so it has been a while since we had Internet so i have a bit to catch you all up on ill start with where i think i left off...
on the 17th December we left the luxury of our hotel in Swakopmund and returned to our trusty green roll mats and our lovely canvas tent we spent a large portion of the day driving in the baking heat to Spitzkoppe a campground seemingly in the middle of nowhere the landscape was desert with the campsite nestled in the shadows of this huge rocky outcrop we arrived late afternoon and me and LP headed off to climb to a wee gappy bitty thing at the top (not the top top but the top of the bit we climbed) it didn't take to long to scramble up to within 5m of the top where things got a little tricky it seems the top is a popular place for the klipspringer and it seems they like to stand at the top and poop meaning the last wee bit was slick like a slide we did however manage to make it up (not slip on a poop slide to our deaths...) the view at the top was lovely so we took some pics and sat in the shade before starting the walk down stupidly we didn't go down the way we came and got stuck in several places had to backtrack a bit here and there and lastly squeeze through a little cave we arrived at the bottom just in time to climb another (much less high non-challenging) outcrop where we sat and watched the sunset...
18th December- we set off earlyish for Twfelfontein (doubtful spring) where we spent just one night again we drove most of the day and arrived late afternoon just in time to visit some bushman (san) rock carvings despite being early evening the sun was still bearing down in full heat without any shade so the visit was quick the etchings are so impressive and we also saw 2 Agama lizards and 2 dassie rats which are cute as pie!
19th December - at 8am we were back on the road heading for Etosha Namibia's premiere national park we were set to arrive about 5pm but actually got there about 2.30pm so after a dip in the pool to cool off we jumped on the truck and headed off for an evening game drive the wildlife in the park was huge in abundance an we saw our first WILD LION stalking some antelope in the distance defiantly a highlight of the day! we also saw 2 slender mongoose the first of that kind. that evening after some dinner we sat in silence at the watering hole waiting for something to appear we were well rewarded with a sighting of a black rhino a huge bull who came right up to the wall seemingly staring right into my eyes which was quite nerve racking (I'm not sure a piddly electric fence and a stone drywall would stop a charging rhino!) another great sighting was a cape fox also drinking at the watering hole GREAT day for animals!
20th December- today we drove across the national park it contains three campsites so we drove from one (i have temporarily misplaces the spelling and I'm not going to attempt it) to Halali in the middle where at 11am we stopped to wait out the hot part of the day eating lunch and lounging by the pool before continuing on to Namatoni where we camped for two nights we had a huge bout of excitement when we saw a chameleon being chased by a boomslang (snake) we stopped to watch and the went under the truck the boomslang then decided the trucks chassy would be a good place to rest so it slithered up oh dear....there was nothing we could really do except drive on...a wee while later it did drop out as we drove and unfortunately got itself a little bit run over which was sad we got out (breaking national park rules) and watched as it slowly died...not cool... we did see more lions all chilling out under trees....later that evening we went on another game drive and ticked spotted hyenas off our checklist our first wild dog type thing Etosha proved to be amazing for wildlife!...
21st December-up for an early morning game drive we saw alot of antelope giraffe zebra etc but nothing new we did a long drive looking for leopard and cheetah but found none back at camp we had a huge brekkie and chilled out for the day disappointed the pool was filthy so we did laundry to cool off! that evening we headed on anther drive and saw heaps of stuff including mountain zebra we also say wildebeest going crazy chasing each other around and playing (i think the prospect of rain was making them frisky!) we also drove around a corner there was giraffe all over the road which scattered in every direction they are quite funny when they run...and when they drink....and when the eat....and when they just stand still....
22nd December- we drove ALL day ending up at a campsite call Nyepi on the river (we heard hippos snuffling around all night) the campsite had some weird funny toilets like the 'view with a loo' out in the open overlooking some reeds 'the toilet of Eden' surrounded by huge tropical plants a block with boys on one door girls on the other but both doors lead to two dunnies side by side one pink one with the lid padlocked up! signs in the showers read 'warning these showers contain H2O' all very funny!....
23 December-today we had a late start not leaving till 11am at about 4pm we crossed the border from Namibia into Zambia at which point we decided to continue all the way to Vic falls and have an extra night there so we didn't arrive till about 8.30pm we just had dinner and chilled
24th December-CHRISTMAS EVE we went to watch a briefing of the activities on offer at Vic falls then picked....we decided on a tour of the falls, a sunset dinner cruise,and white water rafting after the activities brief we headed into the town of Livingstone for final Xmas things when we got back we covered the truck in tinsel to make things christmassy that arvo we headed to the falls where we walked around took some amazing photos and got drenched it is very strange that you can see Zimbabwe across the bridge! the falls are stunning there is just so much water and they make so much noise so not alot of surprise that their traditional name translates as "the smoke that thunders" when we got back to camp we hit the bar we were so lucky that we were lent a laptop and skype so we could phone home briefly and speak to family on their mas morning after that it got a bit messy (not me i just get to laugh at everyone else!)...
25th December-MERRY CHRISTMAS!! we slept in and then contained to doze till late (mostly for the sake of LP the first time he woke up he was still drunk!) when finally i got up i put on my pretty new xmas dress...thanks Mr price...at around 10.30am we exchanged small gifts with friends then headed to the bar for a few drinks before lunch (are you pickin up on the drunken theme?) just before we ate we did a secret Santa we all got to sit on 'Santa's' knee we had a big xmas lunch then waddled down the road to a 4 star hotel to watch an African choir unfortunately we arrived just as the finished we did sit in their lobby for a while in the cool (lowering the tone of the establishment!)...im just upset i didn't pee in a posh loo!...the rest of the afternoon we spent in the pool playing with LPs secret Santa prezzie a padda tennis set and a game we invented with balloons full of water....loving the hot Christmas!
26th December BOXING DAY i can sum this up quickly we got up and ate a big cooked brekkie then we sat sat some more did a bit more sitting had lunch followed by sitting then for a change we sat in a different place then sat the sat then sat then sat and now I'm doing this sitting....
No comments:
Post a Comment