We even went out for dancing with Xabine and her husband in one of the most famous Salsa clubs Tin Tin Deo in town. Not only could we try to show off what we learned in our Salsa class in Germany the year before, but it was also a place for professional Salsa dancers to really show off their skills. It was impressive!

Besides this we enjoyed the time with the family there and got also to know the whole bunch of kids of her other cousin Claudia, which was a lot of fun. We even dared to try and take a family picture with all of them, but after several tries we gave up. They just have too much energy to stay still :). After 3 days we left for our actual road trip with uncle Ciro. First we went south to see Popayan a lovely town with an intact historical center. After strolling around a bit we left earlier as planned, because the police had warned us that the main road back towards Cali might be blocked due to a massive strike of the local people.

So we made our way back towards Cali with the plan to just pass by and go further north and spent the night at cousin Claudia’s Finca. Traveling on the Colombian roads by car is somehow exciting and partly scary. At first it goes constantly up and down and it is curvy like hell when we went across the mountains. Second not all traffic participants stick to the rules we know from Europe So it took us some time to relax in the car and get used to the style of driving that would make up most part of the next few days. We arrived in at the Finca in the evening when it was already dark. When we woke up the next morning fully recovered, we were stunned by the view. The Finca is situated at Lake Calima and you have a perfect view of the lake from the terrace and living room!

As we did not have so much time, we drove on directly after getting up. We drove further north to visit the Cafetero zone, which is well known for their coffee plantations. The drive through the mountains and past the coffee and fruit plantations was just beautiful. In Salento we stopped to have a stroll in a lovely back leaned coffee town and enjoyed a delicious cup of coffee. The landscape there is beautifully green and covered with banana and coffee plants as far as you can look.

The next day we started early to visit a local coffee producer in the region around Armenia. We learned how the coffee is farmed and the process of coffee making from the beans into the cup. It was really interesting and we got to see a lot of beautiful tropical birds along the way. We of course took the chance to dress up in the local „Campesino“ clothes and try our luck at picking coffee beans. What do you think, we don’t look to bad, or?!

Our next stop was Medellin were we met more family: Natalie’s aunt Carol and more of her cousins. Her cousin Adriana and uncle Ciro showed us around. Medellin is the second largest city in Colombia. With its surrounding area that includes nine other cities, the metropolitan area of Medellin is the second-largest urban agglomeration in Colombia in terms of population and economy, with more than 3.5 million people. There are a few places in Medellin from where you have a great view over the city and it is really amazing how it has expanded and grown within the boundaries of the Andes.

We also found some time to prepare our return to normal life as we used the excellent shopping opportunities to buy some clothes and souvenirs. We both had not bought any clothes for 2 years except the functional clothes for the trip. It was great fun and Medellin is the destination for it. Natalie is so hot in her freshly bought jeans ;).The other highlight was a family organized cooking class with her aunt Carol. She invited us into her house one morning and taught me and Natalie how to cook a proper Colombian Sancocho.

We left family and Medellin after 4 days towards Santa Marta at the Caribbean Sea. A big thanks to all of them for their time and passion to show us around. In particular to uncle Ciro who took a couple of days off to drive with us up to Medellin.

Our last part of the world trip should bring us to the northern end of South America. The wild and rough peninsula La Guajira! From Santa Marta we took 4 more different buses and collectivos and reached Cabo de la Vela in the evening after more than 20 hours on the road again. It is so far north and there is not much tourism there yet, that there are not direct connections to get there. As we were going there it somehow crossed my mind that we closed the circle there.

We had started our last big section of the world trip in the very south end of South America in Ushuaia in Argentina and now after countless kilometers and hours in the bus it would end on the other side of the continent in Cabo de la Vela in Colombia. We had not only traveled around the world, we also had traveled South America almost completely by bus from South to North. I felt satisfied because of all the amazing things we had done and seen, but also a bit sad that it would be ending so soon.

Cabo itself is a place where there is not much to do except eating fresh and tasty lobster or enjoying a good book and the great view at the aquamarine blue caribbean sea from your hammock right on the beach. So we did! We even slept in our hammocks only sheltered by a simple wooden roof on the beach. I have to say it is defenitly more romantic in films and books at it is in reality without being used to it. But thanks to our uncounted nights in buses, tents, at the airport on benches etc we mastered this as well :).

We left Guajira one day earlier as planned though, because the wind, which comes from the desert inland, was unusually strong bringing the sand everywhere. So the way back through the desert was actually our last real adventure. Our driver picked us up in his 20 year old Dodge pickup truck falling almost apart with 500.000 miles on the clock. At some point our driver even started to hold the front console to prevent it from breaking loose. Not to mention the windshield, which looked like it is going to break any minute. Luckily our hostel had reserved us the only two front seats. All the other passengers had to sit on the 2 benches on the back of the truck.

The sand storm which haunted us constantly in waves reminded me of documentaries I had watched about the Sahara, but this was just Colombia. I do not know how the other passengers survived the 2 hours in the open back of the truck. But even we ate tons of dust in the cabin as our driver left both side windows open ;). Even better, from time to time our driver lost track, because the visibility was close to zero :). At times we were just driving to a thick cloud of dust not seeing at all where we were going! Somehow we made it through the dusty desert and a couple of buses and collectivos later we finally reached the National Park Tyrona in the early evening.

We stayed there for one night in a hammock again. Quite different to La Guajira, Tayrona is the opposite of a desert landscape. Tropical beaches lined the coast lines with many secluded little beaches and massive boulders everywhere. It was a little bit like the caribbean version of the Wilsons Promontery National Park in Australia. It was so peaceful and beautiful there! There are lots of opportunities to camp or sleep in hammocks.

As it stretches almost all the way from Cartagena to La Guajira, it is a perfect place to spend more time here. Unfortunately we only had 1 night and 2 days, but next time we will come again we will spend more time here. For our way back we hired 2 horses and a guide and rode back to the main gate through the thick jungle. My first horse ride, as an adult ever, and for Natalie the fulfillment of one of her wishes for the world trip :).

In the evening we traveled from Santa Marta further south the coast the our last destination in Colombia, the most beautiful city in the Caribbean: Cartagena! Natalie had chosen a nice hotel with a double room. Somehow at the end of our travel we both did not like to go into dorm rooms anymore. In Cartagena we celebrated the end of our epic trip with amazing seafood and some cocktails and enjoyed the charming colonial center.

It is still surrounded by the massive wall the Spaniards had built back in the 16th century as an answer to the attack of the legendary pirate Sir Francis Drake, who had almost destroyed the city in his hunt for gold. We also did a day trip to some surrounding beaches, but instantly missed the peaceful atmosphere of Tayrona. As a main tourist destination for locals and Americans, the beautiful beaches here are crowded with people selling stuff and hundreds of plastic blue and red sun covers that ruin the romantic beach view, at least for us.

Instead we then rather went back to the city and enjoyed our last Colombian jugos and delicious seafood, while the city was full of life and excitement. All over the historic centre the annual film festival was taking place and people were enjoying free open-air cinema everywhere. We left Cartagena, Columbia and the continent of South America on the 15th of March after 4 incredible months in South America and almost 12 month since we had started our world trip. Now our journey home would start, stopping first in New York to visit Natalie’s brother and his family.

i

Lieber Opa Täve,

wir wünschen Dir von Herzen alles Liebe und Gute zum 90ten Geburtstag! Wir sind gerade zurück auf dem Festland. Wir haben an deinem Geburtstag auf den Galapagos Inseln am Strand gesessen und an Dich gedacht.

90 Jahre zu werden ist eine Meisterleistung und dabei noch so gut auszusehen erst recht! Wir bewundern Dich für dein bewegtes Leben und wünschen Dir auch weiterhin viel Gesundheit und Lebensfreude. Wir freuen uns Dich bald wiederzusehen.

Alles Liebe,

Mathias und Natalie

The reduction in altitude at this part of the continent is more than exciting and brought us from 3400 m in Cuzco to less than 200 m altitude over sea level in Puerto Maldonado. From there the River Madre de Dios (and later the Amazon) has still more than 2000 km to go to its final ending in the Atlantic Ocean. This makes an average descent of not even ten cm per one km riverbed. But enough with number crunching, we both were pretty excited and full of hope to see the unique wildlife over there. As with some other places in South America we were here on recommendation of our dear friend Wulfi, a big thanks again to him at this point.

We left the super tiny airport through the main door and were directly welcomed by a friendly smiling young man who turned out to be our guide Paolo for the next 4 days. He was born in Puerto Maldonado and had spent a lot of time in the jungle since he was a kid. We instantly liked this humble guy as he introduced himself and gave us a short wrap up of the next hours.

Our home for 3 nights and 4 day would be the Sandoval Lake Lodge located on the high shore of the equally named Sandoval Lake about 1 hour down the river, 2 hours by foot through the jungle and finally another hour per paddle boat through the flooded forest and across the lake.

We enjoyed our lunch package from Paolo, the fresh air around our nose, the sun and the view from the boat while we were shipped down the Madre de Dios river over to the trail head. Paolo told us that we were actually the only guests in the lodge, only the next evening 5 Americans would make their way to the lodge as well, but they would have their own guide, which left us again in the unbelievable position to have a guide just for the two of us :).

When we asked why it was so quiet at the lodge, Paolo told us that during rain season only a few brave guests would make their way there, as it could be rainy all day which would make trips more difficult and also reduce the chance to spot the full range of animals as they almost humanlike would hide and try to avoid to get soaked :).

By now we three were hopeful as the weather had been bad the entire week before and we just hoped that Petrus would run out of water for the next days or would reduce the amount of rain because we are just nice people :).

At the trailhead we got to know one of the local porters. He would carry our duffel bags to the lodge, while we would, almost Inka trial like, have to carry only our daypacks. His name was Juan Carlos and he belongs to the local family which lives around the lake since a long time. Juan Carlos has not only a proud name. He also would play a major roles within our upcoming jungle and lake trips.

At the trailhead we put on our rubber boots, got a hiking stick and started to make our way into the jungle. We realized instantly why. The mud on the trail was at some parts more than knee dept and we followed Paolo as close as possible in order to keep at the surface. We took it slow as our group was so small and encountered the first 2 out of  6 different monkey species that live in that part. Furthermore the muddy trail attracted a lot of amazing butterflies in all different sizes and colors. Unfortunately they were too quick for the camera and we only managed to take a picture of one. Luckily, the leaf ants that we saw were easy to photograph.

The highlight at the end was our trip with the paddle boat. First we passed a small channel through the thick all year round flooded forest, which led us directly into the Sandoval Lake from where we crossed over to the lodge. Paolo told us the lake was a cut of meander from the main river. It was created by a flood during rain season and provides home and food to many birds, fishes, insects, reptiles and mammals for some hundred years. In the end the lake will die at some point when it is filled up with too much dead organic material and turn into a swamp.

Finally we reached the lodge in the late afternoon. It seemed more than spacious for the two of us (it offers space for 65 guests) . The high palm leaf covered roof and the absence of concrete outer walls created a somehow airy atmosphere. There was a constant fresh air flow around the house only filtered by the almost invisible anti mosquito mesh.

But the best place inside was without a doubt the hammock area with view over the lake where we would spend our siesta time after lunch until 4:30 pm.

After we had settled down and the day as turned into night before dinner, we went for a night walk with Paolo. Equipped with headlights and torch we chased the night active section of the wildlife around our lodge. Within a few minutes Paolo found us huge and hairy tarantulas, an impressive chicken spider, which is called that way as it can eat prey up to the size of a small chicken.

Also impressive was a mantis and her groom on a date of a leaf. Most probably he was waiting for dinner and did not know that he was actually the main course for her. Some big eyed night monkeys hushed through the trees around us, which we got told is the only night active monkey species on earth. In the strong light of our torches bats took advantage of the high concentration of flying insects and shot like stealth aircrafts around our heads. Even a little frog showed up to say hello :).

When we went to bed afterwards, we slept literally in the jungle, even though we had a nice room and a comfortable double bed. With almost no outer walls every single noise of even the smallest creature in the forest could be heard. I was totally fine with that while Natalie plugged in her earplugs to escape the noisiness. For me it was more like a well trained orchestra. It made me feel relaxed and I fell asleep not long after we had stretched out.

The next day started early at 4:30 am. We had some tea and coffee and then left with Paolo and Juan Charlos to go onto the lake with a paddle boat. Our goal was to find the giant otters out there. When we had discussed the offers from several lodges in the Amazon before, a good chance to spot these beautiful and unique animals was one of our high selection criteria.

We paddled along the shoreline of the lake. Everything was touched in the warm morning light and the lake around us was so peaceful, it looked like a mirror. But the otters were not around, at least not in the part which we overlooked. Instead we saw the Hoaxin again. A strange sounding and looking bird, spread around the branches around the lake.

We already saw him the day before. Its very bad flying skills are credited to heavy bones and body. It can only flatter a few meters from branch to branch. When it does so, it sounds like it suffers from a heavy asthma attack. Because of this it is also called asthma bird. Its third nickname is stink bird. It feeds only on leaves and three stomachs are needed to cultivate some sort of bacteria which turn the cellulose into something digestionable. This makes its meat, let’s say it pretty, not really best tasting for us. I would say this is probably the main reason why this unique bird is luckily on earth since a couple of million years :). It is the most ancient bird in the Amazon. A real living fossil!

We also got very close to many other water birds of the lake. The snakebird, (a kind of a cormorant), the huge Tiger heron and the Green Kingfisher came along. When we went back for breakfast the colorful red and blue Macaws had finally started into their day and flew in pairs or families across the lake to get some breakfast. They are so beautiful and elegant. For Natalie and me this is somehow the first picture which comes into mind when we think about the Amazon. And their bird call would accompany us throughout the day. Unfortunately it was very difficult to take a picture of them, as they were so high up in the trees most of the time. We only have one that shows two red and blue Macaws just before they fly away.

After breakfast we had a day jungle walk with Paolo. He explained us that many people in that region live of Brazil Nuts collection, which can not be cultivated and only grow wild in the jungle. The simple reason for that is that they depend on bees which live mainly of the nectar of some tree orchids. They transmit the pollen from the big Brazil Nut trees actually just by accident, but without them the Brazil nut tree would never have nuts.

He also told us that he works in this business when there is no guiding job for him. He would leave to collect these nuts after we left to earn some money on his off-days during the low season. We asked him a thousand questions about the why and how and we got first hand answers from someone who does this since many years. He would leave for a couple of weeks to work for a landowner who owns the Brazil Nut trees somewhere in the Amazon.

It is a very hard and dangerous job as the heavy nuts fall down from a reasonable height. The nuts scattered around the tree attract all kind of mammals which feed on these nuts and these attract a bunch of extremely poisonous snakes like for example the 5m Bushmaster snake. Many collectors are bitten every year and for some it is just a verdict to death.

In a second step the collectors have to open the Brazil nut fruit with their machete to get the nuts. While doing so, it is not uncommon that they cut off parts or complete fingers when they are too exhausted or unfocused. I tried myself on one of the nuts we found that day. It took me14 minutes and I was pretty exhausted at the end. Paolo needs only 3 minutes.

If you are still not convinced that this might be your future dream job, think about camping in the jungle for a couple of weeks with Malaria and some other jungle fevers waiting around the next tree and a salary of 20 Soles per collected 100 kg bag (which has to be carried back on your shoulder from the jungle camp to the landowner). A strong and trained collector can make 1,5 bags per day. This leaves him a daily salary of around 7 EUR!!! Paolo told as further that in one season he did not even get paid for two months work by the landowner. There is no written contract for this kind of work and sometimes they just disappear when it comes to pay the salary. We both have the greatest respect for him and his colleagues! Next time you eat this nut around Christmas time, think about the work that has gone into collecting these!

On our way back Paolo showed us a strange looking tree. With sort of legs instead of classic routs, my first thought was this tree looks kind of mobile. And unbelievable but true, it is named ‘walking tree’! Why? Because it is able to leave its position in the forest when it has a lack of nutritious soil or sun. It does so, not very fast, by growing new “legs” in the favorite direction and cutting of “legs” on the opposite side. Pretty clever, he :)?

After lunch and siesta time in our hammocks we went for a sunset paddle boat ride with Paolo. The main goal again was to find the otters, but it was clear pretty fast that they were still not around. I was happy nevertheless, because Juan Charlos absence allowed me to take over the paddle :).  So I shoveled us over the lake into a beautiful beginning sunset.

Instead of the otters, Paulo found us a sloth peacefully hanging from one of the trees. And even better, a Tucan then showed up. The same as everybody in Germany knows from Haribo Tropical Mix. It showed its massive bill and sang his bird song while sitting not far from us at the top of a tree. How amazing :)! I could not believe it. Since we had been in South Africa and had seen a couple of Hornbills there, we were in love with these long bill birds.

The sunset was spectacular in as well. The blood red fire ball sank down and disappeared behind the flooded forest on the other end of the lake. The sky with some wild scattered clouds reflected all kinds of red and violet colors until it was almost dark. Paolo took out his torch and started to look for some reflecting eyes in the lake which would belong to the largest predator in the lake the Black Caiman. These guys grow all their life and there are specimens with reach a total length of up to 6m.

He found us Coco, which usually hangs around the mooring of the lodge. Coco is only 2,5 m long nevertheless impressive when she approached our boat. Paolo had touched the water surface with his flat hand just 3 times and there she was curious to find out if there was something to eat around. Natalie somehow took it personal and was scared like hell when Coco was just a half a meter away from her and looked her straight into the eye. She even placed her snout gently on the paddle which Paolo had positioned in front of her.

We both were happy and sleepy after we came back from our tour and went to bed straight ahead. The next day we would get up at 4:30 again.

We had another try with our otter family on the lake in the early morning. Well they did not show up, but Coco did not yet finish its night shift and was still curious around the mooring. It was as beautiful and quiet as the first day and again somehow magic to see how everything comes to life.

Some Cormorants were already warming up in the sunlight and we saw a pair of swallows sitting on a death tree in the water. We decided to stop at the rangers surveillance tower to have a better view over the lake. Once up there Paolo discovered a python right between the roof and the wooden structure. I was happy that we found one as a reptile lover, while Natalie was not so sure about her feelings about that :).

After breakfast we went out again for an excursion into the flooded swamp forest. We were lucky when a group of monkeys came along jumping from tree to tree. Even though they are two different species they live together in symbiosis. We watched them for almost 15 minutes. It was so much fun!

The main attraction for me that day, were however 5 super size fig trees which we visited during our walk. They are the largest trees in the Amazon. Up to 40m in height they tower over any other tree. The indigenous people call them mother of the forest. They are an important habitat for uncountable plants and animals. Their size is simply impressive.

While we walked through the swamp almost knee deep in water, I was hoping to see an Anaconda snake as well. Unfortunately, Natalie did not find that very funny :). I am so proud of her walking with me through the swamps in the Amazon. I do not think many woman would do that.

Before dinner, we also went onto another boat ride looking for the otters. However, the otters were still not around. Instead Paolo and Juan Carlos agreed to fish some piranha for us. Juan Carlos fished us 6 piranhas. Their jaws and teeth are so impressive. We then also had the chance to try them for dinner. Very delicious, they taste a little bit like dorade.

It was a great finish to our time in the Amazon. The next morning, before we left for the airport, we went out onto the lake again for one last try to find the otters. But they were still not around. The lake actually has some parts that are not accessible to the public. It is a protected Refugio for the otters so they can be undisturbed if they want. We had learned in South Africa, not to expect to see all the animals, just because you are there. It is still a gift every time if they choose to show themselves. So we were very happy anyway with our time here, despite not having seen the otters. We saw so many other animals in just 3 days, and had yet again another great guide that made all the difference. Thanks so much for everything Paolo!

The second dinner was served on the bus straight after boarding in parking position. Why? The stuart explained to us that in the next 3 hours we would not be able to eat properly because of the rough road conditions. I should have realized that in the moment I had seen the ground clearance of our bus plus the extra strong almost off-road style bus tires

The night was rough as expected and I am sure our bus driver broke the company intern record for speeding from Uyuni to La Paz. They should consider to let him participate in the next DAKAR ralley!

Our connecting bus to Copacabana left only 2 hours later and we were happy to get on, as many locals from La Paz left the city for their favorite weekend escape. What it means to be booked on a bus in Bolivia instead of Chile was made clear to us when we boarded our bus. It was already full! Somehow the company had sold more tickets than they had seats on the bus.

After back and forth with the staff we decided to take the bus whatever it would cost, as it was only a 3,5 hours trip. We could have taken a bus half an hour later, but we wanted to get going and not wait any longer. Natalie took the co-driver seat and I placed myself on a pillow between her and the bus driver.

It was a big mistake, as it turned out only a few driving minutes later. Several main roads were blocked due to a huge running competition throughout the city. And then he was suddenly there, Mr. Bolivia, El Presidente, Senior Evo Morales! While we were lucky to drive a few meters between two road blocks, he and the who is who of Bolivia stood waving on a tribune to honor the athletes. We stopped several times and our bus driver tried almost desperately to escape the massive traffic jam by shifting our bus through minor streets of La Paz. I thought somehow La Paz did not want us to leave without a sight seeing tour

After a nice bus ride through the Bolivian countryside, where we could see how probably most of Bolivians really live, and an interesting lake crossing on small wooden ferries, we finally reached Copacabana after 6 hours. My buttock did not exist anymore, but we had successfully crossed Bolivia by bus. We treated ourselves to some fried Titicaca lake trouts and enjoyed the sunshine while walking through the center of the town.

Hereby we discovered the lovely Basilica of our Lady of Copacabana, which is a famous place for Bolivians to get married, baptise or just to honor the Lady of Copacabana, as we learned. It was a Saturday and many families had come to Copacabana to celebrate weddings or baptisms.

Our hotel was also a great treat, a real king size double bed, hot shower and big chilled breakfast. Unbelievable after 4 days non-stop travel by jeep and bus.

The next day we took a boat to visit the famous Isla del Sol. Our actual plan was to stay there for the night and hike around the island, before we would leave by boat again. We reached the island at perfect weather and started straight ahead to climb up the steep stairs to get to our planned hostel. But unfortunately Natalie struggled suddenly with a bad diarrhea during the ascent. Once she made it to the hostel, which of course was at the top of the island, she could not walk anymore and needed some rest. So we changed planes and enjoyed the beautiful view of the wide and deep blue Lake Titicaca from the lovely garden terrace of our hostel.

Later we got a bit hungry and went out for dinner. As Natalie still felt weak, we walked slowly up to the ridge of the south part of the island where most of the food places are located. We do not know why, but Pizza is the most famous food you can get there. So we sat down in one of the lovely little family run business and ordered pizza while the sunset was getting more spectacular minute by minute.  We both were surprised how delicious and thin the pizzas have been.

The next day Natalie felt a bit better. We took it slow and left late for a short walk to the old Inca ruin Temple del Sol after a long breakfast. Luckily the weather did not follow the forecast and treated us with lots of sun again. Even though we walked just a little bit, every step up made us breathless due to the high altitude of almost 4000 m.

It is needless to say that we had enormous respect for the hard working islanders in particular the women, who always carried their babies during all kind of work, even when carrying long steel pipes from the bottom of the island to the top. Impressive!

We made it safe back to Copacabana in the evening and finished our short but intensive trip through Bolivia with a sunset dinner at one of the many food stalls along the shores. Of course we had trout again.

The next day we traveled on to Peru. Thank you Bolivia, you are so colorful!

When we left San Pedro in the morning, it started already exciting for me. Our transfer bus to the border was by chance on the same road as the famous Dakar Ralley going to Salta in Argentina this morning. While Natalie did not really understand why I was about to freak out, I could not wait enough for all the fat-tired off-road trucks passing by with an incredible loud sound and speed. It was a bit of a dream of my childhood come true

After 1,5 hours we left from the paved road of the Jama pass into the desert. It did not take long and we could already see what the next 3 days would all be about: dust, desert and the legendary Toyota Landcruiser jeeps.

Around 20 of them were parked around a barely to spot Bolivian border office. Obviously all different tour operators changed drivers here, passengers and supply goods. Somehow I had the feeling that the sketchy border office was just set up to allow the Bolivian tour operators to get the people easily from Chile to Bolivia in the middle of nowhere. Furthermore the Bolivian border officers there did not look much different from  the casual dressed jeep drivers. Even more they seemed to be “part of the business” and everything went quickly considering all folks who were queuing for the entry stamp.

After that we were pretty lucky to share our jeep only with Denise and Carolina from Chile plus our Bolivian driver Adelio, as most of the other jeeps where loaded with 6 plus driver.

When we finally left I recalled the altitudes which we were supposed to pass the first day. From 2500 m in San Pedro up to the highest point today of almost 5000 m and down to 4200 m for the night stay. Last time  I really struggled with the quick ascent when we came in to San Pedro, so I still was full of respect  of what was ahead of us. Luckily somehow all the other jeeps disappeared in the vastness of the desert and we were just for us most of the time.

What we saw during the next 3 days is hard to put in words. The best is to go through our pictures, even though again we think it is impossible to catch the full vastness of this beautiful shaped and colored landscape in any of the pictures, but it is still stunning to look at them.

Just the first day we passed several lagoons which are named after their unique color. They all have their own story. Languna Blanca for example is white because the main mineral is salt. More interesting, but deadly if you would drink the water of Laguna Verde, which is green colored because the main minerals are based on Arsen and Copper.  Most stunning in my point of view, the diva under all the lagoons we visited, Laguna Colorada. It thanks it red and white color to a specific microorganism which causes the deep red color. Laguna Verde and Colorada have one thing in common. They are just white in the early hours of the day, as the microorganism and the minerals in both are heavier as water and sink to the bottom during the night. Only the wind and the raising temperatures during the day cause the necessary circulation in the water that brings up the tiny parts  to the surface. Cool he ? We did not name the pictures, so maybe you try to identify Laguna Blanca, Laguna Verde and Laguna Colorada on your own

Another beautiful spot we visited the first day were the hot springs in front of a lagoon at almost 4500 m surrounded by desert mountains. Some travelers used the welcoming warm water to relax a little from the off-road driving. We just enjoyed the stunning view and kept our white as snow bodies protected under the cloth as the sun on this altitude can deliver you a lovely sunburn in a few minutes.

At the highest point we stopped at some mud bubbling and smoking geysers which made us breathless for the sheer altitude and the stunning view of the area  The sulfur smelling smoke made it even more difficult to breathe but we just could not get enough from this toxic place.

When we finally reached our accommodation for the night, I already felt the altitude. I had a little man in my head who was hammering against my forehead from inside plus an unresistable desire to vomit, although I had tried almost everything which is recommended to avoid altitude sickness. I had drunk a lot of water, which made me pee almost at every stop, had drunk no alcohol, had stayed away from caffeine, had eaten mostly carbohydrates  instead of meat and had chewed coca all day long.

Luckily Natalie insisted that I had at least some noodles for dinner. It helped me to survive the night and the next morning I was almost fine again. Then I realized my environment fully. The people live there mainly to run the accommodations for the tours. They had served us simple but hearty food and made us feel at home at 4200 m altitude.

Our second day was amazing as well. As one of my favorite sights I have to name the stone tree which we visited in the morning.  This formation is carved out by wind and rain and stands among other rocks in a plain desert area which was beautiful enlightened in the golden morning sun. We traveled the whole day across the endless desert. Unbelievable but the color of the landscape, the shape of the mountains, the lagoons changed with every meter we drove and every hour of the day light. I felt like travelling on another planet.

At the end of the day we reached the region around the Uyuni salt lake. Thanks to some rain some little agriculture is possible here, mainly quinoa, beans and farming of llamas, but life there is harsh.

We spend the night in one of the salt hotels around the lake which are, guess what, built out of salt bricks.  Even the interior as the tables and the chairs were made out of salt bricks and from the window you could already catch a glimpse of the “Great White”: the Salar de Uyuni. It is the world´s largest salt lake with 10.000 sqkm. It was created around 10.000 years ago when a huge lake dried out. There is still a river ending in it, which means there is water under the up to 30 m thick salt crust which allows even buses and trucks to drive on the lake.

The next day we started early when it was still dark. Adelio drove us straight onto the Uyuni salt lake to see the sunrise from the island Inkahuasi  in the center of the lake. At first I was scared when I realized that Adelio drove without sight in the dark. He had switched of the car lights and followed just the GPS, but this gave us a fantastic view of the lake and the stars above while the night was fading away.

After a stunning sunrise and tasty breakfast on Island, we did the obligatory photo session on the vast salt lake. What looks like ice and snow is pure salt, almost endless in every direction. It was another incredible sight during our tip. A place somehow out of this world.

Later we visited the by now closed salt hotel on the lake. They had a serious problem with the dumping of waste water into the lake, which led the local government to close it, so now it is just a museum. After that we drove to a saline run by locals close to the shores of the lake. They still produce household salt the old fashioned way by shuffling some salt on small piles to led it dry in the sun.

After another tasty lunch made by Adelio in the small salt producing village we had our last stop at the cemetery of trains close to Uyuni town. It is basically a place where the old mining companies parked their trains in the desert after they were taken out of business. They used the trains to transport ore and minerals from the center of Bolivia to the Coast. It was an amazing end of our trip which was unique and exciting everyday. If anyone ever considers going to the Salar de Uyuni as well, we can only recommend to do the 3 day tour! It gives one such a better idea of the region than just visiting the salt lake for one day on its own. It was definitely one of the best and unforgettable tours on our whole trip!

The next day started early for us, when we got our volcano climbing gear and were driven into the volcano surrounding national park up to 1400 m of altitude. The top of the volcano was located at 2800 m which would require to climb about 1400 m in total height. From the head of the trail we had the option to take the lift to cover the first 400 m of altitude or do it the old fashioned way by foot.

There was no question for us we would walk instead of letting us lift up the first steep section. At this point the mayority of our group took the lift and we were left with only a handful strongly motivated others who were willing to challenge the volcano without short cuts.  Up to 2000m we made our way up through loose volcano ash and gravel. From there we started into the beautiful snow covered area around the summit. Thanks to our vast hiking adventures down in Patagonia we both were in great shape.

On our way up we constantly passed much slower groups and I kept our guide motivated when I asked him several times if we could go a bit faster. However we were really lucky with our group as everybody seemed to keep up with the speed. After 4 hours we finally reached the smoking top and enjoyed our well deserved lunch. In front of us was the huge smoky crater and behind us the stunning view into the surrounding landscape with lakes and other snow covered volcanos in Chile and Argentina. Unfortunately there was a bit too much smoke to see completely down into the crater, but it was still stunning. The average duration for the hike up is actually 5 to 6 hours. We reached the top before the groups which had taken the lift in only 4 hours.

The way down was not less fun, as we more or less slided down the snowy slopes for 1,5 hours on our buttom. It was fast like hell in some sections and we were all totally wet at the bottom but it was so worth it!

The next day we treated ourselfs to rest and recover with a picknick in the park and walked around town to see the volcanic sand beach and try some local ‚German‘ chocolate. It was better than other chocolate we have tried so far in South America, but still a bit too sweet.

From Pucon we left to Talca, which is around 7 hours north to celebrate New Years! While Pucon was more resort style, Talca was refreshingly down to earth and our B&B a great treat.

Consisting out of a couple of wooden huts around a lovely garden it was cosy, perfectly well maintained and quiet. The three older ladies who were running the place really made us feel at home and created a „I am on visit at my auntie’s garden“ atmosphere. As almost everything was closed for New Years Eve, we decided to stay at home for the night’s celebration. With fresh fruits and food from the supermarket we created our own buffet and used the 4 hours we were behind Germany to skype with our loved ones.

For New Year’s day Talca was still shut down. The friendly lady at the reception told us that almost the complete town was down at the beach, which was 3 hours away by bus. Without saying a word to each other we knew in the super sunny New Years morning that we would not go anywhere that day. It was just too perfect. Sitting on our little terrace on the sofa, shaded from the trees, surrounded by the beautiful garden and refreshingly cooled by a light brise.

For the next day we had already a bus which would bring us to Santiago in the evening. This left us enough time to visit the surrounded wine region. Our first vineyard we visited was Balduzzi in San Javier just 30 minutes by bus from Talca. It turned out we were a bit too early for the tour in the afternoon, so we started to explore San Javier first. After a hearty Chilenean cazuela this time (which was a soup of beef and veggies) at the market area, we hired a friendly taxi driver to bring us to another vineyard called Gillmore.

It turned out that he was also very well educated about wine and wineries around. Besides the very tasty Rosé we tried during our obligatory tasting, the vineyard itself was picturesque almost like an antique hacienda. It is also a very famous wedding location for Chilenean people

Back at Balduzzi we had one of the most privat wine tours and tastings during our entire travel. With just another couple from Switzerland the grand son of the vineyard founder Senior Baluzzi showed us around. We tried more than 8 tasty wines, although the tasting was actually limited to 4 wines and chatted in relaxed atmosphere for more than 1,5 hours. Somehow it felt more like visiting a good friend instead of being on a wine tasting.  With a bottle of Balduzzi’s Sauvignon Blanc Grand Reserva we left more than happy and caught our bus to Santiago.

The next stop was when the road suddenly ended and blue water appeared ahead of us, the Magellan Strait. It turned out quickly that we were stuck there for a while. Strong winds on the strait forced the ferry company to shut down their service temporarly. At the beginning we still hoped just for 2 or 3 hours, at the end it was 6 hours before we were shipped across through the still rough Magellan Strait. The bus company informed us however that we would not get our connecting bus, we would not be in Puerto Natales at night and we would not be able to start our planned 5 days hike at Torre del Paine the next morning for which we had booked huts already. Furthermore we were stranded at 1 am in Punta Arenas, we had obviously no booking for the night and the earliest bus to Puerto Natales would leave at 7 am in the morning which would allow us to be in the park earliest at 5:30 pm in the afternoon.

Somehow the luck came back to us and we found a place to sleep for a few hours. The place was actully booked out, but the lady there was nice and shared the only left room, in which she was actually already sleeping herself, with us. A Dutch girl we had met in Ushuaia before, also came along and we shared the room between us four. The next morning everything went well and we got the last seats on the early bus at 7 am. We reached our hostel before lunch. Our hosts were just great and helped us immediately to find a solution for our bus and ferry transfer to the right place in the park. In just 3 hours we got ready and left with the last bus for the park. The weather was pretty, blue sky dotted with fast moving clouds and sunshine when we reached the park. The scenery was already stunning. The ice covered Torre del Paine mountain massiv sat majestic in an open almost endless areal. Turquoise litte rivers and lakes were as far as we could see.

We took the last catamaran to cross one of the big lakes as we had to start our trek at the other end. The little half an hour cruise was our first adventure. The wind was incredibly strong and the waves high enough to let the catamaran jump. When we got to the other side it was already 6:30 pm and we started immediately to walk towards the first refugio (hut) which was still 4 hours hiking away. Not a nice prospect considering we had very little sleep and an exhausting bus journey from Ushuaia behind us. The way ascented moderately through a small valley but we had to walk against very strong winds, which was quite challenging. We passed a few exposed sections where we were almost blown away even with the heavy backpacks. Patagonia at its best!

Half way to our hut we saw the Higgins Glaciar for the first time. It was situated at the end of lake Grey, which was to our left as we were hiking along. Little icebergs were here and there on the lake, leaving kind of a trace leading us to Refugio Grey. When we sat our feet through the door it was 10 pm and we were incredibly happy that after all the trouble, in the end we had succesfully started our long awaited hike at the Torre del Paine National Park and still had made it to our booked hut. Even better Refugio Grey was a treat. It was built only a few years ago and everything was new, smartly designed and somehow perfect to recover from a strenous hike. The best was undoubtfully the warm and cosy dining room. Fitted with old English style furniture, old leather sofas, wooden walls and two iron ovens at both ends, we both loved that place instantly. It even had a Christmas tree.

The next day we took it easy as we only had to hike down to our next refugio, Paine Grande, which was actually where we the catamaran had dropped us off the day before. We used our free time to first hike up 2 more hours to catch a better view of the glaciar. On our way there, we passed through a hundred of years old semi arctic forest of bend and fallen trees. Those trees were mostly burned in most of the lower area, when a park visitor accidently caused a massive fire in 2010, as he tried to make a campfire. So it was nice to see here how the real forest used to be.

Finally at the look out we enjoyed a great view of the glaciar. We took a small break before we started again. Our five hours hike down to the refugio was tougher than expected. As we had such strong front wind the day before, I expected an easy and fast hike downwards. But my calculations did not work out. The strong and unsteady tail wind we experienced on our way down made every step unpredictable and forced us to slow down in order not to fall over. In the end we made it and were quite tired after 6 hours of walking, probably also still feeling the lack of sleep the night before.

Refugio Paine Grande was not such a nice place. Just too big and too cold to put it in two words. Nevertheless we had a place to sleep, went to bed early and started the next day with fresh elan. And that was necessary as day 3 was the longest one with 24 km of hiking. We started early in the morning but had to stop after a few minutes when our cheap day backpack we got as a gift suddenly started to fall apart. Natalie was just amazing. She rescued the day and started fixing that bloody thing with needle and yarn right on the trail :).

After 3 hours we left the main trail for a little 15 km side step, which led us to two major look outs. The first was a beautiful glaciar. We stopped there for a small lunch and were lucky enough to see how a massiv iceblock crashed down. The second was officially closed due to the strong winds, but as we saw other hikers coming back anyway, we tried it too. It was not as windy as we had expected and the trail up led us through a beautiful forest again. At the end we were gifted with a stunning 360 degree round view on the spectacular sharp mountain tops which surrounded us.

When we reached our next refugio for the night, we both were happy but tired. Refugio Los Cuernos was a cute little hut, packed with lots of hiking folks and good food. We slept long and started the day with a late breakfast. The refugio was almost empty when we had breakfast. Just one other couple had done the same as us and had a late breakfast. Penny and Simon were from Australia. We started with them together into our fourth day which should bring us to the last refugio at the end of the trek. I tried to take it easy with my right leg as my ancle was a bit swollen, probably caused by the additional weight of my backpack, which I had carried the last 50 km. Luckily it was only a 11 km hike to Refugio Norte.

The area along the trail became more open and offered us great views in and out of the Torre del Paine massiv. When we got to Refugio Norte we four tried our luck and Natalie asked if they would have free beds at the upper Refugio Chileno. It had already been booked out when we had made our reservations 4 weeks earlier. It was however our prefered option, as it was closer to the park’s highlight, the triple mountain tips Las Torres. We wanted to be there for sunrise and from Refugio Norte it meant hiking up 4 1/2 hours in the dark, while it was only 2 1/2 from Refugio Chileno. Refugio Chileno was still booked out, but they had free tents up there. We did not think twice and took the opportunity to stay there. It would allow us to hike up very early and see the sunrise at Las Torres.

So we started again for additional 2 hours although my ancle was done for the day. Simon was so nice to let me take his poles, which was a great help. Somehow I made it to Chileno. We had a joyful and tasty dinner with our Aussies and thoroughly enjoyed the food which was the best out of all the ones we had along the walk. The night was short when our alarm went off at 2:30 am. I was surprised that Natalie and me were the only ones who started for the night hike. It was totally dark in the forrest, except for the light of the stars and our headlights. After some meters it struck me that there are Pumas in these forests. I had read randomly that the Patagonian ones are the biggest of the entire continent, something about 100 kg for a fully grown up male. I just hoped these guys were not around or at least not hungry :). I did not want to count on it though, so I started to sing stupid songs to make some noise and scare them away.

After long 1,5 hours we reached the upper campsite where lots of moving headlights in the dark indicated that we were not alone anymore. The final ascent to the look out was a challenging 1 hour climb. With the first grey morning light we made it up there and caught the first full view on Las Torres. We found us a good spot, put on all our clothes as it was still freezing cold and made us some breakfast.

And then finally the first sunlight touched the highest tip of Las Torres in a warm red light. From this point onward, more and more of the sharp rocky tip was enlightened. It was so spectacular! Especially when Natalie discovered a condor which had obviously warmed up enough and started from Las Torres to glide down towards the valley. We shifted our frozen bodies into the warm sunlight too and spent a little more time there before we headed down.

After we had our second breakfast at Chileno we went down again to catch the bus back to Puerto Natales. We were early though and streched out in the grass near the bus stop and enjoyed the sun. We had 5 amazing days with a unique nature and landscape experience. We covered about 80 km by foot and were extremely lucky with the weather for Patagonia. We had no rain apart from a bit of drizzle and most days beautiful blue skies or at least patches of it. After the trek, our muscles and bones needed to recover, but not for too long. We would leave the next day for the next trekking highlight to see the famous Mount Fitz Roy in Argentina.

From the beginning of our trip we instantly fell in love with the sunrises in South Africa. From the frist day in the wilderness reserve we started to get up early to see the sunrise I got up at 5 am and made some coffee for my love and a cup of black tea with milk for me. Then we both simple sat outside with tea, rusk and coffee and enjoyed the early morning hours. We could see how everything was getting alive. Birds started singing and flying around, from time to time lions roared in the neighbourhood, antilopes fed quietly on grass and everything was enlightened by a beautiful warm morning light.

When we started our road trip we kept doing this every morning and we were gifted with stunning sunrises in the Drakensberg mountains and along the whole coastline down to Cape town. Every sunrise was somehow different and unique and Natalie and me loved the quiet time in the morning. As the days obviously started early for us we went to bed between 8 and 9 pm. We did not miss any of the things we would have done usually at home. We lived our life in a natural rhythm, just driven by the sunlight. It was amazing to see how many things you can do more during a day if you get up with the first daylight.

Not to forget to mention are the stunning sunsets as well. It all started almost everyday with the golden hour between 4 and 5 pm. The sun light was smooth and touched everything in a warm golden colour. Followed by some of the most stunning sunsets we have seen during our entire travel so far. We still have a hard time selecting the best pictures for our webpage, so do not be surprised if there are a lot of sunrise amd sunset pictures ;).

Another point which really impressed us was the diversity of landscap and wildlife in South Africa. We had amazing animal encounters during our stay at the Askari reserve and we were introduced to bird watching as well. This was such great fun that we kept doing it during our whole time in SA. I was excited like a child about some chocolate when I spotted rare and endangered birds like the horned hornbill, the secretary bird or the brown crested eagle, just to name a few.

Further we were so blessed to see southern right whales from the shores of Hermanus even though we stopped there for only 2 hours. We stood speechless next to each other and couldn’t believe that a couple of days before we were looking at giraffes, rhinos, elephants and lions. It is not possible to name all the wild animals we have seen during our 6 weeks. Our pictures capture a lot, but often we were not quick enough to take a proper pictures, especially when it came to birds. The rich wildlife along the coastline as well as inland is remarkable and more divers than any of the other countries we have been to.

The same is to say about the richness and diversity of the landscape. We loved the Savanna in the north east, the mysterious Drakensberg mountains in the middle East, the lonely wild coast in the South East, the wine region near Cape town and the spectacular end of the African continent at the Cape of Good Hope in the very South. And everywhere the scenery is not just beautiful, but really stunning. We stood there speechless every time and could not believe that it yet again is so breathtaking. Each place is exciting in its own right and worth staying there for longer.

And there was great food everywhere. My first food encounter was South African rusk. I had it almost every morning to dip it into my English tea. What I loved about it was the strong texture and the mild sweetness. You can easily dip it into hot tea without falling apart immediately. Than there is the amazing barbecue, called Braai in South Africa. It starts always with a big campfire to produce enough hot charcoal. This means you start between 2 and 3 hours before the actual grill session. Because of that it is much more relaxing and longer than a typical German barbecue, it is more like a real celebration and get together everytime. Once the hot charcoal is seperated a metall rack is placed over the charcoal and the grill session starts. Maybe influenced by German immigrants they also have some tasty sausages to grill or just very good beef or lamb steaks.

And South Africa is a great place to dine with wine as there are many suberb vineyards. Especially the Stellenbosch or Franschoek region are famous for their suberb wines and first class cooking. And Cape Town of course with its closeness to the wine region and big city competition has some amazing places to eat. We had some incredibly jucy lamb roast, but also amazing fresh seafood at the coast, and everything is always so colourful and fresh. But the best is that you get extraordinary food and wine for good value of money.

So you feel like you can really enjoy life here and treat yourself to nice things, even if you are not super rich. Natalie actually inspired me for the final words. She said to me „the country is so alive, colourful and intense, it makes one feel more alive as well, more than in other countries.“ There is nothing I could add. We just absolutely loved our time there!

For Tuesday morning we were scheduled to burn at one of the camps with the whole reserve team. Fire plays an important role for the vegetation in South Africa. It clears out dead vegetation, enriches the soil with important minerals and makes room for the new generation of plants. Furthermore it prevents uncontrolled big bush fires. Unfortunately the weather was too cold that morning and the burning first was postponed and then cancelled for the week. Natalie and I were a bit sad, as we were really looking forward to it and now would miss this part as we were leaving beginning of next week. But the day should not end without a first surprise. After some unspectacular replacement work, we went out for a research drive late afternoon.

On our way back home, we could hear two lions roaring close to our camp. We stopped our vehicle every time the lions started roaring to hear which one was closer and where we had to go. A sound which makes your neck hair stands up. Then suddenly Natalie spotted the male lion as he was walking through the bush. Katie raced the game drive vehicle around the corners and finally he was there, directly in front of us. And he let us be and watch and follow him for quite some time, while he kept roaring and communicating with his brother, trying to meet up with him. It was truly impressive to see him walk and hear him roar just a few meters away from us. I have to agree with Natalie, it is one of the most impressive sounds in the animal kingdom and a unique experience to hear it live so close. I am so glad, we still got to experience it here. So we went to bed extremely happy and excited for the next day.

Wednesday had another highlight in store for us. We have several breeding camps here for the endangered sable and nyala antelopes. We had to move some of the male sable and nyala antelopes from one camp to another in order to keep genetic diversity of the breeding program. Two vets came to dart the animals and put them to sleep for the transfer. Everything was needed to be done as quickly as possible to reduce stress for the animals, as sometimes they can even die from it if it becomes too stressful and their heart stopps. Therefore we had a big team consisting of us, the vet team and the reserve working crew.

Once the animal was darted and dropped to the ground, it was first examined by the vet while we kept holding its head up on the horns. This is very important, as their horns are so heavy that the animal could seriously be injured or die if the blood does not flow to the brain anymore. Then we pulled it on a carriage and lifted it up on the pick-up truck. Brought to its new camp, we had to unload it before the vet could give the anti narcotic to wake it up. It was my first time to come so close to them. They are such beautiful and strong creatures, which deserve to keep their place in the South African wilderness.

But the day was not over yet and we went out for another try on a sleep out in the hope we will make it this time through the night without a thunderstorm. As we got to our place for the night again, we could suddenly hear trees breaking and falling to the ground. There were elephants around!! We waited a few minutes to see if they would walk into our camp. The sound was moving in a different direction though, so we immediately jumped into the car and tried to find them. After a couple of meters I could see something huge moving behind some trees. ELEPHANTS!!!

We stopped on the road and suddenly there were 21 elephants crossing the road. It was a big herd from cute little baby elephants up to fully grown adults. They were on their way to somewhere, unbelievably quiet for their size, yet fast and somehow very majestic. It was a truly impressive experience to see them in the wild. Back to our sleep out spot, we had a great time around the fire. And this time our sleep out was a great success. When we went to sleep at around 10 p.m., we could hear the elephants again. This time they trumpeted very loudly. Even though it was far from our place, it felt like they were right next to us. Furthermore we also heard some hyaenas and jackels calling around us. When the bush finally went quiet, everyone went to sleep except for the person on night watch.

There always needs to be one person keeping watch and making sure the fire keeps burning. We were taking turns every hour and Natalie and I luckily had two shifts one after the other this time. My shift started at 3:30 and it should yet again be a nice suprise for us. Two lions started roaring in the darkness. While one seemed quite far away, the other was closer and seemed to be on our side of the river. I could see Natalie waking up and listening to the roaring. They roared about every 10 minutes or so and when suddenly the roar felt really close, I saw Natalie and James both sitting up straight in an instance both saying at the same time: „Now this is defenitely getting close!“ From that moment on she got up and joined me. We both were sitting around the campfire in the dark with our torches on, searching the premises and waiting for the lion to walk into our camp any minute. The roaring still got closer, so close that our comrades James sat up and said it feels like the lion is lying next to him in the sleeping bag. While we were discussing, when would be the right point to wake up one of our Rangers for safety reason, Natalie saw that Ed was already awake and got up as well to have a stroll around. He told us there was nothing to worry about, the lion was still about 150 m away from us. What?! Nothing to worry about?! The next roar was a bit further away again though and we could hear that the lion had walked into the riverbed from the echo the sound had produced. So even though we did not spot him, it was still a great experience for us to share the night with a lion around our camp.

While some of us did not sleep too well that night (because of lions, hyaenas, jackals and elephants around us) all of us nevertheless enjoyed the sleep out. It was amazing to see the sunrise in the morning with a cup of hot coffee. South Africa is so beautiful in the morning! And we had survived! Compared to our sleep outs in Australia, there is a lot more going on around your sleeping bag in South Africa :).

When we got home we were surprised with the news that burning was planned for that morning again. Yeah, Natalie and I had not counted on that anymore. We left 1,5 hours later. Our job had two parts. We had to lay fire with burning fuel along the road of the selected area. The second part was to prevent the fire from jumping over to the other side of the road.

Well both jobs were a lot of fun. It was incredibly hot even though we burned on a cold day. The wind changed constantly and the smoke was sometimes all over the place. Birds of prey took advantage of the fire and filled up the sky watching out for small animals which tried to escape the fire. Unfortunately after 1 1/2 hours the burning was called off again. The fire did not burn and spread as quickly as we needed it due to the changing wind and cold temperature. We were hoping it would get warmer, but it did not. Natalie and I were still very happy we had the chance to experience a prescribed burn.

In the afternoon we had a lesson in rifle shooting. Each of us had five shots with the small calibre and two with the big calibre. The big rifle was difficult to handle and incredibly loud. Not surprisingly maybe, Natalie had the better shooting results since it was her second try. Friday started with a 4×4 driving lesson through the dry river bed. That was a lot of fun as well. After that we went out for some more fence painting. On our way we spotted a black Mamba crossing the road in front of us. I have never seen a snake go as fast as this. I was in heaven as it was one of my wishes for Africa to encounter a snake in the wild.

And the great animal sightings should not stop there. Until the end of the week we had more exciting animal spottings during our drive outs. We saw a rock monitor (large dragon like reptile), honey batchers, an only two weeks old giraffe baby, a clan of spotted hyaenas with 3 little cubs and many many birds. The only big things we had not seen yet were a leopard (which is incredibly rare to spot however) and cheetahs. Especially Natalie was keen to see the cheetahs again, as she had worked with them when she had been here before 3 1/2 years ago. Sunday came to an end and they had not shown themselves however.

I had another unexpected event waiting for me though. I had forgotten about the bees which recently had moved into our compost bin. While I was empting the bio bin, a swarm of bees came out. They stung me twice in my right hand and several times in my jumper, which luckily kept me safe. As usual Natalie took care of me. She took out the bee stings in my hand with love and after 2 hours I was fine again. Oh, and did I mention that of course I managed to hurt myself during the week again?! I got shocked when I accidently stepped into one of the electric fences, while I was closing the gate. Ed measured how strong it was. I had treated myself to a lovely 5000 Volt shock :). Luckily nothing bad came of it.

And then Monday came, our last day, here before we are to leave on our road trip down to Cape Town. We started this morning with another drive down to the honey batcher den we had discovered on our last tour. We wanted to set up a camera trap to start researching them. On our way there, Natalie started talking about how badly she wanted to see the cheetahs before we leave. Just in that moment, another reserve ranger messaged through the radio that she had just seen two cheetahs walking down the road. Ed turned the car immediately and raced down the roads to the place they were seen. And we were lucky!

When we arrived he cheetahs we sitting down on the ground yawning and grooming themselves. They are such strong animals and yet they behave so much like a cat. Now Natalie was in heaven. Especially because these two cheetahs were the same she had darted and transported 3 1/2 years ago. It was as if they were coming out on our last day to say „we are still here“. It was an amazing sighting as they got up after a while and walked around, marking their area and allowing us to follow them for 30 minutes. After that they disappeared into the bush. It is incredible how well they blend in with their colour.

The second part of the morning we set up amphibian traps that will mainly trap frogs. They do this every year to count population and species and any chances in the frogs that are an early indication for any potential change in the environment. Tomorrow morning we will go back for the first time to see if we caught something. In the afternoon we went onto another research drive to count animal population and sexes. As we get to our route start, Natalie almost gave everyone a heart attack when she suddenly breathed in so loudly by surprise, as she was the first to see the cheetahs again! This time they crossed the road just in front of us and then disappeared into the bush. What a great leaving gift!

And so it ends. Our time here was just amazing. Everyday was exciting, full of surprises with overwhelming nature and great people here to share it with.

I love South Africa!!!!

Our second week here in Askari started with some challenging work at our Sable antelope camps. We collected cut down thorn bush branches, pulled them over to the feeding area and packed them around as a wall. This is done to allow the Sable antelopes only one way through the thorn bush wall. At this specific spot is an anti thick spray pump installed, which is activated by a step-on trigger to spray them when they come in for feeding. To pull the branches over a distance of 200 m was quite some work, but even more challenging was to avoid to get stung or scratched by the incredibly sharp thorns. I did actually quite well until I managed to harm myself with the last branch I placed on the wall and had scratches all over my arm. Luckily Natalie cleaned and covered my scratches with love and her great experience she had gained from all the other injuries I had in the last months.

Our weekly trip to town brought us to Tzaneen on Tuesday. On the way there we visited a 2000 years old Baobab tree. It is the one I recognized as being the most typical of the African Savanna. It seems unbelievable, but this tree grew up when the Roman Empire was ruling the world and was already grown to its majestic size when Christopher Columbus discovered America.

Back to the reserve we did a job, which we actually do constantly on our tours. We are locating and destroying alien plants. Specifically a cactus, originally from South America and introduced to South Africa, is our main target. We inject them a special liquid substance, which kill them and stop further spreading of their seeds. You can see me in one of the pictures with the injection needle. On one of these rides I saw my first lion in the wild. We were just crossing a dry river bed and than she (a female lion) was suddenly just there. It was my first great sight of a big cat. To see them in the wild, behaving naturally in their habitat is truly a great thing and has little in common with watching them behind a fence in a zoo. Hopefully we will spot more of them before we leave.

This brings me to the other cat we have in care in our camp. Her name is Sophia. She is a caracal and was found with a broken leg in the wild. She reminds me of a little version of a puma with hairy bushes at the top of her ears, which most of you probably know from a lynx. Usually she gets dead chicken to feed, but since she is doing better our rangers decided to feed her life mice, which we catch occasionally in our house with a trap. So we got the chance to see this spectacle. Obviously she loves to play with the mouse once caught, but the bloody cat actually managed to let the mouse escape a few times :). Our ranger did not give her a second chance to teach her that she has to use her first chance to catch a prey. This is essential for her survival when she will be released back into the wild.

On one day we went out for a bush walk with our ranger Katie. It is a completely different experience from driving around in a game view vehicle. First of all the vehicle protects you against lions and all the other big and small animals. The big animals would not recognize a single person in the vehicle on its own, but instead just the car as one object. This makes you bigger and less attractive for attacks. Without the vehicle we would be an easy prey for a lion or could be run over by an Elephant or rhino. Therefore our ranger Katie carried a big rifle with her, which made us feel a bit safer Secondly in the vehicle you can focus on spotting animals around you from a comfortable upper position. Without the vehicle it is a completely different thing. You constantly have to watch out for thorn bushes and where you step on, it could be a snake. Walking by foot through the bush really sharps all your senses and allows you to get close to the smaller animals and plants in the reserve. I loved it! We used our walk to learn about the bush and collected some litter from the river bed.

One of our highlights of the week was our sleep out in the bush. Sleep out means we would sleep in the bush under the stars around a campfire, each of us in a sleeping bag and on a camping mattress. We arrived at our sleep out spot in the late afternoon. This allowed us to play some funny games to shorten the time to sunset. My favourite game was Impala pooh spitting. Yes you got it right, it is indeed what the name indicates. The target is to spit a piece of dried Impala pooh as far as you can. I did quite well and won the competition with 7,5 m. I can confirm that the Impala pooh is, once it is dry, completely tasteless

After a sunset beer we had a lot of fun to introduce our group into the secrets of German stock bread, which Natalie had prepared before we had left. After that Katie and Ed made us an authentic South African sleep out dinner. Prepared over open fire, we had a typical beef sausage and pap. Spiced with some spooky stories we had a great time sitting around the campfire. Essential for a safe night is the night watch. Each of us was supposed to take a shift of 1 hour during the night. It is important for the person on duty to stay awake. First of all to alert the group in case big animals would come to close to us. Secondly, lions and hyaenas would consider sleeping humans as dead and therefore as easy prey, which means you have to show them that you are awake! Usually the fire and the lanterns would keep them away, so the second important job was to keep the fire alive during the night. The whole evening dark clouds had been around us and we had a little drip here and there. The moment we went to sleep though a big thunderstorm appeared not far from us. Shortly after the little drip changed into rain and the thunderstorm was coming closer to us, Katie and Ed decided to cancel the sleep out. We grabbed most of our stuff and drove home. As sad as it was, it was the right decision. Once we had unloaded and went into the house, it started raining cats and dogs, spiced with some lovely thunders and lightings over us. Hopefully we can have another try for a sleep out next week.

We also had some new animal encounters at the end of the week. First we saw a group of bandit mongoose crossing the reserve road in front of us. I could not believe it in the beginning. We counted 26 of them. I did not know before that some of them live in families. The other encounter was a troop of ants crossing the same road. Obviously they were on their way home after a successful raid of a termite folk. These little guys are not known for their humour. Katie showed us how easily they get aggressive when they are disturbed. We laid just a little branch in their way and they immediately started to hiss. I still have no clue how these little insects are capable of that On Friday, we visited a near by animal sanctuary, where injured animals are taken care of. Most of them will never be able to be released into the wild anymore. Sometimes however they also get animals that have been held as pets and once they started biting or just being a normal wild animal, the owners gave them away. It was sad to see these animals in cages, when you know just outside of it is there true habitat where they belong. One of the animals was a beautiful leopard, who used to live in the Kruger National Park. During a transport to a different location, his sedative was not strong enough and he woke up and tried to chew himself free of the metal chain. By doing that he ruined is teeth so badly that he is now not able to chew meat properly anymore. Leaving him in the wild would therefore mean he would die, as he is unable to eat his kill.

Last night, we had an authentic South African barbecue which is called Braai. It is the time when the whole group comes together, celebrates a review of the last month and says goodbye to the ones who have finished the program and will leave on Monday. It was an amazing party with great food, a lot of drinks and dancing. I am soooo happy that we extended out stay here and will have another week at Askari. I love it !!!!!