On safari - part 2

We headed north east from Etosha to up near the Angolan border to allow us to reach the crossing to Botswana. Soon after leaving the park we crossed the "vet line" -a fence that stretches the full width of Namibia and has been maintained since 1905 as a boundary to prevent diseases in the cattle of the north impacting the farmed herds of the south. I'd read it was an economic divide but was surprised by the abruptness of it; south of the line, whilst very arid and in many cases empty and unpopulated,  it had been a land of small towns, both substantial old white towns and more insubstantial black and coloured dominated towns; whilst, to the north, it was suddenly African villages from the pages of National Geographic,  groups of small reed huts inside small fenced compounds.  There was a palpable change in the orderliness of it all and an obvious drop in average income level - poverty in the south had been disguised by the existence of a slightly richer up and coming group, here in the north that layer was largely absent and the basic subsistence level of many people's life much more obvious.

In Botswana we headed towards two of the main game parks - first Meremi,  then Chobe.  Botswana has a different policy towards game park tourism compared with Namibia's mass market approach,  they prefer low volume- high value tourists.  Here it's quite easy to pay several thousand dollars a night for the lodges and equal amounts for the extra such as fly in/ fly out. Tourists like us in 4x4 are catered for, but to a much lower level and still at a stiff price; bare bones camp sites in the national parks were between  US$30 and US $50 per person per night (plus daily park entry fees).  The upside though was we had some fantastic individual animal sightings in the parks; up close and personal within 2 or 3 metres of two elephants grazing on a freshly pushed over tree was off highlight,  as was another  when we found ourselves  driving (carefully) through a herd of 40 spread across the width of the road.  But it wasn't just elephants, we saw giraffes, zebra, hippo, wildebeest and countless types of antelope type animals.

Driving around,  and between,  the parks also brought the 4x4 into play, with lots of thick sand to negotiate. We managed to avoid getting bogged (sometimes only just) and even managed to tow out someone who was.  Great fun,  I can now better appreciate the fun of 4x4 driving - something to do when I decide I'm too old for bikes?

Safari - lite

Over the last week we've continued or way north through Namibia with our first destination being to see stone age rock carvings at Twyfelfontain. Many are 6000 years old so go back to the middle of the stone ages.

These carvings remind me of how long man has been wandering this planet; but also make me wonder- it took nearly 100,000 years for early homo-sapiens to reach this stage of deliberate painting, it took another 8000 years to reach the industrial revolution,  only 200 more to the computer; are we capable of successfully managing this  the current exponentially increasing pace of change? It's a thought I've had before but seeing the disparity between the average locals lifestyle and what most aspire to (courtesy of today's instant communications), the scarcity of resources and the obvious fragility of the local environment makes it more obvious and worrying.

Enough philosophizing. After  that it was on to see one of the major drawcards of the country, Etosha National Park, described by the Lonely Planet guide for southern Africa, as one of the must sees of the region because of the density and diversity of animals in a comparatively small area.

On the way Megan undertook a little retail therapy local style.

Etosha didn't disappoint, it is "safari lite" and set up for mass tourism, not a remote wilderness experience where you have to spend all day battling to get somewhere,  but for us it was perfect; when you start getting slightly blasé about seeing another elephant, zebra, rhino or giraffe you know you've been spoilt.

We spent three nights all told in the park, each at a different  campsite - slowly working our way from the parks west side to its east. Each campsites is in reality a large fenced resort with both chalets and camping areas available located next to a large water hole where you are almost guaranteed to see animals, especially now at the dry time of the year. You are shut in at night,  but during the day free to roam the roads and tracks. Each days routine was similar; up early to go to the waterhole adjacent to the camp, then spending the cooler hours at each end of the day driving around between the other waterholes of the park simply seeing what was on the move. There's a real excitement in turning a corner and seeing the animals of your childhood picture books simply strolling across the plain, or sometimes the road,  in front of you.

Now it is onwards to Botswana where we're hoping that we'll see more game including the big cats which have elude us so far.  (And hopefully by then I'll have worked out how to get the much better photos I have on my camera as well as these from my phone on to the blog)

Wandering north playing the tourist.

Now in Namibia after a very easy border crossing and slowly heading north to the game parks.

On the way through we stopped first at Fish River Canyon, the second (or third, depending on which source you read) largest after the Grand Canyon.  Impressive gouge in the earth's landscape - and apart from 50m either side of the minimal visitors centre not a safety rail to be seen to stop you plummeting 550m at the deepest point. Parked on the rim to watch sunset you took great care making sure you selected reverse as you moved off.

After the canyon it was on to Sosouvlei to see the sand dunes of the Namibian red desert. Again reputedly some of the largest in the world, but after Morocco and the Sahara at Christmas for me a bit of a disappointment, predominantly not because of the dunes themselves, but because how controlled the access was. No driving off the access road, no climbing the dunes except at a fixed tourist point. You were very much the herded tourist and felt you might have well come by bus. (Could have been worse though, they didn't even let motorbikes into the park, so if we'd been on those we would have had to go in by bus).

At the moment we've reached Walvis Bay on the coast. The Lonely Planet guide book struggles to find any positive contents about is architecture but I quite like it in its own way, it's a (relatively) buddy commercial town getting on with life and after a diet of tourist sites that's rather nice. The one tourist thing in town, and part of the reason we're here, is that it also features one of the largest concentrations of flamingoes in its bay.

To end on a much more positive note the roads here have been great. Vast majority are gravel but generally good condition so progress is reasonably rapid. Scenery is constantly changing, but here in the southern half of the country very dry and arid. A scenery lots of people find boring but generally I don't mind as there are always slow changes happening.

A night in police custody

Well Megan and I made it safely to Cape Town and after a couple of days of playing tourist picked up our very flash 4x4 camper which is to be home for the next month.

First stop,  Cape of Good Hope which we saw through mist and rain,  then onto a penguin filled beach - all good fun and exactly what we hoped for.

OK now to find a caravan park - ah the Cape Town area ones all shut to newcomers at 5pm, where are we to stay we ask? Don't know, don't care is the response. After driving around we end up beyond the outskirts of town considering a local beachside area but then the police turn up and say no. A bit of sweet talking,  and they agree we can stop and they say they'll even check on us every hour. A couple of hours later their back (just after we're fast asleep), a change of mind, no you can't stay here we're worried about your safety.  Any way long story short, we were asked to come back to the local police compound where we are invited to spend the night. Can't imagine the Australian police making that offer. Unfortunately they would not let me take their photo, but here is the car in the compound.

And finally a few more shots as we start to move north from Cape Agulhas,  Africa's southernmost point towards Namibia.

Messing about in boats

Ratty said in the book Wind in the Willows that "there is nothing as much fun as messing about in boats". That might be stretching the truth a bit,  but it is great fun. Just spent a very pleasant week cruising the Norfolk Broads on a hire boat with my girlfriend Megan,  my father, and my youngest son Duncan and his girlfriend Laura. Life at 3 miles per hour, alternating stopping at riverside pubs for lunch or dinner with meals cooked by Duncan and Laura is very relaxing.

A few photos to whet your appetite (sorry for bad pun).

Starting again.

Well after much talk I'm finally getting near to starting my trans-africa trip. The final plan is to do a "Cape to Cape" starting at Cape Town, South Africa and then meandering north on the bike to Egypt (and hopefully Israel if border politics permit) before heading back into Europe and heading up to North Cape in Norway. This will be a nice complement to the east-west I did across Russia and Europe in 2011.

So far the bike has been brought out of its hibernation in my father back garden, successfully test run around the UK and delivered to the shippers. All being well it will appear in Cape Town in late October.

In between now and then I have a week's boating holiday in the UK planned and then 4 weeks in a 4x4 driving around South Africa, Namibia and Botswana with my girl friend (a safer way of doing game parks than motor bike).