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Published: December 4th 2008
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Sunday morning we stopped at Fish River Canyon. It is the Grand Canyon of southern Africa. Not as big or as impressive, but still really neat. The past couple days we’ve seen a lot more variation in scenery than we’ve been used to. Usually it’s just been flat for miles and miles in every direction. It’s cool to be able to see rain storms a long ways away, but I like some variation in the landscape. We walked along the edge of the canyon for a ways, taking lots of pictures of course. Then we continued on, crossing into South Africa in the early afternoon. We spent the afternoon and night at Fiddlers’ Creek Campground right on the Orange River (forms the border between Namibia and South Africa). We went swimming in the river after our really late lunch. And by we I mean Sarah, Toni, Randy, and I, and some of the people from the Absolut truck and the Dutch truck. We weren’t sure about the water because it looked kind of dirty but I think it was mostly mud. Nobody would get in until Sarah and I did and then other people followed. Some of us swam across the
Waterfront - Cape Town
Craig, Will, Pat, Me, Toni river back into Namibia. Don’t tell the people at the border… The campsite was really nice, mainly because it was on the river and had a good view. Not good showers though; they were barely a trickle. It was small so we were close to everything. We tend to be put at the campsites farthest away from the main area. Probably a good idea because we tend to be loud, but it means we have to walk a long ways past all the other campsites.
Most of the guys on our truck have been growing moustaches for “Movember”, raising money for cancer research. Since Sunday was the 30th they all shaved in the evening. Monday morning it was weird to see them all clean-shaven for the first time!
Monday was another drive day to get down the coast towards Cape. In the late afternoon we had a truck clean where basically we cleaned the entire truck top to bottom to get it ready for the next leg of the journey. Guess what we found in the compartment where we keep all our pots and pans? A bunch of cockroaches! Right by all our cooking supplies! That’s reassuring…
We spent the night at Gekko Backpackers. We camped, but it was a hostel so we were able to hang out inside and use the kitchen. It was nice to be able to see what we were eating (electricity!) and sit on couches and watch tv and hang out. It was my cook group and we made a delicious meal. We heard the day before that we would have an oven so we planned accordingly. We made lasagna, properly baked, not just over the fire, and chocolate cake. It was amazing! My cook group is a lot of fun! Kellie, Eve, and I. We have a good time…
Tuesday was our last drive as a whole truck group. Sad! We had song dedication hour where we dedicated songs to each other. Basically it was just an excuse to play the music really loud. Some people in our group don’t like music on the truck so often we don’t have it. So it was nice to have them not be able to tell us to turn it down because it was a group thing. I think it was my favorite truck ride. Some of us were up on the beach when we drove into Cape Town so we got a nice view of the city. The beach is an area in the front of the back section of the truck. The roof opens so it has a good view but it’s really windy. It’s nice to be there in the morning when it’s cool because you can stretch out and sleep but it gets hot in the afternoon when the sun comes out! Our hostel in Cape is the Backpack. It is amazingly nice! Really nice inside, all the staff are really friendly and super accommodating, the café has good food, there’s a kitchen, laundry, activities booking center, and good showers! After checking in Will, Craig, Toni, Pat, James, and I walked down to the Waterfront. We wandered along, had some lunch…it was really nice! It’s good to just explore a city a little bit the first day. In the evening we went to Mama Africa for our last group meal (good crocodile and veg curry!) and then to a club until about 2:30 am. Lots of fun!
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doug eby
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crocs
good thing there weren't crocs in the river! btw have you heard about the cholera outbreak in south africa? Glad you survived skydiving. Lots of ways to die... ps - miss the photos! I need one of the 'truck'. Lots of snow here - you will certainly freeze when you return.