In most African towns and cities there are plenty of curio and souvenir shops, a lot of them tacky and often overpriced and Windhoek was no exception, we did however find tucked away in an old renovated warehouse that once housed a brewery, the Namibia crafts centre. This place sold only artifacts and souvenirs made... Continue Reading →
We got our liquid back in the bar when we got back after cooling the bodies in the cool water of the pool. There were three tour guides in there. They were actually running an overlander full of middle-aged Belgium and Dutch tourists. We got chatting and had a bit of banter. One of them... Continue Reading →
Sunup was at 6.30 am and we were first in line at the gate for the 4.45 opening except they actually didn't open until five. It took one hour to get to within 4 kilometres of Sossusvlei. From here the road is only suitable for 4WD or feet. We only had the latter and it... Continue Reading →
The Desert is inhospitable place when it's sunny & hot, when it's raining and windy and still hot it's pretty much the same. We had a day and a night to kill before our next booked accommodation at Sesriem (I'll get to that later) so we found an obscure camping ground called Betheseda on the... Continue Reading →
We had actually booked a campsite for the next day but took a chance that they had a vacancy for that night. That almost backfired when the camp manager said that they were fully booked but then went on to say, "I think we can make a plan". Strange sort of saying that! I had... Continue Reading →
Civilization is the Sesriem campsite, located on the Namib Naukluft National Park boundary. We had already worked out that if, like all keen photographers, we wanted to see these dunes at sunrise, we had to stay here. Access to the park gate is through the campsite. The park gate opens at 5 am the camp... Continue Reading →
Strangely enough the train actually got into Windhoek at 6.15 am, on time! We had managed to sleep a little despite the noise and the fact that my seat leaned to one side and changed on its own accord from recline to upright once in a while. That’s the thing about Africa the colonialists had... Continue Reading →
Diamonds were discovered around Luderitz relatively late in 1908. The Orange River and some of the islands off the coast had yielded some good results from around 1866. A chance discovery by a railway worker sparked off a 'diamond rush' and the establishment of Kolmanskop. In its heyday it supported a wealthy, mainly German, population... Continue Reading →
Luderitz is the arsehole of the world! I'm sorry, I know that there are plenty of people who live there and love the place but I had to say it! Someone, somewhere decided that they would put Luderitz about 350 kilometres from anywhere on the way to nowhere and then have the gall to make... Continue Reading →
