Blogs from Swakopmund, Namibia, Africa - page 12

We've now arrived in Swakopmund, a reasonably largish town in Namibia after nearly a full week's camping. Camping has been okay (especially considering I've never camped in my life!!), but we're staying in a lodge this weekend which is pretty nice in comparison, ha. I'm quite impressed with the trip so far. It's very organized, and our trip leader, Kat, has been doing this job for four years and has a lot of experience, so it makes it easy. We've got a really nice cook and driver, and the food has been amazing. I don'tknow what I expected, but the food is awesome - I have no idea how the cook makes food for twenty people over a fire like that. We've been eating a lot of local game - springbok, oryx, etc., but we also ... read more

So we've been in the little coastal town of Swakopmund now for 4 days. It is suppose to be the top local holiday destination although i think (or hope) that is out of season at the moment as it is very quiet! Whilst we've been here I've been sand boarding (check out the photos), visited the local township and looked around the museums. On the first day a group of us opted for sandboarding down the massive dunes just outside Swakopmund. You could choose to lie down on the board or actually have a snowboard and stand up. I decided to be safe than sorry and do the lie down, I could just seen me breaking a leg or something! We were kicked up with elbow pads, helmit and gloves - thats when it occurred to ... read more

I stayed in Johannesburg long enough to realise it was a good place to leave. It was highly recommended not to walk around outside the hostel alone or at night or most other times of the day for that matter. But the biggest and most pleasing surprise was Soweto, a nearby suburb and South Africa's most notorious township. It was incredible how different the reality of Soweto is from its image - the people are approachable and industrious, small shops (spazzas) spring up from shacks on the roadsides, the community help police their own problems, and I felt more than safe exploring the city. There is even a backpackers hostel in the heart of Soweto, which is among the nicer hostels in the country. I abandoned the bike in Jo'burg and committed to hiring a car ... read more

I don't like camping. I like hotels with soft mattresses and big fluffy duvets and en suite bathrooms with power showers and flat screen TVs with numerous cable channels and tea and coffee making facilites and minibars and biscuits in cellophane wrappers and room service and your bed made up every day by someone else. Memories of camping on family holidays still give me the shivers, and I swore never ever to do it again. It therefore came as quite a surprise to a lot of people, not least me, that I spent five of the last seven nights with Gemma lying on the ground with only a thin mattress and sleeping bag for protection, in a two man tent made from canvas that didn't have any room to stand up in, and where a trip ... read more

Hi! So I am writing this from the nice, cool, breezy Swakopmund where I just finished a 10k this morning. It was really fun and definitely easier than running the marathon they have here (I say that like I was actually contemplating running it, which I wasn't at all!) . It was a beautiful run though...one side were the dunes and the other side was the ocean. I came in just at an hour which was good for me. I actually paced myself really well, and had a lot of energy at the end...maybe my next race could be a 1/2 marathon...we'll see! So just a few differences b/w Namibian races and races back in the US: 1) There were only about 100 runners in the marathon and about 40 people in the 10k so we ... read more