Day 13 Botswana- Ghanzi

Day 13 Botswana - Ghanzi
After an early start, we cross into Botswana and drive to Ghanzi. After setting up camp we meet with a local Bushman (San) community and experience some traditional tribal dancing.
Optional activity: Bushman walk
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

6th January 2014

Today is once again all about the drive, about 9 hours in total today. Having said that although we had lost four great family members last night we were gaining another six members, anticipation was high as to who they were. They were late at getting to Marilyn, but when they did arrive it turned out it was a group of friends all the way from BrisVegas. Two couples and two single guys, I haven't learn't their names as yet so mate will always do.

We hit the road after a brief welcome speech from Shingi, Dipti then went about the business of introductions on the bus.

The only thing of note for the rest of the drive was the border crossing, out of Namibia and into Botswana. We spotted bucket loads of these dead dung bettles, they were huge! I'm certain that you could have thrown a saddle on them and ridden them to glory in the Melbourne Cup if they were alive. By the way the border crossing was painless.

When we arrived at camp we setup our tent and then headed off for a walk with the Bushmen (San people).It was brilliant these people (three young guys, three older ladies and a toddler) showed us lots of natural medicines and various important plants and how they make fire. They were all very slightly built and not very tall.

The amazing things were the clicks in there language, (we tried and failed to pronounce various San words) the second was how expressive they were at describing things and what they were used for. They were so good at it whilst I could not understand a word they said I was able to get the jist of what they were talking about. For example one of the young guys described with words and actions (Marcel Marceau style) the process of tanning and water proofing Kudu skins and I could actually follow along, it was only when the translator explained it did I really get everything, but I also realised how much I had actually followed along.

The sad thing was that only four of us did the walk, Christoph, Martina, Lisa and me. However this walk did tie in nicely with the Boesman's desert talk as he explained their history really well and these guys covered how they survived.

After that we had dinner at the camp, a briefing from Papa (Zenzo) and then headed off to watch some traditional dancing. It was entertaining, Lisa got all the quiz questions right. What is ...? Aardvark etc etc. Next was the group participation section of the evening, women sitting in the dirt clapping whilst the men stamped their feet in some sort of rhythmic way. Once again we failed miserably, but it did make everyone laugh.

Digging for roots

Starting a fire the traditional way

Success

Day 12 Windhoek

Day 12 Windhoek
After an early morning game drive we set off towards Windhoek, the Capital city of Namibia.  On the way we stop at a popular craft market where you can barter for handmade gifts to take home.  Windhoek is not only the capital; it is also the cultural, social and economic centre of Namibia.  On arrival in Windhoek our guide will take us on a short city tour in our truck.  Joe’s Beer House is an exciting dining experience for our optional dinner out.
Optional Activities: Dinner out. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

5th January 2014
Today started off just like most days, except we didn't have to pull down our tent and could shower in our upgraded room which means no queueing for cubicles... good times. Because we had less to do we walked the 4 steps out our front door to checkout the waterhole, there were a few people around but sadly no animals. (we did see a tree lion)

Whilst we were there I started chatting to a guy about the previous nights excitement, he told me he was in his shower when the male lion rumbled and therefore missed the sighting altogether. He did have an interesting story to tell about the lions in the area hunting and successfully killing rhino's, the story has it that over the years the lions have killed about 12 rhinos. He didn't know if they were black or white rhinos though.

After breakfast we had an extended short game drive on the exit out of Etosha National Park, I say extended because we had done about 5Klm's when someone (who will remain nameless) realised that she had forgotten to hand back the room key...Ohh in case your wondering it wasn't me. Zenzo turned Marilyn around so we could return the keys and get our 500 Namibian Dollars back. Unfortunately we didn't see any of the big ones we were after.

The rest of the day was just about the drive to Windhoek, unfortunately the stupid people just wouldn't shut up and there was no escape this time!!! So for the first time on this entire trip (since the 29th November 2013) I borrowed Lisa's headphones, put my music on and drowned out the dribble, happy days...

By the time we arrived at Windhoek most of us had, had enough and just wanted to get away from stupid people. However as part of the itinerary we did a town tour on Marilyn but because it was late Sunday afternoon everything was closed so instead of doing a "free time activity" of walking around Windhoek we out voted the keen (possibly drunk ones) and headed to our accommodation.

Things that never cease to amaze me, whilst I was using the Wi-fi by the pool I had several members of our group come up to me and complain about the fact that it was raining heavily in the Okavango Delta??? Research people, Research!!! In the politest manner possible I asked them "what did they expect?  and that they had chosen to visit the Delta in the wet season". Research people, Research!!!
The sad thing was we were losing four of the really great family members at Windhoek. Joram, Annabel, Iris and Johanna - we really liked them as they were all great to be around. We had a dinner out at Joe's Beer House to celebrate the journey we had taken with them and the fond memories we now have, Iris gave a lovely speech and we drank some, ate some and then headed for our accommodation.

Day 10 to 11 Etosha National Park

Day 10 to 11 Etosha National Park
Etosha is the venue for some of the most unique game viewing experiences in Africa. The sparse grasslands allow great opportunities to see animals normally hidden in dense vegetation. You may even see some of the amazing animals crossing the road in front of your truck!  We will go on various game drives and spend our evenings at the abundant waterholes for some excellent game photography.
Optional Activities: Night or dawn game drives in safari vehicles.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

3rd January 2014
Pretty much everyone was excited to be going to Etosha National Park, for some of the folks on this tour this will be their first real game drive so I can understand their excitement because  I know I'm pretty happy to be doing a real game drive again as its been awhile. (the last one was on the last tour)

Our first stop was a small town for coffee, pee, wi-fi and a bank. (not necessarily in that order) We also caught up with the accommodated tourists on Peter Tosh (great reggae singer), when it was time to board Marilyn again I noticed the "Kenyan's" (Dipti and Needy) had cracked open some beers, normally this wouldn't rate a mention but it was 9am on the road to Etosha, the game park we were all looking forward too. I seriously don't get them!!!

Much excitement occurred when we pulled up to the gates of Etosha National Park, there was clapping, cheering and celebrating Zenzo's greatness for getting us there in great time. Then a brief stop for the newbies to read the park rules whilst I got my camera and lenses sorted.

The windows were down, cameras and binoculars were at the ready, minds focused on the task at hand, spotting Southern African wildlife, then it came "contact, right side, 2'Oclock" five minutes in the park we had spotted two lions under a tree, one big male and female. Now Dipti claims she was the spotter, but I suspect that the beers had taken effect. Dipti was in the middle of Marilyn but had a window seat on the left side and she was looking directly out her window...None the less we got the camera shutters going, an excellent first 5 minutes game drive.

Next was a Bushy Tailed Ground Squirrel, (it looks like a meerkat from a distance) and it even does the Meerkat lookout pose, but the easy distinguishing feature is the bushy tail when it runs.  We the excited fired off plenty of shots, but the other Kenya / Australian (Needy) mocked everyone taking photo's because "she can see squirrels at home in Melbourne" and for the record in Australia we don't have Bushy Tailed Ground Squirrels... Once again I suspect the beers had kicked in...

We got to the main campsite in Etosha and it was my turn to help Shingi in kitchen, whilst I was helping I met a Namibian Park Ranger told us about a Lion v's Rhino fight!!! Basically 3 male lions tried to take down a Rhino, two of the Lions were injured and the third escaped without any damage, from all reports the Rhino was unscathed. Joram came running back from waterhole with the good news that one Lion was still by the waterhole, I was dismissed from my kitchen duties and bolted to the waterhole. Lisa was already there with my camera and big lens so all I had to do was point and shoot. Some time later the ranger came by and showed me where one of the injured lions was hiding / recuperating he was under different tree but he was really well camouflaged.
At 4:30pm we headed off on our afternoon game drive, Christoph  has earned the new nickname "the Rhino spotter" he seems to be able to see them from Klm's away. We were really happy as we saw heaps of animals (antelope mainly) but as we say "it's a great day to be alive".

We arrived at our new campsite and got settled in, I did a quick reccie to the watering hole, when I got back to the camp it seemed that we had upset some other tourists by placing our collective tents to close to theirs. The dad came over and gave Shingi a serve and told him to move them and then called him some expletives because he wouldn't remove the offending tents and relocate Marilyn. The dad came back for a second crack at Shingi whilst I was there, big mistake on his part!!! He began to rant about the tents and Marilyn it was about that point I couldn't help myself, primarily because he was attempting to intimidated Shingi, (who is very polite and mild mannered) so I bluntly told him we "were not going to move the tents or Marilyn as it was a free country and there are no allocated campsites so get over it."
At that point he realised he was now dealing with the "Alpha Male" so he actually said "I guess we are not going to agree so the discussion is over."
I agreed, but he started up again, so I interrupted him to say "I thought you said we are not going to agree so the argument is is over, so why are you still standing here?"
With that he left picked up his tent and moved it about 50 meters away from us...

Whilst we were having dinner some called out there was a honey badger at the camp, I love the Honey badger, its rapidly becoming my favourite African animal. I couldn't get a decent photo, I think I was too excited. Honey Badger !!!

Later that night at water hole we saw a brown hyena, unfortunately that was the only animal we were lucky enough to see.

Black Faced Impala

Red Heart Beast

4th January 2014

Some of the crew were lucky enough to see Honey Badger and a baby Honey Badger!!! lucky buggers. We started off with an early morning game drive and the first animal was a Honey Badger !!! We saw more Black Rhinos thanks to the Rhino spotter Christoph, one of the sightings had three grazing together we watched them for a long time because we knew that they were going to cross the road in front of us and sure enough they did. We also saw a couple of giraffes eating at the road side, one was actually on the road. Priceless!!!

We stopped at the famous Etosha salt pan and got a few happy snaps, then we headed slowly for our new accommodation in Etosha's Okaukuejo campsite. 

During the process of setting up his tent Joram put a hole in one of the water pipes around the camp. Now I wasn't there at the time but it was described to me by credible witnesses. they say it was like watching Thor wield his hammer as he drove the hapless tent peg in. the result was a huge waterhole in the middle of our campsite.

Lisa and I upgraded to a Waterhole chalet, it was 1800 Rand (which is about $180 Aus), cheap given the location and it included dinner and breakfast, it was an excellent decision given I needed to get away from stupid people by this stage. I have zero tolerance at this point, but the good thing is I'm not the crew, we had previously discussed voting the stupid one off the island. Lisa & Johanna had dinner in the restaurant whilst I had dinner with the group, over dinner we discussed the agenda for the Okavango Delta, Danny now thinks she will do Okavango, stupid.. not because its a must see in Southern Africa but because she doesn't want to be alone and the cost of upgrading from camping to accommodated might be the same, she has no idea what the Delta is let alone why it's significant.

So here is my tip for the day, if you're going to visit a country you might want to do some research and if all you want to do is skydive and bungee then just fly to those locations.

As I couldn't stand it any longer I bolted for the game viewing at the waterhole, the first animal was a Black Rhino, so I went and got Lisa. Great start, surely it can't get any better but alas I'm happy to say I was horribly wrong.

Johanna, Wanita and Craig joined us at the prime location I had staked out, I'm really happy that they did because firstly they are a great bunch of people (welcome relief) and secondly Johanna has the most unbelievable night vision. 

Johanna spotted a herd of 10 elephants, I know you're thinking how hard could it be to spot 10 Elephants, let me tell you in the day it's hard enough but at night its almost impossible. Once I looked through Lisa's binoculars I could just barely see them, it's almost a ghostly sight just watching these figures emerging from the darkness.   Once they got closer to the waterhole you could see them clearly, they all drank, the little ones played, it appeared one kept a look out or was not fully accepted in the group because it was always off to the side. The elephant that was primarily off to the side charged  at something to our right, we couldn't see what it was but it was impressive to see the mock charge, the herd continued to drink with the occasional trumpeting and glance back to the numerous onlookers. The herd did half a lap of the waterhole so they walked directly in front of us we estimated that they were only about 10 to 15 meters away but eventually moved off.

I love this place, we were doing plenty of silent high 5's.

Next Johanna's amazing night vision eyes really came to the party, at about 80 meters directly in front of us Johanna spotted a lion moving really slowly towards us. I had a look through Lisa's binoculars, it was a little orange dot, I could barely see it. The tiny orange dot turned slightly and gave me the left side profile, it was a huge male lion, I relayed the information to the group without looking away. The big male lion crouched down and then sat down at about 75 meters, it was time to celebrate with silent high 5's, fist pumping!!! There was much excitement for the word had got around, nobody else could see him but our group, none the less the rest of the folks were now filled with anticipation.

Johanna's eyes then discovered the reason for the lion sitting down a long way from the waterhole.... there was a rhino heading for the waterhole from the right hand side and behind him was the ghostly figures of another 6 elephants moving slowly in tight formation.

They must have known there was a lion around because they kept looking around in his direction, fortunately for the lion rhinos have really poor eye sight. (not sure about how good the elephants eye sight is). Slowly but surely the rhino and elephants moved in to drink, the rhino made his way into the water and stood in the middle of waterhole, it was funny to see as I never knew that rhinos like to stand around in water like people at the beach. The elephants followed the same path as the previous herd, circle to the left side of the waterhole directly in front of us, good times. 

The whole time we were watching the rhino and elephants at the waterhole the lion sat in the background, we constantly checked his movements via Lisa's binoculars as it was the only way you could really see him clearly. He was obviously waiting his turn, eventually the elephants departed and the rhino got out of the water, however he stood by the bank of the waterhole for a long time just doing the whole drip dry thing. There was a clearly visible waterline on the rhino, I'd seen the same sort of thing on another rhino earlier in the day and wondered how it had came about, now I knew.

Eventually the rhino moved on and the male lion moved in very slowly, we watched him through the binoculars and it appeared that he was injured as he was limping badly. The injury was to his back left leg, he could hardly put weight on it, we found it was hard to watch him in such obvious pain. At this point everyone wanted a piece of Lisa's binoculars simply because it really did give the best view in such low light. The lion eventually made the water and sat down and drank, he then rumbled more than roared but it was still such a intense moment, it was truly a privilege to be there to witness everything unfolding. 

We assumed he was one of the lions injured by the rhino V's lion tussle a couple of nights back. He really did look in bad shape he could barely walk or stand, at the waters edge he just lay down, we all felt really sad as we collectively thought he wasn't going to make it. I was fortunate that I was using the binoculars because I could see his eyes open and shut as he lay there as well as when he stuck his tongue out for a drink.

It seemed like an eternity that he lay there, but I can say when he got up and walked back to his hideout in the bushes about 100 meters away we were all relieved. The whole evening at the waterhole was just a magical moment in time for all of us there, there were lots more silent high 5's, fist pumping and hugs... Wow seemed to be the word of the day, I guess we just couldn't any other way of describing what we were seeing or how we felt. 

So here I have a confession to make, I had said to Lisa "don't bother about buying binoculars you won't need them or use them they are a waste of money and space"... I was wrong, horribly wrong and I'm really glad she ignored me. So next tip of the day, take good binoculars. For the record they are Vanguard Spirit XF 8 x 42, about $220 delivered - well worth it.

It's good to be alive

Shingi, Joram, Annabel (right to left)

check the battle scar on rear leg

Day 9 Himba Tribes

Day 9 Himba
Tribes After some early morning exploration we continue north and drive towards Kamanjab. Today we have the chance to experience life within a Himba tribe.  The Himba are pastoral people and predominantly breed cattle or goats. They are easily recognisable by their unique style of dress.  The Himba have been extremely diligent about upholding the roots of their culture but they are also very curious about visitors to their home.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

2nd of January 2014
It was a less efficient packing up of the tent today for Lisa and me, I'm thinking that I'm now running on empty, but none the less we got it done and made wheels up on time.

The drive to the Himba tribe campsite turned out to be another African Adventure / experience. As we dove down a typical Namibian gravel road the bullbar on Marilyn decided that separation was the best option. The drivers side weld that was holding the bullbar had completely failed so Zenzo and Shingi did try to secure the bullbar with tent fly rope, (that's all we had) as you can imagine it failed and the bulbar was violently jumping up and down as we drove along. So the decision was made to remove it completely now before it fell of whilst Zenzo was driving, which from my estimation would have been really bad.

It was at this point I offered my assistance, I worked out how to best get the bullbar of without causing any further damage to Marilyn. Once it was of we removed the number plate whilst we waited for the Nomad office to call us back with instructions. Their instructions were truely comical, according to Nomads Workshop Manager we had to take the bullbar with us, if we left it behind and it was subsequently stolen Zenzo and Shingi would have to pay for it. So as per their instructions we tried to put the 400kg bullbar in the back of Marilyn where the fridge was and it didn't fit despite the workshops insistence. We tried every other option but none of them worked so the only left was to  leave Zenzo and the bullbar behind and when we get to town send someone to collect him and the bullbar!!!

Alas we were saved by the African family travelling in the ute, 3 adults in the front, 1 child and 1 adult in the cage. Zenzo and Shingi made a deal where they would carry the bullbar into the town closest to where we camping, we would then meet up with them and get the bullbar welded back on. The only issue I had was that the little girl was going to be in the back of the ute with the bullbar tied to the cage above her and if it came loose she would be a gonner. None the less the plan went ahead as it was the kids father riding in the back of the ute with her, all up this was going to cost 1000 Rand. (about $100)

We then had to push start the ute because it wouldn't start, after a while we saw the ute driving at about 40Klm's an hour so the boys followed them because they didn't know them and as such didn't really trust them. In the end their vehicle broke down so Zenzo hopped into the ute just in case they were planning to do a shifty, which left Shingi in the cab alone.

Lisa and I were in the front drivers side of Marilyn facing forward, Christoph and Martina were on the same side but facing the passenger side of Marilyn. Johanna was in the same seats as us but on the passenger side with Annabell and Juram sitting in the front seats facing the drivers side. (the seating in the front of Marilyn is basically in a "U" shape) Danny the American most have been feeling lonely as she asked Johanna if she could sit on the spare seat next to her, unfortunately Johanna was to polite and said yes.... from that moment on it was a nightmare, Danny has a really annoying American accent and talks complete bollocks as loud as she can all the time and this was no exception. She kept going on and on and on mainly about TV shows like Lost (the one that never ended) skulling games hinting that we should play them, I could feel evil Andrew wanting to get out and throttle her. That was until I realised the spare seat could be occupied by me, I saw the opening and took it. I dived through the tiny opening between the passenger compartment and the cab leaving Lisa wondering what had just happened. I could see the utter desperation in her face as I looked back, (broke the San peoples first rule) but I was free of the annoyance I also caught a glimpse of Johanna I'm reasonably sure she was regretting saying yes to the initial request now... moral of the story just say No !!!
When we arrived at the Himba campsite we had some lunch and then Lisa and I wandered off to find a spot away from the crowd but mainly Danny... the campsite itself was pretty good as it had a flushing toilet and showers (including a wood heated one). We found our spot and had a nap after jumping in the shower fully clothed, (it was a really hot day) during that time Shingi left to collect Zeno and Marilyn's bullbar.

We were collected by the local school teacher / guide and taken to the Himba camp, I had been looking forward to seeing them and how they lived because everything I had been told was that they try and live a traditional lifestyle. Unfortunately Iris became sick so I stayed with her and missed most of the tour, when the crew got back from the tour most of them said that they found it interesting but felt somewhat uncomfortable about the tour.

My thoughts are this, if they are living a traditional lifestyle as much as possible then its a better tour to do then something like the one we did in Lestho where we were shown the local supermarket and liquor store. In this tour they were shown how the women bath how they do their hair etc, you might be uncomfortable at seeing it first hand but if it was a David Attenbough documentary that's pretty much what they crew would have to see and do.

Later that evening Shingi told us about his culture and one aspect of it, basically the brides parents want money given to them at every opportunity, for example when Shingi wanted to meet the brides parents he had to pay them money, when he wanted to tell them what he was there for (which they already knew) they wanted more money. Then they had to negotiate how many cows he was going to pay for her, it was interesting but it seems that the brides parents are setting up a good retirement fund at the daughters new families expense, because these people are mostly poor and have no way of being able to pay the debt.

Danny decided to tell us about how marriages work in Israel (she's not married nor Israeli but has been studying their for 6 months and is therefore an expert)I couldn't take it so i just went and cleaned my cameras and went to bed...

Day 8 Spitzkoppe

Day 8 Spitzkoppe
Leaving the coast we drive through arid landscapes to Spitzkoppe Mountain. The enormous granite monoliths dominate the otherwise flat landscape and we set up camp in the wild plain at the base of the mountain. This afternoon our guide will take us on a guided walk to explore the unique rock formations.  The more adventurous among us may want to try some mountain climbing behind camp for some stunning views of the landscape. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

1st January 2014
Thankfully today was a lazy start as we were leaving at 10am, I'm reasonably sure that most people needed the sleep in after last nights festivities. Chuck (Lisa's other nickname) nearly made an appearance, as for me I was fine, all those moves sweated out the drinks. However my old man injuries flared up, (the sore achilles) I should have warmed up and stretched appropriately prior to undertaking any strenuous dance moves!!!

From there it was just a drive out past new sub-divisions that looked like they would be consumed by the dunes at any moment...

We arrived at our first toilet stop of the morning behind two other tour groups which always means long queues at the loos, (see how that rhymes) so whilst Lisa and the rest of ladies have now started to use the male loos us men folk can head to the great toilet in the desert.

The place we stopped at was a really odd place, they have a magnificently built Curio market area that is built out of cut stones incased in wire baskets. (We use the same concept for retaining walls by the side of the road on the east coast of Australia.) I assume it would have taken alot to have funded and built this market place, there was sign indicating that the toilets were funded by the German Embassy. This is where it gets really odd, directly behind the Curio market was effectively a shanty town, it was a typical shanty town with lots of shacks that are just barely standing, roofs that are being held down by rocks and other assorted items. (tyres etc)

Next stop, Spitzkoppe Mountain, Now I have to say it was a pretty hot day and everybody was shall we say a little tired so an early finish was appreciated.

When we disembarked Marilyn, I went for a short wander around looking for a nice place to put up the tent, what I found was a little rock igama, (it's a small brightly coloured blue and orange lizard) so I called the folks to come and have a look, they were pleased to see the rock igama. Once the crowd had dispersed I continued exploring, it turned out we were standing at the hidden entrance to a huge rock cave. The coolness of the cave was a welcome relief to the heat of the semi arid dessert we were camping at. Here is where it went horribly wrong, I made the mistake of calling Lisa over out loud.

Lisa replied with a screeching "what are you shouting at me now for" as she made her way over and for the record calling someone is not shouting at them... When Lisa got inside she changed her tune, whilst I thought of setting the tent up inside the cave I thought that just using it as somewhere cool to hangout for the rest of the afternoon was a better option. The problem was that pretty much everyone also followed Lisa in. It was a bit like War of the Worlds, "The chances of anything coming from Mars was a million to one, but still they come."

So after lunch we moved in, soon to be followed by almost everyone. It was great because everybody just wanted to chillout and sleep, that was until the young ones arrived. There goes the neighbourhood!!!

Later we went for a walk with Zenzo to the  stone bridge, it was a nice walk with Papa, Isabella, Hildagard, Anua, Beatrice Annabell, Juram and Lisa. We climbed about of the rocks, took photos and even saw a few rock dassies rushing about. Rock dassies look quite like a giant guinea pig, but are in fact one of the African elephant's closest relatives. The rest of the group did a guided walk to see some bushman rock paintings in the area.

Day 7 Swakopmund

Day 7 Swakopmund
The whole day is free to relax, explore or partake in one of the many activities available here.  Most popular activities are quad biking in the dunes or tandem skydiving.  On a clear day’s skydiving you can see all the way to the next day’s destination! Taking a walk around Swakopmund’s shops and having a leisurely lunch is also a great way to spend your day.
Optional Activities: Quad biking, sand boarding, sky diving, dinner out etc.
Meals: Breakfast

31st of December 2013
It was nice to wake up in a room with ensuite, a treat after a few days in a tent. First business of the day was to get into the post office at 8am and finally get rid of our package of souvenirs we had carried from Cape Town. Hopefully our box of treasure will get home a few weeks after we do! Once that was taken care of we walked back to the Amanpuri Lodge for breakfast.

We were collected at 10am by the guys from desert adventures, and headed off for our quad biking trip. The crew that was going quad biking was Waneta & Craig, (the South African couple) Isabella and Beatrix (the young Swedish girls) Needy, (the Kenyan living in Australia) Annabell and Joram, Lisa & me. We had booked a one hour tour because we wanted time to veg out in the afternoon. We were asked how many of the group had previously ridden a quad bike, the answer Joram once, Lisa a few times and I had ridden several times before. The others were all quad bike virgins. It was not looking good for a real adrenaline rush, the next question was who wanted a manual quad and who wanted the auto. Everyone but me wanted an auto, I knew then that it was confirmed that it was not going to be huge adrenaline rush.

It was good fun riding through the dunes and was obviously very popular as we saw several other groups of quad bikes around. We were instructed to always stay in the leaders wheel tracks and follow his instructions or run the high risk of a hospital visit, our guide was really big on the whole safety thing and not killing a tourist. But this did not stop me from cutting loose as much as possible, doing fishtails etc to make things more exciting. I also got to slide the quad a few times and get it airbourne once or twice. Some of the gang thought the tour guide went abit too slow, but everyone had fun, and it was worth the grit between the teeth. Unfortunately the tour guide would only go as fast as our slowest team member this turned out to be several of the team, which included Lisa and the new Captain Slow, Craig!!! (at least Craig had a reason, he'd never ridden a quad before) The dunes in this area are very stable because they are subject to opposing winds which balance out the sand movement, and make it to safe to ride on them.

After quad biking it was time to wander into town again and find some lunch. We found a cute cafe were they had post it notes all over the walls with New Years resolutions written on them, some of which were pretty funny. I had the Banana and honey pancakes which was divine.
We tried to find a place to cut my hair, but being New Years Eve lots of businesses were closing at midday, so no luck there. The rest of the afternoon was just hanging out and using the Wi-fi to catch up with things.
We had a group dinner in town to celebrate New Years Eve, the service was better than the night before and I think everyone enjoyed their meals. Lisa's oryx meatballs and spaghetti was very nice and my smoked salmon pasta was good also. After dinner and a few drinks most of the group moved into the attached bar/dance floor and danced and had a few more drinks and eventually saw in the New Year. I used it as an opportunity to get in a cardio workout, and bounced around like the Energizer Bunny for most of the night, leaving myself dripping with sweat.

The guide from the accommodated Nomad tour was there, and Anja ended up pinching his multicoloured flashing light stick and using it to order people around, and conduct some limbo contests.  We had a good time, but as soon as the New Year was rung in most of us headed quickly back to the lodge and to bed. We were delayed briefly by being unable to get the street door unlocked, but I climbed the fence and Joram and I were able to get the rest of them off the street.

Day 6 Swakopmund

Day 6 Swakopmund
After a brief photo stop while crossing the Tropic of Capricorn, we travel onto Namibia’s Atlantic coast and the adventure capital, Swakopmund. Just before we arrive in Swakopmund, we stop at the Walvis bay lagoon en route, where there is often flamingos to be seen. You will be briefed on the many optional activities available here and there is time to explore the town before dinner out at one of the local restaurants.
Optional Activities: Dinner out
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

30th December 2013

Everyday is different in Africa and it's an adventure, so you better expect the unexpected and today was one of those days!!!

It started off as every other day in Southern Africa, up early, pull the tent down, shower and then breakfast. Pack up the camp, jump in Marilyn and hit the road, the only exception was Boesman brought a venomous scorpion over to our campsite for us to look at. It was black with small pincers and a really large stingy thing (of course that is the technical name) at the end of it's tail.

We drove for a while and saw lots of animals and got to see lots of animals running about, Martina and Christoph (Swiss brother and sister) were really excited as they have been during the entire trip. As we drove, our first stop was a viewing point that looked over part of our road ahead and the hundreds of rock hills. It looks desolate but as we now know it's filled with life, thanks to Boesman.

As we continued on our journey down a typical Namibian gravel road, Dipti made her way to the front of the bus to let Zenzo know that there might be a problem with one of the rear wheels. Zenzo pulled Marilyn over to check it out, it was a great call by Dipti as the drivers side rear wheel had a problem. 6 of the 8 nuts had left the scene and the remaining 2 were barely hanging in there, "Houston we have a problem"!!! It was about 45 degrees in the shade and it wasn't midday yet, our prospects weren't too bright.

Plan A
Zenzo and Shingi swung into action as us tourists disembarked from Marilyn. The first plan was to remove some wheel nuts from the other wheels and then evenly distribute the wheel nuts, problem solved, not quite !!!

Plan B
Closer inspection revealed that all the thread on the 6 wheel studs that lost their nuts had been stripped during the process of the wheel rolling around. This is where I got involved because I could see we were getting nowhere fast, I suggested that we could put 2 wheel nuts in the wheel brace and use a hammer to hit the nut onto the stud. Great plan and it was going to work!!! Wrong again. We gave it a go but the thread on the studs was too far gone. It this point I was thinking if PJ (Paul James) was around he'd know a solution, but he wasn't so I came up with another one.
Plan C
Remove some (3 to 4) of the wheel studs from the rear passenger side and put them on the rear drivers side. Another great plan, that I knew would work it would just take time and effort, but alas the Nomad office said they didn't want us to fix Marilyn and then drive her to Swakopmund because if anything went wrong it was on them. Instead they would organise a bus of some sort to come and get us tourists and Zenzo would drive a crippled Marilyn to Swakopmund very slowly.

So we decided we would make lunch and just wait for the cavalry, once again I showed I'm the man - people just grabbed chairs and tried to huddle under the half extended awning. Whilst they were doing that I started to setup the tent fly's around the rear door of Marylin to provide more shade. I looked at them all sitting there trying to remain in the little shade available at the front of Marilyn, pointless !!!  So I suggested that if they wanted to stay in the shade for any length of time they might want to grab some tent flies and do the same, they saw the logic and started putting one up but it would appear that on their own they wouldn't make it. When I finished the one I was working on I helped them get the front end to function.

Once that was done I setup some string lines inside Marilyn and then sat back and conserved some energy...

We did have a funny moment which was provided by Johanna, she said to me that seeing all this space made her want to go for a run and with that she was off for a run in the sun and I do mean a run, she did okay. She covered a fair distance and then did the downward dog in the middle of the dessert, crazy I know but my kind of crazy... But I suggested that she might not want to do that in an Australian desert or on the Serengeti.

We ate lunch and continued to wait for the cavalry, it eventually arrived about 4 hours after the call was made to wait. When the cavalry did arrive it was a 44 seater coach with airconditioning and super comfortable seats that reclined, it was a smooth ride into Walvis Bay lagoon where we got to see the Pink Flamingos. From there our comfy coach took us to our new abode. I have to say I didn't like the comfy coach with airconditioning...

Later most of us went out for dinner together, it was a nice thing to do but I have to say we waited forever to get food and drinks and by this stage it was freezing cold.