What=?ISO-8859-1?Q?=B4?=s up in South Africa...

Dear All
We´re stil in Richards Bay, just north of Durban. Will prob sail south towards Cape Town on Sun\Mon when the next weather window opens...

4 of us hired a car & went on Safari in Hluhluwe & Imfolozi Game Parks (now joined as one) only 1.5 hrs from here, 2 days ago. We saw heaps of wildlife and lions finishing a kill with hyena hanging around. Couldn´t find the elephants and Saw a cat very similar 2 the Cheetah called a Serval - that was exciting. Dozens of black & white rhino. It is the oldest Game park in SA & also a nursery for some animals including the original breeding place set up 2 save the Rhino. It was a very long and lovely day out. TG nothing charged our car! They were very lush Game Parks so the animals were looking well fed - I´ve never seen such fat Wildebeest!

We´r staying in Zululand Yacht Club alongside their wall, for free - will move 2 a marina berth soon. Its nice here - even have bath tubs in the shower block, BBQs & a swimming pool, and lots of our friends are here too. We´ve been spending alot of time trying 2 get Freefall in shape again. Had 2 take up all the floorboards 2 clean ever inch of the steel bilges 2 get rid of the saltwater that came in during our last sail. Yes, we had a bit of an incident in the Mozambique Channel - got a rope (genoa sheet) caught in the prop (engine on) during a rough sail-change. The pressure of the rope pulled the engine back on its mounts which created a leak where the shaft enters the boat (boot\bellows). We discovered we were taking on water when we went down below after Axel finally came out of the sea having cut the rope free from the prop; the water was over the floorboard in the saloon so there was urgent bailing done- buckets of water! TG we could fix the leak!

The day we sailed into Richards Bay was pouring rain, crap visability, pretty strong winds & heaps of huge cargo ships around so we were all very glad 2 get safely into harbour. We plus 5 of our friends boats arrived on the same day and the party was huge!

Today, 24th Nov, we´r off to Lesotho to do some hiking & horse trekking in the Drakenburg Mountains. Yippee!
Will be in touch next week!
Em x

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Staying in Richards Bay

Last night we were close before leaving Richard Bay, but we changed our plans and are staying here for
Christmas and New Year! So we have time to get Freefall back in shape before crossing the Atlantic. New Antifouling and little bits and peaces what are broken….and hopefully we have time to get inland to see the Kruger National Park and more from Africa….

Axel

game park and weather window

Our daytrip to the Imfolozi and Hluhluwe Game Reserve was great. Getting up at 3 am and then driving only an our to the park entrance to get into the gate at 5 am at dawn. The animals are more active in the early morning hours and the late afternoon. We picked a cloudy day, what is also good, because we in the car and the animals are more fit. In the Park are living the BIG FIVE, the five most dangerous animals, what means they have the lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and black rhinoceros.
We were happy to see 3 of the big fives (we missed only the elephant and the leopard) and around 20 other kinds of animals like the hyaena, warthog, zebras, giraffes, waterbuck.
The amazing part is, that you get very very closed to the animals. Some are walking on or beside the little gravel roads and you get to them as closed as 5-10 m. Thats fine with the zebras and giraffes, but gets a bit exciting with the buffalo or rhinos.....
Back in Richards Bay we are waiting now for a good weather window to get down to Durban or East London.
The Southerly Blaster, what turns the sea into a boiling kettle , are blasting threw in a very short frequency, so tomorrow we only have 24h time to get to the next save harbour. I do not know if we will start, but the plan is to leave tonight at 3 am.

Axel

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zooo

south africa

Is there a picture????

Game Park, South Africa

What a day!! Zebras, Lions, Giraffes, Rhinos....

WELCOME IN AFRICA.........

Axel

test von sailmail

das waere toll!!!!!!!!!!!

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test

Immer noch in richards bay

Hey, we arrived in Richards Bay on the 13. Nov.
After a broken main, water over the floorboards, after getting a rope in the prop and crazy wind and current on the trip from Madagascar to South Africa.
Nice to be in a nice marina.