Trip Summary - Southern Africa: Part XXV

It is now quite some time since we got back home from our trip to Southern Africa. Although reality and normal life are getting the best of us, we can look back at the memories. We enjoyed an amazing trip that included stops in 3 different countries – Qatar, Namibia, and South Africa. The trip did include many new experiences, like driving on the “wrong” side of the road as well as spotting penguins. It was also a trip that we will remember for a long time as it was our delayed honeymoon.

Doha, Qatar

The first country we visited is far from Southern Africa. The small country of Qatar is where we had a long layover when flying from Stockholm to Johannesburg. When there is time to kill, is there really a better place to do so than in a city where everything is a new experience?

It took us quite some time to find the best option for leaving the airport. Everything has its time and we eventually entered the capital city of Doha. A tour to a few interesting sights, as well as a (very tasty) lunch in the old souk, was all we could handle in the hot sun.

Johannesburg, South Africa

Eventually, we arrived in South Africa and had a short stop in Johannesburg before we continued onward to Namibia. Here we took the possibility to join a night tour to the city as well as the neighborhood of Soweto. That was about what we had time for during our short stop.

Otjiwarongo, Namibia

After Johannesburg, we flew to yet one more country – Namibia. Here we rented a car for a few days and had a lot of driving to look forward to. We had a short stop in the capital of Windhoek before heading to our main destination – Otjiwarongo. It was with a base in Otjiwarongo that we took two bigger day trips. The first one was to the Cheetah Conservation Fund a short distance outside of the town and the second one was a tour arranged with the guest house where we were staying to Etosha National Park. It wasn’t like we could go to southern Africa without seeing some animals. The two trips did satisfy our needs and we had great opportunities to see animals like cheetahs, elephants, zebras, and lions.

Plains zebra, Etosha National Park, Namibia

Windhoek, Namibia

After Otjiwarongo we continued back south to the capital of Windhoek. We did of course make a few stops on the way in the towns of Omaruru and Okahandja but had a hard time finding places to visit in the towns. One of the last places in Namibia that we visited was Windhoek. It was first now when our visit to the country started to come to an end that we actually took some time to learn more about its history and culture. Driving in Namibia was an experience to say the least, not like something you get used to when only driving in a country like Sweden. We will try to write a separate post about that later on.

Franke Tower, Franke Turm, Omaruru, Namibia

Christ Church, Christuskirche, Windhoek, Namibia

Cape Town, South Africa

We actually only had two major stops during our trip. As our time in southern Africa was limited, we had to choose carefully. The first stop was in the aforementioned Otjiwarongo and the second in Cape Town. We had three days to explore Cape Town and its surroundings and it wasn’t enough. Eventually, it all comes to prioritizing. Did we want to see the Cape or did we want to see Robben Island? Eventually, we spent the first day exploring the city with a tour of the Bo-Kaap neighborhood.

On the second day, we took the Hop-On Hop-Off buses around town. As Table Mountain was closed that day we enjoyed other sights instead, such as the Castle of Good Hope, Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, and the Two Oceans Aquarium. It was a day with the weather changing from sunshine, to rain and back to sunshine quite a few times.

The last day in the city, we spent on a tour with Carlos to the Cape Peninsula. We enjoyed some high waves while trying to see the seals at Mariner’s Wharf. Another highlight was the wine tasting session at the Groot Constantia. We will not forget the encounter with the penguins at Boulders Beach or the magnificent views at the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. Not to mention the even more amazing view along Chapman’s Peak Drive.

Signal Hill, Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa

Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, Cape Town, South Africa

African Penguin, Boulders Beach, Simon's Town, South Africa

Chapman's Peak Drive, South Africa, Cape Town

Bo-Kaap Walking tour, Cape Town, South Africa, Ciudad del Cabo, Sudáfrica

Garden Route, South Africa

After our few days in Cape Town, it was once more time to hit the road. We rented a car with the end destination being Port Elizabeth three days later. It would turn out to be quite a long drive and a drive that we would have liked to spend a bit more time on. We did luckily have time to see some amazing places, such as the southernmost point of Africa and the aviary Birds of Eden.

We spent two nights on the route, the first in Swellendam and the second in Plettenberg Bay. Eventually, we found ourselves in Port Elizabeth without any inconveniences. It was possible to see that this famous area for tourists was not yet prepared for tourists and we were quite unlucky with the weather as the wind was always strong. Good food and nice towns greeted us along the road and who could complain about that? Well, the only sad part was that we eventually had to fly back home. Three flights took us back to Stockholm via Johannesburg and Doha.