swakopmund | Travel Marmot

April 27, 2015September 12, 2015

A Cheetah Ate My Flip-Flop

IT took a long time for me to bow to perceived wisdom surrounding footwear on the truck and take the plunge into flip-flops.

Childhood memories of uncomfortable plastic versions, stumbling up cliff faces and over rocks on family holidays had ruled them out as a viable option.

413 — Better View – One of the cheetahs opts to hunt for flip flops from on high

And so, while the majority of my fellow passengers slipped their feet into them as soon the truck rolled to a halt, my feet were being surrounded by a pair of sandals that had already done plenty of duty at home and on my last few trips to the USA.

Called upon to do plenty of work once my other pair of sturdier shoes had been given an outer casing of Moroccan mud and confined to a lengthy spell at the foot of our locker, the sandals gave sterling service down the west coast of Africa – even if a tendency to rub meant the top strap was never done up and provided a tell-tale slapping noise which rather foretold my arrival.

But, having already come unstitched at the front, the right sandal suffered terminal damage when pretty much all of one side separated itself from the base, creating an awkward shamble home through the streets of Swakopmund.

Nice Kitty – Keeping the flip flops well out of danger

With my sandals consigned to the bin – to prevent any temptation to soldier on with them patched up – it was out to the shops of Swakopmund and Windhoek in search of a replacement pair.

Instead, all that was found was that Namibians appear to have pretty small feet.

That is the only conclusion to be drawn from the complete absence of size 12 (and even size 11) sandals without the need to spend a ridiculous amount of money and explains why my last resort was a sports shop that actually stocked a couple of flip-flops for the larger-footed gentleman.

Not just any flip-flops. These were, unnecessarily garish, Havaianas*. The flip-flop of the connoisseur (or so we are informed by veteran wearers of thongs, jandals or whatever other Antipodean crime against the English language they use to describe them).

438 — Not Alone – Ale and I show off the damage to our footwear

And very comfortable they have become, once a couple of early blisters had died down and the art of walking any distance (particularly downhill, still a bit of a problem) had been mastered.

My feet were even beginning to mould themselves into the base – right up to the point when a cheetah ate one of them.

In fairness, we had been warned the cheetah liked flip-flops. But when you are about to go through a gate into an enclosure housing three fully-grown cheetahs, you tend to hear the bits about them scratching you and what to do when one of them decides to lick your feet than worrying about the fate of your footwear.

Bit Tastier – A better snack than a flip flop

But just as the video function on my new camera was being put to the test, the subject of the lens wandered out of shot and reappeared right on my foot.

Getting your foot licked by a cheetah is one thing – they have quite rough tongues to go with pretty coarse fur – getting told to remove your foot (not that easy when a cheetah’s paw is on it) from your flip-flop so it can chew it is another.

Retrieved from its mouth, it remains wearable and, if anyone asks why there is a sizeable chunk out of my flip-flop just below my right little toe, think being chewed by a big cat is infinitely cooler than some of the other footwear-based calamities which have beset the group.

So my newly-customised Havaianas have still been propelling my feet through northern Namibia and into Botswana, where the wildlife has taken centre stage (right up to our current pitstop in Maun, where beer on tap and sitting round the pool has rather claimed top billing for those of us who did not head into the Okavango Delta**).

Compare The Kiwi – Karla and a meerkat at Spitzkoppe. Simples

A couple of friendly meerkats at the entrance to our scenic camp for the night amid the rock formations of Spitzkoppe (in newly-mended mosquito tent) set the trend, although they were the last ones we could actually pick up ahead of some much bigger creatures in the days ahead.

Picking up was certainly out of the question as we got up close to my furry foot fetish friend and two other females who live in the grounds of the owners’ house at the Camp Otjitotongwe Cheetah Camp.

Any reluctance we may have had in approaching the three animals as they purred away – mixed with a surprising bird-like chirping – was soon overcome as they came to us, played with the family dogs or simply led down and let us stroke them for the obligatory pictures.

Rock n Roll – The backdrop to our camp at Spitzkoppe

If they got bored – we certainly did not – they simply got up and walked away or headed up a tree to await their reward of a great hunk of meat each, devoured in the full glare of our cameras.

Also waiting for their food were the rather less friendly cheetahs who live behind some fairly secure fences – at least, that’s what we liked to believe, considering how close to them we were camping – and peering down from the back of a truck was about close enough for us as we watched them fight over the spoils as it was thrown out.

No Forgetting – Just some of the animals which wandered near the truck at Etosha

We were back on familiar ground for our next wildlife encounter as our journey northwards out of Namibia carried us back into Etosha National Park.

Our first afternoon game drive was relatively quiet (countless springboks and more zebra barely register a second look now), while a late arrival at the campsite watering hole after cook duty coincided with a lion’s departure and was more notable for me walking through a thorn bush (creating scratches which may or may not be attributed to a cheetah) and the watching masses searching for new ways to scare off any animals considering a quick drink, although one rhino seemed totally unfazed by it all.

But we had plenty of wow moments in our lengthy drive to the park exit the next day, single rhinos and elephants being totally overshadowed by two male lions walking alongside and in front of the truck, followed (not literally) by a herd of nine elephants that included three little ones – right as my new camera revealed exactly how long it takes to go from three bars of power to flat.

We even got a honey badger, although the person who spotted it dismissed it as just a skunk.

And so, our truly memorable stays in Namibia – sandwiched either side of our trip to South Africa – reached a spectacular climax as we headed to the Botswana border.

It’s been grand, but there is a feeling of wanting to press on north and really get moving again.

Right after we have taken advantage of not moving too far from the bar and pool…

* Think that’s the first time had to look down at my feet to check a spelling.
** Sadly, the need to stay in communication with the real world for a couple of days ruled out my trip, but the move has paid off and will be rewarded with a flight over the Delta tomorrow.

April 19, 2015September 12, 2015

Westside

Turning Point – The view from the top of Table Mountain

“DID you get Ebola?”

Reactions among those who stumble across a big yellow truck and its inhabitants at the end of our five-month journey south have found it difficult to comprehend exactly what we have done. Let alone why.

And, having reached the turning point in Cape Town and starting the four-month trek back north to Cairo, it is still pretty difficult to get our heads around exactly what has happened, what we have seen, the experiences we have shared and the people we have met – fleetingly or as travelling companions – along the way.

The plan for this entry was always for it to be a reflective one, taking advantage of our break from the road in Cape Town to look back on the southbound leg of the journey and make some sort of sense of my impressions of Africa.

Several times the laptop was opened up with the intentions of writing, but one week, another country, a lot of sand and one broken tent (of which more in the next instalment) later, it remains difficult to order exactly what my thoughts are on Africa.

Looking Up – The view from the courtyard of our hostel in Cape Town

It is a place full of contradictions and frustrations, things that do not work and things which shouldn’t work, amazing experiences and people that can’t help but make you smile in delight or wonder, right alongside experiences and people who make you tear your hair out in annoyance.

This, after all, is Africa.

To sum it up in a few short phrases is nigh on impossible – and five months travelling through such a wide-ranging series of countries from the Arab north, sub-Saharan West Africa and the verdant, tropical chaos either side of the Equator to the relative modernity of the south is nowhere near enough to provide an authoritative view on this mystifying continent – but, hopefully, the jumble of thoughts which are fighting for priority in my head will somehow spill out onto the page in some form of coherent order over the coming weeks and months.

One thing for sure as we gear ourselves to rattle up the miles heading north – via a relaxed weekend back in Swakopmund, Namibia, which is providing possibly the last beds until Zanzibar – is that none of us have caught Ebola.

Malaria, yes. Cellulitis, yes. Any number of festering wounds, most definitely (the Manky Leg Club has been growing in numbers, although most of the problems which earned membership are clearing up after the rash of applications through the tropics). But Ebola, no.

It was the most-often raised topic before we set off and, having bypassed the infected areas (the detour producing memorable rewards in Mali and Cote D’Ivoire), we had all but forgotten about it until hitting the more common overland routes down south and running into fellow travellers heading towards the end or just starting out on their shorter trips down the more regular routes through the south and east of Africa which will form our next section.*

But more than once in the last couple of weeks, someone has asked us where we have come from, not expecting the answer Gibraltar. After checking that we hadn’t just flown from Europe to Cape Town, they almost inevitably raise the spectre of Ebola.

One group of overlanders rolled out of our accommodation this morning, but not until they had taken a few snapshots of Nala, quizzed their tour leader about whether we really were spending 40 weeks heading from London to Cape Town to Cairo (as emblazoned on her side) and whether any of us had died of Ebola.

Personally, think it would make a reality travel show. Instead of getting voted off the truck, passengers are removed one by one by illness until the last one standing (or breathing on their own) is declared the winner. Has the added advantage of losing contestants not becoming minor celebrities, albeit just for five minutes or until the next batch of wannabes fight for their 15 minutes of fame. Some things have not been missed.

But no, we have made it down south pretty much intact. One passenger was forced home by a case of cerebral malaria, while a few others have had to head home temporarily for personal reasons or off on brief trips away from the truck, rejoining us along the way, but we remain, largely, in one piece.

African Diet – Warthog ribs in Cape Town

Personally, as someone who set out on this adventure overweight and nowhere near as fit as planned, what was always billed as the most gruelling section of the journey has not been as physically draining as feared.

Even the cumulative effects of camping and lack of home comforts has failed to have too much of a negative impact – to the extent that the return to bush camping after the relative luxuries of Cape Town was welcome with almost universal delight, even when conditions conspired against us. But again, more of that in the next instalment.

Yes, there has been the two bouts of cellulitis – one in each leg – which laid me low for a few days each and has left its marks on my right calf and slightly swollen foot, forcing a pragmatic approach to some of the more strenuous activities, and one short, sharp attack each of the gout and back problems which have long dogged me.

But we head north with my body in pretty good shape. Certainly a more slimline shape, forcing a dash around Cape Town’s gleaming malls to stock up on new clothes – much to the delight of my fellow travellers, who now don’t have to watch me constantly pulling up my trousers that are now way too big, despite the creation of two new holes in a belt.

The sudden appearance of large platefuls of meat (kudu steaks lead warthog ribs in the best game meat stakes), not to mention plentiful supplies of cold beer, in Namibia and South Africa threatens to derail the weight loss, but having got into a pair of shorts four inches smaller than the ones which left Britain with me, the Trans Africa diet should really be used by Oasis as part of their marketing campaign.

And it has not come on starvation rations.

Perfect Timing – Ale collected a special Malcolm award in Cape Town , the victim of a practical joke all the way from Accra

There have been a few complaints about the food, but my diet has probably never been so good. Certainly it has never included so many vegetables. And at no point since my early teenage years – far too long ago – has breakfast featured on a daily basis, while my self-imposed rule about keeping snacks to a minimum and not stockpiling food on the truck has certainly helped.

Any criticism of the food is squarely down to our shortcomings as cooks rather than the amount or what we have been eating.

Admittedly, we do keep falling back on the same few recipes (my cook teams have a tendency to specialise in anything to do with potatoes, occasionally for all three meals), but there has barely been a really bad meal, unless you are a particularly fussy eater.

And considering we have largely been shopping in West African markets for meals cooked on a camp fire, you cannot be that fussy.

Certainly the two rules – make sure it is edible and make sure there is enough – have been followed throughout and there is usually a pretty rapid queue formed for seconds.

But there is no getting away from the fact, this trip is not always easy. It is a long time to be away from friends, family and home comforts. It is a long time to spend with the same group of people – strangers when we climbed on board the truck, be it in Gibraltar, Accra or, for the newbies, Cape Town.

And there are long periods on the truck to sit, think and stew on any irritations (and as one of the group’s snorers, that brings a whole set of irritations when it comes to sleeping arrangements).

In a group of people this size – we were at 13 at our lowest, now up to a trip high of 20 – there are always going to be disagreements and the odd personality clash. There are times, at the end of a long drive day, when you climb off the back of the truck and want nothing to do with one or more of your fellow passengers.

But that is inevitable. How many people at work have rubbed you up the wrong way over the past five months? And that’s with the advantage of being able to go home at the end of the day.

We have been lucky with the mix of people we have, avoiding cliques or self-contained units and, after more than five months on the road, the overwhelming majority of us are still happy to share each other’s company and wander off in any number of combinations for an activity, drink or a meal.

These people are as big a part of this trip as Africa itself and the fact that we still go out in large numbers for meals shows how well we get along.

Right up to the point when it comes to sorting out the bill…

* At no point have we turned into travel snobs and referred to our fellow overlanders as amateurs, lightweights or bus wankers (remember, we are on a truck, most definitely not a bus). Well, not all that often.

April 9, 2015September 12, 2015

The Beautiful South

FIVE months ago, just setting foot on the northern shores of Africa was one small step for man, one giant leap for overlanders with days, weeks, months, miles and countries stretched out before us on our journey around the continent.

Cape Town – never mind the final destination of Cairo – seemed another world away as we got our feet wet (literally) in Morocco.

Stunning Coastline – One of many such views down the Western Cape

But after 22 weeks, 155 days and three days later than scheduled (courtesy of certain borders and visas halting our progress for longer than hoped), we have reached the Mother City and after all that time heading south, we are preparing to turn round and begin the second leg of our adventure north.

Not that we are in any rush.

If Namibia brought a complete change in conditions, surroundings, scenery and facilities, South Africa has stepped things up to a different level.

Long Way Down – Sat on the top of the Cape of Good Hope

It is stunning.

We have been spoiled over the past week or so, not just with the facilities at places we have stayed, but also with mile after mile of wonderful scenery. Every time we go round another corner or over the top of a crest, another magnificent view stretches out in front of us.

Not a good time for your camera to give in (following the early demise of my Go Pro, which is heading off to a camera repair shop in Cape Town, it has meant a lot of work for my iPhone).

And not a good time for more than one person on the truck to need a bit of a catch-up on their sleep after a series of big nights out – and the odd day, to be honest. Close your eyes around here at your peril. You’ll miss something.

795 — Wet And Wild – Our unexpected stop on the banks of the Orange River

One or two people were in need of catching up on some sleep after our hectic few days in Swakopmund, ensuring our couple of nights in the Namibian capital Windhoek were fairly relaxed.

Well, they were for most of us as we spent our time catching up on our shopping at the mall down the road and heading out for a group meal, which saw zebra slip in behind kudu in the favourite game steak ratings.

For those of us who actually got served.

797 — Rude Not To – Making the most of our surprise final night in Namibia

Rolling out of Windhoek, our final two nights in Namibia provided a huge contrast in facilities and surroundings as, once again, we veered from the very basic to comparative luxury. Both were very welcome.

The first came at the end of a lengthy drive day, which saw us pull off the main road late in the afternoon and start heading towards a distant mountain rising out of the plains.

829 — Friendly Fire – Ben the occasionally over-eager Rhodesian Ridgeback at Highlanders

Most of us assumed pretty early that it was our destination for the night, but doubt any of us were expecting Steve to guide Nala up a narrow, rutted, sloping path to an abandoned campsite towards the top of the mountain – just down the track from a volcano crater – as the storm circled the peaks around us.

It was not that rough a night – and we even had the old brick outhouses from the campsite to prevent any digging – and it only rained heavily for around 15 minutes. Unfortunately, that 15 minutes coincided with the time we had decided to put up our tents.

833 — Tough Going – Relaxing at Highlanders

By the time our tent was up, rain cover on and we were able to step inside and weigh it down before it was fully pegged out, there was a couple of unsettling puddles which seemed to herald a damp, uncomfortable night.

Thankfully, once we had finished sheltering on the truck for as long as possible, the rain had stopped and the wind had dried out the worst of the water – at least on my side of the tent, Michael opting to sleep outside to avoid any remaining moisture, until more rain forced him inside and he attempted to sleep on my drier side of the tent as well.

Harvest – Karla amid the foliage at the hostel in Stellenbosch

Any moisture in tents the following night was much more isolated as we wrapped up our time in Namibia in the luxurious surroundings of a campsite just before the border – which we had been due to cross, only for a last-minute change of plan to marry our arrival in South Africa with dates on Nala’s paperwork.

Wine List – Our selection, complete with accompanying cheeses, at the second of our four stops on the wine tour…

We had been expecting a bush camp after crossing the border late in the day. What we got was a campsite in pristine condition, lovely soft grass to pitch our tents on, hot, clean showers, the best pool of the trip – sandwiched between a well-stocked bar and the picturesque Orange River – and, most pointedly for the night’s events, the same herd of Oasis overlanders we had tracked across Swakopmund.

So while they celebrated the last night of their trip from Nairobi, we offered a helping hand to ensure they were nice and fresh for their pre-dawn departure for the all-day drive to Cape Town and dived into a night of… well, that all depends on which stories you choose to believe (at least those who were not fighting the truck’s pet cold did).

After mopping up the aftermath in the morning, it was off to the final border of the southern leg and the quickest, our crossing into South Africa taking roughly an hour from start to finish.

And our latest country did not disappoint with beautiful scenery from the off, not least around our base for our first two nights at the Highlander camp.

No Picking Up – One of the penguins at Betty’s Bay

Perched on the tiered side of a valley overlooking farms and vineyards and run by a former overland driver, it took no time to register near the top of our favourite campsite charts, particularly for those of us who dived straight into a session of tasting the local wines. For tasting, in some cases, read downing.

It made for a very convivial evening, if an uncomfortable morning for some as we embarked on a major truck clean and, in my case, total revamp of my locker and kit. After a couple of hours lying around the pool and once Ben, the camp’s young Rhodesian Ridgeback, had been persuaded not to hump or chew everything he could get his paws on.

Marker Point – At Cape Agulhas with two Australians and a stuffed kangaroo

There was more wine flowing in, possibly, even more beautiful scenery on a day’s tour around the wine cellars of Stellenbosch. It all started in refined fashion. But that’s a lot of wine in a relatively short period of time.

Stellenbosch was also our base for our trip to the most southerly point of Africa, prompting plenty of picture opportunities at Cape Agulhas, where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet.

It was all given a slightly surreal edge by the monument at the Cape having been unveiled by South African apartheid-era president PW Botha, one of the great political villains of my youth.

The system of inequality he oversaw for so long may have been swept away by the emergence of the Rainbow Nation, but it is still possible to see the divide between the haves and have nots in this country.

Windswept – Look carefully and that’s me trying to hold Karla’s hair down at Cape Point

Some of the towns we headed through on a breathtaking trip back up the Atlantic coast almost had tracks running through the middle with signs indicating the right and wrong side – not that you needed signs, given the clear colour and prosperity divide.

But while there remains vestiges of the past, on the whole South Africa gives the impression of a modern country moving forward to a brighter future.

Bottoming Out – Nala in the shadow of the Cape of Good Hope

It certainly has the natural resources that have created those haves and which, hopefully, will eventually filter down to more of the have nots.

Natural resources were certainly on view at our final stop before heading back to Stellenbosch – the enchanting penguin colony at Betty’s Bay – and the next day’s stop at the Cape of Good Hope, our final port of call before rolling into Cape Town.

And that’s a whole other story…

March 30, 2015September 12, 2015

We Ain’t Nothing But Mammals (Emergency 72)

THE opening days in Namibia have reacquainted us to some of life’s little essentials.

Showers, draught beers, meat, pavements, people having the right change, orders arriving in less than an hour, rugby on TV, even beds.

It has given us our biggest taste yet of some of Africa’s wildlife – lions, rhinos, elephants, wildebeests, giraffes by the bucketful, hyenas, zebra and any number of varieties of antelope (not just served up on a plate).

SAM_1623 — Civilisation – Toasting the rarity of a draught beer with Matt after arriving in Swakopmund

And we have spotted large herds of a creature in its natural habitat which has largely eluded us in the first half of the journey – the overlander.

Initially, they can be spotted milling around their own territory (trucks of various hues and designs) and sticking close to their own herd, with which they have travelled for a varying degree of time (the long-distance overlanders, like us, who spend many months migrating around the continent and the more common short-termers, who are abundant in southern and eastern Africa).

Gradually, however, the different herds will congregate at a watering hole and the allure of fresh meat sees the predators in each group closing in on their next victim. Sorry, target.

Refreshed by a few of the local offerings, members of each group will eye each other across the hunting ground, move in for the ritual mating dance and eventually move away from their respective groups and find somewhere a little more private.

Or not, depending on their group’s sleeping arrangements, which can create a long night for other members of the herd.

The overlanders rolled into town in large numbers as we arrived in Swakopmund with up to four trucks parked in the courtyard of our base for three nights, with others dotted around town and descending on the same watering holes.

Differing herds can usually be told apart by their dress, length of hair (or beards) and sheer excitement at having a bed for the night and a shower – the longer they have been on the road, the longer the hair, more thrown together the clothing (from whatever it is clean) and more excited at the odd luxury (which doesn’t even have to be that luxurious) after so long in bush camps.

I-Spy List – Some of the early stars of our busy morning in Etosha

Not that we have been starved of delights and luxuries on our way down into Namibia with some spectacular settings for our camps and the attractions of Etosha National Park, which served up a series of real treats (not least the showers, for those who were in quick enough to get hot ones).

By the time we reached the showers – via a quick trip to the campsite pool for some of us – we had already been treated to a special couple of hours after clocking in for our 24-hour pass having stayed not far from the park’s boundaries.

324 — Evening Visitor – A rhino comes for a drinking at the watering hole near camp in Etosha

A reserve centred around a huge, dry pan, Etosha is renowned as one of the best places to spot wildlife in Southern Africa, but we had been warned it may not be the richest of pickings with the rains dispersing the animals across the park rather than concentrating them around the watering holes.

To add to that, kneeling on the seats to watch out for the wildlife was not the prescribed treatment for my infected leg – which is supposed to be raised at every opportunity, leading to some interesting improvised footrests over the last few nights – but what happened over the next couple of hours made any discomfort more than worthwhile.

We had not even made it from the front gate to book in before the wildlife started appearing.

A kudu started things off (surprisingly large and, later investigation would reveal, very tasty), followed by a group of giraffe grazing amid the trees by the side of the road and then a lone hyena, loitering long enough on the verge for the cameras to snap and defying warnings we would be very lucky to see them.

And that was just the start. Our first watering hole was flanked, on one side at least, by zebra and various antelope and impala with one lone giraffe making his way down the middle of the road, but then we cast a glance at the other side of the water.

Lying there, not taking the slightest bit of notice of us, were three lionesses with a male stretched out in the long grass a hundred yards or so behind.

SAM_1578 — Hitting The Heights – Our spectacular bush camp in the Brandberg Mountains

Just a few minutes in and we had hit one of the big five, to be followed in quick succession by jackals, ostriches, wildebeest, loads of giraffe, zebra and antelope, even a tortoise. it was almost a relief to have a slightly more barren afternoon, wildlife wise, as we made our way through the park to our base at Hilali Camp.

Showers, swim and food out of the way, it was time for more animal spotting as we headed up the path to the seating area overlooking the camp’s floodlit watering hole.

It was not the busiest of nights down by the water and rain cut short some plans to spend the night there, but a couple of hours spent watching rhinos and an elephant popping down for a drink is a not a bad way to end the day.

Blazing Squad – Building our bonfire at our bush camp near Henties Bay

An early start the next day had us at the camp gates pretty much as they opened at sunrise and heading towards the park exit before our 24 hours ran out, which was a bit of a push as we were joined by a hyena walking down the road and, finally, a lion trotting alongside the truck as he made his way through the bush.

It could all have been a bit of an anti-climax after that, but after a lunch stop in the town of Outjo, we headed up towards the Brandberg Mountains and a bush camp in a stunning setting among the rocks in the desert which provided a spectacular view of the sunset and, for those of us who climbed out of bed to scale the rocks, sunrise.

Revved Up – Quad biking in the dunes near Swakopmund

With time to spare before we arrived in the relative civilisation of Swakopmund, we headed out into the desert via a beautiful, if largely untended, road which we did our best to smooth out as much as possible along the way.

After lunching in the heat of the desert plateau, we plunged down towards the coast and through the Benguela Current, which blows up from the Antarctic and saw us donning long trousers over the next few days, in many cases for the first time since Morocco.

Hair-Raising – Karla has a run in with one of the locals

A quick paddle in the suddenly very cold Atlantic, fish and chips in Henties Bay and a bush camp in a dried-up river bed – which only saw us get stuck in the sand five or six times and had us trailing behind the truck carrying the sand mats – illuminated by a huge bonfire and we were on the road for the final few miles into Swakopmund.

As the first major settlement we hit in southern Africa – to say nothing of its reputation as a backpacker mecca and activity centre – Swakopmund has taken on near mythical status over the past few weeks.

It is, for all that, a strange place. Still showing a distinct German heritage (even though they have not run the place for a century and were only really there for about 30 years), it comes across like an old English seaside resort. If it was surrounded by sand dunes, run by Africans and organised by Germans.

And over the course of three days, we did our best to savour as many of its delights as possible – especially the liquid ones and anything which might once have been spotted on a game drive but was just as cherished on a plate, to say nothing of televised rugby which surprisingly found the people from Gloucester and New Zealand turning down a meal out to catch the end of Bulls v Crusaders. One of them rather more loudly than the other.

As well as nocturnal adventures as the different overland herds became increasingly entwined, we headed out on a variety of adventures in the desert – sandboarding, quad biking or sky diving.

My personal choice was quad biking, saving careering down dunes on a board until we return on the way back north – when, hopefully, my leg will have cleared up enough to make walking back up a more palatable proposition.

And by then, there should be a new crop of overlanders gathering around the watering holes for the predators…

Tag: swakopmund

A Cheetah Ate My Flip-Flop

Westside

The Beautiful South

We Ain’t Nothing But Mammals (Emergency 72)

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