Yet, despite these problems, of all African nations, South Africa remains the one bright hope. It’s now black government adheres to a British system of law and parliamentary government. In surrounding Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Angola, communism and virtual dictatorships oppress, while South Africa’s economy remains strong and its currency respected. Illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe swim the crocodile infested waters of the Luvuvhu River for the opportunity South Africa represents, and Mozambicans walk (sometimes unsuccessfully) through the lion country of Krueger Park to the same end. Similarly, the opportunity for unique experiences and enjoyment for foreign visitors in this wondrous land far outweigh the minimal risks.

My wife, Camilla, and I have visited South Africa on several occasions, beginning in 2000. More recently, for a year in 2009 and 2010, we had the opportunity to help manage Enkosini, a wildlife sanctuary founded by our daughter, Kelcey. We love the South African people, South Africa, and the panoply of experiences it has to offer.

These posts are our attempt to recreate a two month long trip we took around the coast of South Africa. We began our journey at Enkosini, at the start of the Drakenberg Mountains in the highlands of Mpumalanga. Crossing Swaziland to the coast, we proceeded southward, sometimes travelling only fifty to one hundred kilometers in a day. Sleeping in “backpackers,” hotels and bed and breakfasts, even a tree house on one occasion, we chose to travel relatively inexpensively. We had no particular plan, except to experience as much as we could. One day at a time, we made up our itinerary on the fly. Covering over ten thousand kilometers in sixty one days, with some inland forays, we ran the coastline all the way to Cape Cross in Namibia. Finally, we crossed Namibia and Botswana to Johannesburg and our flight back to the USA. We hope you will come along with us for the ride. In pictures and words, we hope to inspire you to create your own African adventure.

We didn’t come to take such a haphazardly planned trip in a haphazard fashion. The idea for the trip began in the year 2000, when our daughter Kelcey decided to take a year off work and travel the world. We thought she was crazy to quit a high-paying job for such frivolousness, but off  she went anyway. Among her many other experiences, Kelcey climbed Machu Picchu, trekked the red-iron dunes of Namibia’s Sossusvlei and rode horseback across Tanzania. Her messages made Camilla and me say, “I want the life my daughter has!” Her sister Lisa joined her for a trek through Kenya, and Camilla joined her for a month-long drive through South Africa and Zimbabwe. Camilla’s trip with Kelcey inspired our two-month trip eight years later.

Similarly, Camilla and Kelcey had no pre-planned itinerary. Most days, they pulled out their guide books, held a finger to the wind, and decided what was next on the spur of the moment. The random spirit of discovery, mother and daughter sharing the new and relatively unplanned each day, added to their joy.

Also on this trip, Camilla and Kelcey visited a little lodge in the Free State that was raising lions. Kelcey’s later involvement with the unscrupulous owners of that place eventually led her to develop the most beautiful thirty square miles of bush into Enkosini, but that saga is a story to itself for another time.

Afterward, Camilla entertained me with tales of what she and Kelcey experienced wandering around South Africa. As the years passed, and we followed from afar the trials Kelcey experienced establishing Enkosini, we began to learn about South Africa. We even started reading Wilbur Smith’s marvelous historical novels set in southern Africa. The two of us began to dream, not very purposefully, about recreating and expanding that trip someday. When we found ourselves footloose and living aboard our sailboat, Nelevonkiel, having recently sold our business and our home, we realized it was the right time.

Getting to South Africa from the United States can be expensive. However, shopping carefully, traveling coach, and being flexible on departure dates and times has always allowed us to get round trip flights from Seattle to Johannesburg for less than two thousand dollars per ticket. At times, we have paid less than fifteen hundred dollars per ticket. Even so, it is a big expense for most. Once there, it is a good plan to stay awhile, and inexpensively enjoy what South Africa has to offer, amortizing the cost of the flight over a myriad of unique experiences.

Entry to South Africa is not an issue. Vacationing US residents automatically receive visas for a six-month term, and two three-month extensions are available. Visitors should research needed prophylactic shots and medications well in advance. If you plan to visit areas subject to malaria (and though we did not on this trip, you should plan to visit Krueger National Park), get the appropriate prescription medications. Some tips: prepare yourself for a long, long flight with reading matter and neck pillows. Try to avoid stops with long connection waits, and take care to exercise during the flight to avoid deep-leg thrombosis from prolonged sitting. Planning a day in Johannesburg to see the sights and recover from your trip might be a good idea too.

Before beginning this journey, Camilla and I had flown into Johannesburg and taken a four hour ride in a small bus called the Bushvedt Link to Lydenburg (now called Mashishing on many maps), still almost an hour by 4X4 from to Enkosini. We spent most of a month at Enkosini, with some time away visiting a reserve called Makalali, which includes two big-five volunteer-vacation opportunities, with daily game drives, we heartily recommend. Knowing we would fly out of Johannesburg two months later, we had gone back to Johannesburg to rent a little white stick-shift Honda, and returned to Enkosini.

The sadness of saying goodbye to our daughter, Kelcey, the beautiful stone chalet that was our residence at Enkosini, the horses, the dogs, the monkeys and even Bella the pig at Enkosini, was balanced by a sense of excitement, an anticipation of adventure, as we drove off to Swaziland. Where would we spend the night that night? We didn’t know.

(to be continued … Subscribe to the blog or bookmark and come back often)

I Have Met Them
A Fighter Pilot's Tribute to the Fallen Heroes of DevGru

I never met the fallen heroes of DevGru. I did not know their names, never saw their faces. They shun recognition from outside their tribe, thinking those not of them cannot appreciate what they endure, what they accomplish. But I have met them, or men like them.

I know fighter pilots. I know them well. They give pride of place to few. Their arrogance is legendary. I know fighter pilots who can make an airplane sing; who turn the turbulent world of air combat into an operatic ballet, conducting every bar and beat, certain of the denouement. Yet even fighter pilots, in their most private moments, nod with respect to those noble few, who bring death to our nation’s foes by sea, air and land. No man, of any rank or skill, earns respect more than the Navy SEAL.

If I had played the game right, or caught a lucky break, I might earned flag rank. However, I know I do not have, never did have, what it takes to be a SEAL. The selection process is rigorous, the training withering. Many think they could be a SEAL. However, if a candidate demonstrates any weakness of intelligence, dedication, strength, endurance, or the ability to work in a team, they are done. There is no court of appeals. When the staff decides a candidate does not have what it takes to fight alongside their brothers in arms, that person leaves thinking it was his decision. He rings the bell and is grateful.

Grasping the intricacies of advanced training and making the cut are merely the preamble. For the few who do, those who proudly wear the Budweiser, the real challenges begin. They go to places so utterly foreign, and fight foes so thoroughly implacable that to accept the mission willingly places all they have, all they love, at risk in a desperate gamble.

They practice until action seems involuntary. They enjoy the company of men who know, trust and love them in return, in the rough way of warriors. They have certainty in the justice of their cause, and the depravity of their enemies. Fate, however, plays its own games. As they feel the beat of their hearts, they know – as young men should never have to know – that the next beat is not promised; that no matter training, experience or skill, the fog of war is ineluctable. Knowing things can and will go wrong, they taunt fate.

They go into battle, lives trembling in the balance, as do the lives of those who depend upon them. They go, knowing there is something even more important than life: the ideals America represents, best exemplified by the men who fight alongside. They do not dwell on this, nor wear it on their sleeves. Nonetheless, it is there.

I know this, because I have met then, or men like them.

SEALs are as humble in public as fighter pilots can be obnoxious. A fighter pilot may feel he has something to prove, a SEAL knows he does not, at least not before mere mortals. It is enough that he has proven himself to his God and his teammates. 

A SEAL’s lot is privation and hardship, a monastic devotion to fitness, warrior prowess and his brothers. He spends long days of rehearsal, creeping hours approaching contact, and moments of fierce combat. SEALs expect no quarter, give little, and live in each moment, knowing it could be the last. Buttressed by the man to his left and right, the SEAL faces the foe, fights and wins, or fights and dies. He has no ejection seat.

There is a tradition among TOPGUN instructors when departing to leave something for those who will follow. One instructor left a plaque that reads, “For those who know, no explanation is necessary. For those who don’t, no explanation is possible.”

SEALs know … 

Will Apple and Steve Jobs Buy Barnes and Noble?


I read the rumor first on FB from Tonya Kappes then on author D.D. Scott's blog. Here are my thoughts: 


In any market it is a waste to sit on $76 Billion in cash (think how little the return is on T-bills). Jobs needs to invest somewhere or he will be a poor steward of Apple's money (as in the biblical character who hid God's largess under a rock for fear of losing it). 


It makes sense, even if Apple is late to the party, to try to cut into Amazon's market. Apple is a successful competitor for Microsoft even though its market share in software is only a fraction of Microsoft's. Apple accomplishes this by the integration of software and hardware. Using Barnes and Noble as a platform could similarly give him the best of both world's, the touchy-feely of a retail distribution chain (for those of us who still need to touch and feel before we buy) and a credible internet distribution presence (hardware/software integration). 


Jobs has won before by making the user experience superior (ironclad Apple operating system) and by innovation (iPads, iPhones, music downloads). I would look for Apple to do the same with B&N's formative publishing systems. 


However, publishing and book selling are only tiny portions of what I think Apple will try to develop, IF they make the acquisition. It makes more sense to think of B&N as a platform to compete with Amazon across its entire distribution model. While Amazon is clearly the largest player in the world distributing goods and services in the fashion it does, even Amazon has only scratched the surface of the existing market currently handled by outlets with a real physical presence. That's where the integration of physical B&N distribution outlets and internet distribution begin to make sense for Apple. 


Cheers, Pete Grimm