Our second visit to Chobe National Park in Botswana was much like the first, but with less water in the river and more people on the boats. We probably saw more wildlife on our first visit, but we did see Sable antelope for the first time (although not the best light for photos). [View Full Entry]

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The next few days of the trip overlap with places that we've already seen on our trip from Nairobi to Cape Town. So when it came time for the Okavango Delta, we decided to opt out and spend some quiet time at Ngepi Campsite. A unique place to stay with even more unique toilets and showers. We went on a sunset cruise down the river (just the 2 of us) and saw lots of hippos and small crocs as well as many birds. Our nightly ritual of enjoying a nice bottle of South African wine at sunset was the perfect way [View Full Entry]

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A few shots showing what it's like to dig the truck out. We've never been as stuck as we got coming out of Bushmanland. It took us an hour and a half before we managed to get out. The benefit to a full truck is that there's lots of push power. [View Full Entry]

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Etosha National Park was spectacular! The highlight came on the first night/morning where we camped at an amazing water hole. Once we arrived (sunset) we sat at the water hole with our tripod and only left for dinner at 7pm and a short sleep break between midnight and 3:30am. The elephants were the first to show up followed by 3 to 5 black rhinos. When they were finished, the place was a bit less busy but we did see some more animals including a spotted hyena, jackals, giraffe, zebra, springbok, more elephants and rhinos. We went through a bit of a [View Full Entry]

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Yay, the cheetah park! It's been so long since we've seen big cats on this trip that we were super excited to get here. While, not quite what we expected (more of a farm for rescued cheetahs) it was fun and I think we got some nice photos that we could not have gotten of cheetahs in the wild. By the time we arrived at the park the sun was setting and we'd missed the cheetah tour and feeding for that day. We did, however, get to camp beside the enclosure holding a mom and three cute cubs. It was fun [View Full Entry]

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Today we set out from our almost-bush-camp at Spitzkoppe (old rock paintings to be seen there) and drove to Cape Cross to visit the massive seal colony. It was incredible to see so many of them all in one place. If they weren't sleeping or swimming in the water, they were battling each other for positions on the rocks. By far the most memorable part of the seal colony is the overpowering odor, and hence why they get called the Stinky Seals. I think I prefer the penguins... [View Full Entry]

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Swakopmund is the activity centre of Southern Africa. You can basically do anything here from quad biking to sand boarding to skydiving. Our thrills came in the form of quad-biking and paragliding. For the quad-biking it was great because they were able to split the group based on experience and how fast and extreme you were willing to go. Somehow we managed to end up in the fast group, but in the end it was the best choice as we had no trouble keeping up. Paragliding is something that we tried once before in Cochrane and it left us wanting more [View Full Entry]

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This was something that we've been looking forward to ever since we booked this trip over a year and a half ago. Thankfully, it lived up to our greatest expectations. We arrived at the famous 'Dune 45' (which everyone climbs) and started up it for sunrise. Climbing a sand dune is a lot harder than it looks. It's deceptive how large the dune actually is and in the initial excitement we basically ran until we got a few steps in and realized our legs couldn't hold us up anymore. We decided to stop just below the peak and enjoy the sunrise [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in the town of Luderitz in the early afternoon and had lunch at a nice cafe (mmmm toasties!). We don't have any photos of the town, but it is a very pretty place and really shows the German influence. The next morning we stopped at Kolmannskuppe, which is a ghost town from the diamond mining era of Namibia. Once a very rich place where counting diamonds was done on the kitchen table over a cup of tea and people were fed laxatives and x-rayed when they exited the town. After the war when demand for diamonds dropped, the town [View Full Entry]

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Africa's answer to the Grand Canyon. It's either the second or third largest canyon in the world (depending on what source you look at, and probably how it's measured). Unfortunately you can't do day hikes into the Canyon, but there is a 5 day trek that we might have to do in the future. This time we'll have to settle for the spectacular views, darn... [View Full Entry]

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