October 2012
Well here we go again, we just can't keep away. The tickets are booked - Africa here we come again! This time though, it will be without our trusty Hilux which we sold at the end of our last trip.
We have hired from Savanna 4x4 in Windhoek. The vehicle will ressemble the one we built quite a lot, so there shouldn't be any problems with negotiating the African terrain.
We have chosen a Hilux again, because when you have found a winner - it's a good idea to stay with it.
Smiles all round - decision made. First stop Windhoek
Goodbye Silkeborg!
Our trip this time will not be on the same scale as before. We have about 4 months before we return home. The trip as we have planned it looks like this! Start in Namibia, where we have rented a 4x4, Windhoek, Etosha, Kaokavel, Twelfontain. South Africa (Kalahari Gemsbok Nat. park, Augrabies, Karoo, Roiibush, Cederberg, Cape Town, Die Hell, R64, Bavianskloof). Lesotho (Sani Pass). South Africa (Underberg, eShowe, Mfolosi). Swaziland, South Africa (Krüger, Sabie), Botswana (Kasane den 21.1) Chobe, Okavango), Then Windhoek and home 12th of February.
23/10/12
So we are on our way. What a surprise when we arrived in Frankfurt. The next stage of our journey to Johannesburg was to be in the worlds biggest passanger plane - an airbus 380! 800 passengers in one go - wow. The trip was fantastic. You could hardly hear we were taking off. Not much noise from the engines and every comfort inside you could wish for. So much room and they have cameras on the nose and tailplane, so you can follow whats going on from the comfort of your seat.
24/10/12
After arrival in Johannesburg, the fairytale ended. Lufhansa had changed our connection to Namibia and there were no boarding cards for us to pick up at check-in. We ended up running backwards and forwards between Lufthansa's and British Airways offiices, to try and get our boarding cards. None of them really thought it was their problem and their offices were at opposite ends of the airport. British Airways even suggested we bought new tickets. We were really annoyed, because we had contacted Lufthansa before we left Denmark, to tell them was a problem with the connection to Namibia.
Eventually Lufthansa produced two boarding cards, so we had just enough time to get to the gate to get boarded. When we got off the plane at Windhoek airport, we were met with blue skies and a temperature of 34 degrees C.
But on arrival in Windhoek to pick up our rented 4x4, a new nightmare started. - more about that next time I am on line. Now I am off to bed, we are a bit tired.
What had happened with vehicle was that they would block 28.000 rand for damage waiver(insurance risk) over the amount we had agreed for the hire. And then no more money on our creditcard the next month - no good.
We didn't want to reduce the insurance risk on the vehicle because we had it covered on our personal insurance, but Savanna needed to block it for at least a month. We drove away with the vehicle at 11.0am, did a lot of shopping and then on our way to Erongo Plateau Camp in the Erongo mountains.
This camp we have used twice before and is a remote camp out in the bush. Temperature today is 37 degrees C. Luckily it gets abit cooler during the evenings. on the morning of the 26th we went a walk up the mountian to once again see the view from the top. You have to do this early because the temperature soon soars to over 30 degrees C. We saw Kudu, Zebra; Spring Buck and Oryx from the camp.
27/10/12
Left on our way to Otjwarongo where we fueled up and bought a few more items of food etc. Now on our way to Vingerklip near Outjo, but somehow we ended up in Otavi instead, so we had to head for Tsumeb, where we could then continue into Etosha,.after camping at Uris Safari Lodge. We will drive out to Vingerklip on our way down again. We have to camp there.
28-31/10/12
On our way to Etosha today. It is still very hot, with the temperature constantly around 36 degreesC. Etosha is a very special place for us. We always look forward to come here. Entered the reserve at Namotoni where we spent two nights. The first night we had rain, just after we had finished our evening meal. Our coffee we had in the car. after two nights we moved on to Halali which I don't like really. The campsite is just sand, but the pool is okay
Okakuejo, which is the last camp in Etosha and is where I am writing this diary. We arrived today with the temperature again in the mid 30s. We are here until the 2nd of November.
In Etosha at the moment it is very hot, but it rains quite a lot at the moment, so waterholes are appearing all over the place in the bush. This means that animals aren't coming to the recognised holes at the moment. This of course means that we never know if we are going to see anything at all.
Up to now we have seen Elephant, a cheetah, giraffe, zebra, warthog, rhino, lion, springbuck, impala, hyena, kudu, jackal, harder beast. Not too bad, but some of the herds have been small.