Swakopmund to Sesriem

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Swakopmund to Sesriem



At the start of our 284 kms journey we hit a detour and the Garmin took us in totally the wrong direction. Simon and Claire were behind us and we all agreed that the direction felt wrong. Finally managed to find where we were on the map only to find that we had driven 56 kms at right angles to where we wanted to go. Drove back again and then totally ignored the Garmin as it was trying to take us 800 kms out of our way. We were heading for Solitaire which it did not recognise. 284 kms turned into 396 kms. Satnavs!?*



On our way to Sesriem today we stayed behind Charmaine and John whose gearbox was still playing up and we didn't want then to break down in the middle of nowhere on their own. The mechanic had had to leave us temporarily to travel 7 hours to try and get some parts. Simon and Claire's and another van both had broken shock absorbers and a variety of bits were beginning to break or fall off the vans. By this time in the journey several people had lost the spare tyre they carried in a cage under their vans, including Simon and Claire.

About 2-3 kms before the next campsite we shredded a tyre and I really mean SHREDDED!

Replaced it and got the damaged one sorted near the campsite. It was only about 11am and the mechanic at the garage had 2 great big piles of punctured tyres which were all from today so far.

When we finally reached the site the 2 people in front of us got stuck in the sand and when we came back from sorting our tyre there were 5 more people stuck in the sand. We narrowly missed the same predicament. Eventually they brought in a JCB to pull people out.

Tomorrow we are going to some very big sand dunes to see, we hope, the "spectacular' sunrise and Mark and I will go for a ride up the dunes in a 4x4 ... with luck.

Four more days to go in the desert. An experience but I think once is enough as the heat is suffocating. The washing dries incredibly quickly though! Went for a soak in the 'hippo' pool today ... called this as it is small and nobody swims. They all just wallow in it and try to cool down.

We have seen lots of huge communal birds nests today. Sometimes the weavers build their own ball shaped nests which hang from the trees and sometimes they add on to each others and form a massive structure. Very interesting. Have a look at the photos to see them.

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