Blogs from Swakopmund, Namibia, Africa - page 3

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Africa » Namibia » Swakopmund August 30th 2013

The Europa Hof proved to be a chilly night's sleep, and the day was cold and bright. Strong sunshine meant you could warm up in the sun, but the air was around 14 degrees and blowing steadily. I spent a good bit of the morning writing up the blog, keeping one eye on John who was kitting out the new support vehicles. The previous two had been found wanting so were replaced by shiny new ones. A number of the keener riders decided to get new back tyres fitted at the local Yamaha dealership. For keener read more aggressive users of throttle and merciless abusers of rubber. Mine was looking pretty warn too, but in reality there was plenty enough to last us to Vic Falls. In the meantime Pam had wandered round the town, establishing ... read more

Africa » Namibia » Swakopmund August 29th 2013

Another 8:00AM start from the very pleasant Le Mirage. Today it will be around 300Km and a late lunch arrival at Swakopmund, if we get a move on. However, we are not the type to rush along if there is an experience to be had along the way, so we take our time, with no thought of making it to the Nando's for lunch. The other reason is that gravel roads tend to develop a wash-board like surface after a while. This, I have heard, is due to the bouncing suspension of the trucks and cars that pass over it. Its pretty fatiguing on the arms, butt, teeth, fillings and nerves and speeding over it is unpleasant for rider and pillion. Going faster would get it over with quicker I suppose, but the dental bills would ... read more
The Crumb Crowd
Totally Tropical
Dr Steve on Dune 7

Africa » Namibia » Swakopmund April 11th 2013

Resumo: Namíbia é muito diferente do que eu imaginava; Não encontrei algo que fosse a minha cara para trabalhar; Perdi a Memória; Estou bem. Ao cruzar a fronteira Zambia/Namibia percebi que tudo era bem diferente da Africa que eu estava acostumada a viajar. Desde Zimbabwe tudo mudou. Começou a ficar mais caro, as cidades eram maiores, predios, as pessoas falam bem ingles .. Cheguei em Windhoek (capital) e fiquei besta. Parecia Europa! Visitei uma "favela" - Katutura - mas que nada se compara as favelas que visitei em outros paises aqui na africa. Encontrei então o projeto 'Hope Village' que abrigava crianças orfãs. Eles tinham de tudo: comida, roupa, quarto limpo e arrumado, voluntarios .. me senti totalmente inutil. Acho que fiquei mal acostumada com os padroes da Leste Africano. Enfim, nao senti vontade de trabalhar ... read more
72km/h

Africa » Namibia » Swakopmund October 5th 2012

Swakopmund, Skeleton Coast, Namibia, 2 & 3 September After a slightly bumpy trip on a graded, unsealed road, we arrived in Swakopmund at about 11.30pm. Despite the bumps, 5 of us still managed to play a game of Yeuka and Cheat card games in the bus as we drove along. On the way, as we travelled we saw a mountain range which included the highest mountain in Namibia – Brandberg Mountain (Burnt Mountain in English). We also came across a ship wreck on the beach. All along this western coast of Africa is where the desert meats the Atlantic Ocean. Every now and then, we saw small seaside towns made up of very nice homes. This is from the financial influence of the diamond mining which Namibia is known for. When we arrived in the new ... read more
Toms Dune Bashing on Quadbike Namib Desert (17)
Beautiful Seafood Restaurant on Jetty Swakopmund (1)
Beautiful Seafood Restaurant on Jetty Swakopmund (2)

Africa » Namibia » Swakopmund August 31st 2012

We wake up early to leave at about 7:15AM and after eating the breakfast we ordered the previous day we pack the car and start the drive to Walvis Bay which is about 1/2h away. Unfortunately it is rush hour on the road between Swakopmund and Walvis Bay which mostly means large trucks behind which we are stuck for long periods of time so we arrive a bit late. On the way we are pleasantly surprised by the palm trees that line the road at the entrance to Walvis Bay and by the nice houses in some neighborhoods. There are however still areas typical of Namibia with unmarked crossings where people cross the busy highway from one (possibly) government built housing area to another. When we arrive at the meeting point we find out that another ... read more

Africa » Namibia » Swakopmund August 23rd 2012

Today I had a realtive sleep in as we weren't moving camp today so I didn't have to pack up anything. WOOHOO! I had to be ready about 8am to go fishing for the morning. I assumed I was going on a charter boat, but it turns out it wasn't. I ended up on a small commercial boat where a group of guys go out with rods (no commercial equipment) and just sell what they catch. It was a really different experience to what I expected. They obviously weren't set up as a tourist boat, but the owner did his best to make sure I was ok, and the crew always made sure I was good to go before anyone of the crew were ready. Over 4 hours we caught about 120 fish, mostly catfish, but ... read more

Africa » Namibia » Swakopmund August 22nd 2012

Today we had a short drive to Swakopmund vis the Walvis Bay airport. Unfortunately en route to Cape Town, Erica's bag was lost on one of the flights. Hettie had arranged for us to pick it up at the Walvis Bay airport. Once Erica had her bag back, it was the happiest I remember seeing anyone, it was really quite funny. Anyway, it was a really nice drive. To the left of the truck was Walvis Bay, an up and coming beach side town. On the right was just miles of desert. It was cool, it was as if it was one massive beach with a road running through it, it was surreal. Once we arrived in Swakopmund we had an appointment at the activity center to book our activities for the 2 days we were ... read more
Jump time
wooooo!
Mian cutting my hair

Africa » Namibia » Swakopmund August 8th 2012

Well we’ve just got back from the Messum Crater, a round trip of 393km taking nearly 9 hours, but well worth the effort. The crater is 35km from the nearest road and 20km across with no roads or signs just tracks made by the previous vehicles to visit. We hit the salt road north along the skeleton coast towards Henties Baai. Just before the town is the wreck of the Zeila, an Angolan fishing trawler that was wrecked on the coast four years ago. We called into Henties Baai where we made a quick stop to purchase the guide to the Messum Crater. Then we pushed on north with the Brandberg Mountain on the horizon, until just past Cape Cross before turning off road for the 40km run across the dirt track to the crater edge. ... read more
Messum Crater
View across Messum Crater
Rob with giant Welwitschia

Africa » Namibia » Swakopmund August 7th 2012

Today we had an early start: breakfast at 6.30am, ready to hit the road at 7am. We drove from Swakopmund to Walvis Bay, a pleasant drive down the coast. We left Swakopmund in brilliant sunshine, but as we approached Walvis Bay it started to get foggy. We were told that this is normal for WB: the day starts foggy, the fog lifts and it is a pleasant day for a while, then it starts to get windy about 11am. Our rendezvous was at Dolphins Cafe and our guides and five German tourists were already waiting with the vehicle and a trailer full of kayaks, so we got straight on the road. The road to Pelican Point starts as tarmac then becomes a salt road, which looks like tarmac but can be much more unstable. Apparently salt ... read more
Flamingos
Seals
More Seals

Africa » Namibia » Swakopmund July 27th 2012

Friday July 27 We're in Namibia! And Namibia has animals!! After one wrong turn and some really dusty bumpy roads, we hit the border around 4pm. Officials seemed confused when we asked them where immigration is but we sorted ourselves out and left Angola and crossed into Namibia without any hassle. Having changed money and needing to wait for the others, I couldn't resist the allure of ... KFC. I know, I know, it's not good for me, it's all crap but it smelt amazing and I gave in, craving even pretend meat. Buying chicken for Nico, Suse, Denise and myself along with chips (they had no gravy!) I ran back to the truck to see I still had plenty of time. Excellent. Once everyone was back on board, Suse announced that instead of bush camping, ... read more
The first photo taken.
Zebras at the water hole
Not quite a zebra crossing




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