Last day of this fantastic tour, this morning we left Kasane, said goodbye to our bikes and headed to Victoria falls by bus. Entering Zimbabwe took us some time for getting the visas, but we reached our hotel in time for lunch and then, after relaxing a bit, we finally went to see the biggest waterfall in the world! Pictures don't do justice to this monument made by nature! We came all the way up from Cape Town, through an amazing variety of landscapes, from the coast to the desert to the savannah, and now the rain forest around the waterfall. Africa amazed our senses! Thank you to everybody, a fantastic group of great riders from many different countries, see you hopefully again on another Edelweiss tour!

Today beer is allowed for lunch

"This is a wildlife area, you are stopping here at your own risk". This was the warning sign that we could see everywhere along the road today! So we stopped just for a few pictures and for lunch, and reached Kasane in time for the boat safari in the Chobe National Park! Pictures don't do justice to this paradise! Today we had to leave our bikes after more than four thousand kilometres through Southern Africa, but the tour is not over... tomorrow we will see one of the wonders of the world, so stay tuned!

Not many alternatives, if one wants to go from Maun to Nata there is only one possible road, long and straight! The good thing was that the road had been maintained and there were finally not many potholes! And another good thing was the lunch spot, a wonderful lodge surrounded by huge baobab trees! After reaching Nata, time for checking in and for a little break and then some of us went to the "Bird Sanctuary" for the last off-road opportunity of this tour!

The day that many of us have been waiting for has finally arrived, today we went for a long jeep tour in the Okavango Delta! Since there is not much water this year, we were afraid not to see many animals, but actually we saw sooo many! Seeing elephants, giraffes, zebras, lions, cheetas and many others in their environment is something really amazing! It was a long day, we left at 6am and came back at 6pm, all tired but very happy! Enjoy the pictures!

Another long and straight stretch of road in Botswana! Finally we are in Maun, the gateway to the Okavango delta. We reached our lodge in time for lunch and, in the afternoon, some of us went on a scenic flight to see this nature wonder from above! We are spending two nights here, and tomorrow we are going for a jeep safari, everybody is looking forward to that!

Time to head to Botswana, today a long "transfer of around 530 kilometres... so there was not much time for pictures! We spent most of the day on the "trans Kalahari highway", taking extra care for animals on the side of the road, and came to Ghabnzi at around 5pm. Stay tuned!

Two options for today: to go straight to Windhoek, the capital city of the country, and relax for the whole afternoon... or to make a detour and go to see also the Spitzkoppe, one of Namibia's most beautiful landmarks (adding around 60 km of dust and gravel!). So we split the group in two and everybody made it safely to Windhoek and enjoyed a great dinner in the hotel!

Another long gravel section, passing through the beautiful areas of the Gaub canyon and the Kuiseb canyon, and fortunately without having to face a strong wind, took us back to the Atlantic coast! Tonight we sleep in Swakopmund, a former german colony... where of course we could taste good beer for dinner in an authentic german restaurant!

D&G (dust and gravel)

Today our bikes could rest, and we went on a jeep safari to see one of the most beautiful spots of Namibia, the enchanting area of Sossusvlei with its huge sand dunes! The day started very early, pick-up time at 6:30 am, so we could enjoy the sunrise in the desert. After a walk to the deadvlei, a well deserved picnic and then we headed to the Sesriem canyon before coming back to our lodge. Finally a relaxing afternoon!

Small and big dunes

A very quiet and relaxing day until lunch time in Maltahoehe, then Africa showed us its wild beauty and also gave us a taste of its equally wild environment! We could luckily enjoy the wonderful landscapes around the Tasrishoogte pass and then a quite strong wind lowered a lot our pace for the last 100 kilometres. Moreover, the C19 road is being maintained right now, so unfortunately it was not in its best shape, but that's part of the adventure! Everybody made it safely to the Namib Naukluft National Park, one of the biggest national parks in Africa, and we are going to spend two nights here. Stay tuned!

Road maintenance... why did you not pass by a few days earlier?

Heading northward in Namibia! Today we left Keetmanshoop and, after visiting the very interesting Giant's Playground and Quivertree forest, the main road took us quite quickly to Mariental, where we could have lunch before going to see Hardap Dam, the country's biggest dam that is a very important water reservoir in this harsh region (we are in the Kalahari desert!). This desert is famous also for its red sand, and of course we had to face it before reaching our fantastic lodge! Some time to relax, watching animals passing by, and a delicious dinner was ready for us!

Leaving our lodge, we quickly reached Fish River Canyon, where we spent almost more than one hour, looking for the best pictures spots! Our next stop was at the Canyon Roadhouse, where we had an early lunch and then continued to the Naute dam, where a "surprise" (look at the pictures!) was waiting for us! We reached Keetmanshoop in time to relax before dinner, another great day!

Time to enter Namibia! Leaving Springbok, we used to N7 (Cape-Namibia route) to reach the border, and after some paperwork to "import" the bikes into Namibia, we were ready to hit the gravel! Today the first 130 km (more or less) of dusty roads, first to the hotsprings in Ai-Ais and then finally we reached our beautiful lodge, hidden between huge rocks... what a place! Time for a quick shower and then we admired together the magnificent sunset show in the desert!

What a fog when we woke up this morning, and what a cold day! But, after a good breakfast, the fog started to disappear and the temperature started rising! We took a wonderful backroad (on gravel, of course!) until Clanwilliam and then, after the coffee break, went to admire thebig waves of the Atlantic crushing into the coast in Lambertsbaai. Another beautiful gravel road took us then to Vredendal, where we had lunch before finally using the highway for the last 25o kilometres. A long day, but a big step towards Namibia!

After some days of winter, today we left Cape Town under a clear blue sky, what a perfect way to start our tour! Our first stop was at Bloubergstrand for some pictures, and then beautiful backroads took us to Paarl, where we visited the Afrikaans Language Monument and had a coffee break. The twisty Bains Kloof pass was a great apetizer before having lunch in Ceres! After that, the first "challenge" was awaiting us, more than 20 km of gravel to reach the Middelbergpass at an altitude of around 1000 metres. We reached Citrusdal with big smiles on our faces!

There was probably some rain yesterday...

The Adventure Big Five is about to begin, Tour Guides Dieter and Domenico are in Cape Town organizing the welcome briefing and the motorcycles handover, but there is also time for some sightseeing together with Luca, who also reached this wonderful city a few days before the tour begins. So, after taking a look around, of course we also went to the Cape of Good Hope!