Entering Namibia and bush camping

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We left our Delta campsite at 8:00am, a lte start by normal standards! The good news is I have not been sick at all since starting to take the anti-sickness drugs. Nice that something actually does what it says on the tin! My knee also seems to be totally better finally and my foot is still progressing nicely - well as much as it can do out here.

We had a fairly long drive day, as most of our days will be in Namibia. It is a large country and we are travelling the whole length from North to South do some long drives and bush camping are inevitable. We crossed the Namibian border just after lunch and it was amazing at how different this border was to all of the others we have gone through. First of all we were the only people there! The buildings were nice and new and the immigration officials were actually really nice. Strangely I felt really disappointed and realised that I usually looked forward to border crossing days. Despite being a pain in the bum, they were always an event, an occassion where something usually happened to make you chuckle, or make you wish you were allowed to take photos. Oh well, I guess those days are over.

We were due to bush camp that night. We turned up at the spot we planned to camp at but it was only 5:00pm which was still too early to set up camp. This is because it is actually illegal to bush camp in Namibia and if we were caught we would have been made to move on immediately and also pay a US$1000 fine. So, we had to wait until it got dark before we could put up our tents and then most of us crawled into bed early, not much to do at a bush camp!!

Today we had an early morning and a very long drive day. We stopped in a town called Rundu to do a food shop. It is so much more westernised here, it is a very very different Africa and makes me feel nostalgic for the old one! You do get a lot less hassle here from the local people although they are still very interested in you and very friendly. I began reading a new book on the truck today which helps pass the long hours. Once again we are bush camping tonight. To get to this camp we had to drive 5km down a long sand road off of the main road. Needless to say we got stuck in the sand, badly, twice! It took ages for the guys to dig out the wheels, lay sandmats and get the truck out of there but once again its all part of the overland experience. T. I. A.

We reached our camping spot after a little while and it turned out that we were camping near a traditional village where the San people lived. We had the opportunity to do things with them whilst we were there like learning how to make traditional jewelry, go on a bush walk etc. I just enjooyed hanging out with them around the campfire and watching the singing and dancing that they performed for us. Most people were occupied throughout this with keeping an eye out for the dozens of deadly scorpions and spiders that are running around. I take the view that If I search for them, I find them and then I am scared. If I don't know where they are then I forget about them so I would rather not search in the first place. Hopefully that will work and I won't get bitten by one. The only advice one of the local San people gave me was if you do get bitten, try to catch and kill whatever bit you so that you can take it to the doctor with you. That way they know what they are dealing with! Good advice!

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