Sarah & Adam’s trip to Namibia – a guest blog by little P!

Julia and Ant have kindly asked me to write about our trip to Namibia in May. I hope I do the trip justice in my explanation because it was quite simply the best holiday ever!

Adam and I left home on the day of the Royal Wedding, passing lots of street parties on out way to the airport. I imagine Adam was pleased to be on a separate flight to me as I was finding it difficult to contain my excitement at seeing my sister and Ant for the first time in nine months.

A happy airport reunion ensued and once we’d freshened up we headed out to toast to the holiday ahead in the backdrop of a spectacular sunset over Windhoek. I feel that our first night was a good indicator of the days to come…pushing our own taxi along the road, drinking the local beer and eating a variety of superb steaks including Oryx and Ostrich.

The next day dawned with a surprise trip to celebrate mine and Adam’s birthdays. I wasn’t sure we’d make it when we turned off the main road to find a stretch of flooded road which had turned into a quagmire. Evidently I was wrong as it did nothing to phase JP the explorer who zipped the Rav straight through the mud and onwards to the day’s activities. Our trip was to a conservancy where we saw rescued Caracal, Wild Dogs, Lions and Leopards. This was a big treat as Adam had desperately wanted to see wild dogs but they are so rare now that this would be our only opportunity. The lions were the most feisty of the lot and repeatedly charged at us, roaring so loudly I almost fell over backwards. If I’d ever entertained the idea that I could survive a lion attack, it dissipated within seconds of seeing these three huge cats. Fantastic present and a good start to our animal adventures!

Only 2,000 of these left in the wild.

Onwards to Swakopmund, an odd German seaside town that looks like the set of a Western movie.

Quad biking in the dunes of Swakopmund

Here we tested our driving skills by quad biking in the sand dunes. After many “rollercoasters” up and down the sand dunes, the sun began to sink and we stopped for a glass of bubbly so Adam could gloat about how much faster his quad bike was than anyone else’s. Adrenaline fix sorted for the day we went out for dinner in an old tug boat for the freshest fish at a bargain price!

The next day started with a boat trip from Walvis Bay. Our marine encounters included cape fur seals, dolphins, flamingos and lots of sea birds. Adam enjoyed a close encounter with one of the seals which joined him on the back of the boat for a beer! Onward up the coast, we set up our tents for our first night of camping which was marked by some superb cuisine including chilli mielie (there is now no other way to eat corn-on-the-cob) and steak with pumpkin doughnuts. Bring on the braai!

Further up the coast we visited the cape cross seal colony – 100,000’s of seals stretched as far as the eye could see. A bit stinky but non the less impressive! From here is was a long drive to the desert at Palmwag. The exceptionally rainy wet season had washed a lot of roads away so our average speed was around 20 miles an hour and we had to negotiate a number of riverbeds rather than roads! We kept a look out for Elephants but all we saw were signs and poo! 

 

The next day we went to a Cheetah sanctuary at Kamanjab where they had some tame cheetahs and quite a few less tame ones! After an hour stroking Cheetahs as if they were domestic cats, we went out to feed the others. It was great to watch them in such a huge enclosure in hunting mode and in the setting sunlight. Our day was finished off with Ant’s homemade garlic doughballs to accompany our Braii.

Our next few days were our first safari adventure. Once Julia and Ant had shown us the ropes we were left to our own devices. We had a lot of luck on our side, seeing a black rhino, elephants and lions. After I embarrassed myself by accidentally beeping the horn at an oncoming angry elephant, we spent a whole afternoon watching elephants having a bath at a waterhole. Just us and 40 or so elephants was so amazing, we really couldn’t believe our luck the next day when we stumbled upon a pride of lions and watched them hunt (and fail) several times. Not forgetting the other animals and birds outside the big five, we could have driven around the park for weeks without getting bored!

After four days we made our way back to see Julia and Ant at their home in Otjiwarongo, via a camp where we pitched our tent in a tree and learned all about San bush craft. I was very excited to see where Ju and Ant are living and was pleased to discover that whilst small, their house is perfectly formed and very homely. The grassy lawn made for a very comfortable camping mat as well after the hard ground on safari. We did a trip to the Waterberg Plateau to stretch our legs for the first time in a week and after negotiating the spider webs we spent a relaxing afternoon by the pool. Julia cooked boboti – a South African speciality for us as part of our culinary tour of Southern Africa.

And so to our last day with Julia and Ant. We spent it in and around Otiwarongo, taking in their favourite coffee shop, meeting some of their colleagues and seeing the location. After a dinner of homemade pizza it was time to say a tearful goodbye and head off on the 16-hour coach to Livingstone.

The next few days flew by as we took in the Victoria Falls in Livingstone and headed off to Botswana on a second safari – my 30^th birthday present from Mum and Dad. The Falls were spectacular but unfortunately more so for the amount of spray there was than for the views! The rainy season’s deluge had yet to subside so we got very wet but couldn’t see much of the falls themselves.

Chobe Riverfront in Botswana was the location for our next dose of the animals. After crossing the river border between Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana, we then went out on the river for a morning’s cruise. Fish Eagles, Crocodiles, Monitor Lizards and lots of Elephants were the order of the day along with the marvellous hippos! We then spent the next two days and nights in the bush, camping without fences and amongst the wildlife. We embraced the basic life fully but I wouldn’t want a sand-dug long drop on a permanent basis! Chobe was great though and we saw lots of new creatures we hadn’t already seen in Etosha.

After another quick stop at Livingstone we boarded the bus back to Windhoek and eventually home. What an amazing three weeks and I would recommend it to anyone.

Thank you Julia and Ant for a truly amazing adventure. If I could hop on a plane to see you tomorrow I would, but for now I’ll just keep looking through the hundreds of photos to remind myself of our African adventure!