D Day plus 18

The to do list is getting the required attention, we go to George tomorrow to buy a camping table and matresses for our camp beds, the next 18 days are expected to fly by. We said farewell to Granddaughter Shannon on Sunday and we hear she arrived safely in Italy where she will be working for the next two months looking after two children to fund the next part of her "gap year" We have Denise's brother Billy and sister in law Dorothy galavanting around Europe in a Camper Van so it seems the travel bug has hit more than just Denise and I.

Not to forget Michael (Denise's son) and his partner Elisma who climbed the Sentinel in the Drakensburg over the weekend, my short converstion with him on Monday went something like this: "Hi Michael how you doing" to which he replied " I am broken Alan" I said "what did you break" he replied "just about everything, have found muscles I never thought I had and everyone of them hurts" Now they have been bitten it must be Kilimanjaro next on the to do list do I hear a groan and protestations.

Looking forward to seeing your photos of the Drakensburg climb.

Here is our Namibia/Botswana itinerary for those interested in where we are or supposed to be.

Day	Date	From	To	Kms	Accommodation
Saturday 1	16.05.15	Knysna	Clanwilliam	591	Saint du Barry B&B
		Nam Border	Noordoewer
Sunday   2	17.05.15	Clanwilliam	Hobas	625	Canyon Roadhouse
Monday  3	18.05.15	Hobas	Solitaire	585	Namib Desert Lodge
Tuesday 4	19.05.15	Solitaire	Khorixas	573	Damara Mopane Lodge
Wednesday 5	20.05.15	Khorixas	Kamanjab	107	Desert Rivers Tour
Thursday     6	21.05.15	Kamanjab	Khowarib Sch	142	Desert Rivers Tour
Friday         7	22.05.15	Khowarib	Epupa Falls	354	Desert Rivers Tour
Saturday     8	23.05.15	Epupa Falls		100	Desert Rivers Tour
Sunday       9	24.05.15	Epupa Falls	Van Zyls Pass	150	Desert Rivers Tour
Monday     10	25.05.15	Van Zyls Pass	Marienfluss	90	Desert Rivers Tour
Tuesday    11	26.05.15	Marienfluss		100	Desert Rivers Tour
Wednesday 12	27.05.15	Marienfluss	Khumib River	150	Desert Rivers Tour
Thursday     13	28.05.15	Khumib River	Puros	100	Desert Rivers Tour
Friday         14	29.05.15	Puros		100	Desert Rivers Tour
Saturday     15	30.05.15	Puros	Warmquelle	140	Desert Rivers Tour
Sunday       16	31.05.15	Sesfontein	Anderson Gate	365	Etosha Safari Lodge
Monday       17	01.06.15	Oshakati	Rundu	493	Hakusembe River Lodge
Tuesday      18	02.06.15	Rundu		50	Hakusembe River Lodge
Wednesday 19	03.06.15	Rundu	Guma Lagoon	313	Guma Lagoon
Thursday     20	04.06.15	Guma Lagoon		0	Guma Lagoon
Friday         21	05.06.2015	Guma Lagoon	Maun	301	Dollar Lodges and Tours
Saturday     22	06.06.2015	Maun			Dollar Lodges and Tours
Sunday       23	07.06.2015	Maun	Gweta	234	Gweta Lodge
Monday       24	08.06.2015	Gweta	Serowe	514	Khama Rhino Sanctuary
Tuesday      25	09.06.2015	Serowe			Khama Rhino Sanctuary
		SA Border	Martins Drift
Wednesday 26	10.06.2015	Serowe	Johannesburg	609	Johannesburg
Thursday     27	11.06.2015	Johannesburg			Johannesburg
Friday         28	12.06.2015	Johannesburg			Johannesburg
Saturday     29	13.06.2015	Johannesburg			Johannesburg
				6786
			Est Mileage	8000

D Day Plus 22

I love it when a plan comes together and then some glitch comes along and spoils the euphoria. I decided to change one of my tyres for the spare and have all the tools ready, but think before I take off the wheel I should unlock the spare cover and get the spare offloaded, horror of horrors the key is not on my key ring or a back up key ring. You all, I am sure, have a hoard of keys that you do not have a home for so you keep them just in case, three hours later with no joy I greet Denise returning from her art lesson with "I have good news and bad news what do you want first? Denise says give me the bad news, I tell her I have looked high and low tried some +/-50 keys to unlock the spare wheel cover to no avail, to which she retorts so what is the good news and I respond with "we did not get a puncture in at least 10 000kms"

Off we go to Toyota and they tell me all they will do is go to a locksmith, they have no keys or a skeleton key so our next call is to the local locksmith and they tell me no problem we will pick the lock, an hour later he is still picking, then he finally gives up and tells me he is only an apprentice I must come back next Tuesday and see the real lock picker.

 Get back from playing golf today and Denise says have you tried the keys in the drawer, which I had and recall telling her so yesterday, she rummages in the desk drawer and gives three keys and tells me to humour her and try them again, I try the first of the three keys and voila it fits, now I have to put up with her comments like "I am the Guru, Finder, Fixer and Oracle, what would you do without me" stories, but to be honest I am relieved as, if I had not wanted to change a wheel, the key sitting in a drawer in Knysna would not help me if I got a puncture driving up or down Van Zyl's pass in Namibia. Alls well that ends well and I bow low to the Oracle.

I then pop into the locksmith to tell him all is well and have a couple more of the keys cut, he says there is more to the story, he said "yesterday he saw my white Prado car parked out front and thought I had left it there for them to pick the lock so that they do" a lady walks out of a neigbouring shop and asks him "what is he doing to her car" he tells her and she said well she had not asked for it, but she does have a problem with her lock so he got an extra sale.

FNB was supposed to phone me today to collect my Pula, I think they must have driven to Botswana for the currency as I have heard nothing one week after placing my order.

I am going to post a couple of photos of our Botswana visit that we took on our 2013 Africa Safari to Kenya and back, this time we are hoping to see a lot more of this wonderful country, if we are not victims of zenophobia, I see on 4x4 Community web site that some travellers from South Africa have been given a bad time at the borders and at roadblocks.

Sable Antelope outside Chobe Game Reserve

Ha! Ha! said the Hadeda to the spotted cat I am not afraid of you.
This is a bit of a cheat as this was in South Luwangwa in Zambia.

Africa has the greatest sunrises and sunsets, Botswana no exception

Elephant board meeting at Elephant Sands they are almost at touching distance.

I asked Denise to stand next to this one to give you a better idea of its size, she declined, spoil sport!

A beautiful Kudu in Chobe

Who said elephants do not lie down we saw a few having a snooze and we believed the myth and thought they were dead, until they were urged by the matriarc to get up and move on

Waterbuck in Chobe

D Day plus 27

We are pleased to report that we are making progress, accommodation booked and paid for, certified copies of vehicle registration papers done, tyres checked, forex ordered, first aid and essential drugs like malaria tablets, burn ointment, anti inflammatory tablets, antibiotic tablets etc.  and once I have checked my recovery box, we should be ready to roll except for last minute purchases of snacks and drinks.

Namibia is full of things to do and places to see and I give you a taste of some of those places to see as follows:-

Hoba Meteorite - estimated 50 tons 3m x 1m
82.4% Iron and 16.4% Nickel hit earth 80,000 years ago

Petrified trees

Petrified trees some 250 million years old

One of some 1000 wrecks of ships that succumbed to the Skeleton Coast

Organ Pipes - a Dolerite formation some 125 million years old 

Cape Cross Seal Reserve 80,000 to 250,000 in their calving season what a smell, have a bottle of vicks vapor rub ready

Elephant Foot Tree

Bushman paintings at Twyfelfontein

Quiver Tree forest as old as 200 to 300 years old and they only flower after 20 to 30 years

Giants playground +/-formed +/- 180 million years ago near Keetsmanhoop

Duwisib Castle fully furnished built in 1909 in the middle of nowhere 70kms from Maltahohe
 for
Schutztruppe Captain Hansheinrich Von Wolffor 

My lovely better half Denise  on the skeleton coast passing part of a ships wreckage.

D Day Plus 30

With only 30 days to go, but we all know how time flies particularly with events like this coming up and with so much to do. We started a task list on my computer, but why is it that the uncompleted list gets longer by the day telling you that you have not completed a task that you set a time to do it by, must be a fault in Windows. 

 Now winter has arrived in Knysna, even more difficult to get out of bed to complete the tasks for the day. Well I had better get going and do some of my tasks scheduled for last week.

Sunset from our house in Eastford Glen, Knysna

Denise in the Milkwood forest in the Goukamma Nature Reserve

The Goukamma River near Buffalo Bay

Denise all at sea

The cold front coming into Knysna yesterday

D Day plus 33 - To get us in the mood, if that was necessary, we are publishing a few of our photos from our 2011 trip to the fantastic country of Namibia

Oryx (Gemsbok) heading for water near Sossusvlei

Fish River Canyon

"Come any nearer and I will attack" Etosha National Park

One of the many captured sights of the Fish River Canyon

The Desert Horses at Aus awaiting the train

Dune 45

Spitzkoppen Arch

Fingerklip (Rock Finger)