http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/oftat/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from oftat en-us Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:41:34 +0000 Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:41:34 +0000 A number of photos from S.A.A number of other photos have been added to entries for November. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/blog-352183.html We set off back down the mountain admiring the flowers and birds we saw on the way.At Clanwilliam we turned westwards for the Atlantic coast at Lamberts Bay a rather nondescript seaside resort where we turned southwards along the coast to Elands Bay finding some interesting birds en route.From there we continued the coastal route which was almost free of traffic and we had a fishy lunch http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/blog-350061.html The wind did drop but the noise of traffic on the N7 disturbed us somewhat. And we had a phone call from friends who said we simply must visit the Seiderberg Mts on our way south. So we rang cousin Graham and said we would be a day late.The Seiderbers lie to the east of the N7 roughly half way between the Namibian border and Capetown so we branched off eastwards at Clanwilliam a nice little http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/blog-350059.html On departing our lovely gorge camp site we found that within only a few miles we were into the Orange River valley and the first rural concentration of local people we had seen for many a mile. Clearly there was water close to the surface as natural greenery was to be seen along the valley floor.As we turned to follow the valley we suddenly came upon a vast area of land cultivated with vines man http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/blog-350058.html Our aim today was to get somewhere within easy striking distance of the South African border. The scenery continued to be as beautiful as we have come to expect here in Namibia and at Seerheim we branched due south along the superb dirt road where running on the line next to the road we met the first train we have seen moving in Africa a short goods train with a dirty old diesel engine at http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Namibia/Fish-River-Canyon/blog-350055.html We had set our alarms to go off at 4.30 am and we had packed up the whole camp except for our tents of course. We planned to be at the park entrance at 5.00 am so as to be at Sossusvlei to see the first rays of the rising sun hit the dunes.We were all awake at 3.00 am and up before any alarm went off Disaster Ianrsquos car had a flat tyre So we set about changing the wheel with all rapi http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Namibia/Sossusvlei/blog-350049.html We were off at our usual time driving inland and southwards firstly towards Windhoek across the bleakest of deserts where simply nothing grew. The road at first was tarred but soon turned to the graveled surface we now expect in this country and the standard was as high as ever.After some 40 or 50 miles the desert changed to the more familiar sand with the vivid yellow grass covering the very http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Namibia/blog-350044.html We set ourselves a gentle target today. Ian wasnrsquot feeling too fit. He had left his gout pills in Kenya so had bought some locally and the pharmacist gave him the wrong instructions and he took double the dose he should have. This may well have prevented any recurrence of gout but it didnrsquot half upset his insides poor man. So we took it gently and drove the short distance down http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Namibia/Walvis-Bay/blog-350040.html Our B B the Princess Rupprecht Pension was very comfortable and everything worked with Germanic efficiency. But we were anxious to get on so we set off early for the Toyota garage.The service manager reacted immediately to our request to have the vehicles checked and allocated to us a young Afrikaner mechanic Nicky for as long as we needed. He spent about half an hour on my car going throu http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Namibia/Swakopmund/blog-350035.html Dawn brought steady rain the last thing we wanted We packed the cars as best we could leaving the tents in place in the hopes that it would stop before long. Meanwhile we went back to the lodge and had a cooked breakfast there and watched the steady downpour into the papyrus and river. It was nice to have a cooked English breakfast but there was no marmaladeIt didnrsquot stop raining http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Namibia/Rundu/blog-346952.html Todayrsquos drive turned out to be the longest we have so far done in one day over 330 miles with one fuel point en route.This was at Palmwag a rather smart tourist lodge setup where there was also the fuel pumps and a cold drinks shop to water the tourist minibuses that pass frequently.Full tanks again was a blessing as we turned westwards towards the Atlantic and the Skeleton Coast Nation http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Namibia/Swakopmund/blog-346968.html Before we left I elected to put in 15 litres of fuel from my plastic can on the roofrack. I only carried this can for this leg of the trip with the intention of disposing of it once used. I still had my two further metal jerry cans each with 20 litre capacity. I guessed that this would be sufficient to get me to the next fuelling point at Sesfontein.As we passed the police station I gave the p http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Namibia/blog-346965.html We retraced our steps down this lovely road made even better because the countryside was stunning in the early morning light. We all felt that this must be one of the countryrsquos real beauty spots.Back at Okongwati we left the good road and took an indifferent track westwards. We have all been anticipating this road with mixed feelings. Many have warned that it is a really really bad and http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Namibia/blog-346964.html We had all rather been looking forward to todayrsquos drive with mixed feelingsVan Zylrsquos Pass is about 12 kms long and descends some 1000 ft from the plateau area we have been on down to the lower planes of western Namibia. What we drove through yesterday was the nursery school for todayrsquos challenge of the Pass. No vehicles are allowed to travel this route west to east only http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Namibia/blog-346962.html The maps we have of this part of the world are rather vague and imprecise. We filled up with diesel as this is the last outlet for fuel we can expect for several days. But we could not find the road we wanted . Eventually the lady who ran the BP Station after we had driven several miles abortively put us on the right road. it was the one that followed the river demarking the national bou http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Namibia/blog-346960.html It was a delightful camp and we were sorry to leave it. But nobody found us there despite our hearing someone chopping wood nearby and much to our surprise nightclub music when it got dark. When we drove away we found we had camped within half a mile of a little village which yes had a night clubIt took us about an hour to reach Oshakati as we had to go via Ondangwa a rather circuitous ro http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Namibia/blog-346958.html Our second cooked breakfast in a row But we were soon off into town Camilla and Chris to do the shopping while Ian and I tracked down an internet cafe to get off some photos. We found one where a delightful young lady manager helped us through the niceties of getting our photos off and printing out long newsy emails for us from Karen and Neil. Unfortunately the speed of internet here is not m http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Namibia/blog-346956.html A day of rest. We all agreed unanimously that we needed a day off from driving so we didnrsquot rush. I spent a good deal of time bringing the Blog up to date and the very kind owners of the place had a satellite internet connection and they very kindly agreed to send off an email with the Blog. It was too slow for pictures so they will have to wait sorry about that. There was also a lo http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Botswana/blog-345295.html We left ldquodisappointmentrdquo camp and set off through the sand tracks for the tarmac once again. Ian was leading guided by his gps and we followed. At some point I inadvertently took a different track and suddenly we realised that we were no longer behind Ian. We had neither gps nor compass Well I might have wound up my very old gps to give some useful information as a last resor http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Botswana/blog-344150.html Having left the Kalahari we hit the tarmac road which runs northwards up the western side of Botswana destined for the Okavango Delta.Because of our changed plans we had not come into Botswana via Zambia and consequently we have had to retrace ground to visit all the places we wanted. So instead of the actual Delta itself we now intended to visit the main inlet river area. We had been told of a http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Botswana/blog-344149.html