Our last morning in Maun was spent up in the air in a small 5 seater plane, viewing the stunning Okovango Delta. I would recommend this trip to most people, but beware to those of you like me who suffer from motion sickness. Luckily Alex had the video camera and captured the whole thing, with a few glances to the back seat where I sat with my head down missing the whole 1hr trip which felt like 5hrs to me! The funny thing too was that both the kids fell asleep after 20 minutes from the comforting drone of the engine, so all in all we didn't get great value for money on that one. Sorry for the lack of mid-flight photo's, I was in charge of photography, and needless to say I was busy with other things. Nevermind, after a short break at a great coffee shop near the airstrip we headed out of Maun on a good Botswana road towards the Caprivi Strip. It was a long day of driving, and we wanted to get quite close to the border so the kids and I sat in the back watching DVD's as it got dark and left the driving and campsite searching up to Alex. I felt him pull of the road and drive through some pretty thick bushes on a dusty dirt track. He had found us a GREAT campsite. The best one of the trip! It's called Drotsky's, and it was near a town called Shakawe. We scraped our way through some dense bush and low lying trees, only to discover a stunning clean well kept campsite.
The sites are huge, with bushes separating the sites, and most of them are right along the Okovango riverside, which we were told not to go too close to because of crocodiles and hippo's. They weren't joking either because after parking and setting up for the night, we heard some loud hippo grunts! It was perfect, really wild, but we felt safe in the Truck. We made sure to get the most of the place by booking 2 nights. Campsites in general felt pretty full with all the South Africans travelling, so we were lucky to get the 2 nights. Both nights we made a huge campfire and sat listening to the sounds of the river & bush.
The kids loved it too because there were great paths interlacing all the campsites, and to all the ablutions as well as to the reception which had a great wooden deck & bar overlooking the river. It was tough to leave this place, but we knew Namibia was calling us with more adventures...
We crossed into Namibia with ease and headed towards Rundu, a big town on the left side of the Caprivi Strip. Unfortunately we only got the last few kilometers of the Caprivi, we'll have to keep that for another trip - it looks interesting. We followed a guide book that told us to head towards a great camping spot on the river, lush grass, swimming pool, electricity, bar/restaurant, boat trips, bird walks and even putt putt and volleyball! We headed straight there ignoring all the other signs to promising campsites & lodges, only to discover that the one we were heading to had recently suffered a major flood and was still recovering. We felt sorry for them and decided to support them anyway as it was only 1 night we were looking for anyway. We had a quick go on the putt putt course and threw a few tennis balls over the volleyball net, before settling in for the night.
After Rundu we headed west towards Ruacana Falls. It was quite a distance on some endless straight roads, but luckily it wasn't too remote yet and we did manage to find diesel along the way and some very fresh warm bread from a roadside cafe..... ahhhh, when last have you eaten a handful of fresh white bread broken straight from a full loaf? That and some ice cold Fanta is amazing after a long day driving. We found a place to sleep - OK, it wasn't quite a campsite like the sign suggested. It was more of a municipal conference centre parking lot. But with the huge pile of building sand next to where we decided to park - the kids thought this was the best campsite ever! Nice to have a shower & toilet in the truck at this point especially.
Northern Namibia - What a spectacular part of God's creation! Off the beaten track, but unfortunately not far enough off to scare away the rest of the South African's on their long winter holiday. The road was very quiet, but the camping spots were pretty much full! Ruacana Falls was a great stop for a picnic lunch. Hippo Campsite had some great trees that the kids enjoyed climbing, before we headed back on the best road ever (seriously, it was stunning), towards Kunene River Lodge. It was a long shot we knew, but we had to try anyway. As we suspected, the camping at the Lodge was full, but they had one challet left for us. We pulled the kids mattresses out of the truck and onto the floor of the chalet and realised how strange it was that our truck was actually more comfortable and spacious than this chalet. It was great for a change though, and we were happy to get what we could get. We enjoyed our time there, on yet another wooden deck overlooking the stunning Kunene River, at the view of Angola on the other side, realising that we've actually made it here! This was one part of the trip that I was really looking forward to - Northern Namibia, and it was so worth it. We chatted to a group of motorcyclists from Gauteng, swapped stories and gave them the tour of the truck. It's great to find people who appreciate Africa and traveling as much as you do. By 4x4, Truck, citigolf (yes, met an Australian guy, Martin traveling in a cheapie! - shared the 5th seat in Okovange flight trip plane), or Motorbike - we're all the same, love the adventure!
We decided not to splash out on another night in a chalet, so we left Kunene River Lodge after a buffet breakfast on the deck, and headed towards Epupa Falls another 3 hours further west up the river. It was really some of the most spectacular road and scenery imaginable, Dry and dusty for sure, but just so remote and hilly.
The local tribal people of that area made the experience dreamlike. In the beginning when we first spotted a Himba village along the route, we thought they were all dressed like that for tourists, but after a while I realised that some places in this world have managed to stick so close to their roots that even though these strange noisy pieces of metal on rubber wheels pass them by every now and then they seem not to question life beyond their existance and they just carry on hearding their cattle and caring for their young.
Epupa Falls - another spot to go back to when we've got more time. For us time was running out, so we only managed to stay one night at the stunning campsite right at the top of the falls. The campsite was full, but I think the friendly faces from Kaylin & Xan melted the campsite managers heart and they let us park just behind the owners house, but from inside the truck we still got a stunning view! Right next to the campsite there was a great rockpool that was totally safe to swim in. A lot of the campsite holiday makers were filling up the swimming area, but there was still a bit of space where the local himba ladies came down to do their laundry and let their kids splash around too.
After Epupa falls we pretty much knew we were heading back home, it was just a matter of how many hours we wanted to drive during the night. When Alex starts heading home, not much stops him. I didn't want the trip to ever end, so we came to a bit of a compromise. One last day of adventure in Swakopmund, then we could head home.
We headed straight to the Spur for lunch - typical South African's! We had to carboload before our adventure full afternoon of course! We then went Quadbiking!!!! Xan has been looking forward to Quadbiking since the start of our trip, so after convincing him that unfortunately they didn't have any "children's quadbikes", and that he'd have to ride on one with us, we were off to fit our helmets and hit the dunes! It was spectacular. Kaylin kept on shouting for Alex to go faster, and Xan loved watching the sandy dust that the tyres made. It was a perfect family moment for us that I will remember for a very long time - and I'm sure if Xan has his way we'll be quadbiking a lot more together in the future.
After that adventure, we had to add another one, a bit higher and sandier......
We climbed to the top of Dune 7. The kids were so full of energy that they almost beat us to the top (thanks to the Chico the Clowns). Kaylin enjoyed running down the dune at top speed, but didn't enjoy the fall she had at the end, where she got sand everywhere! I got it all on video which will be posted on the blog as soon as I've had a chance to edit it. Again, it was really great having the shower in the truck. After a good shower and into pyjamas, the kids snuggled into our bed in the back and watched DVD's as we drove into the night towards home.
The roads are pretty good, but nothing can prepare you for the remoteness. We drove for hours along good dirt road, without seeing another car or person. No village, farm, Jhb 4x4 - nothing. Well, except for some surprises of course.... We diced a few wild rabbits, foxes, buck, and even a good few Zebra's. At one stage during the late night hours of driving, a springbok ran alongside us, going about 60km/h. We kept him running eventually in front of our car (I think they get confused with their shadow from the headlights or something...?), which lasted a good 5 or 10 minutes. He was rather tired by the end of that.
That night, our 2nd last night of the trip, gave us another surprise...... After a bit of a turn and a bump in the road, Max the Truck decided it was over! We heard a huge BangCrashCrunch! And came to a quick stop (did I mention that we were in the middle of NOWHERE!!!) Luckily the kids slept through it all and we got out to assess the damage. I'm clueless about this kind of stuff, so check out the photo for yourself, but I thought it looked pretty serious.
It seems that our big petrol tank that had broken on our last trip in Dec, had somehow broken off, but in the process it took with it some of the exhaust that it was attached too, as well as the outside shower compartment. There were bits of metal sticking into parts of the axel & springs, that shouldn't be, and the exhaust pipe that was left there looks pretty bent and squashed in places. Mmmmm, just as Alex was wondering how he was going to get us out of this fix, we heard voices coming towards us from the bushes (Yes, I got a huge fright, and Alex laughed about it lots afterwards). To our surprise, our brake down happened to be right next to a house with two very helpful local Namibians. I know God was with us that night, protecting us & just reminding us that in every adventure we need to rely on Him. So after about 20 minutes of a bit of hammering and tying things together with wire and rope, Alex and the helpful angels (disguised as Namibian farm workers of course) got us back on track towards home.
The rest of the drive back home was quiet, apart from endless nursary rhymes sung by Kaylin and Xan asking what every road sign meant and why the 'cats eyes' in the middle of the road change from white to red etc etc. I can't begin to imagine the amount of knowledge that our kids have gained in their 4 & 5 yr old brains. We feel completely blessed to have experienced Africa in this way, right from when we left in December and headed up to Nairobi, and then now these past 3 weeks bringing Max back home.
We're home now, with good internet and reliable electricity. The kids had a 1hr bath, and we're all stocked up with fresh fruit and veggies (no more tinned stuff for a while!). Max is resting outside in the driveway, before we take him back to Knysna on Friday for some TLC. I'll edit the video and post it up on the blog soon for those who are interested.
Hope you've enjoyed reading......
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