CrAZY kUDU TRIP
on John and Dinah with VSO in Namibia (Namibia), 01/Jan/2008 14:38, 34 days ago
Photos going as per reading1. Dinah on walk on Xmas day at Aus 2. Ostriches at Aus 3. Nearly dark over the dunes Sesriem4. Fish River Canyon 5. dune 45 (the ridge!) 6. Dead Vlei7. Quiver tree with sociable weaver nest 8. Cheetah 9. Shadows at Sossusvlei10. Sunset at Soss. 11. John dancing with a Nama lady 12. The Crazy Kudu truckCrazy Kudu trip blogWe returned from our trip on New Year's Eve. It was a wonderful 7 days in which we ran the whole gamut of emotions from terrified (Dinah), elated, nostalgic and hilariously amused. I will try to not give too much information as we packed so much into those few days and travelled half the length of the country. It was called the 'Southern Swing' and started in Windhoek and headed down to the South African border and over to the coast at Luderitz. Up to Sossusvlei and then Windhoek again. It did mean a lot of time on the coach to cover the distances but that was fine as the scenery was absolutely breathtaking throughout. Although there was very little in the way of towns, or any human developments the landscape was remarkably varied and I read and did some Suduko when the mood took! I also listened to music for the first day, until I'd exhausted my iPod battery. We were camping and recharging wasn't possible. I wished I'd taken Ma's car charger for the phones.The group was just the right size, consisting of 4 couples and a guide/driver Benny (otherwise know as Del-boy's Namibian counterpart) and an assistant Job who cooked, helped put up/down tents, washed-up etc. The passenger part of the van took 14 people so we had lots of space but it was a big enough group to generate fun for the evenings around the camp fire. Having said which we all seemed to eat and go to bed exhausted most times! By the end they all seemed like old friends.The first stop was to some Nama people who you can see J dancing with! They also sang reallybeautifully for us. Next we camped at 'Quivertree camp site'. These are not really trees at all but a giant aloe, ideal for making quivers out of. We went from there to the Fish River Canyon which we had thought was the second biggest in the world. Recently a larger one has been found in Ethiopia and there is concern that another in Australia will put Namibia out of the medals altogether. Whatever it's world ranking it is truly breathtaking and we had a lovely walk along next to it and a picnic lunch in a terrific view spot. Then we went down to the Orange river and camped next to it in a lovely camp-site complete with most welcome swimming pool. There was an enormous vineyard next to the river but most of the wine from there is made in S. Africa not Namibia, unfortunately. Then on Xmas day we went up to Aus. The camp-site there was the nicest of the trip with a lovely lodge attached with a bar with a wonderful balcony view. The first night there it was really cold. I had my fleece on but was still wrapped in my sleeping bag as I sat by the camp fire!We rang the kids to wish them a Happy Christmas and that was when we really felt bad about being so far away again. I really am looking forward to the wedding in March and seeing them all. Also we plan to spend the long Christmas hols next year back in England with them all.We had a free afternoon and as it was cool enough J and I decided we'd like a walk. It was really wonderful. We walked about 3 hours and got rewarded with wonderful scenery. The view across the pan (dried out lake) was beautiful and J reckoned we could see 50 miles as it was so flat and the air was so clear. Incredibly as we walked along the bottom we heard our names and turned round to see our young Canadian friend, Jackie! We were miles from anywhere and she happened to spot us as she drove past. Another minute and she'd have missed us. She was looking so happy and I teased her about it might be something to do with her boyfriend visiting!Boxing day was a bit of a let-down. We went to a ghost diamond mine. The trouble was there were only 2 guides and about 150 visitors. The shop and cafe were shut and you couldn't see or hear the guide. The mine itself was very interesting and after the tour we had a happy time nosing around. Then we went to Luderitz where we were meant to be having lunch in a restaurant. This was shut and we had to grab bread, cheese etc. from the supermarket instead! After we'd done this Benny found a hotel which was prepared to cook something for himself and Job. We had a hoot laughing about their reaction to the suggestion they also eat bread and cheese. We were so sorry for them when the steak they got was not up to scratch!The highlight of the tour for most people is a visit to Sesriem/Sossusvlei where we stayed 2 nights. On the first evening we went up a dune to watch the sunset. As you can see from the pics it was really spectacular. We got up the next morning at 4.30 to climb another dune to see the sunrise. This was horrible for me. I suffer slightly from vertigo and am alright most of the time. What I found so nasty was being on a narrow ridge with steep sandy sides (you could see the sand trickling down slowly like syrup) and nothing to grab or stop you sliding to the bottom about 200 m away. Most (well all except me and one other wimp) others were fine. I had to hold on to John's rucksack and be led off one step at a time. Horribly humiliating, unpleasant experience! We had a walk to Dead Vlei which is the white area 1 km across with unrotted dead trees apparently up to 300 years old. There are no insects to clear them and it is very dry so water doesn't rot them. The last thing to see here is Sesreim canyon which we went down in the evening and was an unexpected treat.We went back to Windhoek where we found our car still complete with all the shopping we'd left in it! Set off the next day back to Mpungu and again relieved to find everything here shipshape. The great thing is that the 3G gadget we got to get us broadband from here actually works! In a month we've gone from not having cell-phone coverage or internet to both! Those things almost stopped us coming and we are so happy to have them. We can get online radio and enjoyed Humph in wonderland last night - so English and quirky! We are going to look into using skype to stay in touch so we should save money on the phone, which will help with paying for the broadband! It was great to get to our mail box and find lots of christmas cards, mags. etc. OUr room is now festooned. We are the only people around among the teachers and it feels somewhat strange here! The real downside is that the water is not working so we have to take our washing up bowl over to a tap 200m away (mysteriously working) in order to wash. Luckily Julie warned us that the water could be off for several days at once so we have litres of drinking water spare. We are going back to Rundu on Thurs. so I'm taking my clothes to wash there! We've hung our cards on our mosquito net and our lovely decorations from Ella. our new calender featuring pics of simon, sophie, jack, alex and special guests has been hung up.We have another 2 weeks before term starts so we thought we'd go and visit another VSO in Oshakati on Sat. Really keen to start work. I feel as if I've been on the longest holiday ever although J keeps reminding me that we have achieved quite a lot over the last few months!The views expressed in this log are the author's own and do not reflect those of VSO.