Leonie's African Adventure: Namibia

Greetings from Namibia.

I am now travelling on my 45 day Intrepid adventure across Southern and Eastern Africa and am currently in Namibia where I will be for another 2 nights before crossing the border into Botswana. I have been in Namibia for the past 2 weeks and have loved every minute of it.

We have seen some amazing sites along our journey. Our first night on the road was spent at a wine farm in South Africa just south of the Namibian border. The farm was stunning with grapevines as far as you could see with a great mountain range in the background. We were also introduced to our tents which will be our homes for the duration of the trip and were also introduced to our truck which is what we live out of . The truck can seat 24 people including space for 2 tables and a wall of lockers which are basically our wardrobes. Under the truck are the tents, camping chairs, fridge, pantry and kitchen – It is quite amazing to think we will be living out of this for almost 7 weeks.

Our tent #11 at our first campsite for the trip!

We crossed into Namibia on our second day and immediately know we were in a different country – it was almost like someone turned the heat up as soon as we crossed and removed all the vegetation as the landscape was predominantly rock and shale with scattered plants here and there.

As we are on a camping tour we stay in campsites, most of which have proper showers and toilets, we are even spoilt every now and then with bars and swimming pools. We have had 2 nights where we are in total bush camps which means no facilities at all, just us, our tents and the stars. A few of us slept out under the stars in a cave on our first bush camp and it was so much fun.

We have also seen some amazing sites and had some amazing adventures so far including canoeing down the fish river canyon – one of the largest canyons in the world, we have climbed Dune 45 to watch the sun rise, which is situated in a field of sand dunes and are an amazing things to see. Within the sand dunes is the Dead Vlei, which is a dried out pan of white clay, and dead camel-thorn trees which are hundreds of years old – it was such a great place to take photos and walk around.

Fish River Canyon

Dune 45

Sunrise from the top of Dune 45

Dead Vlei

Some of the Sand Dunes around Dead Vlei and Dune 45

We spend 3 days in a town call Swakopmund, it is a highly German influenced town where half the population are German decent and German is the main language, it seriously felt like I was in Germany. It was great to spend 3 days in one spot and we were even given A-frame cabins to stay in. We did a lot of partying while in Swakopmund as well as different day trips and optional activities. A highlight for me in Swakopmund was to try some of the game meats – I had Zebra, Oryx and Kudu – it was all amazing.g

We left Swakopmund to continue our journey north and stopped at Cape Cross, a large beach/sea area covered in seals – it was crazy to see so many both in and out of the water and for almost as far as the eye could see. We took lots of photos but couldn’t stay much longer then 30 minutes as they stunk so badly.

Flamingos at Swakopmund

My Game Plate - Kudu, Zebra and Oryx

We have also been fortunate to spend 2 days in Etosha National Park, a large game reserve with 4 of the big 5 (Lion, Elephant, Leopard and Rhino), in the 2 days we spent there we saw White and Black Rhino, hundreds of Impala, Springbok, Oryx aand have seen loads of Zebra and Giraffe also. The biggest thrill I had at the park was when we came across a lioness with her 3 lion cubs – they were only 2-3 months old and were the cutest thing I have seen in a long time –I am now even more excited to do my Live with Lion Cubs volunteer program.

The Oryx

The Springbok

3 Lion Cubs - approximately 2-3 months old

We are currently in a town called Grootfontein where we have had a chance to get some rest with some free time and catchup on the outside world with free wifi. This morning we visited the San Bushman, a historic living museum where the people in the village still live the same life of their ancestors with no power or tap water, the catch everything they eat and use only herbal medicines when ill. The have nothing more than springbox skins as clothes to cover there privates and life a very simple life – I imagine the life they life is very much the same as the traditional aboriginals of Australia.