Namibia… a country that has been on Nick’s list of countries he that really, really, really wanted to visit for as long as I have known him! And now he has been there and he can die a happy man!

Our first stop, after surviving the border crossing, was at Felix Unite Camp which is located on the Orange River. The accommodation were modern-forms of traditional huts, with lights, power and en-suite bathrooms – so we were doing it tough! Though I’m wondering why we were put in the Cabin called “Going Nowhere Slowly” – does someone have a sense of humour? There was an amazing point you could climb up to, for either the sunrise or sunset – but sunrise was too early in the morning, it was at about 7:30am! We also went canoeing on the Orange River, which was a bit hairy because there was a lot of water in the river and it made some of the rapids quite interesting (another way of saying scary). Our guides on the river were full of interesting details – it was just a shame that MJ couldn’t hear any of it!

We turned right and headed into the desert and our first stop was at the Fish River Canyon. We went for a short hike from one lookout to the next one and felt a bit overawed with the beauty. Fish River Canyon is the second largest canyon after the Grand Canyon.

We stayed at a lodge called Kronenhof which was quite remote – but it did offer a laundry service! We did a guided game walk in the morning, which gave us the chance to see our first giraffe and some impala and springbok. We also saw lots of HUGE nests in trees which are avian apartment blocks that have been made by Weaver birds. We were sooo thrilled! And then in the late afternoon, we were taken on a game drive and saw lots of Zebras, Oryx, Springbok, a single Blesbok, and then a group of 4 giraffes – 2 females, a 2-year old calf and a male. They were beautiful and, fun fact – did you know that there are 2 collective nouns for giraffes – either a tower of giraffes (when they are standing around) and a journey of giraffes when they are moving around. We finished the game drive with sundowners to watch the sunset over the desert.

After a couple of night in the desert, we turned back towards the coast but, of course, we had to go through the Namib desert, which included stops at the Tropic of Capricorn, Sossusvlei, a walk to Deadvlei, a stop to look at the Seisrem Canyon and a get some sustenance in the form of coffee and Apple Crumble at Solitaire before heading to Bushmans Camp for the night and then, next day, it was on to Walvis Bay for lunch and then up the coast to Swakopmund for 2 nights.

We did so much in that day – after leaving the lodge, we stopped at the Tropic of Capricorn for the obligatory photo (& cache), before we drove to visit the dunes and there was either the option of climbing the “Big Daddy” dune (which no-one was interested in doing) or walk across the dunes to see the Deadvlei. In case you don’t know, Deadvlei is a dead lake which is now a salt pan and there are lots of dead Camel Thorn trees sticking out through the Salt Pan. It was rather hot, which is why there was no water in the lake, but we made it… safely! Then it was back into the Green Elephant and we were off to look at Seisrem Canyon – rather deep, before we headed off to our accommodation for the night. But, of course, we were going through a “town” called Solitaire which has a “world famous” bakery and we were told it had the best apple strudel. Well, all I can say is that someone needs to learn the difference between Apple Strudel, Apple Pie and Apple Crumble. However, we had a slab of Apple Crumble and a nice hot coffee and tried to access the dodgy WiFi. Our accommodation was still in the desert and is called Bushman’s Camp. It is totally self-sufficient and had an amazing set-up to grow their own vegetables and fruit – a lot of it under shadecloth to protect it from the hot sun.

From there, it was off to Walvis Bay to look for flamingoes (found them!), have some lunch and then head to Swakopmund. We had the option of activities that we could do, which included quad-biking on the sand dunes (Not more sand!), sky-diving, an educational tour of the “Living Desert” (I’m almost over desert) or a Town Tour which would take you to the settlement area to see how the other half live. We chose… none of them! Yes, I know, we are uneducated slackers, but we were more interested in a day of relaxation and some gentle exploring in Swakopmund. We discovered Apfel Strudel and Coffee, and also a Gelato Bar, so we were very busy!

After some chill time in Swakopmund, it was time to head up the coast to Cape Cross to see 1000’s of African Fur Seals! We were warned about the smell, but I didn’t notice any – I was too busy falling in love with all those gorgeous Fur Seals! They had to drag me away as we had lots of k’s to drive, heading into the desert… again.

We were heading to the Etosha National Park but did a quick overnight stop at the White Lady Lodge so that the more fit of us could do a 5km hike (2.5kms each way) along an old river bed to see some ancient rock art dating back to when this area was lived in by the Bushmen, and the painting has been dated to about 2000 years ago!

And then, it was time for one of the Big 4 – Etosha National Park. What can you say about Etosha? It’s big – 22,935 sq.kms, it’s mostly desert, it has a huge salt pan in the middle of it – 4,700 sq.kms, and it is home to so much wildlife! Because it’s so big, we spent our first night on the western edge of Etosha and then it took us an entire day to cross the park and reach our accommodation on the eastern edge.

The accommodation were like chalk & cheese! Our first lodge was gorgeous – the rooms were large, with great showers and good WiFi. The food was pretty good too, whereas at our second accommodation – there was no power when we arrived (apparently the transformer blew), which meant that there was no light or water! We were promised a bucket of water for flushing the loo and some drinking water, but it was very slow happening. In fact, it probably wouldn’t have happened if one of our group, Bernd (ex-pat South African, now an Aussie) hadn’t kept on their back! Power was finally restored after 10pm. Incidentally, no power meant no WiFi! And we catered for our own dinner – which was pretty good!

Now to the animals – we saw heaps! Four Black Rhinoceros – which is 0.2% of the world’s population. We saw elephants, zebras, giraffes, mongoose, springbok (not a footballer in sight), kudu, impala, jackals, wildebeest (aka gnus), warthogs, an Etosha lioness with 2 cubs and hartebeest. And we were educated with so many interesting facts about the various animals, by Dihhan, our driver/ranger/guide.

Our final stop in Namibia was on the Caprivi Strip. When you look at the shape of Namibia, it looks like an open hand with the thumb sticking out at the side – this is the Caprivi Strip. We stayed at a lovely spot called Ngepi Camp and our accommodation was “Treehouse #15”, but thankfully, it was a ground floor treehouse! And the bedroom and shower opened on to the river, so Nick got to shake his tushie to the boats that went along the river. It was a beautiful location and sadly, we only stopped there for 1 night.

Our last day in Namibia – we’ve spent 11 nights in this fascinating county and have only scratched the surface. Now it’s time to head to the border. Exiting Namibia was easy but entering Botswana was a bit long-winded. Because of Ebola in the DRC, they are health checking everyone who enters the country – where have you been, temperature, where are you going, etc. We had been warned that the lady in this Botswana Entry Point “gets out on the wrong side of the bed every morning”, so we were warned no talking amongst ourselves while waiting for our stamp. No problem – we all waited quietly, got our stamp and then left the building.

Hallo Botswana!