In the middle of nowhere we came across this herd of very good looking goats which were

being driven neatly along the road by two dogs.  There was no sign of any human presence.

In amazement we stopped and watched as the dogs purposefully drove the goats on.

  The farm they must have been going to was several km along the road!

 

Next time you buy a bunch of seedless eating grapes in Waitrose this might well be

where they come from.  Irrigated by the mighty Orange River we found acres and acres of

vines.  Unlike the wine variety they are held higher off the ground and come together to form

a roof of green.  The pickers stoop and walk under these vine tunnels.  Many are bussed

in from 1000km north on the Angolan border where there is much poverty and little work.

 

Fish River Canyon is second only to the Grand Canyon in size.  There is walk that takes several

days and goes from where we were for 85km downstream.  This is only allowed in the cool season however.

That being the reason we did not do it!  Luckily walking down the frighteningly steep path to the

Canyon floor was not allowed for day visitors.

 

We were the fist visitors of the day and we went for 18km down

a very much 4WD track that ran along the canyon's rim.  Being the first vehicle

we were lucky enough to see much game.  Here are two Burchell's Zebras.  Smaller

and with different stripes than the more common variety.

 

Then to our delight we came across two Onyx.  These splendid creatures are usually very shy

but these two stayed around for us to photo.

 

The size of this canyon is breathtaking.  Bear in mind that the far rim is over 10km away!  Unlike

its more famous American couterpart the number of people who visit this site are very few

and there are no controls other than signs banning walking to the bottom without a guide.

 

Our self catering accommodation. No air con as we were to find is normal in Namibia.  There

was however electricity and a fridge.  The 'braai' area to the left was the scene of a very jolly

party as on our second night there were several other couples.  This building is

6km along a sandy track from the main hotel which was full.  At a quarter of the price of the

latter it was  immaculately clean and very comfortable.  Sunsets and early mornings were  magical

times with the light on the desert countryside.

 

On a walk from the above accommodation we came across this

quiver tree that had been commandeered by sociable weaver birds.

These 'towns' of nests can last many years and house a great many birds.

We found them all over the place on telegraph poles as well as trees.

 

A weaver nest free quiver tree.  Amazingly they are not related to

the Boabab trees we had seen in Australia and

Madagascar but to the Aloe.

 

Doing the pre flight checks and starting up a hot air balloon appeared to me to be

 far more frightening than getting a Boeing 777 or 747 into the air!

 

Lift off!  Since the balloon goes at exactly the speed of the air it is in one has no wind

and this combined with the quiet gives an eerie feel.  The silence is however shattered

by short noisy bursts of the burners.

 

On our way to our champagne breakfast which was set out on a table in the middle of the savannah.

The red of the dunes can be seen beyond this grassland.

 

Our charming pilot showed off as the wind was light and far from having the heavy 'box dragging on its side' type landing

he warned us could happen he put the gondolier down on its transport trailer saving the ground crew a heavy lift!

 

 

 

While we waited to go on an evening guided drive a dust storm arrived.  A heavy

branch just missed our parked car and the roof of a nearby garage was torn off.

We abandoned the tour!

 

 

 

Next day, New Year's Eve

 

We entered the Sossusvlei National Park as the gates opened at 0600hrs.

We then had to drive 64km to the first car park.  Then for those with 4WD

 another 5km through fairly deep sand brought us to these, some of the largest dunes in the world.

Walking up was hard work in a fast rising temperature.  Also slightly vertigo inducing!

 

We ended up taking the short route down after a Dutchman we had made

friends with in our hotel and who with his lovely Belgium partner had come

the last 5km with us showed us up by running down what seemed an impossibly steep

incline.  I did not run but walked fast, Annette and Janet made it but not at speed.

Ken and Dominique disappeared down the other side and were not seen for half an hour

as they ended up with a long walk in sand to get to the car park.

.

 

Next on the agenda was a 1km walk through sand to this 'Dead Vlei' or Dead Valley.

By now the temperature was well into the thirties and we still had one attraction to go.

I have no photos of the 'Hidden Vlei' as after 1 km of the 2km hike and with the temperature

touching 40C five of us turned back.  Ken, the fittest 67 year old I have ever met ran on, yes he ran,

and has pictures but I cannot allow myself to use them.  The great pity was that the park did not open at first light.

Then we would have had another hour and a half of reasonably cool time.  This is an area which should really be

visited in the winter.  We retreated back to our hotel and lay still on our beds with a fan going until late afternoon

when we went on the sunset tour we had abandoned the day before due to the dust storm.

 

A well deserved gin and tonic as the sun sets over this amazing landscape

 

2008 arrives!.  From left to right. Janet, Ken, Dominique, Bob and Annette

For those of you who were trying to SKYPE us from Boldre Lane we say thank

you but with no internet within miles it was a non starter alas.  It was however the end of

a truly memorable day.

 

 

After several hundred km of dirt roads through canyons and across plains

we arrived at Walvis Bay.  Here we took a 'days dune driving trip'.

Although in huge dunes the temperature was cool all day due to the Benguela current

which runs from the south bringing ice cold water and gives Namibia its famous coastal desert.

We drove some 30km along a mixture of beach and low scrub dunes.  Then up into the big ones.

The view was stunning and at this stage Annette nor myself knew what was next, hence the smiling face.

 

This is the view Annette is crawling to look at in the previous picture.

We were then told by Moses our Namibian guide we were going

to drive straight down.  We thought he was joking.

 

He was not.  Thank goodness we were not the first to go but I have to confess to a certain tightness

in the lower stomach.  By the time we were back in Walvis Bay this hill was nothing.

These huge dunes are formed by the prevailing southerly wind and thus once one

is inland and away from the coast the gentle face is the southern one and the steep one

is the north facing slope.  Thus a drive from south to north is possible where as the drive

through the dunes from north to south is almost impossible.  Moses (a suitable name for

a desert tour guide!) took us way inland and onereally got a feel for being alone in a sea of sand. 

Just the six Rhino vehicles of our party and noother signs of human activity in sight. 

We must have climbed and more to the point descended 

well over fifty dunes that were over 150 metres high.  Another day to remember.

 

Heading south we stopped at the Augrabies Falls National Park.  This is just into South Africa and

is the place where the mighty Orange river takes a spectacular tumble.  When we were there

the water flow was not great but still worth seeing.  The surrounding countryside provided some spectacular hiking

early in the morning before the temperature rose too much.  It was a great two days to end our trip on.

The drive back to Cape Town was just over 900km and we did it easily in one hop despite having a blow out

of one of the tyres.  This  happened on a dirt road.  The map having lead us to believe

it was a tarred road.  We turned out to be just 8km from the end of thousands of kms of dirt roads when this

expensive event happened.  A truck full of black people stopped to ask if we were OK.  A smart Toyota Prado

with whites in it sped past without slowing at all.  This would never have happened in Australia where everyone checks on each other.

 

I end with a very typical scene from what was a memorable two weeks