Today was our last day of holiday and it was the longest drive from Fish River Canyon down to Cape Town.  The GPS said 888 kms.  We left at 6:45am (Namibian time) and arrived home at 5pm (SA time - 4pm Namibian time). The trip down was relatively painless and easy. The biggest problem is being careful that the Beast's speed didn't get up to much especially on the straight roads. We went through the border...

We left Luderitz today in brilliant sunshine. It really was a beautiful morning as we headed out to the Fish River Canyon. The drive is about 400kms following the tar road until you get to Seeheim (which is really only a hotel but has very nice public toilets). We made a school boy error though in not filling up in Aus (the last major town) as there are no petrol stations to be seen from Aus...

This morning we visited Kolmanskop - the deserted ghost town about 10 kms outside of Luderitz. Why they established a town there in the first place is beyond me. The guide told us that they get on average 10mm of rainfall a year. They used to ship water in from Cape Town (not kidding). The town had everything. A recreational hall including gymnasium equipment, a kegelbahn (like Ten Pin Bowling), a 250 bed hospital (which was...

We left Sossusvlei this morning after a leisurely breakfast.  We really did enjoy (in case you missed that from the previous blogs) our time at Sossusvlei. The night sky there is incredible. They have a skylight above your bed that you can look up from your bed and see the stars. And the sky at night is covered with them. The NamibRand Nature Reserve (in which the lodge is situated) has recently been declared an 'International...

It was an early start today.  Wake up call at 5:30am, coffee at 5:50am and off to Sossusvlei Reserve and the dunes by 6am. We needed to be there as the gate opened (opens at sunrise) to get the best light on the dunes.  Even though we did it five years ago it, it was again very special to see the sunrise and the red coloured dunes. You have to drive 60 kilometers to get to...

Our opinion of River Crossing Lodge was reinforced this morning. It really is a very nice place and the staff try very hard but they just slip up with little things that could make them much better.  At breakfast this morning Helen asked for some apricot jam for her bread and they came back and said sorry they are out. We then asked for any jam and they said sorry they are out of all jam....

It was our last morning in Etosha today. We were heading from Halali through the park heading West to Okaukuejo and then out through the Anderson gate. We were on the road by about 8am.  We agreed to stop at the various waterholes on the way out (it is about 70kms to Okaukeujo from Halali) and at the first one we pulled in and what do we find but a pride of 6 lion lying at...

We thought it would a quiet day today. We were wrong. We had to change accommodation from one set of huts to another so we decided to have a morning drive, come back for breakfast and then pack up and hopefully move over. Fortunately they did have the new rooms ready and so our plan worked out. Michael, Chloe and I then decided to go for a drive. The others including the Greyers decided to stay...

Despite not seeing any predators today, Etosha continues to impress. We went for an early morning drive to two waterholes. There was a reasonable amount of game around and we did a black backed jackal again (almost getting bored of seeing them now). We also addmum numerous birds to our ever growing list. We are now up to 97 for the entire trip and so hoping to clock over the 100 tomorrow. We did see the...

Today we left Otjiwarongo heading up to Etosha where we will spend the next 3 nights. While we had breakfast this morning, one of the guesthouse staff was cleaning all the cars. That was quite a big thing for us as the Beast was really looking very dusty and the seeing through the windows (especially the side ones) was not easy. I do find Namibians quite paranoid about their security. The guest house we were staying...