Africa Adventure, Part X

Sunday, 22 February 2009

After a lovely light breakfast at the hotel, we checked out and met Tim & Venessa and the girls for the drive back to Windhoek. The road follows basically the same route as the train, heading east toward Okahonja and then south into Windhoek.

Leaving the coastal desert, we headed back into the brush. There were some very interesting mountains off in the distance. The road passes through some hilly country. There are also a few small towns on the road. We stopped in at the OK Market in Karabib for a coffee date. This is a typical town in Namibia, just a wide spot in the road.

After we parked near the market on the "wrong" side of the road, a friendly gentleman from the town let us know to move the cars, because they do ticket you for that violation. After re-parking, we headed into the market for our coffee date. It was an interesting place, since it was really a General Store with a bit of everything in addition to the groceries and coffee bar.

A little down the street was an African crafts store, which looked a bit like a museum, too. They had many of the usual things we had seen many places, and a few unique items. A couple of blocks away was the church in town, a Lutheran one of course. And across the street from the store was the Club Western, a bar with loud country-western music. It seemed a bit out of place.

We continued toward Windhoek. There was road construction going on, and I managed to hit one of the posts to mark the edge of the road. It cracked the housing on the rear view mirror on the left side. Now we had two problems with the car, since we had lost the front license plate in Etosha!

The rest of the drive was good and uneventful. We arrived back at the Foundation House in Windhoek with time to rest a bit, and get cleaned up for our final dinner in Namibia.

That evening we went to Orapoko Game Reserve for dinner and a chance to see lions, even if not free range lions. The lions range free within a compound, and come to be fed in the evening. After some late afternoon libations, we rode out to the feeding area in safari trucks and then hiked a couple hundred metres. There is a built up barrier with viewing openings in it for viewing the lions. They have added electrical fence at the openings since the last time Tim & Venessa were there. Which is a good thing, since you are only about five feet from the lions when they come over to look at you.

At first there was only one large male waiting for his dinner. The females stay back until he's had most of his dinner, an antelope leg. After the two females show up and look over the people, the workers throw them some meat which they grab and head off to eat without the male bothering them. They are all magnificent animals. And a lot safer than if you met one in open range.

We rode the safari trucks back to the lodge where we had dinner reservations. Dinner was a grand celebration of Tim's birthday, and the wonderful ten days we had spent with them in Namibia. It ended with a flaming dessert. It confirmed that I really like the taste of African game, especially Kudu.

Back at the house, it was time to pack our bags for the next part of the adventure in South Africa. We stayed up late for our last evening with the girls.

African Adventure IX

Saturday, 21 February 2001

The morning started by going through Swakopmund to a siding in the Namib-Naukluft National Park. This is an area of huge red sand dunes. The train stopped and everyone got off to play in the sand. That meant walking across the desert to the base of a very large red sand dune. Led by a guide from the train, we climbed the dune, going up the slope on one end. It was interesting to walk in the soft red sand. From the top one could see the coast (a little) and red desert all around.

Going down was fast and fun. You simply run down the side of the dune, a very steep slope. It's much faster going down! And your feet sink into the sand up to your knees as you run down. It's a fun and unique experience. After walking across the desert back to the train, we returned to Swakop to disembark.

Once we got the cars off the train car, we were ready to continue the adventure. We had met a gal from Australia who never spends winter anywhere. She is an author of children's books and travels most of the time. She had been in Namibia for several weeks already, and was planning to stay in Swakopmund for a couple of months. We gave her a ride to her hotel. It was interesting to visit with her.

We headed south out of town to Walvis Bay. Since we were on the west coast of Africa, it seemed much like driving along the coast here (except on the wrong side of the road), and there was desert and sand dunes to the east along the coast.

Walvis is a more industrial town. It also has some very nice housing on the south side on the beach. Along here we saw white flamingoes in the surf and lagoons. They looked a bit strange after the pink flamingoes we're used to in Florida. Someone told us their color is determined by what they eat, and when the shrimp are plentiful they turn more pink. I'll take their word for it.

We stopped for lunch at a restaurant on the water. I'm guessing it's quite lively in the evening. We had seen many people lined up with buckets and other containers at a fire station, and wondered why. At the restaurant they didn't serve water and asked us not to use the rest rooms. We also saw restaurant employees filling large containers with water out of the surf. It turns out that the city water supply reservoir had become muddy and not suitable for use because of the very heavy rains a day or two before. So the fire station or the beach were the only place to get any water, and the beach water was not drinkable.

It was a very nice lunch with a view, since it was built on a pier over the water. But we didn't drink the water!

After lunch we headed back up the coast to Swakop. We checked into our hotel, The Secret Garden Guesthouse, a very nice place. Tim's family was at another hotel a few blocks away. We wanted to explore the town a bit since we had read that it has become a real resort area and retirement home area, especially for Germans. But almost everything closes about 2PM on Saturdays. We found a few places open and then walked along the shore. The municipal pier was a good place to see the town. There was a large park along the coast. Tim and Venessa took the girls to the aquarium where they saw some feeding time. In the park at the beach a group of people were practicing with their dogs on sort of steeplechase course. It was interesting to watch.

We had a late afternoon coffee date near one end of downtown. There was also a wood carvers' market set up in a large parking lot. We didn't go through it because they were closing down for the day, and we had bought our wood carvings in Okahodja. We had dinner in a restaurant close by on a pier overlooking the beach. It was very casual and nice.

After dinner we played in the park next to the restaurant which had a unique marry-go-round. It hung from a center post and spun unevenly. The girls had fun on it. Lillian wanted to swing, and there was a little boy there whom Venessa gave her take home dinner leftovers to. After a bit, they headed back to their hotel, and we walked on the beach. Karen got her feet wet in the South Atlantic. We stayed at the beach to watch the sunset, which was very nice, before heading back to the hotel.

Back at the hotel we completed the lovely, quiet evening.