The safari of a lifetime The journey that never really ended, but inspired us for life!
Because it's about the journey and not the destination.
It was mid-2001 when Daniel traveled to Cape Town for a semester abroad. Due to the tight timetable, Daniel was not able to see much of South Africa in the first few months. He was looking forward to the intermediate exams because there would be no courses for 2 weeks afterwards. When the time slowly approached and Daniel slowly wanted to start planning the route, there was unfortunately no one among the fellow students who wanted to accompany him on this journey. So Daniel didn't think twice about which of his friends at home he could spontaneously inspire for such a trip. A few minutes later Christoph's phone rang and a few days later Christoph landed at Cape Town International Airport.
The idea was to go off the coast, through the interior via Oudtshoorn, then along the coast via Port Elizabeth, East London and Kokstad into the Drakensberg. On the way back we want to drive back to Cape Town on the legendary Garden Route. But things turned out differently. We lost our heart to South Africa. The hospitality, the stunning scenery, the incredible wildlife and of course the braai and South African wine. The South African Way of Life.
On our trip, we mostly spontaneously stayed in Bed & Breakfasts, which we booked beforehand during the trip. Our hosts, sometimes farmers, sometimes emigrants, sometimes retirees, always welcomed us with open arms and brought us closer to South Africa. The stories and the culture are as different as our hosts. A reflection of the diversity that makes South Africa so unique. That's why it was difficult for us to say goodbye and sometimes we liked the area so much that we sometimes stayed 1-2 nights. So the 2 weeks were over faster than a bottle of Pinotage was drunk.
The impressions we were able to collect in these 2 weeks had such an emotional impact that we still cannot forget them to this day. It is just as difficult to name absolute highlights as it is not to name supposedly smaller highlights. There was the de Hoop National Park, which captivated us with its endless sand dunes and lonely sandy beaches. Or the trip to Hermanus, where we absolutely wanted to watch whales and were on the verge of resignation when we saw a mother whale with a newborn whale calf in a secluded bay at close range. Or the jump into the almost 400m deep gorge below the famous Bloukrans Bridge, with a jump depth of 213m one of the four highest bungee systems in the world.
Our guiding principle was to stay as close as possible to the historical originals without making any compromises. Despite intensive research, most of the leads led nowhere. Many companies that produced bags of this type had already given up production or switched to mass production long ago. There was a hail of cancellations and we were on the verge of resignation. Then came January 1st, 2012. The phone rang at 10 a.m. in the morning. Daniel answered. And a familiar voice answered. It was Randhir from New Delhi, an old friend, a true philanthropist, with whom Daniel had been out of touch for what seemed like forever. It was the perfect surprise. There was so much to tell and then Daniel told him about the idea of founding a company and producing historical travel bags. Randhir was excited and convinced that such manufactures would still exist in India. He went in search. A month later, Christoph and Daniel were on the plane on their way to India. And soon our first prototypes were created. Randhir had actually found the right manufactory that was still able to produce like 100 years ago.
He was the missing piece of the puzzle. It was only with his help that our idea became a real company. And from an idealistic duo a successful trio.
We are friends, we are travelers, we are DRAKENSBERG.
