Friday 25 April 2014

Northbound

Following the East African Tourist Trail


Having spent the greater part of 2 weeks in Cape Town I have re-joined my group along with 9 new companions who will be travelling up the East Coast with us. We now almost have a full truck with 23 of the 24 seats occupied and once Jack returns we will be full which will be great to have so many people to enjoy the journey with but it will be a bit cramped. I normally update my blog once a fortnight but decided to skip my entry in Cape Town as I was very busy doing absolutely nothing, didn't take a single photo and figured anyone reading this would not be interested what I had for breakfast and how it was readjusting to flushing toilets and hot showers. The latter 2 weeks however have been a fair bit more interesting as we started the second half of our Trans Africa trip.





Leaving Cape Town with 17 (7 from the 1st leg of the trip took extended breaks in South Africa) we headed east to Stellenbosch, the heart of the South African wine growing region. What better way to get to know a bunch of new people then to go on a wine tour. 4 vineyards later I knew that this collection of misfits were going to fit right in despite their tent packing abilities. Here the truck also underwent final repairs on its springs after we had broken them 4 times so as well as a new group we had a healthy truck. Travelling north we made our way to the Namibian border where we picked up all the wood that the truck had been forced to abandon upon entering South Africa and spent a night at Orange River which creates part of the border between the 2 countries. Myself and one of the new passengers, who I must admit has a creative and memorable name, went on a canoe ride down the Orange River the next morning and just let me say that attending the meeting that describes what you are actually getting into is advisable. The ornithologist in me was absolutely jizzing my pants but the rest of me was quite underwhelmed, the only saving grace being that I got a bit of exercise. To spice things up a bit me and Matt decided to take a different route to the rest of the group and despite our expertise in river navigation we soon managed to find ourselves beached in the shallows. Non-deterred we walked our canoe over the rocks and into the river again to join the smug group of bird loving oldies further down the way.

Beached along the Orange River



Further into Namibia we dropped into Fish River Canyon, the 2nd largest canyon in the world and we were revisited by our favourite West Africa weather condition. Rain aside we still managed a short walk and grabbed some happy snaps but not the stunning sunset we were promised. We returned for sunrise the next morning then continued onto Sossusvlei where we got to visit Dune 45, a sand dune set in the Namib desert famous only for the nice pictures you can get early and late in the day and aptly named because it is 45km's from the gate. This is also the night that one of our oncoming passengers taught us a new game, Mafia, which has become a hit with the truck.

Fish River Canyon

Dune 45

Meeting one of our sister Oasis trucks

Children of the Himba tribe



Our journey back through Namibia took us back to one of my favourite stops on the way down, Swakopmund. As I mentioned in the last post the food here is excellent and I did not waste a single meal on my return. Over 3 nights I managed the Game platter consisting of Zebra, Oryx, Ostrich & Kudu as well as pork ribs larger then my head on the 2nd and 3rd nights. The best meat I have ever tasted all for about $15. I am not one to take pictures of food and post them on Facebook, in fact its a pet hate of mine and the simple fact I'm even mentioning what I ate is testament to how freakin good it was.
I managed to sneak in a quick quad biking session in Swako as well but was fairly disappointed as the instructor would not let us go on manual bikes without experience and when one of the bikes broke down half way through the ride he had to tow it behind him which pretty much brought the already slow ride to a crawl.

Quad biking in Swakopmund



As well as revisiting Swakopmund we also returned to Etosha National Park for the viewing pleasure of the new people that had joined the trip. Despite not seeing any lions this time we did manage to see quite a few rhinos, a lone elephant, hyenas along with the more common zebra, giraffe and many varieties of antelope. I did manage to get to the floodlit waterhole near the campsite in the evening this time and was able to watch a few rhinos quenching their thirst and having a gossip session by the water cooler.

Game driving back in Etosha


Oryx...... make the best steak ever




After our bush camp in Spitzkoppe where we got to scramble among the granite hills we spent a night at Cheetah Park. Being a cat person I was always going to enjoy my time here but the 30 minutes we got to spend with 4 tame cheetahs was definitely one of the highlights of my trip so far. The park is a sanctuary for wild cheetahs brought in by local farmers who are not happy with them consuming their livestock and are thus kept in large fenced in areas where they can continue to run around rather than being shot. The 4 tame cheetahs at the owners property however have been raised from cubs as their mothers have refused to raise them due to some defect at birth, none of which was apparent during our visit. They are quite simply large house cats with several small differences. They purr louder then half the people on the truck snore, its not quite as comfortable when they sit on your lap and when they lick you it feels like someone is scraping sandpaper over your skin. I was lucky enough to experience the latter with one of the cheetahs taking a liking to my odour and promptly deciding to lick my appendages for about 5 minutes until I literally had small specks of blood on my legs at which point I decided that we had got to know one another quite well enough and that I would go and mingle with the other cheetahs. Said cheetah straight away moved onto the next person, licking their legs, removing any feelings of significance I may have had :(

View from the Spitzkoppe hills 
 
Camping in the shadow of Spitzkoppe

 

Getting licked to death







Feeding the semi wild Cheetahs


At the time of writing I find myself at Maun, Botswana having just crossed the border. Here we have options to go and explore the Okavango Delta, a vast wetland wilderness in the northern part of the country. It is also a 4 night stay which is more than welcome as having been on the road for 11 months now I am quick to take any opportunity to unpack my backpack and settle into 1 spot any chance I get. The mind needs a rest as much as the body.






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