Voetspore

The team travels to Colombia to continue and complete the South American adventure of the past three years. The journey starts in Bogota, where a new vehicle is prepared after the disastrous accident at the end of the previous series. While the team waits for the documentation to be finalized, they visit the historic town of Villa de Leyva and relive the history of the South American continent. Eventuall,y they are cleared to leave Colombia and proceed to the border with Venezuela.

The border crossing to Venezuela is complicated as the team is interrogated regarding the purpose of their visit. This country is in the grip of serious economic challenges while a dictatorship rules Venezuela with an armed fist. However, the team gets the opportunity to engage with the friendly people of this beautiful country. The journey concludes at the City of Bolivar on the banks of the massive Orinoco River.

Guyana is a strange country. Although it is on the South American continent, it is much more a part of the Caribbean. The people speak English with a Caribbean accent, the national sport is cricket, and most are descendants of the black people who came to this part of the world as slaves from Africa. It is a country experiencing unprecedented economic growth and has some of the friendliest and most laid-back people in the world.

This country, with a little more than half a million people, is somewhat of an island on the continent – the people are all descendants of the cane cutters who came from Africa and India, and as this used to be a Dutch colony, they all speak Dutch. This is fascinating for the Afrikaans-speaking Voetspore crew. Most people live in the capital, Paramaribo, and this is where the team witnesses the extreme tolerance between different religious groups as Jews, Muslims, Hindu and Christian not only respects each other’s believes and traditions, they also embrace it.

It is a long, treacherous journey to reach Boa Vista in Brazil. Here the team regroups after the first month on the road to do some general maintenance. Then they travel south, crossing the Equator, and experience the rainforest in all its glory. Near the town of Presidente Figueiredo, the team visits spectacular waterfalls in the forest before proceeding to the capital of the Amazon – Manaus.

The team embarks on a riverboat with the three Land Cruisers. It is a five-day voyage, downstream, from Manaus to Belem. After a hectic first five weeks of the journey, this offers the team an opportunity to observe the Amazon rainforest and river in all its glory while relaxing on the San Marino II and interacting with fellow passengers. This also allows for detailed planning for the rest of the expedition.

This is an area adjacent to the Amazon rainforest. Parque Nacional dos Lençois Maranhenses offers some of the most dramatic landscapes on the continent, with dunes and lakes giving the impression of bed sheets when observed from above. A journey along this coastline of Brazil takes the team to beautiful hamlets like Atins and Barra Grande, as well as some of the most spectacular beaches, such as Jericoacoara. Getting there is quite an adventure, with numerous river crossings.

This week starts at Morro Branco and Canoa Quebrada, the latter providing the backdrop for many a movie. This is a spectacular coastline. At Galhinos and Galos, the team is spoiled with excellent cuisine from the ocean while a local guide entertains them with a fiddle. The week also presents the opportunity to drive on the beach for hundreds of kilometres, all the way to the city of Natal.

Leaving Natal, the first stop is at Pirangi to see the world’s biggest cashew tree. Along the coast, the city of João Pessoa offers a brief look into Brazil’s past, as does the hamlet of Olinda. After visiting Porto de Galinhas, on the way to Salvador, team leader Johan falls ill what is presumably a case of dengue fever. In Salvador, the erstwhile capital of Brazil, Johan gets treatment at a local clinic.

With Johan still recuperating from his illness, the team is happy to welcome Streicher for a few weeks. Streicher has done 10 Voetspore expeditions, but his current occupation prevents him from spending more than two weeks with the team. They travel to the interior to Lençois and Mucugê near the Parque Nacional da Chapada Diamantina. After visiting the caves at Gruta da Mangabeira, they travel a long way south to Rio de Janeiro.

A whole week in one of the prime holiday destinations in the world! It is a relaxing week at the statue of Christ the Redeemer, the beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana, the Selarón Stairs, the Carioca Aqueduct, a soccer match at Maracanã and a cable car ride to the top of the Sugar Loaf Mountain. The week is concluded at Paraty, one of Brazil’s famous holiday destinations with its beautiful beaches and spectacular islands along the coast.

After saying goodbye to Streicher at the Sao Paulo airport, the team first visits the popular city of Curitiba and then go back to the coast. First, it is to the spectacular Florianopolis at the foot of the 50-kilometer-long Santa Catarina Island, and then to a small coastal village where there is a fascinating practice of dolphins assisting fishermen to catch fish. The week concludes at Porto Alegre – a city that suffered from severe flooding in the months before the visit.

After more than 45,000 km during three expeditions of three months each over the past three years, the team arrives at La Chacra Holandesa of Jan and Marieke Kuper in Uruguay. This is where the journey started three years ago. It is only fitting that it ends here as well. The last week is spent cleaning, packing and preparing the vehicles to be shipped back to South Africa. It also allows reflecting on an exceptional journey where all independent countries of the South American continent were visited. It is a relief to conclude the expedition, but also a sad day to say goodbye to a continent and its people that the Voetspore Team got to know and love.