Picking up our beloved cars at Durban docks

We landed safely in Durban and spent two days relaxing at the Zimbali Lodge, a luxury resort with golf, swimming and nature walks, could be in Florida or Hawaii. Roger (my co-driver) and the rest of the Bentley crew dribbled in and yesterday we picked up the cars at Durban port (seventh largest port in the world), the containers were lined up and we drove the cars out of the boxes ourselves, no damages. Everything seems to be very well organised.

This morning we started the first leg to Zululand going towards Mozambique and Swaziland. The 27 cars (none newer than 1931) were dispatched in 20 second intervals, our cars carries number 19 and is labeled Switzerland. Always a big commotion when we tank up or drive through a village, people are waving and smiling, a very friendly lot the South Africans. Roads are excellent so far and we passed through farmland, eucalyptus and sugar plantations, all very sophisticated like in Europe! Got stopped by the police, was not speeding very much (Have probably mixed up the 80 km speed sign with miles), could hardly stop the car when they jumped out from behind the trees, I had to show my Colorado driving license, which did not match the English car, when they wanted to see the international license I waved my Swiss hat, we had a friendly chat about the tour and they waved us on, no fine.

Getting the cars ready for the official start at the Zimbali Lodge near Durban

Zululand takes its name from the Zulu people. The name belonged to an early chief and translates as 'haven'. The largest cultural group in South Africa, the Zulu are fiercely independent and proud nation, The Zulu are popularly known for their beehive-shaped homesteads, iklawa (a short spear often called an assegai), crafts and fear-inspiring dances. In January 1879, British troops invaded Zululand after the Zulu King Cetshwayo refused to meet the terms of the British ultimatum. After the war, Zululand was divided into six districts, and was formally declared a British possession on 19 May 1887. The territory was incorporated into Natal ten years later. In terms of South Africa's policy of creating bantustans, KwaZulu became self-governing in the year 1977, but unlike the Transkei, Ciskei and Bophuthatswana it did not opt for 'Independence'.

All cars arrived safely in the Ghost Mountain Inn near the Mkhuze game reserve, tomorrow we will do a boat ride and a safari in the afternoon...

Kurt

Bentleys leaving from a lunch in the bush

Tony & Rita Stickler having fun in a Bentley safari

In Zulu country we did a boat safari in the rain, did see some fish eagles, and a jeep safari where we saw a rhino with her young. The South African bush is much denser with higher grass and more trees than East Africa. For this reason one sees fewer animals but it is still beautiful to see a hyena crossing the road in front of us.

We have two mechanics following us in a Jeep and they help anybody who breaks down, I needed some help today as the car was running rich and burning too much petrol, we are well adjusted now and the car flies again. The other cars have minor problems as well, sticking breaks, starting motor problems and leaking fuel lines but no major issues yet.

Crossed into Swaziland, we all had to blow the horns to mark our entry, a very small country which got peaceful Independence in 1968 from the British, the country is run by a king and a Parliament, no infighting, very friendly people, absolutely no safety issues. We drove over a mountain pass in thick fog and rain, like in the Swiss alps and then were welcome at an Inn which just looked like a lodge in Bavaria, even the waitresses were dressed up in their local costumes/trachten, the food like at home, salami, pates, carrot cake/rueblitorte etc, they call Swaziland the Switzerland of South Africa. After every lunch the owner and the cook gets a round of applause for their efforts, we are encouraged to talk to people as they do not see many Europeans, the Bentleys are a sensation, we get as many as 20 people around the car when we stop and almost all the people speak English well, the schoolchildren are all dressed up in tidy uniforms like in England, we are generally surprised how well agriculture and the infrastructure is developed. The weather is slowly improving and today we actual had a warm dry day.

Roger (my co-driver) started to drive the heavy car today and did not crash the gearbox, so I can take some pictures from now on and relax a bit.

Soon more… Kurt

John White introducing the only white minister in Swaziland and the host of the Summerfields

Textile factory workers in Swaziland admiring a big Bentley

Bentleys in Swaziland

Before we left Swaziland we went for some handicraft and sticker shopping, we ended up in a textile factory where they had sewn a textile flag of Swaziland on my Bentley t-shirt, the women kindly turned away when I exposed my not so young upper body. The factory came to a standstill when we left as they all admired the car and waved us on.

We drove towards Dundee, a coal-mining town founded by the Scotts, and battlefield country. The Boers/Buren (Dutch settlers who came here some 400 years ago to supply the ships with food) fought the Brits in 1899 because they said they were here first.. We had morning tea at the museum and the ladies baked fruitcakes and sausage rolls. Most of the places in this area are run by the whites of Dutch descent.

From a motoring perspective we had a frustrating 24 hours. Three flat tires. Fortunately the teamwork between Roger and myself worked and it took us less than 15 min to unpack the car and change the wheels. The local shop charged us $4/CHF 5 for fixing a tube. The cause was rough wheels on the inside and hard driving.

After driving in 90/30 degree weather we arrived in the area of Drakensberg, a world heritage site. The surrounding mountains are 3300 meters high and borders Lesotho... The plan was to take the helicopter up to Mount Champagne for a drink there — but like in the Alps we have thick fog and heavy rain — the fire is going and we have time to relax...

One car has a radiator, which was split open at the seam, they are using the free day to dismantle the radiator from the car and drove it to a local shop which is 1.5 hours away for repair, so the emergency crew available to us does a good job which is comforting. Roger and I will put the top up if we get a bright spot as the forecast for tomorrow is still wet.

After having had the opportunity to talk to some white South Africans we sense that there is some considerable anxiety amongst them fearing that the country will deteriorate. A lot of black people have now important positions in government and industry, some due to connections rather than skill, crime and corruption is on the rise.

We on the other hand find the black South Africans friendly and non-aggressive. I guess like in any other country in the world living in the countryside is peaceful with mischief happening in the big cities.

Kurt & Roger

Motoring in the mountains

Karl Reitz with his service van

We left Drakensberg under heavy clouds and drove around Lesotho, which is behind the mountain range and stopped in Little Switzerland on a 2000m high mountain pass. After a cup of tea and scones we entered the Golden Gate Park with interesting Sandstone formations and tall golden grasses, very beautiful somewhat like Arizona. Then on the way to Bloemfontein we hit another downpour, the temperature dropped from 25 to 15 degrees centigrade within minutes, we treated the windshield with rain ex which gives better visibility than the old wipers.

Just outside Bloemfontein we visited the Steyn Family, the great grandfather was the last president in 1899 of the Orange Free State before the hostilities with the British broke out. The Brits finally won because they put the women and children in concentration camps so the returning Boer soldiers did not have anywhere to go. The Boers fought with German Mauser rifles, the money for the arms also came from Europe.

In 1947 Queen Elizabeth visited the Steyns here as well, as the sons served for the British in the first and second world wars, the current head of the family served in Angola, a very stubborn lot always prepared to fight. The family prepared a wonderful lunch, asparagus wrapped in bacon, gammon/ham, chicken cakes, chopped beef with mushrooms, potatoes and beans — a meal we have almost everyday.

The Bentley tour consists of 5 3-Litres, 12 4.5 litres, 7 6.5/Speed Sixes and 3 8-Litres. The nations participating are Belgium, America, New Zealand, Australia, England and a couple of Swiss. The accommodations have been average recently, our tour leader keeps us reminding that we are after all in Africa, but the W.O. folks do not complain much and seem to be able to handle the rough well, the South African wine which is excellent makes up for any inconveniences like falling off toilets and no showers!

Yesterday we travelled 500 km, with about 12 degrees and strong winds, from Bloemfontein to Graaff Reinet in the central highlands (1000 meters altitude), we wore two jackets on top of one another, warm hats and gloves. The scenery was very attractive with lots of mountains and outcroppings.

Today a free day, rain, rain, rain, all outside activities are cancelled until further notice...

The Ford's 4½ in the beautiful gardens of the Drosdty hotel in Graaff-Reinet

Having a bush dinner with the Morellis at the Shamwari Game Reserve

Lunch in style with Toon and Mieke Boogers, Roger Jaques and Kurt Furger

After the rain day in Graaff Reinet with museum visits we had a very busy day:

6.15 Roger gets up, does his business.

6.45 Kurt gets up and does his business, Roger goes for breakfast.

7.15 Roger comes back and does some more business and Kurt goes to breakfast.

8.15 Daily oil, water and tire check, loading the car.

8.30 Assembly and line up of cars in front of Dorsty Hotel for the tour photo shoot.

9.15 Photoshoot, Charles the professional photographer wanted all the Bentley people in the picture and all the local bystanders out which was quite a challenge.

9.30 Very cold morning two jackets required and departure to the Valley of Desolation, spectacular views of cathedral standstone formations, the rain just stopped and the mist was lifting, perfect for a 20 min nature walk.

10.30 Departure towards Cradock over a mountain pass, which was slightly snow covered (we are in early summer here and this never happened before).

12.30 Arrival in Cradock after a spectacular drive through mountain passes and more impressive rock formations and check in at Die Tuishuise Hotel. Die Tuishuise is a collection of restored houses in Gradock, in the Great Karoo. More than two dozen Tuishuise line Market Street up to the Victoria Manor, a grand old colonial hotel that welcomes you with hearty country fare.

13.30 Walked to a local restaurant and had lunch on the lawn, in t-shirts finally with the sun out. We enjoyed venison and warthog sausage with a bottle of white wine.

15.00 Departure to the game reserve in the Bentley, had to put the top up because there was an aggressive ostrich sighting, saw some animals, mainly mountain zebra and perfect scenery and lighting.

17.00 Filled up with petrol, did 150 miles and needed 75 litres, so we are getting about 3 to 4 km per liter!

17.15 Returned to our two roomed quarter called Fig and changed clothes.

18.00 Church event: "God Save Africa"

:: The vicar from the Dutch reformed church plays the organ.
:: Four black teenage girls dressed is their green and black uniforms sing for us. Three white people play the piano and sing for us as well.
:: Four well rounded black ladies with painted faces and colorful skirts, barefoot, sing and dance shaking their B & B's, they ended with the national anthem "God safe Africe" which is sung in Afrikaans and English.

A wonderful event!

19.00 We walked over from the church to the Victoria hotel where we were greeted with sherry, wonderful old furniture and picture galleries. We had dinner with Toon and Mieke Boogers (the Dutch couple we met in New Zealand), we had two bottles of red wine "Pinotage" with stuffed chicken and lamb.

21.30 Return to our bedroom, Rogers sorts out the maps and schedules for the following day and makes sure we get up on time in the morning.

22.00 All quiet.

The Americans Matt Sysak, Bob Brod and Richard Buckingham enjoying a lunch in Grahams town with some local friends

6.5 & 4.5 on the Indian Ocean

We spent two days at the Shamwari Game Reserve, which consists of 20.000 hectares (200 km of fencing) of indigenous vegetation that teemed with game before the onslaught of the Settlers in the 19th century.

Lion, leopard, elephant, rhino, buffalo and great variety of other game species graced the Eastern Cape before being destroyed to make way for agriculture. Thus, Shamwari was created to bring wildlife back to an area where it has been absent for so long, to an area steeped in history, ranging from dinosaur fossils, stone age tools, to 1820 settler history. In doing so, a vast amount of species was re-introduced since 1990.

The land is owned and financed by an individual, no state support! We enjoyed most the white and black rhino with their young, the lion family with male, female and two cubs, also we saw young giraffes. The accommodation was first class with game drives in the morning and late evening, we even had a bush dinner.

From a motoring perspective we had the left magneto only firing on one or two cylinders (both mags have been fully reconditioned for the trip), the cause of the problem was probably excessive moisture after the rains and poor contacts between the rotor and the six contact points, our service crew spent a couple of hours on it and we have full power again for our drive to Port Elizabeth.

As it was not recommended to visit old historical Port Elizabeth (all black now), we went to Grahams town in the mountains with two other cars from the US. This town is now an important educational center and is home to South African leading schools. The British started it in 1850 and today it has some 18000 students, 40% white - 60% black and the cost per year is $15000.00. The campus looks exactly like the old English schools with brick buildings.

One of our party knew some people in town so we got a private tour and had a good pasta lunch. This part of the country and towards Capetown (Western Cape) is very beautiful with lots of sandy beaches and more tropical vegetation.

Today we drove some 330 km from Port Elizabeth to Knysna, the highlight was a couple of mountain passes where I tried to outrun a 4.5 litre, but he kept in tow (he is a seasoned race car driver) and we cornered with tires squeaking and both got an adrenaline rush, Roger was good and did not scream. Stopped for Crayfish on the way (like lobster but without the claws) and are now settled in bungalows overseeing an outlet from the Indian Ocean and the weather is perfect.

We are having a good time!

Knysna where we stayed a couple of days is a fishing and coastal town/resort along the Garden Road surrounded by lush forests of sub tropical trees. The lagoon is home to the endangered Knysna seahorse and many birds species. We had fresh oysters and fish (did not get sick for a change) for lunch and took a ride along the coast and found a garage with a skilled mechanic who came from Mozambique (we spoke some Portuguese), he was able to fix our handbrake problem we had since we picked the car up in Durban (bent cable devices due to too hard pulling by the dock workers). Also met some Swiss folks who emigrated to Cape Town as they can live on the AHV/Social Security. In the evening we took a paddle steamer across the lagoon to the Indian Ocean to see the sunset. The hotel was the most charming yet with bungalows overlooking the blue waters. We shared the cottage with another couple and when Heather (my wife) phoned a lady picked up, I had some explaining to do...

Lord Milner Hotel with its ornate cast ironwork

Yesterday we had driven about 20 km early in the morning and all of sudden the windscreen was fogged up — with a blue sky. The cause — a missing radiator cap! We drove back to where we started in the hope to find the cap on the road, but no luck — and back to the mechanic from Mozambique (who gave me a present the first time, a South African AA badge), we fixed the problem with a gear boot (rubber device with a hole), a bystander provided us with a champagne cork to plug the hole on top, so now we have the African version of a radiator cap — admired by all the Bentley colleagues as it is unique! (We don't know what happened, stolen or not put on tightly by my dear co-driver Roger?). After this mishap we drove another 400 km through the little Karoo (dry country) from George to Outdoorn over the Quetina Pass which was built by Italian prisoners of war between 1943 and l951. Outsdoorn was once the Ostrich capital of the world (for exporting feathers), between 1890 and 1914 they had 750.000 ostriches and the wealthy farmers built palatial homes, which are still intact today.

Cocktail hour at Lord Milner Hotel in Matjiesfontein

Last night we stayed an Matjesfontein a charming Victorian village on the railway halt between J'burg and Cape Town. The famous Millner Hotel was built in the early days of the South African wars and was used as a hospital and later used by British officers who had 20.000 troops there. The hotel is still intact with a wonderful long bar, ironworks and towers.

Today drove from M'fontein to Montague over another pass into the Napa Valley/Wallis of South Africa, they grow apricots, peaches and nectarine as well as muscat grapes. Montague is another well preserved agricultural Victorian village. We had tea at the main hotel on the lawn. The hotel is owned by "Sepp" another Swiss fellow, he was waiting by the car as we left his place, he noticed the Swiss flag on the car! We then drove over to Waenhuiskrans (all Dutch names) through 2 hours of wheat fields and are now staying at a wonderful beach hotel about 100 km away from Cape Town.

Life is good... Kurt

Fitting an African radiator cap, hole was plugged with a champagne cork

Franschhoek the wine making valley

The last day of motoring was stressful as the car overheated due to a loose ground wire — battery not charging and a broken wire on the fan switch — no electrical fan. So the morning tea break at a private residence turned into a physical challenge. 35 degrees and laying for 1/2 hour under the dashboard on back with the feet up in the air and over the seats. The service crew guided me through all the checks and fixes. At the following petrol stops it was Roger's turn for a work out. As the car would not start due to low battery the car had to be pushed three times with the help of locals as the car was too heavy for one person.

We drove from the coastal Arniston Resort to Franschhoek in the mountains where the 207 French Huguenots arrived in 1688; they had fled France because of religious persecutions. They brought with them their extensive knowledge and skill of wine making and the fertile Frankschhoek Valley became one of the earliest wine producing regions of the Cape. We had an excellent lunch at the Hotel Chamonix under huge oak trees, a fillet minute with a very nice tasting Chardonnay.

In the late afternoon we arrived in Kapstadt/Capetown after some 4500 km and 1500 litres of petrol totally exhausted from the heat and work outs, we only had 30 min to change and jump into the bus which took us to the cable car which went up to the table mountain (1000 meters above sea level). During the trip the car rotates through 360 degrees, providing passengers with a superb view of the city, the sweep of table bay, robben island, the table mountain chain as well as the constructions site for the 2010 football world championship (Sepp Blatter repaying his dues for getting the African votes for Fiva president).

Capetown developed around the refreshment station at the foot of table mountain by the Dutch East India Company in 1652. The company gardens were used to supply passing ships with fresh produce, and between 1692 and 1783 it was developed into a world famous botanical garden. The city is divided up into various districts including the Malay and the district museum Chronicles the forced removal of 60000 people from 1966 to 1982 from other areas. One can see old slave quarters turned into the Supreme Court and collections of Dutch and Flemish masters. A very cosmopolitan city, with the young people hopping around the waterfront some showing off their BMWs, Mercedes and Aston Martins. The standard of living is very high and the quality of service in the hotels and restaurants exceptional.

Final words in a couple of days.

Capetown with Table mountain in the background

The cape was first discovered in 1420 by Bartholomew Diaz, the Portuguese spice trader. Vasco da Gama came 20 years later and developed the first map of Africa. As the cape was half way between India and Europe the East India Company developed a trading post here. The Dutch eventually colonized the cape and in 1820 the British took over... In 1954 South Africa became an independent State. The white only vote and white only having access to good education and skilled jobs ended in 1994 when Nelson Mandela was released from prison. Today the private and public schools are mixed, the best players make the cricket team and there is equal opportunity to go to university. When filling jobs 7 colored and three white people have to be interviewed, a kind of a quota system to bring the non-whites into the middle class. The bigger issue now is the gap between rich and poor and the ghettos in the big cities where drug gangs rule.

Last Sunday we toured the cape in the back of the Boogers 4.5 Litre, visited a colony of penguins (1600 km to the Antarctica) as the waters are a cool 15 degrees. We were introduced by our host (who lives here) to their neighbours, a Swiss couple who live in the fashionable Camps Bay with its palm lined beach and lively atmosphere. The twelve apostles (stone formations in the sea) and table mountain/Tafelberg ravines and buttresses form an impressive backdrop. The Swiss couple invited us to their house for a cappuccino and espresso. For the farewell dinner we ordered an iron and pressed trousers and shirts to look halfway respectable, as we did not have jackets as requested! After 10 minutes most of the guys took off their jackets anyway and we were good company again.

The highlights of the tour were:
:: The Shamwari lodge game reserve with the super lodge and wildlife - the friendly people in Swaziland with the very alpine scenery
:: Capetown with the Tafelberg/Table mountain and its beaches

Saying goodbye to our cars at the docks in Capetown

The organization was perfect. John and Frederike White (ex British army officer) have driven the road beforehand and pointed out all the turns with landmarks before and after, so it was impossible to get lost for long. Even speed bumps and radar traps were mentioned on the daily schedule. Nobody got a ticket and the Bentley Drivers Club and John's reputation are intact. He now plans to organize a last tour for Silver Ghosts in 2009.

The Monday morning we drove the car to the dock directly into the container # 15 marked Furger, the car will arrive in Tilbury Nov. 30. We took a final tour o f Capetown in a minibus and saw all the must see historical sites like forts, churches, district 6 (segregation races) and monuments.

We are leaving South Africa with very good memories and are now looking forward to see our beloved wives.

Kurt & Roger