Africa - 6th June to 13th June

I arrived into Johannesburg first and after a few hours in the airport flew to Cape Town to spend a coupld of days relaxing and getting myself ready for my overland tour.  The weather was awful the first day I was there so I decided shopping was on the cards so I got all the bits and bobs I needed for my trip.

The second day the weather was beautiful so I headed up to Table Mountain and caught the Cable Car up to the top of the mountain.  Amazing views from up there and seeing the clouds and how the light plays on them was gorgeous, I was up there about an hour pottering around having a look and enjoying the sunshine.

The rest of the day was dedicated to washing and repacking before my pre-departure meeting for the overland trip.  Met a few of the people I was going to be travelling with and they seemd like an alright bunch but its always hard to judge straight away and in such a short period of time.  Anyway our guide is called Kath and is an Aussie, Alouis is our driver and is 6ft 7in and built like a brick shit house ( a teddy bear underneath it but scary when its called for) and Duncan is our cook and hes 5ft nothing and a fab cook they are both Kenyan.

Our Truck sits 30 people there were 26 of us leaving Cape Town so its pretty full.  All the food, bags, tents and cooking equipment goes on the bottome of the truck and then we sit up the top bit and we have a buzzer that links us to the cab where Alouis and Duncan sit.

The group bonded really quickly pretty much over the first lunch we had in the freezing cold at the side of the road 30 minutes out of Cape Town.  Kath and Olivia and mislaid their passports which meant we left cape town just over 2 hours later than we were meant to.  Day one we headed up from Cape town to the citrus fruit and wine growing areas in the west and we stayed at Spakry's place the first night.  We had a tent putting up lesson from Alouis and then we got to it, needless to say we have got much quicker at it since then.  I'm sharing a tent with Olivia and Aussie who is studying in New York at the moment and who is lovely.

That first night we had a wine tasting up at the bar infront of a roaring fire - I have come to realise that whilst Africa may be warm during the day its bloody freezing at night my summer ,PJs and sleeping bag did not cut it the first night.  After the wine tasting we had a fab chicken stew followed by apple crumble cooked by Sparky which was sooooooo good, all washed down with a few glasses of Shiraz.

6am start the following day and I don't think I have ever been that cold in my life.  We have to have our tents down and bags by the truck before we are allowed breakfast and then we have to wash our hands with soap, savlon and then rinse before we are allowed near the food, the same process happens with our plates at the end of the meal and we have to flap them dry ... we look ridiculous but it is funny.

We then headed up to the Oranje River and our next camp site on the South African/Namibian border.  On the way we stopped at a place called Sprinkbok where everyone made a beeline for a shop called PEP to buy termals, blankets, pillows and anything else to keep us warm and make sleeping in the ten more comfortable.  Once at camp we pitched our tents looking out over the river which was magic and after we had done our duties we pulled up a chair and sank and few beer as the sunset.  Lamb chops, mash and veg for dinner we were in heaven.  Was in bed asleep by 10pm exhausted.

the following day there was an opportunity to canoe on the Oranje River but I decided to save my money for the safaris further up so the rest of us sat in the sun and read or caught up on our journals.  After lunch we headed out for the border, I can say I was a little nervous as I wasn't sure what to expect but we sailed through with both sides with relative ease.

Once in Namibia the landscape changed dramatically and became very barren and arid but in the same breath strangely beautiful.  Our first camp site was at a place called Canon Road House wehre we pitched our tents quickly before heading to Fish River Canyon (second largest Canyone in the world) for sunset.  Dinner was spag bol and so good I tell you Duncan is a mean cook.  We then hit the bar which was so posh and up market considering we were in the middle of knowhere we are all a bit thrown when we walked through the door.  Fun night with a few capers in the form of people climbing out of bathroom windows to avoid having to pay bar bills having opened the box in the picture of the naked man or woman in the bathroom which rang a bell in the bar and meant you had to buy shots for everyone at the bar.

Another early start in the morning but so lovely to watch the sun come up over breakfast.  Today we headed for Sesrium in the Namib desert, seeing Ostrich, Springbok, Gemsbok (Oryx) and Kudu along the way.   Once at camp we pitched our tents and headed out to do a desert walk and finally to climb dune 45 to watch sunset.

Back at camp and Duncan had cooked us a Kudu stew with the most amazing red lentils I have ever had in my life.  I then headed off for a shower to shouts of watch out for the jackals and me going ha ha very funny ... apparently as I entered the shower block a jackal walked right behind me.  Later sat in the tent with jsut the lfy screen down a jackal walked right past outside.

We had a lie in the following day as the accelerator on the truck was broken and Alouis had to get it fixed so we spent the morning sitting in the sun reading and chatting.  At midday Alouis was back with a door hinge temproarily holding the accelerator pedal in place.

We were now headed for Swakpmund which had turned into the holy grail for Olivia and I as we kept saying when we get to Swakpmund we're going to ..... We stopped at a place called Solitaire to grab pies for lunch which were really good before hitting the never ending stragith grey road to our destiny.

Swakpund has lived up to everything we wanted.  Warm showers, comfy beds, shops, and a good nights sleep.  We went clubbing the first night here and then last night watched the footie.

Back on the road on Monday for another 5 days in Namibia including a visit to a Cheetah park where we can get up close to them before we cross over into Botswana and we do a 2night 3 day trip on canoes into the Okavanga Delta which I am really looking forward to.