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.