Well That's Just Great

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Yesterday morning I woke up, wide awake, at 3am. This is normal for me at the moment, still going through the final paces of jet lag, but this time it was different. I felt like I had razor blades in my throat, and within an hour or two, had developed serious, shivering chills and cold sweats. A flu!! Excellent timing, two days before our overland trip.

I spent the morning in bed, and managed to drag myself out at noon as we'd pre-booked tickets to Robben Island and they were non-refundable. I felt a bit better once I had a little food and walked around, but I've still got a very sore throat - although the fever has gone, and I managed to get a fairly good sleep last night. I should be better tomorrow when we leave, but I can't get over the awful timing of it all!! Tomorrow we start on our malaria pills, which also double as antibiotics, so I imagine they will kick out any lingering illness. I hadn't really been sick with a cold or flu once in the two years we lived in Scotland, and I've managed to catch two colds in the last five months. I'm sure it's linked to poor eating and less exercise!! (Also people sneezing and coughing on me.)

Robben Island was really interesting. We hopped on the ferry and we were put onto buses that took us around the island with a guide. Afterwards we were shown around the prison by an anti-apartheid ex-political prisoner who explained it all. We also got to see Nelson Mandela's cell (very small and depressing) and heard all of the horror stories about the place. It's definitely worth a visit for anyone who passes through Cape Town. The one thing that really surprised me is how late the apartheid policies were implemented - in the late 1940s/early 1950s, but for some reason I thought apartheid had been in place much earlier. The surprising thing about that timing is that the civil rights movement in the States was starting to rumble during those years, and the world was still reeling from the genocide in Europe - so it seems strange to me that everyone would have said, hey, apartheid - what a great idea!! It was an utterly bizarre policy so a trip to Robben Island is well worth it.

As soon as we walked out of the lodge this morning we came across none other than our custom 28-seat Land Rover that will be our home for the next 43 days. It's actually a lot nicer than I expected - it looks like a standard motor coach on the inside, but with huge opening windows, and it is about twice as tall. We chatted to one of the crew members who said that he thought there will be seventeen of us, which is a good number - enough people to probably find someone to get along with, but small enough that you'll know everyone well and the smaller number means more space on the truck! It will be an interesting experience, that's for sure.

So that's it from me for the next little while - I don't know when we'll have internet access next (and I don't think the connections will be overly fast or reliable when we do), but I will endeavor to put up a blog when I can. I think we'll be in Namibia in the middle of next week, and I think when we get to Swakopmund there should be facilities there, so I'll be on again soonish.

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