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Updated Information
Graham & Connie |
Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
301km |
Meals
Lamb shoulder potjie |
Weather |
|
Otjitotongwe, Namibia |
29 May, 2004 |
Camped at Otjitotongwe
Cheetah Park East of Kaminjab |
19°35.503’S
15°04.051’E |
Odometer: 25094km |
Cool in the Am, Hot by
mid-day, 85(F), degrees |
|
First thing in the morning, we ran into Grant
on the road. He is an overland truck driver that Krissy and Slade had met
in Cameroon. He was now down south with his truck of hard drinking
Aussies. He highly recommended the Otjitotongwe Cheetah park, so we headed
in that direction. We had planned to stop off at the Cheetah Park for a
quick tour, but they didn’t allow day visitors, so we decided to camp
there. We tried to call the others to let them know that we would be late
meeting up with them, but discovered that the phone line was out at the
Cheetah park. So the guys drove back into town to the gas station we had
stopped at earlier (where we had discovered we had a flat tire), but the
call didn’t go through. Our tour of the cheetah park was great. Not only
did we ride in an open back pick up truck through the wild cheetah area,
but we also learned that the large plastic trash can in the back with us
contained the cheetahs dinner. This was no surprise to the cheetahs and we
soon had several large hungry cats following the truck. We also got to pet
tame cheetahs and Wow! What a purr. |
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Updated Information
Witt & Jen
|
Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
210km |
Meals
Spaghetti, pears with chocolate, champagne |
Weather |
|
Sessriem, Namibia |
30 May, 2004 |
National Park campground |
24°29.047’S
15°47.989’E |
Odometer: 23378km |
Sunny & Windy, 90(F) degrees |
|
Last night passed and we still
haven’t heard from the rest of our group. We left camp at 5am this morning
to drive the 60km to Sousossvlei to see the sunrise on the sand dunes. The
wind had started late last night and was whipping sand into the air. The
sunrise was beautiful, casting the huge, curving dunes into various shades
of red. After the sunrise we made some coffee and had breakfast, then
decided to head back to Sessriem to get out of the wind. The road is
potholed tarmac, surprising for Namibia. Perhaps this is to slow down
latecomers doing 120kph trying to make the sunrise. We spent the rest of
the day napping, relaxing and writing web updates. We turned on the sat
phone in the evening hoping to hear from our friends, and indeed Graham
called to report that they had been delayed by car trouble and detours to
see other attractions in the North. We agreed to meet at a road junction
between us at 11am tomorrow. |
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Updated Information
Graham & Connie |
Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
441km |
Meals
Boerewors, Mealie Pap |
Weather |
|
Tsaobis, Namibia |
30 May, 2004 |
Camped at Tsaobis Leopard
Park |
22°22.745’S
15°45.016’E |
Odometer: 25536km |
Cool in the Am, Hot by
mid-day, 80(F), degrees |
|
We had planned to meet back up with the others
today, but every time we told one of the locals how far we were planning
to get we were met with gales of laughter. (Apparently our plan was a
little over ambitious). As luck would have it we passed the Tsaobis
Leopard park at about the right time to make camp, and confirmed that
their phone line was in working order before we decided to stay. The
facilities were incredible! The camp site was beautiful and the shower was
fantastic. We were given a brief tour in which we saw Cheetah, Leopard,
Caracal, Ardwolf, a monkey and a troop of baboon on the hillside in the
distance. Then we headed over to the bar for a drink. We cooked dinner and
then phoned Witt, Jen, Vicky, Nadine and David to arrange a meeting time.
We were the only guests there so the night was very quiet. |
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Updated Information
Witt & Jen
|
Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
435km |
Meals
Kudu burger, Steak at the backpackers’
restaurant |
Weather |
|
Windhoek, Namibia |
31 May, 2004 |
Cardboard Box backpackers |
22°33.763’S
17°04.515’E |
Odometer: 23813km |
Sunny, 93(F) degrees |
|
We decided to get up early
again this morning, and fortunately the night wasn’t windy so we all got
some sleep. We drove out to “Dune 45” which is the 45th dune east of
Sousossvlei and 45km west of Sessriem and joined the other tourists there
to watch the sunrise. I’ve always seen pictures of the dunes in Namibia
and figured that the object was to watch the dunes light up with the
sunrise. Passengers in overland trucks, however, seem to feel that the
idea is to climb up the dunes and watch the sun rise from the top.
Unfortunately these two objectives are incompatible, as the second renders
the photos from the first scarred with people on the ridge of the dune. We
decided to forego the tour groups and walked about 20 minutes away to find
our own dunes to watch. We enjoyed a wonderful, wind-free sunrise. We
departed after making a quick breakfast and headed for our meeting point
at the junction of C14 and C26. After a quick stop in Solitaire for more
apple strudel and fuel, we made it to our rendezvous 20 minutes late, but
there was no sign of the others. We were just starting to get concerned
when they pulled up. We spent an hour eating lunch and catching up with
each others’ activities. After a final group photo, it was time to head
off in our separate directions. Witt and Jen are heading to Windhoek, and
from there to Joburg to get a flight to Tanzania. Graham and Connie will
be with Krissy, Slade, and Vicky for a few more days before they too head
out across the trans-Kalahari highway to meet Connie’s parents. David and
Nadine are heading south to Fish River Canyon before going back north
toward the Caprivi strip and into Botswana. It’s strange to be standing a
road junction in the middle of nowhere with nine people who came together
to accomplish a shared goal, and who have been together for almost two
months, and now will probably never all be in the same place together
again. With handshakes and hugs we started our cars and headed off down
Namibia’s dusty dirt roads. |
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Updated Information
Graham & Connie |
Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
330km |
Meals
Biscuits & gravy, borewors & sweet
potatoes |
Weather |
|
Sesriem, Namibia |
31 May 2004 |
Camped at Sesriem Camp
Namib-Naukluft Park |
24°29.103’S
15°47.714’E |
Odometer: 25866km |
Cool in the Am, Warm by
mid-day, 80(F), degrees |
|
Having arranged a time to meet up with the
others, we had a lazy morning at the Leopard park. We took a short hike in
the park, but didn’t see much. Connie introduced Krissy and Slade to
biscuits and gravy made with borewors. It was really good, and we resolved
to do it again sometime. Once on the road we discovered that we had
misjudged the distance to the meeting point (or at least discovered that
Slade’s map was wrong about the distance), so we were one hour late
meeting the others. We had lunch with everyone by the side of the road and
exchanged stories and passengers; Vicky rejoining with the crew in Sid.
Then we all split up again, Witt and Jen heading for Johannesburg to catch
their flight to Tanzania, David and Nadine heading for Fish River Canyon,
and the rest going to Sesriem, Vicky for the second time. On the way to
Sesriem, we had a flat on the corner with the dodgy lugs, so we had to
change the wheel and hope that the threads would hold. At Sesriem we got a
campsite, had a braai and went to bed. |
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Updated Information
Witt & Jen
|
Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
202km |
Meals
Chili |
Weather |
|
Near Gabobis,
Namibia |
01 June, 2004 |
Campground |
22°25.518’S
18°53.741’E |
Odometer: 24015km |
Sunny, 93(F) degrees |
|
Last night we met up with a
couple who lives in Windhoek who were planning to do our route in reverse.
They have changed there plans and will go up the east coast instead. We
swapped stories over a few beers over dinner. This morning was spent at
the internet café and buying a few groceries for the road. After lunch at
Nando’s we started driving east toward Botswana. The road is excellent
with little traffic. We didn’t make much distance today, so we’re planning
to get an early start tomorrow.
After finishing the laundry,
buying groceries and accessing the internet, Witt & Jen headed east out of
Windhoek towards the Botswana border. The paved roads were excellent, but
only about 200 kms were covered today due to a rather late start. We
stopped at a campground along the way. The campground looked like it was
set up to handle lots of customers, but as it turned out, we had the place
to ourselves. We made some delicious chili for dinner that helped to warm
us up as we ate it around a fire. We dug out our hats and gloves for the
occasion as we experienced one of our coldest nights yet. |
|
Updated Information
Graham & Connie |
Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
208km |
Meals
Rusks, boerewors eggs, baked beans,
spagetti & sausages |
Weather |
|
Between Sesriem and
SusNamibia, Namibia |
01 June 2004 |
Hammerstein Rest Camp |
24°52.313’S
16°10.663’E |
Odometer: 26074km |
Cool in the Am, Warm by
mid-day, 80(F), degrees |
|
4:30 should only come once in a day, but it
came twice for us. It was Vicky’s third time getting up that early to see
sunrise over Dune 45. The sunrise was spectacular, marred only by the
number of tourists spread out on the dune. Connie collected roack and we
had coffee and rusks at Dune 45. Then we drove on to Soussesvlei going to
the 4x4 parking lot. The Namib is a fascinating desert, and we enjoyed the
scenery over second breakfast, this one cooked. Then back to Deadvlei,
which is a 1.1km hike through the desert and quite soft sand. The vlei is
a white plate in a red desert spotted with dead trees. Very scenic, but
would be better with fewer tourists. And that’s hypocrisy for you! We then
went back to the campsite and worked on the cars. Graham and Slade first
replaced the ruined lugs on Toki’s left rear hub, then replaced the hi-lo
range selector in Sid. Slade had got the people at the Cheetah park to
weld the linkage back together. Late in the afternoon we left Sesriem and
made it to Hammerstien Rest Camp for the night. |
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Namibia, Page 9 |
