We left you in Grootfontein although we did not actually post the blog until we reached Rundu. We’ve added a number of photos to the photo page [it should show the last photo we took first] and updated the map so that you can see exactly where we went.

The journey from Grootfontein to Rundu was simply a 300km dash along a straight road which looked as if it would be quite uneventful. In most respects it was; we had to pass through a quarantine gate, which was straight forward, but on the other side it was as if we had passed into another country all together. All the way along the road, on either side were small villages and farmsteads of mud huts and thatched roofs. The farms were surrounded by a reed wall and everywhere was tidy. Cattle were being herded about the place by young boys and the cattle looked extremely well. This surprised us as we had been told that the cattle in this area were very poor and that was why they needed the quarantine fence to keep these beasts away from the prime stock to the south.

There were some anomalies. In one place we saw a large group of people waiting for a water-tanker to bring in drinking water. All of them seemed to be equipped with one large bucket and a mobile phone. Waiting seemed not to be a problem as they simply spent their time texting and talking to friends! Very strange!

Wild camping is not permitted in Namibia so each night we have to find an official campsite. This is not really a problem as there are many and they are not expensive. We had been told of one at the western end of the Caprivi Strip that we should stay at if possible. After 4km along an off road track we arrived beside a large river and Ngepi Campsite. It was very picturesque with solar heated showers and “loos with a view” – no doors but a lovely view. There was also a bath with a view, but you had to buy wood and light a fire to get the hot water.

Its difficult to describe the wildlife in the area; its just there, everywhere you look, elephants, hippos, baboons, warthogs, birds of all description. The list goes on and on and this is before you get into a National Park. This is just “the countryside”.

We were fortunate, however, to camp, purely by chance, in Mudumu National Park. This Park is undeveloped and the campsite comprised of a flat piece of ground and a long drop toilet with two walls and half a roof! Throughout the day we watched hippo in the river right in front of us [and listened to them tromping around the truck during the night]. Elephants in large numbers came down to the river to drink, fortunately not exactly where we were camped, but the passed within 50 yards on their way to and from. It was a glorious day and such a contrast to the organisation and regulation that we had experienced in Etosha.

An attempt to go to the neighbouring National Park ended with our bending a few bits of the truck. Fortunately, nothing serious and nothing that we were not able to sort out ourselves. However, not our best day; particularly as we decided to drive to a campsite close to the border with Botswana, only to discover that we were too large to get in. There’s bound to be a campsite just inside Botswana, we said, so let’s just cross now even though it is almost 6:00pm.

Mistake number 2 of the day.

Crossing the border was easy but by the time we had it was after 6 and the gates on the Transit Road across the park were closed. You can guess where the campsite was. In conversation with a local man we discovered that wild camping is allowed in Botswana, but not in or close to a National Park. Drive 35 Km down the road away from the gates and we would find a place. We did, arriving at 7:15 in the dark and tired. At least we knew that tomorrow would be a better day.

Sure enough it was. We drove to Kasane, which is a tourist centre with lots of facilities and stayed for a couple of nights in the very smart Chobe Safari Lodge [campsite – not quite as smart as the Lodge]. The downside was that they did not have a TV, unless you had a room in the Lodge, so we were unable to see the rugby.

On Monday we had another small setback when we discovered that the entry fees for vehicles to Botswana’s National Parks are based on weight. So we decided to move to another campsite at the other end of Kasane [and at the other end of camping fee charges] and go on an organised trip into Chobe NP.

This was one of our good decisions! We had a fabulous time, starting with baby crocs on the riverbank and finishing with the most glorious African sunset!! Elephants of all sizes came down to the river to drink, splash and play…we were only a few yards from them! Crocodiles opened their mouths so we could look right down their throats…what HUGE teeth they have! They are not the greatest predator on man. Apparently the Hippo takes that honour, causing 75% of all the injuries each year!


The hippos we saw were basking in the sun when we first arrived, but gradually they began to move a little, then they stretched [as much as you can when you are rotund and sleepy !] and finally they yawned!!! What huge mouths they have!!!! The small ones looked really cute, but no doubt can still do a lot of harm. We often hear them during the night grunting and splashing around in the river!! We are separated from them by an electric fence, and we are quite high off the ground!!
Water buffalo were munching on grass and gazing sleepily at us as we passed, they were accompanied by lots of birds that wandered about looking for insects and hovered overhead too. Our trip ended with the boat stopping by an island with trees so that we could all take the same picture of the sun setting ….I wonder how many thousands of similar pictures to ours are being seen in all the countries of the world!!!





This has worked out very well and we are still here [Saturday]. This campsite has a bar with a very, very large TV screen and is where all the locals, it seems, come to watch sport. Any sport. We’ve had football from Europe, horse racing with Clare Balding and Willy Carson, Junior World Cup Rugby. Saturday we hope will see England at their best.

It is a month now since we arrived in Namibia and three weeks since we picked up the truck from the docks. Since then we have travelled some 1500 kilometres and seen lots of amazing places and animals. Our first animal encounter was with a Cape fur seal colony. When we arrived we were not sure if we were in the right place as it sounded as though there was a flock of sheep and not seals! As we got closer the noise increased and there were thousands of seals on the shore, in the sea and lolloping around generally. What a sight and what a smell…like dead or processed fish!! It was worth the smell to see the interaction between families and friends…they really are quite cute [when they are small]!! Next day was pretty hectic. We visited the Organ Pipes, rock formations as the name implies…Burnt Mountain, that looked a bit like a slag heap, as you see! Then pictographs, ancient carvings in rock, mostly of animals and finally a petrified forest with `logs` and chunks of `wood` lying on the ground completely solid stone, quite pretty too!!

Our reward for a long day was a really lovely campsite below a granite hill, where a woman came and lit the fire for us, which heated the water for a shower in amongst the boulders…outdoor showering at its best!! Etosha NP was our next goal. We were up early and at the gate into the park as it opened, 6.30!! What a day we had, in spite of having no map, we followed our noses and saw all sorts of birds, springbok, giraffe, a leopard in a tree, and at a large waterhole a whole herd of elephants who drank and splashed and interacted with each other as only elephants can!!! One little elephant got separated from his mother, and there was a tremendous trumpeting when she finally arrived and a drink of milk was needed before anything else! The other 4 days we spent in the park were equally exciting, kudu, lion, gemsbok, more elephants; giraffe that look so odd when they need a drink as they almost do the splits!! The bird watching has been good too, though we find it difficult to remember the names these days!! We treated ourselves to a night drive with a guide and watched 3 black rhinos getting quite excited about who owned the waterhole!! All ended peacefully with some sort of agreement…for that night anyway!

 After 5 days animal watching we felt all “animaled out” and some American friends of ours, Frank and Annie who we first met in Mexico10 years ago, were back in Namibia so we arranged to meet and had 2 great days sharing experiences, stories, wine, beer and food. It was great fun! The plan now, after Liz gets a tooth re-filled is to head north into the Caprivi Strip before heading into Botswana and South Africa. In addition to the photos here there are more on the photos page [above right] and the map has been updated [above centre]

So here we are in Namibia reunited with our truck and making a start on our African Adventure! At last! We have now been 2 years in the preparation.

Our truck [for which we are still trying to find a name] arrived in the Port of Walvis Bay along with almost 900 other vehicles from the UK. We spent several anxious days waiting as, when we first met the agent there, we told that also expected on the same ship was a German vehicle similar to ours that had been mistakenly unloaded in Ghana 2 months earlier! You can imagine how relieved we felt when we saw it standing there in all its glory and without an additional scratch or bump!

Two days spent in a campsite in Walvis Bay sorting things out. Surprisingly, it takes a lot longer to put things away in there proper place than it does to take them from there proper place and store them somewhere safe and secure for a journey through two ports and over one large ocean!

Then it was off into the NamibNaukluft National Park to see how the truck behaved under African conditions. Very well is the answer, although we are still trying to work out how to stop the dust getting in – and to think that Liz thought that this great adventure would see the end of housework!

So far, the African desert has proved to be very different to any of the other deserts we have travelled in. During the middle of the day it gets much hotter and at night, much colder. There are amazing colours in the sand dunes, depending on the light, from chestnut brown in the shadows to bright orange and yellow. The grasses have an almost silver sheen so it makes a really lovely picture. There is an area that looks like the surface of the moon…dark rocks and gritty sand, here grows an amazing plant the welwitchia, somewhat cactus like and not very pretty but as it is 1500 years old it is bound to look a bit wrinkled!!

Animals abound! Ostrich, wild horses and mules, zebra, fox, hare, warthog, springbok and gemsbok and that was only on day 2! There are lots of birds too, though we have yet to identify most of them…ostrich, secretary birds, and bee-eaters are recognisable though.

We are now in a campsite in Swakopmund. This is a German town and in many ways more German than a town in Germany. A very interesting place and a good for us to stock up with a number of supplies before we head off into the next desert. Still undecided, shall we go up the coast or head inland a bit? Time will tell. As we write this we are sitting under a mist caused by the Benguela current which flows up the west coast here and brings lots of fish, birds etc. It certainly makes things very green but also cool and damp…a bit like England!!!

Our Shake Down Trip is Over.

We are now back from our shake down trip and all now appears to be well. We discovered a number of things that needed improvement and we also learned how to use a number of the things that were new to us!

We discovered that there are many interesting castles in Sweden and that Swedish weddings are different to ours.

 



Phase 2 of our shake down trip has taken us from just north of the Spanish border to just south of the Swiss’!

Having spent a fabulous week with an old school friend [Mike King] of mine [who I haven’t seen for 40 years!] we headed off to see some friends that we met more recently on our travels in Australia [Paul and Carol Godwin].

We spoiled ourselves with a week (or so) at the beach…lovely walks each day, a fantastic bakery and fruit and veg. shop…what more could we want!! We moved on because there was a kite surfing tournament and the camp site closed!!

We moved along the coast a bit and were amazed to discover walled cities, as this was the extent of the Roman Empire nearly a thousand years ago. They were formidable fortresses, thick walls 20ft high with slits in for the arrows to fly out of, towers at intervals to strengthen the structure and make rooms to accommodate the guards, and we think they must have poured hot liquids through the holes above the gates!! What a welcome!! Aigues Mortes was spectacular as we were able to camp right beside the river, overlooking the walls.

We then visited the Camargue. Having seen pictures of the wild part of this area in books we were a little disappointed to find that it was all very commercialised. However we spent a very happy few days looking at the birds [in a bird park a bit like Slimbridge where the birds are free to come and go].We were especially impressed with the flocks of flamingos and the coypu.

Arles was our next port of call. Another very old city with a Roman amphitheatre as well as high walls, very,very narrow streets, and right on the Rhone. A lovely place, if a bit touristy, but not a great place if there are 3 thunderstorms meeting overhead and you discover there is a hole in the roof!!! It had a great Saturday market, lots of fruit, veg, cheese and handicrafts. There was a great band playing very catchy tunes to amuse us all.

Further on was the Pont du Gard.

Built by the Romans to transport water about 20ks, it is an amazing piece of engineering. We spent a very happy afternoon there and explored it all. Great, as you will see from the photo.

Avignon next. We had to see the bridge…we didn’t sing!! The town itself is another walled town..narrow streets,with a very impressive papal palace.

We thought we would like a bit of a challenge, so drove up a mountain 1909m high!! The road was steep and twisty, and the driving was made harder by quantities of bikes!! Maybe they were practising for the Tour de France, but there were literally hundreds of them. Some seemed to be enjoying the experience, but for most it seemed like an endurance test. The road was good, but steep, and when we got to the top it was freezing cold, with the wind whistling, though that did ensure that it was clear! The downward trail had some scary hairpin bends, though it was nice not to hear the engine struggling!!

We spent a great evening at low altitude; met some very entertaining Americans who have been to South America and know a couple that we met, there, and beside the Arctic ocean!! What a small world! Then we followed a ‘green route’ on our map [green = scenic] and found ourselves in spectacular country, with mountains on all sides, glorious valleys and even windier roads! We actually had to shunt to get round one series of corners…good job we couldn’t see the bottom from there!!!! We met a herd of sheep and goats [with bells round their necks] going to their summer pasture, and there was a lot of fun with the shepherds about needing money for a photo! Judging by the trail left behind them, they must have walked about 10 ks!!

Now we are about to cross into Switzerland, to see some other travelling friends who now have children and live in Bern and Zurich….should be fun!! Then on into Germany…hard life isn’t it!!?

All for now, until next time…..
Mike and Liz

We have been on the road for 3 weeks now and have visited 2 chateaux, an abbey, a Roman church, plenty of seaside, a Basque pop concert, and the Pyrenees!

We left England feeling a bit apprehensive about travelling again after so long…all is well and we are surviving and really enjoying trundling along in our big truck…we do get amazing views from our windows!!! We spent a few nights in campgrounds and then discovered Aires, areas set aside for ‘camping cars’ where we can stay for 1 or 2 nights free, usually by a river, in the centre of town or beside a beach…great!

Our meanderings have taken us to the Loire where we drove past numerous chateaux and visited 2, one where sleeping beauty is supposed to have been written (you could climb up to the tower where she was held captive) that was still being lived in and had amazing period costumes in all the rooms and lovely furniture…a real fairy castle! The other was relatively unfurnished and under repair….but it did have frogs in its moat, croaking and getting very excited with one another…must have been the season!!!

The Abbay de Fontevraud is really solidly built in about 1100. Eleanor of Aquitaine and her husband Henri II are buried there and their son Richard the Lionheart lies alongside them. Names we remember from our history lessons!!! It was an impressive place full of atmosphere and very peaceful.

After all that history we headed for the beach!! La Rochelle is a pleasant place but even out of season it was busy and touristy. We did meet a South African couple who were pleased to meet some English speaking people and we spent a very happy evening chatting to them and now we have an invitation to stay on the ‘Garden Route’ when we get to S.A.

The Roman church is built on the very edge of the sea in a small village called Talmont. 83 people live there but they have 500,000 visitors annually! Narrow cobbled lanes, white painted stone houses with very colourful flowers everywhere, enchanting.

More beaches, more sun, more baguettes, wine and charcuterie until we were under the shadow of the Pyrenees. What wonderful mountains they are, towering above the valleys, green and lush but still with snow lying on the highest peaks. We were wandering along, decided on a place to stay for the night, but when we got there it was swarming with people. We couldn’t think what they could all be doing, but then realised that there was a Basque festival taking place!!! Well, we thought we had better see what it was all about, so jumped on a shuttle bus to the site!! Set beside a lake there were stalls, beer tents, small concert platforms, a fairground and a huge concert arena with the audience all sitting on the bank listening, or milling around close to the stage!! Lots of people were wearing red berets or scarves or t -shirts with the Basque emblem printed on. There was the smell of wacky-baccy in the air, but it was all quite orderly!! Fancy having to wait till you are 70 before going to a pop festival!! You are never too old for an adventure!!!

Now we are off to visit an old school-friend of Michael’s for a day or 2, then to see some friends we met in Oz for another day or 2. Weather is fine, with the odd thunderstorm; we are having a good time, and hope you are too!!

IT HAS ARRIVED

We took delivery of our new truck on Feb 11th. and set off on the following Monday for a "shake-down" cruise. Everything has gone well apart from a recurring problem with the cooker. This means that we have ground to a halt back in Suffolk until we can get this sorted. It's no fun in a motorhome in winter if you can't even get a hot cup of tea! Here is a link so that you can look at the latest photos.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=193542150669764&set=a.193541404003172.49054.177441422279837&theater

These photos were taken by Ed, who built the truck for us, and are on his Facebook page. Since he took the photos we have added a matress and a couple of pictures.

More info to follow.