View of Simon's Town 
Then got on it again, but have been spoiled with Amazon back in the US, just didn't realize how it works here. I can't get a paper map for Ethiopia, Sudan or Egypt here, non to be found, so gave up on that which took days. Then ordered a battery for my Garmin Montana, well there is none in the country, okay well that's hard to believe and then it's Friday, so will wait till Monday to get my paperwork, Carnet, Comesa done.
View overlooking the Naval harbour from the deck.
View of Simon's Town from atop of Red Hill.
Penguins at Boulders.
Fisherman's Beach.
Had a great weekend, dinner at my cousin's house , went to the Shark Museum for a talk on the Orca's in Norway. On Sunday some old friends had us over for dinner where much food and libation was consumed.
Anyhow on Monday I tried to get my Carnet de Passage (CDP) only to find out that a bank guarantee doesn't work anymore and they need the R128 000 ( $8K R16 = $1 ) in cash which they hold, with no interest. When I get back to SA with the bike I get my deposit back .
So the Carnet is basically a TIP, (Temporary Import Permit ) for each country but Egypt requires a 200% value of your vehicle to be deposited to enter the country, so hence the large amount of cash you have to give them. So if your bike doesn't get back here, you are tits up.
So don't know what I am going to do yet about that, and then the Comesa, which is 3rd part insurance for all the countries is another joke, and will just buy it at each country as I enter, cause the lady sent me a quote of R 7800, which I queried and then it dropped to like 4K, so am done with BS.
So it's very frustrating, but then have been trying to get my inreach mini active and set up with Garmin has been a huge challenge for a dumbass like me, have been on the phone for hour's trying to figure it out. Has taken the whole week and am done with it. The only reason I got it was cause I am on my own and it has an SOS button, so they can come get my lame ass when the sh1t hits the fan, and then people, god knows who or why, can follow my tracks in real time so I am told, but to set it up has me at my wits end.
Why do we need all these gadgets, guys just use to use paper maps in the day, but no, now everyone has to have instant contact, and it's a lot of distractions trying to keep all the gizmos charged and keeping in contact and everything synced, don't know if it's worth the hassle.
Enough of that, I just gotta get going, come hell or high water by the 25th of July. I never thought it would take this long. The place we are renting overlooks the the the harbour and False Bay and we get to see the whales quite frequently and walk to the beach daily and swim, so don't get much done in a day, I just stare at the view most of the time.
Wednesday 20th July 2022
Five days to go and am getting stuff sorted, my Carnet will not be, and decided against using a Comesa. Have most stuff packed in my panniers and dry bag, so looks like Monday is going to work ,plus weather wise looks like a decent day.
Thursday 21st July 2022
Woke up again at 3:30 am, and decided I need to go buy a compressor, as I doubt the bicycle pump will break the bead. At about 7am the sun rises over the Hottentots Holland Mountains and today's sunrise is like a fire in the sky and it changes so quickly, by the time Charmain brings the coffee it is done.
So after coffee, I washed, brushed and combed and then did my daily walk to Fisherman's Beach, swam, came back home had ProNutro, showered then drove to Cape Town and bought a Desert Fox compressor,a tow rope and a 1L fuel can.
Am sitting here writing in the lounge, watching a spectacular sunset and the sea is like glass and there's no load shedding , so all the lights are on across the bay and the clouds are ablaze, another end of shitty day in Africa.
Penguins!!!! Glad you are down there, will be following the trip. Have a good un, and no wonder you have put weight on and are bending shit on the bike if you are eating all that yummy food!
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