mercredi 31 janvier 2018

30 Jan, Tuesday - Day 29



Weaverbird nests - sunset boat ride

Yes, sometimes I am also in the picture - here with Markus during the « village walk « this morning

Kids, toys, a grand mother, a cat, some hens and chickens - and smiles all the way

End of the Sunset ride this evening

lundi 29 janvier 2018

29 Jan, Monday - Day 28

We are camping 21 kms east of Rundu, at N’Kwazi Lodge in Ovamboland, on the way to Katima Mulilo.  

The lodge is On the border of the Okavango River - www.nkwazilodge.com.   The book says, the place has been flooded over the last years.  Looking at the lady river today it seems hard to believe.

Yesterday we shopped so much food, that we can stay here for a some days.

The lodge is supporting a small community and its primary school.  Tomorrow we will visit the Kindergarten at 8 o’clock and talk to the teacher.

The children arrive at 7 am, get a shower and change into school uniforms.  Light blue or yellow shirt, dark blue or black trousers or skirt.  They are served some kind of breakfast, a snack at 10 (le dix heures) and lunch before the long walk home around 15 hrs.


samedi 27 janvier 2018

27 January, Saturday - Day 26

Lazy day under a huge. Camelthorn tree - Sudoku and reading.   Tomorrow we will drive down the river, at least 25 kms after shopping in Rundu.

Tomorrow we will shop in Rundu (left ballpen) and then drive a bit further east on the Okavango River, maybe 20 kms.   We have the N’Kwezi Lodge in view, but one of the books says, there is no electricity and that we need for the cooling box.   If necessary we will go to the Botswana. border, at the Popa Falls (right ballpen).

Today’s breakfast on the lawn.

The thorns are terribly sharp

vendredi 26 janvier 2018

26 January, Friday - Day 25

We are on the « Kaisoso River Lodge » campsite with an immense, shady lawn all to ourselves, fifty meters from the Okavango River.  Most rivers in the world runs into an ocean, but this one « disappears » into a huge delta in Botswana. 

Namibian summer holidays are over since 15 January and we have entered the so called low season.   Tourism will only pick up again only at Easter, when we are going back to Europe.

This is « our » lawn and private bath house complete with shower, warm water, toilet and a place to wash laundry and plates.  The campsite offers bungalows and rooms to rent, but it is so much nicer to be in the open than squeezed on 6m2 at three times the price.

Last  night a peacock came visiting as we had finished  settling in and this morning he came back to steal our last slice of bread.

We are 7 kms east of Rundu, 700 kms north-east of Windhoek.  We drove by pretty, green Tsumeb by the B1 and then joined the B8 along the Mangetti National Park to Rundu, in the Kavango West province.   Rundu is an ugly mining city in the middle of nowhere.  Dusty, dull and full of misery.  Houses built of straw.  No roof or, at the best, with a tin roof.

During the morning drive, we saw several zebras along the road, dozens of impalas, one kudu and a large heard of girafes.   

The countryside was grean with a few fields of corn and much cattle grassing along the road slowing don considerably the trafic.

I thought this was elephant dung, but it appeared to be thermites starting new homes in the middle of the road.

The water level of the Okavango is low at the moment.  Boatman Franz, who took us us on a sunset ride last night,  said it is actually  2,5 m deep.  In May, after the rains, both depth and width will  double.  Actually the width seems like a medium Par3 hole, approximately 120 m.

The sources of the Okavango River are to be found in Angola from where it flows slowly direction east-south-east creating a natural border to Namibia.  To the west flowing into the South Atlantic Ocean the Kunene constitutes the natural border. 

It would be relatively easy to swim across but as there are both snakes and crocodiles, only few people enter the water.   Contrary to previous years there is no sign of military to see on the Angola side.  All seems peaceful and locals fetch water on both banks.

Here is Hans on the day before yesterdays campsite, but the setup is exactly the same today ... same happy smile, same table loth and same white wine.  A Chenin Blanc from Du Toitskloof Cellar in South Africa.

We are lazy and will hang on here until we have no more food left, probably in a couple of days.   

Then we will drive East to enter the Caprivi Strip and cross border to Botswana close to Bagani and the Popa Falls.


lundi 22 janvier 2018

Itinerary - photos in a separate post

This year, our travel is composed as follows:

- 2 Jan to 16 Feb: touring Namibia on our own
- 17 Feb: pick-up Bente and Jens in Windhoek
- 18 Feb to 10 March: touring with B&J
- 10 March: drop Bente and Jens in Windhoek
- 11 to 28 March : leasure days alone in Luderitz at the South-West coast
- 30 March : drop car in Windhoek
- 1 April : arrival in Brussels (not a joke)


2 January to 17 February:
Day 1 - 2 Jan - Windhoek (Emerald BnB)
Day - Emerald BnB in Windhoek
Day 2 - B1 to Rehoboth (Lake Oanob Resort)
Day 3 - B1 to Kalkrand-Stampriet-Gochas - first camping at « Auob Camping «
Day 4 - C15-C17 to Koës (Red Dune Camp » - Game ride with Marieke
Day 5 - C17 to « Quiver Tree Forst Camp », NE of Ketmanshoop, feeding leopards
Day 6 - B4 via Ketmanshoop (Hans gets terrefic haircut) and Seeheim (coffee) to  »Desert Horse Inn Camp » in Aus
Day 7 - C13 via Helmeringshausen (coffee) and Maltahöhe (garage) and C14 mod Naukluft Camp (baboons)
Day 8 - C14 via Solitaire to Walvis Bay - « Spindrift Guesthouse » - fresh at the South Atlantic
Day 9 - B2 to « Long Beach Camp » with sea view
Day 10 - « Long Beach »
Day 11 - « Long Beach »
Day 12 - B2 short ride to Swakopmond « Alte Brücke Camp »
Day 13  « Alte Brücke »
Day 14 « Alte  Brücke »
Day 15 - C34 to Henties Bay (« Skubbebar », C35 via Uis - D..... to Brandberg (White Lady Camp)
Day 16 - « White Lady Camp » at Brandberg - Game ride with lots of elephants
Day 17 - C35 to Khorixas, C39 to « Bambetsi Camp », 55 kms east of Khorixas at at Otavi Berge
Day 18 - « Sophienhof Camp », 12 kms west of Outjo
Day 19 - C39 to « Ohange Camp », 30 kms north of Godforsaken Otavi, on the B1
Day 20 - « Ohange Camp » - very warm day ending with thunderstorm without rain






mardi 16 janvier 2018

3 January 2018 -

Cueing at the airport in Windhoek upon arrival at 12:15.  Through customs at 14:00, at Camping Car Hire at 15:45 to pick up a HUGE.camping car with two tents on the roof.  

Tired after almost 24 hrs travelling, we decide to spend the first night in Windhoek at « Emerald BnB ».  The temperature us lovely, the sunset  beautiful and the bed excellent.

We book the same hotel for 17 Feb, when we are to pick up Bente and Jens with whom we will travel for 3 weeks.

Tomorrow we’ll take B1 direction Rehoboth.

lundi 15 janvier 2018

Namibie 2018 -

After several days of excessive heat in the Namib Desert, we are enjoying a light breeze from the South Atlantic Ocean, precisely at Swakopmond, where we are camping at « Alte Brücke », where we have our own toilet-house, a lawn and a huge palmtree.

Having crayfish salad and shrimp skewer at the Seafront at 11 am

... not to forget a bottle of cool Chardonnay - life is sweet, even at almost 80.

I have been fighting to find a way to write and publish a Blog - if this works, I will tell you about the 10 days in the heat of the desert ....