Our penultimate border crossing today! Hooray!

A nice easy drive, all tarred road, the usual suicidal donkeys meandering in and out of the road, the toucans flying out of no where right in front of us!

We were making a stop at the Tsodilo Hills to see the famous rock paintings of Botswana done by bushmen, some of which are 3000 years old!

 We had to take a guided tour, which lasted 2 hours, I was a little disappointed by it, I expected more from the paintings and our unenthusiastic guide didn't exactly sell it! But it was good to see them.

 It seems that you need money to really get the most out of Botswana, all of the touristy stuff really does cost, so our stay was cut a bit short here, which was sad, I don't feel we've seen the 'real' Botswana during our stay, it's an excuse to come back one day!

 The border wasn't far from the hills so we headed straight to he Mohembo border to cross into Namibia. We were stopped just before entering into the border area for the car to get sprayed and us to stand on the disinfected mat as a foot and mouth precaution,then welcomed through the gate. This border was pretty swish, calm and organised, not at all what were used to! We had to pay 180N$ for road tax (1 Pound = 13 Namibian $the South African Rand is also used as currency here alongside the N$), a quick check of the vehicle to see if we had any raw meat on board, a nice little chat with the guard then off we went to drive the incredibly straight roads of Namibia!

 Namibia has seemed so far off for so long and were here! We can't believe it!

We drove to Rundu, a town not far from the border to stay at Ngundu Camp 65N$ each. Namibia is on daylight saving time at the moment so we're on the same time as the UK now.

 Again Neil's card was rejected from the ATM's today! Another phone call to Barclays tomorrow!

We hit the road for Tsumeb this morning, again another easy drive on the dead straight road, arriving in Tsumeb at around 3pm, the town has been described as one of Namibia's loveliest towns, it is a pretty little town, with a huge German influence, we had a walk around town buying fresh ingredients for our curry tonight! We're staying at Mousebird Hostel N$ 75each for camping.

 We decided to stay an extra night as Andy Murray was playing in the Semi's, we were both feeling the strains of camping today so it was nice to have a quiet day in front of the tv on a sofa! Our bodies are giving up on us at the moment.

It was time for another National Park today, the 'Great White Place of Dry Water' the vast white and greenish coloured Etosha Pan.

 We were both still feeling pretty rough, the cold nights are really getting to us now! But compared to the hot sticky nights of Sudan it's a breeze!!

 We drove through the park (entrance fees 80N$ each and 10N$ for Yoalndy) taking in the views, we saw lots of wilder beast, giraffe and birds, we then drove off the beaten track and within minutes saw a huge animal to our left, it was a bloody Rhino! We couldn't believe it, my god he was huge, and didn't like our presence at all! We soon left him alone after getting a couple of snaps!

 We drove over to the Pan for some lunch and took in the view!

We didn't see much more in the animal stakes  for the rest of the day, we were really hoping to see a leopard, so we would have seen all the big five on our trip, but never mind, maybe next time??!!

 We left the park by 5.30pm and drove the 100km to Outjo, a small town, not much to offer really apart from being a little stop off. We went to the first backpackers we found (kai-on N$ 70 each for camping) and had an early night. I had a really restless night with a dicky tummy. Give me a bed!!!

 We drove to Swakopmund after a 6 hour drive, the landscape turning in to desert around us, arriving in Swakopmund around 4.00pm. Swakopmund is described as being more German than Germany with its quirky mix of German-Namibian residents and overseas German tourists! It is a sea side town of the Skeleton Coast line, with timbered buildings, designed to look German, it felt a little fake to me, almost looking like a film set! It is a really tourist town so it was very expensive!

 We found The Dunes Backpackers, not our first choice but the only place we found open or that wasn't full, it's a really lovely hostel but a bit out of our range, paying 10 pound each for bed for the night! But it was a bed! Bliss! We also treated ourselves to pizza for tea at 'Western Saloon Pizzeria' a really cool little place.

 The following morning Neilo found a hostel across the road for 3 pound a night each for a bed! SO we quickly moved across the road, it wasn't as nice, had no atmosphere, the staff were useless, but it was cheap and we had a room to ourselves and were sleeping on beds! We visited Dune 7 today just outside Walvis Bay, a town not far from Swakopmund.

 Dune 7 rises above the bleak expanses of desert, its a free 'attraction' so obviously we visited!

  Walking up the dune was an absolute killer! It took everything out of us, but getting to the top was breathtaking (literally), and it was worth it as running down was brilliant!

We drove back to town after chucking water over ourselves to wash off the sand!

 We went for a walk to the pier and looked out to sea, the line of fog dominating the sky line, imagining all of the ships and crew that have perished on this coast line, it was quite eerie!

 For tea we were on the hunt for a bag of chips to share, I had smelt a chippy on the way in, and my nose never lies when it comes to matter so serious as these! Fair doos the chips weren't bad at all, not quite up to the standards of the Severn Street Chippy mind!

   The following day we drove to Windhoek , we took a route through the desert passing through Bosua Pass, a hilly region with lots of up hill driving on unfinished roads, it was a really hot drive and a dusty one too. We arrived in Windhoek late afternoon, the German Influenced Capital is it geographical heart of Namibia and it's commercial nerve centre, it's a clean and modern city and easily navigated so we had no problems finding the Cardboard Box Backpackers (65 N$ each a night for camping pancakes for breakfast included!) We settled in and then went to the cinema to see Transformers 2, Neil has been desperate to see it since seeing the trailer a couple of weeks ago!

It's my birthday today! Another year older!

 We woke up early and had our pancakes for breakfast, I had 2 cups of tea, proper tea! Yummy!

We then cleaned the mountains of dust out of the Landy and put some order back into Yolandys life!

Then we hit the city! We checked our mail, thanks for the lovely messages! Then I rang Ma and had a little chat which was nice. 

 Neil got his hair cut as a birthday gift for me! He was beginning to look like Jack Nicholson in The Shining! Now he looks very smart indeed! We then had a pie each from King Pie!

 Then a cream cake for desert! Then the cinema again as an extra treat, then the icing on the cake, Neilo took me to a curry house for curry and beer tea! It was GOOD!!

 I had a lovely day, apart from now being in my very late 20's it was great!

9th – 11th July 2009, Sossusvlei, Namibia

  Neil Chilling in the tent!

We're getting through a lot of fuel at the moment, doing long drives and our budget is getting rinsed! So we're trying to camp as much as possible to save a bit, even though its bloody freezing!

On the drive towards Sossusvlei we passed through the Tropic of Capricorn, another landmark of the trip.

We arrived at the park gates of Sossusvlei as it was getting dark, as it is a tourist hot spot the campsites are extortionately priced and they wanted 700N$ for us to camp, you'll be lucky!

We found a little picnic area down the road and parked up.

The plan was to get up at 5am and see the sun rise over the dunes, so we thought it would be easier in the morning just to get up and go, so instead of getting the tent out we slept in the Landy!

Me in the front Neilo in the back!.........

  I don't know why i'm smiling!

No it wasn't comfy and we didn't get much sleep and it was freezing at 5am, but we got up and went to queue at the park gate. (permit for the park 170 N$)

Namibia boasts 300 days of sunshine a year, this morning it was raining and cloudy! Typical, needless to say we didn't have a spectacular sunrise! We were a bit disappointed, especially as it was the first rain we'd seen since Kenya!

But we soon got over it, the dunes looked spectacular and the sun soon came out a little! We were soon surrounded by the most awesome dunes.

After a couple of hours we headed south towards Fish River Canyon, we found a little camp site called Kiosk camp (63N$, for us both to camp, Bargain!) a little car park with a little kiosk shop in the middle, right next to Naute Dam. It was lovely and run by a lovely old dear from Bristol! Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boreman had passed through on their trip! We built a little fire, made some pasta then a nice early night! 

12th July 2009, Fish River Canyon to South African Border! (1 Pound = 13.5 Rand)

After a LONG chat with our bristolian host we completed the drive to Fish River Canyon.

The Canyon is huge, really impressive, we spent some time wandering around and taking a few photos then went on to Ai Ais, a place where we'd heard there were hot springs that we could bathe in! Well we couldn't find anywhere to bathe! All we found was a little spring that was fenced off! Boo!

Anyway we decided to head for the border today, and finally make it into South Africa! Finally seeing the end of dirt and sand tracks!