It all started one year when we couldn't afford a family vacation. So we hired a tent, collected it en route and set off to what was then the eastern Transvaal.
From there the bug bit and our road trips got longer and longer, culminating years later in a six week trip from Johannesburg to the equator.
One conclusion we came to is that you don't need a fancy overland outfit to get to many out of the way places.
From this to this over a period of 10 years. We progressed from local trips exploring South Africa and then over the border into Zimbabwe, then Zambia and Malawi.
The big adventure took place in 1997/1998 when we ventured off to Dar es Salaam in a pre-digital age. No cell phones, no digital camera, no google maps - just Lonely Plant to guide us on our journey.
Thinking back, I shudder to think how we got it all together but in reality it went without a hitch. Six weeks and 13 000 kilometres from South Africa across Zimbabwe and Zambia to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
Then across to Zanzibar by ferry leaving our vehicle at the Salvation Army camp site.
From Tanzania we proceeded up the coast to Mombasa in Kenya and then on to Nairobi, across the equator to our northern most destination, the wonderful Lake Borgoria, inhabited by thousands of Flamingos.
The return took us back to Nairobi and then down to Arusha in Tanzania where we visited the Olduvai Gorge, Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti.
It was a time of El Nino and so rain was plentiful and made for some interesting times (see the post 300 metres, 3 hours).
We then traveled the length of Lake Malawi stopping off at a number of spots along the Lake.
Playing Bao on the shores of Lake Malawi at Cape Maclear, probably my favourite spot.
