Coming into land!

9.15am local time. Very smooth and gentle landing in the middle of nowhere, mountains in the distance a few buildings now coming into view.

Lunch!

Lovely lunch followed by a \240lazy day by the pool at Windhoek country club having seen two giraffe and an ostrich on the drive over.

Arnie and Jo arrived for a delicious buffet supper ending with a very tasty, local Malva pudding.

Tomorrow we get our wagons and head south.

Our route mapped out!

Route book

Namibia is the second safest country in Africa, when we stop for shopping or lunch and we leave cars there is a car guard who watches the cars for a tip (10ND-50p). Tonight we won’t need to lock our cars because we are in the middle of nowhere!

We are told that the accommodation ahead is mixed, there will be good and bad surprises which sounds interesting! There are about 40 of us on the trip, a mixture of English, Swiss, Welsh, some travelling alone and some in groups.. We have WhatsApp groups already to warn of speed traps and give updates. All of us have Sat phones which enable us to call for help wherever we are. Today we leave Windhoek and the next town is Swakopmund on day 7. We are warned of elephants later in the trip.

Driving advice includes information on wheelbase being 1.5 bigger than what we are used to, visibility on reversing non-existent, not covered to drive at night except in towns because of the risk of hitting Zebra, Oryx etc. Drive with lights on always, warning of punctures (between 5-20 per trip) it’s going to happen as we are on gravel roads for 50% of the time, tyres are on lower pressure than the manuals to give a bit more suspension on bumpy tracks. Overtaking is tricky give wide berth and flash lights. All trucks are diesel, twin tanked which means that fuel gauge only moves when first tank is used and second tank starts to be used, need to keep tank full as petrol stations and few and far between and we are driving long distances. At four way junctions the locals don’t stop but we are advised too! Police checks are frequent, stop sign but thee may be no police there, we are advised to stop anyway and wait until we are given the sign to move, locals don’t stop! Speed limits are up to 120km on tarmac and 80km on gravel. Namibia is dangerous place to drive statistically due to night driving (not allowed) and roll over on gravel, we are told to stick to speed limits and not to use steering if we loose control on gravel just ride it out. Driving on soft sand using four wheel drive will be shown and practiced tonight, we are told to stop and give up if we get stuck otherwise we will dig in and get it buried, wait for help and lots of us will push it out. We are given warning of cattle grids which are dangerous because they are proud of the road and must be taken slowly. This is a light day’s driving and will be followed by three long days.

Rather a long entry today we have had a lovely drive mostly on tarmac roads with a little bit on gravel and a sandy drive to the lodge. We had a quick picnic lunch on the side of the road and then drove to the most wonderful lodge on the edge of the Kalahari dessert.

Our hut for the night!

More of the view.

Glorious cool pool.

A wonderful end to the day staying in the most divine place, we swam, we did some yoga type stretching and we had a sun downer before supper round a fire outside. Tomorrow we head further south to Fish river canyon, it’s an early start.

We drove for 250km surrounded by vastness, spectacular views and the occasional roadworks. The scenery is Great Plains of shrub ridden dust punctuated by mountain ranges and the odd lone Ricky outcrop and a few whispy sand flurries. Beautiful and barren at the same time.

We stopped for coffee at a quirky bush campsite surrounded by Quiver trees and with an interesting selection of vehicles with stuffed dummies in them, quite bizarre in the middle of absolutely nowhere! Also here were large rocks piled and called giants playground, these are metamorphic volcanic rocks which haven’t eroded like the surrounding sedimentary.

Quiver trees with golden bark.

Lunch was a quickish pit stop for a cheese toastie at a gin distillery, delicious home made date bread!

The final stop of the day was the most spectacular Fish a river Canyon, the second largest canyon in the world which was just amazing. The surrounding area was like a moonscape.

Then on to our night three stop at a delightful lodge in the middle of nowhere with a refreshingly cold pool surrounded by small marmot like animals eating the grass while we sipped a cup of tea. Supper was delicious oryx, lamb, salads, veg, ginger pudding. A truly spectacular day!

We came down to the Orange River, a sudden oasis of green in an otherwise barren land. We came round the corner and saw a fully grown vineyard on the banks of the river. The river forms the border with South Africa.

We stopped to take some photos and happened upon a gang of monkeys leaping into the river and swimming he short distance from Namibia to South Africa.

Monkeys swimming across the river from Namibiato RSA.

The drive continued to be spectacular with tremendous views of mountains, deserts, the occasional tree, ostrich, picnic spot but mostly just amazing views and at one point a dead straight road over 30km long.

We stopped to look at a Prisioner of war camp used by the South African’s to house German soldiers in WW1, it was marked by a monument and there were the remains of the bricks the Germans made to build a more substantia camp then the one they had been given.

After a great lunch we drive the 120km to Luderitz on the coast a windy, port town, tonight we stay in a lovely hotel overlooking the ocean.

View from room, port to right.

A short drive led us to the derelict diamond mine of Kolmanskop, this mine was in use from 1908 when a railway worker stumbled across a shiny stone to 1958 by which time the Germans had taken all the diamonds. A full town was built there was no fresh water this had to come from Cape Town by boat in barrels.

Kolmanskop Diamond mine.

Money was no object, this was the richest place in the world at one time. They built a gymnasium, hospital, tram delivery to every house, a lemonade factory and \240a salt water swimming pool for which the water had to be brought 10km from Luderitz.

Artefacts from the shop

The tram

Every morning the tram would deliver I’ve and lemonade to every house, the ice would be added to the fridge to keep everything cool. \240All this in the 1910s and of course only made possible with slave labour.

There was an interesting section on the lengths people went to to smuggle diamonds from the mine - pigeons, crossbows, modified shoes, notebooks and secreted in the body. Here was the site of the first X-ray machine in the southern hemisphere for checking bodies!

We saw wild horses, very glossy and healthy looking, they live on the plains in large numbers.

We then drove off into the desert along and around a lengthy mountain range. Here the landscape was orange sand with the very occasional tree. It was truly breathtaking, we drove for 200km and the scenery kept changing, it’s hard to describe and the photos don’t do it justice, it has to be seen, it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen, the Namib desert.

We arrived at our spot for the night, it was 42 degrees the pool was deliciously cool and the houses gorgeous, nestled into the desert, each one perfectly placed with lovely bathroom. We had wonderful salads for supper with zebra (but chewy) and Eland (tender, a bit like venison.

Wonderful sunset!

Tomorrow we are meeting at 6am to travel to ‘Big Daddy’ the local dune, the drive is much shorter tomorrow.

In other news my crazy mother went swimming in the sea on Hayling, it’s not 40 degrees there! 😂😂

Mad and brave!

Big Daddy!

Luckily it was slightly overcast and earlyish when we set off for the climb. We walked upwards on soft sand for just over an hour, staying on the ridges and making our own paths, spirits were high and as we made the ascent the views became more and more splendid. We could see for miles, we all stood on the top, in a line on the ridge and just marvelled at the expanse, the colours of the Namib desert are like nothing I’ve ever seen. Orange, red, pink, browns- just wonderful!

View from the top!

Us on the ridge!

So we made it to the top in just over an hour slowly and steadily, we marvelled at the top for 10 minutes or so and then came the descent, which was something else. We came down the other side slowly at first and then picking up speed, soon we were running down the sand knee deep in sand and keeping the rhythm going. As our feet moved through the sand came marvellous notes a bit like an organ and as we moved it became a lovely singing sound. Just over an hour up and 10 minutes to get down.

At the foot of the dune was a bright white ‘pan’ scattered with fossilised trees over 1000 years old.

1000 year old trees.

Arnie and Jo on the pan.

We can down to our by now, welcome breakfast box which we ate by our jeep and under the tree with the conquered Big Daddy behind us.

From here a swift and interesting 50km gravel road to the next lodge, arriving at lunchtime. We passed two women cycling with panniers, they were 1km apart, we thought they might have fallen out!

Karen and Slodgy.

We were driven out into the desert for a sundowner tonight in safari trucks with 10 people on board. We had a guide who showed us the Camelthorn Acadia tree, the Smelling bush (produces a foul smell at pollination time, oryx, desert frog birds ( which crack like a frog) and fairy circles. He talked about the rain, some years they have 100mm and some none, the last proper rain was in 2021. We stopped to have gin and tonic and Namibian nibbles and watch the sun go down. The colours we indescribably beautiful spanning as far as we could see and constantly changing, what an experience!

Selfie in the safari truck!

Steve the organiser in the middle.

We had a conversation today about mum and dad and how intrepid they were doing all of this and then camping at night, we agreed that they were brave or mad and probably a bit of both!

We drove through the outskirts of townships and along a wild a misty coastline for about 30km, the town is much more modern that what we have seen in the last week and we passed shopping malls and larger villa type houses.

Some of our party went for a flight in a 5 seater along the. Coast , we opted for a dunk in the Atlantic and people watching on the beach.

Red river part of salt making process.

We then saw hundreds and hundreds of flamingos on route, very pink, feeding in the shallows, beautiful! There are two types here lesser and greater,Namibia has 60% of the world’s flamingoes.

After this we drove 30km along a huge wide sand spit in 4x4 truck towing trailer of kyaks, the sand spit grows up to 20metres reach year. \240We drove past colonies of seals with pups just hours old, afterbirth being eaten, the noise was constant, shouting, calling, bickering and the smell, blimey it was awful! We saw nature close up, dead seals, baby seals, fighting seals, sleeping seals mothers carrying babies in mouths and seals just lying on each other. We also passed jackals which were just waiting and preying on the seals.

Jackal in the distance

When we got to the shore our guide told us to be quick as there were dolphins just off shore. We hopped in double kayaks and paddled like mad! After about 3-4km we arrived where the bigger boats were waiting and spent half an hour or so kayaking amongst the dolphins who were playing around \240the boats, it was magical!

We paddled back to shore via the seals, observing them from the water, they were swimming alongside us, lying in their back basking in the water and at one stage one of them jumped up at Arnie and Jo’s kayak.

When we got back to shore Jackson who was from the Oshiwamba ethnic group in the north of Namibia had set up a delicious lunch on the beach with oysters fizzy wine and a Namibian sherry! We had a sit down table and also a portable toilet tent which was much appreciated by some.

After our lunch on the beach we headed back to the hotel for a quick drink, visit to the Swakopmund museum which was full of lots of bits and bobs such as stuffed ostrich, 1956 Land Rover, German war uniforms, uranium mining and weirdly a whole section of dinky toys!

In the afternoon we went quad biking, this was the most fun!

Some people did a walking safari in the desert and saw an interesting selection of animals.

In the evening we ate at a fabulous restaurant at the end of a long iron pier we had delicious sushi and seared tuna - wow! Tonight was sat Australian (girls v boys) to give the boys a chance to fart and burp and talk cars!

Australian seating

Grebes outside the window looking in!

In the wagon!

We drove from 8.30am till 3pm across a \240barren, mountainous area, we are on our 2nd audio book ‘Unruly’ a skip through kings and queens of England read and written by David Mitchell. The day was lovely listening to the book, watching the intetrsting changes, chicken pie lunch with the occasional wine gum thrown in! We have a cool box in the back seat for cool drinks and dark chocolate.

At the end of our day we drove up and up, through the Grootberg pass (1600m). We \240saw goats, cactus and a lone giraffe and then we had to turn our wagon onto super slow 4 wheel drive and turn right. A very slow careful drive for 2 km brought us to our lodge for the night, we walked in and were met with the most spectacular view!

You can see our hut, the second one along, what a view.

A pool with a view!

Resting by the pool!

The photos mask the scale of the scenery, we could see for miles looking south down a valley- beautiful!

Us on our balcony.

As evening came so did the storm, we were treated to a display of thunder, lightning, winds and some torrential rain (just like being at home), the temperature remained just below 30 degrees ( not quite like home!). We had the most devine Oryx streak and our first Amarula. At the end of the meal the staff of the hotel did some traditional dancing for us which was brilliant. The lodge was run by Damara ethnic group who speak their own language which includes 4 clicking sounds which are used for emphasis and for certain words, it was so interesting to hear them explain this to us.

That night the winds blew round our little thatched hut on the top of the world, it was warm and we were cosied up inside whilst the storm raged and then suddenly stopped, we slept well and peacefully.

Today we reach Etosha National Park where we will be \240for 2 days staying in two different places. We had a straightforward drive across more barren mountains with a fair bit of standing water on account of the rain last night.

We had a super lunch spot, tosties and chips in the shade by a pool, at a place with many Jäegermeister bottles for some reason and a stuffed baboon!

And so on to Etosha National Park which is bigger than Wales! We enterered at Galton gate and completed the admin, three stages a chat with the police to check we had no firearms, drones, catapults (poaching) and plastic bags ( environment). Next filling in a form with passport details etc then payment 700 ND (£35) for a two day pass.

And we were off four trucks in convoy, eyes peeled looking left and right into a mixture of bush, plain and sand. We drove around the park from water hole to waterhole and saw zebra, giraffe, sweet little leopard tortoise crossing the road, eagles, a secretary bird springbok, oryx, steenbok and ostriches.

Just as we arrived at our next bed for the night we saw a family of lions sleeping under a tree!

Heavenly lodge tonight with gorgeous pool and a room up above the plains made mostly of canvas and with our first mosquito net.

We ate pumpkin soup and Game stew with carrot cake to finish, delicious. Superb sunset over Etosha.

Breakfast

Me in the driving seat to start the day, we have both been enjoying the driving, today all on gravel. So much to see here are some photos!

Feisty Elephant!

Family of hot lions

Sleepy old Rhino

Mongoose!

Oryx with baby Oryx

In the afternoon we drove to view Etosha salt pan which was close by, 120km long and 60km deep enormous expanse of sort of salt plain.

After super

Steak (beef we think!) \240beetroot potatoes!

We went and sat by the flooit waterhole which was attached to the camp, we saw 5 Rhinos including a baby and a giraffe.

Some of our party had better cameras and stayed up later and got this!

Off we go again!

Bit grubby, number plate no longer visible!

Many Giraffe including a journey at one stage

Vulture

Very close and enormous!

Showing us his backside!

Zebra on side of road…..

Zebra crossing 😉

White Rhino we saw about 9 of these

At a water hole

Water hole

In addition to the above we also saw a Cheetah which is very rare, we drove past a ranger who was waiting because they had seen a cheetah we decided to move on and weee just waiting when the lead car spotted one on the side of the road and all of a sudden it took of at great speed in between the car and chasing a herd of springbok. We saw it pounce and a flurry of white and it presumably caught the slowest of the gang, very exciting! We also saw many Oryx which can go without water for 9 months. Another great spot was the honey badger crossing the road by us and disappearing into the bush. Loads of birds as we drive round the enormous salt pan which is 120km by 60km and goes on for as far as you can see.

Photo doesn’t really show the scale.

Map of Etosha National Park

The drive through the park was spectacular we saw so much, it really exceeded expectations, at every turn there was something to see, it was had not to get blasé about giraffe, zebra etc which were common. It was interesting we only saw three elephants and these were lone, we wondered if it might have been because of the rain which meant they found water other than at the regular water holes. If you need the loo in the park you wait till you get to a gated stop.

We came to our lodge for the night in time for a delicious late lunch, this was one of the swankiest places we had stayed, brand new and purpose built in quite a brutal style.

We had lunch and made our way to our rooms which were equally smart each one had its own plunge pool- devine!

Private pool, no trunks required!

Free pink champagne for us all!

African decor!

View from the room.

The afternoon was spent by our pools chilling except for poor Steve who had to be on a three hour board call!!

After our usual quick briefing about the next few days we had a bit of a treat. Peter Wilson (gold medal 2012 olympics for clay pigeon shooting, double trap) is the son in law of the Steve, the organiser. Peter doesn’t usually come on the trip but replaced Steve’s son as he has just had a baby. Peter have us a talk about his experience and then answered questions, it was very interesting especially when he talked about the necessary dedication. He would practice with 250- 1000 clays per day, he would shoot till his face and thumb bled, we had arthritis in his hands and an extra one growing on his jaw because of the repetition. Quite incredible!

Below is a link to a video of his gold medal to remind you of what happened (if it works)!

https://youtu.be/BP69x_dEKtA?si=QhMxcRE9HjnAzpNS

Peter Wilson - Gold Medalist

We all sat round the Boma listening.

You can see the Boma here a sand circle with a fire put and seating, very gorgeous!

We had the most delicious meal of lovely salads, Hartebeest and mint chop pudding. There was a hazardous pre dinner ‘amuse bouche’ of a crunchy, chewy worm 🤮, had to be done but only once!

Worm!

As our meal came to its end the heavens opened, thunder lightning and so much rain which happens only on the north of Namibia and heaven rainstorms are not very common. \240For a while we were stranded in the restaurant, shame! Poor John stepped over a puddle and slipped, cracked his head and knocked himself out, Nicky spent a long night checking he was ok and he is heading to the hospital for a check up in the morning, there was no chance of getting an ambulance out in the night, we have nurses as part of our group, phew!

Steam train

Namibian postbox

Medical equipment

Cameras

Clothing

More medical equipment

Canons etc thrown into sink hole.

After a coffee stop and fill up with fuel we arrived at the lodge for a late and delicious lunch of lentil salad.

For getting off the game drive truck.

Another Boma with a view!

Enormous lunch hall!

Our room for the night

Very large!

Lunch

We had a quick change back at the room and went straight out for a 3 hour game drive and sundowner. The place where we are staying used to be farmed by a family but 20 years ago they decided to become a conservation area, they brought some more land, fenced it and allied it to rewild. Inside the fence were all the wild animals and notably Leopards. They have become an area for research and conservation of leopards. Each cat is tracked via a collar and they monitor breeding, health, territory and behaviours of the families of Leopards. When they are young they trap, collar and take blood samples and then they monitor them over time.

We were able to see the huge majestic cats close up and watch as one mother looked for he next kill whilst guarding her cub who was somewhere nearby hidden.

Mummy Leopard

Here’s a video of the Leopard

https://share.icloud.com/photos/024fWZ7gBPovqRjMLWoseT8GQ

Our guide Emmanuel

Sundowner

Sunset

More photobombing!

We had a fantastic meal, really delicious and vegetarian.

Early morning dip!

We had a lie in today as didn’t need to leave till 10am but of course we woke 6.30am and so an early morning dip was the order of the day. The pools here are small because water is in very short supply, and they are all freezing which is just what is needed. Most of them have a great view, today our view was looking out over the bush where we saw some Jackals having an early morning play.

A pool with a view.

Jackals (I think!)

We had a lovely leisurely breakfast of fruit and nuts, omlette and today tried the local delicacy of pancakes with homemade fruit purée and cream which was very sweet!

We left our last final lodge and headed back to the main B1 road for the final hop back to the capital. The drive was all tarmac once we had left the 21km gravel track from the lodge. We were back to vast landscapes, busy roads where it seemed quite normal for cars to do any turn across the central reservation.

We took photos of us with our wagons before we left. The cats have been amazing, quite comfy, very resilient and now a bit dirtier than when we picked them up!

Jo and Arnie

Us!

Helen and Wally

Karen and Slodgy

We visited a craft market and had a tasty light lunch before returning to the hotel that we stayed in for our first night in Namibia which was two weeks ago but frankly feels like a lifetime!

Windhoek country club.

For the last night we had a little speech with a few presentations from Steve the organiser. Our group which was one of only 3 that had come with friends and the largest by far of course got a mention! We had Wallis talkies in the cars that enabled us to chat to each other as we traveled which was really useful pointing out animals on the safari and hilarious on the road, this got a mention! Then we sat down for our last supper together the 8 of us were joined by Jenny and Craig and Nicky and Jon, the other two couples that we had spent the most time with. We had much laughter and reminiscing that helped us get through copious wine!

Tomorrow we fly home!

We then had a tasty lunch on the terrace as we waited for our cab to the airport, all day we have said goodbye to people who are leaving on differing routes home, Arnie and Jo left to go back via Joberg - and then there were 6!

Boarding the plane at Windhoek.

It’s goodbye Africa after an amazing trip of a lifetime! Xx