Mischke Bosse is the quintessential wanderer- a photographer, blogger, digital nomad and free-spirited road tripper on a year-long adventure to explore Southern Africa. Traveling in a 2000 Jeep Cherokee XJ, she shares her life on and off the road, the places she visits and the people she meets along the way.
how did the travelling lifestyle come to be?
I’ve always been one to reject conformity, even though there were multiple times in my short 23-years that all I so desperately wanted was to find contentment with the conventional way of doing things. I went to college out of politeness to my parents, laughed at my short-lived experiences with nine-to-fives and spent most of my life to date ensuring I keep the amount of belongings I own just low enough to either fit in a car, or minimal enough to get rid of easily.
I wanted the road, I wanted a car packed with campware and just-the-needed amount of clothes, I wanted petrol stations in the middle of nowhere and mountain tops that left me breathless, a loose plan that followed coastlines and Karoo highways. I wanted to hear the stories of strangers and see ways of living other than what I’ve come to know.
And so, for the six months before setting out I didn’t do much else that plan and dream and talk about the trip that would become my “year on the road”.
It’s good to highlight that there are two pillars of my lifestyle – remote working and traveling. The idea that I would eventually work remotely slowly crept into my head whilst working full-time as the social media and community manager at one of South Africa’s leading e-commerce stores. My gut told me the fixed-job, corporate world wasn’t the right fit in the long run, but I knew it was the right thing for me at that moment.
I started freelancing full-time in 2019, working as a social media manager, creative director, content creator and photographer for a number of businesses. During the winter of 2020, I decided to do a month-long road trip through the Western Cape in my old 1996 Mercedes C220. A sort of test run, if you will. To see if I truly could still keep freelance work going and up to date with this very unpredictable lifestyle.
I loved my life on the road and found utter fulfilment in being nomadic and it was on this trip that I began to understand one cold, undeniable truth; I am more comfortable with risk than stillness. Returning, I guess the feeling never quite left and, with my lease conveniently coming to an end. I packed up and sold the few things I had, traded the old Merc’ in for my beloved Jeep and started planning a year long trip where I’d be living on the road through Southern Africa, full time.
a year on the road – the route
The trip starts in Knysna in February of 2021. My plan is to travel through the Eastern Cape, exploring the Sarah Baartman and Amathole regions before heading off to the Wild Coast, with stops including Morgan’s Bay and Port St.Johns.
I know I want to explore more along the Drakensberg / Lesotho border, and I’ve already made plans to cruise along the Midlands Meander with a friend before heading into the upper part of KwaZulu-Natal, especially higher up towards the Mozambique border. A big loop of Mpumalanga will follow.
By winter, I hope to be somewhere in the Northern Cape, sticking to the upper border and eventually going in or just pass the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. Following the West Coast back down to Cape Town by December of 2021.
I’ve been referring to this as a “year on the road”, but who knows if it’ll go beyond that? I’m open to it. Heck, I might even end up in Lesotho, Namibia or Botswana.
The destination is not so much the purpose of this journey. I know if I’m going to enjoy this trip, I’m really going to have to give myself to the road, completely surrendering to the ebbs and flows on which it takes me.
www.mischkebosse.com/about-blog/the-route
#MegaXplore
By: Mishke Bosse
Related Posts
