Then the rains came. Left the Bundu Lodge with light rain and traveled up in the mountains looking for a place we had passed that had hides for sale. Not sure if we just missed it or because of the rain they had not put out the hides but we never found it. Went out to the Elephant Sanctuary where we got to play with the Elephants in the rain. Then we headed to where we had seen “The Old Mill Pub” before we went into Kurgar. And thought it looked like a good place to stay. We arrived soaked to the bone and got us a cabin for the night. I can recommend this place as it was a nice friendly place even gave us a mop to take care of the water running out of ever thing we had on.

The next morning it was sill raining and we should have just stayed put but with hopes of riding out of the rain we headed south west through some beautiful country with nice farms. After riding for several hour in the hard rain it finally started to break up some as we got to Marble Hall and found a place at the Buffalo Hotel, kind of a strange place that had been added onto so many times you could easily get lost trying to find your room. We got some news and seems we left Kurgar Park at the right time as they were having major flooding from the rains with one bridge washed out and seven people drown.

No pictures these last few days as my camera that I had taped together in Mexico finally gave up the ghost. We did take some with the phone but I have not determined how to download them to the computer.

From Marble Hall we headed to Schlowy Custom Motorcycles and had an accelerators module put on the moto then into Kempton Park where Richy and Serridan’s house was (met them in Namibia. They had given us an address and GPS coordinates but the coordinates were not right, (2500k off) and the address would not input to the GPS. So we wandered around Kempton Park for about an hour till I decided I needed a city map and headed to a mall. Checked a couple of places then passed a pizza place that delivered, thought they would now where it was. They were very helpful and gave us a map then two came out as we got to the bike with more directions. No more stopping at service stations for directions for me, I am heading to a pizza place. Found their house and called Ricky who said he would be home in about an hour so we went of to look at cameras and I got a hair cut.

One other couple we had met in Namibia and then Victory Falls came over with a plan for a ride Sunday. Went hunting for a Zebra hide Saturday and found a lot of “stuff” but no hide Martha wanted. Ricky went on line to a spot like our “Craig’s List” and found some Zebra hides, then after a few calls made arrangements to look at one on our Sunday ride.

Local natives cooking animal flesh over an open fire and consuming brewed liquid, native ritual I think they called it a Barri.

Sunday we had a good ride and Martha got her a Zebra hide. Then we made our way over to Ivan and Debbie’s house where we started this adventure two months ago. Pulling in just as a couple of drop began to fall, then it rain so hard it was flooding the street. It can really rain here when it wants to. It seems much longer than two months, kind of sensory overload. The best part of the trip has got to be the people we have met along the way, we will never forget people and their generosity that we found on this trip. If you are looking for a place to travel to for a fun adventure South Africa is the place.

Taxidermy place we visited on our ride

Leaving Ricky and Sherridan's place (black plastic bag is Martha's Zebra.

Monday we went back over to Schlowy Custom Motorcycles and had a new rear tire put on and the kickstand pad enlarged. Bike is now ready for next year. For lunch we met up with Chris and Erin Ratay from Colorado who are just finishing their travels and will had home tomorrow also. Chris and Erin did a 56 month round the world trip a few years ago and have been taking two months a year for travel the last few years. I was a couple of weeks behind them when I road South America. Was fun to finally catch up to them and got some good advice for our trip north next year.

Spent the rest of the day sorting out our stuff and packing up for our 6:30 flight.
Debbie took us shopping then to airport, was kind of hard to say good buy to South Africa and friends. Got to the airport three hours early because Martha was worried that there might be problems with the Zebra hide, but all went smooth and we got to sit and wait for a while. It was a long flight home and then my phone would not work so we had to wait till we got to Seattle to call for a ride and then wait some more. Seems strange to be back in the cool wet climate.

Now the planning begins for next year. So far the plan is to ride up the east coast of Africa to Europe and find a place there to store the bike.