Namibia to South Africa

---

Leaving Etosha behind we visited a cheetah park at Outjiwango where a local farmer has dedicated some of his land to maintaining the cheetah population. Many farmers shoot them as they kill livestock but tourism is more lucrative. He has 3 semi-tame cheetahs in his house which have been reared from young and the 14 wild ones (+cubs) are in the park behind fencing.

So after stroking a cheetah, like you would a domestic cat, and watching them feed up close we all jumped on a 4x4 which the wild ones know as the food truck, the driver throwing meat out to them one by one. To see cheetahs run upto the truck at high speed and then circle the vehicle waiting to be fed is quite something.

From there we moved on to visit the local Himba population, who are nomadic and still try to live as they have done for hundreds of years. Water is a valuable asset here so they wash with Okra, the women are semi naked and the men have multiple wives.

The head of the tribe was a very funny man cracking jokes with us. It was also Carla´s 30th birthday which we tried to celebrate with cake, balloons and wine that evening.

From the Himba people we moved onto Twylfontein and the Brandberg mountains which are famous for it´s "White Lady" rock engravings. The campsite we stayed at was famous for a local ostrich that had eaten washing sponges and was to be treated with caution. The meerkats and other animals were just as entertaining.

We then moved onto Swakopmund which was the first town of any substance we had seen in quite some time.

We ate well that evening and the following day hopped on a catamaran that took us out to see Sea-Lions, Pelicans and Dolphins.

Whilst we drank sherry at 10am, some of the Sea Lions have learnt to board the boat for food and allow you to sit next to them. Off Swakopmund there are colonies that number 1.8m . We also fed Pelicans that follow the boat in the hope of an easy meal and they are jokingly referred to as the Namibian Air Force. The pinnacle though is watching dolphins swim alongside and under the boat. They truly are beautiful creatures and it is a joy to see them in the wild. If that is not enough we were then encouraged to eat fresh Oysters with fizzy wine. We needed no further encouragement.

After buying curios we left Swakopmund for the desert stopping at Dune 45, which we both climbed and then Soussosvlei and Dead Vlei which is where what was once forest has been cut off from the water supply by the advancing desert. As there is no moisture the forest does not decompose and so you have petrified forest as the wood cannot rot in those conditions.

From here we then travelled onwards to Cape Town stopping at Fish River Canyon (2nd or 3rd largest Canyon in the world), we had a crack at Canoeing in South Africa (not Andy´s natural vacation in life), wine tasting, hot thermal outdoor baths and finishing in Cape Town in front of Table Mountain, getting soaked on the beach in the process.

I don´t like to name drop but Carla (not Andy) spotted Freddy Flintoff in a Harley Davidson shop. I shook his hand, wished him the best of luck, but it appears not to have done him much good as England went out of the 20 20 cup soon after and he is now injured. We watched the SA Eng rugby game in our hotel and it was bloody terrible but if it means we win the world cup in the days ahead, thats fine by me.

And that was Africa - on the whole good memories that will stay with us forever.

---

Photos

Andy and the Cheetah
Nice pussy