Hi........We are out of Africa and now in Dubai so here is the last 3 weeks in Africa and our 7th safari...hope we haven't bored you but it has been a diary record for us too as we will never remember the journey we have had.............

Thursday 24^th July, 2014……We had a late start from Cape Town this morning as a bit of a mix up with passengers because we were all coming from different guest houses……our travelling companions this time, a family of 5 from Luxemburg, 2 Aussie couples and one older Aussie woman (she is a geologist)…….and we have the same guides which is a bit stressful!!!   However, a beautiful morning as we left Cape Town and sorry to leave…it really is a great place…..we took the N7 road out of Cape Town,  also called the Cape Nambia Route…..as always on the outskirts of CT, all the shack houses and rows of ‘portaloos’…..and of courses the government built houses…all in a row and all the same….we are told these houses they get for free (can’t imagine how long the waiting list is)  and that they pay the monthly power and water bill…..then a big oil refinery and then a big nuclear power station….but everything very green as the Western Cape gets the winter rain…..lots of grape vines, cropping (wheat and canola) and still the big irrigation systems even though they get the rain…..something we have noted in the WC province is the picnic areas, lots of them and really nice after the picnic areas in the EC province which weren’t even an apology for a picnic area!!  The N7 road is again a little better than our Great South Road but certainly not a motorway….eventually we stopped at Piketberg to stretch our legs and have a coffee….then we started climbing the mountains…we stopped at 1500 metres to take photos…it was a beautiful day and very picturesque as we climbed and looking back down into the valleys bursting with agriculture…..again, a lot of wheat growing….then it was more rocky mountains and scrub until we turned off onto our usual metal road to give you that wilderness feeling!! And so we drove through the Cederberg Mountains which was a great drive as we climbed the mountains on this narrow and windy metal road…..eventually we stopped and took some photos, so lucky again that the weather was in our favour…..and then we came to the Cederberg Winery, literally in the middle of nowhere….and so to our accommodation,  cabins about 3 kms from the winery…we didn’t get here until 2 pm so it was time for lunch and dishes and everyone opted to do a river walk as there was a small river running through the valley below our cabins….apparently a very popular place here in the summer…..however Michael and  opted to walk back to the winery…got there at 4 pm luckily as they were just closing however a husband and wife from Namibia are the current winemakers there and opted to give us a tasting…it was so interesting….Cederberg is the highest winery in SA with the vines growing at 1100 meters above sea level……they also have vines growing at the most southerly point in SA where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet and they blend the grapes from the 2 different areas to make the wine….we tried 12 wines, wines we have never heard of before…..we wouldn’t have missed it for anything and we will probably never go to a winery in such a remote area again……the couple from Namibia had worked in a winery in Marlborough before taking on this job and he said they still have Marlborough Sav Blanc sent to them each year for their personal consumption…....we left the winery at 5.15 pm and did a fast walk back to our cabin as it gets dark so early but we made it without having to fight off stray baboons or whatever…..by coincidence I happened to read today that Pinotage wine is a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault,  we have never heard of the latter, but that will be something else for us to try, and perhaps explains why we are enjoying the Pinotage, knowing how much we like our Pinot Noir….

We have the same guides as our first trip and they cooked hake fish tonight , as they did for our first night on the road on our last trip…..and it was just as good…..

And talking to our guides they told us we drove 4,320 kms on our trip from Joberg to Cape Town!    M & F

Friday 25^th  July, 2014…….back to our 5 am starts and on the road by 6 am…a long drive today in the truck, 550 kms and a border to cross…..and  today we got the rain….probably the worst drive we have had to date…we had to take the same metal road out and it was pretty muddy, with all the rain and you couldn’t see a thing in the dark and of course all the windows fogged up…..then it was back on the N7 road but it was mountains, rocky mountains and scrub most of the way so lucky that it was a very uninteresting landscape as the rain continued…very barren that part of the WC province…not long after we passed through Bitterfontein we came into the Northern Cape Province…..and more of the same….the landscape never changed…..we stopped at a road side picnic area just outside Springbok and had a bite of lunch and it was freezing cold but we managed to eat without getting wet!!  And then we came to the Namibia border which was really laid back and we were through in no time……crossed out of A at Vioolsdrif and into Namibia at Noordoewer……..we drove for less than an hour in Namibia before reaching our accommodation…..the Gariep River, also known at the Orange River is the border between SA an Namibia and our accommodation was on the banks of the river….chalets built of stone and a picturesque spot with all the mountains around…as soon as we crossed the river and the border into Namibia the first thing we noticed was the deterioration in the roads, still sealed but no white lines etc….. the Orange River runs out to the Atlantic Ocean and it was at Alexandra Bay where the river meets the Atlantic that De Beers found gold and of course they control all the gold mining in SA today…..Namibia gets its income from mining, uranium and diamonds and fishing and tourism……their currency is the Namibia dollar which is the same value as the SA Rand and they accept the SA Rand so that is convenient as we haven’t had to have another currency…..Namibia has a population of 2.5 million people with 13 cultural groups and a land area of 825,418 sq  kms….M & F

Saturday 26^th July, 2014…..A fine day and a late start…the guides gave us cooked breakfast this morning in our community kitchen overlooking the Orange River and the mountains…..just a small settlement in the area where we stayed last night but as usual all the shacks (local settlements) on the outskirts and these were real shacks, worse than in SA……and lots of vineyards and vege growing...just a belt of green each side of the river where everything is irrigated, the SA side of the river and the Namibian side of the river…..we stopped a short distance down the road for some photos….so much rock and so many mountains, lots of slate…….then it was just rock mountains and scrub...nothing like the desert of Oman at this stage, in Namibia….such a big land mass but so much desert…..we soon came off the sealed roads but the gravel roads are good so far….just mountains and mountains and rock but very picturesque….got to our accommodation about 1 pm as just a short drive today in sunshine….lunch and then a drive to the Fish River Canyon to explore….our accommodation is in the Fish Canyon National Park and we are again in the middle of nowhere as our pics will show……it was about a 45 minute drive back to the viewing platform for the sunset in the Fish River Canyon National Park……we had time to walk before sunset so I walked about 2 kms on the rim to the point where the 5 day hike starts from…..oh boy it looked steep…..Fish River Canyon is Namibia’s most spectacular geological phenomenon and they say second in grandeur to the Grand Canyon…..it  is estimated that the rocks at the base of Fish River Canyon are 2000 million years old….Fish River Canyon lies in the lower reaches of Namibia’s longest river, the Fish, and it is 167 km long, 27 km wide with a depth of 550 metres….it is Africa’s biggest canyon and the 2^nd largest in the world……M & F

Sunday 27^th July,2014…….Up 4.30 am for a 5.30 am start…..oh boy this is no holiday!!! But approximately 600 kms today in the truck……left in the dark but a beautiful sunrise……and today was more Nambian desert….just nothing but rocks and mountains and scrub and in 500 kms we would have only seen about  20 vehicles…..and we had one horse and cart……..we have  been on gravel roads most of the day with the odd bit of seal thrown in…..toilet stops were behind the bushes apart from a fuel stop and then we had a break at Helmeringhausen where the sign said coffee and the best apple cake in Namibia and it surely was…..we took a lunch break on the road side at 1.30  and we were all ready for some food having been on the road since 5.30 am….we drove through another great landscape today passing through the Tsaris Pass……and so we got to our accommodation about 3.30 pm.  In the Namibia Naukluft National Park which is about 50,000 sq kms,  Namibia’s  most versatile conservation area, the largest conservation area in Namibia and one of the largest in Africa….we are again in the middle of nowhere…at permanent tented lodges , Namib Naukluft Lodge….we would have passed no more than 3 road houses in our entire journey today…this place is really remote…so much land with nothing happening but very picturesque…there was the odd pocket of 2 or 3 houses but there is just no one for kms….we saw only one game lodge where they come to shoot the animals…..a few cows when you saw a water hole and there were a few of them and the stock looked healthy enough but a very hard existence in this wilderness….they get 200 mils of rain here a year we’re told…….every 7 to 10 years  they get big rains……it must come with a gush as it was incredible on all the gravel roads we were on today the concrete fords we went over and they cause such a bump when you are going at speed as we did as there was no water in them….went walking when we got to our accommodation  (Namib Naukluft Lodge) to stretch our legs after the journey today…..beautiful sunset again tonight and lovely clear skies….certainly no pollution out here……M & F

Monday 28^th July, 2014…..Up at 4.45 am and left at 5.15 am…no breki as we had to make a real early start this morning…but again a beautiful sunrise as we drove…….and so we drove further into the Namib Desert which is the oldest on earth…..the Namib hosts some of the highest accessible dunes in the world….the towering red sand dune of Sossusvlei form the gateway into the Namib Desert…the red tints of the sand contrast vividly with the dazzling white surface of the large clay pans at their bases….and eventually we reached the Sossusvlei area and stopped at Dune 45 (one dune is 325 meters high) we stopped to climb Dune 45….oh  the wind and sand everywhere….….I started climbing and got behind another guy and stepped in his footsteps which I learned was the trick on these slippery slopes but then he stopped dead on me….  I went a bit further but the sand in my boots not to mention my eyes and trying to cover my ear I decided not to go to the top and thus retreated….the guides had a cooked breki for us, eating outside the truck, there was sand going everywhere so most of us retreated into the truck to eat….then we drove on further to a car parking area where we transferred into a land rover with open sides and we were driven 5 kms slipping and sliding through the sand and sometimes hitting our heads on the roof of the vehicle as we hit  pot holes…not far down the track we came to the first stuck vehicle…people that don’t know how to drive in sand dunes shouldn’t do it……luckily we had 2 driver/guides in our vehicle so we pushed the guy out and then one of our drivers took over the wheel of the other vehicle…then we walked another 1.1 km in the sand…….up and down the dunes and oh the wind an sand and finally we reached the base of “Dead Vlei”……..Dead Marsh…..a river once drained into the Dead Vlei nourishing desert life and even trees…approximately 900 years ago the climate dried up  and Dead Vlei was cut off from the river.  It became too dry in Dead Vlei for the trees to decompose and they simply scorched in the black sun……the trees are now over 600 years old and form a barren forest……one can only describe this area as a photographers dream landscape……towering red dunes on 3 sides surround a flat, reflective white floor studded with the dark camel-thorn trees…..iron oxide give the dunes their colour, the more iron oxide in the sand, the redder the dunes are……and then we walked back to the land rover to be transported back to the truck…..we drove further in the Namib Desert and then had a picnic lunch under a tree as we have gone from the cold to the hot weather very quickly and oh boy the sand……apparently the sand storms start around July but our guides tell us they have been in much worse than today….all the grass growing in the sand hills here and so much rock and the colour variations, certainly nothing like the desert of Oman……and of course here in Namibia we have  been back on the African massage roads…..Namibia is nearly all desert and metal roads and you travel hundreds of  kms without seeing a vehicle…..it’s as if there is nobody here….after lunch we drove to the Sesriem Canyon,  a small canyon but very interesting…it was like we were going down into the churches at Lalibela in Ethiopia as we descended into the canyon….Sesriem Canyon is where the erosion of many centuries has incised a narrow gorge about 1 km in length….the Tsauchab River has shaped the Sesriem Canyon over millions of years…..in 1987 they had a big flood here and it iss incredible the tree branches that still are wedged high in the cliffs in the canyon that were washed there during the 1987 flood….. and so it was back to our lodge where we washed all our clothes, showered,  hair wash the lot and luckily at this lodge the bathroom walls don’t go to the ceiling so it gives for good drying in the night wind…you can’ leave anything outside because of the baboons…..but just walking to dinner as we do each evening as the guides always cook in an outside area, we were all sanded up again!!!   M & F

Tuesday 29^th July, 2014…..Up 5 am for a 6 am departure…..more desert roads in the morning sunrise….rocky mountains,  then rolling grass hills….we stopped for a pic of the landscape and oh the wind....then flat, flat with mountains on the horizon….stopped for another pic in this ever changing landscape and to study all the different rocks….then we drove through another pass, Gaub Pass, then the tropic of Capricorn sign so of course we all posed for a pic there…..then we were into another flat landscape they call the Lunar landscape……oh the wind….by now it was really affecting the visibility on the road and we had a sealed road here with a little more traffic as we were getting near to Walvis Bay which is where the Namibian Port is….we did a toilet stop in the desert (they have this long drop toilet with poorly constructed walls and no door but it is somewhere to go without being seen)….the sand was really flying around when we stopped for the toilet and oh boy did our eyes sting when we got back on the truck needless to say we have been using eye drops most nights…….travelling today we have been down loading photos from the camera to the lap top and the sand on the lap top screen was incredible but it reiterated the fact that we too are soaking up as this sand whilst travelling inside the truck an certainly not good for the camera…..was passed a big salt mine en route into Walvis Bay…..In  Walvis Bay we went an saw the pink flamingos….lots of them in the bay there and oh some very upmarket houses and no razor wire on the fences in sight….. the German influence really comes through here in their architecture ad place names and names in general and apparently lots of  Germans live here…Namibia was once a German colony but of course has independence now….and so we got to Swakopmund  and  our accommodation “ Dunedin Star” at around 12 noon and had lunch and then it was free time…….yeh!!!!!! We went and walked and walked …….along the beachfront on the Atlantic Ocean and some very upmarket houses here and much more German architecture and names and you almost have the feel here that you are in a German town…..went to the local market and as always so many lovely things to buy but we were fascinated by the Himba women with their bodies all caked in what looks like brown nugget, almost naked with their naked babies…Michael got some good pics (unbeknown to them)  so that will explain all………dinner out at a great restaurant on the water…originally a tug boat turned into a restaurant……M & F

Monday 30^th July, 2014…….Swakopmund…….A FREE DAY!!!!!!! We had a late breki and have been exploring Swakopmund all day…beautiful hot weather still and even though the desert surrounds us, we seem to be out of the wind here in the township…..tomorrow its back on the truck……See photo's below.  M & F

The Western Cape area as we left Cape Town.......

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The Cederberg Mountains....

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The road we travelled to our accommodation in the Cederberg Mountains.....

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Cederberg Mountains.....

Accommodation Cederberg Mountains......

Our house in the Cederberg Mountains.....

The road Michael and I walked to the winery.......

As per the sign......

The entrance to Cederberg Winery...... the highest winery in SA.......

Our hosts, husband and wife from Namibia who are the wine makers @ Cederberg and the line up of what we tasted!!!!

Cederberg Winery....it sure was remote!!!!

As per the sign....

Michael liked this sign...."the land of the brave".......

Our accommodation, Namibia, overlooking the Gariep River which is the boundary between SA and Namibia.....

Catching up on the blog outside our house overlooking Gariep River......

Eating/barbecue area, Gariep River, which is typical of the outdoor eating places we have had all through Africa.....

The view from our accommodation, early morning, canoeists Gariep River.......

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The desert en route to Fish River Canyon.....

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The local settlements...Namibia.....

More of the desert and those lonely roads......

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Can't remember the name of this desert tree but they are everywhere...I think Euphoria tree........

Fish River Canyon......

Springboks......

Our accommodation, in the desert yet again, in the Fish River Canyon area.....

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Oryx......

Fish River Canyon....

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Coffee stop, Namibia.....

Namib Desert road.......

Truck picnic lunch, Namib Desert......

This is the tree that the giraffes eat and oh those thorns......heaven only knows how they get their tongue around the thorns to eat the leaves!!!!

Namib Desert....big Weaver bird nests here.......

Namib Desert en route to Sossusvlei......

Our accommodation en route to Sossusvlei.......

Big Weaver bird nests again...poor tree!!

As per the sign...this was at the entrance to permanent tent accommodation as above.....

En route to Dune 45, Sossusvlei.......

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Climbing Dune 45 and oh the sand storm.....not really visible in this pic though but it was sand, sand and more sand.....

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Truck breki in the sand storm at Dune 45......

Dune 45......

Desert toilet at Dune 45.......

This is where we went in 4 X 4 vehicle for the 5 kms into Deadvlei......

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Walking the 1.1 km to Deadvlei.....

Deadvlei......

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Sesriem Canyon.....

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As per the sign....

Examining the rocks, Namib Desert.........

The changing face of the Namib Desert..... 

En route to the Brandberg Mountains.....

Picnic area, Namib Desert.....

More desert......

Desert storm en route to Swakopmund....

Himba women....Swakopmund......

As above.....

Atlantic Ocean at Swakopmund......

Swakopmund....with the desert at the end of the road......