posted by Nonni @ 5:21 e.h.
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As we arrived to Etosha National Park we started our first Game drive. Amongst the animals we saw were Giraffes, Springbok, Gemsbok, and Orix. It was a short drive up to tha camping place that was situated right next to a watering hole where the animals would come to drink. Unfortunately for us it was the beginning of the rainyseason so there were a lot of watering holes elsewere so the animals did not have to come there. At the hole we only saw springbok and some jackals. We even took turns being on shift that night but not much happend. The next day however, things began to happen. Just after leaving the camp grounds we sighted our first lions.
posted by Nonni @ 1:38 e.h.
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arding, see fishing, and so on and so on. Me and Kathleen decided to relax, shop a little and one morning I went for a game of golf with Oliver while Kathleen was busy with one of her favorite activity, which is to read a book on the beach. We had a great time. The golf course was in the middle of the dessert but still green because off irrigation from a nearby river. We were told that some Springbok might be grazing on the golf course but did not expect herds of them more or less ignoring us playing through, only a couple of meters away. Oliver almost hit one once which apparently is not a rare thing to happen on that golf course.
Spitzkoppe some of us went on a bush walk. I passed on the walk because it was just too hot. We are talking, "can't even think" hot. After the others came back we mosied on to the Bush bar, and finished their stock of beer and sodas which wasn't that big to begin with. We walk back to the camp and saw the sunset over the rocky hills. Reminded me a bit of The Olgas in Australia. As we had dinner, Letitia asked us to fill our plates and then follow her. Then she walked up to the rock face and disappeared behind a tree making it appear as she just walked into the rock. When we followed we discovered a huge cave that had a hole up to the sky where Hermann had all ready made a fire. It was one of the coolest places I have ever dined at, and we even had roasted marshmallows : Pure magic. :) I love Namibia.
posted by Nonni @ 1:42 e.h.
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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.
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;).
posted by Nonni @ 11:41 f.h.
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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.
posted by Nonni @ 12:39 e.h.
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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.
posted by Nonni @ 1:13 e.h.
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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:).
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.
posted by Nonni @ 5:13 e.h.
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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.
posted by Nonni @ 4:09 e.h.
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pes and mixtures of wines. Their main grape (as in the rest of the Mendoza region) is the Malbec that seems to grow here even better than in it's home country, France. It was a huge place and a beautiful, and tasty experience. We got a couple of bottles from their store and they were put to good use the next few days :). 
ch and chilled in the hotsprings near by; which was great after being in the relentless sun for 5 hours with absolutely no chance of shade anywhere.
posted by Nonni @ 2:25 e.h.
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The ride to Mendoza was quite spectacular. We drove through the Andes, sometimes along sheer cliff faces making me wish i had not picked the window seat. We spent a ridiculous amount of time at the border (almost 4 hours). Argentinians and Chileans (especially the Argentinians) are known for their lack of stress sometimes bordering (pun intended) on the absurd. So even with 10 full buses, trucks and a plethora of private cars there are only 4 guys to take care of everything that is 4 on the chilean side and 2 on the Argentinian). there were maybe 10-15 gates but only 4 are active for some reason. So when you get through the Chilean side you have to wait in another line on the Argentinian side. And there they are leisurely drinking their Mate chatting with the bus drivers and greeting an occasional relative that comes by while everyone in the cue is going absolutely mental. It is funny, however, how this is completely turned on it's head when you put an Argentinian in a car. Then it is his turn to go mental. They drive like lunatics, they never stop or even slow down when you are trying to cross the road, in fact I am convinced that they speed up, thinking that they probably will make it past you before you step in front of the car. In many cross roads in big cities and towns there are no traffic lights. And I once asked a guy in Salta how it worked and he replied: "Well it works like everywhere else" (might have been just referring to everywhere in Argentina), "sometimes it is the car that comes first to the intersection or sometimes it is the bigger car that has the right away". This makes it a considerable challenge every time you want to cross a road because you have no idea...and even if their are traffic lights there is no way of telling if the cars or the pedestrians have the right away. In Cordoba I was almost run over by a mad taxi driver (well they are all mad actually) that came around a corner never even touching the breaks as I jumped one meter in the air and two meters back to avoid him. It was the first time I gave someone the finger in Argentina, as I shouted "Stupido" at the top of my lungs. Chileans are much more civilized and stop frequently and even gesture politely for you to cross.
ost weired because normally the two nations do not communicate unless absolutely necessary. It has something to do with the Falklands war where Chile supported the UK by allowing them to use their airports for their fighter jets. The drive up and down was harrowing the road was narrow breaking up in parts and the guide was busy telling us stories about other buses that had gone of the road or were hit by falling rock...at one time as we came to a massive boulder almost on the middle of the road she said: "wow! that wasn't here yesterday!!" After that we then headed to the Puente del Inca, a natural arch that forms a bridge over the Vacas River, which runs into the Mendoza River. After a late lunch we drove back home.
posted by Nonni @ 11:41 f.h.
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Vina Del Mar had two main purposes for us. One: to celebrate New Year and two: go to Valparaiso which is basically next door (10 min on the metro train) . We came there early morning and our hostel, that looked good on the internet was a total dump. There was nothing in the room except the bed and a small TV. It was right next to a busy street and you could not close the windows properly. There were two shared bathrooms & showers for about 25 people and the showers only worked occasionally. So we dumped our bags (no pun intended) and hit the town in search of another place to stay. It took awhile as it was New Year and most places were packed and/or overpriced because of the New Year. Finally however we found a 1 star hotel with private bath and breakfast included for almost the same price as Hostal TotalDump. We moved early the next morning. Not only was it much better but also very central to everything. That same day: 31st of december 2007 we went to Valparaiso to have a look around. I had been there before (see blog: jan. 2006) but it was the first time for Kathleen. We took the Metro and at the main square we met Tirone and Yasemin who we first met in Puerto Madryn, the
n in Ushuaia, then on the Navimag ferry and now in Valparaiso. (Hi you two if you are reading this:) . We had a very nice day walking the streets, taking the ascensores and finally ending up at the very interesting La sebastiana, the House of Pablo Neruda (1904-1973). The famous Chilean poet who is considered one of the greatest and most influential poets of the 20th century. Leaving Valparaiso it was time to plan the New Year celebrations. We found a nice Restaurant that had Parilla (Grilled meat). We ordered a parrilla for two, which is usually enough for 4 persons; and got a nice bottle of red wine to go with it. The staff brought us party hats and whistles and the night was well underway. Just before midnight we walked down to the coast, found a really good spot (together with about 20 million other people, and watched the most amazing fire work display I have ever seen. Fire works cannot be bought or used by the public and the show is controlled (the 23 minutes of it, which was the longest one so far). What they do is that they have about 20-25 "stations" off shore in a row in front of Valparaiso, Vina del Mar and the two neighboring towns. On all the stations they have the exact same display impeccably synchronized. And the fireworks are big, and I mean BIG!! 
u Palmi;) but this display just blew me away.
posted by Nonni @ 4:10 e.h.
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posted by Nonni @ 2:17 e.h.
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Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mankind." Basically, it's made up of two separate words - "mank" and "ind". What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.
Alinn upp í Brekku Eyjafjarðarsveit. Fluttist um síðir til Reykjavíkur til að stúdera Enska tungu, flutti svo til kaupmannahafnar þar sem ég bjó í nær 12 ár. Er fluttur á klakann í bili ásamt unnustu minni Kathleen og erum við bæði að vinna á Hótel Reynihlíð í Mývatnssveit.
