The name Namibia comes from the word Namib meaning vast. The country used to be under german rule and was called South West Africa until its independence 1990. A small part of it called Walvis Bay, was under British control untill 1994. Apart from the landscape things are still very german. Talking about landscape, our first stop came about 3 hours after crossing the border. Fish River Canyon is the oldest and second biggest canyon in the world and very impressive. We had a walk along the canyon and then had a sunset dinner right next to the edge as we also observed huge lighning storm in the distance. It was interesting how we were the only people there apart from one or two others. Not very touristy at all. We were already beginning to observe some wildlife, mostly springbok but the next day after a long drive and just before reaching our destination we got a pleasant surprise. It was an unscheduled stop at a cheetah park. where we saw Cheetahs, leopards and a
Caracal It was a big moment for all of us to go into the cheetah's enclosure and stand
less than 10 meters from it. With the leopard we had to stand outside the fence. When we thought the tour was over we were led into another enclosure where 4 young cheetahs were. They were extremely tame and came up to us to be petted. That was the highlight of the trip so far for me. Not everyday you get to scratch a cheetah behind the ear or let it lick your hand. After this great and unexpected experience we headed on to Sesriem were we saw a small canyon made by flood water just on the edge of the oldest desert in the world: The Namib Desert. Close by we pitched out tents. We had a beautiful view that night over the savanna at sunset and we saw animals like antelopes, springboks and baboons. And the next morning a snake.
The next morning, if we were not fully awake yet, we had an abrupt awakening as a snake slithered from under our tent as we were packing it together. It was not very big maybe 60 cm.
Our driver Herman did not know this perticular snake but found out later that day. It was a Shield nose snake. It is very poisonous and two deadly incidents have been recorded. It was an early morning (still dark) as we had to make it to Dune 45 before sunrise. We scrambled up the dune and sat at the top looking at the sunrise. It was fantastic. Some more adventurous people of our group decided
to roll down the dune and one had taken a tent mat with him to slide down, but as it turned out it hardly moved and he had to push himself all the way. I ran down the last bit and it is not far from the sensation you get as you run down loose snow. After this we went on a guided desert walk. To everybody's surprice our guide was a japanese woman. But she had been there for 11 years and knew almost everything there was to know about it. She ran everywhere and showed us spiders tracks bushmans food and took us to Deadvlei a dried up lake bed where there had been a huge lake as a result of flooding that happened a long time ago. It is still happening every 5th year or so but now the water goes elsewhere (Sossuvlei). It was interesting and entertaining at the same time. That evening we camped in a bushcamp at some very nice rock formations where there was only one toilet and nothing else (except of course snakes and spiders and scorpions and hyenas and....good night;).
Next: Swakopmund
Photos:
top: Fish River Canyon
middle: Cheetah & Me
Bottom: Dune 45
Leaving Cape Town. Destination Namibia
Before leaving Capetown we did a Township tour. Townships were created as living areas for non-whites under the old political system of Apartheid (1948-1994). We started by going to the Apartheid museum that was placed on the street that parted the white area and another non-white area that was compleatly evacuated by the government and then levelled to the ground. Literally, bulldozed until nothing was left. This museum is full of artifacts from that area and it is scary to think that this system was fully func
ional until 1994. In a kind of historical museum you expect to see something that happend centuries ago, but all this was really happening less than 15 years ago. The township tour was for me a bit surreal, a part of me thought: Are we really walking through these people's houses? Well off tourists walking through a neighbourhood of people from the very poor to the extremely poor. In some cases 12 people sharing one small bedroom. I normally don't consider myself as financially rich man but there I was. I felt like I wanted to help them and give them some money but where to start? A daunting task indeed. Another part of me thought: It is good for people to see with their own eyes what it was like and still is; and a real eye opener it is. The government is trying to help these people and it is working, but it is a slow and arduous task.
After lunch we hopped on board our "home" for the next 6 weeks and drove off.
The first stop was a campside called the Highlander. There we had a delicious meal followed by some great and plentiful wine tasting.
The next day we drove to the Namibian border where we stopped at a cool campsite with Namibia on the other side of a river. We went for a cool down dip in the river but were told not to swim too far because: "if the crocodiles don't get you, the Namibian border guards on the other side will". I was never sure if that was a joke or a real threat! These first two days were very hard for me because of the heat and therefore it was not comforting to hear when I asked Letitia, our guide, the next morning if this heat would continue and she said: "it will get much hotter". However, I found my self adjusting to the heat in the next couple of days and just as well as it was about to get REALLY hot.
Next: In a big Country
Arriving in Cape Town
After a night in London we were back on a plane to Cape Town, in South Africa (14 hours). It was a bit weird to come out off the plane and realise that we were really in Africa. My first time. I had once taken a daytrip to Marocco but that doesn't really count does it. There was a guy from the hostel there to meet us and after about an hour of waiting for some other guys we drove on to the city. We stayed in Cape Town Backpackers. A nice and very friendly place.
We had 3 days in Cape Town before heading of on our Overland trip, and it was mostly spent doing last minute preparations and just resting after the long trip from Argentina. We also had a nice walk around the city and a beautiful city it is. It is already on my top 10 lists of favorit cities. The waterfront, the center and the beautiful Table Top Mountain. We were planing to take the famous cable car to the top but did not have time in the end. We also heard stories about people getting stuck in the cable car and on the top of the mountain overnight because of elecetricity shortcuts. Aparently their electricity powerplant is long overdue an overhaul so there are frequent powercuts. I had an interesting encounter one day with the laundery lady as she had to tell me all about the corrupt polititians and the electricity scandal. Cape Town will have to shape up pretty fast if they are to cope with the World Cup that is to be held there in 2010 and many think that they can not do it. Anyway, after the laundry lady let my go we went for a nice lunch at the waterfront, watching seagulls steal fries from neighbouring tables. We will have time to explore more of Cape Town as we come back there at the end of our honeymoon. So we can leave cape town looking forward to out next encounter.
Next: Leaving Cape Town. Destination Namibia
Photo:
Cape Town waterfront with Table Top Mountain in the background
Farewell South-America :( ....hello South-Africa :)|
Buenos Aires was great as always. We stayed there only one night this time but had almost 2 days to walk around the city center and docks that now have changed their original purpose into restaurants bars and cafes; and we finally had to time to go to a Tango show:).
We went there about 6pm and had an hour long tango lesson before the dinner and the show.
I must say I was impressed. The moves, the precision, the grace...it was a perrfect show. It was also more than just dancing. There was also some acting involved and at one point I got to show off my steps
as one of the women asked me for a short spin. None of the men asked Kathleen to dance so I conclude that I must be more good looking. he he. ;) . This was also our last night in Argentina so we had a big steak and I had a lot of Quilmes that is my favorite beer in the world.
Anyway, that was it for South-America for now. We will probably be there again someday. But now we had to get on a plane to be off to our African Adventure. First stop: Cape Town, South-Africa
Cafayate & Salta
Cafayate is a small town to the north, between Mendoza and Salta. There we had some more wine tasting. and did a half day trekking in the mountains. We basically followed the river up to a waterfall. We had to cross the river about 15 times and it meant that some places we had to get wet. In the beginning I managed to stay more or less dry by jumping from stone but soon I found out it was pointless and just walked across the river in my shoes. Our guide was about 70 years old and was running up and down steep hills and treachous terrain with big cacti like a mountain goat. The waterfall was nice and the brave people had a dip in the freezing cold water. Then we walked the same way back. At the end of the trail there were lots of bushes that have been burned, and we asked why. "to kill the tarantulas" was the answer.
Off we then went to Salta. Stayed at a nice hostel and did a nice daytrip to the Salt Flats (See photo - can you see who is on my head?).The salt flats are in the so called alti plano and the highest point we drove to get there was about 4100m. we drove allmost parallel to the railwayline of the "Train to the Clouds" a famous train ride thru a spectacular terrain. The train itself has not been working for three years because of little or no maintainance due to no funding.
But it is due to start again in April this year. It was on my top five list to do in South America (the other four were wine related;) so I was a bit dissapointed. Anyway, Salta is a nice city and the last day we took a cable car up to a top of a hill and then walked back. Nice view but the steps were over 1500 so we were quite tired as we got to the bus station to take the night train to Buenos Aires.
Next: Farewell South America :( ....hello South Africa :)
The name Namibia comes from the word Namib meaning vast. The country used to be under german rule and was called South West Africa until its independence 1990. A small part of it called Walvis Bay, was under British control untill 1994. Apart from the landscape things are still very german. Talking about landscape, our first stop came about 3 hours after crossing the border. Fish River Canyon is the oldest and second biggest canyon in the world and very impressive. We had a walk along the canyon and then had a sunset dinner right next to the edge as we also observed huge lighning storm in the distance. It was interesting how we were the only people there apart from one or two others. Not very touristy at all. We were already beginning to observe some wildlife, mostly springbok but the next day after a long drive and just before reaching our destination we got a pleasant surprise. It was an unscheduled stop at a cheetah park. where we saw Cheetahs, leopards and a Caracal It was a big moment for all of us to go into the cheetah's enclosure and stand 
less than 10 meters from it. With the leopard we had to stand outside the fence. When we thought the tour was over we were led into another enclosure where 4 young cheetahs were. They were extremely tame and came up to us to be petted. That was the highlight of the trip so far for me. Not everyday you get to scratch a cheetah behind the ear or let it lick your hand. After this great and unexpected experience we headed on to Sesriem were we saw a small canyon made by flood water just on the edge of the oldest desert in the world: The Namib Desert. Close by we pitched out tents. We had a beautiful view that night over the savanna at sunset and we saw animals like antelopes, springboks and baboons. And the next morning a snake.
