Petch and Emma in Africa 2014: Namibia and Capetown, October 2014

Namibia

So we left Dusternbrook farm with many accomplishments.

Rich finished his playground and I left the Kindergarten in the care of another.

We had a slight change of plan due to Rich’s fall on the day before we left, and spent the day in hospital as he’d cracked two teeth and bruised is cheek slipping down some steps. We then went to the dentist in Windhoek and stayed an extra day there where I could laze by the pool whilst Rich had his teeth dealt with.

We took the bus to Swakopmund and stayed 2 nights in the apartment of the owner of the farm who was kind enough to let us stay for free. Swakopmund is a very German town, a lot colder that what we were used to, and very foggy most of the time.

But, we enjoyed runs along the seafront, and German Bakeries,

and a lovely meal at the Tug Restaurant where we could watch the

sunset and enjoy some good fish.

We picked up our campercar from Swakopmund and began the drive to the dunes. We drove through Walvis bay – not much there but flamingo’s, and then on to Solitaire.

An interesting little place with a grocers and a bakery known for it’s apple pie – which was pretty good. We cooked our own dinner with our camping equipment and enjoyed peace, a desert sunset, a sky full of stars, moongooses and ground squirrels.

The next day we drove another 100km to Sessriem campsite closer to Sossusvlei. For sunset we drove to dune 45 and climber a little up it for a beautiful sunset.

We woke early for a sunrise drive to actual Sossusvlei dunes and Deadvlei area and joined the masses in seeing the ultimate colour changes in the dunes as the sun rises and the shadows disappear, the trees long shadows appear over the salt flats.

We then climbed another dune as it was getting hotter, for a lovely view over the area.

Then it was time to drive back to Windhoek where we camped in a lovely place called urban camp and chilled for our last day & night in Namibia before flying to Capetown.

Capetown

In Capetown we needed to get our Mozambique Visa, and also see the main sights of the city, but also we were reacquainted with family. We stayed with Patrick, mum’s cousin, Jane and their daughter Harleigh, who had lived in South Africa for nearly 20 years. They have a lovely house near Nordhoek and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay with them. During the day, we went out exploring, V & A Waterfront, Robben Island, Table Mountain, Cape Point etc. We were very lucky in that all our sightseeing plans never really went to plan, but then it worked out better weather wise and did everything when the weather was better than it would have been, had we actually done it on the planned day!

View from Table Mountain

Ostrich almost ready to strike

One of our favourite evenings with Pat, Jane and Harleigh was visiting Cape Point Vineyards. Each Thursday, they have a food market, and sitting in a vineyard, overlooking the ocean as the sunsets with good wine, delicious food and good company cannot be beaten.

Tribute to Mandela - his prison number

Then on Friday, for my birthday, we went to the Diamond Museum and then Robben Island. I was a little bit disappointed in the tour of the prison, we are all sat on a bus and driven to points, you can’t see if you are on a particular side of the bus, and then you get out at the maximum security prison and speak to a former prisoner, and then you see Mandela’s cell, but I though there would be more to the place and tour than what was offered.