February 1-5  2013 Namibia
Onwards towards Namibia. After crossing the border we stopped at Ngepi Camp for the night. A great camp on the banks of a river. It was a great place to relax and it didn't take us long to decide to stay an extra day. We moved though from site one to site three. It gave a little more privacy and and it was more level. We could sit at the camp and gaze up the river. At night we heard the hippos. The camp had reinforced all the banks of the river bordering on the camp and driven 12 cm stakes into the river bottom and wired them. All to stop the hippos choosing to pay us a visit during the night. Good idea!

Discovered that the spare wheel carrier at the back of the vehicle was cracking up and in real danger of falling off, complete with wheel!!! Luckily the camp had a little  workshop complete with a welding machine, so we managed to get it welded together again. Lunch at the camp was a disappointment.
   
Stopped of in Rundo to do some shopping and use the net to update and see our mail.. Bought some meat. Not much selection but we got some minced meat thet looked okay. Off now in the direction of Etosha. We stopped at a community site on the way called Freesleeper Camp.We camped on site 3 which was okay. A school class were camping on 1 & 2 with their teachers.

We were a bit afraid of maybe too much noise coming from their direction, but no, instead we heard the most harmonic singing during the evening. Both the boys and the girl's voices harmonised beautifully together. Karen was talking about going down and saying thanks. Not long before we went to bed the water ran out. I have to say that the community camps quite often don't have complete control of the camp, which is a shame because they will steadily lose guests to other sites. Next day we tried to communicate with reception, but it was impossible to find anyone. Karen talked to a security man, but he could not offer any assistance. Got an sms from Ole and Anette that they  would spend an extra day in Etosha, so we could all snore and eat together and of course exchange a bit of news.

Arrived in Etosha at Namutoni. We had just parked more or less and in came Ole and Anette. We spent two fantastic days in Etosha and we saw more animals than we have done for a long time. I won't make a list, take my word for it - we saw more or less everything, including mating lions and a lake full of Flamingos. Ole and Anette ended up staying two extra days and they didn't regret it.

Not so many days left now before we fly home on the 12th of this month. Drove to Otavi where we camped at Gabus Game Ranch. Unfortunately their campsite up in the mountains had burnt down, but they offered us a chalet at half price which we said yes to. Karen would really liked to have camped, but we didn't have and other possibilities. We enjoyed our stay. We used the pool and had one of the best lunches we have had on this trip. The breakfast which was included, wasn't bad either,

 

6-12/02/13

On the road again towards Waterburg. Picked up some supplies on the way and got to Weavers Rock Lodge and campsite. Great view from the site. We  had met Alex, who runs Weavers Lodge and campsite up in Ipupa in the north of Namibia last year. He invited us to come and visit him, so here we were. He went around with a little pet striped mongoose. It was only a few weeks old, but got on with the dogs at the camp.

We went for a walk to a nearby lake, which turned out to be a disused stone quarry which had filled up with water. We enjoyed staying at the camp, so we took an extra day. We could walk to end of the campsite, where there were chalets which were not rented out, so we used the empty veranda to enjoy the sunset.

A lion in Etosha
 

Alex had recommended a campsite we could stay at, which was basic, but in the mountains, so off we went. The road he had told us it was situated on disagreed with the address Karen found in an accommodation guide we had with us. The problem now was, which road do we take. It was too far to try them both. We followed the guide book and found it, but we couldn't really see the mountains from the campsite. It was further to drive than we had expected.

The site was alongside a dried out river and as the temperature crept up to 39 degrees and no water in the river, we went up to the swimming pool. The pool was okay, but the area around the pool was very much concrete and not a place to sit and enjoy the pool side. We were generally disappointed with the site, so we decided to leave early the next day and try to find something else.  
We chose Etusis Lodge Campsite and this was much better, nice and open and we could glimse the mountains. Nobody in reception when we came, but a local family (a couple and their young daughter) came and bid us welcome. They were looking after things while the guy who normally did it was on holiday. Nice and warm, but windy, which was nice. Karen did some scrambling around on the hills surrounding the camp. I made do with keeping my chair occupied. Karen caught up on some washing. It dries in no time.  
 

We decided that we just had to pay a visit to Erongo Plateau Campsite for one last time - so we did. It was really hot, but again it was a bit breazy, which was very welcome. We saw Kudu, springbuck, warthog and baboons at the water hole we could see from the camp. Nice to see Israel again. He has been at the camp since it strarted in 1990. He keeps things neat and tidy and well maintained, which means such a lot to us campers!

Shame that we had to leave next day, but we had decided that we would drive into Windhoek and get the paperwork on the vehicle done, so we wouldn't have to be in a panic the day after, which is the day we have to fly home. No problems really, so we walked into the centre of Windhoek to have lunch and buy a suitcase, which was very much needed. We spent the last night at Dan Viljoen just outside Windhoek. A nice campsite that has been modernised totally since we were here some years ago. We had a dip in the new swimming pool which was massive and had dinner in the new restaurant. They haven't masterered the art of cooking steaks yet - shame, my Oryx steak was raw. Karen's meat was also raw and even after an attempt by the chef to improve on the situation, it resulted in no change. They still charged us full price, even though we said we were not pleased with the food.

We spent most of the evening packing and deciding what we would leave behind in the way if clothes etc. We dropped it off at a local village on our way into Windhoek the next day.

 

  
The flight home was great, with no delays and good seats on the flight from Joberg to Frankfurt. John, my brother-in-law met us at the airport and Lene and Rikke were at home when we arrived back in Silkeborg. They had prepared lunch. A fantastic homecoming - thanks a lot. It meant a lot to us.

A water crossing in Botswana
 

Well we spent 4 months touring around in South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia. We met, just like we did last time, a lot of fantastic people and after driving 16,000 kms saw again a lot of Africa. Hiring a vehicle was not the success it should have been. Our own vehicle, which was the same model, but had many more kms on the clock and was older, managed 65,000 kms without complaint. The hire company didn't check the vehicle properly before we took it over and we had to take it into a garage to get something repaired, seven times during our four months. Not good enough! I would certainly not recommend hiring a vehicle for longer than 4 weeks, when you are driving in the areas we did.

 
 

See you again soon!