Blogs from Namibia, Africa - page 126

Namibia is a country of great contrasts and wonderful tourist attractions. Situated in West Africa and bordering South Africa, Angola and Botswana, the country of wide open spaces is home to two million people. Famous for the Namib desert including the awe inspiring sand dunes of Sossusvlei, Namibia also features Etosha National Park, one of the most famous game reserves in Africa. I began my visit by flying into the capital Windhoek from Cape Town, and was immediately struck by a sense of vastness on arrival at the airport. What's the John Dory with that, I mean this airport is in the middle of nowhere! So anyways I piled into a taxi, dear reader, and my man thundered along the savannah for 50 kilometres before we arrived in Windhoek, and I felt like the safari had ... read more

Northern Namibia - Caprivi to Swakopmund. Whoah dude, Utah Rocks. Moab is soooo cool. Uh oh, Reality check. We are still in Africa, although I have to keep reminding myself, because it feels more like the Southwest USA. Swakopmund is a beautiful tourist town - ok, so they don’t have the Slickrock trail and the Porcupine Rim, or any Ellesworths or Santa Cruz Blurs to rent, but they do have the ocean, the dunes of the Namib desert, sunshine, cool sea breezes, beautiful authentic German architecture, great restaurants, clean streets, cafes, bookshops and even the Brauhaus that sells Erdinger Weissbeer, rather than rather insipid local draught brew. In short I want to retire here (although if they could find some slickrock out back that would be even better). By European standards Namibia is a vast country ... read more

Next stop was Windhoek, Namibia, our second to last country on the trans. We spent a short few hours in the city as we were all eager to be on our way to Etosha. Windhoek was a great city, clean, friendly, well laid out and ful of the things we are used to in our other lives. It also suddenly seemed expensive! Etosha National Park was great! We didnt get to see a lot of predators, but we did see hundreds of zebra, giraffe, gemsbok (Oryx), springbok and impala. At the waterholes there would be hundreds of animals mixing and drinking. We did see an African Wild Cat and a lioness with two small cubs. At the campsites (very nice) there was a waterhole where we sat for hours in the evenings. Here we saw a ... read more