Blogs from Namibia, Africa
May 14th 2012
Na západním pobřeží jižního afrického subkontinentu se zvolna přesýpají načervenalé písky nejsušší pouště na světě, pouště Namib. V této oblasti neprší. Veškerá voda je dodávána mlhou, stoupající z pobřežních vod Atlantického oceánu, kde studený Benguelský proud vyvěrá na hladinu a dodává celé oblasti antarktický chlad. V místě střetu živlů se táhne tisíc kilometrů dlouhá písečná pláž. Zatímco jižní polovina pobřeží, přiléhající k poušti Namib, je pro člověka takřka nepřístupná, v severní části byla vybudována silnice, kopírující celou její délku téměř až k angolské hranici. V této oblasti se nachází nejbizarnější národní park na světě. Vítejte na Skeleton Coast, pobřeží kostlivců. Bizarnost této oblasti spočívá v její monotvárnosti. Zatímco podmořský život zde exploduje ... read more
May 11th 2012
We have arrived in AFRICA!!!! Still on a high from our afternoon of feeding cheetahs, we all woke up ready to hit the road bound for Etosha national park. We had a pit stop in a town called Outjo for internet and supply shopping which was followed by a short drive on SEALED road to the park. Etosha is the largest wildlife park in Africa and is located around a large salt pan. I’m not going to pretend like my expectations were low, I was picturing plains filled with elephants, giraffes and rhinos roaming around all together so when we began our game drive and the first thing to see was more frigging springbok anxiety kicked in. We were very soon rewarded though with herds of zebras and wilderbeast at the first water hole and some ... read more
May 11th 2012
When someone tells you the roads in Namibia are bad your reaction is automatically “well yeah, it is Africa!” However nothing could prepare me for the endless corregated dust roads ahead of us. After the luxury of sealed roads & actual beds in Swakopmund we stepped back on the truck heading north, armed with dot to dot colouring books, word searches and a pack of cards. Two hours out of swakop we stopped at Cape Cross, home of one of the largest breeding seal colonies in the world. Along the shoreline were hundreds of black figures which could be mistaken for rocks if it wasn’t for the stench & the grunting noise that came from all around us. After the retching had ceased I could appreciate the vastness of this colony. Where there is one adult ... read more
May 6th 2012
Well hellooooo Swakopmund!!! Swakopmund is a german town on the west coast of Namibia. It is set between the vast Namib Desert and the Atlantic Ocean which provides a play ground for every kind of person. We were immediately thrown into this playground upon arrival as we went to book our activities for the next couple of days. The choices were plentiful, varying from dolphin watching, fishing and township tours to sandboarding, quad biking and sky diving. Megan and I chose dolphins, quad biking and township tour while the other girls were braver and chose sand boarding. Sadly though as I mentioned our dolphin tour did not go ahead, however, this gave us time to explore the little town and have a walk along the beach before we set off on our quad biking tour. After ... read more
May 5th 2012
Our first couple of days in Namibia have been quite relaxing & involved short drives and lots of time spent in our camp sites, therefore I don’t feel they deserve a whole blog to themselves or you’ll all give up reading! We reluctantly left Felix Unite and its luxuries and headed towards Fish River canyon. Amongst the barren mountain landscape, grape farms become visible. The farms are for table grapes and during harvest employ up to 20,000 workers but there are around 8,000 people who work there permanently & they have a small straw village and a store. A short drive later we arrived at Fish River canyon where we had a few hours to enjoy the sun, write our postcards and watch a movie! In the afternoon we were driven to the rim of the ... read more
May 3rd 2012
Dobrodružství zacalo 27.4.2012 v 5:30 na letišti v Praze pri vážení mého kolosálního batohu, který nekolika rozmery presáhl stanovenou mez. Zavazadlo obdrželo nekolik drahých visacek navíc a odebralo se neznámo kam. Dobrodružství pokracovalo 27.4.2012 na letišti v Cape Town u zavazalového pásu, který jezdil beznadejne prázdný kolem dokola. Paní tmavé pleti za prepážkou reklamací me informovala, že muj batoh neopustil letište Ruzyne a pravdepodobne bude dorucen stejným letem príští den. Tak jsem stanul v pul jedenácté vecer uprostred afrického velkomesta bez spacáku, oblecení, vlastne úplne všeho krome dvou fotoaparátu a sedmi objektivu v prírucním zavazadle, kde nezbylo místo ani pro zubní kartácek. Naštestí Aleše nic podobného nepostihlo, takže alespon polovina vecí nám zbyla. V príletové hale na nás netrpelive cekal a... read more
April 27th 2012
It isn’t hard to understand that just 2 million people live in Namibia as you drive a few hundred kilometers without meeting anyone – no cars, no houses, no people and just endless deserts. Here we are in middle of nowhere and don’t have any transportation to the south. It is during these times that we understand how helpless we are in this landscape. But nothing is impossible if you have some patience and try to reach your goal so our recent mission was to get a lift to the Fish River Canyon. Well it wasn’t easy and we cannot thank enough the amazing couple from South Africa who offered us a ride to the canyon from the Sossusvlei dunes, and we hang out with them for few days and we were dropped off in Springbok, ... read more
April 21st 2012
It is very easy to see why this place is the number one attraction in the country as it was simply magnificent. With all the people we talked to after visiting this place we all agreed that it is very difficult to actually take a bad photo. But one tip, if you decide to camp make sure that you get a place where you can hit your tent pegs in as when we came back from Sossusvlei your tent will be gone like our was. Well all campers had a great laugh about our flying tent in the dunes … it was the main topic for the day :) In fact the weather changes a lot in the day time. It is really windy and you’ll have sand everywhere, and it is unbelievable hot. But the ... read more
April 19th 2012
Swakopmund on the coast of Namibia is the place to get your adrenalin fix for the country. Here you can find all the activities from sand boarding to skydiving and you will be sure to see some spectacular sights. The highlight for us was no doubt ‘dune 7’ that rises above the desert and makes a nice day trip from Swakopmund. The city itself reminded us of a city you would expect to see in the Middle East where the desert and sand dunes meet the outer suburbs. Swakopmund doesn’t seem like it should be there but it is the fastest growing city and with its German architecture and vibes it is easy to see why it is a hot spot with the locals and tourists alike. The other reason we were in this area was ... read more
April 14th 2012
During our visit to the Skeleton Coast we found that not just the name of this coast was created from the unforgiving nature of the coast. It is a foggy region with rocky and sandy coastal shallows that has not only been a graveyard for ships and their crews but also we found hundreds of skeletons along the beach which are belonging to the seals, whales and other animals. Hyenas’ tracks are leading to the dead bodies and their remains as well as jackals and birds of prey. Imagine walking through an unburied graveyard and a fresh smell is of the previous nights ramblings wafting on the breeze. On this beach very few walk as you can drive the few kilometers to one of the biggest seal colony viewpoint in the world but we hadn’t choice ... read more
