Hot hot hot!!!

Work has me back in Cape Town, South Africa again, the second part of the 3 months worth of consultancy here. Nov-Dec in Cape Town is significantly different to September when I was last here. The weather is much warmer and definitely a lot windier too!!

This time round I haven't really been up to much site seeing... actually, I've done none apart from going 4x4 with a colleague down here at work. He very kindly invited me to go 4x4 with him and his friend up in a place called Jakkalskloof which is probably about 150km north of Cape Town.

When he said 4x4, I had pictured quad bikes in a forrest/park somewhere like what I'm used to... but this turned out to be the real thing! in cars!!! So at about 10am, us, 2 cars - a Toyota Prado and a Isuzu (don't know the model) - began our trail in the semi-desert terrain of Jakkalskloof. The terrain was mostly hilly with some pretty steep climbs. The surrounding is mostly semi-desert, mostly covered in sand, rocks and short shrubs kind of plants.

The adventurous side of us took us down 1 trail where we got absolutely 100% stuck for about 2.5hours. The temperature got as high as 52 degrees!!! The car was too hot to touch, the sand burns to walk on & at times it seemed like we weren't going to get the cars back out of the park!!!

I learned a few things on this trip though...

1. When going off-roading, always have at least 2 cars in case 1 gets stuck the other one can pull it out or go for help.
2. Always carry a rope for pulling the cars out of trouble
3. It's usual to flatten the tires to increase traction on the sand trails.
4. Bring excessive amounts of water! you will need it!!
5. If in doubt of what's ahead, get out of the car and walk it first!
6. Diff-Locks are great. I finally learnt how it works - its long to explain, if you are interested give me a email! :-)
7. Bring a spade! you can literally dig yourself out of trouble!
8. Have a fridge in your car. A cold drink is the only thing that kept me going!
9. BRING A HAT!

It was a cool weekend & it really gave me a true South African experience - well, in my mind anyway :-) Check out some of the photos!