Into Namibia - Day 29

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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 marmalade!

It didn’t stop raining and looked as though it was set for the day so we dismantled the tents in the wet and set off for the Namibian border, filling up with diesel in Shakawe. The border was a few miles further on and the formalities were quite simple and the place almost deserted. No sharks hanging around wanting to change our money but no facility for changing money officially either. When it came to paying the Road Tax on the Namibian side we had to do it either in rands or Namibian dollars - neither of which we had. The girl behind the desk said we had to go back to Shakawe to the bank to get the correct currency. We then asked her if she took Pulas, the Botswana currency, and she said she would - but at a very disadvantageous rate for us! Thank goodness we had sufficient Pulas left over (we will need them on the return journey anyway) and the rate was better than driving back umpteen miles and the time lost as well.

Anyway, off into Namibia, on a very good but wet non-tarred road. The rain stopped and we made it to Rundu mid afternoon with our tents still very wet and prospect of more rain to come. So, for the first time this trip, we sought out a cheap hotel, finally plumping for the Nakunda Safari Lodge - where we had two cheap motel rooms where we parked the cars outside the room entrances and cooked our evening meal! Nobody seemed to mind us eating in the carpark!

Beforehand we changed money and did some shopping in what seemed to be very nice shops. In fact Rundu was pretty sophisticated compared with what we have seen recently. We did manage to erect our tents in the carpark to dry them out a bit, which was a blessing.

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Photos

Turns wet
Okavango Camp - less pleasant in the rain

Still raining
Rain follows us into Namibia

First night not camping
First night not in roof tents