Day 137: Out of the Tropics
Soutpiel Safari
John & Jenny
Mon 21 Mar 2011 18:39
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Day 137: Monday 21 March 2011. Quiver Tree Camp Site,
Keetmanshoop, Namibia. S26 28.934 E018 14.649. Distance driven 552 km Total
distance 23,029 km
It was Independence Day in Namibia, a public holiday, so
we abandoned trying to get the Land Rover looked at and drove south from
Windhoek. Apparently, there is a very good garage just south of
Keetmanshoop, so we'll go there tomorrow.
It was a delight to drive on smooth tar with no potholes
and no traffic amid beautiful scenery, Around midday we drove across the
Tropic of Capricorn, so we have now traversed both tropics and the equator on
this trip. We have also crossed the 23,000 km mark, so the total to
Johannesburg looks like being around 25,000 km.
We arrived at this delightful camp site around 1700 to
find them feeding cheetahs! The site is on a large farm outside Keetmanshoop and
they have five adult cheetahs and two cubs. Along with several other
visitors we went into the pens while they were being fed with fresh
springbok.
Adjacent to the camping sites is a Quiver Tree Forest
(Kokerboom) which is unique to this part of Namibia and NW South Africa.
The trees are, in fact, aloes and grow up to 9 metres high and they do not
flower until they are 20 - 30 years old.
The camp site is beautifully appointed and each "site"
has its own toilet block with good quality fittings, hot water and plumbing that
doesn't leak!
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