As they wandered around some of the more remote areas in southern Africa, Donna-Rae and Greg were able to find nearly everything they needed from gasoline to laundry facilities.  In Zimbabwe gasoline was scarce but available if they were willing to buy it out of one liter Pepsi bottles or hand pumped from a 50-gallon drum behind a shack in a village.  A stop for the night at a tourist lodge on the Okavango River, looking across at Angola where people and drums were heard throughout the night, found a computer on a handmade table in a shed connected to the Internet usable for $10.00 per hour.  Another evening found a well-stocked, rough-hewn bar on the banks of the Okavngo River where cold beer was swilled while a cassette tape played the Doors as crocodiles and hippopotamus’ lay 50 feet away.  The swimming pool in that campground was a wire mesh cage suspended from floating 50-gallon drums in the river, much like a shark cage.  The toilet was called the “loo with a view,” because it was an open porcelain throne set high enough in the bush for the sitter to enjoy a good view of the swamp and animals surrounding it. 

     In Botswana elephants were kept out of the campground (and from walking over tents) by electrified fences.  The biggest threat while camping in Botswana, besides the snakes, were the monkeys and baboons.  Both found easy pickings of everything from purses to food from tourists not securing everything in their tents or cars.  One evening a monkey was bold enough to rush into the cooking area and snatch an unopened bag of cookies Donna-Rae was reserving for desert. 

  Greg has been able to get Donna-Rae onto elephants, camels and several motorcycles as they have worked their way around the world.  Try as he might, he could not talk her into trying to ride a giraffe.  Donna-Rae doubted her hands and legs would be strong enough to hold on to the neck as the giraffe swayed or loped through the bush.  Greg said, “No problem.  We’ll duct tape you on.”

     For Donna-Rae Africa was a learning experience.  For Greg, who had traveled there four times before, it was a re-enforcement of much of what he learned before.  Some of their Southern Africa learnings were:

1)    Never assume anything.

2)    If a sign says “Open 24 hours” that does not mean 24 in a row.

3)    To plan on how long something will take to accomplish, add three hours, then double it.

4)    What is on a menu does not mean what is available.

5)    While chewing on food and something unexpectedly crunches, swallow and accept it.

6)    While toilet paper is not scarce in stores it is always scarce when camping and in most public facilities.

7)    A bathroom is a room where you take a bath.  A toilet is what you are asking for when you ask where a bathroom is.

8)    When someone tells you they will be with you “Just now” it does not mean, “I will be with you shortly.”  It means “I will be with you when, and if, I feel like it, or maybe never.”

9)    When a tourist agent says they will call you back or email you, they mean “Just now.”

10)  National holidays are chosen randomly.

11)  Americans are not always liked.

12)  Red lights and stop signs sometimes mean stop, but are often read to mean “slow down” or “speed-up.”

13)  Painted lines on road surfaces are for decoration, not traffic control.

14)  A fool and his/her money are quickly parted whether by theft or sales.

15)  Never leave anything you can not live without out of your sight or unattended, like a motorcycle helmet or gloves hanging on the handlebars or a packsack under your chair while eating. 

16)  Passport, cash, credit cards and traveler’s checks should be kept close at hand, hidden and secure.  A tourist without a passport is a tourist without a country and one without money is in the worst kind of trouble.

17)  Do not expect to find things being done like they are in the USA.  One of the reasons for travel away from home is to find different things.

18)  When buying souvenirs or curios plan on one-half day to get them packaged and then into the local postal system to send home, then add most of the rest of the day as a lost travel  day due to the time spent finding tape, transporting the boxes to the post office and finding a cash machine or bank to pay for the postage.

     Pillion and pilot reach the end of the earth, Cape Agulhaus, South Africa.  This was their goal for the continent of Africa, to ride as far south as they could.  On their right is the Atlantic Ocean, on the left the Indian Ocean.  Donna-Rae was content to savor having tagged their third touch point as they rode around the world.  Greg had been here before so wanted to do something different.  He climbed over the rocks and walked into the salt water.  He said, “I’ve now walked off the end of Africa, with one foot in the Indian Ocean, one in the Atlantic.” Donna-Rae, knowing that Greg’s only fears in life are snakes and sharks, said, “Aren’t there sharks out there?”  Like a cork popping out of a champagne bottle, Greg popped back onto the continent of Africa, yelling, “Moses doesn’t like being away from Africa.”

[Editor’s Note: Ride The Dream now starts to follow the sun north.  As summer fades to fall below the equator in Africa, winter moves to spring in Norway.  Donna-Rae and Greg will wander some more in Africa, waiting for things to warm-up above the Arctic Circle.  Their next touch point is the North Cape, as far north as they can ride on the European continent.]