Southern Africa … an Adventure of Contrasts

As always … when we get home we take the chance to sit down and reflect on our adventure. What are our highlights, what are the lowlights, what did we achieve and what did we learn. Starting off with highlights - Travel is an absolute must for us. It is something we value and will do as much as we can until we get to the point that the bodies won’t do it anymore. You learn so much from travel … the way other people live (and how similar we do at times); about different religions, foods and cultures; and you get to see incredible nature and architecture. Namibia was an absolute hidden gem. When Ian said he wanted to travel to Namibia I boldly went with him, not knowing what to expect, but looking for an African experience unlike what he had done 30 years ago. Namibia is beautiful. She is constantly changing. She is majestic. She is mysterious. Her landscape is unlike anything you have seen before … and yet familiar. Her people are friendly, welcoming and proud. Rovos Rail is an experien...

October 8, 2024 And so dawned the last day of our amazing Southern Africa adventure. We woke early ... what did you expect ... and after a shower and a final pack headed down to breakfast.  Because time was short we opted out of a cooked breakfast, instead having yoghurt, toast, juice and coffee. They had a prepared egg salad which Ian used to make a lovely breakfast sandwich. Back to the room, luggage collected and deposited in the car, we then checked out and were on our way. We headed first to an Engen Petrol Station as over breakfast I discovered that I had run out of data for my sim card. So with 3 hours of our final morning to go and an Ad Lab to get we called in at the MTC kiosk and purchased 500 mb of data ... at the grand price of $20 NAD  ($1.67). All loaded up we headed towards Walvis Bay ... our last stop. The drive was just over 20 km and you drove along a road bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on one side and endless lines of sand dunes on the other! Arriving in Wal...

October 7, 2024 Today marked the last full day of our Southern Africa adventure, so of course we wanted to make the most of it. We were up early, enjoyed a lovely breakfast at our hotel (made to order) of eggs, bacon, yoghurt, juice and coffee. Then a final pack of our gear in the car and we were away before 8.00 am. Our journey today would take us from Windhoek to Swakopmund … on a lovely sealed road  … a distance of about 360 kms. However, would we just drive straight through! No! Never! We had to make a detour. We took a detour off the B2 highway to travel on what was the roughest road of our entire journey. The D1918 wasn’t too bad but boy the D3716 was a bone rattler! For about 30 km we did a shake, rattle but thankfully no roll … a slow and steady drive that had Ian clenching the steering wheel. But oh boy was it worth it! Our destination was Spitzkoppe … a group of bald granite peaks. The peaks are believed to be 120 million years old and the highest peak rises 1,728 m above...