Goodbye Swakop

We're making a real effort at leaving today. We even went to say goodbye to the dunes yesterday.

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Adventurous day

Thousands of flamingos. seal colonies. jackals. Getting stuck in sand x 2. Getting out by ourselves x 1. Magical day nonetheless. 

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The Prisoner

There's a TV series, that was filmed right here in Swakopmund. It's about "a man who awakens in a mysterious, picturesque, but escape-proof village".

The protagonist tries to escape into the desert, but invariable he is caught and returned.

It's been a few weeks, and we keep waking up in Swakopmund.

Hello again Swakop

Happily back in tenty and reunited with our Jimny. Missed the Namib desert backdrop and camping right next to the sea. Orion is flying like a bird again ... Now we just have to recover from all those bugs we picked up in the city. 

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We're back!

Back in Swakopmund. Pause and resume.

It was very interesting flying over a lot of what we've seen and spotting it from the air.

Last reported position

The last reported position of our intrepid adventurers, on 2017-10-25
12:25:13, was:
Latitude: -22.68683
Longitude: 14.52433
Erongo Region, Namibia

Heading back out

Cape Town is all good and well, free air shows etc. But I'm happy we're heading back to Namibia tomorrow.

Budgeting: How to plan expenses for an extended traveling adventure

Carefully analyze your current spending habits.

You're going to eat as much as you usually do, so you can carry over your grocery costs. No. Wrong. Multiply by 2. Everything costs more where you're going.

Accommodation is easy if you're camping. Camping is cheaper than rent, so you'll be spending less. Except that sometimes the weather is extreme, or it's not safe. No savings there. Multiply by 2.

Transportation costs are harder. Africa eats tyres and suspension.

Medical costs. That's mostly emergency stuff. Very hard to plan for emergencies.

Airtime and data is expensive where you're going. 

A toddler trip to the dentist, in our case was:

- a day of driving

- lots of long distance calls

- lots of data bundles

- a day of flying

- car rental

- hospital, anaesthesiologist, dentist

Now we're in Cape Town. Our car is parked in Swakopmund.

In Transit

It took us 1 week to get from Windhoek to Swakopmund. The reverse journey took 28 minutes.

It took us 2 months from Cape Town to Windhoek. The reverse journey is going to take us 2 hours.

World Traveller

We're at the Walvis Bay Airport.

Mad Max

Swakopmund.

It's cold and cloudy here where the Namib meets the Atlantic.

There's a memorial here for the ones who died while committing genocide. No such honour for the people they murdered though.

Morning dune 'jog'

I went for a dune shuffle this morning. A very memorable sunrise.

Saw some adder spoor, but luckily didn't meet one.

Kuiseb Canyon Camping

We're camping in the Kuiseb canyon. The Homeb campsite is in a riverine forest bounded by red dunes on one side and a lunar landscape on the other.

There's a little village right next to the camspite, so we have lots of visitors. Donkeys, cows, goats, sheep and some very cute puppies.

We're hidden from the howling wind on the plains. There's a delicious cool breeze from the Atlantic that makes it's way into the canyon. Trees hide us from the sun, and in the mountains we can jump from shady overhang to shady overhang.

Driving here from Aruvlei we saw zebra, springbok, ostrich, gemsbok, kudu, klipspringer, lappet face vultures, goshhawk, korhaan and kestrel. The terrain changed from rocky desert moonscape hell to soft flowing grassland and back.

Walking around we've met many lizards, beatles and one scary 'daywalker' scorpion on the hunt.

Capricorn

We've been criss crossing the Tropic of Capricorn. Further East from here, it's all Savana. In the Nauklift it's just rocks and sand.

Nice campsite, bad neighbours

After two months of traveling, I guess we we're bound to meet some unhappy campers.

Not even a hello. Definately no goodbye. 

Note to anti-social campers in the desert: If you're camped at a tiny official campsite, with the only trees in sight, right next to all the communal facilities, don't be surprised if we rock up and set up a tent close by.

Kuiseb Canyon

The Kuiseb is one of the few major rivers of the namib. We'll be camping not far from here tonight.

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Kuiseb Canyon.

We're back in the desert.

Back into the Namib

After many nights in the highlands, the red sand is creeping back into the valleys. We'll be in the Namib tonight by the Kuiseb Canyon.

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Flat tyre

Good thing I bought that tyre repair kit. Hopefully Orion did a good job patching our tyre this morning.

Into the wild

After a lot of resting, upgrades & modifications, and an insane amount of time spent shopping and re-provisioning we're finally heading back out.

That means fewer updates and photos. Walvis Bay here we come.

Before and after...

Before upgrade: standard suspension, basically bottomed out before we even start moving.

After: Old Man Emu to the rescue! Much more lift, and our nose isn't sticking in the air anymore.

I can't comment on the steering yet, but driving around Windhoek we're certainly less bumpy.

Screwed

Near disaster.

When they hoisted up our Jimny for it's suspension upgrade, they found our front right shock was being gingerly held in place by one loose bolt. The nut, and other bolts no doubt littering the desert who knows how far back.

Lesson: when driving on corrugated dirt roads, check your suspension daily.

Serious shopping in Windhoek

Seems like we've been shopping and running errands ever since we arrived in Windhoek -- we haven't even see any touristy sites yet. Heading towards the coast tomorrow (via more desert). 

Service time in Windhoek

Our travels have been taking their toll, the Jimny is getting it's suspension upgrade. Thank goodness for timing. One of the front shock was being kept in place by faith alone, the bolts having been shaken loose by some truly horrible corrugated roads.

I'm also getting checked out, visiting a local doctor. Finding a doctor is surprisingly easy, they have handy signs posted all over. 

4x4 parking

Dedicated 4x4 parking in one of Windhoek's malls.

Namibia is way ahead of South Africa in so many respects!

German pig

The Strauss boys feasting on a small cut of german pig.