Tag Archives:Sjoerd Jan ter Welle
Greetings from Sabi Sabi Game Reserve
Over the last two days we have covered an extremely long distance. We left Luanda, Angola in the early sunday morning, to fly via Windhoek in Namibia to Keetmanshoop. After five hours of flying we reached Odangwa, where we would fill up the tanks again, which took us about one hour.
From Odangwa we flew to Windhoek. Enroute we encountered the spectacular scenery Namibia is so well known of. We arrived at Windhoek shortly before 16:00 LT, and we still weren’t at our final destination of the day, which was Keetmanshoop.
We left Windhoek after another hour of formalities and refuelling. We arrived at Keetmanshoop around sunset, which was a little later than planned. We had flown 11 hours and covered over 1200 nautical miles, and were exhausted. But we were back on schedule!
The next day we left at 7AM in the morning, to fly to our lodge at the Sabi-Sabi Wildlife Refuge in South Africa. Via Upington we arrived there at around 17:00LT, which was a little later than we hoped for. The strip is actually owned by the resort we will stay in for the coming days, and they made no fuss about it.
Now it is time to have some rest in Sabi Sabi. The scenery and wildlife is spectacular here. We hope to post some more pictures and stories from here in the coming days, as we have a little more time on our hands. Totsiens in Sabi Sabi!
Climbing Mount Café
Our day at Sao Tomé de Principe started with some scuba diving. Being this close to the equator, 30 feet under water the temperature was still a sweetening 29 degrees Celsius. The scenery was spectacular however, and we spotted our first octopus.
We had lunch at our lodge, after which we decided to climb the mountain of Sao Tomé Island. With a Jeep of course. Enroute to the 9000ft-high summit we met some very nice people.
Our attention was first drawn by the sign saying ‘Mount Café.’ With Sjoerd Jan being a barista (link!) we took particular interest in this, and it appeared to be a coffee plantation.
We met with the friendly owners and employees, and a delicious cup of coffee was prepared for us on the spot.
No fancy cups and chrome coffee makers here: just a natural, pure Arabica coffee melange.
We had to leave the plantation again to further climb the mountain. Down the road we were greeted by some of the local school children.
All in all, we loved Sao Tomé. The people are relaxed and friendly, the coffee fantastic and the beaches great. However: time to leave again, back to mainland Africa: Congo.
Arriving In The Tropics
We love the tropics! Yesterday we arrived from Accra, Ghana in Sao Tomé de Principe. More about our journey there later in this post, but lets start with the fact that Lex smiled again upon our arrival at our Lodge. Sao Tomé isn’t really a wealthy place, but it allows for some good relaxation on western standards, and again some great underwater scenery for scuba diving!
Last Tuesday we flew from Bamako to Accra. The flight took us about five hours in total. Gradually the ground below turned green again and while flying over some small villages at 800 feet, locals were staring up and waving at us.
What amazed us, was that fires and large smoke plumes were taking away our visibility. Apparently the locals burn acres of wood to the ground to create fertile soil for crops. From time to time the smoke got so thick, we had to increase our altitude to keep a clear horizon.
At Bobo-Dioulasso we made a stop. Imagine a fully equipped large airport with only two scheduled flights every day.
Arriving in Accra around 16:00 we were parked amongst Boeings and Airbuses. See how we were refuelled in the local fashion:
At Accra we found this Dutch-registered Fuji. We have no clue about its history and how it got here. You are welcome to share your information here!
Yesterdaymorning we left Accra for a direct flight to Sao Tome. Blue up and below, until we had the large island in sight.
Today we will spend the day scuba diving and enjoying everything our luxury lodge has to offer. Tomorrow we will fly to Africa’s mainland again: Congo!
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Sjoerd Jan ter Welle and Lex Versteeg are flying from The Netherlands to South Africa and back in a small Piper aircraft. Read more about the team >here<
Day 1: Valencia!
Today we departed for our ambitious journey from Teuge in the Netherlands. Families and friends had come out of their beds very early on this cold and wet sunday morning, to wave us goodbye.
We left EHTE around 0900 local time in the morning, flying to Béziers at the French Côte d’Azur. We left Béziers only an hour after arriving, to continue on our last leg of this long flying day: Valencia!
We arrived in Valencia shortly after 19.00 in the evening, and witnessed a spectacular sunset during our arrival. For now, it’s off to bed early to prepare for tomorrow, when we start the next part of our next journey, flying to the Canary Islands via Gibraltar and Morocco! (You can follow our progress live here!)
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