the Last Quiet Weekend

8,5 weeks left. The count down is a fact, with excitement, fear and sadness. In ten weeks time we will be sitting in our apartment in Stockholm feeling like our ex-pat years in SA never happened. At least we will have summer, this morning it was really cold when I took Elle to school. At the same time, we miss our family and friends in Sweden terribly and I'm excited about starting to work again. We have decided to get a kitten for Elle, renovate our kitchen and buy a new car. I'm also thrilled about the thought of strollingaround the city, I've really, really missed the city, there's definitely something special about Stockholm.

This weekend we busied ourselves with a little bit of cleaning up and sorting out our cupboards and closets. It's amazing how much stuff you manage to get in two years time. We didn't have any engagements this Saturday nor Sunday which was great. Elle was a bit bored, we needed to entertain her as well. The last weekends have been filled birthday parties or dinners with friends. The coming 5 weekends we will be busy entertaining friends, it's going to be a lot of saying goodbye. Shame, leaving such dear friends...

We move out in the end of June and will spend the last 2 weeks in a guest house. To our friends we just want to hint that we gladly will accept dinner invitations! :)

We took some pictures at the last b-day party Elle went to. Here are her best friends from school!

Elle, Mikal and Gemma. Mpho is missing

from the gang from DSG.

Fish River Canyon

Coffee break

This what the roads looked like sometimes

After many k's on more bad gravel roads, we arrived to Fish River Canyon, only to discover another flat tyre. Fred was not happy so I left him alone, got us checked in to our little cottages. The small cottages were built into the rocks and made the stones and rocks a part of the furniture. We felt like stepping in to the Bat Cave and we gave our cottage that name.

The Lodge

The Bat Cave

We didn't have time to enjoy any activities but instead enjoyed a great dinner, I think it was the best during the whole trip. Since we were in the middle of the Namibian waste land it was pitch black after sunset and we equipped everyone with torches or headlights. The main reason for this was to avoid all the nasty crickets when we strolled back to our cave.

Elle really enjoyed the climbable decor

After a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast in the Bat Cave we left for the canyon. The Fish River canyon is the second largest in the world, after the Grand Canyon. There isn't really much to do there so we didn't stay long and the next destination was Upington South Africa. This was the last stop. On Sunday we were back in Centurion, tired, with loads of laundry but very happy to be home.

The Fish River Canyon

Sossusvlei - The Desert

A desert and a babe!

So the dirt roads begin...

Disgusting Cricket

The roads from here on were all gravel roads. It was quite tricky driving, the rain had washed away parts of the road and made them bumpy. We passed incredibly beautiful scenery, mountains, grass plains and something like small canyons. On the roads at some places we saw disgusting big insects, crickets apparently, big as a fist with spider like legs.

We made a lunch stop in Solitaire. In the midddle of nowhere with a coffee shop, a bakery and petrol station. The fresh apple strudel was heaven. Fred and Stefan took lovely pictures.

The lodge was called "A Little Sossuss Lodge". It was a nice lodge owned by an Afrikaans family from Bloemfontein. The little cottage was sweet and had a Camel Thorne tree just outside. I collected some of its seeds.

The next day we set out to Sossusvlei desert and the Dead Forest. The wind was harsch and we were a little bit afraid it wouldn't be a good day for taking pictures. When we arrived to the first parking (for normal vehicles) the sand storm was a fact. We had our breakfast in the car, otherwise we would have had it seasoned with sand. We still wanted to proceed on the 4 by 4 tracks even though these cars are not well suited beeing a 4 wheel drive after all. They did well but we were scared, if we got stuck who would help us? The rangers at the lodge told us to keep to tracks at the left and always stay in the tracks - and never stop! That's what we did. I cramped on to the belt and held my breath. Fred and Stefan did a good job and we made it both ways. Stefan manage to take a picture of our car just before coming out of the 4 by 4 tracks. I hope he will publish it on their blog.

We walked approx a kilometre in the dunes to get to the Dead Forest. The wind wasn't bad there at all and it was so worth it to come. Elle and Ivar ran around not at all bothered by the sand whipping their faces. The wind was cold but when you got away from it the sun was merciless. It was hot, after all. We've never seen colours like this, the blue blue sky, the red sand and the naked old trees... marvellous! We also made a short stop at Dune 45, some members of the group climbed up but the Wincents stayed behind!

That same late afternoon we went on a sundowner drive. We went up a hill close to the lodge for drinks and a stunning sunset.

Table Mountain Namibia

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! :)