South Africa Overland Travel and Silver Linings During COVID

In an effort to bring you some new voices on Ottsworld, here is a guest post from Shelley and Lars. I ‘met’ Shelley when she sent me a message on social media and mentioned that they were stuck in South Africa during the pandemic and ended up having a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I asked her to share her fascinating story because it’s a great reminder that acts of travel kindness are still happening during these tough times. All opinions, experiences, and photos here are theirs. –Sherry

We sipped hot chocolate on the bamboo couch, watching the hazy orange filter of dusk softly settle among the parched African bush. This was our evening ritual in South Africa. Gazing out into the fading landscape as pocket-size bats dipped and darted around us, delighted that nightfall was finally returning.

This was the magic hour, the finale of the day.

With the stars beginning to peep through the darkness, the shadows of the bush merged in the dimness. You can no longer be certain of what you are seeing and so you listen very carefully.

The crunch of a dry leaf. An announcement of something in the shadows. A soft grunt. Senses strain to tune in. You tilt your head to capture the slightest rupture in the silence. The snap of a breaking branch.

Buffalo. Or Kudu maybe. The next sound we heard, gave us no doubt as to what was lurking nearby.

Covid-19 Across the World

South Africa was where we found ourselves when Coronavirus waywardly hitched a ride on humankind, its molecules multiplying in every corner of the world.

And it was here that our travel plans – and honeymoon – were scuppered and undone.

Covid has been cataclysmic in its spread across the globe. We have all been forced to adapt, to change plans, to stay indoors, and to find our way through the fog of uncertainty.

The media is flooded with stories of misery, gloom, and heart-wrenching situations wrought by this pandemic. The tiny voice of change and hope is lost beneath the rubble. All we can see is the desolation, the damage, and the decay of our norms. Change is inevitable, but for many, it may take a while for any silver linings of the pandemic to shine through the cracks. But they are there.

An Africa Overland Tour Adventure

Arriving in South Africa in January 2020, we were excited to begin our overland tour adventure. We bought our bush camper – a 4×4 with a tent on top (which we fondly called ‘Bucky’) and set off. South Africa was just the first of many African countries in…