April 2008 - Garden Route

Frederic arrived at the Cape 4 years ago to conduct research at the University of Cape Town. Myself Luisa, still studying in Scotland at the time came for a month of vacation to visit. Together we toured along the Garden Route in a 70s Volkswagen Kombi, Chery Cherrie. The stretch of 800 km was long enough to entertain us for a month. This not only because of the joy of being together again and experiencing the incredible beauty of this stretch of coast, with its crashing sea shore, the forests, river mouths, world class surf breaks and the many activities it provides. But also because Cherry broke about 5 times along the way, a lot of money and patience was invested into towing, scratch-yard parts and finding mechanics kind enough to actually have a look at this old grandma of an engine. Cherry did not make it back to Cape Town and remained in George, a town about 400 km from Cape Town.

The frustration of a broken engine and the helplessness faced when being stuck in the middle of somewhere could not cast the slightest shadow on to the thrill of arriving, on the privilege of experiencing natural beauty that could have not been imagine and on the sensation of gratitude to be able to experience just that. So, upon our arrival back in Cape Town and just before saying goodbye at the airport, the plan and dream of travelling from the Cape to Cairo came into existence.