namibia
Namibia
Saturday 1st March 2008:
With our carnet and passports stamped we entered through the metal gates into Namibia, where suddenly people drive on the left-hand side of the road again. This was the first time since leaving England, and took some getting used to again. There were lots of people hanging around the gates trying to cross from Angola into Namibia, so the army man there has his job cut out for him. We got our passports stamped for 60days, by a very smiley lady, and were then directed to the Customs lady at the window next door. She gave us a form to fill in with Duzi2's details and told us of the N$160.00 Road Tax charge for every foreign registered vehicle. We needed to use the Import Permit we got for Duzi2 in July to show we had imported the vehicle into South Africa, rather than our carnet. We paid the tax and received a Road Tax Certificate, which we need to produce at any police roadblocks within the country. We give part of this back to the customs officials when we leave Namibia, and the rest we show customs in SA, as part of the import procedure, when we finally get there. We went to the Customs Office in the building nearby, to check we had done all we needed to, with regards to importing Duzi2 into her/his new home.
At last we were waved through by the friendly policeman, without a car search thank goodness, because we are not supposed to bring wheat flour into Namibia. We will hopefully use our Tesco plain and self-raising flour to make bread in our bread oven, now that we are going to slow down a bit and have fires to cook on in the evenings, if it ever stops raining. Everyone in Namibia is polite and friendly.
WOW! Beautifully smooth, tarred roads, road markings, wide cleared road sides, clean, new cars and good drivers. We are truly in the very organised Namibia. We stopped at the Shell garage to see if we could buy a phone card to call our folks, but they didn't sell them. Instead of a phone card, we came out with Simba's Steers Spare Rib flavoured chips, biltong, Liqui-Fruits and Ghost Pops. We stopped at the BP garage and bought their only N$20.00 phone card and had N$10.00 each to quickly call home. Our very excited parents called us back twice and both had lots of very exciting news to tell us. Heidz's folks have booked their flights to Windhoek for the 16th March to join us in 15 days time. They have also miraculously managed to get a chalet for us four to stay in, at Okaukuejo in Etosha for 5 days over the Easter period while they're with us. This is unheard of, especially at such late notice. Thank you Lord! Ross' folks now have an Eezi-awn rooftop tent fitted on their Discovery, a fridge, gps, etc. and are getting fully kitted for their overland drive up to meet us in the middle of May. It was SO lovely to speak to them again and hear all this excitement.
While we were phoning home we met Frans, who is the main T4A (Tracks For Africa) representative in Namibia. He runs 4x4 off-road trails teaching people how to drive off-road and through the dunes. We drove to Ondangwa Rest Camp and were very pleasantly surprised at how beautiful the sites were at N$50 each/night. We had a built up braai, a rubbish bin, running water, electricty, etc. Namibia certainly knows how to treat and spoil campers. Long may this last. Kimbo, we used your savoury rice to make a very yummy savoury rice and biltong dinner. What a treat. We saw the Southern Cross clearly for the first time tonight, before climbing into our tent for a relaxing cool nights sleep.
Sunday 2nd March 2008: Ondangwa Rest Camp, Ondangwa, Namibia
GPS Info: S17° 54' 43.8" E15° 58' 29.3"
Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 16 561
Up VERY early, 5am, due to our very inconsiderate builder neighbours who were throwing bits of metal around and warming up their car engines. After they left, the campsite's bin cleaner proceeded to clear the bins in the sites around us while shouting down his mobile phone. Being woken up so early on a Sunday morning is so wrong! There was a very tempting smell of cooking bacon though, which made us very hungry. Ross enquired at the campsite restaurant about breakfast, but was told they were closed today, being a Sunday. He was told to try a place around the corner. We walked the small white streets around the rest camp, but found no bacon breakfasts. After asking a very cheerful security guard for help in this department, we were directed to a Total garage, but decided to walk on to Shoprite and get our own things to cook a yummy breakfast. The sun reflected so brightly off the white-sand streets, we both regretted not taking our sunglasses with us. It was also hot so we stopped in for some cool refreshments along the way, trying fruit juices and of course Sparletta Creme Soda, which "tastes so cool", Heidz agrees.
The rest camp facilities are amazingly done. Each site is huge with paved areas containing a cement table, and four log chairs, a bricked braai, a bin, a tap with clean water, a light and a shade clothed area to pitch a ground tent. Each site is screen fenced with thatch grass so they are private and lovely. In the middle of the camp is a dam with ducks, etc. A very calm, relaxing spot. We'd highly recommend this place for camping, only the ablutions are lacking a bit - one combined shower and loo for the men and a combined loo, shower and bath for the ladies, although the ladies has no light or electricity. Sadly the biggest downer of this place though are the unfriendly, couldn't-care-less owners who make NO effort with their clients. It goes to show that even a place with such amazing facilities can still feel empty without hospitable, friendly owners.
Heidz cooked a full English breakfast of bacon, eggs, baked beans and fresh brown toast. Our Camping Gaz stove and grill are so fantastic. After a late delicious brunch we relaxed, reading magazines and info on Namibia, putting off doing washing as much as possible. Eventually after the threatening, rumbling black clouds passed, Ross cleaned Duzi2. A really hard task after she/he was caked with thick, clay and mud from Angola. Heidz did the laundry in the bath in the ladies ablutions, making full use of the hot water on tap. Unfortunately the ladies ablutions (loo, shower and bath) didn't have any light, so once it got dark it was VERY dark and impossible to use. We therefore both showered in the men's ablution block. The Afrikaans family who own and run the rest camp had youthgroup with lots of children this afternoon, followed by home church in the early evening in the restaurant, which didn't make us feel we could move freely around.
We had a salad and soup dinner for a change, using the fresh salady things we'd bought at Shoprite this morning.
Monday 3rd March 2008: Ondangwa Rest Camp, Ondangwa, Namibia
GPS Info: S17° 54' 43.8" E15° 58' 29.3"
Miles Today: 132 Total Miles: 16 693
We were woken up again by our noisy, inconsiderate building contractor neighbours!!! Nothing like being on holiday, sharing a small campsite with builders who load up their trucks at 6am in the morning, everyday of the week. Our washing wasn't dry so we hung it over the fences in the sun to dry and enjoyed a muesli breakfast before packing up and paying the "friendly" owners. It is a beautiful campsite with lots of potential but is severely lacking any personal contact and we never really felt welcome here.
Heading on towards Oshikati, we passed endless flooded lands that have left people homeless, stranded, or on islands surrounded by lakes of water or gushing rivers. The tarred roads in Namibia are fantastic though, which makes driving a breeze, even though driving on the left-hand side of the road is still taking some getting used to. We stopped in at a few scrapyards along the way, hoping to replace our front shock absorber mounting cone, but none had any Landrover bits, that's because they don't break down here... Taking a chance, we stopped in at a place called Auto Repairs (with a sign written like the Landrover logo) which is on the righthand side of the Ondangwa - Ruacana road as you drive through Oshakati. We met Braam, who immediately said he'd weld a piece back onto the existing cone to replace the metal piece that had snapped off, for no charge at all. He and his assistant worked carefully on Duzi2 to make him/her more comfy with 4 working shocks again. We were chatting to Braam about all the flood water we've seen and he told us in the past 9yrs he's been living here, it's never rained so much, and it has never rained in the day until this year, previously only raining at night. Braam recommended we go to East End Workshop in Klein Windhoek to stop and have Duzi2 checked over and serviced, the same place Andreas had recommended. We were also hoping to stop in at Pick 'n Pay in Oshakati to do a restock shop, but Braam strongly advised us to rather stop at Spar instead. He told us foreign number-plated vehicles are prime theft targets outside Pick 'n Pay, as there are no guards watching the cars.
We had great fun stocking up with SA supplies: Ouma Rusks, ProNutro, Tempo's, Jelly Tots, Ghost Pops, guava roll, Black Cat peanut butter and gouda cheese. Yum, Yum. There is a super quick internet, the "fastest in Namibia", and certainly the fastest in Africa so far, on the right-hand side of the Spar entrance. So great to hear from family and friends, even though we haven't done updates for SOOOOO long. Aaron and Emily are so cute! We're so proud to hear you're paddling, Aunty Gail. You have now discovered the best sport in the world, from the right side - being in the boat rather than in the car! You're also paddling at the most beautiful club, with Shongweni Dam and all it's game, it's a bit like a safari training in the bush. So glad Warren and Jo's wedding plans are all going well and we're really sad we wont be there to join them on their special day on the 15th March. We downloaded the latest Tracks 4 Africa updates of GPS points and maps. The lady who ran the internet shop used to be in the army and in the police force, and was able to remind Ross where some of his army training would have been. He had initially been based at Omuthiya, closer to Grootfontein, which is why none of where we've driven past so far looks familiar to him.
Before leaving Oshakati, we did end up stopping at Pick 'n Pay to see if we could get a cooked chicken for dinner. Ross stayed in the car though and had a rather suspicious character eye Duzi2 out, before spotting him inside. The man then quickly jumped into a bakkie, which had pulled up nearby, and drove away. We enjoyed a KFC burger meal for dinner before driving on more fantastic Namibian roads to Ruacana.
Driving on we passed more flooded land, with areas looking more like deep dams than fields. People were wading waist deep in water to their homes, many of which were flooded. It was so sad to see as these people live so simply and now have nothing other than water, and it's only the start of the rainy season. Some of the locals were even selling fish hanging off sticks along the side of the road, very innovative. There is so much water, even their contingency plans seem to be unable to cope. All this water will lead to big problems in a few weeks and months.
We stopped at Ombalantu, very close to where Ross was deployed briefly for a month 22 years ago. This was 'the border' area during the Angolan / South West African war. Following the signs to a big baobab tree, Ombalantu Baobab Tree, which has a door going into it, it might have been the one Ross remembered had a tiny church in, all those years ago. This is now a campsite too, but no-one seemed to be around, so we decided to drive on to Ruacana and camp at the lovely Eha Lodge instead. Eha Lodge is beautifully done with a lovely African decor restaurant. The campsite (N$45 each p/n) is clean and each site has it's own lit braai area and lots of space. There are nice ablutions with hot showers!!!
Here we met a wonderful Dutch couple, Lia and Cok, who have hired a fully kitted 4x4, from Cape Caprivi Car Hire, and are driving around Namibia for 25days, camping in the rooftop tent. They had tried to drive to Kunene River Lodge and the Epupa Falls today, but the rivers were too high and fast, making the roads impassable. This may mean we have a change in route ahead of us. They told us the Ruacana Falls were very full and they were told they are as full as Victoria Falls. Can't wait to see them. We chatted to them for a bit before the rain, thunder and lightning started...more water. It poured again all night turning the campsite into a red, sandy river. Roof-top tents are definitely the way forward as no matter what the weather, you always have a warm, comfy, dry and non-flooded bed to sleep in!
Tuesday 4th March 2008: Eha Lodge, Ruacana, Namibia
GPS Info: S17° 26' 14.8" E14° 21' 34.5"
Miles Today: 47 Total Miles: 16 740
Chatted some more to Lia and Cok, before waving them good-bye. We packed up and had decided to try and get to Kunene River Lodge going via Ruacana Falls. Our drive was again past huge dams of water where there should have been fields. There is just so much water and more rain seems to be falling everyday. As we approached the falls we could see the spray rising high up above the falls like a mist. We drove to the Namibian side of the falls, next to the hydro-power plant, and were blown away by the huge volume of water pumping over the falls. They are HUGE and so loud. There was water falling from every crack sending up high spray. The falls are 124m high and 700m wide in full flood, like now, which have their catchment in Angola. We took lots of photos and then drove over to the Angolan side of the falls. You can cross the border into Angola, actually into no-mans land, and they don't mind. You drive right up to the falls. Wow, the sound here was really loud. We met a young guy, Gert, and his parents who told us they've never seen the falls flowing and it only happens for about 2 months a year, but it's really full now. Gert works at Kunene River Lodge so offered for us to follow him there in convoy. He knew all the detours, which now need to be used due to the extremely high water level of the flooded Kunene River. Ross and Duzi2 were put through their off-roading paces and came out with flying colours. Duzi2 handled every river crossing with no problem, every steep hill ascent and descent with control and handled the thick sticky mud as if it were normal. It's wonderful driving such a capable vehicle and amazing what is possible just in normal gears, but such a bonus to have low range and diff lock as this gives such an advantage when necessary. We think Gert and his folks might have been converted to Landrover Defenders after the way Duzi2 managed so well, compared to their Mitsubishi Colt, which struggled a bit...
We were spoilt to see lots of Himba people on our drive to the lodge. All traditionally dressed in skins and bare-breasted. They are a red rust colour as they coat their skin with Ochre, a natural red stone. They look mud-covered and have stiff hair, or hair extensions arranged in strange pointy styles. Unfortunately the children and even some of the adults all shout out 'sweetie' or 'lekker' and once you wave at them, they run after you for miles expecting you to throw something out to them. One little girl even shouted, 'Give me pen now!', to which she was told, 'No and that is not how you ask for things!' Even if we had given her a pen, she probably wouldn't have anything to use it on. This is one of the negative effects tourism has had on these local people, which will hopefully change.
After about a 3 to 3 1/2 hour drive we finally reached Kunene River Lodge. It really is beautifully located right on the banks of the Kunene River, looking onto Sycamore Figs, Jackalberry trees and Makalani Palms. At the moment the river is very full and about 3metres above its normal height, flowing at about 800 tonnes per minute, according to Pete, the owner. They had a huge storm last night and have received more than half their annual rainfall in the last 3 weeks. The wooden deck was just above the water and things in the water were flying past. Any more rain in the catchment area upstream and the lodge could be in trouble. We were shown to a very nice campsite, no.7, right on the waters edge and close to the immaculate ablutions. We had our own light, electrical point and a built up braai and monkey proofed bin. We firstly popped open the tent and then went to the deck in front of the lodge to enjoy a cold shandy sun-downer and a very interesting conversation with Pete, the owner, who has a huge wealth of knowledge about Africa and it's wildlife. Him and his wife have owned Kunene River Lodge for 2 years, but have previously lived and worked in Botswana, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, with Pete being born in Kenya. They have very recently come back from Zambia, which has also suffered from the late, very sudden rainfall.
The 3 young guys working at the lodge all got into boats and had fun splashing around, the one guy was even practising Eskimo rolls, until he fell out and went down river needing to be rescued by the other two. They made us a bit jealous actually, and didn't seem phased by the threat of crocs at all. When the water level is lower the lodge offers white river rafting over the rapids up-stream, as well as other adventure sports and bird watching river trips.
While we were enjoying the stunning sunset colours of crimson red, burnt orange and various shades of pink from the deck over-looking the river, we met a Scottish girl, Penny. She has just started working for VSO in Opuwo, helping the local Himba Communities to develop and manage their own community campsites. The Namibian government is giving back concessioned land to the Himba's for them to use to generate income. This sounds like a really good concept in theory, but they need help as to how to do this, which is how Penny can help. This will be good for this rather thinly populated and very beautiful part of Nambia.
Wednesday 5th March 2008: Kunene River Lodge, Kunene, Namibia
GPS Info: S17° 21' 17.0" E13° 52' 55.5"
Miles Today: 120 Total Miles: 16 860
Both of us were a bit unsetttled in our sleep last night, sub-consciously a bit concerned about being so close to the river which was so high. We kept hearing splashes, which our minds convinced us were crocs. There were birds of many different kinds calling in the trees around us. The river level had dropped a bit so the splashing sounds we'd heard in the night, might have been tree branches that had been caught under water, slowly being released as the level slowly dropped. The river was still in flood and flowing very quickly. We met Stefan and Stephanie, an Austrian couple, from the beige overland truck which pulled in late last night. They have been travelling down from Nairobi to Namibia for exactly the same time as us. They plan to travel around for a bit longer, before returning back to Austria to work for another 6 months, to earn enough for the next 6 month leg of their trip up the West. They have been travelling from Austria to here over many years, working for 6 months and then driving for 6 months, storing their truck wherever they stop until they resume their drive 6 months later.
We reluctantly packed up the tent to carry on driving towards Epupa Falls. We loved this spot at the lodge, but realised we couldn't use this as our stopping point, as it was a bit pricey at N$80 each/night. As lovely as the location was, we thought we'd try to see Epupa Falls and rather spend a night out there and then head southwards to still try and get to Outjo on the 7th for Gerhard's memorial day. Pete warned us that he'd been told the Epupa area was flooded, but couldn't understand how as they, Kunene River Lodge, normally flood first. He told us of the best route to try and warned us of some of the crossings we may need to make. He was such an interesting man to chat to and we both wished we could've spent more time with him. He gave us a sticker for Duzi2 from the Lodge, which has a picture of a Cinderella Waxbill, only found here.
We set off on the road to Swartbooisdrift, about 4km westwards, which was fine. From there we joined a big, good gravel road heading away from the Kunene River. We knew we needed to cross two non-perenial rivers, which were now in full flood. The first one wasn't flowing too fast or full, and had a cement base, so that was no problem. The second crossing was a bit more difficult as we needed to drive downstream in the river, with the flow, and to exit diagonally a few hundred metres below where we entered. Ross got out to walk the river, to check its flow and depth. He filmed Duzi2 handling this with no problem at all, low range, diff lock and slow agressive driving. So cool to be able to know your car is so fantastic and can handle just about anything, as long as you keep safe. So far so good and the water levels didn't seem to be too high so we were hopeful to reach Epupa Falls. This was until we reach the town Okangwati, to see the road totally washed away with no trace of where it should be. The river seemed low, but was flowing and there were many local children playing in the water. We both got out to walk and see if we should/could cross. Initially we were both quite hopeful, but the sand was very soft and like sinking sand. There was far too much soft sand and we now knew Epupa was definitely out of the question! A local army man came over to us confirming we shouldn't cross. The army need to do a food drop out in Epupa tomorrow and they are very concerned as it won't be possible to cross and people are reliant on this drop. This is so sad to hear, especially as there is more rain on the way and lots of it! It was lovely having the casual encounters and chats with the local children.
When we can't make decisions, God always makes them for us in very obvious ways. We did a rethink and decided to head south towards Opuwa after stopping for a picnic lunch in the cool of some shade. We passed many Himba people dressed in traditional skins. The women and girls are bare-breasted and wear animal skin short skirts, with beads around their necks and arms. They paint their bodies with a traditional mixture of ochre butter and herbs to protect themselves from the sun which makes them a rust red colour. They even put this in their hair, which is the same colour, and clump it together in different designs and styles. Most of the women had babies also a rust red colour, strapped on to their backs with beads. The children are also a red colour dressed only in skin sheaths, with clumped hair. Ross tried desperately to take photos of them without them seeing, but managed to get numerous pictures of sky, trees and grass, with only two of the Himbas. In the late afternoon we drove past a mother breast-feeding her baby sitting in the grass, and at first Heidz thought this was a rusted car wreck, until she moved. We also saw traditional donkey carts, which we were also rather unsuccessful about getting a photo of, without the donkey people seeing. Himba, Herero and other more rural people hate you taking photos of them. You need to ask their permission first and then pay them for the photo. This would make your journey very slow, and complicated so we've decided to rather just enjoy what we see and not offend them by taking photos.
The Himba people are crop and cattle farmers and work very hard doing manual farming. Even in the baking midday sun and heat, they are busy in their fields. We drove through undulating broken landscapes with lots of interesting rock formations. Everywhere is lovely and green, but the effects of the rain are evident. Namibian roads department are fantastic. There were road-construction signs and people working on the roads, wherever they had been washed away, fixing holes and trying to rebuild and clear bridges.
We passed many community run campsites, which are everywhere and part of the conservancy thinking. They seem to be nice and well maintained, but we were trying to get to Opuwo so we could at least make it to Outjo tomorrow. We pulled off the road to bush camp in an area a fair distance off the road nestled in a valley of hills. We had a couscous, vegetable and salad dinner and enjoyed the clear skies above us displaying hundreds of thousands of stars. We lay on the bonnet of Duzi2 with a mozzi coil burning between us staring at the stars through binoculars. We thought of Lance and Jack, and how much you could see through the telescope we had given them. Lance, Jack would've been blown away by all the stars! The mozzis and moths eventually drove us both into the tent to bed. There were SOOOOO many moths! At one stage, after mixing all the cut veggie and salad bits into the couscous, we put the chopping board down and within minutes you couldn't even see it, it was totally covered with dark moths of every size. They were everywhere and drove Ross batty.
Thursday 6th March 2008: Bush camp near Opuwo, Namibia
GPS Info: S18° 01' 46.9" E13° 51' 17.4"
Miles Today: 156 Total Miles: 17 016
Getting up in the morning we were amazed at the beautiful, quiet spot we'd slept in. The moths and mosquitoes were still hassling us while we ate our breakfast though, so much for moths only being out in the evening. We got back onto the good road to Opuwo and were surprised at the mix of cultures so obvious in this little town. There were traditionally dressed (or slightly dressed in animal skins only) Himba men, women and children, the beautifully dressed Herero women looking like they'd stepped out of the Victorian times and people wearing normal clothes all walking around, waiting for lifts and mingling without any distinction. We stopped at a BP garage to fill up with fuel and were met by Elizabeth, locally known as Queen Elizabeth apparently, who tried desperately hard to convince us to do a tour of her Himba village 30km away. We manged to explain that we didn't have much time and then she just ended up chatting. She told us the Herero women wear between 11 and 13 layers of skirts, and they wear long sleeves! Their dresses must cost a fortune. They are made from exquisite material, in lots of beautiful colours.They wear matching headresses which look like cattle horns. These have some symbolism, but we never found out what it was. We don't know how they don't pass out from the heat. We both wear shorts and short sleeve shirts and we're finding it hot. Apparently, the Herero women only wear their big, puffy Victorian style dresses after their first period, because then they've become a women. We tried to find a mobile sim card, but had no joy so decided to head on towards Sesfontein and try at any big town we went through.
We drove through more broken land, with rocky mountains showing hard rock layers through their tree covered slopes. At Sesfontein we stopped in at the Information office and were met by Clements. We asked him about the permit we needed to collect in Sesfontein, to go to Purros to try and see the desert adapted elephants, but he told us we don't need one. Our chances of seeing these elephants would be very slim as it's so wet everywhere and they live in the riverbeds, which are now flooded. They would probably have migrated to drier areas, out of this region completely. Sesfontein was almost like a park, with flat plains of green grass and willow looking trees, with donkeys and cows grazing happily. We started on the Purros road travelling through the most amazing scenery. Sloping, warped mountains looking like they had been shaped with brush strokes of a paintbrush to form wavy patterns running in different directions. The colours the rocks were reflecting in the light of the afternoon were various shades of pink, red, brown, purple and grey. We could see we were heading into the middle of an incredible storm as the skies ahead were dark black, flashing with lightning bolts and parts of the mountains were hidden by thick mist. We felt so tiny against these huge rock formations as we drove on the flat, open plains meandering through the mountains towering above us on all sides. The wind picked up and then the rain started...
We were both a bit undecided about whether we should drive out to Purros and then come back to camp on the way to Sesfontein, enabling us to get to Outjo for the 7th, or to not go there at all. The rain came down harder and harder, raining so hard at one stage that even with the windscreen wipers on top speed, we couldn't see a thing. We reached a very wet flat area which was a bit sticky, with the potential of becoming marshy, which made us think very carefully. After getting through this and seeing the flooded result of the storm that had just past, we decided to turn around and seriously discuss where to from here. Two overland vehicles drove past us, one a fully kitted Landy, like ours and another hired 4x4, both heading back to Sesfontein. Still undecided, another hired 4x4 stopped to tell us they were on their way back to Sesfontein too. They had been trying to get to Purros and had got to the river just before it, but this was in full flood. Clements said there weren't any rivers to cross, what sort of Info Officer was he??? This couple said the river was huge, fast flowing and getting bigger so we shouldn't bother. As we've said before, God makes our decisions for us when we really struggle to.
We headed on back to Sesfontein, through totally unrecognisable terrain from what we had come through just about an hour before. There were gushing rivers where there had been no trace of water before. Big ruts and holes had formed in the road from the excess water that had run over it. The previously grassy areas were now flooded dams and we were very worried about how we would get through one of the diversions we'd been made to use around a bridge that was still being built up again. We reached the diversion, but travelling back meant driving down a very steep clay bank into a riverbed which was now a rushing river, and then trying to get out the other side up another steep slippery clay bank. Here we met the German couple in the hired car who had told us of the river to Purros earlier. Ross and the German guy got out to walk the banks and the water, but realised it was far too slippery and risky. We decided instead to risk using the new bridge that was being worked on, we could see another car had just used it too. We crossed no problem, being glad we were on a bridge.
Next we met more Germans in a 4x4 hired car, with 2 rooftents on its roof, just outside Sesfontein. They said to us they had stopped there due to the two rivers ahead. The first wasn't too much of an issue, but the second was and they were scared of being caught in between the two. The first river was no problem when we drove through it being not too full or fast. The second, on the otherhand, was a huge raging river with massive stopper waves. No one in their right mind would even entertain the thought of crossing it at this level, let alone even try to walk it, they would've been washed away so quickly and for miles down river. Big trees were tumbling down like toy boats in the massive volume of water. We parked and stood in amazement at the volume of water racing past from one storm. A local guy in a Lexus pulled up also shocked to see so much water. He was great fun. We chatted to him for a long time. He had had problems crossing here the day before and worked on the bridge a few kms further on, so was very aware of the potential for big holes to have formed due to rocks having been washed away. Next to arrive were the first German couple we'd met, and then the other four German's who were flabbergasted at how much the water had risen in the past half hour. We all just stood there watching and lots of photos and videos were taken.
With no chance of crossing and not being keen to cross back over the previous rivers to get to Sesfontein, we set up the tent on a hill over the river listening to the water rushing past. It continued to drizzle on and off and got cold. Hot soup warmed us up, a total contrast to the heat from earlier on in the day. We checked every now and then in the dark to see what the level was like, and after about 2-3 hours it did start to drop fairly quickly. Two vehicles arrived at around 11pm from the other way, the first two from that side, so obviously rivers ahead of us were too high to cross too. They stopped, one guy got out and walked the river, now a lot lower, but still fast flowing. The water didn't go above his knees though. The problem is that this river has no solid base, and no one had any idea of what holes were hidden under the water where rocks had been washed away. Also what kind of debris lay hidden under the still fast flowing water. We watched the a truck which had been waiting on our bank cross very cautiously, followed by a Unimog truck which crawled slowly through to our bank, followed by a bakkie. Heidz was very concerned in case they would be washed away, the thought of going in to help was not a good one. They all only struggled getting in and out of the rather steep, very soft bank on our side of the river.
We were so thankful for our roof-top tent as we had a warm dry night's sleep and this would not have been the case had we had a ground tent.
Friday 7th March 2008: Bush camp near Sesfontein above a flooded river, Sesfontein, Namibia
GPS Info: S19° 08' 21.1" E13° 43' 33.5"
Miles Today: 170 Total Miles: 17 186
We woke early hoping to still be able to make it to Outjo and have a berlina for Gerhard's memorial in Switzerland today. The whole day we were thinking of Theresa and her family as they remembered their wonderful Gerhard. Neither of us can still believe he's gone and that we wont ever see him again. Our prayers are still with them as they face each new day without him.
The raging river from yesterday was a totally dry rocky riverbed this morning. It was hard to believe this was the same river and we crossed over easily. We saw our first big ground squirrel which was standing straight up on its hind legs when we drove past. Initially we thought it was a meerkat, but were pleased when it curiously and cautiously came out to check out Duzi2, as we pulled off the road next to its nest to get a closer look. We drove on past more evidence of the massive amount of water received yesterday. We passed tall, towering termite nests made from red sand, which the ground squirrels seem to use as homes or foraging places too. We also saw more traditional Himba and Herero and donkey carts.
The landscape today was totally different from yesterday with it being a lot drier, rockier and with more rugged mountains. The temperature rose quickly and the sun was strong. We drove on gravel roads all day, but they were fantastic. We took many landscape scenery photos as it was too beautiful not too. We drove through high open areas with scattered thorn scrub and grasslands broken by red mountains, and then we were driving through drier flowering pink and white open grasslands with wild flowers blooming in shades of pink, purple and orange. Continuing on we descended down a steep, twisting, rocky pass opening up to unveil a wide untouched view, and then passing the harshest most unfriendly red-rock covered ground, which couldn't be used for anything and would take years to clear. Following this we drove through an area of grass-covered high sand dunes, which in the drier months must have been totally sandy. This then changed to a harsh, dry, barren and extremely hostile area, before driving down a red windy pass. All this was on the way to Twyfelfotein, Burnt Mountain.
We were very excited when we saw our first proper wildlife, a herd of springbok grazing happily in the green foliage, followed by many more herds and some even with very young new born babies. Ross also saw his first ever stunningly beautiful gemsbok/oryx. We also saw a very large troop of baboons and scattered herds of zebra.
We stopped in at the petrified forest, the first sign we saw, which was a community run project. We paid N$20 to enter and were led around by our guide of probably 11years old, supporting child labour we know, but there were no other guides around. He was sharp and will be a good salesman when he grows up. It was fascinating seeing the petrified trees which look like wood, but are rock. The trees are supposedly some extinct type of conifer tree from millions of years ago, before the last ice-age. They were carried down to this part of Namibia at the end of an ice age on Gondwanaland. In some of the trees the gum had crystalised and now sparkles in the sunshine. The community have demarcated a walk-way to view the petrified trees and welwitschias, with four whole trees and then lots of bits of them lying around. They have tried to make it nice, but it did make us wonder how long this ancient history would still be around for, as one of the trees lies on the lip of a riverbed and cattle graze freely all around. On leaving this place, we passed many other Petrified Forest signs. The whole region is known as the Petrified Forest Nature Reserve, so hopefully some of these amazing historical relics will survive, seeing as they date back to 260 - 280 million years ago.
From here we headed towards Khorixas and Vingerklip, realising sadly we were never going to make Outjo today. We stopped at Khorixas Country Lodge, paid for camping (N$50 campsite/night + N$50 each/night) and then went to see the horrible, delapidated site we had overpaid to stay in. The little grass there was was long and uncut and the rest of the site was just dust with one old ablution block. The whole lodge was delapidated, with hundreds of cats, unfriendly staff and seemed to be riding on a previous wave. We drove out the gate and along into Khorixas town, to buy some charcoal to braai (bbq) the wors we bought a few days ago at Spar. Directly opposite the shop and garage in the middle of town was a stunning thatch lodge called iGowati Country Hotel. We decided to go in and enquire about their camping rates. Their sites were lovely and the whole place was beautiful. Their friendly, personal staff told us it was N$45 each/night to camp with communal ablutions or N$60 each/night with private ablutions. There was no doubt about it. We were going back to Khorixas Lodge to get a refund and then rather stay at iGowati.
When we got back to Khorixas Lodge the "super friendly" receptionist had locked up and left, before 4.45pm and was meant to be open until 9pm as it stated on the door. We eventually got to speak to the manager who told us it was impossible to refund us, but he could give us vouchers to other NWR resorts! He agreed their campsite was delapidated and in a bad state, offering to acommodate us in one of their two newly refurbished rooms instead. Not the point! We didn't want to stay here, but wanted our money back to camp at the beautiful iGowati down the road. Typical NWR, over priced and lacking the facilities. Eventually the manager agreed to give us a credit note, which we can spend at any of the other NWR resorts, if we can afford to get into them! Luckily, we are staying at Okaukuejo in Etosha with Heidz's parents in a few weeks time, so we can use it there, hopefully.
We went back to iGowati Country Hotel and got a beautiful campsite with a big grassy lawn, with plants planted along the privacy hedge surrounding the site. We had a light, water tap, rubbish-bin and concrete braai with braai grid and dry wood stored underneath! We watched an ostrich being herded away from the lodge. There were a number of wild animals roaming around the lodge, which made you feel like you were in the middle of the bush rather than in the middle of a town. The lodge has two resident young springbok who roam freely around the camp who kept trying to butt Ross, and were playing in the bushes around our site. They were cheeky, but cute and loved the company. We walked briefly around the lodge and then started our fire to enjoy a braai with very yummy, fresh salads etc, thanks to Spar. There were millions of big, black hard shelled beetles that infested everything. At one stage Heidz went to the loo near the restuarant, which was near a light, and had to walk over an alive and moving black floor made up of millions of these bugs. They were everywhere and got Ross's goat. We loved our hot showers and fell contentedly asleep.
Saturday 8th March 2008: iGowati Country Hotel, Damaraland, Khorixas, Namibia
GPS Info: S20° 22' 23.2" E14° 57' 53.0"
Miles Today: 113 Total Miles: 17 299
Woke to the sound of rain drops falling on the tent, even after hard rain had fallen in the early hours of the morning. Plonker and Pronker, the two young resident Springbok, were still lying down and resting due to the grey cloudy morning's start. We had breakfast and then our two Springbok friends decided to come over and 'play' with their two human friends. The Lodge's manager came over asking if we had seen or heard Lulu, the African Grey, as she was missing and 'it feels like we've lost a child from its bedroom' were his words. We both searched around for her, with all the Lodge staff, but found nothing.
We packed up and went to say our good-byes only to see Lulu safely in her cage. She had been found high in a tree in the riverbed much further away from the Lodge than she had ever gone before. She hadn't responded to anyone's calls as she normally does, as she must have felt unsure and scared. Ross had even tried to teach her the call of an African Fish Eagle last night, but this hadn't helped her this morning. She is still young, but has a large repertoire of words and speaks a lot. We said good-bye to Plonker and Pronker, the guinea fowl and the millions of black bugs and drove out, while Plonker completely obliterated a small plant on our site with his horns. Shredding it to tiny pieces.
Today the scenery was completely different. The big open sky seemed more obvious as we drove through the area to Vingerklip (the Rock Finger). Here it's very easy to see evidence of where the remaining hard rock layer still remains high above the flat, open, thorn bushed plains. We drove along a stretch of rock faces that looked like the side of a previous canyon.
Vingerklip is obvious from a fair distance away, and truly amazing to see such a small, narrow and tall bit of ancient rock still exists so alone from the rest of the landscape. We both wondered what animals and life would have been like when all this area was the height of the top of the finger. We paid N$5.00 each to climb to Vingerklip's narrow base and get a closer look at what the rock consists of. The weather was hot and the skies were clear and bright blue, perfect for photos. We watched a small plane take off from the airstrip in the bush alongside the huge rock and spotted Vingerklip Lodge a few kilometres away nestled in the thorn trees, at the base of the mesa adjacent to the Finger. Heidz had stayed here many years ago with her Schmidt family, when the Lodge first opened. Andreas and Astrid had sung it's praises, but warned us it is pricey. We drove into Vingerklip Lodge to have a look, thinking we might have something to drink. We were welcomed in and told to enjoy exploring the Lodge for as long as we wanted. It is BEAUTIFUL, but must be expensive. The gardens are mostly local dry, thorny cacti with waterfalls and ponds, two swimming pools and wonderful wooden viewing platforms, one even with a jacuzzi. We decided against the drink, thinking we'd rather try to get a coffee and berlina in Outjo for Gerhard.
We drove through another very hectic rain storm arriving in a rather soaked Outjo just before 5pm, but the Outjo Bakkerei was closed, as was most of Outjo, except for the garage and a supermarket type shop in the main street. We were sadly told the bakery wouldn't be open until Monday and closes at 1pm on a Saturday. So close, but so far. We couldn't get a mobile sim either, but the supermarket man did order some in for us, recommending MTC as the best network to go for with the most and best coverage. We drove on to Ombinda Country Lodge and were met by a smiley lady who welcomed us in to camp for ND55.00each.
We drove around to a rather wet campsite. Anything would have been after all that rain, but this isn't an issue with a roof-top tent. It was cold so we decided to go over to the big, beautifully thatched boma for a drink and to try make a start catching up on our diary. We were both blown away by the beautiful decor of the lodge with all it's African bits and pieces. We sat in the comfy lounge chairs, but were quickly distracted by the loud shouting of the Sharks scoring the quickest ever try in Super Rugby history, scoring a try in the first 30seconds of play. They were playing at King's Park and it looked cool, but was an exciting game being supported by some enthusiastic Namibian Shark supporters. We thought of uncle Cliff and uncle Rich who would probably also have been shouting and hoarse watching the game. We decided to treat ourselves to a buffet dinner the Lodge was providing for a bus tour. This was so delicious with soup, all sorts of braaied (bbqed) meat, salads, veggies, pudding and tea or coffee. The place was full, which is always a good sign. The bus group was the same group who were at iGowati Country Hotel, where we stayed last night. We must be choosing good places to stay.
Both feeling very full and having had a lovely evening we fell fast asleep. The night time temperatures have been far cooler in Namibia, which have been very appreciated.
Sunday 9th March 2008: Ombinda Country Lodge, Outjo, Namibia
GPS Info: S20° 07' 13.0" E16° 09' 29.3"
Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 17 299
Had a lazy, relaxing Sunday morning start which is a real treat for us for a change. We woke to the sound of grey Louries in the trees around us shouting their 'Go way Go way' and had cute brightly coloured yellow, orange and green love birds fluttering around in the grass around us. There were also little dark blue birds with long orange tails which were far too quick to catch a photo of. We walked over to the other campers who were all South Africans on holiday. PeeJay, the father, works in Mozambique so he gave us his details for when we'll be there. The daughter was fresh off the plane from London and SO glad to be back for good. They packed up and set off to a house they're renting in Henties Bay.
We moved sites, as last night we had camped in a picnic site. We moved to where there was a braai, light, bin and an electrical point. Today is the BIG day to re-arrange and make space as Heidz's parents arrive in a weeks time and have to fit into Duzi2 with their luggage! We unloaded everything out of Duz onto the grass and gave her/his interior a good dusting. It's AMAZING how much fine, red dust gets in everywhere, even with the holes we can see taped closed! We washed the seat covers, which were filthy! Ross added a cigarette lighter option to the compressor and replaced the blown cigarette lighter socket for the Brownchurch shower/water filter, which had melted in Ondangwa. Yay, now we can filter water again.
It was embarrasing to see all our stuff unpacked on the grass, but luckily we were the only campers. We were very ruthless in what we allowed ourselves to keep and managed to downsize quite a lot. It is good to be able to see right through the inside of the car and to have taken the overhead net down from above the back seats, as useful as it is. Ross fitted a second 12volt fan in the back, on the dog guard, so we should be a lot cooler and more comfortable, especially with the 4 of us in a few days time. We packed 2 wolf boxes with stuff we haven't used yet and thus don't need, which we hope to be able to send home over time. We still need to discard our 'washing machine drum' which we haven't and wont use. It's a good concept in theory, but not very practical in reality as it uses too much water and the roads aren't bumpy enough to shake the washing inside, and it takes up valuable roof-top space. We will mount two more boxes on the roof to make space for Mom and Paps's luggage and hopefully will have more easy access to our cupboards.
We spent the entire day re-arranging and repacking, which was hard work in the high temperatures, but so worth it. Luckily it only rained fairly late after rumbling all day, so we were able to complete our repack before the real rain fell. We eventually had a late pasta, bacon and mushroom carbonara supper before showering and flopping into bed. So much for waking and sleeping according to the sun.
Monday 10th March 2008: Ombinda Country Lodge, Outjo, Namibia
GPS Info: S20° 07' 13.0" E16° 09' 29.3"
Miles Today: 69 Total Miles: 17 368
We left the lovely Ombinda Country Lodge with their cute little Duxi, to try a famously recommended berlina in the Outjo Bakkerei, recommended by our dear friend Gerhard. We walked around Outjo trying to find a sim card for our mobile, which we bought at PEP Stores. Next we went into each of the three banks in Outjo, FNB, Standard Bank and Bank of Windhoek to try and exchange our remaining Angolan Kwanza, but none of them change these, so we'll need to try the banks in Windhoek. We met another couple, Pam and Kit, in a white Landrover Defender who are also planning to do the same route as us from here on with a similar time frame. Hopefully we'll meet up with them in a few weeks time. Pam is a French Canadian from Quebec and Kit a Kiwi. They started their drive in Cape Town, and are also finding their budget isn't stretching as far as they'd hoped.
At last we finally managed to get to Outjo Bakkerei and it was open. We had hoped to be here on the 7th to have a berlina on the day Gerhard's family were having a memorial service for him in Switzerland, but due to heavy rains we were delayed. We went into the bakery, which is decorated with a lime green balustrade, and a typical German scene with a little boy and girl in traditional costumes on the walls. Yum yum. Berlinas are like doughnuts and the bakery had 4 different kinds - jam centred with icing drizzled over them, jam centred with sugar sprinkled over them, custard centred with icing spread on top and cream centred with icing drizzled over them.
The bakery serves lunches as well, which hopefully we'll come back for with Heidz's parents on our way up to Etosha. There were two bus groups who had stopped for lunch, a younger over-lander truck lot and an older bus tour group. Heidz even had a huge (pint beer glass size), delicious chocolate milkshake!
We checked up on emails, sorry we couldn't update as we still haven't caught up on our diary entries...will do so in the next day or so, when we STOP! There was another very heavy rainstorm while we were checking emails in the internet cafe, luckily we were inside. Big congratulations to Ol, Pip and Sam on the arrival of their latest family addition of precious Katie May on Sam's birthday!!!! We met a lovely lady, Karla, who works at the internet cafe who we chatted to for a while. She was so calm, friendly and enthusiastic about our trip. Heidz saw two stunning hand painted table clothes which she couldn't choose between and Karla very generously gave us a discount. Ross graciously agreed to stretch our budget to allow us to buy both.
From Outjo we drove down to Otjiwarongo on the wonderful tar road spotting rainbows everywhere. We stopped at the Spar and did a quick shop, refueled at BP and then headed off to Hohenfels Campsite (now called Weaver's Nest Country Lodge), on the Okakarara road to camp for a while. Andreas, in Lubango, had recommended this spot as one of the best campsites in Namibia. We passed our first "Beware of the warthog" signs and a gemsbok along one of the game fences. The scenery was amazing with vast bushy, green flatness broken by the odd scattered rocky inselbergs and koppies sticking up.
We were treated to our own private game drive on the short track to Hohenfels Campsite/Weaver's Nest Country Lodge seeing about ten kudu does, a Malachite kingfisher, franklins and a rabbit. The camp was dark and shut up when we arrived, but we did eventually manage to speak to the lady owner and meet her two big dogs - a Golden Retriever and a Bullmastif cross Ridgeback. We chose our site, sawed away two small branches from the nasty thorn bush above the tent and went in to the communal kitchen where we met an elderly cheerful German couple from Bonn. It was their second night in Namibia, after spending time in Cape Town, which they said was crowded. They have hired a 4x4 with a roof-top tent and plan to camp around Namibia for 2 weeks.
For dinner we enjoyed a yummy cooked chicken from Spar, baby potatoes and salad, followed by a slab of TopDeck chocolate. Life is good. We went to sleep to the sound of rain falling yet again.
Tuesday 11th March 2008: Hohenfels Campsite/Weaver's Rock Lodge, Okakarara road, Namibia
GPS Info: S20° 41' 54.0" E16° 50' 33.2"
Miles Today: 248 Total Miles: 17 616
Woke to beautiful views overlooking the flat vast landscape, which had a slight bit of mist over it. It was grey, damp and cool. Ross watched the Lodge's three beautiful horses being let out into the vast farmland around us. We went to pay for our camp night, expecting to meet the lady we met very briefly last night, but she was out. She had left an invoice with our bill, N$80.00 each for camping and a further N$25.00 for the car!!! A total rip off especially as we stumbled around in the dark last night trying to find the loo and shower, and ended up having a tepid warm to cold shower this morning as the hot water ran out, and we were the only campers! The owner and his wife call themselves Graaf and Graafin, and it's obvious they inherited their money and have no concept of an honest way to earn it. There were two gorgeous dogs, a Golden Retriever and a young Bullmastif cross Ridgeback. The Ridgeback cross Bullmastif loved chewing on Ross strop straps as he walked past.
We drove along the Okakarara road passing many private lodge reserves and spotted lots of game along the fences. We saw Springbok, Tsesebe or Red Hartebeest, squirrels, ostriches, a dik-dik, impala, gemsbok, a brown snake eagle, a vulture looking bird, many common bee-eaters with the most amazing red and orange chest with bright green backs. We think we saw all these because it was cool and there was a lot of dew out. We were planning to quickly pop into the Waterberg Plateau Park to see what it was like, but we only got through the gate to the reception before we heard the astronomically ridiculous prices they are charging - N$100 per campsite/night + N$100 per camper/night + N$80 per/person entrance park fee/day + N$10 per car/day = N$470 for us to CAMP for one night!!! Totally criminal. Unfortunately NWR (Namibian Wildlife Resorts) have bought up all the previous state parks and are in the process of upgrading or have completed upgrading them to luxury lodges or not so luxurious HUGE 8man campsites, as in Etosha's case. They are being very greedy in their fees and are stopping many people from being able to afford entry into these beautiful areas. We've met many people who have hired 4x4 rooftop tented overland vehicles who are subsequently not staying in the parks, which they previously would have, because the fees are far too expensive, but are rather camping in the luxury lodges just outside for a small fraction of the price, and these sites are lovely! Greed doesn't pay.
Sadly we left the Waterberg and drove on down the road to Okahandja passing the most amazingly vast flat, open, green speckled landscapes of untouched land. It was breathtaking and reminded us again of how priviledged we are to be able to see these big open skies, rather than the small skies peeping out in between high city buildings. We passed some more game grazing along lodge game fences and arrived in the small town of Okahandja. We made phonecalls to our parents and then headed on through more major rain storms towards Windhoek in search of East End Services in Windhoek to try and book Duzi2 in for a check up. Worryingly our front wheels are wobbling again like they were in Angola, so we need to get this sorted out once and for all. Passing Joe's Beerhouse, a must-visit restaurant, we passed hundreds of B&B's in Klein Windhoek and eventually found the services tucked behing the BP Garage. We spoke to Gunther, who said they were totally fully booked, but would try to squeeze us in, to sort out the wheels on Friday morning. Fantastic news, but a bit unfortunate it's only on Friday and they can only sort out one of the things we need done.
We followed other waypoints we got from Gerhard and Theresa to another Landrover place, Roverland, recommended by overlanders who did this trip a while ago. We ended up at Kapps Farm, on the way out to the airport, which has Landrovers of every type scattered in the garden. We met Ute who told us Roverland had moved to Brakwater, northern Windhoek on the road back to Okahandja, where we had just come from! Ute was so amazingly helpful and even phoned Roverland for us from her mobile. We arranged to phone in the morning to get directions and then we'll decide which place to take Duz to. We chatted to Ute for a while and then headed back into Windhoek to find a place to camp for the night. We went to Chameleon Backpackers (N$50 each to camp/night), but they were full and are doing renovations, so are limited in parking space for rooftop tents. They recommended we try Backpacker's United, but we decided to rather try The Cardboard Box Backpackers instead as we had good recommendations about them from Rob and Ally. They were more than happy to let us camp, (N$60 each to camp/night, which includes a pancake breakfast with tea or coffee), so we quickly put up the tent in the drizzle and went inside to check out the ablutions. They have a big, beautifully done outside area with a bar and restuarant and a clean swimming pool. We were both so surprised to see this outside area as it's not obvious when you drive in.
Inside we met Jo, Chrissy and Mark, who recognized us from Chez Alice and Morocco. They were on the big yellow Oasis Overland truck, but had left the truck in Libreville for a few weeks to go to Sao Tome, an island off the coast of Gabon. They had had a wonderful time, even releasing baby Leatherback turtles into the sea. They had no idea where the truck was, but knew they were having major problems about acquiring Angolan visas. No surprise there then! We all ordered delicious pizzas from James's Pizzas, a place that delivers and was advertised on the Cardboard Box's noticeboard. Yummy, they were so full of topping and cheese. We were enviously eyed by the lovely resident dog who would've willingly shared our pizzas with us. We ended up chatting and laughing about all the places and things we've all seen until just before 2am. It was a cool, drizzly night so we all sat inside. We went to sleep with all the tent flaps down and were grateful to have our duvet to keep us warm.
Wednesday 12th March 2008: The Cardboard Box Backpackers, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 33' 45.2" E17° 04' 30.9"
Miles Today: 41 Total Miles: 17 657
The tent was so dark we ended up sleeping in until 8am. We packed up and went to enjoy our pancake breakfast with cinnamon and sugar. They were delicious, big and filling. Today we needed to sort Duzi2 out. Firstly we went to a car wash in town. The jet-washing ladies team were fantastic blasting off mud etc from everywhere. Duz looked amazing, even if she/he does have a bit more luminous green showing now, where paint has been blasted off. From there we went past a big shopping centre to Tiger Wheel 'n Tyre to get the wheels balanced and aligned, to rule these out as causes of the front wheels wobbling. They were so busy and a really jovial bunch, all intrigued by our trip. The front wheels weren't aligned straight, which they sorted out. It was amazing to watch the alignment test which is all done on computer with sensor clamps placed on each wheel.
We called Damien, from Roverland, and he arranged to meet us at Tiger Wheel 'n Tyre to follow back to where they've moved to in Brakwater. We weren't finished, so got directions and followed on afterwards. On arrival we saw another workshop yard full of Landrovers, especially Range Rovers, Defenders and Series 3s lying in various states of condition. John and Damien, a father and son team, with Otto their assistant, met us and listened to our things that needed attention, and got to work on stringent checks. The back wheels were taken off to change the brake pads to stop the screeching brakes, which have started again. The A-frame was taken off and the bolts and bushes were replaced to stop the knocking noise a slight bit of swaying. John wanted to rebuild the swivelhousing as this is probably the cause of the wobbling wheels, something Ian at Pitstop in Accra, Ghana, seemed to have made worse by removing all the shimmies. The turbo pipe, which blew and tore as we crossed into Nigeria, was replaced. Ross found the globes had both blown in the brake lights so he replaced these. We spent the day at Roverland and Duz got full attention. Tomorrow John will rebuild the swivelhousing, an all day thing, and Damien will do a full service changing all the oils etc. Hopefully they'll also be able to stop the vibrating noise coming from the back.
We left Roverland in the late afternoon and headed to Mahrua Mall to CNA to try and find a Namibian flag sticker for Duzi2. This shopping centre is huge and has every shop you could want. It was SOOOOO weird walking around with Duzi2 (our London car) parked in the carpark, walking around South African shops - Mr Price, Cape Union Mart, Clicks, Checkers, CNA, Ster Kinekor etc. Most of the shops were closed, but it was still such a novelty to see normal things again. CNA had no stickers, but at least it was a bit later by now, more like dinner time. We treated ourselves to dinner at Joe's Beerhouse, and it wasn't too early to arrive for dinner. There is a little shop outside Joe's which sold the flag sticker and others, so at least now we have a sticker to put on as we are missing all from West and Central Africa.
Joe's was SOOOO busy with cars all over the carpark and people constantly streaming in. It's a very social place set as a thatched boma with all sorts of bits and pieces all over. They don't have small tables so we shared a table with two local farmers who we had an interesting chat with. It turns out one of the farmers was one of the owners of Joe's, so we congratulated him on the success of it, as everyone all over Africa raves about Joe's Beerhouse in Windhoek, Namibia. Even Ted and Bene, our London neighbours discovered it and couldn't stop raving about it when they came out to Namibia on holiday. Wednesday nights in Namibia are like mini-Saturday's so people go out and almost celebrate it's the middle of the week. We both enjoyed long-dreamed of spare-ribs, which were so filling but so delicious! We also had puddings - a chocolate mousse and a dom pedro, leaving feeling full but very content. We walked around the rest of Joe's before we left and were amazed at how big and busy it was. It's almost like 6 or more restaurants with separated eating areas, all very nicely done. We both agreed it could be a real mission organising to meet someone here, unless you knew it really well, as you wouldn't know where to look to find each other. It was pouring, but that didn't seem to make any difference to the buzz of business.
We drove back to The Cardboard Box to camp for the night, arriving quite late, but expecting it to be fine. The girl at Reception had Ross going for a while saying, with a totally straight face, they had a rule and didn't let vehicles in after 8pm. After seeing his face drop, she packed up laughing and the security guard, who was also confused at this new 'rule', opened the gate and we parked in the same spot as last night. We went inside and met Jo, Chrissy and Mark, who had had a wonderful day catching up, emailing and buying clean, cheap clothes at Mr Price. Tonight, the resident dog had staked his claim on a chair, lying sprawled out. The five of us sat chatting again talking and laughing about all sorts of things. Chrissy and Jo even enjoying the luxury of dying their hair, something unheard of in previous countries we've been in. We knew we had a very early start tomorrow, having to be back at Roverland by 8.15am, so had a slightly earlier night, 11.15pmish.
Thursday 13th March 2008: The Cardboard Box Backpackers, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 33' 45.2" E17° 04' 30.9"
Miles Today: 46 Total Miles: 17 703
Woke at 6.30am to the alarm beeping and couldn't bring ourselves to actually get up. It was cold, grey and wet, with thick over-head clouds threatening more rain to come. At 7am, we eventually got up, showered and enjoyed a yummy pancake breakfast before hitting the road back to Roverland, a bit worried as we only got there at 8.30am. John and Damien had only just arrived and were opening up, so we were relieved. Duzi2 was parked over the pit and work began. Otto got busy draining and replacing the oils. We both got a huge fright at the colour and smell of the diesel filter, which looked greenish and smelt horribly like petrol, even though Ross has been vigilant when we fill up. John suspected it was because of the bio-diesel BP use, which a lot of fuel stations are now using, so calmed a near panic attack.
John got to work rebuilding the swivel housing, with Ross loving watching, getting involved where he could, and learning more about Duzi2's insides. It rained a lot of the day. John and Damien are really nice guys and have been amazing in the care they've paid to our vehicle. Heidz sat trying to catch up, typing our SO overdue updates. Hopefully this mamoth task will be done before Sunday when Heidz's parents arrive. Only 3 more sleeps!!!
We eventually left Roverland after 5pm and headed back to The Cardboard Box for the night, going via an ATM to draw out money to pay for Duzi2's treatment. There was another enormous rainstorm and it seemed like after all the work done on Duzi2 the wheels were still wobbling, but eratically, which made us think it might have been when we drove over uneven tar.
Jo, Chrissy and Mark had sadly left The Cardboard Box this morning, so hopefully we'll get to bed early because we both had scratchy eyes today and were feeling a bit jaded. The rain continued to pour down making everywhere very wet and rather unpleasant. Thank goodness for our home above the flooded ground! We had a soup and mielie supper before climbing into bed nice and early.
Friday 14th March 2008: The Cardboard Box Backpackers, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 33' 45.2" E17° 04' 30.9"
Miles Today: 15 Total Miles: 17 718
Enjoyed another yummy breakfast of coffee, tea and pancakes with cinnamon-sugar. From breakfast we packed up our tent-home and drove into Windhoek's town centre to Wernhill Shopping Centre, in search of somewhere that had big enough washing machines and tumble-driers to wash and dry our duvet & pillows. The duvet said on it's label 'it is dangerous to dry clean this item,' so we didn't need a dry cleaner, but rather a laundrette. At the shopping centre they only had a dry-cleaning service. While we were there we tried all the banks (Nedbank, Standard Bank, Bank of Windhoek, FNB, etc.) to try and change our Angolan Kwanza into Namibian Dollars, but we had no luck. In fact no-one wanted to touch them, not even the travel agents or Thomas Cook Foreign Exchange. They couldn't tell us where we could change them, but suggested we try the Angolan embassy. While in the centre we stopped at Wimpy for a burger lunch with one of their strawberry smoothies. After lunch we walked through the paved pedestrian area, passed the market sellers and their African curios, and stopped to look at and read the info on the thirty small meteorites on display stands. These are said to be 60 million years old and all fell in the Gibeon Meteorite Shower, the largest known shower to have fallen on Earth. The largest fragment weighs about a ton and these type of meteorites are known as Octahedrites, a common type of iron meteorite. One of the "small" pieces has been sliced in half, showing a solid iron, shiny silver cross-section.
We suddenly realised we hadn't paid for the work done by Roverland yet. We had withdrawn the cash yesterday afternoon, but had completely forgotten about it today. Phoning Damien, he agreed to meet us at Tiger Wheel 'n Tyre in town, as they had already left the workshop for the day. We got a bit lost driving through Windhoek, ending up at Landrover, where we asked for directions. Our wheels are still very wobbly though, so John agreed that we could go back to his workshop tomorrow and he would have another look at the situation and try to correct it.
We decided to try and stay at the Chameleon Backpackers tonight, to see what that was like as an alternative. Luckily they had a camping space available for us, but this meant parking alongside the building site, where new rooms are being built. On parking we got chatting to an elderly English couple, who made us feel that our tenant problems paled in comparison to what they had experienced with a bakery, which they had previously owned and let out in Dorset.
We cooked dinner & chatted to Sarah & Cedric, a French couple from Reunion who want to travel around Africa for 6 weeks, but can't find a 4x4 to buy. They are flying to Cape Town tomorrow in search of one there. We might meet up with them later down the track in the countries ahead. Due to it being nice and cool we slept really well. Only two more sleeps until Mom and Paps arrive.
Saturday 15th March 2008: Chameleon Backpackers, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 34' 26.9" E17° 04' 54.0"
Miles Today: 56 Total Miles: 17 774
We were woken up VERY early, 5.45am, this morning by the builders doing noisy construction work in the building behind our tent. Enjoyed a Chameleon self-service breakfast, included in the N$50each camping fee, of a boiled egg, yoghurt, fruit juice and toast with tea or coffee. We packed up our washing, including our duvet, pillows and bedding, and wrote a list of it all before driving to Laundry Land in Klein Windhoek to drop it off, and to collect later on today before they closed at 5:00pm. We continued on to Roverland at Brakwater, north of Windhoek, so John could have another look at our wobbly front wheels. It was cool today with the threat of more rain hanging overhead.
The majority of the day was spent at Roverland, while John changed the panhard-rod bushes again, including the worn bolts this time, and checked other bits and pieces. He also noticed an exhaust mounting had snapped, which was one of the many rattling noises we have been hearing. This was removed and is something we need to try and get corrected elsewhere, as he doesn't have a welding machine at the workshop.
While at Roverland, we contacted Cedric and Sarah at Chameleon, to let them know of a fully kitted landy for sale in the Roverland yard, which was in good condition. The only reservation being that it was a V8 petrol model, which could be expensive to run. They were about to leave for the airport, but thanked us for thinking of them. Dashing back from Roverland, we managed to get to Laundry Land just in time to collect our lovely clean laundry before they closed for the day.
We treated ourselves to a Steers burger dinner with their ice-cream in a cup, which was so full of caramel sauce, we were in heaven. It has been so exciting to rediscover all these treats from home, and we are only in Namibia. We then headed back to Chameleon for our last night's sleep before Heidz's Mom and Paps arrived, hoping for no early morning builders tomorrow, being a Sunday.
BIG CONGRATULATIONS to the new Mr and Mrs Sutherland who got married today. We wish you all the happiness in your future life together Warren and Jo. Sorry we couldn't be with you to share your special day and hope it beat all your expectations. We're sure to see photos and hear all about it from Paps and Mom when they arrive tomorrow. Not long until we meet you finally Jo.
Sunday 16th March 2008: Chameleon Backpackers, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 34' 26.9" E17° 04' 54.0"
Miles Today: 60 Total Miles: 17 834
Today Mom and Paps arrive and we were both very excited to show them how we have been living for the past few months and to show Paps Duzi2 for the first time. At last our back seats are being used and it was so good to have them free and open. We got up and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast even including a chocolate marshmellow Easter egg as a treat. We repacked and moved things around to make the inside of Duzi2 more comfortable for Mom and Paps' arrival, at 4:30pm this afternoon. We swept out the car and tent and were trying to decide where to stick our new Namibia stickers, when we met Stephie and Michael, a young German couple who are out for a short holiday in Namibia. Michael was intrigued by our trip and asked many questions. They are hiring a car for the first week of their holiday and then will join a tour around Namibia and Caprivi ending in Livingstone, Zambia, at the Victoria Falls. We might meet up with them over the next few days, as they are also planning to go to Etosha around the same time as we'll be there with Mom and Paps.
Heidz's mom had arranged for us to check in early at The Klein Windhoek Guesthouse, where we were all to stay for the night, so we had somewhere to relax until they landed later in the afternoon. We were blown away by how lovely the Guesthouse was. We were booked into a huge 2 bedroom self-catering flat which had a fully fitted kitchen, lounge, aircon, TV and wireless internet connection, even if a bit slow. We couldn't believe how luxurious the flat was and spent our waiting time downloading emails and trying desperately to catch up on more diary updates, before the next exciting and busy part of our trip began. We got a text from Mom to say their flight had been delayed until 5:15pm, but we were still going to go earlier, in case it managed to make up time on route. We unpacked, and sorted stuff we wouldn't need into two wolf boxes, for us to store at the Guesthouse until we all returned on their last night in Windhoek, 30th March. Mom had arranged this with Francois, the owner, to make our lives a bit easier over the next two weeks, with four people's things.
Arriving at the airport we went through to the Arrivals Lounge and saw to our confusion that the flight had landed at 5:15pm, even though the time was only 4:40pm. This was a mistake which was soon rectified, but got us a bit confused as we had read somewhere about Namibia's daylight saving, so thought maybe we were in fact wrong. We watched "Mr Western Province" (man with WP rugby jersey) seemingly taking a whole plane load of luggage off to his van outside, with no passengers, which was funny, but he must have been delivering lost luggage on to it's owners. And we watched a leopard-crawling black beetle, like those we had seen thousands of at iGowati in Khorixas, making it's skillful way through the airport floor, without being crushed. See what you notice when there's nothing to do in an airport.
Mom and Paps emerged from behind the doors, carrying tiny, thin hand luggage suitcases and a small camera bag each. Wow! They both deserved medals for their skillful packing and small luggage allowance, only 20kgs between them. There was much chatting, joking and excitement, as Ross easily packed Duz and we headed back to the Klein Windhoek Guesthouse, via Joe's Beerhouse to book a table for tonight, to honour an arrangement we had all made months before we started our Africa trip. We had a quick coffee, chat and brief look at the map before getting ready to hit Joe's and a huge meat feast. Paps and Ross had 3 courses, while Mom and Heidz barely managed one. Luckily Joe's do pack doggy bags, so we have meat for padkos, to eat on our drive to Swakopmund tomorrow. The rain started again while we were inside Joe's and got progressively harder. After a very enjoyable dinner, we returned to the guesthouse and settled into our comfy rooms for the night. It's so good to have Mom and Paps here, it's a bit like a dream, we can't believe they really are with us!
Monday 17th March 2008: Klein Windhoek Guesthouse, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 33' 44.7" E17° 05' 58.8"
Miles Today: 247 Total Miles: 18 081
All four of us enjoyed a delicious breakfast in the guesthouse breakfast room, with whatever type of egg you like and other yummy treats including freshly baked muffins. Francois, the owner, was back this morning and had noticed our sticker on Duzi2 about Toyota's rusting. Ross and him joked continuously about the Landrover - Toyota issue, but all in good fun. Francois had been near Etosha for the weekend, at the new lodge site, which they hope to open in a few months time, 25km from Anderson Gate. He told us Etosha was very green, wet (water-filled) and that most of the animals are hiding. He also said the animals have so much fresh water all over that they don't need to go to the waterholes to drink, especially as the waterholes are usually very salty. Oh well, we'll have to see when we get there.
After breakfast Ross got to work doing his amazing trick with the packing puzzle of Duzi2. We put our two clothes boxes on the roof to make more room inside, but this could've been the reason for making Duzi2 sway when driving. Our tyre pressure could possibly have been higher at this stage too, also possibly causing a swaying movement.
We were on the road to Swakopmund soon after 10:00am, with everyone being very good about keeping to times set. We headed south-west on the C26/M49 along the dirt road towards Walvis Bay. We decided to go the more scenic route as we had the time and the car to be able to explore. The route was very beautiful going through all sorts of terrain. None of us could believe how green Namibia was, with green grass growing where there is normally nothing but dry dusty sand. We drove through the dramatic Gamsberg Pass with it's striated rocks, now all green and beautiful. We passed lots of different wild flowers growing in the fields and together with all the various flowering grass colours, had a ball with photos. Paps was a bit worried about the Kuiseb River being in flood, and us not being able to cross through the Kuiseb Valley, but he had forgotten about the high bridge that had been built, making this not a problem even though the Kuiseb River was quite full and flowing, something the 3 Schmidt's had never seen before. We had planned to stop and have a picnic lunch in the Kuiseb Valley next to the river, but due to previous flooding, this was not possible and very muddy. The ground dropped very steeply to the picnic spot below, which is normally easily accessible, bone dry and very sandy. We drove on through more dramatic landscapes along long, straight, flat, open stretches of nothing, reminding us again of where parts of 'The God's Must Be Crazy' could've been filmed. Ross even tried putting Duzi2 in first gear, low range and got out of the car walking next to us. Weird, but it worked as Duz kept on rolling slowly forward without any feet on the pedals!
Driving through the Namib-Naukluft National Park we searched for a tree and some shade to have a picnic lunch, with it being closer to late afternoon snack time than lunchtime. We made some quick sarmies using the left over Joe's meat, lettuce and tomatoes and marvelled at the beauty around us. We had passed very few cars the whole day, maybe enough to count on one hand. We felt so small with the vast openness around us. We had also passed many gemsbok and lots of springbok, with their young, grazing and pronking in this normally deserted section.
Approaching Walvis bay we stopped off at Dune No.7, a famous dune which was used for the training of many army soldiers in the past. The light was fading and the colours weren't great for photos, but this didn't stop us snapping a few pics of the four of us and Duzi2. We didn't climb the dune, as we wanted to get to The Strand Hotel in Swakopmund to check in. Paps and Ross were already discussing what they wanted for dinner, even though we had only really just had lunch. Paps was on a mission to fatten Ross up, a bet him and Maureen had apparently made before they left. We arrived at the hotel and unpacked into our lovely spacious rooms next door to each other. Each room had a HUGE bed, even with a chocolate on our pillows, which didn't last long though. Each room had a big outside balcony overlooking the sea and waves below. We cleaned up quickly and walked to the Lighthouse Restaurant, just a little way along the prominade for dinner, for some meat, spare ribs in fact. It was rather pricey and the food was okay, but nothing to justify the prices being charged. We had so much to chat about, catch up on and share from our many African experiences. We walked back along the new prominade after dinner and continued past a new jetty at the end of it. The tide was out and there was a strong kelp smell. It was so lovely to be so close to the sea again and to be able to share this with our family.
We settled down to sleep with the sound of the waves closeby, but instead of being in our tent, we were in an enormous hotel bed.
Tuesday 18th March 2008: Strand Hotel, Swakopmund, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 40' 32.4" E14° 31' 20.3"
Miles Today: 83 Total Miles: 18 164
We slept in a bit enjoying the huge bed and beautiful view from our room. After showering and getting ready for breakfast, we both enjoyed a bit of people watching from the balcony. Some men and women were very busy raking and loading kelp off the beach and onto a bakkie. There was so much of it, they were raking for hours. We thought maybe it was being collected to make a kind of fertilizer...Old men and women came down to swim at various stages in their bath robes. Life looks so relaxing and good here in Swakopmund.
We all enjoyed a great buffet breakfast full of choice, with cereals, yoghurts, fruit, eggs and bacon and various breads and sweet things like doughnut balls and "pigs-ear" pastries. Our eyes were very excited and our tummy's soon told us we had overdone it, but we'll learn for tomorrow. What a feast to start the morning with.
From The Strand Hotel we walked through the curio market where they were selling all sorts of African things and met a very interesting and knowledgeable guy from the DRC. Paps told us to take note of all the business of this area during the day and to notice how clean and litter free it will be tonight when we walk though later to dinner. We spent the morning walking around Swakopmund and enjoying browsing through the shops. We found a lovely bookshop and even found a children's book about a landrover called Larry the Landrover, but we never bought it. Swakopmund is a clean, neat town which has a very relaxed feel to it. There is a particular building style present with an ornate, colonial German influence and many preserved, but slightly modernised old buildings. Some parts of it remind you of a town out of a Western where you expect to arrive at a saloon and tie your horse on the bar outside while horse-drawn carts race through. Swakopmund has become a town for adventure sports like quad biking in the dunes, sand boarding etc, but we don't know if we'll have enough time to do any of these while we're here. After each needing to do various things around town and us trying unsuccessfully to get hold of the West African country flags we are still missing, we met at Cafe Anton for coffee and cake.
In the afternoon we drove to out on the lovely tar road to Walvis Bay, hoping to see flamingoes and pelicans. We drove out past the salt mines, which were pouring out clean, bright white salt into huge mountains of white salt that looked like snow covered peaks. There were amazing pink and green coloured crystal formations that must have been fomed out of salt chemicals that were growing in the salt pans, along our drive toward the sea. These were very interesting, quite fascinating in fact, like a real life science experiment in progress. We drove on to a view point, where there is supposed to be a seal colony, but there were no seals that we could see. Apparently Clint previously swam with a seal here the last time when the Hook's and the Schmidt's were here. Ross found an abandoned pair of Crocs left on the sand perfectly sized for Heidz, and a bit too big for Mom. We headed out on the very sandy track, using the GPS to try and get to Pelican Point, but decided to abandon this idea as the tracks got even softer and seemed to be heading to nowhere, with no pelicans around.
We arrived back at our hotel, with little time to spare, to change before heading out to dinner at Swakopmund Brauhaus, which Paps had booked this morning. This restaurant has a typically German menu. Ross tried Eisbein for the first time and a lovely meal was had by all, with all of us feeling a bit full on our way home. We walked through the area where the curios were sold all day, to find it spotless with not a hint of litter anywhere, just as Wolfgang had said it would be. Amazing. If only more places were as aware of litter as these people were.
Wednesday 19th March 2008: Strand Hotel, Swakopmund, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 40' 32.4" E14° 31' 20.3"
Miles Today: 285 Total Miles: 18 449
Heidz got up early to go for a run along the sea front, hoping to run from 6:30am, but it was still dark until just after 7am. After her run, she went for a quick dip in the freezing cold sea, just outside the hotel. Everyone she ran past greeted her and lots of people were out walking their dogs. Old men and women came down to the sea in their bathrobes to have a quick dip too, which must be a very good way to start your day. She asked one of the ladies raking up the kelp what she was using it for, thinking it may be part of a project to re-use the environment around us. She replied saying it was just going to the dump, but maybe this helps with decomposing the rubbish.
We met downstairs for another lovely breakfast, Heidz feeling much better for doing a bit of exercise, especially after all the huge meals we'd consumed over the past few days. We decided to have an earlier breakfast as we wanted to drive out to Moon Valley/Landscape, Henties Bay and up to Cape Cross to see the seal colony. Yesterday we went into the Tourist Info Centre and found out we didn't need to buy a permit for Cape Cross, as you can buy it there, and the lady told us we could also buy our permit required for Moon Valley, at the entrance to it too, this was incorrect. Luckily we weren't caught and didn't go that far in, otherwise we could've been liable for a fine. You can no longer buy permits from garages anymore, but according to the lady at the Info Centre you can buy them at the entrance to each place requiring a permit, except for going off the Namib-Naukluft National Park's main road, when you need to have obtained a permit beforehand from Windhoek or Swakopmund....all very well in theory.
We climbed into Duzi2, dressed in old clothes (so it didn't matter if they got smelly from the odour of the seals) and were on our way to Moon Landscape on the C28. We reached the branch off to Moon Landscape noticing that it said Permit Required on it. Oh well, we'll buy that at the entrance as the Info lady had said, but we never found that...We parked Duz on a koppie overlooking the vast expanse before us, that definitely looked like a landscape from another planet. The rocks were various shades of grey, black, brown and orange with black stripes of harder rock running in lines over the various granite mountains. These mountains were apparently formed when two tectonic plates collided in the sea millions of years ago. Over time, erosion has levelled the mountains and the Swakop River has further reduced the base of the granite mountains to badlands. There was a very curious bird who loved sharing our rusk crumbs with us, as we tried to capture the grandeur below us. We followed the road down into the valley, winding our way through the high, rounded, different coloured hills all around us, which made us feel very small, even though Duzi2 is a big car. Driving through this part, we could see the black, harder stripes of rock running across even more clearly. Some parts reminded us of our off-piste drive through Erg Chebbi, in the Black Sahara in Morocco. We joined up with the tarred B2 turning right towards Usakos, but turned off on the dirt road which runs directly to Henties Bay, about 10km before Usakos.
Along this stretch of road we caught our first glimpse of the 1728m high Spitzkoppe, one of Namibia's most recognisable landmarks, which rises above the Namib plains. Due to its finger-like pointed shape, some call it the Matterhorn of Africa. It is a red granite inselberg, which it's recommended to try and see most impressively in the early morning or late afternoon light. From our first glimpse we could see it's two points like the typical postcard shots, but as we drove past, it's shape changed quite a lot. Eventually we arrived at Henties Bay, a tiny fishing village. We filled up with fuel and tried desperately to find a coffee shop to have a break in and something to drink. We had no such luck, so Ross settled for a Redbull instead. We drove around the deserted little village, which had people cleaning windows, obviously preparing for visitors arriving for the Easter weekend. We also saw their big, totally sandy golf course which had more people on it than we had seen in the entire village. Only the putting green and the tee-offs were green grass. We could see the importance of fishing in this area, as there were tracks regularly leading straight to the sea off the main road. There were also permanent toilet huts along the coast, which were regularly spaced all the way along. The road runs close to the sea with a varied scenery from flat desert, to white plains with small scattered bushes, then passing little hillocks and we even passed Lichen fields.
Now recharged from his Redbull, Ross drove us on to Cape Cross, to the largest seal colony in Southern Africa, with some 270 000 Cape Fur seals. We paid our permit/entry fee of N$60 each (being SA you pay N$60, other foreigners pay N$80 each) plus N$10 for the car, getting there at about 4:30pm with the gates closing at 5:00pm. The Portuguese navigator Diogo Cao, was the first European to land on Namibian soil in 1486, and there is a replica cross erected near to where he first landed. We got out of the car and were met by a strong, horrible smell from the seals, but thankfully the wind was blowing away from us, so we didn't get it as strongly as it normally is. We could hear the barks of seals coming from all around us. There were thousands of them lazing on the rocks, clambering awkwardly up the beach and playing happily in the sea, doing somersaults, handstands, floating and riding the waves in and out. There is a wall and a wooden walk-way built to protect the seals from the humans as well as to protect humans from the seals, which are so enormous. We saw lots and lots of babies that almost looked like they were in nurseries with adults leading them in and out of the water, climbing over whichever seal happened to be lying in their way. There were seals as far as you could see and we spent ages just watching them and their funny antics. There were many little scraps that broke out over nothing really, but when it's so crowded tempers are going to be short, being sorted out with an aggressive bite to make your point. Much like road rage really. We took many photos and read the info about the two crosses that stand on the one side of Cape Cross. The Schmidt's noticed a huge improvement of the area, i.e the walk-way, to when they were last here 12years ago. With the time flying, we needed to leave so we wouldn't get locked in here for the night. As the sun was setting, we spotted two black-backed jackals trotting through where we had just been standing, but they didn't seem too interested in the seals at that moment. We climbed into Duzi2 for the drive back to Swakopmund, stopping a little further down the track as the two jackals trotted across the road in front of the car, completely unfazed by our presence.
We arrived back in Swakopmund, tired and weary. We showered and changed to get rid of any hint of the smell of seals, also having to each make sure we were packed up and ready for our early start tomorrow morning. We went out to dinner at Swakopmund Brauhas again, being very lucky to get a table, this time trying something different off their menu. We had a lovely evening chatting and laughing, but we were all pleased when it was bedtime.
Thursday 20th March 2008: Strand Hotel, Swakopmund, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 40' 32.4" E14° 31' 20.3"
Miles Today: 322 Total Miles: 18 771
This morning was a very early start, so that we could be on the road early and have all day to get to Etosha, before the gates closed. It was going to be a very long drive, and we still needed to do our shop for food and supplies for our time in Etosha. We enjoyed an early breakfast at 7am, followed by a rather difficult shop in Pick 'n Pay, as their stuff wasn't that fresh and they didn't have a lot of what we had hoped to buy. They were playing Christian worship music in the store, which was such a calming way to shop. Lynn and Heidz tried desperately to do a quick shop, while Ross and Wolfgang got drinks and packed our purchases into the back of Duzi2. While we were shopping, the men sitting outside in Duzi2 saw an orange Gecko-Overland truck also pull into Pick 'n Pay to do a big shop. Miraculously everything fitted into Duz and we were on our way on the B2 out to Karibib, passing the Spitzkoppe again, where we turned of northwards on the road to Otjiwarongo. This was a beautiful drive, but rather long.
We turned off onto a gravel district road as a scenic shortcut to Outjo, stopping off at Outjo Bakkerei to have some of Gerhard's favourite Berliner-ballen, but they didn't have any. We bought all their hot cross buns instead, as Pick 'n Pay didn't have any this morning and it will be Easter soon. We at least need some for Easter Sunday. We decided to have some coffee and cake, with Lynn and Heidz opting for a milkshake instead. While we were sitting chatting, Stephie and Michael walked in and came over to chat. They were also on their way to Etosha, Okaukuejo Camp for tonight, and had seen Duzi2 parked outside. We shared a table and heard about where they had been exploring, since we left them in Windhoek. They loved the Fish River Canyon, and have thoroughly enjoyed Namibia. It suddenly started to pour, after threatening all day. On leaving the bakery, we introduced Karla, from the internet cafe, to Heidi's parents and then bumped into Kit parked right behind us. Pam was trying to find out info on Botswana, in the internet cafe, while he told us how fed up they are of the rain. They were also heading to Etosha today or tomorrow. We filled up with enough fuel to last us for all of Etosha, and then after a delayed departure, we were on our way to Etosha, and the dark grey clouds in that direction.
We arrived at Etosha's Anderson Gate with plenty of time to spare, as the gates only shut at sunset, which is just after 7pm at the moment. We queued for ages at the reception to check in. Paid our park fees of N$60 each per day and a once off N$10 for the car. It is N$80 each/day if you are a foreigner. We were given chalet no. 91 and 89, but someone was already in no.89, so we went back to reception and were given a new chalet, this time no.87. We met Stephie and Michael, who had just seen an elephant cross the road behind them a few kilometers into the park from Anderson Gate, and a hyena on the road, just before the gates closed this evening, being caught out in the very heavy rainstorm. They were staying the night in one of the double rooms close to the waterhole.
We parked Duzi2 outside no.91, which seemed a bit more private and was going to be our food chalet, while Mom and Paps' chalet, no.87, was going to be the drinks chalet. The chalets have totally changed and lost the old simple charm. The rooms are very poshly done and look more like honeymoon suites than rustic African bush chalets. On first glance they were amazingly beautiful and total luxury compared to what we have become accustomed to. Our chalets had a front room, with a sink, a kettle and a two seater settee, a loose armchair and a long rectagular glass coffee table. In the bedroom was a big four postered bed, draped with a mossie net, romanticaly tied back. Beautifully presented towels were arranged in various ways with fancy shower gel, shampoo, shower cap and insect repellant placed carefully amongst the towels. We instantly rearranged our room, to move the chairs and settee into the huge bedroom so we had an indoor eating area in the food chalet. This was also to try and prevent mozzies getting in. There was a mozzie screen on all of the windows, but not on the main door. That figures...The bathroom was also beautifully done with an open shower, loo and flat square wash basin with a big wood-framed mirror. All looked lovely, but a practical shower curtain and rail to hang your towel on would've been a useful addition.
The chalets are no longer self-catering either, providing nothing more than a kettle, 2 mugs, 2 glasses and 2 teaspoons. We didn't know this, but luckily we have everything we needed in Duzi2, including our gas stove. We had planned to buy a lasagne for one night's supper, which would have been a problem to cook with no oven. NWR are obviously going for a totally different market/clientel to the kind that they used to attract, which would explain their very steep rise in rates and the luxury chalet interiors. Unfortunately this will price Etosha out of most locals' price range and only open it to the foreign tourists, especially Germans. This is a real pity as Etosha is so beautiful and fascinating to visit, but the locals won't get the chance to experience their own national park.
We walked quickly to the waterhole, astounded to see it full of water and surrounded by long, lush, green grass, but sadly not a single animal to be seen. The whole look of Okaukuejo has changed, with large, very smart looking, cement, glass and thatch chalets surrounding the waterhole. The front chalets over-looking the waterhole, costing N$1 500.00per person/night, are double-storey with their living area on the top. They are also mostly glass in front, giving the occupants very little privacy when the lights are on. There is no longer grass around these chalets, but a rocky bed of white stones under the few trees, with paved walk-ways leading in and out from the waterhole. We quickly unpacked and had a hot drink in Mom and Paps' chalet, when the heavens opened with another very heavy storm, turning the road into a river and the braai into a dam. So much for our planned braai for dinner, so instead we had cheese and biscuits in no.91 and roughly planned what we would do tomorrow. At least chalet no.91 didn't have lights that kept tripping, when you switched the outside light on.
Checked out the waterhole before bed, only seeing a "dog" about the size of a bullmastiff on our side of the wall, which actually turned out to be a black-backed jackal trotting through the camp, completely unfazed by the presence of humans. Off to bed in the very comfy beds, under the big puffy white duvet, which was so lovely and cosy.
Friday 21st March 2008: Okaukuejo Camp, Etosha, Namibia
GPS Info: S19° 10' 48.4" E15° 55' 02.6"
Miles Today: 74 Total Miles: 18 845
The accomodation has breakfast included in their rate, which is served from 7am until 9am (apparently from 6am, but things are still quite slow at 7am, so would imagine them to be even slower at 6am). The camp gates are open from 6:58am until 7:09pm, and this changes on a weekly basis every Monday. SO precise!
We went for breakfast at around 8am after first stopping off at the waterhole, only to see absolutely nothing again. We all enjoyed fruit, yoghurt, eggs, bacon and toast. The weather was clearer today and it looked like it might get quite hot, hopefully with no rain tonight, as we want to braai for dinner, maybe even in the late afternoon, in case of a big storm like last night. We met up with Stephie and Michael just finishing off their breakfast, before they set off to Namutoni and out of Etosha, making their way back to Windhoek to join their tour starting on Monday. We handed Esther, the person cleaning our chalet, our washing which she said she'd bring back later or tomorrow morning. Esther services our room so beautifully and was so friendly.
We had planned to drive towards the west of Okaukeujo today. We drove out to Wolfsnes and Okondeka, going via the airstrip, which was full of hundreds of black storks walking through the long grass and small bushes. The road from Okondeka to Adamax was closed so we drove down past Leeubron and back to Okaukeujo camp for a break in the mid afternoon. Quite a few of the roads were closed, which we later read was due to poor, muddy road conditions. We drove through vast, open, green grassy plains full of huge herds of zebra and springbok, with a few wildebeest scattered amongst them, happily munching on the green grass and drinking the water along the road side. The zebras were all walking around flicking their lips, like Indu used to do Nat, while some of them were just relaxing resting their heads on each others backs, forming a maze of black and white stripes. They seemed full of the joys of spring in the cooler morning temperatures. There were lots of young animals around and it was so lovely to stop and just observe them. We saw many tiny zebras and small springbok suckling from their mothers. It's amazing to see how each baby zebra knows exactly which zebra is its mom, even though they all look so similar to us. Every zebra has a unique stripe pattern, in much the same way as a human fingerprint. This is why baby zebras spend so much time so close to their mother in their early months. The mother zebra apparently also takes the baby slightly away from the herd, when it is first born, to allow it to identify it's mother by her unique stripes. We saw many very cute ground squirrels on this drive. They were picking out the new grass shoots amongst the carpet of yellow daisies growing everywhere. We passed a few very light coloured giraffe, with some of them looking young too.
During the drive we ate a few snacks, some of which were marshmallow Easter eggs, with Ross being the only one to get stickers in his wrappers.
Back at camp we chatted in the warmth of the sun, and spent some time looking through the shop and the curio shop. After a brief time back at the camp, with still no animals at the waterhole, we decided to do another fairly short drive out in an easterly direction to Olifantsbad, passing the Gemsbokvlakte. Along this drive we saw many beautiful black-faced impala, with more young babies in the herd, which were also suckling. These are slightly different to the common impala we get in Natal, as they seem slightly stockier in build and have a black face. We saw more giraffe, hundreds of zebra, springbok, ground squirrels and gemsbok, although not on the Gemsbokvlakte. There were also lots of ostriches flapping their wings in a strange interesting type of dance. As the sun got hotter the wild, bright yellow daisy carpet got brighter as they turned their petals to face the sun. Etosha looked more like a Botanical garden than a game reserve with so much lush green vegetation and a whole variety of different wild flowers. It's amazing to see it so green and to see such huge numbers of plains game with so much food to eat and water to drink. There must be so many babies of every species, due to the abundance of food and water.
We got back to camp in time to see a bit of a sunset through the thick looming clouds. We had a braai with boerewors, steak and delicious chicken sosaties. Wrapping potatoes and onions in foil, we placed them in the coals while we cooked corn alongside the meat. We also made a cheesy beerbread in the coals after we had finished with the rest of the food, which worked out very well. We had frequent visits from the very nosey jackal, who was very keen to sample our meat, and kept coming right close, so this kept the braaimasters alert and on guard. Paps and Ross did a superb braai and we were all very content, while we enjoyed some lovely red wine Paps had bought in the shop.
The clouds slowly cleared, exposing a hazy moon and some stars, but still no animals came to the waterhole to drink. The waterhole is lit at night, to make any animals who do come to drink, clearly visible for everyone to see, without the need for people to shine torches at the animals. We did hear some noises coming from the big communal bird nest, above the pathway to the waterhole. There was a crowd of people on chalet no.35's balcony, one of the fancy double-storey, waterhole-facing chalets, who were making such a noise out on their balcony. No animals would've wanted to come near. This is an unfortunate design fault, as these chalets don't have any private outdoor areas, and with them being high above the ground, the sound carries.
Tomorrow we plan to have a really early start, so that we can drive all the way across to Namutoni and back, stopping off at Halali on our way.
Happy birthday Jenna. We hope you are very spoilt by your mom, dad and brother Matthew on your special day.
Saturday 22nd March 2008: Okaukuejo Camp, Etosha, Namibia
GPS Info: S19° 10' 48.4" E15° 55' 02.6"
Miles Today: 196 Total Miles: 19 041
We were up early to have breakfast at 7am. Everything seemed a bit upside down in the diningroom this morning, with no plates and only cornflakes for cereal. After breakfast we headed out on the road to Halali and onto Namutoni, as we've heard that is where all the big game are being sighted at the moment. If the waterhole is so inactive at Okaukuejo, then we were thinking of maybe trying to give up a night here and rather try and stay a night at Namutoni. It was cooler this morning. We met Kit and Pam in their landy as we drove out of the camp gate. Had a quick chat to them and then drove together for a little while. A little further down the road, we came upon a very cross cobra (rinkals) which had its fanned head up and out and wasn't intimidated by four cars around it. Heidz got such a fright when she looked out of the window and saw it aggressively standing so high, she nearly jumped right out of her skin, but wound up her window super quick! We saw lots more plains game and ground squirrels. We still couldn't get over just how green and bushy Etosha was. We drove past Rietfontein.
Stopping off at Halali Camp, it still looks like the original Halali camp and has a much more relaxed atmosphere, with picnic tables and facilities for day visitors. We bought a few cooldrinks and walked to the waterhole to see what was there. Three male black-faced impalas were drinking from the waterhole, which looked open, lovely and green. Passing more plains game, but not in as large numbers as in the Okaukuejo area, we even saw Red Hartebeest with some young. We drove on towards Namutoni.
While we had mobile reception, Heidz phoned to book two nights camping at Betesda Lodge, for when we are in the Sossusvlei area, towards the end of the week.
As we approached the pan, we could see it was full of water, something we didn't know happened. We had warned Paps and Mom that there was lots of water in Etosha, from all the previous rain we had experienced before they arrived, and had thought the pan might have some water, but never thought it would be this full. We drove to the closest point to the pan, which Paps calls Heidi's Island, where you can normally get out of your car and take photos of being in the middle of nowhere, with only mirages and white pan sand around you, but this was totally different. Being in Duzi2 we were able to drive right to the end with water filling the pan on either side of the road. The circular viewpoint at the end was now only a muddy track, with a big pool of water in the middle of it. We got out to take photos and to hear the flamingoes that were feeding in the pan. Normally there is the odd animal or two, but now it was full of water and flamingoes. As we drove away from here we spotted a lone white rhino in the distance, chomping on the abundant green grass.
We drove into Namutoni camp and fort, which has totally changed. You can no longer drive your car near the fort, or even to the chalets for that matter. Heidz and Lynn went to find out about the possibility of changing a night from Okaukuejo to Namutoni, only to be told that Namutoni is now Etosha's 5-star resort, with rooms starting at N$1 500.00 per person/night. WOW! What a rip off. With that knowledge, there was NO way we were going to change to come and stay here.
NWR has made a right botch of Namutoni. The Namutoni fort used to have beautiful rooms inside it, but these are now the shop (which was empty with no ice-creams!!), curios shop and a restuarant. You used to also be able to climb up to the top of the fort's tower, but now that is closed and you can only climb on to the fort's side wall, which isn't so high. This gives you a superb view of the thick river reeds and construction rubble below. The reeds have totally blocked the waterhole. The stairs down from here were also very dangerous, with large gaps in places. An accident waiting to happen.We walked along the raised wooden boardwalk to the waterhole, but the reeds have grown so thick that it's hard to see anything from or at the waterhole. On the ground below the raised boardwalk, old bits of foundation and other building rubble have just been left lying around with long grass everywhere. There are strange modern art creations scattered along the way which take a lot of imagination to see their relevance. The pool is totally decked and was full of young, snooty German couples. The chalets branch off the wooden boardwalk and have no outside living space or braai facilities, other than a stick-fenced verandah that was only big enough to fit one chair. From the pool we walked around to see what the other chalets looked like, where the Schmidt's remembered staying many times before. They are all arranged in a circular maze with a huge sand pit (where you would've previously parked your car) fenced off in front of each chalet, but no cars have any access to these now. Everything gets ferried from the carpark in a golf cart!?! These also have no outside living space and the sand pit seems an eye-sore. There is a high wooden railing lining the pathways restricting you from going off the path and makes you feel like you are stuck in a claustrophobic maze. Such a pity to have seen how lovely it was and then to see the right mess it is now and so totally over-priced. On our short walk back to Duzi2 we were offered a lift in a golf-cart to get there??? Ross declined for fear of its cost, thinking we probably couldn't afford it. So much for being independent, and free to relax in the open African bush...We were all very disappointed in Namutoni and hope NWR learn a lesson very quickly for being too greedy.
We left knowing we had a rather tight time limit to get back to Okaukuejo before the gates closed. We were heading on the main road back to Okaukuejo, when we spotted Kit and Pam's white landy parked on a small side road together with three other cars. So many cars parked together can only mean one thing...a good sighting of unusual game or a cat. Ross dashed across and we were spoilt to see two cheetah on a kill. Kit and Pam had seen the two of them catch the springbok, which had been sitting in the grass, completely unaware and only got up to run when the two cats where within 20metres of it. This had all happened right in front of their car. It all happened so quickly they hadn't managed to get one photo of the chase and kill. With such a close sighting, our drive over here had been well worth it.
We made it back to camp with time to spare and took photos, from the top of the tower, of the sun setting. We decided to make a chicken stir-fry for dinner using our stove and other camping equipment. We brought in the picnic table to make a proper kitchen. While the men were deciding on tomorrow's route, the ladies were cooking up a storm, which everyone enjoyed. Before bed we went to look at the waterhole in the hope that something would be there, but still nothing. Heidz, Lynn and Wolf were starting to think Ross didn't believe that so many animals normally come here, day and night. That was when we'd all been here before in July, when it's drier. What Francois, at Klein Windhoek Guesthouse told us, about the waterhole water being more salty than the fresh water along the roadside and in other less public parts, seemed to be making a lot of sense now. We actually noticed this with the impalas we saw today, they were all drinking from a pool of water next to the road.
Sunday 23rd March 2008: Okaukuejo Camp, Etosha, Namibia
GPS Info: S19° 10' 48.4" E15° 55' 02.6"
Miles Today: 31 Total Miles: 19 072
Easter Sunday. The Easter bunny managed to find most of us even though we were in Etosha. He must have been a brave bunny to venture out here just to deliver some Easter eggs. We opted for a later, more relaxed, yummy breakfast. We drove up to Wolfsnes again and onto Okondeka, then taking the road towards Leeubron, which was full of water and quite muddy to get to. Driving on to Sprokieswoud, we weren't that impressed. They looked just like any other green budding tree and certainly not worth the drive out to them, although just driving through the thorny African bush makes both of us happy, as it's something we've longed for, and planned towards for so long. We stopped off at Leeubron again on our way back to Okaukuejo, ever hopeful that we might see a leeu (lion), but no such luck. We stopped to watch some very cute ground squirrels who had made their home very close to the road, almost as if they knew a road and cars mean food. We saw more zebra, springbok, gemsbok, ostriches, giraffe, wildebeest, impala, secretary birds, corrie bustards, goshawks, a kestrel and ground squirrels. The beauty of the park is still astounding, even if the big game (rhino, elephant, buffalo and the cats) are far from sight.
We came back fairly early from our drive, giving Ross and I enough time to speak to Annie, the very efficient lady at reception, about our credit note we had been given by the resort manager at Khorixas Lodge. She said we should have been refunded by him straight away and promptly phoned the dinglebat manager at Khorixas Lodge, to see why we hadn't done so, being standard NWR procedure. He lied to her saying he hadn't been at the lodge on that day, but she saw he had signed our credit note so this proved his incompetence. She requested he refund our card immediately for the full amount and fax her the confirmation for us to collect tomorrow. It was hot so we bought the last 4 Magnum ice-creams in the shop, and enjoyed them up at the top of the Okaukuejo tower, which we climbed up to try and spot any big game that may be visible from a higher vantage point. We could see a lot of the same game we had already seen, scattered and dotted all around, amongst the green dense vegetation below. The view from the top of this tower is amazing and beats the view from Namutoni by far.
We took photos of the sun setting over the waterhole, which beautifully reflected the bright red, gold, orange, pink and purple in the water. There were three springbok and a wildebeest grazing quite far from the waterhole, but at least there was some sign of life. We had another perfect braai thanks to Paps and Ross, cooking more steak, wors and pork chops. Mom and Heidz prepared some veggie packs of butternut, potato, onion and carrots, with a sprinkle of stock and water, which we wrapped in foil and which the men cooked slowly in the coals of the fire. Went for a last look at the waterhole before bed, but nothing. We loved getting into the very comfy beds and under all the puffy bedding which made us snug and warm.
Monday 24th March 2008: Okaukuejo Camp, Etosha, Namibia
GPS Info: S19° 10' 48.4" E15° 55' 02.6"
Miles Today: 95 Total Miles: 19 167
Today was meant to be our rest day, so we could catch up on our diary and show Lynn and Wolf some of our photos of our Africa trip, as well as some videos. This is something we've been meaning to do so far, but never seem to have enough time. The weather was absolutely perfect all day. We walked around the campsite to see what the camping facilities were like, to warrant them charging N$100 per person/night + N$100 per site + your daily park fee of N$60p/p/day for South Africans or N$80 for other foreign nationals. The campsites here are large and busy, with overland trucks coming in everyday and leaving early the next morning, but these seem to always have the same sites, away from the other campers. Some of the sites were flooded. The bathroom facilities were the same as what is in the chalets, with square shallow basins and pebbled-floor shower cubicles, although these at least had shower curtains. The kitchen facilities were clean and in a mozzi netted building, but the only thing Heidz thought could be a problem is that there didn't seem to be anywhere with a deep enough basin, other than in the food basins, to wash clothing.
The campsite was alive with ground squirrels, which were busy pulling out the new grass shoots for their Easter treat too. Some of them were even busy trying to gnaw through some electric cabling that was interfering with the entrance to their hole. They had made holes all over the campsite ground and seemed to particularly love burrowing under the brickwork, around the picnic tables. We spent most of the morning showing Mom and Paps a few photos of our trip through West Africa, and some videos which Ross had managed to join together of some of the countries up north. We kept going back to the waterhole to see if there were any animals, but they must have all been having there own Easter hunts far away. The only animal we did see was a red mongoose close to the camp wall and 13 turtles, which were sunning themselves on the rocks around the waterhole.
Annie had the refund confirmation fax from Khorixas ready for us to collect and apologized on behalf of dinglebat, which had nothing to do with her. She was so on the ball, this sort of thing would never happen in her office, if she had anything to do with it. We checked in the book to see what the latest sightings were and where they had been seen before returning to Lynn and Wolf. Paps was our designated elephant spotter and had even started imagining elephants, so we decided to drive towards Anderson gate to explore all the little roads around there. Elephants had been sighted there, according to the book, so we were quite hopeful we'd see them. On our way down along the main tar road we saw a vulture frenzy going on, with 3 different types of vultures fighting over a zebra carcass, which didn't look like it was the left overs of a cat kill, as the zebra was still very much whole. We watched and waited, but there was no sign of any cat (lion, leopard or cheetah). Not even hyaena or jackals made an appearance.
We drove on, looking desperately for the ellies, but they were nowhere to be seen. There was lots of water in the waterholes, with buck and zebra drinking and lavashly munching the fresh green grass. We saw many Steenbokke, which are so small, pretty and cute. After lots of twisting and turning, we arrived back to see the vultures still busy squabbling over the zebra. Sadly no sightings of any elephants yet. The skies were heavy and the rain started again...
We cooked spaghetti bolognaise for supper with a lovely fresh salad. With still nothing at the waterhole, we settled in for a warm night's sleep snug under the lovely duvets, with the mozzie net down. Tomorrow is going to be another early start and a rather long day's drive.
Tuesday 25th March 2008: Okaukuejo Camp, Etosha, Namibia
GPS Info: S19° 10' 48.4" E15° 55' 02.6"
Miles Today: 212 Total Miles: 19 379
Got up for an early breakfast, with still no animals at the waterhole. Ross skillfully repacked Duzi2 and we headed out of Okaukuejo for the final time, in the direction of Namutoni to exit Etosha in the east. We hoped to camp somewhere outside the east side of the park. Tonight was the first night we had no pre-arranged accomodation planned. We were hoping to get to Tsumeb Municipal Campsite, which came highly recommended, but this was far away.
Ross drove down every possible little side road and into every marked viewpoint and waterhole, but we saw absolutely nothing, not even a ground squirrel, the whole way to Halali. We stopped off at Halali for Ross and Paps to get a coffee and to have a break from driving. Mom was hoping to buy ice-creams at the shop, but they had none.
We drove on towards Namutoni via Rhino Drive, but this ended up being very bushy and also deserted of any animals. It was getting late with just over an hour left before we needed to be out of the park, and as would be the case, that's when we saw everything. There were masses of all sorts of plains game - zebra, impala, gemsbok, wildebeest, springbok and ostrich. It looked like the garden of Eden. We noticed a bit of a freshly broken branch lying in the road, and two bakkies parked watching something to the right of the road. Pulling over, we soon spotted a panting lioness and a large very healthy cub, whose face was red from feeding on a wildebeest they must have just brought down, lying under a bush on the side of the road. Within minutes there were masses of cars and tour buses all clammering for a view of the lions. We just sat and watched as a jackal tried to approach, but the cub chased it off. It tried again, this time with the lioness very aggresively chasing it off. She moved behind a bush where we couldn't see her any longer and the cub walked off, possibly to call the rest of the pride. With our time running out to make it to the gate, we needed to move on.
Driving along the main road towards Namutoni, we were amazed at the huge number and variety of animals we could see all together on the plains leading to the pan. We saw another gathering of cars, on the small road where we had seen the cheetah on their kill, when we were here a few days before. Knowing we only had a very brief time to look, we went over to see the same two cheetah, sitting very close to the road eyeing out the game. They hadn't killed anything, but probably were about to. On our way to the cheetah, we passed a spotted hyena loping away, probably sussing out it's chances of gaining a free meal.
From here the pressure was on to get out of the main gate before 7.09pm, sunset. We made it with some minutes to spare, but still a long drive ahead of us to where we wanted to camp tonight. Along the road to Tsumeb, which is lined with private game lodges and farms, we spotted warthog and kudu on the road side of their fence. This meant Ross needed to drive extra vigilantly in case of stray animals venturing onto, or crossing, the road in the dark. We eventually arrived at Tsumeb Municipal Campsite after 8pm, and thankfully they were still open. Camping was N$45.00 per site + N$15.30 /person/night + N$15.30/car. We hadn't eaten yet, so decided to rather go back to Wimpy for a quick dinner than set up and start cooking. The campsite staff were fine about that, so we headed back into Tsumeb for a smoothie and burger supper. As it happened, Tuesdays at Wimpy are buy one get one free on their Wimpy burgers, so Lynn and Heidz went for that offer. We had such a lovely waitress serve us. Even though it was late and nearly the end of her shift, she was still so chirpy and cheerful.
We got back to the campsite just after 9pm, opened up the rooftop tent, Mom and Paps' bed, and got out the ground tent, blow-up mattress and sleeping bags for our bed. It was good putting up the ground tent again, because it's easy to forget how to do it, but the roof-top tent is by far the easiest and most compact way to camp. Tonight was Lynn and Wolf's first night camping in a roof-top tent, and their first time camping again in 20something years. They handled the ladder and mozzie net with ease, even if there were lots of giggles.
Wednesday 26th March 2008: Tsumeb Municipality Caravan Park, Tsumeb, Namibia
GPS Info: S19° 10' 48.4" E15° 55' 02.6"
Miles Today: 355 Total Miles: 19 734
We got up quite late and enjoyed a hot shower. We then packed up the tents and headed back to Wimpy for a Wimpy breakfast, which was the first thing the men remembered when they woke up. Something we had discussed last night, as a good option to do after we had been to visit Lake Otjikoto. Due to us running late, breakfast/brunch became more important than Lake Otjikoto, so we fueled up on a yummy, filling Wimpy breakfast, before filling up Duzi2 and heading back up north to the lake. On our way up, Yoel (from Lope in Gabon) surprisingly pulled up alongside us. We pulled over and briefly caught up on what each other had done since our time together up north. He had a wondeful time in Congo, trekking to the gorillas and was so happy to see us, as our website has become so out of date he was worried something had happened to us. We chatted about where we had been and where we hope to still go to, finding out his plans too. Then we carried on, getting to Lake Otjikoto much later than we had planned. Lake Otjikoto (N$20.00/person) is a lake where the German soldiers from the 1st World War dumped their artillery and weapons, before fleeing, so that it wouldn't fall into the wrong hands. The lake looks like a quarry, with bluey/greeny water. The mystery of it is that it is so deep in some places they haven't managed to measure its depth to the bottom yet. The lake was formed when the previous cave roof collapsed inwards and exposed this deep weird lake. What we could see from the top is only the neck of the bottle of the rest of the cave below the water. Rather freaky. There was a sketch showing how the famous German Lutheran Christuskirche in Windhoek can fit inside one the Lake's parts. While we were looking and talking about how strange this place was, Yoel arrived again. The man working in the Lake's shop was listening to the radio, which was broadcasting in a language that was a mixture of many clicks with some Afrikaans thrown in, this was the local language.
From Lake Otjikoto, we drove on through Tsumeb, a rich mining town, where 184 minerals have been discovered, 10 of which are only found in Tsumeb We headed on towards Grootfontein to see the Hoba Meteorite. The Hoba Meteorite (N$15.00/person) was only discovered in the 1900s by a local cattle farmer when he was out with his cattle. It is a huge lump of solid iron, 1.5m by 2m. It was fascinating looking at something so foreign, which has come from a totally foreign world to ours. Man couldn't make something like this, even if he tried. Heidz was so pleased to finally be able to see the meteorite she's always wanted to see, both times she's been to Namibia previously. We left the meteorite and drove on towards the road south from Grootfontein, a very beautiful crop farming area, that reminded us of parts of the Cape. We passed fields of very green, healthy looking mielies, wheat and other crops, with huge irrigation systems and machinery.
We started our long drive back to Windhoek to spend tonight there, before heading out tomorrow to Sossusvlei. Lynn had phoned Klein Windhoek Guesthouse to see if they could accommodate us for the night, and luckily they had a room free for Lynn and Wolf, allowing us to camp around the back. Leaving the Grootfontein area, we drove through Otjiwarongo and then Okahandja, through ever changing scenery, until we finally arrived at the guesthouse in Windhoek. We had a hot drink and then got changed to go to Joe's for dinner. We all had another huge Joe's meal of meat, with rain starting while we were eating. By the time it came time to leave, it was pouring. We sheltered in Lynn and Wolf's room back at the guesthouse, downloading emails. When the rain had subsided a bit, we retired into the tent and fell asleep to the familiar Namibian sound of rain falling.
Thursday 27th March 2008: Klein Windhoek Guesthouse, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 33' 44.7" E17° 05' 58.8"
Miles Today: 227 Total Miles: 19 961
We were woken to the sound of Francois checking if we were awake, and smiley Isabella bringing us a tray with a flask of coffee and some freshly baked hot muffins. Wow, what service for us who aren't even really staying at the guesthouse! We were greeted by a very friendly couple from Cape St Francis who were intrigued by our tent and our trip. They were busy telling us their son had recently finished an African overland trip going via Niger, Algeria, etc., when Ross curiously asked, "You're not talking about Rob and Inge are you?". This couple were Rob's parents, who were in Windhoek for Rob and Inge's wedding on Saturday. Rob and Inge were coming to fetch them at around 9am and then going on to the airport, to fetch Rob's sister who was flying in from overseas for the wedding.
Being a bit delayed, we showered in Mom and Paps' room and went to enjoy another yummy Klein Windhoek Guesthouse breakfast. We met Rob and Inge, who didn't recognise us at first, and wished them a wonderful day for Saturday, swopping numbers in case Bronwyn and Andrew had a free moment, for us to meet up with them too.
From breakfast, Wolf needed to get a cheque cleared through NedBank, so we thought trying the closest NedBank, in Klein Windhoek, would be a good option. The clearing process would take about two hours, so we popped into Checkers next door to do a restock of things we needed for the next two nights in Sossusvlei. The bank needed more time, so we decided to go to the Wernhill Shopping Centre, in Windhoek's town centre, to have a look at the meteorites that had fallen in the Gibeon Shower. Lynn did some curio shopping, with ridiculously cheap prices. Ross bought a copper bangle and Lynn bought Heidz a simple lovely necklace made from bone for her birthday, which is coming up towards the end of April. Thinking this would be more than enough time for the bank, we went back, but they still needed longer. We went to Woermann Brock in the centre next door to the bank, and had something to drink and a roll for lunch.
Eventually at 3.30pm, we left Windhoek for Sossusvlei on the road towards Rehoboth. This section was a very pretty section of the drive because the surrounding mountains are high and green and there is a lot of untouched natural bush. Rehoboth was a town full of brightly painted homes in various shocking colours. We joked that maybe it was a paint-sample town where various test colours were tried ranging from bright, lime green to shocking pink. Just after Rehoboth we turned onto the gravel C24 road, which quickly became very wet and slidey. The scenery was stunning making us feel so tiny. We followed directions to Sesriem and drove down a pretty hectic, but beautiful pass. We drove through some very heavy rain and were treated to an amazing view of an entire double rainbow, shining brightly against the dark black sky behind it. Then we saw a typically red sunset over the distant mountains of the Namib-Naukluft Park, which could've even been rocky dunes.
We only arrived at Betesda in the dark, just as the wind was starting to pick up, preparing for the storm to hit here very soon. We were a bit worried they might not think we were going to arrive, but there was no mobile reception on our way and the telephones at Betesda had been struck by the storm and weren't working anyway. We were all supposed to camp tonight, but Paps' tummy wasn't feeling that great and he wanted to be close to a loo for the night, so him and Mom decided to rather take a room for the night instead. On checking in, we met three teachers who had had a disasterous first night's camping experience. Their tent poles had snapped in the wind, the tent had blown away like a balloon and they were all totally drenched. This confirmed Paps' decision to rather take a room.
Because of the rain and it being late, we had bread rolls, with cheese and cold meat for dinner, in Wolf and Lynn's room before leaving them, to camp in our tent for the night. The rain had luckily just about stopped when we needed to open up the tent, but the mozzies were terrible, and they were everywhere. We crept into the campsite and set up in the dark, so as not to wake up any other campers. It shows we're used to setting up, if we can do it in the dark.
Friday 28th March 2008: Betesda Lodge and Camping, Sesriem / Sossusvlei, Namibia
GPS Info: S19° 10' 48.4" E15° 55' 02.6"
Miles Today: 142 Total Miles: 20 103
We were up very early this morning, around 6am, as we wanted to get to Sossusvlei as close to sunrise as possible. This is when the dunes are at their reddest.
We packed up the tent as quickly and as quietly as we could, seeing as the other campers were mostly still asleep. Driving across to the main lodge, we met Wolfgang and Lynn just coming out of the main reception, after leaving their cases there for the day, both having had a good nights sleep.
We made good time back along the C19 towards Sesriem, arriving at 7:30am. We needed to buy a permit to visit Sossusvlei. This cost N$60.00 p/p and N$10.00 for Duzi2, for the day. We were also told we could then leave the park at anytime during the day and return again that same day without having to buy a further permit. The initial main road to the dunes is a very good tar road, and we hummed along nicely in the early morning air, stopping to take photos at regular intervals with the surrounding scenery being so amazingly beautiful.
At one such stop, we all got out of the vehicle to have a look at various interesting sights nearby and to take photos in all sorts of imaginative ways, only to suddenly hear what sounded like a Lion roar floating across to us. We tried to make out where the sound had come from, but couldn't see a thing. This started a discussion as to whether or not Sossusvlei was also home to wild lions. Being a National Park, this was a distinct possibility, but none of us had heard of such a possibility before. Lynn was at first convinced that it had been Ross playing wildlife sounds over Duzi2's speakers. We had forgotten to ask about this later on and we still don't know what could have made the sound we heard.
A short while later we arrived at Dune-45 (called this as it is 45km from Sesriem). This is the first official stopping opportunity, for people to have a chance to climb a dune. By the time we arrived here, various people were already at the top of the dune or on their way up, with many more simply relaxing at the foot of the dune taking photos and chatting. We decided to try the walk up the dune while Lynn and Wolfgang waited down below. It was really difficult going as the sand was so soft. Heidi showed her youth by continuing all the way to the top while Ross, at halfway, decided to rather head back down, to where he knew a warm cup of coffee and rusks could be had, in the back of Duzi2. Wolfgang and Lynn joined Ross in this early morning treat, as they waited for Heidi to return.
Continuing along the tar road towards Sossusvlei the scenery became more and more impressive. Arriving at an area where various cars and buses had parked, we were pleased to see that this was merely the parking for all 2x4 vehicles. Any 4x4 vehicle that wished to go further in was allowed to do so, at their own risk of course. We carried on happily through the thick sand tracks until we came to the next car park, where various 4x4's had parked and from where we could see people heading off into the dunes. It turned out to be the parking for Deadvlei, an impressive vlei about half an hour's walk into the sand.
We parked here and started walking in, not sure exactly where the famous dunes were. Following some small stick beacons, we managed to walk along over a few small sand rises to suddenly come over a crest and see what could only be Deadvlei. The familiar scene of dead camel-thorn trees in a large flat white clay pan, surrounded by golden, orangey-red sand dunes, got us all clicking away with our cameras. It was so uniquely amazing to see this for ourselves at last.
On the way there and back we had also been intrigued by the various tiny creatures which survived in this seemingly deserted, hostile landscape. The little "tok-tokkies" running around the dunes in pairs, the various insects climbing around the sparse succulent plants, and also little geckos/lizards which ran along alternating their feet on the hot sand.
Arriving back at Duzi2, we decided to get our picnic lunch out and have some food on the picnic tables, under the shade of the trees at the Deadvlei parking area.
Noticing all the little sparrows hanging around the trees, we also saw that some kind soul had also chopped a can in half and placed it in the ground, filled with water like a little drinking bowl. We topped this up with water and also filled up two upturned bottle tops, leaving them in the sand. These went down a splash! The little birds loved them and we spent ages just watching their antics.
We had seen various vehicles continue even further along the sandy track, past our picnic spot. Wondering where this went, we decided to pack everything up and find out, driving Duzi2 a little further along. The final stop along the track was in fact Sossusvlei itself. We found another shady spot under some really quite large trees in the last parking lot, locked up and strolled across to have a look at the very famous clay pan, the largest of four such pans in the area. It was extremely hot by now and we couldn't stay out in the burning sun for too long, but managed to explore the area quite thoroughly, without actually climbing the gigantic sand dunes around us. Returning to the shade of the trees, we chatted to a few of the other visitors and their guide, before jumping into Duzi2 for the 60km drive back to Sesriem.
Before we exited the park completely, we also wanted to make our way over to Sesriem Canyon, situated about 5km from Sesriem in a different direction. It didn't look like much when we stopped in the car park, but after venturing out along the stone pathway, we suddenly realised that there was a lot more here than initially meets the eye. The pathway drops steeply down a few little steps into and along a ravine until you suddenly see a rather large bright green pool of water below you. This was in fact a river course and it is a popular swimming spot, with the possibility of walking up further through the canyon. We chatted to various other tourists at the water's edge, but when it started to rain we all made a beeline for the carpark.
Optimistically we stopped again at Sesriem to buy a bag of wood for a braai tonight. Then we headed out of the National Park and along the road back to Betesda.
Arriving in daylight this time allowed us to see what our surroundings looked like at last. We collected Lynn and Wolfgang's cases from the reception and made our way back over to the campsite, where we set up the tents and started to get settled for the evening. After lighting the fire we took turns in showering and getting cleaned up. At a time when Heidi, Ross and Wolfgang where all in the shower, and all sorts of camping equipment was lying all around our site, the heavens opened and it started to rain heavily. Poor Lynn was left to grab as much as she could and try and protect it all from becoming absolutely soaked. One thing being the blow-up mattress for Ross & Heidi's little ground tent. Somehow she managed to protect this and keep it dry. Everyone rushed back as fast as they could to help Lynn, and we then decided to put up the awning for the first time since Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland. This would give us all the shelter and comfort we would need.
It all worked out really well and in no time we had it looking very cosy and organised and even managed to salvage the fire and have our braai/bbq after all.
After such a busy day, we all felt quite tired after dinner and it wasn't long before we all started getting ready for bed. Lynn and Wolfgang were able to experience their second night in a rooftop tent.
Saturday 29st March 2008: Betesda Lodge and Camping, Sesriem / Sossusvlei, Namibia
GPS Info: S19° 10' 48.4" E15° 55' 02.6"
Miles Today: 191 Total Miles: 20 294
Awoke to a bright sunny day. We had all slept rather well after the stormy disruption yesterday. Lynn and Wolfgang now had their first camping breakfast with us. Muesli mixed with ProNutro, hmmmmm ...., along with coffee and rusks.
After watching our camping neighbours from the Northern Cape, pack up their two trailer tents, we decided to do the same. A little more to pack away this morning with the awning being up for a change. We all got to work doing the tidying, cleaning and packing away. In no time at all, things looked very organised and ready to move on.
Driving around to the main lodge reception, we chatted briefly to the staff there, paid our dues and headed off down the road towards Windhoek. The lodge staff had advised us of a different, more direct route back to Windhoek, so instead of heading back along the road to Sesriem, we turned left out the Betesda gate and headed off further along the gravel district road.
Quite a scenic route, it took us through some very remote and quite wild countryside as well as a few low rivers, so it made for an interesting journey. Wolfgang, having bought himself some bottled water in the previous days, had noticed it was produced by the Naukluft water company and had just been wondering if that was anywhere near this region, being around the Namib-Naukluft National Park, when we drove past the entrance to the Naukluft water company, along this little road. Strange how these things happen sometimes. The landscape varied from wide open areas to steep sided valleys and we even drove past an area where there was supposedly a Quiver tree forest, although we couldn't see it. We did however see individual quiver trees at various points along the way, but mostly single trees silhouetted on the tops of the hills around us.
Arriving at a place called Bullsport on the map, we found it was just a cattle farm rather than a village or town, so headed past it and continued along another district road called the C24, which took us through Klein Aub and then onto Rehoboth. This was actually the same stretch of road which we had travelled along on the way down, although we had turned off towards Solitaire just after Klein Aub.
Before we arrived at the tar road to Windhoek, at Rehoboth, we pulled over to the side of the dirt road under a rare patch of shade given off by some trees along the way. Aside from being a loo-stop, this was prime time for another coffee break, along with rusks of course. What a lovely routine!
Once we joined the main tar road to Windhoek, it was pretty much plain sailing all the way back. We did however have to stop at the Police checkpoint outside the city. The policeman noticed our foreign numberplate and quickly walked over to indicate us to stop. He then asked for all our passports. The "shake-hands, smile and ask directions" routine didn't have much effect here, so we handed them over. He dismissed Heidz and Ross' passports when he saw we still had plenty of days left in Namibia, but then saw that Wolfgang and Lynn's time expired tomorrow. A bit of confusion ensued then, when he said they had to leave the country today and we said they would only be flying tomorrow. Finally after insisting on seeing proof of the flights out of Windhoek, he relented and let us continue.
We headed straight to the Klein Windhoek Guesthouse once again, and checked ourselves in. The ever friendly Klaus showed us to our rooms and chatted to us about our time away in Sossusvlei. Settling in, we sat around on the verandah in front of our room having another coffee break, while deciding where to go for dinner. Although a 4th visit to Joe's Beerhouse wouldn't have been a problem, we decided to try somewhere different and decided on a Portuguese restaurant, on Klaus' recommendation, across the road from Joe's for a farewell dinner.
We all felt rather tired from all the travelling and excitement of the day, so did not stay awake for too long once we got back to the guesthouse.
Sunday 30th March 2008: Klein Windhoek Guesthouse, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 33' 44.7" E17° 05' 58.8"
Miles Today: 63 Total Miles: 20 357
We all woke to enjoy a more leisurely and relaxed breakfast with Francois coming to have a chat and find out a bit about our holiday together. Mom and Paps had to check out of their room by 10am so moved all their things into our room, which they've kindly paid for for us for tonight. Then we drove to Maerua Mall exploring Cape Union Mart etc and other shops, hoping to be able to buy marzipan from the Woerrmann Brock, which Mom had bought in their Klein Windhoek shop. We drove back to the Woermann Brock in Klein Windhoek so Mom could buy the marzipan for people back home. We had coffee there and then came back to the guesthouse to see a few more photo's and videos of our trip before leaving for the Hosea Kutato Airport, about 30minutes away to get there earlier enough for the Schmidt's to check in for their 4:10pm flight to Johannesburg and then on to Durban only arriving late, where uncle Cliff was going to meet them.
We go to the airport with loads of time to spare until we saw the ridiculously slow moving 'queue', which some fellow passengers didn't think they needed to join, until they bulldozed their way through with their trollies once their friends reached the front. After waiting until we saw Mom and Paps' plane take off we sadly left the airport to drive back to Klein Windhoek Guesthouse for the night. We spent until the early hours of the morning starting the long, hard catch-up process of getting our diary and photos up to date on the website. It was sad to say good-bye to Mom and Paps after such a wonderful holiday together, but at least it won't be too long beofre we see them again, and it won't be too long until Mom and Dad join us wherever we are in mid to late May.
We are both very well. We safely crossed into Namibia from Angola on the 1st March 2008 and spent the first few days exploring the north and west of Namibia. We managed to see the Ruacana Falls pumping with water, a rare event. The falls were so full, that the spray was visible long before we reached the actual falls. We tried to get across to Epupa Falls, further along the Kunene River, but with the heavy rains we had experienced over our time in Angola and Namibia, the road had been washed away, making it impossible to get there, even in a Landrover! We've had no problems on our route down to Namibia, and were treated to more glimpses of how beautiful our continent and it's people are.
We both LOVED Angola and were miraculously able to extend our 5 day transit visa in Lubango, something not normally possible. We did have some vehicle trouble in Angola, with the front wheels wobbling very badly when we travelled over 45km/hr (making our days very long and slow) and we lost a front shock on the treachorous Angolan northern and southern roads. Luckily these were temporarily repaired in Lubango, which strengthened our need to extend our visa for a further five days. We were amazingly blessed by Andreas, Astrid and their children, a family living in Lubango, who helped us with everything. Angola is a land of immense beauty, but it's not very well known. We were so lucky to have had longer than most to explore it a bit more. In Lubango amoung other amazing sights, we saw the Christo Rei (the statue of Jesus with outstretched arms over looking the city, like the Corcevada in Rio).
We've just dropped Heidi's parents off at the airport outside Windhoek, after a wonderfully fun 2-week holiday exploring Windhoek, Swakopmund, the Cape Cross seal colony, Walvis Bay, Etosha National Park and Sossusvlei. There was lots of chatting, laughing, meat eating and many photos were taken. The weight we had lost on the way down has quickly been put back on!!! Paps and Mom (Wolfgang and Lynn) even spent 2 nights in the roof-top tent, a whole new experience for them. We have had many pretty hectic storms and more rain, so Etosha pan was full of water and there were yellow daisies flowering everywhere, making Etosha look more like a park than a game reserve. We were lucky to see an abundance of plains game - zebra, impala, wildebeest, springbok, gemsbok, etc. with many babies. Just before leaving Etosha we saw two very healthy lionesses on a kill right next to the road and a few kilometers further on, we saw two cheetah and a hyaena.
We plan to update our website before we leave Windhoek, but are still SOOOO far behind in our diary. Sorry to have caused concern to any of you still reading our travels and we hope our upcoming updates of our exciting adventures through Central Africa will be worth the wait! Namibia is a fantastic country and it's like arriving in a new continent when you arrive from Angola. It has brilliant roads, efficiency, things work and everyone takes pride in what they do. With Afrikaans fairly widely spoken, we've had to dust the cobwebs off a language we haven't spoken in a long time. We have loved being in Namibia and are keen to spend a bit longer here to let Botswana drain out or dry up, as we've heard Chobe, and the north are flooded. Thanks for all the messages of concern and we will post more news soon.
Monday 31st March 2008: Klein Windhoek Guesthouse, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 33' 44.7" E17° 05' 58.8"
Miles Today: 8 Total Miles: 20 365
Awoke to a weird feeling of no Mom and Paps. It felt a bit empty as we had had such fun together and now they were gone and back to their busy work life, while we carry on with our Africa trip. Hopefully things won't be too stressful back home and at work for them after their 2 week break, and the relaxing time they've had won't all disappear in a matter of hours, after being back at work.
At breakfast Francois came over to find out our movements from here onwards. We packed up our things into Duzi2 and sat in the garden typing up diary updates. While were busy typing, Francois came over and offered for us to stay in a flat at the back of a house he has bought across the road, for free. He told us they will be renovating the main house, which will be noisy, to create four new ensuite units. If we didn't mind this, then we were free to stay there and use the internet to catch up, even if we decide to move on somewhere else. Wow! He is such an amazingly generous and kind man. We couldn't believe what he had just told us, but were so grateful to him for letting us stay at such a tranquil haven to make some headway with our website.
Heidz carried on typing while Ross poured Milton into our 70litre water tank, which seems to have a bit of floaty stuff in it. The Milton should sterilize the tank and clean the water, which we can now empty out after a few hours and replace with more filtered water, while we stay at Klein Windhoek Guesthouse. Later on in the afternoon, Klaus and Dru, the other two guys that work at the guesthouse, invited us to join them for some steak which they had done on the braai/bbq. They are both super guys and are such fun. Both of them are sold on Namibia being the best place in the world in which to live and we had very interesting conversations with them both. They kept telling us to stop thanking them and to stop apologizing for being here, but welcomed us in like old friends. Dru has only recently come back from the UK and is in the process of applying for permanent Namibian residency, opening up a business running adventure motorbike tours, hoping to start within a few weeks, and doing some community work teaching swimming in a nearby school.
We continued typing until it got dark and Heidi's eyes felt like they were about to fall out. Francois very kindly arrived with a plate of yummy Chicken-a-la-King for us for dinner and wished us a good night's sleep in the flat. We both were totally exhausted by the time we got into bed and knew we had a HUGE task ahead of us...
Tuesday 1st April 2008: Klein Windhoek Guesthouse, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 33' 44.7" E17° 05' 58.8"
Miles Today: 9 Total Miles: 20 374
Issi brought us a tray of coffee and freshly baked muffins to wake us up this morning. We couldn't believe our eyes when we saw her standing at the door. The builders were busy bashing down walls, windows, etc. in the main house on the property we're staying on. It does look like a building site now, but will be fantastic when it's completed. Francois showed us the architectural plans for the new design and walked us through where everything will be. They are fitting in four ensuite rooms, a kitchen, lounge and extra toilet. It needs to be completed by the end of April, as they already have bookings for the rooms for then. Just a little bit of stress... The workers seem very good. Every now and again, they stop to raid the orange tree in the garden to have a break. Most of the oranges are green, but this doesn't seem to stop them. Everyone is really excited for the next stage of The Klein Windhoek Guesthouse.
We went over to the main Guesthouse and typed our diary updates all day. Klaus, Dru and Francois couldn't believe the time we were spending just typing, until we told them how far behind we were. Francois very kindly offered for us to stay as long as we need, to relax and catch up, and for us to use the internet to upload whatever we needed, even if we weren't staying here. These people are so wonderful, so generous and kind. They couldn't do enough for us and we are both feeling very bad about staying in such luxury for free! Francois is Namibian (being born here when Namibia was still under South African rule), but grew up in the Cape, Klaus is Irish/German being born in Ireland, but spent time between there, Germany and Namibia and Dru is South African having only been back in Namibia for 6 weeks from the UK.
We were busy typing in the bar, when Francois and Dru insisted we stop and have something for dinner. Francois very kindly said we must feel free to use the kitchen to cook, if we wanted. After much protesting, we both enjoyed a delicious chicken lasagne each and then returned to our flat across the road, to carry on typing, trying to get through as much as we could. Everyone at the Guesthouse works such long hours, but do their work with a smile and with enthusiasm. They work successfully as a team and handle the stress of being full of guests every night. Little wonder they are building and extending, they'll more than likely be totally full with all the extra rooms too.This is something we've noticed right through Namibia, everyone seems to take pride in what they do and does their job well and enthusiastically.
Happy birthday Tats. We hope you have a fantastic birthday and are spoilt rotten on your special day.
Wednesday 2nd April 2008: Klein Windhoek Guesthouse, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 33' 44.7" E17° 05' 58.8"
Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 20 374
Today we spent the entire day typing up our diary updates. It was cooler today. We started typing in the early morning and ended with aching, scratchy eyes at about 8pm in the evening. Heidz typed while Ross gave Francois some IT assistance. A new external flat screen monitor had been bought for the office laptop, but had arrived with the incorrect cable. Ross went off with Francois to buy the correct one and helped him set it up. He then helped to burn a music CD from Francois' iTunes, for the bar. It's the least we can do, to help out wherever possible. Francois was telling us about a place where we could hire a canoe from and paddle on a nearby dam, hopefully we can get the details for this, as it would be good to go for a paddle again.
We texted our parents to let them know how wonderfully we were being treated and spoilt by The Klein Windhoek Guesthouse staff. Neither set of parents could believe how kind Francois and his team were being to us and were very appreciative. We had a nice catch-up chat with both the Schmidts and the Lloyds. Afterwards we went to Nandos in Olympia for dinner, kind thanks to Dru for a free voucher he gave us to get N$36.95 off, meaning we had one meal for free. We both enjoyed a chicken burger and the time off from the laptop. Tired and full, we collapsed into bed, Heidz with very sore eyes. We hope everyone appreciates all the catch up we're doing... sorry for them being so long overdue. Hope they are worth the wait.
Thursday 3rd April 2008: Klein Windhoek Guesthouse, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 33' 44.7" E17° 05' 58.8"
Miles Today: 14 Total Miles: 20 388
The builders were busy demolishing things in the main house from fairly early this morning, but we had decided to keep a low profile and stay away from the Guesthouse, rather doing the typing of our diary updates in the flat than in the Guesthouse garden. It was cool again today, looking like it might rain, but it didn't. There was an Estate Agents conference going on at the Guesthouse until midday, so we had parked Duz inconspicuously around the back, to be out of the way. We caught up with the typing up of Angola, and after Ross read through all of Angola and our first 13 days in Namibia, we walked over and uploaded our diary on the net. The conference was over by this stage and Klaus, Dru and the lady staff were relieved as it had been a busy start to the day. We chatted to Klaus and Dru before leaving the Guesthouse to have a bit of a break from typing.
Dropping our washing off at Laundry Land, we then headed to the Maerua Lifestyle Shopping Centre in search of Tchibo, which Silke runs and owns (Claudia's sister, and Francois' sister-in-law). We found it with no problem and ended up buying some slops there. Yay, now Heidz has some slops without holes in their soles and Ross finally has slops as well as his strops! Heidz bought her first Sudoku book and it's apparently all down hill from here, as you get addicted really easily. It seems really hard, even though it's meant to be an easy to medium degree of difficulty. We also discovered a huge SuperSpar right next door, and a Spur.
Ross phoned Karl to wish him and Debbie everything of the best for their special day tomorrow. We are both sad we can't be with them to share their wedding, but aside from everything else, it would be a problem with importing Duzi2 in a few months time as you can't have been in the country within the 6months prior to importing.
We went back to the Guesthouse to do more typing and then on to Laundry Land to collect our washing, but it was still wet, and because we didn't have space to hang it all out to dry, we decided to leave it with them and rather collect it tomorrow. We contemplated cooking in the kitchen tonight, but decided to rather head to Spur, for our long awaited Spur Spare Ribs topped off with a shared chocolate brownie. Both of us had very delicious ribs and were feeling rather full when we got back to the flat. We did a bit of photo selecting for the website and then headed for an earlier night's sleep.
Happy birthday Tim. We hope you are very spoilt by Ciara and your precious little son Nathan. Enjoy your special day. Congrats to Warren and Jo on their exciting news of their pregnancy. Hope you feel better soon Jo.
Friday 4th April 2008: Klein Windhoek Guesthouse, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 33' 44.7" E17° 05' 58.8"
Miles Today: 2 Total Miles: 20 390
Warm congratulations to Karl and Debbie on their special day. We were thinking of you both all day and hope your wedding was even more wonderful than you could've imagined. We look forward to meeting the new Mr and Mrs Gilbert when we are back in South Africa.
Woke up after a very comfy sleep in the flat, with a tray of coffee, juice and biscuits even being brought to us by Becki. We spent most of the morning sorting, resizing and choosing photos to upload for Gabon, Congo and the DRC. We have taken so many photos, it's easy to forget all the amazing things we've seen, until you look back as we were able to do today.
In the afternoon we sat outside room no.6, your room Mom and Paps, and spent the afternoon and most of the evening uploading photos of Gabon. Francois said a speedy good-bye as he needed to fly an Air Namibia plane to Frankfurt in Germany, for the weekend, only being called in at the last minute. Klaus came over to chat too, as he'll be away branding cattle for the weekend, on a farm about 200kms away, and was hoping we wouldn't have left by the time he came back, so he could at least chat to us again. He strongly encouraged us to stay, saying he would be happier knowing there was someone at the building site house, across the road, especially as him and Francois were going to be away, leaving Dru spread rather thin. We uploaded all our Gabon photos onto the net, throughout the day and well into the night. Cooking up a chicken and mushroom pasta dish in the kitchen, we then got chatting to Dru, Silke and a Belgian couple who were flying home tomorrow having had so much trouble with their hired car while they've been on holiday in Namibia for two weeks.
We were able to help Dru out tonight by camping out at the back of the main building, as the Guesthouse was full, as always, and they were short of one room for an apparently confirmed guest. We helped Becki get the flat we've been staying in, ready for one of the guests. In the early hours of the morning, we climbed up our ladder to our very familiar roof-top bed and had a cool, comfy night's sleep, even if it was only for a few brief hours.
Saturday 5th April 2008: Klein Windhoek Guesthouse, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 33' 44.7" E17° 05' 58.8"
Miles Today: 2 Total Miles: 20 392
We slept so well back in our roof-top tent after only getting to bed very late, or should I say early being 3:00am. Not used to such late nights, showing our ages, we stayed in the tent until it got too hot, which was at about 9:30am. Had muesli and ProNutro breakfast, with malaria tablets, trying to get back into our normal routine. We chatted to a Scottish father and son, who are mad about Landies, about how wonderful Duzi2 has been. They were all dressed for the World Championship Archery Parade through the streets of Windhoek this morning, before the competion starts on Monday. Packing away our washing, we started to upload our Congo photos. The internet connection wasn't actually that slow, but each album contains 60 photos, and normally takes 30-45minutes to upload if we are lucky. While it's uploading there's not much else you can do on the laptop otherwise it slows down even further. Once the photos are loaded on, they need to be ordered and comments need to be written, otherwise they might make no sense.
Today was an absolutely perfect day - clear sunny skies. Being warm, but not too hot. Dru suggested we make a pootjie for dinner, which sounded like a great plan. Marie, the bubbly new girl who has just started working at the reception at Klein Windhoek, came into work, but looked terrible. She felt nauseus and shaky, must have been a bug, so didn't stay long. We gathered together some ingredients - some tough steak Dru wanted to use and carrots, potatoes and onions from us. We went off to Woermann Brock to buy some goulash sauce, butternut and rice. When we arrived back, we got busy peeling and chopping the meat and veggies, Silke had arrived by now, so got busy peeling too. With three of us in the kitchen and none of us having done a pootjie before, there was a lot of thrashing of ideas going on. We put everything into the big pootjie pot, layering the hard veggies at the bottom, poured the sauce over and then put the lid on, leaving it to cook on a low heat for ages, checking every now and then. We continued loading our Congo photos on the web while the pootjie cooked slowly, starting to smell really good.
At just after 7pm we dished up a very delicious meal, which had become more like a stew. Dru, Silke, Barry, a South African from Rustenberg who is working on contract in Windhoek, and us all ate and chatted together in the bar. Interestingly enough none of us around the table were actually Namibians. Dru and Silke headed for an early night, well earned after all the late nights over the past couple of days, while we carried on sorting through and choosing the Angolan photos we want to upload tomorrow. Unfortunately we missed many calls from Mom and Paps, as our phone rings, but when you answer it, it's dead and you can't hear anything. Very frustrating for us and for the caller. The skies rumbled, lit up with lightning and then the rain came pouring down, something we haven't had for a few days. We saw a bride and groom arrive for 'the honeymoon suite' in room no.1. The bride tip-toeing through the rain in her wedding dress.
We retired to the very dry and comfy flat across the road, which has become our comfy home for the past few days, thanks to the enormous generosity of the Klein Windhoek Guesthouse staff.
Happy birthday Ann and Lizzie B. We hope you are treated like queens today and are spoilt rotten. Ann, we hope Frank treats you to lots of your favourite things on your special day. Liz, we hope Andre and your two lovely daughters treat you to many wonderful surprises, especially as it's a weekend.
Sunday 6th April 2008: Klein Windhoek Guesthouse, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 33' 44.7" E17° 05' 58.8"
Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 20 392
The clocks changed last night, so now we are one hour behind SA and on the same time as the UK. It also meant we had an extra hour's sleep this morning. We awoke to a bright, sunny day, and Lucas brought us a tray of coffee and rusks. We have been so spoilt while we've been here. During the day we tried to make further headway in typing our Namibian diary updates and loading our Angola photos.
We walked to the BP garage nearby and chatted to Mom and Paps, getting wonderful news that Beryl and Otto had arrived safely back from Cape Town after Ottos terrible accident in the Cape Argus and long stay in hospital, only being released last weekend. They took a week to get back to Hillcrest, but are well and glad to be back. We pray God will continue to heal Otto fully and get him back to the fit physical condition he was before his accident. Can't believe it's been a week since Mom and Paps left Windhoek to go back to Winston Park.
We had a hot dog supper and sat to do more uploads, whilst chatting further to Dru and Silke. We even tried some butterstreussel, Silke's favourite desert, which she brought for pudding last night, but we were all too full to have any. It was so lovely to get your newsy email Caron. Sounds like your animal family is growing as well as your sons are. Hopefully we will see you when you come out to SA in September/October. We can't wait to see Greg and Murray again too. Thanks for all your news Kimbo, so glad to hear you had such a good time in SA at Penny's wedding. You must have made such a beautiful bridesmaid.
Klaus came back in the early evening, looking red and tired after a busy weekend at the farm. Hopefully we'll be up to date soon so we can make our way across to the Caprivi (on the same time zone as SA), Botswana etc, because otherwise life here is pretty comfy and it's very tempting to just stay.
Monday 7th April 2008: Klein Windhoek Guesthouse, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 33' 44.7" E17° 05' 58.8"
Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 20 392
We were brought coffee and rusks by the ever reliable Lucas. The builders had arrived at the main house and we could hear the bashing and knocking going on inside it as they reshaped it into it's new layout. While Heidi continued with typing up some of the updates for Namibia, Ross had a chat to Klaus who was overseeing the builders in the house. The progress was pretty good and the new layout was now becoming quite easy to see. Most of the day was sadly spent in our little room while we desperately tried to get the updates completed. The disruption of having to travel quickly through the previous countries, without having an opportunity to stop and take stock had unfortunately put us so far behind. Hopefully this won't happen again, as it's not fun spending so much time just sitting typing day and night just to catch up.
Had omlettes for supper and chatted to Dru who had had another rather stressful day at the guesthouse, with the rooms being totally full again and made even more complicated with overbookings. He had to try and find alternative accommodation for some clients in other guesthouses in Windhoek, but with the World Archery Championships on this week, this was difficult. We went to bed with only one day's diary update to type, what a relief at long last!
Tuesday 8th April 2008: Klein Windhoek Guesthouse, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 33' 44.7" E17° 05' 58.8"
Miles Today: 7 Total Miles: 20 399
Treated again this morning by Izzie and Rebecca bringing us a tray of coffee, juice, apples, yoghurt and fresh muffins. We keep being blown away by how well we're being treated. We finally finished our typing of our diary updates, sorted and resized our thousands of Namibian photos, which we chose and uploaded onto the web. After a long hard slog, our website is fully up to date!!!
Klaus has been in great pain all night and was taken to hospital this morning for a re-occuring water on the knee problem that has flared up and caused him great discomfort, hopefully this can be operated on and rectified soon. Francois arrived back from Germany this morning and Dru just tried to keep things together at the fort/guesthouse. Ross played foreman on the building site for a little while this morning too.
We had farewell drinks with Dru, Barry and Silke as we probably won't see Dru or Silke again, very sad as we've got to know them quite well. We headed to the BP Garage for a pie for a late dinner and drove around the posh, huge homes over-looking Windhoek by night. It is a really beautiful and quite a big city when it's all lit up at night.
From here we are hoping to head up north to the Caprivi Strip, the most north eastern part of Namibia. We will then drop down into Botswana in the north and spend some time there. Botswana is apparently very wet at the moment, which is no surprise considering how much rain we had in Angola and recently in Namibia too. I suppose that's what comes from travelling through here in the rainy season.
Wednesday 9th April 2008: Klein Windhoek Guesthouse, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 33' 44.7" E17° 05' 58.8"
Miles Today: 6 Total Miles: 20 405
Lucas eagerly treated us to coffee, fruit juice and rusks, delivered to us in the flat this morning. We spent the whole day doing admin stuff to do with London and our flat. We're both sick and tired of the constant issues that keep arising with the flat and the seemingly lack of competence of the people we are dealing with. It's really tempting to just sell it, but this would be crazy in the long run. Today we also realized how incompetent Talk-Talk/OneTel are too. We had arranged for our telephone to be disconnected and were told we had paid up completely, minutes before leaving in October. This was however not the end of it, as we have now been charged for other things, after them not having done what they said they had!!! This was all sorted out after an expensive and very quick call to London. If only we could leave London behind us and enjoy Africa!
We chatted to Claudia, Francois' wife, who was working in the office till very late. Heidz even held her very tiny precious Lauren, only 8 weeks old today, while Ross looked on nervously. She is so cute, but tiny. We managed to finally burn dvd back-ups of all our photos, but still haven't managed to upload our Namibia photos as we had planned to do due to the internet connection in Windhoek being very errratic at the moment. This seems to be a general problem throughout Windhoek at the moment, and could apparently be caused by a damaged or stolen fibre-optic cable. Incidentally Ross was just reading about a fibre-optic cable being laid by a ship called the Ile de Sein, along the ocean floor, from Hawaii to Australia, for a company called Telstra. It is 5 580miles long and sometimes about 3 miles underwater, and will be used to improve internet links between Australia and the USA.
Brad phoned this afternoon to have a chat. He's such a fantastic friend, and encouraged us to keep up the detail as they're loving it. Kirsty and Nicole have apparently been putting some of our photos up at school and Brad suggested we stop in there on our way down to say 'Hi'.
Building work is in full swing on the property being converted, next to the flat we're staying in, and it's very quickly taking shape, with Francois and Dru running around like crazy, while Klaus is still recovering from his knee being drained yesterday. Dru didn't manage to leave for Cape Town this afternoon as he had planned, but will leave first thing tomorrow morning, hopefully. In the early evening, Francois asked us if we would consider staying on an extra 5 days to help out at the Guesthouse, as things are a bit busy, with Dru being away. We were planning to leave Windhoek tomorrow for the Caprivi area, but with enough days still left on our visa, and it not costing us anything, we agreed to stay on, and are now looking forward to the first-hand Guesthouse/B&B experience. Both a bit concerned about a few things, we were assured it won't be solely our responsiblity. We have the time and have always said we're open to any opportunities that may arise along our way. This may give Botswana a bit more time to dry out before we get there. We were even given the keys to one of the lovely rooms to stay in for the night. A vacant room is a very rare thing at the Guesthouse, which is always over full. Wow, such luxury! We had another HUGE storm this evening, even with hail. There was so much rain all at once that the pool looked like it might overflow.
Ross read in the local Namibian newspaper that 7 milion cubic metres of water has flowed into Namibian dams in the last week, and Etosha pan is full due to the extraordinary rains they've received so far this rainy season. Yesterday we were chatting to the bubbly SA lady archery representative, a pig farmer by profession, told us that animals only produce many young when they know the second season following the current season will be a good one, and if this is the case, they produce more females than males to reproduce and maintain animal numbers. Amazing how animals just know these things by instinct.
Drove to Steers up the road for a burger for supper, before enjoying the comfort of our room and some TV, a treat for us, even if it was a movie in Italian with subtitles.
Thursday 10th April 2008: Klein Windhoek Guesthouse, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 33' 44.7" E17° 05' 58.8"
Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 20 405
We felt a bit of an extra hand in the beginning of the day, but as the day developed we quickly picked up odd jobs, answering the phone, opening the gate, showing guests to their rooms, serving drinks and meals etc.
Klaus, with us, was left to keep things going which was no problem. Klaus is quiet and very efficient. He has been constantly encouraging us about moving here, with lodge ideas and other ideas. He is such a lovely guy and someone we really get on very well with. We continued the saga of trying to find out what's going on with our London flat, from our managing agent who seems to not understand our questions and concerns, and our appointed representative there, who appears to have completely washed his hands of us, now that we have paid in full for the year. The joys of owning and renting out property overseas.... we wouldn't recommend it, especially not through a large agency, as you just become "another client".
Drove around Windhoek for a bit, late this evening, enjoying how lovely it looks all lit up at night. It's quite big, and at night the lights spread far. There are HUGE and very fancy homes on the upper hills with exquisite views over Windhoek. It seems like every property has electric fencing though, which is a bit worrying, even though the crime isn't high or bad. Apparently with lots of people coming to live here from South Africa, they still feel it is essential to them. Coming back to sleep in our old flat, next to the building site, we found the water in the property had been switched off and building material scattered all over the garden. We tried turning the water on, but seemed to turn the outside sprinkler system on instead. Next we heard a strong gushing sound coming from inside the house where the re-construction is being done, and to our horror, saw a river running through, so we very quickly turned that off. Imagine us traipsing through a dark, unknown garden close to midnight doing all this. Guess it's our last night of staying here then, and back to the roof top tent.
Friday 11th April 2008: Klein Windhoek Guesthouse, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 33' 44.7" E17° 05' 58.8"
Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 20 405
Helped out wherever we could again today. We're feeling like part of the furniture now and are getting to know everyone really well. Heidz got to spend some time with precious little Lauren, while Claudia was busy.
Just to break away from Africa for a little while, ... we want to explain what has been a huge concern for us during our trip so far. As we have mentioned before, we have been having an ongoing problem with the tenants in our flat in Twickenham. Even though we have been travelling through, the sometimes very remote, parts of Africa, we have constantly had to worry about issues back in London. Our flat when we left it in October had just been freshly redecorated throughout. Less than a month after our first tenants moved in, there was mould and condensation on the roof and walls of the flat, and the tenants were threatening legal action about our uninhabitable accomodation. Being a flat with a non-insulated flat roof, condensation has always been a problem. For this reason we used a dehumidifier in the centre of the flat, which in mid-winter would sometimes, unbelievably, pull as much as 10 litres of water out of the air every single day. This, along with the use of heaters, resulted in a warm and dry flat. This was the reason why we specifically included a special clause in the lease agreement about always using the dehumidifier. All three tenants had signed the lease agreement.
We then heard that the tenants had not been using the dehumidifier at all (breach of contract!), and due to not knowing how to switch them on, had not used the electric heaters at all, in mid-winter. This obviously resulted in a cold and very damp flat, with condensation and mould making an appearance. We were then charged by our managing agents for an extra dehumidifier, even though the first one had been switched off all the time. Eventually, even though it was completely unnecessary, we accepted this thinking it may give peace of mind to all involved. We were also charged for a maintenance company to be called out to test the heaters, and to explain to the tenants the simple process of turning on an electric switch. OK, end of history lesson and back to present times in Africa ....
We got some staggered email replies today about our London flat from various people, but are still waiting for answers from our super efficient managing agent. We also found out we're being charged 22% tax up front on our rent as 'landlords abroad tax', as they see us as earning in another country, which we aren't yet, and this is something that was never mentioned at all before, when we looked at the feasability of letting the flat. Interesting too is that we have NEVER received any paperwork regarding this tax matter!
In the late afternoon we eventually received an email from our managing agent, with the long awaited photos our tenants had sent to her in January, which we've been requesting ever since...Well it's plainly obvious from the photos we received, that the black marks (mould) and condensation in the flat are due to the dehumidifier and heaters not being used at all! ...According to our tenants, these use too much electricity, even though they are now demanding a tumbledrier, one of the most expensive appliances to run, and they create humidity! ...hmmm. Both MAD and extremely disappointed at how our pristene flat looked after being in the tenants care for only three weeks, made us have a very serious heart to heart with Klaus.
After many attempts to compose a polite and constructive reply email back, we eventually had to just go for a drive to clear our heads of the frustration, and then went to bed snug in our tent, even though it is now very cold in the evenings. It's cold when you first climb up into the tent, but you soon warm up and it definitely helps to have a human hot-water bottle to snuggle up to.
Saturday 12th April 2008: Klein Windhoek Guesthouse, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 33' 44.7" E17° 05' 58.8"
Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 20 405
Up to another busy day at the Guesthouse. There were some lovely couples staying here, who we had long chats to. One couple came from Mozambique and we chatted to them over breakfast. They were off to a wedding this afternoon and hoping it wouldn't rain. Unfortunately the rain did come in a huge storm, but luckily it was before the service. We popped out for a few minutes to the Mareua Mall to buy a few bits and pieces from Checkers, and met the Mozambican couple
looking very glamorous at the Wimpy, having a quick coffee. There is a Mugg and Bean in the mall, so we stopped to have munchies. Ross enjoyed a bottomless hot chocolate drink and a HUGE bran muffin with butter, jam and cheese, while Heidz had a long awaited Horlicks milkshake. Yum, yum. We did some shopping for the Guesthouse at the big Superspar and then went back to organise the meals and other necessary things.
At midday, just as the huge rainstorm started, Bok van Blerk and his band and crew arrived to check in. We had never heard of this band before, but they are a South African band who sing Afrikaans music. They are known for their "De La Rey" song. They had all been at the carnival through Windhoek's main street and were merry and jolly when they arrived, asking for Heidz to marry them, dance in the rain etc. They're all really young and went straight to sleep for most of the day before their concert in Windhoek tonight. At 8.45pm most of them still hadn't arisen, even though their concert was supposed to start at 9pm. Just before 9pm, they all jumped into their big show bus, with pictures of Bok on the outside of it and drove off to their concert.
We went to sleep in the tent, expecting to be woken up with the band and crew arriving back in the early hours, but luckily they were reasonably quiet and well behaved.
Sunday 13th April 2008: Klein Windhoek Guesthouse, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 33' 44.7" E17° 05' 58.8"
Miles Today: 12 Total Miles: 20 417
Up for a busy day at the Guesthouse. Most of the band guests only got back at 4:00am this morning, so were very mellow for most of the morning only waking up fairly late. We enjoyed breakfast and then things got busy with some guests waking for breakfast, while others were ordering lunch, as we juggled cleaning the rooms, serving meals etc. Spent the day hanging around, waiting for all the guests to check in, bouncing all sorts of ideas off Klaus and finally writing our response email to our managing agents, who seem to be unable to cope with our constantly whining tenants and the damage they're causing.
One of the couples in the band's film crew were from Durban-Westville and from Glenwood, and were very interested in our trip. One of the band members also loved chatting to Ross, as he and Bok are really keen to do a months bike trip through parts of Africa. Today was their day off or rest day, so it was very mellow at the Guesthouse.
We drove to the BP garage nearby to fill up with diesel before the fuel prices rise steeply tomorrow morning. The diesel price is rising by N$1.00 per litre from about N$8.24/l to about N$9.24/l while petrol is rising by 50cents. We checked up on Rob and Ally's site to see what the diesel price was this time last year when they did their trip, and diesel cost N$6.35/l, quite a significant increase in price in just one year. Amazing how quickly your budget can get gobbled up by diesel costs.
Chatted to the American ministry couple, who came through to show us a typically traditional Owambo, stripe-patterned dress and shirt they had been given when they visited up north. Spoke to Mom and Paps quite late and then went to bed after Heidz had done many more Sudoku's...she's getting into them now.
At last, late tonight, we finally sent a very factual email to many people at Hamptons, highlighting the facts and circumstances of our tenants being in breach of contract, demanding refunds for unnecessary call-outs that were not our responsibility, etc. This has been very difficult to write and an awful issue to deal with, which keeps pulling us back to the stress of life in London! We don't expect a quick reply as they have a lot to chew on, sort out and rectify. If only they could see it from our perspective...
Monday 14th April 2008: Klein Windhoek Guesthouse, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 33' 44.7" E17° 05' 58.8"
Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 20 417
Spoke to Mom and Dad this morning, who are very eagerly trying to plan their trip, for when they join us in a few weeks time. They told us that they can now meet us in Botswana from the 12th of May, rather than the 18th as before, which is REALLY exciting. We have to get reading on what to see and where to go in Botswana, which is where we'll go after our time in the Caprivi Strip. They are going to stay at the Khama Rhino Sactuary for their first nights in Botswana, which sounds lovely.
We chatted to Pio, who is someone who has a tragic story about being sent back to Namibia recently by UK Immigration, on his arrival in the UK. He is a lovely guy who has been working in the IT field for years in Windhoek. We had a good chat to get some up to date info on the IT world in southern Africa for Ross.
The very friendly American couple came through to chat to us late this evening. They had had an amazing dinner at a restaurant in town, Gatima, and very proudly showed us the embroided pillow cases they had bought at the crafts centre this morning. These were beautiful, brightly coloured and very interesting to see. The longer you look at them, the more you notice in the detail they've sewn. Mom phoned to find out more news about our London flat saga, but typically we haven't heard anything yet...nothing new there then.
The guesthouse was very busy today, with us checking guests in, answering the phone, serving food and drinks, and waiting up until 10:30pm only for a no-show. We got to sleep in the now empty room, which was a really nice treat. We didn't last long enough to finish sorting through the many Namibian photos, let alone watch any TV before both being fast asleep.
Tuesday 15th April 2008: Klein Windhoek Guesthouse, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 33' 44.7" E17° 05' 58.8"
Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 20 417
Spent the whole day resizing and choosing our Namibian photos, to upload on to the web. We had thousands of photos to choose from and then, right near the end, when we thought we were nearly finished, we realised we hadn't downloaded one of Heidz's 2Gig memory cards, so we had even more to sort through! The guesthouse was once again full and we enjoyed chatting to Pio and Klaus, over a quiet Coke in the bar, while most of the guests had gone out. The chilly feel of winter is becoming evident, especially after another very heavy rainstorm late this afternoon. We uploaded two photo albums and then snuggled into the tent for a very snug night's sleep.
Wednesday 16th April 2008: Klein Windhoek Guesthouse, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 33' 44.7" E17° 05' 58.8"
Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 20 417
Up after a rather late night uploading photo albums. Silke popped in to drop things off for Claudia. She didn't realise we were still here, but it was so lovely to have a quick catch-up chat to her before she left for some 'time-out' in Swakopmund, with beach appointments. Heidz thought the idea of a beach appointment with the sun sounded like a REALLY good plan! Spent the whole day uploading the rest of our Namibia photos, which hopefully will be interesting for everyone to see, especially those who haven't been to beautiful Namibia before. It takes a while to update, but being at the Guesthouse it's free, so you are able to help out with the phone etc. and upload at the same time, and then we should be fully up to date.
We managed to upload a lot of our albums throughout the day, and decided to go out to dinner tonight to have a change of scenery. Klaus and Pio recommended Sardinia, an Italian restaurant in town, so we headed there. We both enjoyed very yummy pizza's and drove there in a Guesthouse bakkie so we didn't have to pack up the tent, even though we were coming back to sleep in room 8, as the guest booked in for the night,Vian, didn't arrive. It's tough overlanding through Africa...
We also received a more positive email back from our managing agents this evening. Hopefully this will mean we can relax slightly on the property front.
Gisela, we wish you a very Happy Birthday today and hope it is a very special one.
Thursday 17th April 2008: Klein Windhoek Guesthouse, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 33' 44.7" E17° 05' 58.8"
Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 20 417
Here's a joke to start the day off:
" There's a new Barbie doll being produced on the market now. It comes with no shoes, no clothes, no money, no land, no car, no food and no fuel. She's called ZIM-Barbie. She does however come with a free cow, called MOO-Gabe."
This is what Francois greeted us with when we walked through to the reception this morning, after spending a lovely morning waking up in a comfortable room. Then after having a bite to eat in the kitchen, we sat outside the guesthouse bar editing the updates before uploading them onto the web. While sitting there we also had further interesting chats to Klaus, about the prospect of working in the guesthouse/lodge industry and the pitfalls and rewards that come with it.
With our website up to date and Dru returning to Windhoek from Cape Town tomorrow, our time at the Guesthouse is swiftly and sadly drawing to an end.We had Steers burgers for dinner before settling into our tent for the night.
Friday 18th April 2008: Klein Windhoek Guesthouse, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 33' 44.7" E17° 05' 58.8"
Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 20 405
Today was our day to get all the outstanding things done before we leave tomorrow. We went to "Architectual Outlet cc" where Ross had visited with Francois, at the beginning of our stay in Windhoek. They had assured Ross that they would be able to print our missing flag stickers, for the countries we've passed through, if Ross was able to produce them as individual pictures, in the format we wanted, on a USB memory stick. Ross had been busy doing this yesterday and this morning, downloading pictures of the flags from the internet and adjusting them in Photoshop to include the names of the specific countries they represented. We arrived to meet Yolandi who immediately got to work sizing them to the required dimensions and trying to fit them into a square metre for printing. While we were there, we also decided to print off a large map of our route to stick on Duz's rear passenger doors so people can see we aren't a tour company, where we've been and where we're headed. Yolandi was extremely busy with a huge project she needed to have printed off for Wolmann and Brocke for Monday, but said she'd see if she could fit our stuff in when she had time. She was amazing. We went onto Mearua Mall to get a few bits and pieces we'd seen on previous visits, as well as a few postcards, before getting a call from Yolandi to say our stickers were done! We collected them and were both smiling like Cheshire cats with how perfectly Yolandi had made them.
We drove back to the Guesthouse to clean Duz before putting the new stickers on, to empty the Milton treated water from the main tank and then fill up with new water in the tank, and basically get everything ready to leave for the rest of our trip tomorrow. We got back to find no one other than Moekie at the front desk with so much to do and a deadline to get to a course. Heidz relieved Moekie, while Ross worked like a slave sorting out the water tank and unloading and reloading stuff for our departure tomorrow. Darkness fell and our stickers disappointingly hadn't made it on to Duz today. Both feeling a bit fed up we went off to Spur to enjoy our last night of delicious spare-ribs before we head back into Africa. After a delicious rib feast we came back to the Guesthouse to be treated to another night of luxury in one of the comfy Guesthouse rooms. Rebecca had even placed peppermints on the pillows for us. We will miss all the friendships we've made here.
Saturday 19th April 2008: Klein Windhoek Guesthouse, Windhoek, Namibia
GPS Info: S22° 33' 44.7" E17° 05' 58.8"
Miles Today: 16 Total Miles: 20 421
Up early today, to get ready to leave Windhoek for the Caprivi. Heidz wrote all the postcards to our families, while Ross repacked our things and stuck on the various new flag stickers and the two new Africa route stickers on the side doors. Dru, Klaus and Moekie came over to look and say Good-bye. Eventually we left Windhoek much later than we had planned with Duzi2 looking like a really well travelled overlanding 4x4. We left Windhoek with mixed emotions, sad to leave such lovely people, but excited as we now embark on the next part of our African trip. We had to chuckle as we passed a huge troop of baboons feeding in the grassy island between the busy highway lanes, as we left the outskirts of Windhoek. They must be very roadwise. We drove through the hilly mountains surrounding Windhoek shimmering with their Mica rock of different shades of copper, gold and silver. The grass had changed colour since we had driven into Windhoek with Mom and Paps 3 weeks before and was now tall, yellowy gold and flowering which made the scenery look dreamy as the flowers floated in the breeze. The trees were also turning to various autumn shades. We felt so tiny against the huge, flat, open expanse of land stretching for as far as we could see. We watched the sun set behind the mountains in the far distance. The sky was an amazing colour, almost surreal with various shades of orange, red and brown. We had driven this whole region with Lynn and Wolf not that long before, but it looked totally different now. Amazing how much the vegetation colours change in such a short time.
At Otjiwarongo we stopped in at the SuperSpar and did a big restock before we left Namibia. Sadly they didn't have some of the things we would've liked, Zoo biscuits and regular ProNutro, but we'll keep trying on our way north. Driving on casually and carefully through the dark, we arrived at Khorab Lodge just outside Otavi. Klaus recommended we camp here as they have lovely camping facilities.
Well we weren't disappointed. They only have two campsites, but they are huge and beautifully done. We were welcomed by a friendly lady at reception who directed us to the one remaining vacant site (N$70.00p/p/night camping). Wow! We had our own lawn, roofed picnic table and chairs and braai, a tap, bin and light, and our own private shower and loo with wash up sink. So lovely.
At the SuperSpar earlier, we had bought a cooked chicken and a potato and Greek salad so we had a very easy and quick dinner being in bed by 8.05pm. Unbelievable! Heidz was feeling like she had the start of a cold, so was glad to have an early night. It was cold outside, but once under the duvet we were snug and warm. The stars were amazing and the sky was clear with the moon approaching a full moon.
Sunday 20th April 2008: Khorab Lodge, Otavi, Namibia
GPS Info: S19° 39' 52.8" E17° 19' 41.7"
Miles Today: 233 Total Miles: 20 638
We enjoyed our site, having a relaxed breakfast and a lovely hot shower, but there was an icy breeze blowing making us realise it is now winter in Namibia. We went back to the main lodge to check out and met the German owners who were very interested in our trip. They have owned the lodge for 1 1/2years and also have and LOVE a 1996 Defender 110. They are also in the process of applying for their Namibian residency. We looked around the lovely lodge with it's stunning garden and swimming pool and a very relaxed atmosphere. Some of the goats were even having a drink out of the pool. The lodge owners, the receptionist and even one other staff member came out to Duzi2, and were asking all sorts of questions about our trip, the vehicle and our route. The lady at reception even took a photo of Duz. Before we left, the owners gave us their card and asked us to please keep in touch about our plans in the future. They asked us very briefly about management possibilities and even the option of buying into shares in the lodge as potential partners...we'll have to see what happens a few months down the track.
We left Khorab Lodge and carried on northwards, passing the beautiful Grootfontein area with most of its healthy looking corn fields harvested, or about to be harvested. We filled up with diesel wherever we could, as we knew the huge distances we planned to cover ahead of us, and had been warned of the scarcity of fuel stations up north in the Caprivi region. The road was good tar and dead straight, stretching out for miles ahead. We passed many beautiful yellow-leaved trees which looked like they could be related to the baobab, but where slightly different. We think they might have been Syringa trees, which are found extensively in this area. We crossed the animal disease control point between the main part of Namibia and the start of the Kavango region, and instantly went back into traditional Africa. The traditional homes were again mud, stick and thatch huts, and the normal, really rural lifestyles evident everywhere.
We drove through Rundu, which is a busy town with lots of Chinese shops and other well known shops, keeping a beady eye out for Sarasungu River Lodge, which Klaus has some involvement with. We followed the signs and arrived, finding we had the entire campsite to choose from. There was only one other car besides Duzi2. It was suprisingly quiet for a Sunday afternoon. We eventually chose our spot (N$55 p/p/night camping), shaded under some thorn trees and close to a communal braai area and the ablution facilities.We walked down to the fence, closest to the Okavango River and marvelled at how quickly it was flowing past us. The land about 50metres across from our shore was Angola, the country which is SO extremely difficult to get to visit. There were children playing, laughing and giggling in the shallow water on the Angolan side, and obviously they weren't too worried about the threat of crocs. On our way back to our site, we walked through the rather weird, but interesting wooden bird area. We decided to make an early braai for dinner and use up some of the lovely meat we had bought in Otjiwarongo. The braai ended up being a bit of a mission as we suddenly realised we had very little wood left, only 2 small logs and 1 firelighter block, left over from our time with Wolfgang and Lynn. Ross went in search of more wood, while Heidz prepared and wrapped the veggie packs, mielies (corn) and garlic bread roll experiments. After a valiant effort on Ross' part, the frustratingly slow braai was completed and we finally ate our dinner, before having a hot shower and settling into bed, as it was another chilly night.
Monday 21st April 2008: Sarasungu River Lodge, Rundu, Namibia
GPS Info: S17° 53' 26.7" E19° 46' 51.8"
Miles Today: 138 Total Miles: 20 776
In the morning we packed up, briefly visited the reception office to pay and then headed on the road to Divundu. This was another beautiful drive, but long, straight and quite hot. We were both glad to be here while the temperatures are still fairly mild, as it must be very uncomfortable in mid-Summer. We passed more lovely trees and many traditional settlements, growing corn crops and herding cattle with huge horns. Duzi2 was chuffed to be in real Africa again, which she/he was designed for.
At Divundu we popped in briefly to the NWR's Popa Falls place, but were told their ridiculous camping rates so decided to drive on and rather stop tomorrow to look at the falls, from the community run campsite on the other side of the river, which is supposed to be more spectacular. NWR are charging N$20p/p to see the falls/rapids, and to camp it's N$100p/campsite and N$50p/p/night plus N$20 for the car...and it's apparently not great at all. The Popa Falls aren't that big, more like a series of rapids with an exposed 4m drop, which wouldn't be visible now as the river is so high. Using our travel books and an article written about the Caprivi Strip in the Leisure Wheels magazine, we decided to follow the signs to Ngepi Camp, which comes highly recommended in each of these. The track to the camp has many amusing signs, one of which we recognised from a Getaway magazine funny sign of the month.
Wow. What a beautiful setting, right on the banks of the Kavango River, which feeds and fills the Okavango Delta in Botswana. While we were chatting to Joseph at reception we heard a familiar voice from London behind us...Chris Carnegie. He and his girlfriend, Lara, are doing a 6month trip around South Africa and Southern Africa. They went off on a mokora trip and we went to go and choose our spot for the night out of a choice of 2 camp sites(N$75p/p/night camping), both with lovely river front views. We chose campsite no.6, with perfect views onto the river, a grassy lawn, a fire place, very fancy loo and shower/bath tub all over-looking the river. Ngepi boasts having the most photographed ablution facilities in the world and it's not hard to see why. Most of these are open aired with spectacular views, something straight out of a honeymoon magazine! The guys loo was named The Throne and built like a king's throne with round gold tops in it's back rest, while the ladies was called The Royal Flush, also with stunning river views. We popped open the tent and then went on our own tour of the ablutions and explored the bush huts, tree houses and other camp sites. We were continually blown away by how cleverly designed things were. We met a South African farming couple who are in the process of emigrating to Namibia, and they invited us in to look at their amazing tree house, with it's own interesting en-suite bathroom. The view from their stilted room was amazing. They have stayed here a few times before and told us that the land across the river was a nature reserve so to be on the look out for game. They have often seen elephants drinking and had heard them splashing last night, in the river across the bank. Due to there being so much water, a lot of the ellies have migrated south into Botswana, but there are still lone bulls around. They had also been into the Mahango National Park that day, and had seen lots of game - elephants, sable, roan, other buck and lion. They were shocked to see lions, as they have walked around this reserve many times before, completely unaware there were lion there. Apparently they have recently moved up into this area though, about 30 of them!!
Ngepi has a caged pool in the river for you to safely swim in, with the crocs and hippos, but it was a bit too cool to do this. We spotted a kudu on the opposite bank and scanned for crocs or ellies, but saw none. The water was dark in colour and seemed to get deep very quickly.
At 5:10pm we heard our first African Fish Eagle call of the trip. This was a sound we've both been longing to hear and were wondering when we'd first hear it. As the sun set, the snorts and grunts of the hippos filled the air and we both became increasingly aware of splashes in the water at the edge of our site. This must have been the reeds and grass being swept under and released by the fast, strong river current. After exploring, we had a hot outdoor shower rigged up in a tree and under the stars, and then made some spaghetti bolognaise for dinner. A wonderfully friendly lady, Diane came over to wash dishes in the sinks near us and we got chatting. Her and her hubby are from Cape Town and are near the beginning of their 3 month trip from Cape Town, through Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania, Botswana and back to Cape Town. They had crossed over into Botswana for the day, only to find the air-tour they had planned to do wasn't running anymore...but she was still very cheerful and smiley. Diane seemed like such a lovely lady and we wished them a most wonderful trip. They had camped in our site last night so she warned us about noises we might hear in the night. There was no barrier between us and our potential hippo and croc night visitors, but luckily there was a full moon, so things were pretty well lit just with the natural moonlight. We watched the moon rise as it reflected beautifully off the wide river, which seemed to be less turbulent than during the day. It was freezing, but luckily under the duvet we were both warm and snug. Heidz fell asleep almost instantly at about 8:15, while Ross watched the movie "The Good Shepherd", with Matt Damon in it, until the laptop battery died. We couldn't get over how different life is now compared to a few nights before at the Guesthouse, where our nights ended so much later.
Happy birthday Ryan. We hope you had a special day and that the year ahead will be full of many wonderful things.
Tuesday 22nd April 2008: Ngepi Camp, Bagani, Caprivi, Namibia
GPS Info: S18° 06' 55.4" E21° 40' 09.6"
Miles Today: 185 Total Miles: 20 961
We woke to more beautiful views of the Kavango River. It was still quite cool so there was the morning mist rising off the water, making it look enchanting. We enjoyed a relaxed breakfast overlooking the river soaking up the beauty of our setting. While we were watching the river we noticed two hippo swimming out to the reeds on the opposite bank, to laze partly in the water in the sunshine. What a hard life these strange creatures lead. All this happening to the early morning soundtrack of more beautiful calls from the fish eagles around us. Making the hard decision to leave Ngepi and head further over into the Caprivi, we consoled ourselves with the thought that we would rather stay longer on our return in a few days, before we cross over into Botswana. We checked out and enquired about availablitiy on our return dates, only to be told they were full except for a big site, normally used for big overland truck groups, which we could provisionally book and were more than welcome to check out before we left. We did so and it seems like another lovely spot right on the river once again.
Carrying on back along the road towards Divundu, we drove into Nunda Lodge a few kilometres towards Popa Falls. The South African farming couple we had met yesterday had recommended we pop in to have a look at this on our way past. This place is stunning. It's brand new and not fully open yet, but may open next month. At the moment their campsites are completed and running at N$60p/p/night camping). We met Trevor, one of the lucky owners, who gave us a full tour of the grounds, campsite, main lodge building and beautifully situated raised tent accomodation. You can see that they have worked really hard to make it as beautiful and perfect as it is. The big swimming pool and front entrance garden around it is naturally and beautifully sculptured and planned. The main lodge with the kitchen, bar and restuarant area is in a big thatched building on the river bank, with a huge wooden deck extending on stilts out the front, over the river. The views are amazing and face straight on to where the sun sets. The campsites are all nicely lawned with private reed screens, power, light and water points facing the river and the campsite ablutions have been designed with insight and lots of attention to detail, always considering the environment and privacy of space. Both Trevor and his wife have travelled overland around Africa in the past and this is evident in their designs. There is a highly filtered water point specifically designed for drinking water and is at the right height for people to be able to fill up their jerry cans. Herbs have been planted in and around the ablution blocks to keep mozzies etc. away and there is even a seperate space to keep your things dry when you shower, a real treat when you're camping. They even have a specially designed area for overland trucks, catering for their needs. Both Trevor and his wife are excited about their opening, but quite nervous too. We wish them the greatest success with realising their dream. We are both very envious of all they have achieved, as it is so close to what we would dream of having ourselves one day. They were keen to hear all about out trip and our experiences and have asked us to please keep in touch, especially when we are finished the trip, as they were very keen to talk about management options for early in the new year.
From Nunda we continued north back to the main road to Kongola, stopping off at the community run campsite over the Kavango river, which looks directly onto the Popa Falls rapids. This is a beautiful campsite and has 4 big sites, each done beautifully with it's own private loo and shower and washing up area, and a deck/platform area overlooking the rapids. These sites (N$60p/p/night) are really well done and would be lovely to stay at for just two or even more people/cars. Further along the main road, we also drove briefly along the road to Buffalo, where the 32 Battalion base used to be, during the war up here. We could look onto Ngepi Camp from this side of the river, but sadly didn't see any game in the bush.
The drive from Bagani to Kongola was long and through the newly named Bwabwata National Park, with many warning signs of elephants crossing. After crossing over the big, beautiful Kavango River we entered directly into the Bwabwata National Park. It was a pretty drive, but long, straight and uneventful as far as wild sightings were concerned. We saw no sign of life at all, not even bird life. Tragically Ross' tooth cracked in half while munching on a piece of biltong along this stretch of road. The outside half of the tooth has come away completely, which is not a good thing and something we'll need to try and sort out somewhere where we come across a decent dentist. Now he looks like an African overlanding pirate!! Aaarrr !!! ..... He just needs a fish eagle on his shoulder and a kameel-doring stick to lean on.
On leaving the park we crossed over the Kwando River before arriving at Kongola. Unsure as to where we should go to camp tonight, we branched onto the gravel road towards Ngonga and Lianshulu to do the dirt road loop around to Katima Mulilo. We passed Diane and her hubby heading back in the direction we had just come from. Firstly we drove into Kwando Camp (N$50p/p/night), a beautiful big open thatch lodge which looked straight onto the Kwando River. The river was flowing very fast. We were met by friendly helpful staff who told us they have only recently opened again since being flooded. The manageress showed us to the campsite, which was very busy with the convoy of about eight 4x4s which we had passed us a few times on our drive today. Although they couldn't accomodate us here, they recommended we try Namushasha Lodge a bit further back, as everywhere else was still flooded. We drove on a bit further towards the Mudumu Game Reserve and pulled off onto a track following signs leading to a community run campsite. We drove down their lovely grassy track, only to reach a dip which was completely flooded. A pity as it looked nice, but we couldn't go any further.
We turned back to Namushasha and were warmly greeted by Samantha telling us they had campsites available for N$57p/p/night camping. There was also a big group of campers here, and Diane and her hubby Des. We chose a lovely spot and decided to go to the main lodge for sunset and to try to spot any game, which Diane told us is written about in Getaway's Cape to Cairo book. We didn't see any game, but did see a beautiful sunset while sitting together on a swing. We asked if we could have a fire lit for us as two people were lighting fires for hot water. This would be perfect for our braai/bbq a bit later. We shared an ablution block with Diane and Des, with a loo and two shower cubicles. The hot water was produced from a "donkey" fire-heated system. We had a yummy braai with spicy pork chops and boerewors, and veggie packs and mielies/corn. It's so good to be in braai land. There were lots of mozzies and other biting things though, which was a bit of a nuisance. We also heard hippos chomping and splashing in the river's reeds below us, as well as other noises in the bushes around us. One of these noises we were convinced was something big, but turned out to be a cute little blind mole!
After dinner we had a hot shower to warm up, which Ross prepared by stoking the fire, and then jumped into bed. The big group further down the campsite area got a bit loud and inconsiderate when they turned up their boere musiek full blast at about 10pm. Diane and Des then reappeared next door after we'd thought they were super efficient and fast asleep, but they had actually been at the lodge eating dinner. We burned a mozzie coil again in the tent tonight to keep those biting things at bay, and it worked.
Congratulations on your 30th birthday Cherie/Sussie. Hope you have a fantastic day and celebrate in style. Hope the sun shines in London for you today!
Happy birthday Zeke. We hope you are blessed by Kate and her bump and Jessica on your special day.
Wednesday 23rd April 2008: Namushasha Country Lodge, Kongola, Caprivi, Namibia
GPS Info: S17° 29' 35.0" E24° 20' 40.2"
Miles Today: 134 Total Miles: 21 095
At about 4am the birds were making the most beautiful calls in the trees around us. Heidz wished she had a tape recorder to capture their beautiful calls, even though they were so early. We got up to a chilly start, but it was lovely and sunny and warm once you sat still in the sunshine. Ross boiled the kettle and we both enjoyed a cup of something hot with an Ouma rusk. We packed up camp and then tried to pack away some of the supplies we'd bought a few days ago. Diane and Des came over to find out a bit about our trip, car, equipment and to say good-bye. They are such a lovely couple and seem so comfortable doing their trip. Ross checked and refilled the tranfer-box oil and we were on our way.
We set off on the loop road through the Mudumu Game Reserve, with lots more warning signs of elephants crossing. Sadly though, this was a long bumpy road with very little to see, not even glimpses of the river or the lake nearby. Due to all the rain and the rivers being in flood, access to the whole Mamili National Park is flooded. This ended up being a long drive with no sightings of any animal or bird life other than old elephant dung on the road. We passed many traditional settlements, with corn fields and large herds of cattle, and ended up in Katima Mulilo. Driving through the outskirts of the town, we noticed a Pick 'n Pay in the distance. We firstly went in search of Namwi Campsite and Self-catering (N$75p/p/night camping), which Samantha at Namushasha had recommended we look at, and then Hippo Lodge (N$30p/p/night camping), which Pio had connections to. Wow, Namwi campsite is beautiful. It is located on the banks of the Zambezi River with well kept grass lawns, beautiful campsites close to and over looking the river, and a few self-catering bungalow chalets. The grounds are beautiful, open and well kept, with a big pool and new cleverly designed ablutions, washing and cleaning facilities, etc. We were met by Cedric, who was very enthusiastic and informative, and also by a gorgeous little collie. Namwi has been running for about 7 months and has a beautifully bright future ahead of it. From here we went back along the road to Hippo Lodge to see Pio's place. It is also beautifully located on the banks of the Zambezi with a big thatch main lodge and smaller chalets scattered in the surrounding gardens, however it looked like it was in need of a bit of TLC, so we decided to camp at Namwi.
On our way to see Hippo Lodge we passed Des and Diane again, on their way to Namwi. We drove in to the Pick 'n Pay in Katima, to buy some more meat and some fresh bread before heading back to Namwi, hoping there would still be a sunny campsite overlooking the river for us to spend the night at. We were cheerfully greeted again by Cedric and the little collie, and after much deliberation chose our spot in between Des and Diane and two Swiss guys we recognised from Ngepi. At Ngepi our camping order had been us in no.6. the two guys in no.7 and Des and Diane in no.8. We chatted to Des and Diane who invited us to join them and share their fire to braai on later, as they had just bought lots of wood. We went over to meet the two Swiss guys and found out they are doing a 6 week trip around Namibia, Zambia and Botswana. They have both seen different parts of Africa before and the one guy wants to bring his wife over next year to see how beautiful Namibia is. They were very envious hearing our trip was so long, and were very excited about their trip. They've had a fantastic time so far and are only 3 1/2 weeks in. They had seen a hippo swim past in the river in front of us during the afternoon, so we were all hopeful, but a bit cautious about them coming out of the river, as there is no barrier or bank to keep them out. We saw a small leguan, which at first we mistook for a snake, and hope we'll see a hippo before we leave. Cedric told us that the Zambezi River is very full and high at the moment, and has flooded the central island, which is usually accessible by foot in the dry season. Now we could only see the tops of the trees above the water level, which reflect beautifully at night on the floodlit water. In the dry season there are lots of white sand banks exposed and it's more easy to spot crocs and hippo in the shallower water. We are not complaining though as it's so beautiful to see so much water right on our ladderstep.
We relaxed for a short bit before the sun set and turned the sky red and orange, with the fish eagle calls around us, accompanied by the grey lourie 'Go Way' cries. Des started the fire, while chatting to Ross, while the ladies prepared some veg and salad accompaniments. We had such a lovely evening chatting and laughing together. Diane had been inspired to do their trip from reading various magazine articles and now after all their reading, researching and spending on equipment they are making it a reality. They have been fortunate to have lived in many parts of South Africa and even in New Zealand, during their working lives and have experienced many different things, people and cultures - some difficult when they were far from their 3 children for a long period of time, but also very enriching. We found out that Diane is the aunt of Megan, a friend of both Ross and Heidz from old 'Maritzburg days. After a lovely meal the fire was stoked up to warm us up, as the temperature had plummeted and there was a lot of mist spreading upriver over the water. We had a fantastic strong, hot shower in the brand new ablution block and snuggled in for a very comfy nights sleep, at just before midnight. What a special evening tonight was.
Thursday 24th April 2008: Namwi Camping and Self-catering, Katima Mulilo, Namibia
GPS Info: S17° 29' 35.0" E24° 20' 40.2"
Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 21 095
Woke to the amazing sound of fish eagles calling in the trees across the Zambezi and in the skies above. This is the life...The sun rose to bless us with a truly magnificent African morning and day. The Swiss guys to the right of us were off quite early. They were heading to Zambia today hoping to get to Vic Falls this afternoon. Diane and Des were enjoying the morning sunshine and reading up on where to go to from here, also crossing into Zambia today at Katima Mulilo. We chatted to them a lot more and took photos of each other and swopped contact details. Hopefully we'll meet up with them again and hear about their adventures. They are such a lovely couple and we're sure will have a fantastic African trip and be changed by it. We had earlier watched the owner of the campsite shoot off down the river in his motor boat and he now returned with a boat load of plants. Diane and Des sadly left just after midday and we were left all alone in paradise. We saw something struggling in the water across the river, obviously something that had been nabbed by a croc or a big leguan, but we didn't have the binocs out to see what it was exactly. We kept hearing splashes in the water, but didn't see any hippo. The fish eagle were circling and calling as we just relaxed and caught up on typing diary updates and reading magazines. The river and scenery were truly magnificent and something we'll always remember.
Through the afternoon it got quite hot and we both picked up colour, as we sheltered in the shade of the small tree close to the edge of the riverbank. We enjoyed the whole day looking onto the river, which looked so inviting to swim in, but we know full well it's very alive from various splashes we heard. We still didn't see any hippo though, but it was a real treat to be able to stop and relax in such a beautiful spot. Had the lovely company of the young collie for some of the day. He is such a lovely friendly dog, and is very well trained. Ross spotted another small leguan just before it scuttled into the river and we enjoyed listening to the bird life and tree squirrels in the trees around us. This is the life...
Friday 25th April 2008: Namwi Camping and Self-catering, Katima Mulilo, Namibia
GPS Info: S17° 29' 35.0" E24° 20' 40.2"
Miles Today: 19 Total Miles: 21 114
Today is Heidz's birthday. We woke up again to the sound of fish eagles calling over the river and had another gloriously sunny day. Ross brought up birthday cards and the little package Paps and Mom had left with him. She opened up lovely worded cards from her gorgeous hubby, parents and parents-in-law. Mom and Paps had texted wishes very early in the morning. We had a lovely, relaxed lazy start with Ross making delicious fresh fruit salad for breakfast and then just enjoyed doing nothing but absorbing stunning scenery for most of the day. Ross had said that seeing as it was Heidz's birthday, his gift to her was that she could do nothing wrong all day...she'll probably never get this again...
We had noticed two bikers arrive quite late yesterday afternoon on one motor bike and decided to go over to say 'hello', while our laundry soaked. The bike had a Durban number plate, how weird to meet up here in the top of Namibia. We met Darryl and Kirsty, a South African and an Aussie, who are on their honeymoon after their wedding on the 17th March, same day as Warren and Jo! They had got married in a lodge outside Hluhluwe Game Reserve and have set off for a few weeks/months through South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique before flying back over to Australia to drive around there for a few more months, hoping to spend a year travelling. They were such fun and invited us to join them for a fire tonight to celebrate Heidz's birthday. Kirsty was even making some bread as a treat. While we were chatting, four other motorbikes pulled into the campsite, which Darryl and Kirsty recognised from a few nights before. We all got chatting. These guys also had Durban number plates on their bikes and were from Amanzimtoti area and are on a 3 week trip around SA, Namibia, Zambia, Botswana and back to SA. They even had a support vehicle with them, talk about being organised.
With us having no braai meat and Ross still very keen to make Heidz a chocolate birthday cake, we drove into Katima's Pick 'n Pay, before driving everywhere to try and find a payphone to receive a call from Heidi's parents, but none were working. We decided to drive the 4kms to the Zambian border to see if we could see the ferry Diane and Des would've needed to cross over on, but there was no ferry that we could see, it looked more like a bridge. We met a young guy who was going to camp at the border for the night, as he had got there after the border closed at 6pm. Arriving back at the campsite in the dark, Darryl, Kirsty, Dave, Des, Mike and the others had the fire roaring. We made a quick salad, while Ross very carefully followed the instructions on how to make Heidz' chocolate birthday cake, spilling olive oil all over the back drawer in the process.
We arrived at the braai with all our goodies and the cake mix in the bread loaf tins, everyone very intrigued at the task Ross had set himself. With a few coals under, around and on top of the breadmaker tin, the cake was on its way. Within a few minutes, Ross uncovered the most perfectly cooked chocolate cake which some initially only asked for a small half slice of, to taste, before quickly laying claim to their remaining halves. Ross had made the most gorgeously yummy chocolate cake Heidz could ever remember eating. Due to so much mixture, he made two perfect cakes so we could still enjoy the second one over the next few days. The breadmaking tin was truly sold tonight, and will be remembered as a highlight for all of us, for the amazing chocolate cake we were able to savour around a camp fire on the banks of the Zambezi in Africa. Everyone sang Happy Birthday and Heidz was eventually able to receive a call from Wolf and Lynn, and Ron and Maureen as they were having dinner together in Winston Park tonight.
Heidz had a very special day and will always remember the truly African spot with fish eagles, king fishers and the beautiful Zambezi river she celebrated it alongside. We all had such fun around the campfire and only ended up getting to bed at about 2am! Darryl and Kirsty are leaving for Kasane tomorrow, while the other four bikes had decided to have a rest day at the beautiful Namwi. Thank you for all the birthday wishes, messages, texts and emails.
Saturday 26th April 2008: Namwi Camping and Self-catering, Katima Mulilo, Namibia
GPS Info: S17° 29' 35.0" E24° 20' 40.2"
Miles Today: 110 Total Miles: 21 224
We arose to another lovely sunrise, but stayed in the tent for a few more hours until it got too hot. The fish eagles and king fishers were calling all around and Namwi's beautiful collie dog was strangely whining, possibly sensing we were off today. We packed up and said our farewells to Kirsty and Darryl and then the five bikers, wishing them loads of fun and amazing adventures on their travels. It felt horrible saying good-bye to more people going the other way, but we may well meet up with some of them again on route, or somewhere else in the future.
Knowing we didn't have far to travel today and not really wanting to leave such a perfect spot or their lovely collie, we left much later than we had planned. We stopped off at the Pick 'n Pay again to buy some more supplies and met another overlanding couple, Fransie and Jo, from Cape Town, doing a very similar route to us. They were crossing at Katima into Zambia heading to Livingston for the night. They recommended we camp at Nambwa 4x4 Camp tonight. We drove back towards the Kwando River, hoping we would see at least one Namibian elephant on our way. Our drive felt long, straight, hot and rather boring passing many "Beware of Elephant" signs, but no elephant. We got to the animal disease control gate and got out to stomp our shoes in some mixture, which they also sprayed our wheels with, and joked with one of the men about their lack of elephants. He told us they were all still in the bush where we were going...
On crossing the bridge over the Kwando River, we spotted our first Namibian ellie. Wow, this was very special. We turned right and headed to the rangers station at Susuwe to buy our permit (N$30p/p + N$10/car for the day) for the Bwabwata National Park. On our way to the rangers station, we passed a few ellies which we heard before we saw them. They all seemed very scared, vocal and rather aggressive trumpeting and running towards the car rather than away from it. We decided not to stop too close to them for a photo if we could help it, but most of them we couldn't see due to the dense bush, so we heard their trumpets before we saw them right beside us. We explored the Bwabwata NP, driving along the roads passing kudu, ellies, impala, lechwe, warthog and various birds. We followed the road right up to the Angolan border and then turned around, as we still had the 4x4 track through the reserve to Nambwa on the other side to get through before sunset.
The road to Nambwa is very sandy and we passed many more trumpeting, ear-flapping elephants along our drive. A lot of the Kwando River is still flooded. We had to cross a rather deep section of water/river to get to the camp, the deepest water we've been through on our whole trip. Ross and Duzi2 handled perfectly, thank goodness. We wouldn't have been happy if we had got stuck with the knowledge of crocs and hippo nearby being very likely.
We arrived at the campsite to find a message on the board that the staff had left for the day, "but feel free to find your home and we'll see you in the morning." So we drove into 5 of the 6 campsites to see which one we would make our home for the night. They were all lovely but some were further from ablutions than others, so we chose no.3 fairly close to an ablution block. There was a couple in site no.2 with a fire roaring and their tent up, so we went over to say Hi to them. Riaan and Marli, were a South African couple out on a short holiday to Namibia from the Norwich in the UK. We had so much in common, it was quite uncanny. They are also planning on returning to Southern Africa at the end of the year and have also considered Namibia as a lovely option, feeling it is like SA was 20years ago, when we were all growing up. They are such a lovely couple. As we got chatting though, the mozzies came out in full force and the daylight very rapidly disappeared. We said goodnight, and that we would carry on chatting in the morning, as they were also heading back to Ngepi Camp tomorrow. Both of us sheepishly walked back to our tent in the dark, stomping and clapping at a hissy gasp of air coming from one of the bushes on the path back from no.2 and the ablution block. Both a bit startled and wishing we had some wood for a fire, we very quickly ate our chicken mayo rolls, and eagerly climbed into the tent away from the mozzies and an elephant we could hear rumbling and munching in the bushes very close around us. We could hear the hippos making their noises in stereo from the left and right hand side of the river around us and a hyena's whooping call also sounding a bit too close for comfort. The ellie rumbles and sound of braking branches were far too close to make us feel comfortable standing outside in total darkness.
Warm and snug in the tent we both fell asleep and were very glad to be so far off the ground, knowing what huge creatures were chomping in the bushes nearby.
Happy 5th anniversary Nats and Clint. We hope you received our text and were able to spend a very special day together doing something lovely.
Sunday 27th April 2008: Nambwa Bush Campsite "The 4x4 Getaway", Kwando River, Namibia
GPS Info: S17° 52' 32.7" E23° 19' 05.9"
Miles Today: 180 Total Miles: 21 404
Up early thanks to the loud screeching francolin in the tree above our tent, followed by the very noisy barblers shouting at each other in the bushes around us, and the 'go way' of the grey louries flying around. Riaan and Marli came over to say hello and find out about the many animal noises they could also hear around them last night, and to find out if we had any visitors. While we were all chatting Lucas and Derek, the campsite managers, came over to welcome us. Riaan and Marli were quite keen to drive around the area a bit, but didn't have a GPS, and were a little bit anxious about the road back out of Nambwa. We wanted to have a look from the viewing platform overlooking some of the bush as we could hear hippo and were hoping to see them. We saw a reedbuck and some beautiful birdlife, but could not see the waterbuck we had seen from here last night. We all noticed the huge ellie prints, fresh dung and many broken bits of bush on the pathways in the camp. Evidence of our visitors from last night. We paid up and signed out of the campsite and then decided to try and do the loop around the park together with Riaan and Marli, before heading to Ngepi for the night.
The Landy led the way while the Toyota Hilux followed. We passed lots of open bushy grassland, and again saw and heard more trumpeting elephants on our morning drive. We got to one part where we needed to drive for a long way through some water, which ended up getting a bit deeper than we all felt comfortable with. After finally reaching drier ground with even more water ahead, we all agreed to turn around and head back...Easier said than done as Ross and Duz tried to turn first and got stuck in the soft mud underneath. We needed to get the spade off the roofrack and dig her/him out many times as she/he manouvered to turn around, getting stuck with each turn. Next it was the Toyota's turn and it also got very stuck with each slight turn, needing much digging, pushing and branches and grass bits being laid down to try and get traction. We couldn't believe that the first time we've got stuck in all of Africa, needing to be dug out, was here in Namibia! After much digging, laughter and many photos being snapped and while getting full of sandy mud, we were glad to have both vehicles facing the right way, ready to tackle the long deep water stretch again before we were back on the soft, sandy tracks leading out of Nambwa.This was the first time we've used our spade for digginng purposes during our whole trip! If only it all ended here...
We drove on until we reached the deep water section, our last obstacle before being on normal road again. Duzi2 managed fine going through better than she/he had yesterday afternoon, but the Toyota came to a sad stop in the middle of the deep water. We struggled to get our tow rope off quickly, as it had shrunk tightly around the tow hitch, but after some time, which felt like ages, but was only a few minutes we were figuring out the best way to tow out. Riaan was snapping photo's of their stuck car and luckily managed to keep it running, although it sounded like it was struggling. Marli, Riaan and Heidz were walking through the water to find the most solid and shallowest parts to try and tow out from. We wouldn't have dared do this before, but now we had to get their car out. Their car was filling with water inside, so all their stuff was lifted out or onto the seats. Ross reversed Duz back through the shallower part and past the Toyota, lined her/him up to attach the tow ropes, ready to reverse and pull the Toyota out backwards, as the back left wheel seemed to be the most problem, being wedged in a hole. After much feeling around for a tow point on the rear of the Toyota without any luck, Ross and Riaan decided to attach the tow rope over a solid bar attached to the back bumper and hope for the best! Sorry for all the Toyota fans, but the Landrover pulling the stuck Toyota out of the deep water had to be filmed. With little trouble and lots of cheering both cars were out on dry land, with the Toyota doors looking more like waterfalls with water gushing out. Duzi2 earned the title "Official Toyota Recovery Vehicle" (Eish, Sorry for that!! ...Tim!).
Poor Riaan was irritated at being stuck in the water, especially as he is fully competent at 4x4 driving. Unfortunately in the towing process the Toyota's back bumper lifted a bit, Riaan said he'd fix it so no one would know. A bent bumper or a lost car, I know which one the hire company would prefer. Marli unpacked the few things that weren't rescued from the water including their Wegbreek magazine which was totally soaked. Both cars managed to cross through the shallower water again with no problems and after a quick cold water and Fizzer stop we were both on our separate ways to Ngepi for the next two nights. We needed to first fill up with fuel in Kongola and they wanted to dry out their newly 'water cooled' car.
We drove back to Kongola for diesel, but they were empty which meant we needed to drive the 200km to Divindu and hope they had some there, so we wouldn't need to fill up straight after crossing the Botswanan border. We managed to see two elephants crossing the main road on the way from Kongola to Divindu, so now believe the 'beware of elephants crossing the road' signs. We luckily found the Engen garage in Divindu had diesel, so filled up with our last Namibian fuel (N$9.31/litre) and now could relax as we have more than enough fuel to last us past Maun, in Botswana. We bought some fire wood from a seller along the side of the road for N$5/bundle, so cheap. We then thought we'd drive into Mahango Lodge, which the one South African couple had recommended we look at, to camp. The main entrance road is flooded and impassable, but there is a diversion road which we were directed along to get to the lodge. We looked around at the facilities and the campsites (N$50p/p/night to camp). All looked nice, with a charm of what the old Natal Parks Board places used to look like. The campsites are varied, but didn't have the greatest views of the river. We were glad we had come to look for ourselves at a cheaper option than Ngepi, but hoped we still had our booking at Ngepi for the next 2 nights.
From Mahango Lodge we drove back to Ngepi (N$75p/p/night camping), watching the sun setting in the red sky speckled with clouds. We were so glad to hear we still had the lovely no.14 campsite booked for us and went to set up for the night. There was a big group setting up their homes for the night on the site next door. They had a caravan, trailer based roof top tents and big ground tents with mattresses being blown up etc. They were very envious when they saw how little time it took us to set up our comfy bed for the night. They were a big family group from Gauteng and had driven from Nata, Botswana that day, on their way to the Caprivi for a week. One of the younger guys and his fiance came over to chat to us. He had had an unfortunate day, hitting a donkey to save rolling his car while pulling a trailer. This had resulted in big damage to his car (a new Toyota Fortuner), but the donkey got up and walked away. He warned us about the donkeys on the roads in Botswana, they stand in the road and don't move out of the way. We had a simple supper of spaghetti bolognaise and enjoyed the stunning views of the millions of stars above us, as the hippo upstream in the river, greeted the evening noisily. With the neighbours wide awake and jovial, with hyena sounds booming out from one of their cars, Ross couldn't resist replying with the hyena call we have on the ipod. This very nearly caught one of our neighbours out, until the 'day chatter' hyena noises started playing. They all sat around their fire and one of them even started strumming and singing well known songs on his guitar. It got really cold, so we decided to get into the warm tent and watch "The Good Shepherd". A good and clever movie. It was very chilly tonight.
Happy birthday Tash. Hope Clive made your day wonderful and that the year ahead will be full of very good things.
Monday 28th April 2008: Ngepi Camp, Divindu, Namibia
GPS Info: S18° 06' 47.3" E21° 40' 00.3"
Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 21 404
Up to a relaxed start. We enjoyed breakfast soaking up the sunshine and marvelling at our stunning view of the Kavango River. We could hear the hippo a little way up the river, but didn't manage to see them. We chatted to some other members of the group next door to us. We also had a peek into the vacant tree house next to our campsite. It was stunningly done with a very natural en-suite shower and loo and beautiful river front views from the beds. We got out all the info we could find on Botswana and tried to plan our movements until we meet Mom and Dad on the 12th of May at Khama Rhino Sanctuary near Serowe. From our reading of the Lonely Planet, Getaway's Cape to Cairo guide and many magazine articles, Botswana sounds much more expensive than the prices we're used to. We'll need to find somewhere reasonable to stay or try and bush camp, if that's possible. The sun got really hot, with us sheltering in the shade to read and plan.
We decided to see if we could find Marli and Riaan, and to see how far we were from Ngepi's main area. We had one of the big campsites, which are further away from the small campsites and from the main reception/bar building. As we were approaching the tree house where Marli and Riaan were staying they pulled in after a morning's drive to the Mahango National Park, where they had seen lots of game including roan and calmer elephants. They had tried to find us in the campsites last night, but had no luck as we were in the big sites and they didn't know these existed. We chatted a bit. Their car was slowly drying out and Riaan had managed to bend the bumper back so it looked unnoticable. We were going to book a mokoro trip (N$110p/p for 2hr trip) for the afternoon, as a birthday treat for Heidz, from the money both sets of parents had given her for her birthday. Riaan and Marli had booked one too. Off we went to reception to book our 4pm mokoro trip, after which we wandered around enjoying the cool shade.
We went back to Duzi2 to have a quick lunch snack and make some bread dough to cook on the fire for dinner. We met more people from the campsite next door. Riaan (another one) had a 50Miler t-shirt on so we got chatting about canoeing. He has recently started paddling at NCC in Pietermaritzburg, such a small world. He and his girlfriend Rowena know Landy and Al very well. Landz and Al are very good friends of ours in Pietermaritzburg. Riaan even lives in the same complex as them. Talk about a small world. They were a lovely sporty couple who were singing 'Martizburg's praises. Heidz put the breadmix out to rise in the heat of the sun, while we were on our 2 hour mokoro trip. We rushed to the mokoro, grabbing some Coke's to enjoy on the trip. We were with 2 other mekoros who were from the family group next door to our campsite. We had lots of fun chatting, laughing and absorbing the stunning African beauty of the river around us. We saw a baby croc up high out of the water, lying on a tree trunk very close to one of the campsites. Crocs are apparently rare here as the water is too fast and they prefer to stay in the slower swampy parts of the Kavango River. We saw many different types of water birds, including a pair of fish eagles really close to the river in a tall tree. We also saw hippo pop up and say hello, make their noises and then disappear below the water again. We never went close to the hippo, which we both thought was very good, because there is a healthy respect for them held by the local paddlers. We snuck through narrow channels, through more swampy parts of the river. Here we could see how clear and deep the dark water was and we got lovely close views of the wild waterlilly flowers. We got out at one point, on a sandy beach, for a leg stretch and to have a few photos just before sunset, before turning around and setting back to camp with the river's strong current this time, a very welcomed relief for the mekoro paddlers.
There were two groups of three mekoro each and Marli and Riaan were in the other group. We met up with them at the end and invited them to join us around our fire later, if they wanted. Heidz was hoping the bread would be a success, as then at least we could all have something to eat. Darkness fell quite suddenly and it got cooler so we were grateful we were having a fire. The bread dough had risen nicely and looked like it should be good. Within a few minutes two head torches appeared out of the darkness and there were Marli and Riaan. Ross got a good fire going and we wrapped up a few potatoes and a butternut half each and then popped the bread tins into the coals for dinner. We had such a brilliant evening laughing and chatting together. They are so similar to us in so many ways. Marli is a top karate lady and has been selected for the British karate team to compete in the world campionships in September and then they're hoping to be able to leave the UK to head back to settle in southern Africa. They have also been very struck by Namibia and its similarities to SA 20years ago. They are both vets and also really want to make a difference somewhere. After some OB's sherry and Amarula, and lots of good company and some fresh bread we said good bye, hoping this was the start of a long friendship. They are off early to Etosha tomorrow and have a wedding at Cape Cross on Saturday, before they fly back to the UK on Sunday, we think. On leaving they recommended we try and read a Christian book called SHAPE, about finding and using the gifts and talents God places in us to fulfill our destiny. Sounds like a book we definitely need to read. Riaan thought it was written or published by the same people as A Purpose Driven Life. They are busy working through it together at the moment to try and help them with where to go in the not too distant future.
Tonight was a really late night /early morning, but time definitely does fly when you're having fun. We'll always remember Marli (aka Natalie Cadbury) and Riaan (aka Fizzer and Topdeck chocolate lover) for our adventures and fun together.
Tuesday 29th April 2008: Ngepi Camp, Divindu, Namibia
GPS Info: S18° 06' 47.3" E21° 40' 00.3"
Miles Today: 51 Total Miles: 21 455
After a late start we had breakfast and packed up. The big family group next door had said good bye and left for their drive to the Kongola area. We were both sad to leave our lovely spot at Ngepi, but knew we weren't going far down the river tonight. Duz set off on a game drive through the Mahango National Park (N$30p/p/day + $10p/car/day) and spotted roan antelope within minutes of entering the park. We took many photos of these beautiful and rather rare buck. They look like a donkey cross gemsbok with enormous ears, but are beautiful none the less. A little further on we saw some elephants drinking water in the distant reeds, a letchwe, crocs sunning themselves in the sand surrounded by hundreds of wild geese, ducks, moorhens and other water birds. We passed kudu with young, lots of impala and more roan. We drove slowly and loved being in the typical thorny African bush, reminding us of being home. After a long drive of seeing nothing, we spotted a huge lone buffalo bull, our first buffalo all trip.
From Mahango we drove to Nunda Lodge (N$60p/p/night camping) for the next two nights and were amazed at how much progress they have made in just one week since we were last here. Trevor, Eugene and Toy welcomed us back as if we were old friends. Eugene and Trevor's family were staying with them, giving a helping hand where possible and had brought up the final tent which had been erected already. We could choose whichever campsite we wanted and had a tough choice between one right on the banks of the river or one higher up with rooftop tent views of the river. Both a bit cautious of crocs, decided to go for the higher site. We walked on to the lodge's wooden deck overlooking the Kavango River to catch the sun before it set. We are so lucky to be able to enjoy what some people may never experience in their whole lives. We half thought of swimming in the pool, but decided to rather have a hot shower and cover up from the mozzies, as it got cool quite quickly once the sun had set.
We made dinner and ate it under a perfectly clear, star filled sky, before escaping the cold and getting into the snug tent to watch another NAO Odeon movie, "Bourne Identity". This was a very clever movie which we both enjoyed, while savouring a bar of Topdeck chocolate.
Happy 2nd anniversary Pauls and Si. We hope you are able to have some time to spent together on this special day. It's so lovely to see your pictures of Kyra, she is so cute and growing so fast.
Wednesday 30th April 2008: Nunda Safaris & Lodge, Divindu, Namibia
GPS Info: S18° 06' 22.2" E21° 35' 39.3"
Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 21 455
We woke up quite early due to it being warm and bright. We cooked up most of our eggs in a scrambled egg to enjoy with two packets of bacon and last nights spaghetti. Talk about an oil and bacon overload. We know we can't take eggs or meat across the border into Botswana, so we needed to use them. With such a huge feast, we didn't need to think of lunch. We spent the day doing sudoku's and restocking and repacking supplies. We also did a big load of washing and took full advantage of the hot sun to dry it all before nightfall. Having read up as much as we can on Botswana and with no more days to be able to stay in Namibia, we'll have to cross into Botswana tomorrow and hope it doesn't blow our budget too badly. We wanted to swim, but Trevor and Eugene were interviewing for kitchen staff so there were lots of locals sheltering in the shade of the trees around the pool. Both of us are so excited for their opening. They told us they get their first guests on the 14th May, but their official opening full night is the 15th. We'll definitely be thinking of them on that night, and both secretly wish we could be here too, but we'll be with Mom and Dad somewhere beautiful in Botswana instead.
We did swim later in the afternoon and enjoyed feeling refreshed from the heat of the day. We showered and went onto the deck to catch the last of the sunset light before everything turned black and the thousands of stars came out to fill up the night's sky. We had a very simple dinner of rice with mince sitting around the fire to warm up, before heading to bed fairly early.
Happy birthday aunty Gail. We hope you had a wonderful day on the Orange River and were spoilt on your special day. We can't wait to hear about your paddling trip on the Orange. This sounds like a wonderful thing to do, well done!
Thursday 1st May 2008: Nunda Safaris & Lodge, Divundu, Nambia
GPS Info: S18° 06' 22.2" E21° 35' 39.3"
Miles Today: 68 Total Miles: 21 523
We woke up both feeling sad that we were on our last day in Namibia. We showered and enjoyed the last of our creamy strawberry yoghurt in the sunshine, before we crossed into Botswana, where you are banned from bringing in any dairy and un-tinned meat products (milk, cheese, yoghurt, eggs, bacon, biltong, etc.). We heard the call of the fish eagles, king fishers chittering as they flew overhead and many other large flocks of birds flying in and out of the natural bush around us. We also watched and heard a huge flock of geese fly over us, arranged in V-lines, all slip-streaming as they flew.
We packed up the tent and repacked stuff for the border crossing. Trevor came over to find Ross, to ask if he could help them with their satellite internet connectivity. We drove to the entrance of the stunning, thatched Nunda Lodge main building and Ross went up to the office to grease the old cogs in his head, connecting, linking and networking the office computers to each other and correcting each of their live, satellite broadband internet links and enabled wireless internet access. Trevor, Toy and Eugene were so chuffed that they now had internet and WIFI. One big job done. This made Ross feel chuffed as he had wanted to be able to do something to help them when they opened the lodge, and now he had. The inside of the main lodge building is now really taking place with paintings on the walls, African momentos displayed in various places, the tables and chairs being arranged in the eating/dining area and lots of work being done on the main deck over looking the river. Eugene made us delicious tuna sandwiches for lunch and we spent time chatting to them, while downloading and reading through all of Heidz' birthday messages and emails, as well as other internet stuff. We've been bombarded with more house bills meaning we have not received rent for yet another month, a real worry as to where exactly our rent is going...??? Our house account was actually in debt by £9.00. We got an email from Kenneth and Jo saying they would love to meet up with us and were heading to Maun at the end of the month, hopefully we can do this, it would be SO lovely to see them and catch up with them both again. A lot has happened since we were last together in Ghana in early January. Trace wrote telling us of her new Kiwi man Roy, who has bowled her right over in Australia. We are so excited for you Trace!
Sadly and MUCH later than we had planned, we left Nunda with Trevor saying we didn't need to pay for our two nights accomodation due to Ross getting their internet up and running. They are such kind people, we wish them all the best for their lodge. We drove through Mahango Game Reserve to cross into Botswana at Mahembo Gate. On our way through we saw a sable, more roan, giraffe, elephant, impala, kudu, geese and wildebeest. Leaving Namibia was a very simply process. We filled out the Immigration form and our car details and we were quickly on our way out of Namibia. Both feeling heavy about leaving all the wonderful experiences and friends behind in Namibia, but very glad to know we are close enough to be able to return, and hopefully this will be soon. Thanks to everyone who has made our time in Namibia so incredibly wonderful. Now off to Botswana, wildlife and our 24th African country...