Pumbaa, TAB Cola, Dune 45 and Swakopmund

Hello everyone! :)

As we drive along these desert roads, we see many interesting things.
We've had to stop for an ostrich crossing, a train crossing, a goat crossing, a springbok crossing, and my all-time favourite, a warthog crossing. The warthogs were so funny!! They look exactly like Pumbaa from the Lion King. They were hilarious, I could watch them all day; they are my African version of weinerdogs, ha!

We also pass desert shantys, which are not unlike the ones we saw outside of Cape Town, except that they have no electricity and they look even more primitive, if that were possible. We get stared at a lot by the children, but when you smile at them and they smile back, it melts you. They love to wave at us in our truck as they play alongside the highway with their rocks or tires or soccer balls.

On Day 5 we went to Ai-Ais, which is home to hot springs. We had lunch, lounged by the pool, and took in the local wildlife (lizards and bugs, hehe). Then we headed to our camp. We had a special dinner planned for that evening! We went to Fish River Canyon which is the 2nd largest canyon in the world after the Grand Canyon. It was indeed impressive. We even made our dinner up there on the picnic tables after doing a little hike along the trail. It might have been the windiest meal of saltiest spaghetti that I have ever eaten. Every meat dish Colin prepares seems to have a ton of salt in it, and the meat quality is poor. But I'm not complaining, I love the veggies and the rice and the pasta and most of the other stuff. Mostly.

Driving on dirt roads is like sitting in an automated massage chair for 4-6 hours at a time. And you'd think that would be good, but it's not so much. Especially when you need to use the facilities and there is not even a bush in sight - we are talking DESERT. Miles and miles of nothing, and nowhere to hide.

When we do get to stop for rest breaks at fuel stations or coffee shops, there are some things that I've noticed. For example, do you remember TAB Cola? They have that everywhere here; I swear I haven't seen that since the 80's. And they also have Pine Nut Pop. And they have Minute Maid "Breakfast Blend" drink - who knows what that is.

They also have tons of Rooibos tea and apple crumble. And the washrooms have actually been okay for the most part, sometimes even better than gas stations back home. People are friendly. Overall it's pretty nice.

Ohboy the weather. This is Africa's winter and so it is very extreme. At night it is extremely cold - not what we were expecting. We put on our fleeces and long johns and double-up our socks and toques and get in the sleeping bags and grab extra blankets when we can and it's STILL cold. And when we get up in the morning it's still that way - and if it's windy, a million times worse. When we arrived at the Canon Road House Campsite on Day 5 we had our coldest night yet. We froze our little patooties off!

The next day we were off to the Hammerstein Lodge; we were staying there for 2 nights. When we got there we went on a "cat walk" where we got to walk through some cages of Caracals and Cheetahs - and got to see a Leopard named Lisa. The cheetahs were cool and I got to pet one, which was awesome. The other cats were not approachable, but still amazing and majestic. In the camp there was also a tame springbok named Daisy who head-butted you if you tried to pet her. Carol figured that out rather quickly.

Day 7 we had a very early start from camp. It was dark and windy and we were frozen trying to eat breakfast and clean up at 6am. But we powered through and headed out to Sossusvlei, which is the site of the world's highest sand dunes. They are up to 350m tall and a deep red colour. We first did a drive into the dunes with Colin, and he took us down to the Dead Vlei (Lake). The Dead Vlei has got to be a total highlight for me so far - it was spectacular! Surrounded on all sides by red sand dunes, the white, dry lake floor was parched and housed petrified trees everywhere. Have you seen the movie The Cell with Jennifer Lopez? Scenes were filmed there - the visuals are fantastic.

It's no small feat to get to the Dead Vlei, though - it was like a 5km roundtrip hike, up and down hills of sand, in the scorching sun, and with a sandstorm filling your eyes, ears, mouth, shoes... it was not fun. Some crazy people brought their babies through that mess to get to the Vlei, and the poor things were screaming as the sand beat down on their unprotected faces. I felt so bad for them. Getting hit over and over with sand is like a thousand tiny little needles. I put sunscreen on before I left but of course I burned and had a touch of sunstroke to boot - felt rather sick the rest of the day. Stupid sun! (Stupid me)

And if *that* feat wasn't enough for people, there is also one dune, 250m, that you are allowed to climb, called Dune 45. Well there was no bloody way I was climbing that thing after the hike we just did. Shawna did, though, and so did the German dad (Peter) and his teenage son (Pascal). Kudos to them (although they are still nuts in my book). ;)

When we got back to Hammerstein Lodge we managed to grab the girl who did our catwalk tour yesterday and get her to take the two of us back to the cheetah enclosure so that Shawna could get her chance for a pat and a photo. Pretty cool. We rounded out our night with a fireside dinner, campfire, and drinks at the lodge. At this point Shawna & I were looking forward to the next 2 nights, which we would get to spend in a hotel along with everyone else, woot!

The drive yesterday (Day 8) was long and hot. It's hard to regulate temperature in the LandCruiser when some people want windows open, and some don't. We stopped in a small town called Solitaire where we had Rooibos tea and apple crumble (again), and then drove on until we reached the signs at the Tropic of Capricorn. Cool! Can't say that I have passed many geographical markers in my travels.

Then we stopped for a seaside lunch in Walvis Bay. It was the best location for lunch so far. We pulled up our chairs along the beach and commented on the jellyfishes we found along the shore. It wasn't very hot and it was very enjoyable. Once we got to Swakopmund, Colin drove us around town for a city tour and we also had a chance to book excursions for the next day. Shawna and I really wanted to do hot-air ballooning but the prices would have been about $400CDN and that was just too much for this trip.

We all went our own ways for dinner and Shawna & I decided on an Italian themed restaurant named Napolitana. On our way in, we were approached by a small child (maybe 8 yrs?) who asked if we would bring him our leftovers. I was highly disturbed by this because I am used to homeless asking for money, not children asking for food. Of course we agreed to do so, and I couldn't stop thinking about him all night - in fact I still haven't. But alas, when we were done, he was nowhere to be found - there are security guards all around town, and since this is a really nice place, they are employed to chase the "undesireables" away from tourists. Colin says that homelessness and starvation is not a big problem here because villages are so far away. He says that the kids are runaways and that they just take handouts and become dependent, but I don't know if he is glossing over a larger problem. Still, it weighs on me a bit.

Our server at the restaurant was funny. When we asked to split the bill, he ripped it straight down the middle and wrote T.I.A. at the top of each piece: "This Is Africa!" He stayed and talked with us about movies and other random topics until we eventually realized that he thought we were German. Huh?

Day 8 and Day 9 (today) are the only days until the end of the tour that we get to stay in a hotel like everyone else. It is so nice to have a bed, an ensuite and an included breakfast! Today is a day of leisure, so we are basically relaxing for the first time. It is SO NICE. We slept in, we chatted, we took our time over breakfast, it was lovely. Now we are going to walk around this very modern German town and do some shopping and see what we see. Tomorrow we leave for the Cape Cross Seal Colony and Brandberg Mountain.

Until my next internet access!
Hope all is well at home - I don't always have time to reply to your messages, but I love hearing from you so keep 'em coming. :) Helps my homesickness.
xo
E!