Day 105 – 108: The Philippines (Banaue)

We flew into Manila (the proper airport this time) because we wanted to see a bit of north Luzon. As, usual, we arrived later than expected without any accommodation booked but we managed to get something sorted for a couple of nights (first a bit ropey and a very rude man, second much better). We were staying downtown in an area called Ermita, which is quite lively – constantly you have people coming up to you offering to sell you something or other (usually cigarettes or tricycle rides but also more exotic things) and lots of children begging. The beer was so cheap they might as well have given it away free and we eat at an excellent seafood market – you pick which fish you want and how you want it cooked and then they go and take it to the chef. A couple of days in Manila, however, was more than our senses could take and we glad to get out of the city.

The journey north involved a nine hour overnight bus journey. I’m not a great sleeper at the best of times so overnight bus journeys are not my favourite mode of transport however this one was made slightly worse in that two and a half hours into our journey, I looked out the window and we were exactly where we started. Apparently another bus had broken down and ours was expected to take its passengers on route to our destination!!! Anyway, we arrived in Banaue about 8 o’clock, a bit tired but not too far behind schedule. We jumped into a tricycle (our new favourite mode of transport) to our hotel and, surprise, surprise, the driver was also a tour guide so we signed up to a trek through the rice terraces.

Banaue is famous for its ancient rice terraces – these terraces were constructed about 2,000 years ago and are pretty impressive – I always thought they were cut into the mountain, but they are actually built onto them with clay. Anyway, this was the main reason for us to travel up there. We had wanted to see more of the area but didn’t give ourselves enough time without rushing around and risking missing our flight. So we were quite happy to spend a few days just in this town. It was really lovely and peaceful place – relaxed and with cool, clean mountain air; a world away from Manila.

On monday morning, our guide Charles, picked us up in his tricycle and took us up to the viewpoint, from where we commenced our three hour hike. Charles knew his stuff – his family had their own terrace so he could tell us all about how they work – family ownership, how rice is cultivated etc. It wasn’t too taxing, just lots of steps, and there were lots of lovely views.

We spent just a second night in Banaue and then caught the night bus back down to Manila. This time we arrived at four in the morning and managed to get another bus up to Angeles for Clark airport. Manila was just as busy at that time as it was during the day. Our flight wasn’t until 16:45 but we were too tired to do too much else apart from wait in the airport but you can’t even get into Clark airport until you check in so we resorted to sitting/sleeping on the chairs outside.

We have now arrived in Kota Kinabalu and are very excited about our next two weeks in Borneo – just waiting now for the hostel guy to finish what he is doing so we can organise some tours…

Day 88 – 104: The Philippines (Boracay and Malapascua)

An epic journey began at 4.30 on the 8th May with a taxi to KL (LCCT) Airport. A plane, two busses, taxi, another plane, minibus, ferry and tricycle later we were in a resort on Boracay – 9 different vehicles and we still had time for a couple of happy hour beers before dinner! It wasn’t the most fun day but everything went surprisingly smoothly considering how little we had booked in advance. The flight into Manila (Clark) was all we had arranged. As with low-cost airlines around the world, Air Asia’s concept of Manila is in fact two hours from the city. We arrived too late to catch a connecting flight from Clark airport so we got a bus (or two) into the city and caught a taxi to the main airport in the hope of getting a flight somewhere nice. There was a flight leaving for Caticlan (Boracay) in 45 minutes, so with a mad dash, we got onto the smallest plane we have ever been on, bound for the smallest airport imaginable. Caticlan Airport was only a couple of minutes from the port, where we jumped on a rickety old boat (banca) to the island. It was only five o’clock, so we weren’t too worried about finding somewhere to stay but, as usual, there was somebody at the arrival port offering to take us to a resort that had a “good price”. To be fair, the one she took us to was fine and we happily stayed there the first night – it is often just easier to get a bed for the night and worry about the rest of the week later.

Boracay is an interesting island. It is undoubtedly beautiful and has the most amazing white sand beach. It is little surprise that it is The Philippines most popular tourist resort. I wasn’t expecting too much before we went – I just figured it would be all a bit too touristy but we were happy for somewhere to relax for a week. It was very touristy, there wasn’t a patch on the beach front that had not been developed for something but it wasn’t over-bearing. There was no high-rise buildings, the restaurants were all decent enough and the bars were actually quite nice – nothing too tacky. And the diving was exquisite!! We didn’t do much else for the week apart from sit under palm trees on the beach, drink cheap San Miguel (Pale Pilsen is so much nicer than the stuff they sell in the UK) and eat seafood. When it got cloudy towards the end of the week, we just did a bit of diving. However those clouds turned into a little more as the tail end of a cyclone lashed the island. Luckily, we only had one really bad day of this and even more luckily it had mostly cleared by the time we were due to sail and fly to Cebu.

For our second week in the Philippines (you get to stay three weeks without needing a visa), we particularly wanted to go to Malapascua, a small island on the northern tip of Cebu. It is touted as being the next Boracay because it has an equally beautiful beach and excellent diving, but as yet is fairly undeveloped. Our journey there was not, however, as problem free as our last. The flight and everything were fine (Caticlan Airport may only be little more than a bus shelter but our carrier, Asian Spirit, have their own departure lounge which is a nice little restaurant next door).

At Cebu airport, we realised we would be cutting it a bit fine to get to Malapascua that day (a 4 hour bus ride, about 4 hours before the last ferry) so stopped in Cebu city for the night. At first, we thought this might be a good opportunity to see another city but downtown Cebu is not a particularly nice place. Our hotel was decent enough (basically a travel lodge) but we had a wander around town, going to all the sites in the guide book, which took about 20 minutes… we gave up with that and went to find a bar and somewhere to have dinner but there was nothing so we ended up just eating at the hotel. To make matters worse they were showing GOAL on TV, and all the shots of Newcastle made us a bit homesick

Anyway, a day later than hoped, we got the bus up to Maya, where we were to hop over to Malapascua. I say we got the bus but I very nearly didn’t. I asked one of the ticket men what time our bus left to be told it was going at 8.30. This gave me a good ten minutes to grab a healthy breakfast from Dunkin’ Donuts, leaving Gem looking after the bags on the bus. Of course, the bus driver decided to go when he was good and ready and a frantic Gemma, followed by conductor, ran round the corner telling me that the bus was leaving. Grabbed my coffee and legged it full speed to jump on a moving bus as it pulled away from the terminal. Then to play on Gem’s frayed nerves, the driver, spent the next four hours overtaking everything, playing music at full volume and blaring his horn at every given opportunity.

We did eventually make it to the island and were not disappointed. We stayed the first couple of nights in a fairly basic hut (the island only has electricity for a few hours in the evening) and then moved to Exotic Dive Resort. They gave us a good deal on the room as we promised to do some diving with them. It was clearly the nicest place on the island – the best bit of beach, their own generator and a nice restaurant (they also did a very nice 2-4-1 Caipirina during happy hour).

The diving there is all about thresher sharks. Unfortunately because that dive site was at a depth of 25m, they wouldn’t take us because we were only Open Water certified (up to 18m). This was a bit of a pain because other places have happily taken us to that depth no bother. But we did do a couple of other dives which were pretty nice (although not as good as Tioman or Boracay).

Another lazy week with little exciting things to write about – when you are on a beautiful tropical island what do you do but sunbathe, swim, read, eat and go diving? I did go for a walk around the island one day and everyone I met was insistent that they take me to a cock-fight (even offered me to enter a bird for 100 pesos). Needless to say I politely declined!

Thankfully the drive back was much less stressful, with a suitably calm bus driver. We also met a couple from Bristol who new Anna Jones, which was quite a coincidence.

(and now we are properly up to date with our blog took us a while but we got there. We are in Manila now and are catching a night bus this evening to Banaue to see some rice terraces…)

Day 82 – 87: Melaka and Kuala Lumpur

Having to leave Tioman early gave us a chance to spend a couple of days in Southern Malaysia, so we caught the first ferry off the island with the hope of catching a bus from Mersing to Melaka, where we had booked a couple of nights accommodation.

Unfortunately, the buses were all full till about 5.30 in the evening, which was far from ideal as it was a 6 hour journey. This is where some “helpful” local intervened and stated to tell us to get on another bus bound for Kluang, where we would be able to catch a connecting bus. Not that I am inherently skeptical (cough!) but I was a little cautious about some random telling me to get on a bus bound for a destination I had never heard of. He thought I was stupid and didn’t understand him when I insisted on talking to the driver and another couple about our chances of picking up a connection but it turned out that he was right and just looking for a tip. We did manage to change in Kluang and did manage to get to Melaka in good time. However we then got hopelessly lost looking for our hostel trying to follow a very vague map. After about an hour of walking in totally the wrong direction, we gave up and got a cab that cost us more that our 6 hours on the bus. Oh well, it was still only a couple of quid

The hostel in Melaka was pretty decent – the friendliest manager possible – and it was right next to chinatown, where we immediately headed for a few beers and some food. The beers had to be cut short because they were so damned expensive (over twice the price of tax-free Tioman) but we made up for it in food. The food was so cheap, we ended up ordering far too much because we thought they must be really small plates. Chinatown in Melaka was hilarious! Over the weekend, they close off the streets to cars and set up loads of stalls, selling all kinds of unimaginable things. They also have karaoke stalls everywhere (on the street, in temples and even a big stage in the main square!)

The next day, we went for an explore of the city and god, was it a hot day – we were just about coming to terms with the humidity of Asia but for the last week or so we had a cool sea breeze to help us. Melaka is an interesting city, there is much evidence of Dutch and Portuguese colonialism but it is also very clean and modern (we have a habit of seeking out air-con shopping malls and their food courts at lunch time). We went to a couple of museums – one old historical town house and one on “enduring beauty”, which showed all manner of ways different cultures have adorned and deformed their bodies in the name of cultural allegiance and beauty. It was a bit chaotically organised but interesting nonetheless.

After some fabulous dim sung for breakfast, on Sunday morning we headed up to Kuala Lumpur (and managed to find the hostel without getting lost). Again, we were staying near chinatown, which in KL is an experience in itself – whatever kind of knocked off watches/dvd/sunglasses you could ask for, would be thrust in your face as you walked past. We had four days in KL, which gave us a chance to catch up on things – we spent most of the first day in the internet cafe (much of which was Gemma struggling to convince Air NZ to change our flights). KL is a nice modern city – lots of good shopping and restaurants. It is also visually impressive, with the Petronas Towers and the Golden Triangle mingling pleasantly with ancient mosques and temples and some well kept gardens. One of the days, we did get the bus out of town to visit the Batu Caves – a Hindu Temple carved into the rock. This was fairly underwhelming (and smelly) and we caught the same bus back 45 minutes later. Apart from that, we were happy wandering around and relaxing. We did take in the orchid gardens and the National Islamic museum but mainly we were getting ourselves ready for our trip to the Philippines.

Day 68 – 81: Singapore and Malaysia (Tioman)

On the 18th of April, we left Africa. After two months on the continent, we were sad to leave but excited for a new adventure. In some ways it felt like our travelling was only just beginning as this next bit we have to organise ourselves; we no longer have the comfort of knowing that somebody else has booked the accommodation and sorted out transportation for you. It is all new and exciting.

The flight was pretty straightforward. You have got to love Singapore Airlines for comfort and service. Although I did make the mistake of introducing Gemma to “Zelda” on the Nintendo; she didn’t speak to me for hours…

We arrived in Singapore Airport at the rediculous hour of 4.30 in the morning and the first thing we did was change one of our upcoming flights and then sit in Starbucks for a while. No point in turning up to the hostel too early. The hostel itself was a glorified cupboard but we were only there for 3 nights so it was no major drama. Singapore is a pretty uninspiring city to visit. If you are not going to spend you time shopping there is not too much to see and do (but there is LOTS of shopping). We needed to replace our camera, so that was ideal for us and of course we had the ubiquitous Singapore Sling in Raffles.

From Singapore we got the local bus up to Johor Bahru, just the other side of the Malaysian border and then caught an “express” bus up to Mersing from where we took the ferry to Tioman – our first major destination in Asia. Travelling overland around Asia has been pretty easy so far. Whenever you get off a bus, there is always somebody there to see what you want to book next. Of course they are trying to get your business but they are always happy to help out and point you in the right direction if you ask.

In Tioman, we stayed in the place called Swiss Cottage in Tekek village. We booked it from Cape Town, when we didn’t have a guide book so we just searched the internet for a dive centre that looked good. Unfortunately, Rough Guide are pretty disparaging about Tekek but our chalet was definitely on the best bit of the island. All the backpacker places are in another town further north but the beach is no way near as good up there. There may have been a few more bars (we had one!!) but nothing worth making the effort for. It was a quiet little place, with a couple of restaurants and not many tourists but we had a very pleasant and relaxed time. We did have to share our chalet with a couple of monitor lizards, we occupied the roof above the bathroom!

But the main reason we were in Tioman was to learn how to dive, so as soon as we got there we started our Open Water PADI. It is a four day course (in fact, with a bit of urgency, it could easily be done in three) where you learn all you need to scuba. It is all pretty striaghtforward but you do learn quite alot of stuff about buoyancy and nitrogen absorbtion etc. Each day we would do some of the classroom section and then get in the water. The first day we were just in the shallows, practising breathing and clearing our masks. The next day we got to explore the reef just off the beach. Our first real experience with diving and it was amazing. Fish don’t seem to worry about you – they just come and have a look a t this big clumsy thing covered in neoprene… And we saw a turtle, which was very exciting )

The third and forth day, we got to do some proper dives off a boat. We went to some different reefs, a wreck and an island. It was really really cool; so many fish to see – a few snakes and eels, lionfish, loads of baracude and even a reef shark. To be honest, though, it was all new and exciting to us and we were just as happy looking at all the little things (like nudibranchs and shrimp goby) as the bigger fish.

The rest of the week we just chilled out and did a couple more dives. Kaj, our instructer, was happy to take us on a 30m dive – that’s a long way down, but you can only stay there for 20 mins. It was Gem’s birthday, while we were there; there wasn’t alot to do but we did go out for a nice meal and one of the three restaurants:

We had planned to stay for a couple of week on Tioman and we went up to ABC beach to look for somewhere else to stay. Unfortunately, we hadn’t reckoned on it being a bank holiday and the whole of Singapore wanting to come and stay so we had to change our plans and move on. 10 days is probably enough time on Tioman though and this gave us some time to see Melaka before our flight to the Philippines.

Day 54 – 67: South Africa (Cape Town and Karen)

After a day of blogging, sorting accomodation and having sundowner drinks at Camp’s Bay for Simon’s 30th Birthday we jumped ina taxi back to the hostel to await he arrivial of lovely Karen. She arrived in time for a few glasses of vino and some dinner. It was fab to see a familiar face even though it was quite odd that she was in Cape Town with us!

We had a busy old week and think we managed to squeeze in all the tourist things to do in Cape Town. I know I was exhausted by the end of it.

We climbed Table Mountain (and got the lift that roitated back down). I vowed that i would not climb a mountain again (as it is 1,000 metres of climbing) but when we got to the top it was worth it (if not a tad chilly) and the views were fantastic. We also were tempted about abseiling down! We walked back to town and then needed some well earned beers to cool us down! That night we went to game resturant and had (more) game meat but it was lovely!

A really good day for me was when we hired a little punto car and drove to Cape Point (where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean) and the Cape of Good Hope (the most southwestern part of Africa). Apart from the amazing views it was really nice to get out in a car and have the freedom to go where you pleased. We stopped off at some really nice beaches on the way there and back and found some fab Fish and Chips for lunch (Simonstown). We also managed to visit the Penguin Collony just outside of Cape Town but were a bit let down as we did not see thousands of them as we had expected (there were really cool though).

We also spent a lot of time shopping while in Cape Town. Where we were staying (on Long Street) had some really cool small shops and a good market only 5 mins away. But we also visisted the Vicoria and Albert Waterfront quite a lot (a bigger, more modern version of the Royal Quays North Shields with more bars and resturaunts).I liked it there as it was like being in civilizaton again. We had some nice meals there and one night met up with Andi, Matt and Maria from the trek (who were still in Cape Town) for a meal and some cheeky beer tasting.

Camps Bay was also a really nice place to visit and chill for an afternoon. It is where all the beautiful people go so obviously we fitted in quite well ;o). We had some really good sushi there as well.

It would have been rude to go to Cape Town and not visit Robben Island. We loved the guide we had and he was hilarious (and obviously loved ‘Mr Mandella’). It was a really funny place to visit as there are people that live on the island. The part where we visisted the prison was a littlew rushed for me but we got to see what we wanted – it was also interesting as they had an ex political prisioner showing us around which made it even more interesting. That night we went to a traditilanal Cape Malay dinner. It was so nice but there was so much of it!

As Karen wanted to do a wine tour we decided we could do another one. Unfortuantely, we could not get one that was different to the one we had done the week previously but this was not hardship! We had a mini bus and driver just for the 3 of us and we went to Stellenboush (again). It was good though as we knew what we wanted to buy so got some nice bottles of vino for so cheap! I also got to ‘traditionally’ open a bottle of bubbly using a sword! When we got back we went out for cocktails – needless to say we were a tad tiddly.

On Karen’s last day we had tickets booked for a Super 14’s game (Stormer V Cheetahs) so we said our goodbyes after an early lunch. It was sad to see Karen go but we did have a lot of fun drinking tea, eating lots of food and shopping!

The game itself was really good. The stadium was a little bigger than the falcon’s one (45,000 seater) and the crowds were definately ‘different’ (very loud and funny). Newlands was a really nice part of town as well so we got to see that in the taxi.

The next day we moved accomodation to Saltycrax in Bloughberg. We had decided to stay a couple of weeks in Cape Town so we could relax a bit before we headed off to Asia and the centre of town is a bit hectic and we had done all the tourist stuff with Karen. Blauberg is about 20 minutes out of town and by the beach. It was a lovely little hostel with the two nicest dogs (border collies, I think) and a goat. We just relaxed, organised some stuff for Asia and eat ice-cream. The biggest hardship we had was drinking all the wine we had bought on the Stellenbosch tour! By the end of the week we were refreshed and ready to face whatever Asia could thow at us.

Truck Life

OK, we spent 52 days travelling through Africa. We have blogged all the highlights of what we got up to but we thought it would be worthwhile saying something about truck life (day to day).

Our tour was organised by Absolute Africa, who specialise in overland treks. They use these great big Scania trucks that have been fitted out especially for this purpose. The first thing you notice about it is that it is very big and very yellow. This was a bit disconcerting at first but we just got used to it and expected to me mobbed by locals the minute you stepped out.

There were between 22 and 28 passengers on this truck, which is quite alot (a few more than ideal in our opinion). I was pretty much an even split between English, Aussies and Kiwis. Surprisingly it was about half couples and there was only one single guy. Onboard, we had a stereo and fridge and a little library. There was under-floor locker space for your day-bags/lunch food etc and everybody had a lockable under-seat space to keep cash etc stashed away.

We cooked with the truck twice a day and everybody was assigned to a group for various chores – cooking, washing up, truck clean and firestarter (Apart from the firestarter – me and Fitz – your team would rotate between jobs). Breakfast was usually toast, coffee and maybe some fresh fruit. Dinner was better than we expected, but then we didn’t expect to eat meat every day – we would have curries (mild!!), pastas, noodles, roast lamb, garlic bread – all cooked on coals.

Most days would start early (it was known to be up at 4:30am a few mornings) – if we had a long drive ahead of us, we might have breakfast as early as 6am and the firestarter and cooks would have to get up before to prep this, after taking down the tent. Everyone would help tidying up and then we would get on the road. We spent some long days on the truck – Africa is a pretty big place and we had some serious miles to do (I think we did 7,500km in total), so a number of occasions we were driving for 12 hours or more. We would sleep a bit, read, play endless games of cards, or just stare out of the window. It could get pretty bumpy on the truck (Gemma did a lot of ‘air’ especially sitting at the back), especially at the back on some well worn roads.

For lunch, we would either stop at some road-side cafe or village, or, more often than not, eat a packed lunch by the road side (usually something like tuna, crackers and fresh fruit). Before we arrived at our campsite we might need to stop in town to go to the supermarket – the cooks would need to buy food for dinner and individuals would need to get some lunch/beer supplies.

Eventually, hopefully not after dark(but this sometimes occured), we would arrive at our campsite. Now these varied… alot. Some were lovely, soft grass, nice facilities, bar etc and others were just a muddy wasteland. Now and again we got a hot shower but it certainly wasn’t guaranteed.

After putting up our tent, the cooks would get to work on dinner, which would normally take a couple of hours – cooking for 28 on coals is no easy feat. Everyone else would take time to chill out, have a beer (or wine a la cardboard box) or catch up on some washing.

We would all eat dinner on little stools in a circle around the fire – eating from a table with proper cutlery became a surprising luxury! Head-torches became the fashion accessory of choice, and deet the perfume.

Of course not every day was a driving day, that would just be pointless! Although looking at the itineraries of some of the other companies it seems that driving was all they did. It was always nice when we arrived at a site and knew we had a few days there – not have to put up and take down the tent for a while. More often than not we would leave one place with regrets but then immediately start getting excited about the next big thing. Usually if we were not driving, we would be doing something exciting (seeing lions or jumping off bridges, for example!) but occasionally we would decide not to do the activity and enjoy some time to relax. This usually meant just relaxing round the campsite (or beach). We would have liked to get out and wander around the towns a bit more but the camps were normally too remote to be able to do that. Being able to wander round Vic Falls and Swakopmund was a welcome change.

In all, we had a pretty amazing time. Looking back, it is hard to believe that we did so much in that space of time (especially as we are now sorting things out for ourselves, which takes much longer!). We got on well with everybody on the truck. The tour leader was a bit of an arse and this created some friction towards the end but considering there were that many people stuck together for so long we did surprisingly well.

Do we have a favourite? With so many highlights it is difficult to say. We both agree that Zimbabwe was the best country. We were really lucky to get through there before the elections and it is just such a shame that the country is in the state it is. Also it is difficult to think beyond the Serengeti National Park – the vastness of the landscape and the wildlife was truly spectacular but one of the hidden gems of the tour was the day we spent in Matopos National Park near Bulawayo. The guide was so knowledgeable and passionate we learnt so much more about the animals we were seeing.

Day 50 – 53: South Africa (trek)

After the previous day of being bogged we left the luxury of the hotel at 6am to make up some miles. We stopped and had breakfast on the roadside (in the rain) and managed to get to the SA border at about 1pm. This is when the sun suddenly came out and it became incredibly hot!

Just over the SA border we drove to a really nice campsite on the Orange River. Unfortunately, there was no time for resting as we had to do the final truck clean and clean the inside and outside of our tents. This was a hard job but I think we got off lightly as we only had to wash all the pots and pans (Gem) and Stu had to wash the outside of the truck. After a watching a beautiful sunset we had a couple of drinks in the bar on the river and went to sleep for the last time in our humble tent! It was so oppressively hot during the night however that I had to keep sticking my head out the tent just to get some air!

The next day we drove all the way through SA to Stellenbosch – when we stopped for lunch, I was so impressed that I could go to a proper toilet and buy an ice lolly! When we arrived at the hostel in Stellenbosch (at about 6pm) it was full of drunk German teenagers trying to throw you in the pool – very odd. After a Greek meal we then hit the sack ready for the long awaited wine tour the next day!

The wine tour itself was brilliant. We all piled into 2 mini buses and headed off to the wineries! At the first (Simonsig) we got showed around and sampled some lovely white wines and sparkling wines (we were also shown the traditional way of opening a bottle of bubbly with a sword – something I got to do when we went on the wine tour with Karen a week or so later). It was all very civilised at first but after the 2nd winery (Boschendal) (and the 12th ‘taste’ of wine) we were beginning to feel rather merry! Lunch was the next stop (andyou got a glass of wine with that as well) and it was lovely! The 3rd place (Franschoek) was a bit of a blur and the 4th winery (Fairview) was great as you got unlimited cheese with the wine! It was lovely and I wished we had bought some cheese. They also a wine called Goats do Roam Villages, which was mildly amusing.

Getting back to the hostel things were rather raucous (and now I realised the Germans the night before had been to the wine tour that day). Stu and I went on our own for dinner as we did not want a huge meal but the search for a cheap pub to have a small meal turned into a bit of a pub crawl – oppppss.

The last day of the trek was quite short really – I had a sore head and was pleased that it was only an hours drive to Cape Town. We arrived at a really nice hostel with a pool so we made use of that and then in the evening had our final group meal at a game restaurant.

Here endeth the trek!

Day 48 – 49: Sossusvlei and Namib Desert

We left Swokopmund (reluctantly got on the truck as it was nice to have a few days ‘off’) early and had a long days driving through the Namib desert – we stopped for lunch at a funny little place called Solitaire. It was in the middle of absolutely nowhere and it looked like a town from the wild west – we had lovely apple pie there though!

Strangely enough the desert was greener than usual because there had been some rain in the last couple of days…

Later in the afternoon we met a guide who took us (in the back of the smallest pick up in the world) to the dunes. We walked to Deadvlei which was the ‘dead’ part of the dunes that the river no longer flowed to. It was amazing and quite eerie (especially with the rain coming in). The guide was hilarious and kept on giving us lectures on how to be good wives! He was a good dancer though!

We then drove a little further to Dune 45 which is a high dune that you are permitted to walk up. It was rather high and the walk up quite hard but the view from the top was worth it (Stu even managed to go a little higher than me). From the top we saw a sand storm in the distance and it came closer and closer to us. When it hit I had sand in places I did not even know you could get sand! The dune was really cool – especially the run down it!

After a night in the rain (again) we got up early to drive to Fish River Canyon. But then it all went a bit wrong! At about 9am Ronnie (our driver) asked us to get off the truck as he was not sure if he could make it up the big hill in front of us (especially as the roads were quite bad due to all the rain) – he did this a lot in case he crashed when doing the diffucult bits of driving. Anyway, off the truck went (to get some speed up) and we followed up the big hill (getting VERY wet in the rain) only to find when we got to the top the truck was bogged. Ronnie tried to get out but every time he did the truck kept slipping towards the edge!

Anyway, to cut a very long story short (and to gloss over the tanrums and arguments) we managed to get the truck free, 7 1/2 hours later with the help of 5 pick-up trucks that happened to be passing (we had not seen many overland trucks for the whole of the day and I was resigned to think we were going to have to camp that night). At one point we decided to take all our stuff off the truck as we thought it was going to go over the edge!

Too late to make it to the Fish River Canyon (and by that point people were just pleased not be bogged) we just drove to the next town to camp. On the way however, the heavens opened and I was not loving the prospect of camping. Luckily the campsite at the next town was flooded so we had to stay in a hotel (4 to a double room – 2 on the floor) – you might say I was so relieved (and me and Stu got to sleep in the bed)!

Day 42 – 47: Swakopmund

Monday morning we got up early for quite a long day; unfortunately the truck didn’t start – we had been having some problems with dodgy diesel. Somehow water was getting into mixed in with it, either at the pump or in the tanks. Either way, we didn’t leave until about 9-ish, without the advantage of having a lie-in.

First up we went a short way down the road to visit a traditional Himbe tribe. These people cover their bodies in ochre and talk with a clicking sound. The ochre is part of a cleaning ritual – they cannot affort to use any precious water to clean with so they use the ochre and scented smoke to clean themselves with. We did the whole thing about sitting in the main hut while somebody explains this and visited a few families, taking lots of pictures with the fascinated kids… personally I find all this sort of stuff a little uncomfortable – gawping at people for entertainment. I know they are being paid for it but it just seems a bit exploitative, like they are some show-tribe that is set up for tourists to look at. Anyway, that is probably just me. Gem and everybody else were fascinated by it all.

Late afternoon we arrived at our next destination, high in the Brandberg mountains. It was about 4.30 and we went on a bit of a hike up to see some rock painting. It was really nice to be able to get out and have a decent walk – especially in the early evening (relative) cool. The painting themselves were not all that special but the setting was lovely and very dramatic. We set up a bush camp that night. After being in the tent for so long we didn’t really relish a night of bush camping but it was really lovely where we were, very spacious and we really were miles from anywhere.

The next morning we got up early (again) to make our way to Swakopmund, stopping off at cape cross to see a seal colony – thousands upon thousands of very smelly seals on a rock. Increasingly the terrain looked more desert-like as we approached Swakopmund. Now this town is very odd. It is a kind of german-themed seaside resort, at the end of the desert. Namibia is a former German colony (or at least West Africa was) so it is still populated by German holiday makers, german speaking black-africans, beer-halls and bakeries. It has also tried to turn itself into an adrenaline-centre, similar to Vic Falls so we spent 4 nights here while people did stuff like sandboarding and sky-diving. We weren’t too bothered by this as it wasn’t really what we came to africa to do (and hadn’t budgeted for it) but Gem did go quadbiking one day but apart from that we just wandered about and relaxed for a few days, which was really quite enjoyable. It might have been germand restaurants but we did get to eat some cool (and delicious) food, such as Zebra and Oryx.

Unfortunately, Swakopmund was where our camera was nicked. I say nicked, but really lost would be a better discription. We went out for dinner and left the bag on the back of the chair. Only realising the next morning, we went back to the restaurant to find that the bag had been returned but then of course the camera was not in it… We went to the police station to get a crime report and were basically laughed at – which we thought was fair enough – but eventually got our statement for the insurance. Just a good job this happened when we had a few days to sort this out (and in a fairly civilised Town)

NB: Somebody has some more photos of the quadbiking, so we will try and get hold of them and post them here…

Day 38 – 42: Namibia (Etosha and Cheetah Park)

After a less than successful trip to Botswana, we finally made it to Namibia. As soon as we crossed the border the clouds cleared and everything became so much easier…

…and then we arrived at the coolest campsite. It was quite nice to stay in a clean place, with decent grass by the river (and sunshine) but whoever had designed this place had made a real effort for it to stand out. OK, it had a swimming cage, so you didn’t get eaten by Hippos or crocs but the bathrooms were something else. All individually designed and to a theme – such as a throne that overlooks the river – very bizarre.

From there,we headed straight to Etosha National Park. We spent three nights here in a couple of different (very comfortable) campsites – actually they were really resorts with campsites tagged onto them. Etosha is a lovely place, with loads of different wildlife. We were there though just after some heavy rain so the animals didn’t need to venture to the waterholes as they could get water elsewhere – The National Park had made a number of waterholes, with each resort having its own next to a viewing platform. We did a couple of game drives on the truck and didn’t see too much (and by this point we were happy not to be on the truck for any longer than necessary) so on the last day in the park we decided to get up early and sit at the waterhole for a couple of hours. Again there wasn’t loads of activity compared to what we had been used to but it was really interesting to spend a decent amount of time watching the animals interacting – their social characteristics etc. I also managed to get a really good photo of a pair of young kudu interlocking horns, but unfortunately we have since lost the camera and Gem had gone back to bed so cannot verify that!!

Also, that night was the infamous BBQ incident, where Becs spat her dummy out but enough about that… and Becs.

So, onto Otjiwarongo and a cheetah sanctuary. This place was really cool. They picked up cheetahs from the farms to stop the farmers shooting them (they can attack livestock) and look after them on their property. First of all we went into their family backgarden to see some tame cheetahs roaming around. It is very odd stroking something you would normally only see in the wild, although they looked reassuringly well fed. On the way back to our tents, we passed a young Giraffe – apparently its parents had been killed and they found it caught in a fence and have been feeding it, although it still roams wild. The guy went up to the giraffe and put his thumb in its mouth for it to suck – of course everyone wanted to have a go at this!!!

That afternoon, we went to see them feeding the cheetahs in the semi-wild enclosure. These are the animals that have not been hand-reared so are still quite wild – although they do get fed regularly and have to live in closer groups than they would normally. Feeding involves throwing chunks of donkey meat (or whatever they can get their hands on) into a pack of hungry cats, whoever is quickest grabs it in mid-air and runs off. They do this until everyone has a piece.

We thought that was it for the day and were pretty happy with that, but on the way back we stopped at a smaller enclosure and we got to see a pair of new born cubs. They were only a couple of weeks old – matted and covered in sticky grass (which you can never get rid of). The guide threw a big peice of meat over the fence to keep the mother occupied for a few minutes, went in, picked up the cubs and brought them out for us. They were unbelievably cute – if a little grouchy!!