Sunrise from Dune 45!

Today we left for the Namibian dessert at 5:30 to see the sunrise from Dune 45. It’s quit a bumpy 45 miles to the dessert. When we arrive at the foot of the dune, we start climbing the ridge to get to the top. Seems easier than it is! It was breathtaking, the view as well as the climb!! On top we just sad down on the dune enjoying the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen at 6 o’ clock in the morning! The red sand contrasting the blue sky, it’s amazing! Lou took lots and lots of pictures and after 15 minutes we started on our way back. That was fun! We ran down while our legs got sucked in up to our knees, it sounds like the whole dune is coming down while your running, fabulous! We had lunch at the foot of Dune 45. After this, we went 5 km into the dessert with a 4x4-wheeled pick-up. We were all standing on the back, holding on while the pick-up was going like 50 miles an hour on a very rocky and dusty dessert road. We got a tour through the dessert by a very humorous little Japanese woman who was living in Namibia for about nine years. She told us about the plants and animals living in the dessert and the techniques that they use to survive there with a small amount of water and food. For instance, she told us about beetles that stand on their head to catch the haze for water (headstanding beetle). We also saw the death vlei where a scene of the film “ The Cell” was taken. That’s is really something. In the middle of the dessert you see a white stretch with dead trees and no plants at all. The tour takes about three ours before we head back to the campsite. At four o’ clock we leave for the Sesriem Canyon. This is nothing compared to the Fish river canyon, but not less fascinating. The canyon is just a 15-minute drive from the campsite. The Canyon isn’t that deep, so you just go for a stroll in it. You can see history when you’re walking here, you can see that it has been there for so long and where used to swim fish, now birds make their nests. We stayed to see the sunset after which we went back to the campsite and enjoyed another well-prepared dinner.

Namib Naukluft Park

Today we’re heading for Namib Naukluft Park. We have to drive 850 km, so we’ll be arriving at the end of the day. These long drives sound quit boring, but are equally very surprising. Ostriches running across the road, warthogs with their whole family and elephants just chillin. For the rest of the time we just read a lot and listen to some music and time flies! We arrive at the campsite about 17:30, have a nice dinner and check out the campsite. It’s dark, but we spot our first Jackal trying to steel some food out of a garbage bag. If you look into the dark, you can see their little eyes shining. The guides warned us to put our shoes inside the tent or else the Jackals will take of with them. Can’t imagine anyone wanting to take of with Lou’s shoes, but all right.

The beatutiful Fish River Canyon

Today we're leaving South Africa and head into Namibia. Around half past 10 we arrive at the first border pass (the one for leaving South Africa). We’re staying at campsite “Hobas” near the Fish River Canyon. This is really an amazing environment. We went for a walk and just behind our camp, there is a beautiful rocky landscape. We just sad on some rocks and listened to the sound of silence, beautiful! At the end of the afternoon we left for Fish River Canyon! The Fish River canyon, situated along the lower reaches of the Fish River, is one of the most impressive natural beauties in the southern part of Namibia! It’s an amazing sight, we took lots and lots of pictures. You just can’t imagine that there was water flowing here, millions and millions of years ago. The canyon has a depth of 550 meters, so you can imagine our legs shaking when were standing on the edge! We went back to the campsite, had dinner and went to bed, cause tomorrow we have to get up at six!!!!

Canoeing and relaxing by the Gariep river

It's half past 8 when we zip our sleeping bag open and notice it's pretty cold. Fortunately it warms up pretty fast once the sun is up. We wonder how cold the Gariep river will be, because we'll be canoeing on it today. We did have the guts to make a few short swims, but man: that is cold water! The canoeing on the river was fun, but not that exciting, because it's a very quiet river. We encountered some rapids here and there, but nothing really big. It was a nice and very relaxing canoeing trip though. We did some serious gold searching on the way and we got some nice views of both sides of the river. We were back around half past 12 and for the rest of the day we just relaxed by the river. At night we visited the bar on the campsite and enjoyed some drinks while listening to Jimmy Eat World (They know them here!!)

Heading off to Namibia

It's around 6:30 in the morning when we're driving through the dark streets of Capetown. Today our journey to Vic Falls begins. We're heading for the Gariep river, formerly known as the Orange river. This is a nice 700-km drive, which means we'll be spending most of the day in the truck. So let's just talk about 'the truck' for a while then. It's a custom built robust vehicle specially designed to be able to travel through more remote areas. The 'carriage' with 22 comfortable coach seats is accessible from the side and is not air-conditioned, but each pair of seats has got it's own window, which can be opened as well. It has a communal safe for our valuables, a fridge (which we need to keep cold with ice ourselves) and a medical kit for emergency use. Under the truck there's space for luggage, food and cooking stuff. Furthermore the truck carries two spare wheels, a table, a camping seat for everyone and on the roof the tents and sleeping mattresses. We just have to say that we're really happy with the truck and equipment on board. Everything is very robust and very well suited for a fine African overland expedition! The tent has got plenty of space and is easy to put up and the mattresses sleep pretty well. All right, so far about the truck and it's equipment. It's around 6 o' clock when we arrive at the campsite. We put up our tent and walk up to the river to watch the sun going under in the Namibian hills. Yes, that's in Namibia, because the Gariep river forms the border between South Africa and Namibia. The campsite is situated on the South African side. Anyway, after dinner we enjoy the bar for a few drinks (Windhoek Lager!) and close our eyes under the great South African sky!

Visit to townships and Table Mountain

Today we’re going to the townships! Albert lives in one of the townships himself and is our guide for today. First he took us to District Six, where we visit the museum. We went to three townships (Langa, Nyanga and Gugulethu) It felt kind of weird, a bunch of white people with big camera’s coming to see how these people live. On the one hand it makes you aware of what is happening and see another side of Capetown. On the other hand you feel like an intruder, going into these people’s homes. It is undescribeble what we saw there. People living in shacks with their whole families and children walking the street barefoot. The shack's leak when it rains, are hot during the day and cold during the night. A major problem with shacks is they are built very close together and allow fires to spread very rapidly through an area. The majority of people still use kerosene stoves for cooking and candles for lighting, which causes a very intense smell and colors the houses black on the inside. After we visited a family living in one of the shacks, we continued our way to a brewery situated in a shack. The women make the beer there and the man pay a little amount to drink all day. We took a little zip of the homemade beer which made Lou almost throw up (isn’t used to anything). After this we went to visit a local herbalist, who makes all kinds of medication. The reason that he did not have a medicine for aids, was that the disease did not exist in the period their grand-grand parents were alive. In Gugulethu we visited a kindergarten, which was established there with the help of Daytrippers, the organization with which we took this tour. The children first sang and counted for us, after which they ran towards us and were holding on to us wherever they could. We arrived back in Capetown at around one, where we meet up with the Dutch couple and a German guy who we met during the township tour. Our mission for this afternoon; climbing the Tablemountain. After some blood, sweat and tears we made it to the top. And it was definitely worth the trouble. Looking down on Capetown, you could hear the city breathing. We made lots of pictures of the view and we also saw our first Dassies. We had a little something to eat and went back down with the cableway. This afternoon we had a first meeting with the group, with whom we’re going to spend the next 19 days. The tour starts very early tomorrow morning. The group consists out of 22 people, 5 Spanish, 5 Dutch (us included), 2 German, 7 English and 3 Australian people. After this we took a quick shower and went back in town!! After a nice meal at Mama Africa, we went to a local bar with the five of us and showed those Africans how to boogie. Unfortunately, this is our last night in Capetown. This city is incredible, amazing and beautiful!! We’re looking forward to everything that’s coming, but it hurts a little to say goodnight to Capetown for the last time…

Capepoint and the Cape of Good Hope!

Today we’re going to Capepoint!! We were the lasts of a group of twelve people, so we left for Capepoint right away. We went in a van with some bicycles on the back (we have to be sportive today!). We first stopped at Houtbay, where a ferry took us to see a colony of seals. After this we went on to Boulders Beach, where a colony of Jackass Penguins lives. These are such funny animals, but they smell like hell!! We had lunch at a small beach, where the guide kept away the baboons, which were trying to steel our lunch. We went on to our destination for today; Capepoint. At Capepoint everyone went up to the lighthouse, the view you have there is amazing. After we checked the view again and again we went down crossing Dias Beach towards the Cape of Good Hope. Now we are ready for some action!! We jumped on our bicycles and bicycled for about 15 km, after which the van picked us up and took us back to Capetown. It was remarkable to see lots of people standing at the side of the road, waiting for someone to pick them up for a job. We arrived at our hotel at the end of the afternoon and went eating at Rafiki’s again (they already like us there).

Robben Island

Today we booked a tour to the Robben Island. The ferry leaves from Waterfront Gate at 8:30 and takes about half an hour to get to the Island. We get a tour across the Island in a small van. The guide tells us about the history of the Island and takes us to the different monuments and of course the prison, where Nelson Mandela spent 27 years of his life in exile. We were quite surprised when we saw a few Penguins just walking by. Quit some animals live on the Island, we also saw our first Springboks, Ostriches and Bonteboks. We arrive back at the main land about 14:30 where we booked a day trip at the tourist information point to Capepoint for tomorrow. It took us about three ours to walk back along the beach from town to our hotel. We saw the first surfers going wild on the waves of the Atlantic Ocean. That afternoon we took a shuttle to restaurant Rafiki’s. This restaurant was recommended to vegetarians in a travelling program at home. When we told our waiter that we saw them on a television program, he went crazy! The funny part was that it wasn’t a vegetarian restaurant because of certain principles these people had. It was just easier to start a vegetarian restaurant because of the licenses that you need if you serve meat in a restaurant.