Month: August 2015

Max insists on asking fellow travellers and locals the conditions of the road, and more often than not their response will be OKAY or GOOD but, somehow the OKAY and GOOD turned out to be the most terrible conditions imaginable. We found ourselves crawling along at 20km an hour. Etosha consists of 3 main camps namely Okaukuejo to the west Halali in the centre and Namutoni to the East.

We spent the next 4 days travelling through the park stopping at waterholes and spending our nights camping at all 3 camps. At Okaukuejo camp the waterhole with Black Rhino, Giraffe and Jackal was certainly a highlight. There is a superb viewing point from the hill in Halali camp at Moringa waterhole where we were saw by Gemsbok, Blackfaced Impala and another Black Rhino. On our drive to Namutoni at Goas water point we were entertained by a herd of about 50 Elephant. Just before entering the camp we spotted 3 Lion at  Fishers Pan. As in the past we don’t leave without connecting with fellow travellers and in this case it was the Krause family from Nuremburg , Gary and Maryke from Focus-for-Africa and Brenda and Peter that certainly made a lasting impression.

We depart from Etosha satisfied, we certainly had a great experience but the road was not OKAY and the amount of dust this time of the year is just too impossible to describe.

Wilma will be adding  to the blog from now on so it will obviously be much more interesting . Wilma now adds the following : I was introduced by my husband Max , the master of national and international travels, as ” my Wife ” Wilma born 1954 and will be contributing to the blog from now on .  Preparing for a journey like this is not an easy task, books have been written and journals exist but finding what works for you remains personal. I aged considerably in the weeks before leaving, planning and packing for the journey and the possibility now exists that I will be introduced as “my old wife” in future. I had the privelage and joy to spend time with our youngest family member, another Maximilian just 2 months old, our other Daughters, sons, grandsons and family before leaving Nelspruit to join Max in Windhoek :

Left Windhoek after buying provisions on route to Etosha . We arrived at Otgiwarongo town centre late afternoon at municipal campsite and for obvious reasons decided against staying .A campsite was recommended to us 15 km out of town on a farm. Westrand is a small campsite privately owned and all that a tired camper could wish for.We drove the next day to Etosha via the Anderson Gate and on to Halali Camp and experienced the true meaning of the word OKAY when referring to the condition of a road.

 

 

 

 

 

We drove back to Windhoek and Jorn flew back to Nelspruit South Africa on Tuesday 11th August 2015. I still had some locks to repair and a water pump to replace as well as a clean and washing to do before Wilma flies in on the 14 th August 2015. Then on to The Etosha Pan and beyond.

We drove to Swakopmund and booked in to the very Awesome campsite Alte Brucke with own ablutions and GRASS. We spent the next 4 days visiting Walvis Bay , Henties Bay and the interesting Desert Golf Course just outside Swakopmund. The flamingos was a highlight in Walvisbay and Restaurant wise the TUG Restaurant in Swakopmund is not to be missed even the German Restauranteur Jorn had good words to the chef.The German Architecture and food is very apparent in Swakopmund but the sheer cleanliness of the town is what catches the eye.

 

 

Had much to do regarding fixing of small items and buying provisions. I spent Saturday and Sunday spring cleaning and lazing around. On Monday 3 rd August I picked my golfing buddy Jorn Goldenborgen at Windhoek Airport who wanted to see Windhoek , Swakopmund and the surrounding areas.

 

Left Luderitz for Windhoek and drove the 11km to Kolmanskop. Did the usual guided tour and found it most interesting. The town Luderitz was founded by Adolf Luderitz and diamonds were discovered at Kolmanskop and consequently the town was built by the Germans in a mere 6 months with numerous houses, schools, hospitals, shops abattoirs and even a ice making factory. The workers were paid by means of 0,8 carrots of diamonds per day which would presently amount to tens of thousands of Rands per day. The town was deserted almost as quickly as it was built after a larger diamond field was discovered just north of Oranjemund. The town is today a ghost town with sand filling almost all the rooms of the buildings.

I then drove a further 100 km to the well known wild horses of the Namib. There are literally hundreds of these wild horses in the desert and I watched some of them drinking at the waterhole. One interesting fact I found out was that a colleague of mine in Nelspruit Cristo Greyling’s daughter Telane did her Phd on these wild Horses.

I drove a further 350 km and slept in a small village called Asab .

The next day was a 400km drive to Windhoek. The change of vegetation from Desert to green grass and trees was very apparent. After arriving at Windhoek and booking in  at Arebusch Lodge and Campsite I went to Joe’s beerhaus on my scooter ” yammy “. This Beerhaus is not to be missed in Windhoek.