‘It was magical and debilitating’

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“’How good of you to go!’ people sometimes said when we told them that we were going to travel through southern Africa with our family. “Many people dream of this, but you just do it!”

But once we moved around there with our two mega-small children, we sometimes thought: what are we doing? It was a huge adventure, a great experience for us as a family, but certainly not always easy. Still, I wouldn’t have wanted to miss it all for the world, because we really followed our dream.

“We wanted to spend more time together and experience our family more consciously”

Our goal for this trip was clear: we want to spend more time together and experience our family more consciously. So we both quit our regular jobs and bought a car in Namibia through Facebook. We had it converted there, complete with roof tent and solar panels, so that it would be perfect for the four of us. With that car we could last for a long time: camping in Africa is not expensive.

Tour

We had little planned, so the journey was shaped by the conditions and the quality of the roads along the way, but also by the people we encountered. For example, we decided to skip Zimbabwe on the way, because it turned out to be not safe enough. We also did not get our visa extended for South Africa, so we decided to go to Mozambique. There people said to us: ‘Malawi is beautiful’, and we decided to drive there.

“Then someone would say, for example: “Malawi is beautiful”, and then we decided to drive there”

In Malawi we met a family that we spent two weeks with. The moment we said goodbye because they drove on to Tanzania, it suddenly started to rain. ‘This isn’t a goodbye. Let’s go to Tanzania!‘ exclaimed Pim. And off we went again, together with that family through Tanzania, towards Zanzibar.

Pearl white sand beaches

On the way we saw all kinds of nature passing by. On the island of Zanzibar the coast was very beautiful, but we also drove over vast salt pans in Botswana and through safari areas and endless deserts with local nomad tribes in the north of Namibia.

The beach of Mozambique was a huge surprise. I remember from my travels in the past that I often found the beaches that passed for ‘bounty beach’ a bit disappointing: too crowded, a bit dirty. But Mozambique – contrary to my expectations – turned out to be such a paradise, with palm trees, pearly white sandy beaches and local fishermen. Often we could camp on the beach for a few euros, with front-row view of dolphins in the sea. “Where have we ended up now?” we said to each other. “This is so fat!”

The warm heart of Africa

We always heard the cliché about Malawi that the country is ‘the warm heart of Africa’, and it really is: the people there were always there for us. While it is a super poor country and we regularly had to look for a gas station where they still had fuel. At one point we hadn’t seen a supermarket in three weeks. After a two-hour detour, we finally found one, but it was completely empty except for two tomatoes and an onion.

Yet we always managed to get by: we always found a pump with diesel on time, we often bought vegetables at roadside stalls, people slaughtered a chicken on the spot when we asked for meat and we always had flour and pasta with us. At home I could already be disappointed when the organic garlic is gone, but here I learned that we really don’t need that much. The people there have nothing, on the way we often gave away clothes or other things that we could spare. By the time we got back to South Africa our suitcases were almost empty.

Among the wild animals

We have experienced enough exciting moments, such as in Botswana, where we in the middle of nowhere camped among the wild animals. The moment we saw hyenas and elephants in front of the car, we decided to lie down in the roof tent; after all, animals cannot climb stairs.

“When we saw wild animals in front of the car, we decided to sleep in the roof tent’”

When I quickly wanted to pee behind the tent, I heard a huge lion roar three meters away. I jumped into the tent with my underpants on my ankles. At that moment I realized: we are all alone here, without coverage. Still, it never really felt dangerous; those wild beasts would rather take a deer than a human.

Intense togetherness

Before planning this trip, it sometimes felt like we were on a set path: getting married, having kids, a job, a car, a house, a bigger car, and so on. Do we really want this, we wondered. We missed the balance, we didn’t want to be in the car at half past six every day and pick up the kids late at night.

The months in Africa did change us: we quit our regular jobs to spend more time together. And we are more aware of the value of money. I am not a different person, I still love shopping, but I no longer feel the need to stock up on three different wraps.

The journey was certainly not always easy and I am glad that the children can now visit grandpa and grandma again. Along the way I once sighed that I would have five hundred euros left for an hour of babysitting. But it was precisely that intense togetherness that was also cool. I recently told a friend: it was magical and debilitating. It was really both.”

Read also – On safari in South Africa with children: ‘So proud that I could show them this’ >

Doing

Tribe visit In Northern Namibia we went to Opuwo, after which we visited the Himba tribe, a nomadic desert people. Very impressive. We also saw desert elephants and giraffes. Find a local guide if you want to meet the Himba, it is rude to just enter their village.

Roof tent We couldn’t have done a trip like this without our 4×4: it took us everywhere and we slept wonderfully in our roof tent. We now rent it to families who also want to travel through Africa. Those interested can look at: offroaddutchies.com

Wild The Kruger Park is so large and so diverse in flora, fauna and wildlife. For us, this remains the wildlife park of Africa. krugerpark.co.za

To eat

Simmering pot We cooked a lot ourselves and also learned new dishes from the people we met. Such as potjie, a stew with meat and vegetables, prepared in a pot on the fire. A good potjie simmers for at least four hours and is eaten with corn porridge or rice.

Fire bread Braai sandwiches are actually traditional sandwiches with onion and tomato. But the smell of the fire on which you prepare it makes these braai sandwiches real camping classics. Or the next day in the lunch boxes as so-called padkoslunch for the road.

To sleep

Priceless During this trip we mainly camped in the wild. For example, we once stood on a salt pan in Botswana, but we also stood very nicely in Namibia and Zambia. Free, but priceless.

Luxury We mainly slept in our roof tent, but sometimes we took an overnight stay. For example, in a house with a swimming pool in the safari capital of South Africa: Hoedspruit. We know it well, because with our company we take care of the rental. homesofafrica.com

Beach house Indigo Blue in Langebaan is a wonderful beach house, literally on the beach. This fantastic little place was one of the surprises of our trip. airbnb.nl/rooms/2311676

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