Day 7 - Namibia/Botswana Safari 2015. Khowarib Schlucht to Epupa Falls

We leave for Epupa Falls some 376kms away to the North, the falls are on the Kunene River which is the border between Namibia and Angola, we only get 10kms down the road when we are radioed to stop as the intended route is closed due the repairs including dynamiting in the Jouberts Pass, due to the length of our convoy we lose close on 2 hours.

Our very good support team plotting an alternative route after closure of Jouberts Pass

It is dust, dust and more dust

Even though we keep a good following distance if there is no wind you eat dust. Travelling at 80km/hr through drifts and bends the 13 vehicle convoy is around 10kms long from front to back, but we are in constant radio contact with the leader and all the other vehicles.

Our first Desert elephant who was not a happy chappy

We arrive at our camp right on the river very close to the falls which are a constant roar after nightfall we have a welcome shower and once again a good home cooked meal we fall asleep to the sounds of the falls and have our best nights sleep since we started, but we are looking forward to seeing the falls tomorrow, which is an R&R (Rest and Recuperation Day) in preparation for Van Zyls Pass.

Our intrepid guide Phil and the night skies, which were spectacular

A late evening photo of the Kunene River upstream of the falls
The palms here are called Lala Palms and we are told make a potent brew..

Day 6 – Namibia/Botswana Safari 2015. Kamanjab to Khowarib Schlucht

We get an early start with everyone ready to roll before our guides deadline. We are all looking forward to our first trip down the Khowarib River. Whilst we do not see much wildlife we do find tracks of both Elephant and Lion. As we enter the riverbed Phil radios us that we should all engage 4x4 and low range as the sand in the riverbed is very deep in some places

Elephant tracks in the Khowarib

You never know who is watching you in the riverbeds

That is us on the right

Front and centre our trusted Salama

Very few of the rivers had water in.

This picture is in August 2015 edition of "Drive Out" magazine

Namibia is a very photogenic country

Khowarib River that we drove up or was it down, whatever.

In Places the Khowarib was flanked by rugged mountains

Our Leader stuck on the exit, Denise drove out just to his right, he had to be towed out

Day 5 - Namibia/Botswana Safari 2015. Damara Mopani to Kamanjab

Trying to update the blog as this could be the last opportunity for the next 12 days.

We had a relaxing day at our lodge and set off to join up with our tour group after lunch. The meeting point was some 120kms away at Kamanjab.

We were told to be at the meeting point between 15h00 and 15h30 and when we arrived at 15h15 all the others were already there and getting ready to go. I saw all these men with what looked like fishing rods and it crossed my mind where would you fish out here there is no water, they turned out to be radio aerials.

We approach the group and Denise is trying to draw my attention to something and I was only half listening as I was trying to locate the leader of this large group of people and suddenly I hear someone say “Hi Alan” it is Roger Hogarth and his wife Julia. Roger was with Afrox and both Denise and I worked with him before he joined Life Health in 2003, what a surprise, it is definitely a small world.

The group consist of 12 4x4’s with a total of 26 people and a support group of 2 vehicles and 4 young guys including our tour leader and guide Phil van Wyk and he has a photo journalist from Drive Out magazine who is covering the tour.

Our tents are pitched at the camp site and all we have to do is unload our beds, chairs and bags. Following a briefing and all round introductions us and Roger and Julia are the only English speaking South Africans the rest are Afrikaans speakers in addition I am the only one who does not speak and largely do not understand Afrikaans, but Phil is very accommodating and he mixes up English with Afrikaans and it is not a problem.

The first camp site is good with plenty of showers and toilets; however we are warned that not all the camp sites are this salubrious.

We have a very nice dinner all prepared over open fires and we are in bed early prepared for a 07h30 start in the morning following breakfast at 06h30.

The support group gets ahead of us or on some occasions takes a shorter route to the next camp site, sets up tents and prepares our Dinner for that day, now that is the way I like camping

The group vehicles consist of 1 Landrover Discovery 3, 1 Pajero the rest are Toyota’s, Prado’s, Fortuner’s and Hilux’s

Denise relaxing at Damara Mopane Lodge Khorixas

Our Home for the next 12 days

Day 4 - Namibia/Botswana Safari 2015. Namib Desert Lodge to Damara Mopani Khorixas.

19th May 2015

We got an early start and saw a fair amount of game in the early morning, but it was the ever changing vistas that are the focus point especially in the early morning light.

The road is very dusty and whilst in 2011 the rivers were in full flow this year they are bone dry and there has, we are told, been no rain to talk about for the last 3 years so water is a premium concern for all who live here man and beast alike.

We go through plains, mountains, river beds and down to the sea at Walvis Bay where the sea mist limits vision to a couple of hundred metres and in 40kms the temperature has dropped from 32 degrees to 15 degrees and this stays with us through Swakopmond and then in a matter of 30 minutes temperatures are back in the 30’s as we move inland to Khorixas in Damaraland.

The amount of housing and apparent development along the Namibian coastline is incredible when we think back 4 short years since our last visit.

We arrive at our favourite stopover in Namibia the Damara Mopane Lodge where you have your own little house surrounded by vegetable patches, beer goes down like water, but it has been a hard days driving and we are early to bed.

In this area one can see Bushman paintings, petrified trees, Burnt Mountain, Vingerklip rock formation and a couple of craters and organ pipes another formation of dolomite rock that cooled to give this impression of organ pipes.

Tomorrow we join our group to do the Desert River tour in the North West of Namibia, the start point is at Khamajab and out itinerary is as follows:-

Fuel

Fuel is readily available as far as Kamanjab. We all fill up in Kamanjab. From day one - we will explain the fuelling procedures as soon as we meet and adjust these as we ascertain your fuel consumption.

Petrol vehicles will need at least 180 ltr of fuel and diesel vehicles 160 ltr (this is inclusive of what is in your on-board fuel tanks)

Kaokoland Desert Rivers Estimated Distances

Estimated Distance to be covered every day:

You will see that I have given you the totals in Km between each place where we can get Fuel.

Day	Start	End/Camp	Km
1	Windhoek	Kamanjab
2	Kamanjab	Khowarib Schlucht	142
3,4	Khowarib Schlucht	Epupa Falls	354
Total	Kamanjab	Epuwo ( 170km before Epupa Falls )	326 Re Fuel
5	Epupa Falls	Van Zyls Pass Camp	150
6,7	Van Zyls Pass Camp	Marienfluss	90
8	Marienfluss	Khumib River camp	150
9,10	Khumib river Camp	Puros	100
11	Puros	Warmquelle	140
Total	Epuwo ( 170Km before Epupa Falls )	Warmquelle	800 Re fuel
Total	Kamanjab	Warmquelle	1126

We could well be unable to connect through the internet for the next 11 days, but we will keep up our notes and photos and up date you when we are at Etosha, connectivity allowing, the latter has been a problem and even more so than East Africa and down loading photos takes forever.

The ancient fossilised sand dunes we looked out on from our room at Namiba Desert Lodge.

One of many shipwrecks to run foul of the Skeleton Coast this one as late as 2008

The Himba ladies selling their hand made adornments, for a small bracelet the price started at R100 and when we left it was down to R10, we bartered oranges for a couple of photos 

Denise with her little Himba baby who was totally fascinated with her necklace

Day 3 - Namibia/Botswana Safari 2015. Fish River Canyon to Solitaire.

18th May 2015

Wild Horses of Namib

One of the many different vista's of Namibia

We made a comparatively early start at 07h35 and travelled through Goegab, Helmeringhausen, Betta, Sesreim to the Namib Desert Lodge just south of Solitaire. The gravel roads are remarkably good in Namibia and in places better than the tar roads, but we also had some thick sand to negotiate and one has to be wary of their drifts, but most of the time you can average around 100km/hr, we saw Gemsbok, Springbok, Ostrich, Ground Squirrels, wild horses and both Denise and I swore there were two people crossing the road ahead, but when we got to the point where they were crossing, in the middle of nowhere, there was nobody to be seen, perhaps it was the ghosts of German soldiers from the first or second world war’s or we could be accused of smoking our socks.

I cannot think of enough adjectives to describe the changing and vast landscapes of Namibia, but as far as the eye can see it is nothingness, but it is not nothingness that would imply you should not visit. The vista’s change all the time; colours, shadows, huge plains, massive mountain ranges, dust and more dust and on the latter if you are lucky to be ahead of the very few vehicles on the road you do not want to stop to take a photo for fear they will overtake you and let you eat their dust, but it was nothing that a ice cold Windhoek Lager or two could not wash away.

If you do not hear from us for a few days please appreciate we are in part of Africa that does not have internet or cell phone coverage at times, but we will do our best. 

Day 2 - Namibia/Botswana Safari 2015. Clanwilliam to Fish River Canyon - Hobas - Namibia

Sunday - 17th May 2015

Breakfast only served from 08h00 resulting in us only getting away at 09h00 and with another 600km trip and two border formalities we thought we had left it a bit late.

The first leg was to Springbok and what struck us was the difference travelling this road in early spring and early winter; the last time we were on this road the flowers were a spectacular display, truly one of natures wonders of the world, now it is stark and barren, coupled with the fact that the West Coast is going through a drought, Clanwilliam dam is only at 10% and there is water rationing in the town as well as load shedding!

It is an interesting route nevertheless for instance did you know that in the town of Garries, between Clanwilliam and Springbok spawned the infamous Adriaan Nieuwoudt who started the Kubos ponzi scheme where you were encouraged to buy a sort of milk culture that you cultivated at home and sold the smelly powder remains back to the mother plant at exhorbitant prices, the scheme collapsed in 1984 a few made a fortune and a lot lost everything.

Did you also know that in 1931 there was a heist of diamonds worth £80000 (Millions in today’s money) that were locked away in the Bitterfontein station ready to be transported to Cape Town by rail, they never solved the case to this day.

We filled up with petrol in Springbok at R13.84 per litre, but we were grateful to get there as we were 10 litres from running dry, driver error? (Denise was driving, but she claims that the navigator was responsible)

We had lunch on the pad to sustain us over the border, on our last visit to Namibia they wanted to confiscate 20 litres of fuel in a jerry can, and they wanted the serial numbers of all camera’s, computers and binoculars, this time we were just waved through.

We gained an hour today as Namibia has daylight saving we made our stopover at Canon Roadhouse at 15h00 and had time to visit the Fish River Canyon and watch the sunset. Had a very nice meal and needed no rocking, electricity works here, but they had no network connection, I think they use satellite phones in this area.

One of the many antique vehicles inside and outside the Canon Roadhouse

Love of my life on the edge of the Fish River Canyon

The Canyon just before sunset

Sunset at the Fish River Canyon, Southern Namibia

Day 1 – Saturday 16th May 2015 Namibia/Botswana Safari

Departure Day (D Day) has come and gone, can you believe it we got away at 08h30, target was 08h00, not so bad for old timers.

Yesterday we dropped Snuggles, our African Grey parrot at Karen’s Lavender Hill guest house so we only had ourselves to worry about. The peace of Eastford Glen was broken as early as 06h00 when the Speed Festival contestants started to arrive at the start of the Simola Jaguar Hill Climb, with their straight through exhausts (no silencers) blasting the early dawn serenity. You can be sure that nobody in this part of Knysna will be having a lie in this weekend. Even horses in the area had to be tranquilised, but we understand that was due to low flying helicopters not 250HP Lamborghinis and Ferraris’ roaring past their paddocks.

Our trip today covered a distance of 591kms and all in all an uneventful day and it helped ease us into our driving mode, which we needed after nearly a year in Knysna with our longest trip being to George all of 50kms away. We stopped for coffee in Swellendam at the Old Mill Restaurant, built in the 1800’s and is a national monument, we had a picnic lunch at a lay bye arriving in Clanwilliam at 16h00 where we are staying at Saint du Barry’s guest house, a lovely stop over built in the shade of a huge wild fig tree. Wally and Joan are the perfect hosts and had booked a table at the Dam Bistro a short walk from the guest house and we had a very nice dinner before crashing even before load shedding started. It was a bit noisy after the load shedding, but we were so exhausted so did not affect us.

The beautiful Western Cape & "Salama"

Our First Nights Stop

Alternative Energy in the Western Cape

D Day Plus 1

Why is it that there is so much to do on the last day, so much so that we did not have time to go and take photos of the huge array of cars here for the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb also known as the speed festival. There is everything from a 1950 Morris Minor to a 2015 Ferrari, but you name it they are all here to see who can drive fastest up a 2km hill. Talk about boys and their toys, but have to confess it is wonderful to see, you can see more on their Facebook page with the following link:-
https://www.facebook.com/KnysnaSpeedFestival
The winner last year did it in 42seconds and peaking at a fast 250km/h

Well we did finish all we needed to, but when one only does this sort of trip every two years you have to learn how you did all the packing over again including a spare tyre, recovery boxes and spare fuel jerry cans on the roof rack so a one hour job becomes 3 or 4 hours, I just hope we do not have to use the spare wheel on the roof.

We want to get away at around 08h00 for our first leg to Clanwilliam some 585kms away.

Have to rush now sorry no photos today, keep in touch.

D Day plus 5

We are now getting to the business end of our preparations for our trip to Namibia and Botswana and I do not want to tempt "Murphy" by saying we are all but ready to roll. I decided to fit 4 new Bridgestone All Terrain tyres and I think I will be glad I did as there is probably only 5000 kms of life in them and our trip is over 8000kms.

We wanted to have dinner on Saturday at Rheinholds in Clanwilliam, but they have a total restaurant booking so will be dining at Dam Bistro as reccomended by our hosts at Saint du Barrys, but if you are ever in Clanwilliam you will not go wrong with Rheinholds, likewise you will not go wrong with Saint du Barrys for a B&B stay.

We went to the Knysna Motor Show on Saturday, very good, with cars from the 1920's to 2015 a fantastic range of MG's (TD's, TF's MGA's MGB's, Sunbeams, Triumph's, Fords, Buicks, Cadillacs, Bentleys, Rolls Royce's, Ferrari's Aston Martin's and many more as well as Norton, BSA's, AJS motor bikes it was definitely a walk down memory lane. Could not buy one as anyone you asked said no they were not for sale, talk about "boys and their toys" Really sorry I left my camera at home. The event was very well supported and 5 charities will benefit.

From Friday to Sunday this week we have the Jaguar Simola Hill Climb will try and see some action on Friday they have timed races for veteran cars to modern Ferrari"s, Masseratti's and of course Jaguars and special races for the ladies, no comments!

We are trying to find out if we can use our credit/cheque cards to pay for fuel, well it seems that cash is the king in Namibia with a few exceptions anyone know differently? Last time we were there some accepted cards others wanted cash. However one can get cash from ATM's, to fill my car one would not get much change from R2000 so it is a bit of a pain.

The list of things to do is getting shorter with items such as Beers, Water, Batteries charged, maps, torches, barter items, bound to forget something heaven forbid, better not be the beers.

View from Vanrhyns Pass

Typical Cedarberg rock formation

This was the state of our car on our last trip, hoping there is not as much rain.

D Day Plus Nine

Time is flying by and we are slowly getting there, in keeping with the pace of life in Knysna. I bumped into my daughter Karen in the shopping mall today and she said the problem with living in a small town is getting things done, she had ordered two new tyres from Speedy Exhaust and Tyres and they had to come from Port Elizabeth, no problem they should be here by 09h00 today, so she leaves it until 10h00 and when she gets there they say they only have one tyre the other is still on the truck, but he will be back after he has done his other deliveries because it must have been mixed up with other goods. I told her that that is a "con" but think of the "pro's" there is no way I would have bumped into her in Johannesburg. So we had coffee and killed another hour and Speedy had still not phoned her, just heard that the second tyre was on another truck and they are changing the tyres now at 14h30, Speedy by any other name?

Last week we had our Pink Loerie festival and Denise and I went to watch the Float parade very colourful and quite a lot of fun the "Queens" were stunning and as Denise commented guys have much nicer legs than girls, if you do not believe me see photo below. The festival brings a lot of business and into the town so we should not complain whatever your leaning.

A few of the "Queens " visiting Knysna for Mr Gay World

Our first stop in 9 days time is Clanwilliam so I thought I would share some of the photos of the flower season in that part of beautiful South Africa.

Rose between the Quiver Trees

Early morning in Clanwilliam

Flowers, flowers and more flowers

All the colours of the rainbow

In Postberg secter of the West Coast Nature Reserve
 only open to public during the flower season