Destination Swakopmund

On the road again and this time we were heading south west to Swakopmund. We passed small towns in lush thick bush, soon to be replaced by sand. Swakop lies on the coast surrounded by desert. It's beautiful but not very welcoming. The town has 20 000 permanent inhabitants, during high season probably the double. This time of year there were only German tourists. All personal in the shops spoke German, all the signs were in German and all the restaurants served German food.

We rented a big house with a cottage and stayed for two nights. The first night we went to Kückis, a very simple pub/bar restaurant. We had a nice meal and I enjoyed a big serving of sauerkraut. When we came back to the house we had a flat tyre. Fred had a small fit and was expecting the worse, it was going to take the whole day to fix so no sight seeing for us. Well, the next day we quickly found a tyre fixing place and they fixed it within an hour. Miriam and I used that time warming up for good shopping. We found some things to bring back.

In the middle of town there were a few pedestrian streets with an oldish central european look. It looked cosy and after some more shopping we eventually sat down in a coffee shop and had lunch.

In the afternoon we let the children enjoy the park, they had a lot of energy to let go of. We had some drinks by the sea shore. Later that night we had dinner at the Light House Restaurant.

It's now a reataurant.

Since we stayed only two nights, there weren't really any time for camel riding, quadbikes or sandboarding which are activities Swakop is famous for. We'll have to do it another time.

We've heard so much about this town but were a little bit disappointed. It's cute but also very touristy. Our family has fallen in love with the african bush, this was more Africa trying to look like Europe. Though it was very pleasant strolling around town and look at various Namibian crafts and art.

Lots of arts and craft shops.

Sunset in Swakop

Namibia - Caprivi and Etosha

When we were done with Chobe it was time to cross the border to Namibia. Our goal was the Etosha National Park in Namibia and since it's quite a stretch going there we decided to make a stop in Rundu on our way.

A meerkat we met during lunch in Otavi

To get to Rundu we had to go through the Caprivi-strip. This is the panhandle-part of northern Namibia and it is scarcely populated and thus not many places to stop for petrol or food. We had stocked up on lunch and snacks in Kasane before setting out on our 650 km drive to Rundu. Most of the trip went through the Caprivi national park, the only park I know of that you can drive 120 km/h in!

Eventually we got to Rundu and after a quick excursion to the Zambesi river we had a drink before dinner. Of course we ate meat for main course, but it was the starter that was interesting this time... I had been in contact with the lodge before the trip and discovered that they served Mopani worms. Of course, I had to try it! They were a little bit dry and chewy... It won't be my new favourite dish.

Tired but happy co-driver

It's Angola on the other side of the river

Lots of water in the Zambesi

Looks delicious!

Hmmm... interesting taste...

The next morning we set out for Etosha. The drive was again long and kind of boring. The roads in Namibia are great but tend to be straight for miles and miles. At least you can keep the speed high.

Eventually we reached Vreugde Guest Farm which was situated south of Etosha. Danie Sr and family welcomed us and gave us a tour of the farm. They are cattle and sheep farmers and also run a guest farm. We have stayed at a few farms like this in South Africa and I must say that we really enjoy this kind of living. You always get a very friendly welcome and the service is always impeccable. It is also very interesting to stay at "real" places so to say, where people actually live and work.

Our chalet and the garden at Vreugde

Two current farm-ladies and one that grew up on a sheep farm.

Vreugde was our favourite place on this trip of all the places we stayed at and, if they are reading, we would like to send a big thank you to the Brand family at Vreugde for our stay.

We had two full days of safari in Etosha. The first day we set out in an open vehicle with Danie Jr as guide. He showed us the western part of Etosha and we saw lots of game, mainly Springbok and Gemsbok (Oryx).

Strong wind on the pan

The other day we went in by ourselves and headed for the eastern part of the park. After we'd been driving for about 80 km without seeing much game we thought we'd made a big mistake. But, then we were treated with two prides of lions! It was a long time since we saw cats and it really made our day.

Apparently, Oryx and Springbok like to lie down after rain.

South Africas national animal the Springbok... in Namibia!

Finally, the mightiest of cats

One thing, except game of course, to experience in Etosha is the nature. The Etosha pan is basically a lake that is usually dry. Due to the recent heavy rains in Namibia it was filled with water, not much, but at least it was wet. It is also very flat and you can get a 360 degrees horizon in many places of the park. I must say that the landscape is very impressive.

Many miles of long and straight gravel roads...

The only set-back of our stay was when I got a bug of some sort. The second day, after coming home from the trip with Danie Jr, I felt seriously ill. I had to stay in bed all afternoon and night and unfortunately missed the dinner... Elle came in to the chalet to check on me and also to tell me how great the food had been, bummer!

After three lovely nights it was time to leave again. We had a hearty breakfast and said good-bye to the Brand family, then it was off to Swakopmund. Added to the baggage were the beautiful embroided table clothes they sold at the farm. No beaded animals this time but Jennie must have some kind of souvenir from Namibia, much to Fred's annoyance. He will appreciate it later, for sure! :)

Botswana-Chobe

Kasane is a small town in north east Botswana, west of the Zambian border and south of the Namibian. The Chobe River flows into Zambesi but passes Kasane and Chobe National Park. Our lodge was on the Chobe River, called the Garden Lodge.

Plenty of water... this is a bar, but unfortunately closed for the moment

We arrived quite early and could fit in the sunset cruise on the Chobe River. It was a small boat and we could see the other guests looking a little bit sceptical when all five kids climbed on board. The cruise was fantastic, we saw a lot of game, especially elephants taking a bath in the river. Other things plentyful were iguanas, crocs, different bucks, hippos and birds. We also had a scary moment when the captain of the boat wanted to get really close to a group of hippos. All of a sudden a very angry hippo bull broke the surface and gave us the evil eye, just two meters in front of the boat! Luckily we could back away before we became hippo-chow...

That's close enough folks!

Actually, Elle was really happy.

You got really close to the elephants.

I'm watching you!

A bath can be pleasant

There's Gin & Tonic in the bottle, for the malaria of course!

A water monitor is doing his evening toilet

The river was full of water and nature was all green and lush. Unfortunately our camera's batteries died and we don't have a pictures from the marvellous sunset, seen from the river. We had to settle for just enjoying it.

The next day we started out fairly early for a drive through Chobe. We were told it took almost the whole day, so we asked the lodge to supply us with lunch packs. The drive started out with us driving on really sandy tracks and stopping was not an option! Luckily we didn't meet anyone else and we soon got on solid ground.

Waterbuck

There was plenty of game to be seen but the cats were all gone to the southern part of the parks to our misfortune. Although, we got the spotting of a life time, mating elephants! There were a bunch of elephants next to tracks and we tried to drive past them quickly since they can be feisty. All of a sudden we saw the act and just had to stop and shoot a few pictures. Well, we also had to answer some tricky questions from the kids and Elle now believes the elephant male has a fifth leg. Please don't tell her otherwise!

Explanation not needed...

Do you see both of the giraffes?

A classic, the dung beetle

Lunch was also interesting... we went to a camping site within the park and the entrance to it was a nice gate. We couldn't see any fencing though... The informative park ranger told us not to worry, but to keep an eye open for the buffalos that were in the vicinity.

The game drive took the whole day and after cleaning up at the lodge we were treated with a nice dinner while watching the local hippo grazing just a few meters from our table.

Family of nine?

Centurion to Livingstone

Reconsidering that we are soon to leave SA, we decided to switch over to English so that our SA friends can follow the blog as well. We will do our best to write as correctly as possible for those who are picky…

After months of planning and booking places it was finally time to start our trip to Botswana, Zambia and Namibia. We set out from Centurion at 6 a.m. and started the journey to Francistown in Botswana, our first stop.

Border crossing between RSA and Botswana was a breeze and we reached our guesthouse in the suburbs of Francistown in the late afternoon. We had an early night and started again at 6 a.m. the next morning. The final destination was Livingstone in Zambia.

Jennie had the first set back that night, incredible nausea after the long car ride. She left a nice souvenir in the bushes outside the guesthouse! J She was back to normal the next day but both Elle and Jen were covered with fleabites…

We had heard that the roads up to Kazangula in northern Botswana were really bad, but they were actually in good condition! On our way we saw elephants and giraffes walking along the road.

After a quick lunch in Kasane it was time to cross the Zambesi river over to Zambia. When we came to the crossing we discovered only one of two ferries was running. We met a couple that had been waiting for 3 hours. It was already 4 p.m. and the last ferry is leaving at half past five, the panic started to show itself! Would we make it across? After some discussions with the border guards it turned out that we were promised to embark the last ferry for the day, what a relief!

Everyone on board!

Where the ferry lands...

Our destination... Zambia

On the Zambian side we were in for a circus royal. We had to first fend ourselves from all the so-called agents (basically small time crooks trying to rip you off), and then it was time to visit all of the offices for different permits and so on. It took a lot of time, patience and money but eventually we were let in to the country.

Now it was already dark and we had to drive in to Livingstone and find the lodge. One can say that streetlights are not the “thing” in Africa and this made our drive a little bit tricky. Finally the GPS led us straight to the Green Tree Lodge and the ever so friendly Hector welcomed us.

The Lodge was situated a little bit outside of Livingstone, but since this town isn’t that big it was easy going around. The Falls weren’t far away so the first day we went straight to them. It was an amazing experience seeing them and hiking in the spray. We became thoroughly wet and went straight home to change into something dry before having afternoon tea at the Royal Livingstone.

The bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe




After a walk by the falls...

The Royal Livingstone, not really in our price range.

A proper lady having tea, thanks to DSG perhaps?

The mighty Zambesi was really mighty this time due to all the rain recently and we got to experience some river life on a boat. The ride is known as the “booze cruise”, but it really wasn’t as bad as it sounds…

About to board the boat.

Enjoying the local brew





After three days in Livingstone it was time to do Chobe, so we headed back to Botswana again. Luckily it wasn’t a hassle with the ferry on the way back… There is no money to make from leaving travellers!

Yes, this is the ferry!

Waiting for embarkment