After having an adventure filled few days in Swakopmund we hit the road on the morning of Tuesday 15th June and headed for our next destination, Sesriem, a campsite just outside legendary Sosousvlei. Along the way we passed through an area that is dubbed the "Moon Landscape" due to the fact that the landscape consisted of wide open expanses of bare rock and sand. It gave us the perfect opportunity to stop and take same photos with our newly purchased South African flag.
For our lunch break we stopped on the Tropic of Capricorn, which is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth.
We eventually arrived at Sesriem to a howling windstorm that didnt help when it came to trying to cook our dinner. A few hours later we were all munching on our sandburgers and fries in the truck and getting excited about our early morning start to climb Dune 45 in Sosousvlei.
To be the first people up Dune 45 and to see the sunrise we were up at 5:30 the following morning. The trip there was in darkness but when we arrived at the foot of the dune and started our climb the sun started to rise. Unfortunately the wind was blowing a gale which made it even harder to ascend the dune as with every 2 steps forward our feet would slide 1 step back. We both eventually made it to the top but only after our camera decided to stop working due to some sand getting into the lens. So sadly we dont have any photos of us at the top of the dune together, although I think the fact that we made it up is a great memory. After getting down we had a hearty breakfast and then headed off to the Dead Vlei (translated as the Dead Marsh) also in Sosousvlei.
The Dead Vlei is a white clay pan which has a number of dead acacia trees, which are believed to be about 900 years old and are now black because of the intense sun. It was quite surreal seeing all these stark gnarled trees that looked like something from a fantasy film against the backdrop of the brilliant white and orange sand dunes. Our local guide for the walk told us how the dunes and the vlei were created and how the local bushmen have learnt to survive in the harsh conditions. He also showed us one of the local spiders called a trapdoor spider which digs a tunnel down into the sand and then covers the entrance with a finely made "webdoor". After our guide used a stick to gently fold the door back, it was so cool to watch the spider slowely creep out of his hole to pull the door shut . I bet you the spider was thinking how many times do I have to perform for these @#&* tourists!After our desert walk we packed up our tents and made our way to a campsite near a town called Bethanie. That night we headed into Bethanie to find a place to watch the South Africa vs Uruguay game. We eventually found a small nightclub that was showing the game with a handfull of locals, who were all of course supporting South Africa. As you all know SA lost 3-0 which caused for some rather colourful language from our fellow supporters. The temperature dropped down to -3C that night which is definately by far the coldest we have had to endure. Everyone woke in the morning and made a beeline to the fire to try and get back some of the feeling into our hands and feet.
That afternoon we spent an hour walking along the Fish River Canyon, the second largest canyon in the world and the largest in Africa. The view was totally breathtaking and made us feel so small and insignificant. The magnitude and scale of the canyon reminded us of what it was like to see Vic Falls for the first time. Our campsite for the night was at Ai-Ais Hot Springs meaning 'burning water' in the local Nama language. Pronounced "eye-ice", the natural hot-spring oasis is situated at the base of the mountain peaks at the southern end of Fish River Canyon. We all changed into our swimming costumes and revelled in the lovely hot water. A few of us got out of the spa, ran down to the river which was freezing, had a very quick swim and then got back into the spa. The following day we headed for the Namibia/South Africa border where we crossed the Orange River and spent the afternoon at a great campsite situated on the river banks. We had the afternoon to ourselves so we did some much needed washing (I think by this stage everyone's clothes smelt a bit but nobody really cared) and just lying in the sun and reading.
Our second last day was spent travelling through the lush mountainous region of the Western Cape. For our last night we stopped at a place not far from Cape Town. The majority of the group did some wine tasting while the rest of us got the fire going and dinner ready. Needless to say everyone came back a bit merrier and hungry. The other overland truck in our campsite joined us around our fire and people partied late into the night. Our tour leader, I wont mention any names, had to retire to her tent early as she started partying before everyone else. Our Canadian friend Grayson indulged just a little too much and the following morning had to rush off the truck clamping his hand over his mouth to avoid a mess on the truck.
Our trip ended in Cape Town that day, where we were met by Kim's sister Heidi and her husband Marq. It was great to be back in Cape Town and with the World Cup in full swing the atmosphere was great. After dropping off all our stuff at their place we headed down to Muizenburg beach where Kim and Marq went for a surf. It was Kims dad birthday on the Tuesday so we managed to find a carboard box big enough for Kim to hide inside, which we then wrapped. His dad and mom, Dave and Marlene, came around for dinner on the Tuesday night and opened up the box much to their surprise as they had no idea we would be back in Cape Town.
We immersed ourselves in to the world cup vibe straight away by meeting some of our friends from the truck and heading down to the Cape Town stadium. That day Portugal were playing North Korea and we saw all of the fans making their way down the fan walk towards the stadium, some dressed in crazy outfits whilst people were blowing their vuvuzelas. When England played Slovenia we went down to the Fan Park, where the game was being played on the big screen. There was a great atmosphere and that was the most English people we'd seen in one place for a long time. As you know England won that time but the less said about the rest of their games the better!
Nats is now back in England after receiving some sad news from home, but Kim will be staying on in Cape Town until the 20th July. Kim will fly to Durban on the 20th July where he's spending time with his mom and his aunt and will then head back to London on the 30th July. If anything more exciting or interesting happens whilst Kim is in SA he will update the blog.
Well we hope you have all enjoyed following us on our travel blog and who knows maybe in the future we'll have another one for you all to get engrossed in.
Love
Kim and Nat
