Blogs from Namibia, Africa - page 117

Bloemfontein was a major disappointment. There was nothing to do and the place I stayed in was appalling. I arrived at the Naval Hill Backpackers and was given a room only to have it taken away from me again because it had already been allocated to someone else. They then put is in a shed type building, which I had to share with 2 other people. It was the coldest and smelliest room I have ever stayed in in my life. In addition it rained all day. I was extremely glad to get away from the place. After my night from hell in Bloemfontein I travelled on the Intercape Mainliner to Upington from where I caught another Intercape coach to Keetmanshoop in Namibia. The Intercape was pretty expensive but they did give me free tea and ... read more

Hey everyone, Oh my god i am absolutely having the best time out here and i lov every second of it. It is like nothing you could ever imagine here and the people im with are fantastic! I dont have very long on the internet so just quickly il run you through my day today - Get up at 6am and have breakfast - Put Tallulah back in her enclosure: a Meerkat who has become rather attached to me and sleeps in my bed with me at night...so so cute, cant wait to show you pictures! - Go and feed the cheetahs, wild dogs, monkey and 1yr old lion all by hand - Take Pride and Trust out for a walk, the baby lion and cheetah, who are about 5 mths old and are absolutely adorable ... read more

Hi everyone, well i have safely arrived here and everything is going surprisingly a smoothly. I have met up with the other two girls that were arriving at the same time as me and we have just trundled into town to Windhoek to see whats going on. They have the most amazing markets with all types of things in them but i dont want to buy anthing just yet because it means carrying it on my back for the next 6wks!! Namibia is so barren, there is absolutely nothing for miles around outside the city. When we were landing it appeared that we just came down onto the plain because there were no buildings around or any sign of civilisation! We even had to walk across the runway to get to the airport builing!! I move ... read more

Hello all, I am just writing to let you know I am still alive after I did a SKYDIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I never, ever thought I was brave enough to do one. After two days of leaping 50 feet off the top of a boat into a lake in Zambia, I was after something slightly more scary - though there were crocodiles in the lake which gave things an interesting twist. I announced to the entire truck I was going to do a skydive in Swakopmund over the sand dunes, just so everyone knew which meant I couldn't back out or I'd be seriously uncool. What I hadn't banked on was doing one AN HOUR after we arrived in Swakopmund because they had space that afternoon. As soon as they said that, my legs went hollow and I ... read more

After the non-stop thrills of the Northern Adventure with the camping and early-morning starts, it was nice to get a night’s sleep in a real bed without a tent companion - however well Yvonne and I had got on as tent buddies. The evocatively-named Rivendell Guesthouse in Windhoek (though I was disappointed that there was not an elf in sight, let alone an Orlando Bloom look-alike) also provided space and time to re-pack and re-organise my somewhat tired-looking backpack. So, by the time Sunday dawned, I was raring to go on the Southern Swing (I’m still a bit dubious about the name, but there you go). This time, Yvonne, Veerle, Lisa and I found ourselves with only three additional companions: a Connecticut biology and chemistry teacher, a retired NHS Englishwoman and a Belgian “teacher of teachers”, ... read more