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Published: October 12th 2006
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Saturday the 9th and we crossed into Namibia headed for Etosha via Windhoek. Unfortunately, this is more than a day’s drive in our truck so we had to bush camp for 2 nights on the way there. Bush camping basically involves finding a rarely used road, which is not difficult in Namibia, and setting up camp alongside it. It’s fun to do the first time but the lack of facilities doesn’t appeal to most, especially when using the big outdoors toilet means you need to take a shovel with you…
We got to Windhoek mid-morning on the Sunday and were given a few hours to kill. On the weekends, most of the shops in Namibia close at 13:00 on a Saturday, so there wasn’t a lot to do. We did have a nice big lunch at the Spur though, and a real toilet was cause for excitement!
We were up early on the Monday following our 2nd night bush camping, which was made much more comfortable by Phil when he laid a bed of straw under the tent. We arrived at Etosha National Park just before 9am, set up camp at Namutomi and then went for a short game
drive. It is late in the dry season so game was plentiful around the waterholes.
In the afternoon we went on a 4 hour game drive and saw an amazing amount of game; lions, including a pride of 13 chilling by a waterhole, a herd of elephants bathing, black-backed jackal, kudu, springbok, zebra, wildebeest, giraffe, warthog, steenbok, gemsbok and loads of banded mongoose on the campsite raiding the rubbish bins!
After dinner we went to the floodlit waterhole and saw absolutely nothing, but we weren’t too concerned as we were still on a high after such a fantastic afternoon game drive.
On Tuesday we were up early so that we could break camp and be out of the camp site gate as it opened. After a 5.5 hour game drive we stopped for lunch and a swim at Halali camp and then a few more hours’ game drive to Okaukuejo where we set up camp for the night. The game viewing today was yet again spectacular, but it was a very long day in the back of a very dusty truck - we were shattered. Sightings today included; lions, elephants, red hartebeest, dik diks, yellow mongoose, secretary
bird, hyenas, black-faced impala, zebras, wildebeest, giraffe, black rhino and jackals.
Our visit to the waterhole in the evening was much more rewarding than the previous night and we were entertained by the antics of elephants, jackals, black rhinos and giraffe.
On Wednesday we bid a sad farewell to Etosha, but not without a few hours’ game drive on the way to the gate which was well worth it as we saw 2 leopards and a pair of honey badgers. Like Chobe, we’ll definitely make plans to come back here again.
We arrived at a Cheetah park mid-afternoon which was also our campsite for the night and were gutted to discover there was no water in the pool as it was a stinking hot day. We met 3 domesticated cheetahs in the owners’ front garden and then were driven into a large enclosure to see 16 other cheetahs being fed which was quite a sight. These were cheetahs that would have been shot by farmers protecting their livestock, but instead have been put into the sanctuary.
September 14th - Today we’re headed for Swakopmund via the White Lady San Rock Paintings and a night’s bush camp.
We only had 25kms of tar road and then it was dirt road all the way, to say it was dusty would be the understatement of the year. The rock paintings were a round trip hike of 2 hours into the Brandenburg Mountains. It was hot and dusty and the paintings are not very easy to make out anymore, but Phil enjoyed the walk. Laura wisely opted not to go.
We arrived in Swakopmund on the Friday after a very brief visit to the Cape Cross Seal Colony which is extremely smelly, hence the brief visit.
We had 3 nights in Swakopmund at a backpacker’s hostel. After braving the 6-to-a-dorm sleeping arrangements for the first night (we’re too old for this dormitory lark!) we managed to get a double room upgrade for the remaining two - a bed…with clean sheets…and pillows…and our own bathroom!!!! Way Hey!
Most of the weekend was spent wandering around town, getting the laundry done and eating good food that we didn’t have to cook ourselves. The majority of our truck group did a sky-dive on the Saturday and all returned looking suitably adrenaline drenched. We opted for a less hectic afternoon at
the local pub’s version of an Oktoberfest. The food and beer was great, though the music was a bit dodgy! Rumour had it that Wesley Snipes was in town for his next film - he didn’t turn up at the Oktoberfest though.
On Sunday Phil went quad-biking over the sand dunes and had an awesome time, definitely one of the highlights of the trip. Laura caught up on emails and went for a walk on the beach. That evening we had dinner at the Tug restaurant on the beachfront. The restaurant seems to have been built around the bridgework of an old tugboat. The food was fantastic and we had a wonderful view out to sea - highly recommended.
Leaving Swakopmund to recover from a backpacker’s invasion, we headed for Sesrium on the18th - i.e. the dessert! The scenery through the desert and mountains is stunning. The roads seem to be infinitely long and there are very few other cars, sometimes you won’t see another car for an hour or so!
The truck blew a back tyre on the way. We all pitched in and were on our way again within 30mins, arriving at the Sesrium campsite
in time for a couple of drinks and dinner. Early start tomorrow…
In the morning we were on our way by 6am headed for Dune 45, made famous by Microsoft who include a photo of it in their sample gallery, with the intention of climbing to the top in time for sunrise. A number of factors prevented us from doing this, time was one of them, but fitness was the primary one. We made it half way up by the time the sun started to appear and that is where we stayed - chests heaving, sucking in the dust! Wow - it was really tough going, however we managed to recover sufficiently to enjoy the sunrise and the magnificent changes in colour as the sun rose.
After breakfast at the foot of the dune we drove to where we could walk 4kms to Soussousvlei - a pan surrounded by dunes. It was a 2 hour walk through sand and was tough going. It also brought back horrible memories of the Tour de Kruger for Laura! At least we weren’t falling off bikes this time…!!
That night we bush camped, en route to the Fish River Canyon.
September 20th, our last full day in Namibia, we had a short drive to our campsite and spent the day relaxing. Late afternoon we headed for the canyon, we weren’t allowed to go into the canyon, but the views from above were a truly impressive sight.
We had a cheese and wine evening at one of the canyon look-out points and watched the sun set. All very civilised you might think, which it was until we got back on the truck and headed back to the camp site. The wine continued to flow, then the vodka and pretty much anything else we could lay our hands on. By the end of the evening pretty much everyone was snot-flying-drunk and there were some rather unhappy neighbouring campers who were trying to get some sleep. They got their revenge at 4 in the morning when they broke camp none too quietly - karma.
It was a great send-off to a very enjoyable stay in Nambia, we’ll be back…
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