Blogs from Namibia, Africa - page 122

Stuck First up again and showered, I helped to put down all but one tent. “I think folding the tents would be better than rolling. It has the dimensions for it,” pondered Albert. Geek. I was up to my elbows in mud, “Whatever Albert, but I’ll stick to rolling.” It had rained last night and our sandy clay floor had turned to mud. Team America swept brushed and folded their tent while I bundled mine together. We were running late again. The sun was out but with all the rain, the gravel roads had washed away making diversions inevitable. If we were lucky we would only arrive at Peter’s Farm before nightfall. The Namibian Desert was blooming with enduring plants and challenged all that I believed it would be. Yellow flowers were visibly flashing by ... read more

Plus Minus Forty Minutes. Last nights rain had subsided for a moment and the grey clouds hung low waiting for the right moment to dump its contents on us. Fat droplets started to splash on us when one of the staff members raced down the slope chattering excitedly and waving his hands towards the clouds. He nimbly dashed across the lawn and disappeared between the trees. “He’s saying the clouds are going this way. He’s excited because its going to rain!” Derick translated. It is not uncommon for the Namibians not to experience this kind of rain for over twenty years. So you can excuse a little African hand flailing madness. My mind tells me this is incredibly rare but having nothing to compare it to, I can only watch this man’s excitement as an expression ... read more

In Windhoek, we stayed at Cardboard Box Backpackers. We met Eitan, an Israeli & Toshi and Yutaka, two Japanese Backpackers. Together we rented a Toyota Corolla for a week to travel around Namibia. We also rented Camping gear, as Namibia is very expensive to travel on a budget. We first made our way north from Windhoek and our first stop was Ojitotongwe Cheetah Park near Kamanjab. As soon as we arrived at the White Namibian Farm, we were greeted by three Cheetahs walking around the Farm. These were tame Cheetahs, but we were still nervous to get too close to them. While we were waiting for the owner to take us on a Cheetah tour, we were busy clicking pictures of the tame Cheetahs. In the end, we were unable to go on the Wild Cheetah ... read more

Leaving Maun we travelled north along the western edge of the Okavango Delta. A few hours later we were at Mohembo border, crossing into Namibia. Another hour or so took us west along the Caprivi Strip to a small town called Rundu sandwiched by Angola and the Okavango River. Except for the initial flutter of excitement at being able to see Angola on the horizon there was nothing else of specific interest here. A nice enough campsite though and a good spot to break the onward journey to Etosha National Park. Of course, day 30 in the Big Brother Truck included, as normal, the 5.45 am (said as Ryan would say it!) wake up call and all contestants had their tents down by 6 ready for breakfast (nowadays we've gone upmarket and stashed up on bananas ... read more

I'm aware that I'm about 6 weeks behind on my diary so the next couple of entries will be brief, considering I didn't do that much in the first place no ones missing much... So I had actually driven down the road and was now in a different country. Coming from an island this is weird. What do they do for borders? Put fences up every where? The first thing I noticed was how cold it was. The second thing I noticed was how much it was raining. We arrived in Windoek at 6 am. My initial plan was to go to get some sleep on a nice flat bed as the coach, while comfortable for a coach didn't make for a nice relaxing slumber. I took the free transport to the Cardboard Box and waited ... read more