Windhoek, Etosha and Swakopmund

Hello Everyone!Hope you are all well!

Day 17 of our tour we arrived in Windhoek earlier than expected. We planned to have coffee and wait until Suane finished work, but as we pulled off the road Suane intercepted us. Amazing, and what a welcome. Windhoek rocks! 

We spent the afternoon relaxing at Suane and Nico’s beautiful house entertaining their two Brassard Hounds, Sebastian and Maya. I’m not sure who entertained who? Suane later showed us around Windhoek and took us to meet some of her family. We ended our day with Nico’s famous weber chicken.

Hennie and Maya

Nico with Sebastian and Maya

Thursday was admin day; we had to fix the yellow canary’s (Toothless) chain guard. Nico and his dad, Oom Dirk were very kind and helped to organize the necessary welding work. Thanks to them Toothless was road worthy again! We did some necessary shopping for us and the two bikes, and had lunch at a cute little café.

That evening Nico and Suane took us to dinner at Joe’s. This is apparently the second biggest tourist attraction in Namibia…?

Supper at Joe's

 ETOSHA….the 400km drive to Etosha the next day was spent chatting and laughing. We were enjoying being off the bikes and not having to concentrate on the road all the time. We would not have been able to enter Etosha on the motorbikes so it was great of Suane and Nico to take us. Our first night we stayed in chalets in Okaukuejo.

Nico,Suane,Mia and Hennie - Etosha Gate

Okaukuejo chalet

With all the recent rainfall the park was wet, green and picturesque, but the animals a bit scarce. Despite this, our game drive the next day was very successful with a Hyena, 3 Lions, a Chameleon (my highlight), a turtle swimming in a large puddle in the road and many others

Our first exciting find

Camacamacameleon

Zhee Lyon...up close and personal

Saturday night we stayed in the “Shebeen Lodge” where the whole restaurant is decorated like a Shebeen with a bit of a political twist and the staff dance and sing while you eat….very entertaining

 

A night at the Shebeen

Nico & Suane

We drove home on Sunday and Hennie spent some TLC time with the bikes, under Nico’s supervision (haha). The evening Nico’s Mom & Dad (Tannie Andriette and Oom Dirk) helped us plot our route and showed us videos and photo’s of their last two African trips. They have just returned from Ethiopia….really inspirational. After talking to them we were ready to take on the whole of Africa!

We’d like to thank Suane, Nico and the rest of the Badenhorst family for their hospitality and warmth. You were wonderful!

Monday morning we received news that our Canadian visa’s were ready to be processed which meant we needed to send some emails and figure out our time line, so we left Windhoek a bit later than expected. The road to Swakop was long and initially terrible. 350km gravel with no town or fuel, only hills, grasslands and then Namibian Desert. Toothless/The yellow canary felt rebellious and decided to fall over on a bad patch of downhill. Her right mirror broke off and then she refused to start….mors dood.

Bush mechanic Hennie worked his magic, in the middle of nowhere and resuscitated the poor canary (AKA Die Geel Moer). Lucky for us, as we did not pass a single car/person for the next 150km’s.

Bush mechanic

The road to Swakop

So we arrived in Swakop much later than expected and were very thankful to Nico’s parents for letting us stay in there house which meant no tent or camping. Baie dankie!

Camp Badenhorst

 Swakop – We love Swakop. A really quant, rather large town with a lot to do and see.

In Swakopmund at last

We started our tour with the road to Walvis Bay which is spectacular with desert dunes on the one side and stunning beaches on the other. In Walvis Bay we had a look at the salt works, a lovely water front and lagoon side. 

Walvis Bay Lagoon

Herbs at the harbour - Walvis Bay Waterfront

Pink is in

Do you think he bites?

We found dune 7 and had some unexpected fun sand boarding down huge dunes. As if we have not had enough of riding in sand on bikes on the Namib roads we still decided to try our skills on the 4 wheelers. Thank you to Johan, Louis, Amanda and Endan from Dune 7 Adventure. We loved it!

Sandboarding, Yeehaa!

Louis, Endan, Hennie and Johan

Camacama....

Four wheels in the desert

Dune 7 Adventure Team

Dune 7

The day ended well with an Oryx (Gemsbok) Steak and fresh Kabeljou. 

Where to next?

Swakopmund

Today (Wednesday) we are exploring the town of Swakop with all its cute little shops and German bakeries.

Tomorrow we’re off to Henties Bay and then the Burnt Mountains and their White lady!

Aus to Solitaire

Sorry for the long wait.. but good things come to those who wait... so here our story continues!

On the gravel road leaving Fish River Canyon to Seheim, Mia at first a bit like Hickup on Night Fury( How to Train your Dragon) suddenly was taking the lead and pointing out all the interesting things she observed along the way. Arriving in Aus some 230km later, we went straight to the campsite to pitch our tent and drove off to go see the wild horses of Aus. One of the theories are that the horses were set free together with all the slaves and workers of a German military official after the second world war.

Wild Desert Horses

Back at Klein Aus Vista (Our camp site) the only other people camping was a young German couple, Markus and Anna. This quickly turned into a friendship and a braai and we shared some good laughs. Thank you Markus and Anna ... Zahelo!

Anna, Markus, Mia & Hennie

The next morning we set off for Luderitz. Arriving with an angry wind our initial impression was not great.

Toothless was almost shipped home! hahahaha

At least the campsite made up for the gray experience. We booked tickets to visit the Ghost town of Kolmanskop for the following morning and enjoyed some Luderitz cultivated oysters!

Shark Island Camp Site - Luderitz

Enjoying Coffee and our camp view

We did the tourist thing and joined a guided tour of Kolmanskop. This town was established because of the diamond rush. It was amazing to see the German innovation and technology in this desert setting. They were even able to make ice from salt water. All the land now belongs to Anglo and the Namibian Government. The photo is an indication of what remains after the diamond rush. Our guide, Christo played the piano and sang to us to demonstrate the acoustic abilities of the entertainment hall... Christo, it's time to enter Idlos.

Kolmanskop Ghost town

On recommendation from Anna and Markus we changed our route to explore the Tiras mountains area. Here the landscape and climate started to change from a baron dry desert to a more green tree filled area. We arrived at the Koiimassis camp site just before a huge thunder storm. Probably the most amazing campsite yet. We got soaked in the storm while doing washing. This camp site was constructed and decorated to blend into the natural colour of the environment. A family of bat-eared foxes and "stokstert meerkats" greeted us on arrival. The farm has over 250 wild horses, leopards, cheetahs and spotted hyenas... and we were alone in the camp!!

Half way there

Hold to nose smell like a rose. Hold to light looks so bright!

Koiimassis Camp

The road into Koiimassis was very challenging. 20km of narrow sandy twin track.

Yet again our skills were tested but we made it! – Thanks again Rony.

Sandy road conquered

 Our next destination was Sesriem. Campsite.. not so great. We were also told that no motorbikes were allowed into the park to view Sossusvlei and the Valley of the dead.

Luckily we met a couple, concerned with our constraint who offered us a lift. The next morning we set off with  Oom Ben and Tannie Ria Scheepers at 5:45 am. And you all thought we are on holiday! Beautiful dunes, amazing colours and bloody hot! (%$#@).

Thank you Oom en Tannie for your friendly help and company. 

Mia on top of a huge dune

Sossusvlei

The dead Valley

Mia, Hennie, Oom Ben and Tannie Ria

After an exhausting morning we packed up camp and left for Solitaire. Only 60km to go we came across a VW polo lying on its side. We were first on the scene….

An elderly German couple (Both professors in psychology) took a bad turn and rolled their car.

Hans and Gisela suffered minor injuries, but Mia’s 1 ton first aid kit came in handy. Hans got given a head bandage to stop the bleeding and Gisela some game as a sugary drink.

A random beer drinking German stopped to help as well as some locals. We all got the car back on its wheels and off the road. We had no other alternative to load the two Professors and their luggage into the beer drinking German’s car. Hope they made it to hospital safely…

The Professors Polo

Job well done Mia!

Solitaire’s lodge was a treat. Wonderful food and lovely people.

Solitaire Lodge

The following morning we left early for Windhoek. This stretch, the last of +-800 km of gravel road presented even more changes as the lust green completely covered up the last remains of desert. We stopped for a break under a tree and were attacked by what the local people call, Tampas, a type of tick. These boys wasted no time and it reminded us of an attacking Spartan army.  So our break was cut short..

Road to Windhoek

 

We arrived in Windhoek.

Staying with Suane and Nico and looking forward to explore the city of Windhoek and our weekend in Ethosha.

Springbok - Aus

Hello Everyone

We're back. Been off-line for a while and had some problems finding internet that works.  But the story continues....We left Springbok early Sunday morning and decided to change our route to a more adventurous one, so we headed for Sendelingsdrift via Lekkersing & Kuboes.

Good Morning Springbok

The road was beautiful but once we hit gravel things got tough. First my chain guard broke off so Hennie had to apply some of his mechanical skills. In Lekkersing even his bike had it's turn to meet the road..he forgot to kick out his side stand..lol!! Here the locals told us of a sandy patch on the road ahead where cars get stuck, which could pose some problems. I found it the  hard way.

The last bit of tar road

Hennie to the rescue

The people of Lekkersing

Bike meets gravel...where is my side stand?

I found the sandy patch

The rest of the way was tricky but without problems. The scenery was breath taking and ever changing, an artist's tapestry.It made me think that God really loves diversity, from the lush greenery of the garden route to this beautiful barrenness in the desert.

Road through Richtersveld

We arrived in Sendelingsdrift quite late so decided to stay in a self-catering unit. It was Sunday which meant no cold beer, which is all we wanted after the day we had. Lucky for us we met 2 couples from Durban who very generously shared their stash with us....thank you so much to Ian, Cheryl, Don and Lola. We promise to pay it forward.

Hennie, Ian, Mia, Cheryl, Lola and Don

Monday morning we had an exiting border crossing on the ferry across the Orange River. We were so excited to be in Namibia at last we took a wrong turn and headed for Rosh Pinah instead of Ai-ais. We quickly rectified our mistake and found the stunning road all along the river. We had enough time because the Namibian roads were so good that we stopped for a swim.

Ferry crossing - Sendelingsdrift

In Ai-Ais we met Ibrahim Matta who we enjoyed talking to and shared a beer with. Ai-ais is a stunning resort with a lovely camping site, just unfortunate that the beautiful pools are all hot as it got lose to 40 degrees while we were there.

Having a beer with Ibrahim at Ai-Ais

Beautiful pool but sooo hot!

The following morning we left for the Fish River Canyon.Here we stayed at The Canyon Road House close to the Fish River Canyon which had a cold pool.....Yeaha!! We liked the pool so much we stayed for 2 nights and got great views of the canyon. We did some laundry and had a good rest.We met Ibrahim again here....thanks for the chats...Zahelo!

Cool Pool!

Ibrahim with us as the sun set over the Canyon

Amazing

We were very impressed with the Roadhouse campsite and spent some time talking to Simon, the manager, who is also originally from PE. Thank you for your hospitality Simon, and the Pavlova  really was the best we've ever tasted.

Simon at the Canyon Road House

So from here we are off to Aus to see some wild horses and then to the coastal town of Luderitz....