Overland Trip - A post from Swakopmund Nambibia
20 Day overland Trip
Cape Town - Vic Falls
via Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and maybe Zambia
Here as some excerpts from my diary....you may want to find a good Southern Africa map to help trace the steps…
Day 1
Today we met early morning in Cape Town. Our guides are Walt and Annamarie, and there are 7 others on the tour, one american, two germans, and the rest canadians. WE headed for Blouberg and picked up groceries. Av and I picked up a 2nd adapter to charge the ipod and then went to McDonald's for our final "western" meal. We then headed north towards Citrusdal and the Cederberg. WE stopped just before Citrusdal at a farm, where we had lunch and did wine tasting. It got entirely out of hand, as we tried 15 wines and 3 ports. Then we had a shot of some gross green mint liqueur. Tipsy like sailors, we continued another 20km to a luxury campsite and set up our tents. The "2 man tent" could sleep 4, plus there are 2 mattresses for everyone, it's almost decadent. We had an awesome dinner of honey mustard chicken with rice and salad and the Walt (guide) explained the trip in more detail.
Day 2
Woken at 6am for a 7:30 departure and one of the longest driving legs of the trip, we left for the SA/Namibia border via the Namaqualand area. WE stopped in Clanwilliam for groceries and supplies for "The punch". Here we ran into the worlds largest bags of cheezies, 1kg bags! They were different flavours, including chutney, and we quickly snapped a photos so we wouldn't forget the ridiculousness. All the way past Springbok to Vioolsdrif and the Fiddlers Creek campsite on the Orange River. Av and I went for a quick, very dusty jog and then swam (to Namibia) with all our clothes on. (The Orange River divides South Africa and Namibia and we swam around the buoy in the middle). The campsite was super cool, all bamboo tied together to make showers that overlook the river, and there's a bar. It almost looked like a cheezy luau movie set, especially with a lamb on the braii. We were very hungry after a not so enjoyable rice salad with condensed milk lunch, and were prepared a traditional SA bbq! We then tackled the "ice breaker punch", sat around the campfire, and then went to the bar overlooking the river.
Day 3
We left for the border at 9am. It went smoothly, and we then hit dirt road which we stayed on for the next 1500km. Once in the Nambian desert, we all got out and walked for 10 minutes in our direction, just to sit and absorb the vastness of the soundless open space. Once back to the truck, we climbed up on to the roof and Walt used a broom handle to draw Namibia in the sand and give us a bit of a history lesson as well as a more detailed itinerary. By 1-ish, we arrived at Ai-Ais Hot Springs at the end of the Orange River. Unfortunately, the hot springs were inside, a tacky venue with blue and orange paint, but enjoyable nonetheless. We continued on driving and arrived at the campsite with just enough time to set up our tents and then head an extra 12km to the main viewing point of the Fish River Canyon, the 2nd oldest canyon in the world. Here we watched the sunset, and saw a lightning storm light up the night sky. Av and I got to ride on top of the truck out to the canyon, super cool. It was quite brisk out and we opted to stay in our tent and play crib until our pasta dinner and early night.
Day 4
Today is our longest driving leg, 640km to just outside Soussesvlei all on dirt roads. We have stopped in Seeheim for breakfast. Av and I ate PBJ while everyone else had bacon, eggs and coffee (at their additional expense). I also took a couple of photos of the neighborhood children who were spying on us. ON the way there, we drove over a big puddle, so we all climbed out and took action shots of the truck getting muddy. WE stopped quickly in Bethanie for gas, and ran into more local kids. Later on at the lunch spot there was another 5 children...so 3 separate photo ops for kids today. The dust in the truck was terrible, making my head cold almost unbearable, but luckily we arrived, finally, at Sesriem where I could shower. After some leisurely time b the fire and a Windhoek (beer) from the bar, we had a feast of Shepard's pie and it was off to bed because of an action packed day starting at 5am.
Day 5
4:30am rise to leave for Dune 45 at 5:05am. After a bumpy ride, we arrived just in time to race up the 150m vertical climb. I carried the stuff and sent Av running up to make sure we wouldn't miss the perfect sunrise photo op. IT was stunning. The red sand (from iron oxide) and the blue sky was incredible. Avaleigh filled almost my entire camera chip with photos (80pics!). We had a blast taking photos and just gawking in awe. IT also made us excited for the possibility of sandboarding in Swakopmund. WE enjoyed bacon and eggs once we got down from the dune, and then sat on top of the trick for the bumpy 15km drive to Dead Vlei. We boarded a safari bus, which took us an additional 6km through deep sand and then walked 1.1km through the Namib desert to Dead Vlei. Along the way, Walt and Geseggie(or Annamarie...) told us how the dead trees there are 1700 years old (they were 800 when they died 700 years ago), about Crazy Dune that is a 300-340m vertical climb, how to survive in the desert and other interesting things. For eg., when the Germans were colonizing Namibia, they brought in camels. These camels, who eventually perished because the Namib desert is different than the Sahara, went straight for this tree this is now called the Camel Thorn (its also spiky as you may have imagined). The Namib desert is the oldest in the world, 1/30th the size of the sahara and home to 200+ kinds of beetles. Av and I were lucky enough to see a Christmas Dancing Lizard which is red and green and when it pauses is stalls on opposite hand and foot and keeps switching to keep col. After a million more photos, we retraced our steps back to camp, packed up, had lunch and then off to Sesriem canyon. An old river bed at only 30m deep, we climbed inside and walked around. Another 80km down the road to Solitaire, our camp for the night. The smallest registered town in Namibia, home to 12 people, we enjoyed apple crumble pie and fresh coffee from the local shop and its owner Mop. Walt then arranged for us to stay at a farm instead of the tacky local lodge, where we have access to a bath and a living room with couches.
Another interested story the Walt told that I forgot to write about earlier….His father owned a small 27000 hectare farm on the edge of what now is Etosha (in Namibia). His father would go there on weekends and holidays to tend to the 100 or so cows, but Walt says he was more of a fence repair man than a farmer. Apparently elephants used to trample the fences as did “South African troops who were chasing terrorists”. A little different than the problems facing Canadian farmers today….
More from Vic Falls or Jo’burg around May 20th…
Happy Mothers Days to all the mothers on May 8th and Happy Birthday to Elke and Grandpa on May 10th…
Anna*
Cape Town - Vic Falls
via Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and maybe Zambia
Here as some excerpts from my diary....you may want to find a good Southern Africa map to help trace the steps…
Day 1
Today we met early morning in Cape Town. Our guides are Walt and Annamarie, and there are 7 others on the tour, one american, two germans, and the rest canadians. WE headed for Blouberg and picked up groceries. Av and I picked up a 2nd adapter to charge the ipod and then went to McDonald's for our final "western" meal. We then headed north towards Citrusdal and the Cederberg. WE stopped just before Citrusdal at a farm, where we had lunch and did wine tasting. It got entirely out of hand, as we tried 15 wines and 3 ports. Then we had a shot of some gross green mint liqueur. Tipsy like sailors, we continued another 20km to a luxury campsite and set up our tents. The "2 man tent" could sleep 4, plus there are 2 mattresses for everyone, it's almost decadent. We had an awesome dinner of honey mustard chicken with rice and salad and the Walt (guide) explained the trip in more detail.
Day 2
Woken at 6am for a 7:30 departure and one of the longest driving legs of the trip, we left for the SA/Namibia border via the Namaqualand area. WE stopped in Clanwilliam for groceries and supplies for "The punch". Here we ran into the worlds largest bags of cheezies, 1kg bags! They were different flavours, including chutney, and we quickly snapped a photos so we wouldn't forget the ridiculousness. All the way past Springbok to Vioolsdrif and the Fiddlers Creek campsite on the Orange River. Av and I went for a quick, very dusty jog and then swam (to Namibia) with all our clothes on. (The Orange River divides South Africa and Namibia and we swam around the buoy in the middle). The campsite was super cool, all bamboo tied together to make showers that overlook the river, and there's a bar. It almost looked like a cheezy luau movie set, especially with a lamb on the braii. We were very hungry after a not so enjoyable rice salad with condensed milk lunch, and were prepared a traditional SA bbq! We then tackled the "ice breaker punch", sat around the campfire, and then went to the bar overlooking the river.
Day 3
We left for the border at 9am. It went smoothly, and we then hit dirt road which we stayed on for the next 1500km. Once in the Nambian desert, we all got out and walked for 10 minutes in our direction, just to sit and absorb the vastness of the soundless open space. Once back to the truck, we climbed up on to the roof and Walt used a broom handle to draw Namibia in the sand and give us a bit of a history lesson as well as a more detailed itinerary. By 1-ish, we arrived at Ai-Ais Hot Springs at the end of the Orange River. Unfortunately, the hot springs were inside, a tacky venue with blue and orange paint, but enjoyable nonetheless. We continued on driving and arrived at the campsite with just enough time to set up our tents and then head an extra 12km to the main viewing point of the Fish River Canyon, the 2nd oldest canyon in the world. Here we watched the sunset, and saw a lightning storm light up the night sky. Av and I got to ride on top of the truck out to the canyon, super cool. It was quite brisk out and we opted to stay in our tent and play crib until our pasta dinner and early night.
Day 4
Today is our longest driving leg, 640km to just outside Soussesvlei all on dirt roads. We have stopped in Seeheim for breakfast. Av and I ate PBJ while everyone else had bacon, eggs and coffee (at their additional expense). I also took a couple of photos of the neighborhood children who were spying on us. ON the way there, we drove over a big puddle, so we all climbed out and took action shots of the truck getting muddy. WE stopped quickly in Bethanie for gas, and ran into more local kids. Later on at the lunch spot there was another 5 children...so 3 separate photo ops for kids today. The dust in the truck was terrible, making my head cold almost unbearable, but luckily we arrived, finally, at Sesriem where I could shower. After some leisurely time b the fire and a Windhoek (beer) from the bar, we had a feast of Shepard's pie and it was off to bed because of an action packed day starting at 5am.
Day 5
4:30am rise to leave for Dune 45 at 5:05am. After a bumpy ride, we arrived just in time to race up the 150m vertical climb. I carried the stuff and sent Av running up to make sure we wouldn't miss the perfect sunrise photo op. IT was stunning. The red sand (from iron oxide) and the blue sky was incredible. Avaleigh filled almost my entire camera chip with photos (80pics!). We had a blast taking photos and just gawking in awe. IT also made us excited for the possibility of sandboarding in Swakopmund. WE enjoyed bacon and eggs once we got down from the dune, and then sat on top of the trick for the bumpy 15km drive to Dead Vlei. We boarded a safari bus, which took us an additional 6km through deep sand and then walked 1.1km through the Namib desert to Dead Vlei. Along the way, Walt and Geseggie(or Annamarie...) told us how the dead trees there are 1700 years old (they were 800 when they died 700 years ago), about Crazy Dune that is a 300-340m vertical climb, how to survive in the desert and other interesting things. For eg., when the Germans were colonizing Namibia, they brought in camels. These camels, who eventually perished because the Namib desert is different than the Sahara, went straight for this tree this is now called the Camel Thorn (its also spiky as you may have imagined). The Namib desert is the oldest in the world, 1/30th the size of the sahara and home to 200+ kinds of beetles. Av and I were lucky enough to see a Christmas Dancing Lizard which is red and green and when it pauses is stalls on opposite hand and foot and keeps switching to keep col. After a million more photos, we retraced our steps back to camp, packed up, had lunch and then off to Sesriem canyon. An old river bed at only 30m deep, we climbed inside and walked around. Another 80km down the road to Solitaire, our camp for the night. The smallest registered town in Namibia, home to 12 people, we enjoyed apple crumble pie and fresh coffee from the local shop and its owner Mop. Walt then arranged for us to stay at a farm instead of the tacky local lodge, where we have access to a bath and a living room with couches.
Another interested story the Walt told that I forgot to write about earlier….His father owned a small 27000 hectare farm on the edge of what now is Etosha (in Namibia). His father would go there on weekends and holidays to tend to the 100 or so cows, but Walt says he was more of a fence repair man than a farmer. Apparently elephants used to trample the fences as did “South African troops who were chasing terrorists”. A little different than the problems facing Canadian farmers today….
More from Vic Falls or Jo’burg around May 20th…
Happy Mothers Days to all the mothers on May 8th and Happy Birthday to Elke and Grandpa on May 10th…
Anna*
posted by Anna* @ 2:27 AM
1 Comments:
At May 15, 2005 at 10:36 AM,
Anonymous said…
Belated Happy Birthday Anna. We just returned from our trip to Malaysia to see Mike. We had a great time with him. My thoughts turned to you around Mother's Day because it triggered my recall of your birthday. Sounds like this one will be very special. Hope the day was fun and that your great adventure with Avaleigh has gone well so far. Hi to Avaleigh too!
Diana.
(Hi and Happy Birthday from Joe too!)
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