Holiday in Namibia

We recently saw Katie Melua in concert. Very good. She's a UK singer and had a hit recently with 9 Million Bicycles in Beijing.

Last week I went with Yvonne and the kids for a bit of a hike, had a dip in our favourite pool (in that area). .. I'm standing.

Painting a plaster primer to the new addition to our house. The ceilings are in and painted, roof all complete.

Then before all this we went on Holiday - for a change. Namibia; Rita's first trip there. A few problems at the border. My bakkie's licence had expired (I didn't get a renewal) so the friendly cops gave me a small fine but took an hour to do that. Rita didn't need a visa but the official didn't know that so he had to contact the embassy at Windhoek, that took yet another hour. But once all that was settled we were on our way.
Long dusty roads, a busy road would have 5 cars a day...!! Very dry areas, very scenic.

A Social Weaver's nest. If there are no trees around they use the telephone poles. The birds are the size of a sparrow.

View from directly underneath. These nests are very tight. We found a broken piece at one of our camps and it was hard to tear apart. I don't know if they use spit or someting to hold the grass together, but it was surprising how well-bonded it all was.

Sossusvlei is a spectacular area in amongst the dunes of the Namib dessert. A road runs to the highest dune and area around - 60k long from the entrance gate and campsite. It's tarred now, which is a pity - it welcomes hundreds of tourists. Last time I was there with brother Cliff we were the only people in Dead Vlei. This visit had 4 by 4s transporting people the last sandy 6-7 k for R100. We didn't know the price but walked anyway - we like walking. In Dead Vlei there were at least a hundred people.

No rain in years yet this delicate flower seems to enjoy the sun.


An Italian tourist stopped barefoot Rita to ask her if she wasn't scared that the insects would bite her. She almost laughed, but was diplomaticaly polite.

Beetle tracks in the sand at Sossusvlei.

We went to Namibia to do The Naukluft Trail. It's only open in Winter, as it's too hot in Summer. trouble i s, in Winter it's too cold at night. We had our -25 ° sleeping nags and a small tent to help keep warm, as the shelters are half-walls with a raised roof. We were fine, the others got quite cold. I'd done it before and wanted a better night's sleep.

First day of our hike had some splendid views. Just as well as the uphill was very tiring. It was extremely hot and we knew the only water would be at the shelter where we'd stop for the night.

We camped out in the open a couple of times. We had to take a short-cut back to the start on day 4, which turned out to be a 2-day hike with no water whatsoever. I only had 1.5 litres for 2 days. Boy I was glad to get to a stream that second afternoon.

So many photos taken on this trip...


One of the few tar roads we travelled on - by choice (our friends wanted to ride on as many dirt roads as possible on their off-road bikes). All the tar roads here are as straight as this - good job the scenery is varied.

Fantastic scenery.

I hadn't seen this signpost before, and we didn't see any zebras on the roads.

Sesriem Canyon (near Sossusvlei) - cut by infrequent river water. It only rains every few years or so, and sometimes this canyon is half full of water, like 2-3m deep. That must look nice.

Sesriem Canyon again. Bernie and Rita.

Canonkop and the Zoo.

Pretoria Zoo.

Komodo dragon.
Being rescued from a man-eating python.

World's most dangerous animals: Humans

Thomas engrossed in the map of the zoo.

Then there was the Canonkop Hike:

A recent weekend in the bush. Lovely surrounds, but we could not cross the river to hike up in the hills and gullys. A deep hippo channel ran either side of the smallish rapids, far too deep to wade across. Next time we'll bring a small raft - or something.

My bakkie did well on the very rough track.

Gee it's nice to camp outdoors.

On our hike around we almost walked into a hippo grazing on our track, quite far from the river. We took a wide detour to avoid it.

Painted toast

Looked after Thomas the other day. We had fun... lunch was painted toast: food colouring in beaten egg painted onto bread and then toasted in the toaster.

Then we microwaved the unused egg and ate it - looked like some waste thing out of a latex factory.




We also made a couple of hydrogen balloons, and released them (Caustic Soda and aluminium foil). I was surprised how long Thomas could see them in the sky... long after I lost sight.

Rooikrans hike weekend

The 2-bedroom rondawels we stayed in. Braais each night. Hot water via a donkey-geyser.


Visited the nearby dam on our way back. Scouting an exit point for a kayak trip into it.

A nice 4-day hiking weekend, hiking about 40k in total.

A hike - again

Some nice illusions at this site: http://www.echalk.co.uk/amusements/OpticalIllusions/illusions.htm

Rita and Ronel during our visit to an Alliance Francais event. We go every year for a taste of a few varieties of French and French Colonial food, also wine, music, fashion show... and seeing a few friends.

This Boer War double wall is the only one I've seen. Very unusual. There's the remains of an old round-house fort on the hill to the left - lots of those. The wall was a nice place to get out of the cool wind.

We had to walk through the trees and bush on the left. It was full of nettles, thorns, blackjacks and spikey stick-on things, but not too bad.

A relatively open section.

Hiking - again.

Braai, work, hike

We had a braai yesterday; comfortable weather despite no sun. First braai for a few months.


Woke up one morning to see the neighbours looking at our fallen-down wall. Fortunately we had no work the next day and soon got it back up - and stronger than ever, with a good brick column.


A recent work project: turn the atrium into a nursery. Add a concrete floor, brick up a few indoor windows, turn a small window into a door, add a ceiling, add exterior window, add lights and sockets...


Went to the Drakensberg for a hike recently:


Near the hotel.



The peak we'd hope to climb is the one on the right, behind me.


After a night of torrential rain, close thunder and lightning, we had a wonderful dawn but the rock was too wet to climb - even though it's almost just easy walking with a few scrambles. But still a nice weekend away.