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Published: April 26th 2008
From Cape Town we headed to Stellenbosch, for 2 nights we stayed there to do some wine tasting and chill out time. Mark and I went to see 10,000 B.C. here while the rest of the group got wasted on sampling wines, we came back to the hostel, the Stunble Inn to a big party though some opted to go to a bar in town, we got to know the new people on the truck.
Drove to a proper campsite after leaving Stellenbosch, it was a cold night and this time around I will be sharing my tent through Cairo with Craig. Vioolsdrif is our first bush camp,next to a river.
Crossed into Namibia on the 20th April, took awhile cause a number of us have to get the VAT refund from customs, I bought a new camera so have to fill up forms. The drive is quite dusty and dry and got cold heading into the night, we camped near the Fish River Canyon, set up our tents and quickly left to hike the canyon just before sunset. Di and Tony prepared finger foods for dinner in the vista picnic area, good sunset but even better moon rising
scenario with different colors in the horizon. Cold night again but slept pretty well tucked into my sleeping bag, someone was talking in their sleep and it might be Andy!
Went through Ai-Ais and Gondwana National Parks passing through as we make our way towards Sossusvlei to see the great sand dunes, most notably Dune 45. It was mid day when we got there and we all climbed the dune it was freaking hot and tough climb. Lunch time at the dunes. I can picture it at sunset or sunrise I wish we can stay but we have to hurry up. Very cold bush camping, lots of us did not slep well and are all moody and looking crap in the morning! Bought some good biltong in a town we stopped earlier in the day, I also got bitten by lots of mozzies despite in being windy and cold.
Quick visit to Seeriem Canyon, quick hike as it was not really that impressive. Drove on again and accidentally camped for the night at Namib-Nauklift National Park, along the way we saw lots of gazzelles, oryx and what nots...A ranger came by just when me Craig and Jack finished
SWAKOP SANDBOARDING
ANDY, SAM, ME, MARK, CRAIG AND DAVEour run on the road, we were told we are not allowed to camp there but since we are halfway through cooking dinner they let us stay with a promise we have to make sure the camp fire is put out completely.
Arrived in Swakopmund on the 23rd after 4 hours or so of driving through hot desert, you can feel the hot wind blowing, then just as we near Walvis Bay we can smell the nasty seal colony but the good thing is cold wind is blowing in our direction again from the sea, about 1/2 an hour later we reached Swakop.
Rooms were quickly sorted in the hostel and we were hushed into a bar upstairs for briefing of things to do here, Beth the woman in charge of all the activities we are doing was late so we had a quick run at grocery store for quick lunch. The presentation was nice and well explained and I decided to Quad bike and sand board, i got tempted to do a cruise on the bay only because of free oysters served for lunch, but was quite expensive so i bailed out. Went shopping to find new sunnies
for me and dinner at the Lighthouse restaurant, quite expensive but food ws good, i had the spiny lobster, very good but a bit dry. Some of the girls were quite drunk by the time we met them up at the reataurant, namely, Jo, Chrissy and Tash, we proceeded to the Banana Bar after and had a few beers and goofy picture taking then went to bed.
Next morning at 9:30 left for samdboarding. Quite nervous because when I tried snowboarding in Vermont years ago I sucked, hopefully I do better this time on sand.
Brief introduction to the sport, and fitted up with helemets and boards, apprently I needed a goofy board, a sandboarding lingo I guess, my left foot the stronger and I will use to push myself off, something like that. Up the dunes, very hot and difficult walk, and sand flies constantly biting us and painful as well. Got up the top and we waxed our boards, some are doing thelie down boarding, mostly the girls and John, the boys doing stand up plus Audrey. The first to go was the snowboarders, they know what to do already, and for beginners we had a few
lessons then I was the first one to go cause I was goofy, not as hard as I remember snowboarding and did not fall on my ass the first run, 6 runs later we got the hang of it but very tiresome as you have to climb up the dune, no lift as this is public land they cannot build one. We also got to try the lie down boarding, very fast!! I got the fastest run on Lizzie, one of the dunes at 65mph whohooo!!! Free lunch at the site, we are all exhausted but happy and contented. 6pm we got to see the video of our effort then we can order photos, quit expensive but decided to purchase some for souvenir and memory of the effort I put in to learn the damn sport. few drinks at the bar then off to hostel, Mark and I cooked our dinner and most also did to save money, met couple American backpackers, had a good chat with them then off to bed for me, quite knackered..
Next day is sky diving for some of us and quadbiking in the afternoon. Started the day running on the beach where there
FISH RIVER CANYON
GROUP ON TOP OF CANYON is a path, me Andy and the American lad we met the night before,Chris, we ran for an hour, my legs were buckling towards the end, Andy is very competitive, I think I will get fitter if I try and keep up with him, will see....We got to the dunes where we will ride the bikes, helmets given after we signed our life away hen chose the bike we will use, most of us opted for Automatic, at first I was having difficulty controlling the quad but eventually got the hang of it, rode some high dunes, we had lots of fun, we had a break for photos then after that I was told to join another group, these guys ride a semi automatic bikes, faster than my auto, i was at the back so have to keep up all the time, my hand on full throttle all the time except for when we need to stop. There were only four of us so quite quicker and faster pace only thingis they keep bogging down in sand, i never once did, i don' know why. Got airborne 4-5 times quite cool!! Hurts when you drive through bumps though so i
stood up on some. Cam broke his bike!! Back in town we met up with the sky divers, they are all in adrenaline high and quite loud!! Hang out at the bar then off to Napolitana restaurant for dinner, I shared my 2 rack of ribs with Anna, couple of the boys had the massive 2 racks of ribs to themselves!! Dave was the winner, he finished his and ate some more of the other people's left over food. Went back to the dorm after that and hang out at our room, some people came in and chatted with us until time for bed for me, I passed out exhausted.
Today is just chill out time, quad biking for the sky divers this afternoon and me visit the museum and crystal gallery if open then some good seafood lunch! Tomorrow we leave for Etosha so have to stock up on snacks and wet wipes...
WIKI INFO:
SOSSUSVLEI:
Sossusvlei is a salt pan in the central Namib Desert, lying within the Namib-Naukluft National Park. Fed by the Tsauchab River, it is known for the high, red sand dunes which surround it, forming a major sand
sea.
The Dead Vlei and Hidden Vlei lie near Sossusvlei.
Entry path to Dead Vlei starts cca. 500 m before entering Sossusvlei with your 4x4. It is 1.1 km (one way) heavy trip over sand dunes to the exciting salt pan with both dead and green trees. The oldest trees are cca. 900 years old. The whole pan looks like big white soccer playground surrounded by red dunes and dark blue sky.
Dune 45 is a star dune in Sossusvlei, Namibia. Its name comes from the fact that it is 45km from Sesriem Canyon. Standing over 170m, it is composed of 5 million year old sand that was brought by the Orange River from the Kalahari Desert.
There are a lot of similar dunes in the same area. Dune 45 stands out and has become a tourist attraction. It is easy to climb and very photogenic. Especially in the early morning, before sunrise, groups of tourists arrive and climb the dune so that they can see the sunrise over the beautiful red colored desert and dunes.
FISH RIVER CANYON:
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kamkam
kamkam songto
seem very funny
seem very funny i Kamkam from Thailand nice to meet you.