January 29, 2012 Enter Namibia at Noordoewer

     So far, we are enjoying some of the best campsites I have ever seen.  Our first night was at a campsite in wine country, known as Citrusdal, South Africa.  We parked our tent beside a fence of beautiful grapevines literally drooping with grapes, in spite of the support they were on.  The owner of the campground was Sparky (in my mind a look-alike to Sting).  After travelling 290 km. from Cape Town, we were all drenched in our own perspiration.  The monster truck is not airconditioned by traditional standards, from our experience.  African airconditioning means windows are down.  This translates into a sensation much like putting a hairblower on high and holding it in front of your face.  It evaporates any liquid that may be sitting on your skin, at very least.  Imagine how thrilled and excited we were to learn there was a swimming pool.  Within minutes, we were all in the pool.  Soooooo refreshing!!!! From the pool we slipped into some shorts and straight to the wine tasting table and then a very tasty dinner of chicken and local cooked veggies, more wine and plenty of good travel stories to share.  We slept very well that night.  In fact, the air temperature changed to the point where we actually woke up feeling cold. 
     Yesterday (Saturday), we drove 540 km., to the border.  HOOOOOLLLLYYYY!! The temperature from about 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.  is verrrrrry hooooootttttt!  Yesterday was 48 degrees C.  Oh ya, the main goal here is to stay hydrated.  We begin the day with the intent to chug a litre of water.  Noo African Hospitals for us, thank you very much.  Our guide told us that if we don't keep ourselves hydrated we could end up in the hospital with an IV while everyone waits 10 hours.  Ya, and lets not talk about the side affects of that special IV. Shiver me timbers!!!  We arrived here at Noordoewer, on the banks of the Orange River, Namibia.  It is beautiful; like an oasis in the middle of a very rugged, dry desert.  Again, we swam and enjoyed African refreshments while our cook brewed a feast for us.  The bedtime warning was to be careful of scorpions.   Fear of the black bear is non-existent; welcome scorpion to LA fear factor.  In fact, I was up at 6:00 a.m., and thought I was first in the shower, but NO.  As I stepped out, I was greeted by a big, juicy, frisky scorpion.  As I tried to walk around it and avoid it, the darn thing pursued me and hustled after me.  Feeling quite foolish, I ran, hid behind the washroom stall and watched while it turned around and went in a different direction. Crisis avoided!
     Today we are on our way to the Fish River Canyon, second largest canyon in the world.  The plan is to be at the Canyon by sunset.  Since we will be in a bush camp it may be a little while before I am able to update the blog.     

January 27, 2012 En route to Namibia

     As I write this blog, we are on our way from Cape Town to the border of Namibia, close to the coastline.  We are with a group of eight people from various parts of the world; a great group of people. Our bus looks more like a giant monster truck and I'm pretty sure it can steer us throiugh anything we may come across in the next 44 days.  If this was at the Fair Grandstand, I think it could drive over anything in front of it.
     Our last day in Cape Town was a good adventure.  We met a taxi driver named Fungai.  He ia a 26 year old boy from Zimbabwe with a big dream.  His dream is to make enough money in South Africa driving a taxi so that he can buy a truck and go hoome, where he can find a good job using his truck.  I thought for sure that he had chnged his name to Fun Guy, but when I pronounded his name that way, I was corrected.  Soooo, Fungai it is.  We negotiated a price and he drove us along the coastline to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope.  Along the way he stopped several times to gaze at the views and take pictures.  He used his Blackberry and said he was collecting pitures for Face Book because his friends in Zimbabwe would not believe he was seeing such beauty.  I think Fungai enjoyed the day as much as we did, as it was the first time he had ever been to Cape Point.  Along the way we brainstormed ways he could access money in exchange for transportation.  Ed promised to give him a good reference on Trip Advisor online.  We have so many pictures to use but the machine I'm on right now doesn't have the plug-ins I need to upload them.  Someday, soon, maybe! 

The Cape Town Experience

Wow!!!  It has been a packed full week.  By now we are both comfortable with our environment and in full travel mode.  In Cape Town, on our first day, we sort of wandered around, bumping into ourselves and looking for our comfort zone on the Waterfront.  We ventured across the ocean to Robben Island where we were amazed by the stories told from a past political prisoner alongside Nelson Mandela.  I experienced my first sea sick challenge and felt very proud that I was able to keep all poisons in the right place for the duration of the journey. Tuesday we rode the double decker bus to Table Mountain and enjoyed the spectacular views of the coastline along the way.  We have been fortunate to have clear blue skies.  In the evening we took the same bus to the top of Signal Hill and took in a very attractive sunset.  Wednesday we walked through an extensive botanical garden and toured through more areas of Cape Town by bus.  Today, we hired a taxi driver we met a couple days ago.  He enjoyed the day as much as we did.  He took us to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope. Our taxi driver's name is Fungai, a 26 year old fellow from Zimbabwe with a dream. He is saving money to buy a truck so he can go home and make more money.  He was as much a tourist today as we were, taking in the views of the coastline for the first time along with us.  Tonight, we met the group we will be travelling with for the next 44 days; a group of very like-minded people seeking safe adventure and good laughs and in pursuit of some animal sitings.  We all went out for dinner tonight and are ready to start our adventure tomorrow at noon.  I understand that there will be plenty of opportunity along the way to update this blog. 

What's The Plan?????

JANUARY 2012 has arrived and with it the anticipation of backpacking in Africa.  Careful planning has lead us to explore Cape Town for a few days before meeting our overland group, Dragoman.  The plan is to travel with Dragoman from Cape Town to Arusha over the course of 44 days.  In Arusha we meet our porters who will lead us on our journey up Mount Meru.  From Mount Meru and a safe descent, we fly to Zanzibar for rest and recovery before flying home sweet home.