Advertisement
Published: November 25th 2008
Mark: Time for another blog I think! when I left you last I believe we were just embarking towards Botswana?! Well this is supposed to be one of the most tricky laborious border crossings in Southern Africa; well, in fact, it was the easiest we've done! Basically the border is crossed by ferry, which takes all the walking you normally do on a border crossing out of the equation! The only problem was that, finally, with us on the ferry, the African rains, which to be fair were a week overdue, decided to arrive. And oh did they arrive! Like a wet weekend in Bridlington! It was bucketing it down, and we obv had just shorts and t-shirt on! Never mind!
We got to the camp in Kasane, a town in Chobe National Park, before dark, and were greeted by the most incredibly unhelpful staff ever. This is a story that requires actions to describe, so I won't bore you with it, but suffice to say, being told that a shelter with a bench on is the self-caterers kitchen ISN'T helpful. After pitching our tent and doing a bit of food-shopping (don't know why we bothered, nowhere to cook it!),
we spent 24 hours resting up. The next evening was to be spent doing what we had come to Chobe for: the sunset cruise.
The sunset cruise was good fun, and again a completely new way to go on safari. We saw lots of birds: african darters, open billed cranes and fish eagles the main highpoint. Also saw plenty of hippos, crocs, baboons, buffalo, waterbuck, kudu, warthogs, and 3 elephants. Because the elephants had been in the mud they were really dark and looked very imposing. Also saw the red lechwe, an antelope species almost indigenous to this region, so that was cool.
Botswana, like Zambia, turned out to be more expensive than we expected, so, with the pound only gaining against the rand, we decided that zipping through Botswana and getting to Namibia where our money would be worth more, was a sensible plan. So the next 4 days we travelled a good 800km, which in Africa is like crossing an ocean.
This entailed a couple of long journeys to Ghanzi, about 200km from the Namibia border. Now from here, there just isn't public transport to Namibia. Only one thing for it then.....we hitch-hiked!
To
be fair, it is a well hitched route and was incredibly straightforward. We got picked up almnost instantly and after agreeing a (ridiculously low) price, hopped in to some random Botswanan's pick up truck, who took us all the way to the border, good man! Even better, he put westlife on for the entire 3 hour journey, a considerate chap! When we got to the border, we were lucky enough that one of the staff there happened to have to go and pick something up from home, which was in Gobabis. Perfect as this was our intended last stop on our way to Windhoek. So we went in his government car at like 190 km/h all the way, with air con and everything and he dropped us off with his mate, who gave us a lift to Windhoek! Perfect! And hardly cost us anything!
So....Namibia. Namibia is awesome, it's official. You sport fans will be pleased to know that Frankie Fredericks was in fact on the back page of every paper I saw, apprently he is running for Athletics President or something! The amazing influx of modern culture was quite shocking for us at first after almost 2 months
of deepest, truest Africa. We went to the cinema like 4 times! KFC, wimpy! Shopping complexes, so strange! I mean, it felt at time like you could be anywhere in the western world.....and then we got the overnight train to Swakopmund....and we knew....we weren't in Namibia after all, we were in GERMANY!
Seriously Swakopmund is the most German place in the world! More german than Germany. I went in a shop, they said 'guten tag!' The menus were in German! All the tourists were German! Our guesthouse was called 'Gruner Krantz!' Says it all really. We loved Swakopmund though. It was here that we dipped our toes in the Atlantic (well, Lou did) so we had officially crossed continent by land, a massive achievement. Also it was here that I made a complete fool of myself sandboarding. Now Louise showed a fair amount of natural aptitude for throwing herself down a sand cliff on a board at 70 km/h, whereas I...well we got a video, you'll see the wipeouts!
After returning to Windhoek we went on the tour that we had come to Namibia for: the tour of the Namib desert. On this tour we met some real
characters: Walter from Holland, who was in search of the Cape Fox, and talked about nothing else! 4 German girls who were rude and we didnt like. Rachel, a mental English girl, who was like a breath of fresh air. In her words "Finally, someone who gets sarcasm!" And Kyle, oh Kyle. You wouldnt believe that someone from Detroit could be as cool as this man, but seriously, this guy rules!
For Louise I think this must have been one of the biggest highlights ever because it was like a geographer's paradise. The dunes were absolutely mindblowing. We climbed dune 45 early in the morning which was a 150m slog, but cos it was still quite cool wasnt too much hard work, and the views at the top made it totally worthwhile. Then, after breakfast we set off on the trip of a lifetime. Through the dunes, up and over them, for 6, incredibly hot, kms. Walking it was torture, but when we reached the ephemeral stillness and other-worldliness of Dead Vlei and Sossuvlei, everything was put in perspective. Surrounded on all sides by dunes, one of which some mentalists climbed (350m!), I was blown away. For me, one
of the top 3 things in Africa so far.
Well, I've probably rambled enough now, Although I would like to just to point out the culinary delights we sampled in Namibia:
Kudu: big fatty antelope, lacks in flavour. A disappointment.
Springbok: small, lean, really tasty, shame you always get a tiny portion.
Oryx: Best meat in Africa I think, like the best fillet steak you ever had.
Zebra: Like Oryx, just not quite as tasty.
Crocodile: Yuk: Like really tough chicken. Won't be having it again/
Ostrich: Leanest meat there is and very popular, good, but in my opinion doesnt have the manliness of an Oryx or Zebra!
Well, just to finally point out, we are now in Cape Town. Went wine tasting yesterday and explored some of the sights today, including the apartheid museum and castle. Going up Table Mountain tomorrow so will post again in a couple of weeks after Louise has treated me on my birthday lol!
Hope everyone is well....take care and lots of love
Mark and Louise xxx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.141s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 11; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0426s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Kyle
non-member comment
Where's Intercape?
Mark, I appreciate the nice comments you made about me, but I'm a little disappointed there is no mention of Intercape in this blog. I know that bus service you guys took in Asia is the UEFA league of bus services, making Intercape look like the MLS, but I still think Intercape deserves a nod!