Drive through moonland to Swakopmund, a German seaside town

Another old one. Internet is infrequently available and slow.

Leaving Halali and Etosha (sadly), we took a slow 2 ½ hour morning drive back through Etosha to the main gates, stopping again at waterholes and trying to find the pride of lions we'd heard people had seen along this stretch the day before. No luck there, but saw some more mongooses (ok i've looked that one up) and the usual zebras and antelope. Every time we see a zebra we think it's something else ranging from an unidentified brown horsey thing (!), lion, rhino, wildebeest - so we've learnt to now just assume it's zebra until proven otherwise.  Turns out zebras are amazingly well camouflaged and can blend really well with the colour of their surroundings - who would have thought hey knew what they were doing with all those crazy stripes?!

Beautiful clouds on the way back through Etosha.

Longish drive to Swakop, but great tarred roads once out of Etosha. The last stretch was a crazy moonish landscape with a whole lot of yellow/brown deserty nothing. Was funny to think this was leading us to the sea. 

Arrived in good time at our lovely guest house and had a view of the sea not far off. While checking in we asked about the weather tomorrow, and the owner commented that one can never tell in Swakop as it is entirely unpredictable. About 5 minutes later and a huge fog rolled in - no more sea to be seen! The choice of activities was either sea-based or desert-based (eg sandboarding, quad biking). We decided to book a sea trip the next day regardless of the fog, since we were on the sea and we'd see more desert at Sesriem.  Sandboarding was a close runner up but I decided I could do without a twisted knee at the start of our trip.

Fog was still heavily over the town the next day and it was really cold on our boat trip, which left from 20 minutes down the road at Walvis Bay (means something to do with Whales). Still a fun trip – they had a seal that jumped on board, plus we saw a seal colony and dolphins playing near the boat. They cleverly served bottomless glasses of sherry and champers which made everyone forget about the cold.

That afternoon , as the sun tried to peek through the fog, we visited Wlotskaspaken, a funny little .. hamlet I guess you might call it... (but that might rely on a church...vague memory of trivia questions!).. about 20 kms north of swakop. It's a very unusual place, again moonlike type landscape but just by the sea where the sand has purple swirls through it.

There's no power and the beach shacks are dotted around and painted in bright colours with water tanks on top. Some of the people we met in Windhoek that Dad was on the Cape to Cairo trip with, Dave and his daughter Sarah, were having a weekend in their house there and invited us to come visit. The town is as big as it's going to get as they aren't selling any more land or houses - houses are generally passed down through generations and there are rarely any up for sale. Consequently it is fairly highly sought after and little run down beach shacks go for way too much on the odd occasion they do come up for sale.

Good day, albeit little of it actually spent in Swakop! Next day, Sesreim.

Honey badgers are going to rule the world! Last night Etosha

Last night in Etosha - Halali campsite. (Old one, didn't get to put up before now)
(Loz the Russian theme goes out to you)

After dinner, headed to the beautiful Halali waterhole. One ellie, but apparently had again missed the herd of elephants (had in the afternoon too). Soon enough though (luckily not deterred by a group of noisy Russians arriving, smoking cigars, and setting up) a couple of rhinos – mother and baby – came out for a drink. We'd heard a sort of squeaking call for a while that we assumed was a bird, but which sounded like a puppy. It was the baby rhino! So cute, talking non stop to its grumpy mother who kept shooing it away while she was drinking. It was a curious baby, poking around and things in the grass and jumping back comically when things scared it.

Nothing else for a while and we went back to camp. 

Our camping equipment is great – we even have a (huger than we thought) portable fridge that connects to the cigarette lighter while driving, and to the campsite plugs at other times. During the night I heard rustling around our campsite and I jumped out of bed (as much as that is possible from a sleeping bag) half asleep thinking someone was stealing our food, but on stumbling out I found the fridge door open and a black and white animal half submerged in the fridge, and another couple busily rifling through our food, none in the least concerned with my presence. Bits of our butter and cheese wrappers were strewn around the campsite. This would have confused us the next day, as the fridge door is big and heavy and we never even considered any animals would be able to get into it, had I not actually caught them brazenly in the act. (probably would have blamed the Russians.)

I thought maybe the animals were skunks, not having seen them (or badgers) before. However, in my sleepy haze I went back and told anna that skinks had gotten into the fridge and eaten our food. She politely took this in but had some confused thoughts about the diet and superhuman fridge-opening abilities of these tiny reptiles, before I realised the next morning what I'd said and told her it was actually skunks. So as it happens that was wrong too - honey badgers! The staff hadn't told us these were around the campsite or that they could open fridges (there hadn't been any in the previous camspite).

(Not a great photo but it was pitch black and was trying to juggle torch and camera and get the shot before they left!) We've since found out they can be incredibly vicious - with their sharp claws and wriggly skin, they can twist around in their skin and gouge prospective predators' eyes out, and even lions won't touch them. I'm glad the sight of me stomping around in pyjamas, wielding wild hair and torch, eventually scared them off. Next day, early early morning (before 5am, thanks again to very noisy shouty Russians) and off to the seaside town of Swakopmund.

16th May: Don't drive down narrow pot-holed gravel roads in a Nissan Livina.

Up before dawn today to pack and head off to Halali campsite, where we were spending our 3^rd night. The drive there was quiet and uneventful, until we decided to check out a little side road near Ongongab waterhole. We couldn't tell from the turn-off, but the road was narrow and bumpy, and we were quickly hemmed in by the devilish thorny trees again. We'd seen some elephant poo nearby, and it looked like it hadn't been there for long...so it was a little unnerving thinking that we might at any point run into a herd of elephants! And then we ran into a herd of elephants.

Well, 5 or 6 at least, and a couple of babies too, which means BE CAREFUL! So although it was amazing to see them so close we backed the hell out of there quick smart. On the way back passed another mother and baby just about to cross the road; they would have blocked our way out if we'd delayed any longer, could have been a tricky situation!

Arrived at Halali and headed to the waterhole there, which is actually man-made but looks beautiful, and the viewing set-up was a lot less conspicuous than the one at Okakuejo. We were lucky enough to spot a leopard drinking there as soon as we arrived, another rare sight. Wish we'd had time for a picture but it left too quickly!

Out that afternoon for more driving. This time nothing big, but saw a cute little family of banded mongoose (mongeese? mongooses?!), which was still pretty cool!

x A

15th May: Our first game drive

Up at dawn if you'll believe it, and out on our first drive around the park, in our little Nissan livina! We decided to go towards Okondeka waterhole, as we'd been told it was a good place to see lions. On the way we saw plenty of wildebeest, springbok and jackals, as well as a herd of zebra, some ostriches and oryx - a huge antelopey thing with great long straight horns, and a cute black and white painted face.

And then...a black shape appeared in the distance...a lioness! We looked around and then spotted another female just nearby, so we drove as close as we could and sat and watched. Luckily they were following the road so we were able to drive alongside for quite some time. It was great just to see them there wandering about, not doing much; they're really so beautiful! Apparently the cats of the park are quite elusive, so there was no guarantee we'd see any at all. Very lucky!

the best shot my little camera could come up with!

We headed back to camp for lunch, and then straight out again for the afternoon – plenty more to see! As we drove along the landscape changed quickly from open grassy plains, to a forest of thorny trees (devilish thorns which easily go through soles of shoes and into feet as I found out early on), making it hard to see anything at all. Well, hard to see anything apart from an elephant. Our first elephant sighting, hurrah! A solitary male, huge and imposing even at a distance.

Drove on towards Nebrowni waterhole,where we were met with an amazing panorama crowded with animals of all kinds – zebra, oryx, impala, giraffe, springbok and ostrich. And, right in the middle of the menagerie, another elephant!

Josh - doesn't the chin resting remind you of Murphy? The zebras do this all the time, cute!

14th May: Off to Etosha

Up early today to pick up our camping equipment and start the drive to Okakuejo camp in Etosha. Well, first piece of luck was the upgrade we got to a larger car, because when we saw the size of the tent, fridge and everything else we'd arranged to hire we realise we wouldn't have been able to fit it in the smaller one! I sort of expected the modern, light weight, pack-away-small kind of gear...definitely not that! The tent was army style, canvas with a metal pole frame you slot together, bulky and VERY heavy. The woman assured us it was easy to put together. I was dubious...

The drive from Windhoek to Okakuejo is about 560 kms, not too bad really, but we needed to set off early in order to be there before sunset at about 5:15pm, as the national park gates close then. Early on we spotted our first african animal other than a dog! A little brown warthog, munching away on something on the side of the road. Surprisingly very cute things with their squat little bodies, short legs and big heads!

We got to the gates of Etosha well before sunset, and took our time getting to the campsite as we were told we'd probably start seeing interesting wildlife straight away. As we drove on and on we began to think we might be unlucky, when suddenly, out of nowhere, a huge giraffe appeared just next to the roadside! I have no idea how a huge giraffe manages to appear 'out of nowhere', it was quite a shock!

We got to our campsite with no further sightings, unrolled our tent and actually managed to get it set up relatively quickly, after some initial battle with some uncooperative poles while managing to conceal our confusion from neighbouring "real" campers.  We were extremely proud.

We earn a beer or two for this

Later that night we went to the waterhole at the campsite to hopefully spot some wildlife. Jane says: The waterhole is apparently a natural spring, but it's been somewhat disappointingly over-developed with fancy accommmodation along one side and seats up close on a paved area -  makes for fairly good game viewing but the way they've done it here makes it all seem a bit contrived and unnatural.  Anyway, on to the animals!  

(Jane)Saw jackals first up. cute and busy - reminded me of Hudson in his better days, trotting everywhere on a happy little mission!  We found after that they're actually everywhere though, all through the campsite (the apparently gated safe campsite), which was quite a shock at first but soon became a normal possum-like experience - just had to watch for leaving any food around.

 Then: giraffes nearby! Some in the horizon too, looking beautifully silhouetted, but they seemed ages away from the other ones.  Somehow, suddenly the horizon ones were much closer and then managed to join the foreground ones in no time - again the giraffes amazed us with their uncanny ability to cover a huge distance with a seeming total lack of effort and time, when you look away for just a second - but when you watch them they move painfully slowly or not at all!! A constant game of What's the Time Mr Wolf.

They took ages to come over but eventually, after many false starts, came over for a quick drink at the waterhole.  Beautiful. Off for dinner – tinned spaghetti and meatballs on bread - yum! (Bread's a vegetable, right?) Then back to the waterhole again. Saw more giraffes, these ones doing the funny iconic a-frame split legs to reach down to drink, and two playful rhinos too.  First rhinos, cute!

Went to sleep after a hot chocolate, to the sound of lions in the distance, Ian's story of the german tourist being eaten fresh in our minds. Apparently the fences have been fixed since then...

Some catch up posts...

Hi again! Sorry for the delay between posts, we've had no internet access for the past few days while travelling around Etosha National Park, in the north of Namibia. Here are some of the posts we wrote along the way, but couldn't put up until now...

13^thMay – Windhoek - Starting our trip off in style!

Before I left, knowing very little about Namibia , I imagined that flying in might be like landing in the middle of the desert! Well, as it turned out that wasn't far wrong. We looked out the plane window as we approached Windhoek airport and all we could see was endless flat brown plains dotted with little shrubs. It was quite beautiful actually, very different from any place I've ever been before.

We picked up our hire car at the airport and made our way to Val and Ian's place for our first night. Turns out the airport is quite a distance from the city itself as it's the only substantial area of flat land around. So as we drove in we started to see houses and buildings, and realised there was a city here after all! Val and Ian's place is just beautiful, no doubt it'll be the nicest place we stay on our whole trip. It's roughing it camping after this!

We were taken out to dinner to a place called Joe's, and met up with some of the other Cape Town to Cairenes, the Namibii mercedes crew! Joe's was a great place, lots of fun and full of character. Jane and I ate Ostrich, Oryx and Springbok – delicious! (Jane says just getting a little taste for what we'll be seeing later) Really fun night, then back home to crash before our big day driving to Etosha.

x Anna

Argent and Xena, Val and Ian's friendly Swiss Shepherds. The only African animals we've taken photos of so far have been dogs!

We're here! 7 continents down, oh yeahh..

Hi peeps! Our first post... 

After a long and much food-filled flight, we've arrived on this beautiful continent.  The flight, although never actually pleasant, went fairly quickly.  Qantas has upped its game with food and drink service. We're still full but happily took everything offered, and more, after repeated requests for snacks (from each different flight attendants each time - we have our pride) to stave off the boredom.  We luckily managed to get some legroom in the bulkhead row after some fierce early morning negotiation at the Qantas counter.  just keeping the skills sharp for future jobs.

Jo'burg for one night (it's 5.30 in the morning here but we can't sleep) and then flying to Windhoek, Namibia to start our self drive adventure.  In Namibia we're staying with a couple on the first night who Dad met on his Capetown to Cairo trip last year (Dad - Val and Ian), and they've managed to get together some others from that trip for a dinner that night..  It will be great to hear all their tales... some inspitation for trips to come!

Just a quick post today to see if we can actually use this thing..??!! i think we're doing ok. no photos yet though (we had a silly arrival airport one) as I've realised I have forgotten my camera cord to connect it to any device able to read and transmit the photos. first hiccup. anna has hers though, so we'll put them up as we can but we'll be camping for over a week and may not have any access to the web world.

In Jo'burg we're staying at MoAfrika Lodge (http://www.moafrika.com/) which is out of Johannesburg (don't worry we're not planning any muggings on our first day) and is utterly cute.  They have three bouncy chunky rotty x dogs - one called George, another called Dubbaya (i'm sure you get it) and another one called Chubby. Our first Africa animals!!!  It's only up from here guys.

That's us for now.
x j and a

Sunrise at MoAfrika lodge

African wildlife