Wednesday, May 11, 2005
The Final Fling
And so all great things have to end eventually. But our great escapade was not going to end before a final fling through some of the most beautiful and interesting countries we had yet visited. We were to join a small overland trip that started in Cape Town and ended in Livingstone, Zambia three weeks later. For us this was an abandonment of completely independent travel and one which we were slightly wary of. The reason we decided to travel this way was mainly because we wanted to visit Botswana and had heard it was a little tricky to get around by yourself.
We set off from Cape Town early on the 12 April for a shortish drive up to the Cederberg mountain area which Nick and I had already done some great walking around. This time was more relaxed and we sampled the hot springs nearby and had a chance to get to know our fellow travellers. Helmut and Esther were the only 2 with us at the moment. Helmut was from Germany and his girlfriend Esther from Hong Kong. A strange relationship that had been going for 10 years and one where they only saw each other once or twice a year. Our guide was the excellent Odette – a 29 year old South African with a great sense of fun, a real hard-worker and thoughtful guide who knew a lot about all we were to see.
The following day we entered Namibia and started the real camping part of the trip. We went kayaking on the Orange River which flows along the border between Namibia and South Africa and even had chance to swim there amongst the catfish (no crocs as yet!). From here to the vast Fish River Canyon, which is Africa’s version of the Grand Canyon and is spectacular to see. Not as big as the Grand Canyon, but some of the viewpoints are just as good with a sharply meandering river twisting in and around the landscape gauging out a steep canyon in its wake. On our way there we spotted our first truly wild animals. Namibia is different to SA in that most of SA’s big animals are now all in national parks, but in Namibia it is still wild out there. We passed a Cape mountain zebra, ostrich and several springbok which maybe commonplace but seemed so exciting to see in the real wild. The scenery here was desolate beyond belief – brown/grey rocks and dust stretching for miles. Almost no one lives in this southern third of Namibia and with good reason.
One of the real highlights for me in Namibia was the enormous sand dunes of Sossusvlei. We watched the sun rise from atop Dune 45 and were in awe as the 100m to 300m tall dunes turned from a subdued deep grey to a burnt umber to a fiery red and then to a calmer orange with the lines of the dunes sharply shaded or hit by the suns rays depending on their alignment. Dead Vlei an Sossusveli themselves are the real tourist draws. Vlei means marsh and these two huge dunes once had marshes and a river flowing between them. These have long dried out leaving a salty residue and atmospheric dead, black trees protruding from the white salt, all beneath the red/orange dunes, topped with a brilliant blue sky – a photographers dream – impossible to take a bad photo here. We climbed to the top of Dead Vlei and then giggled like school kids as we ran down through the sand.
From here we travelled through gorgeous silver-green mountain scenery, with plateau mountains and sharp, pointed hills, carpeted in colourful flowers in purples and yellows. Moonscape was ahead with strange earth-tilted rocks showing the rumples and crumples of the earth’s crust. And from here, the coastal dunes beckoned with the town of Swakopmond as our base.
Time to get acquainted with the dunes in a different way – sandboarding! Well – we opted for the lie-down version which looked a lot more fun than the stand up version – and you can go faster lying down! With a thin piece of wood board between your face and the dunes and top speeds of 80km/h, this is definitely a rush. A few hundred metres of slope, some severe drop offs and trying not to laugh/scream too much otherwise you ended up crunching sand for lunch, dinner and breakfast was top fun – although on the last run I managed to chin-butt a dune at high speed which was almightily painful. After the sandboarding – it was time for quadbikes. Hilarious fun and Nick and I obviously ended up racing each other – Nick ended up piling off a dune to nearly disastrous effect on one overtaking manoeuvre.
On our way to THE big highlight of this trip – Etosha – we stopped as the Cape Cross seal colony which was amazing and the cave paintings and engravings of the Brandeburg and Twyfelfontain – very interesting and well preserved.
But – this is what we were most looking forward to – Etosha National Park – one of the top game parks in the whole of Africa and we were not disappointed. In fact we had perhaps the most amazing 3 days there you could imagine. On the first evening we saw a male lion relaxing just by the side of the road, occasionally raising his head to look at us – and that set the tone. The following morning, we watched for almost an hour as 6 lionesses devoured a zebra – we could hear the tearing flesh as they ripped the carcass apart, and see the bloodied mouths of the lionesses. Huge herds of zebras, springbok, wildebeest, impala drank at water holes or paraded across the savannas. Red hartebeest (which I had longed to see), kudu, oryx were all in evidence. On returning to camp that night we had a treat at the waterhole just near our tents. Two huge elephants came to drink – coming within a couple of metres of me and then two black rhinos followed them down, scaring away the herds of zebra. Black rhino are endangered and we were especially lucky to see two together.
The following day was relatively quiet until the late spotting of a leopard – oh! Joy! The excitement was huge. This was a special sighting and one not many get to see. He was about 20 metres away from us under bushes but got up and prowled to within a couple of metres of the road where we sat and watched him finish off a springbok meal. What a sighting! This capped with a herd of around 50 giraffe in one place ended another good day in Africa.
The next day we were leaving the park, but not before a final sighting of 7 lionesses lying on the road, so close to us we could hear them breathe and stare into their powerful, yellow eyes.
The camping in Etosha was great in itself – we went to sleep to the sound of lions roaring and hyenas laughing which was magical all under a perfect starlit sky.
We stayed in northern Namibia near a town called Rumbu for a couple of days giving us a chance to watch sunset from the Angolan side of the river we camped near – fortunately there is no Marburg virus in southern Angola!
And from here we entered the Caprivi Strip on our way to Botswana. The Caprivi Strip was out of bounds to tourists in 1999-2000 as Angolan refugees were piling over the border and killed a French family in order to highlight their plight. Now it is safe and a very interesting part of Namibia to visit with fascinating local villages and people.
In Botswana we spent a couple of days in the Okovango Delta which is stunning. The Okovango River starts in Angola and flows through Namibia into Botswana where it fans out into a vast delta that ends up disappearing into the desert and underground. It is home to many animals including lions, leopards, elephants, hippos, crocs, antelopes and superb birdlife. The best way to see it all is to travel by makoro – a dug out canoe – which is poled through the water-lily strewn lakes and reed covered channels by an expert – while you just sit back and admire the view and spot the birdlife. Sunset here was a treat as we went out to spot crocs (we saw a couple of large ones) and the area was so peaceful and beautiful that I would love to return here. Some of the pricier places in the Delta charge $700 per person per night and more – so it is hard to get here without burning a hole in your pocket, or by doing it the way we did.
The final few days were spent on the River Kwango (back in Namibia) where we saw hippos, Chobe National Park (Botswana) – where we saw many elephants, hippos, crocs, wonderful birds, a sable, kudu, lechwe, and onto our finale in Livingstone to see Vic Falls.
Vic Falls was impressive, but not a patch on Iguazu. It is difficult to get an idea of the full scale of the falls as there is so much mist and you can only see a small part of them. The best view is undoubtedly from the air from where it is possible to see all the gorges that have been carved out over time along with the waterfall itself.
Our last 2 days of our year away were spent in Cape Town (still gets my vote as the most beautiful city I have ever visited), visiting the penguin colony at Boulders Beach, sampling delicious food at Constantia Uitsig and just relaxing a little.
We are now back in England having landed to the beginning of a new term of grinning Tony (enough to make me get back on the plane and get out). On a more positive note we are really looking forward to seeing everyone as soon as possible – and meeting the many new additions that have sprung up while we have been away! Settling back to London life will be a bit odd after such a fascinating year away but hopefully we can find jobs easily and start thinking about the next holiday!!!
We set off from Cape Town early on the 12 April for a shortish drive up to the Cederberg mountain area which Nick and I had already done some great walking around. This time was more relaxed and we sampled the hot springs nearby and had a chance to get to know our fellow travellers. Helmut and Esther were the only 2 with us at the moment. Helmut was from Germany and his girlfriend Esther from Hong Kong. A strange relationship that had been going for 10 years and one where they only saw each other once or twice a year. Our guide was the excellent Odette – a 29 year old South African with a great sense of fun, a real hard-worker and thoughtful guide who knew a lot about all we were to see.
The following day we entered Namibia and started the real camping part of the trip. We went kayaking on the Orange River which flows along the border between Namibia and South Africa and even had chance to swim there amongst the catfish (no crocs as yet!). From here to the vast Fish River Canyon, which is Africa’s version of the Grand Canyon and is spectacular to see. Not as big as the Grand Canyon, but some of the viewpoints are just as good with a sharply meandering river twisting in and around the landscape gauging out a steep canyon in its wake. On our way there we spotted our first truly wild animals. Namibia is different to SA in that most of SA’s big animals are now all in national parks, but in Namibia it is still wild out there. We passed a Cape mountain zebra, ostrich and several springbok which maybe commonplace but seemed so exciting to see in the real wild. The scenery here was desolate beyond belief – brown/grey rocks and dust stretching for miles. Almost no one lives in this southern third of Namibia and with good reason.
One of the real highlights for me in Namibia was the enormous sand dunes of Sossusvlei. We watched the sun rise from atop Dune 45 and were in awe as the 100m to 300m tall dunes turned from a subdued deep grey to a burnt umber to a fiery red and then to a calmer orange with the lines of the dunes sharply shaded or hit by the suns rays depending on their alignment. Dead Vlei an Sossusveli themselves are the real tourist draws. Vlei means marsh and these two huge dunes once had marshes and a river flowing between them. These have long dried out leaving a salty residue and atmospheric dead, black trees protruding from the white salt, all beneath the red/orange dunes, topped with a brilliant blue sky – a photographers dream – impossible to take a bad photo here. We climbed to the top of Dead Vlei and then giggled like school kids as we ran down through the sand.
From here we travelled through gorgeous silver-green mountain scenery, with plateau mountains and sharp, pointed hills, carpeted in colourful flowers in purples and yellows. Moonscape was ahead with strange earth-tilted rocks showing the rumples and crumples of the earth’s crust. And from here, the coastal dunes beckoned with the town of Swakopmond as our base.
Time to get acquainted with the dunes in a different way – sandboarding! Well – we opted for the lie-down version which looked a lot more fun than the stand up version – and you can go faster lying down! With a thin piece of wood board between your face and the dunes and top speeds of 80km/h, this is definitely a rush. A few hundred metres of slope, some severe drop offs and trying not to laugh/scream too much otherwise you ended up crunching sand for lunch, dinner and breakfast was top fun – although on the last run I managed to chin-butt a dune at high speed which was almightily painful. After the sandboarding – it was time for quadbikes. Hilarious fun and Nick and I obviously ended up racing each other – Nick ended up piling off a dune to nearly disastrous effect on one overtaking manoeuvre.
On our way to THE big highlight of this trip – Etosha – we stopped as the Cape Cross seal colony which was amazing and the cave paintings and engravings of the Brandeburg and Twyfelfontain – very interesting and well preserved.
But – this is what we were most looking forward to – Etosha National Park – one of the top game parks in the whole of Africa and we were not disappointed. In fact we had perhaps the most amazing 3 days there you could imagine. On the first evening we saw a male lion relaxing just by the side of the road, occasionally raising his head to look at us – and that set the tone. The following morning, we watched for almost an hour as 6 lionesses devoured a zebra – we could hear the tearing flesh as they ripped the carcass apart, and see the bloodied mouths of the lionesses. Huge herds of zebras, springbok, wildebeest, impala drank at water holes or paraded across the savannas. Red hartebeest (which I had longed to see), kudu, oryx were all in evidence. On returning to camp that night we had a treat at the waterhole just near our tents. Two huge elephants came to drink – coming within a couple of metres of me and then two black rhinos followed them down, scaring away the herds of zebra. Black rhino are endangered and we were especially lucky to see two together.
The following day was relatively quiet until the late spotting of a leopard – oh! Joy! The excitement was huge. This was a special sighting and one not many get to see. He was about 20 metres away from us under bushes but got up and prowled to within a couple of metres of the road where we sat and watched him finish off a springbok meal. What a sighting! This capped with a herd of around 50 giraffe in one place ended another good day in Africa.
The next day we were leaving the park, but not before a final sighting of 7 lionesses lying on the road, so close to us we could hear them breathe and stare into their powerful, yellow eyes.
The camping in Etosha was great in itself – we went to sleep to the sound of lions roaring and hyenas laughing which was magical all under a perfect starlit sky.
We stayed in northern Namibia near a town called Rumbu for a couple of days giving us a chance to watch sunset from the Angolan side of the river we camped near – fortunately there is no Marburg virus in southern Angola!
And from here we entered the Caprivi Strip on our way to Botswana. The Caprivi Strip was out of bounds to tourists in 1999-2000 as Angolan refugees were piling over the border and killed a French family in order to highlight their plight. Now it is safe and a very interesting part of Namibia to visit with fascinating local villages and people.
In Botswana we spent a couple of days in the Okovango Delta which is stunning. The Okovango River starts in Angola and flows through Namibia into Botswana where it fans out into a vast delta that ends up disappearing into the desert and underground. It is home to many animals including lions, leopards, elephants, hippos, crocs, antelopes and superb birdlife. The best way to see it all is to travel by makoro – a dug out canoe – which is poled through the water-lily strewn lakes and reed covered channels by an expert – while you just sit back and admire the view and spot the birdlife. Sunset here was a treat as we went out to spot crocs (we saw a couple of large ones) and the area was so peaceful and beautiful that I would love to return here. Some of the pricier places in the Delta charge $700 per person per night and more – so it is hard to get here without burning a hole in your pocket, or by doing it the way we did.
The final few days were spent on the River Kwango (back in Namibia) where we saw hippos, Chobe National Park (Botswana) – where we saw many elephants, hippos, crocs, wonderful birds, a sable, kudu, lechwe, and onto our finale in Livingstone to see Vic Falls.
Vic Falls was impressive, but not a patch on Iguazu. It is difficult to get an idea of the full scale of the falls as there is so much mist and you can only see a small part of them. The best view is undoubtedly from the air from where it is possible to see all the gorges that have been carved out over time along with the waterfall itself.
Our last 2 days of our year away were spent in Cape Town (still gets my vote as the most beautiful city I have ever visited), visiting the penguin colony at Boulders Beach, sampling delicious food at Constantia Uitsig and just relaxing a little.
We are now back in England having landed to the beginning of a new term of grinning Tony (enough to make me get back on the plane and get out). On a more positive note we are really looking forward to seeing everyone as soon as possible – and meeting the many new additions that have sprung up while we have been away! Settling back to London life will be a bit odd after such a fascinating year away but hopefully we can find jobs easily and start thinking about the next holiday!!!
