Friday 30th May 2008

Today we rolled into Swakopmond for 3 days of relaxing and fun. Played pool with my little shark son and had a great evening with our tour buddies at a nice Italian restaurant – a very civilised part of Africa.
Thursday 29th May 2008
Continuing south and creeping closer to our 3 day respite from the truck in Swakopmond, we arrive in the early afternoon and camp overnight in the Spitzkoppe desert, which is very similar to the countryside between Karratha and Broome, dead flat for as far as the eye can see except for the huge rocky outcrops that sit like God’s leftovers of some mountain range somewhere else on the planet. We are told to zip up our tents because of scorpions and snakes, again, not unlike back home. We spent the afternoon climbing the massive rock that we are camped next to and the evening around a campfire watching “traditional, cultural” dancing and singing which entailed 4 girls and a guy wrapped in springbok skin singing TV ads in their VERY cool language. Seriously, they sang TV ads. Toyota Cressida, Omo and one that required the guy to pretend he was a rooster in the morning, cock-a-doodle-doing and humping one of the hens. Absolutely bizarre. But again it has to be said that although there was nothing traditional OR cultural about it except for maybe the springbok skins, their language is awesome. They use clicks and kissing sounds in their words like the Kalahari do, who live east of here. Their harmonies were pretty cool too, I liked it. Pete

Wednesday 28th May 2008
As we head south towards Swakopmond on Namibia’s west coast, we stopped for the afternoon and night at a cheetah park. These cheetahs have all been captured and are kept here because they were killing farmer’s goats and/or sheep and it was either this or a farmer’s bullet. So these are real, live, wild, bad boys and we get to pat them and watch them being fed donkey meat. It truly is amazing being this close to such powerful animals. Pete

Tuesday 27th May 2008
Another great game drive as we left Etosha national park. The highlight being a pride of 6 lions that we startled and they all ran to take shelter in a drainage pipe underneath the road, but not before we got some great shots! All up we saw 14 lions today. Woo hoo! Pete

Monday 26th May 2008
Another early start as we head for Etosha National Park where the camp ground is situated right next to a water hole. The group did an afternoon game drive but Kaz and I opted to stay and watch the waterhole from the viewing platform, another decision that was validated when the others got back having only seen a few springbok and giraffe, while we watched as 3 jackals, then 3 warthogs came for a drink. We then went to “the fort” for a glass of wine and a family of 4 mongooses fossicked around our feet looking for crumbs. Since we were on a roll with our “staying behind” policy, we also opted out of the night game drive (and saved $75 per person) and once again sat by the waterhole, this time with a glass of red in hand. Now, to get this story into perspective, when we left Australia we were told by everyone in the know that it would be highly unlikely that we would see a leopard, the most elusively shy animal of the “big 5” in Africa and sure enough, after nearly 7 weeks the closest we have gotten is 200m in the Serengeti and even then he was just a silhouetted shape in a tree (We used someone else’s photo who was in a different car). So, we wandered over to the now floodlit waterhole and before we even sat down, a magnificent, large leopard walked right across in front of us to the water, had a drink, then slinked into the long grass and reeds. Decision validated! Unfortunately, the lighting wasn’t enough for our little Cannon camera to get a decent photo, but the image will stay in my mind forever. Pete

The Cannon Ixus 75’s brilliant night vision

highlights the leopard perfectly!

Sunday 25th May 2008
Today is “Africa Day” and we’re off to Namibia which means another 5.30 wake up and early start in case we get held up for hours at the border crossing, which as it turned out was unnecessary as we breezed through the border and arrived at our campsite on the Namibian/Angolan border mid-afternoon and settled in for an enjoyable night including Kaz & I having a wonderful and encouraging chat and prayer with our tour guide, Malou, and then hustling the rest of our gang at pool – what a team! Pete

Saturday 24th May 2008
Today our decision not to go into the Delta was completely validated as our tour buddies returned after 2 nights out there reporting that in 10 hours of game walks they saw nothing but a few impala and heaps of animal droppings! Our scenic flight this afternoon however was much more rewarding as we got to see the magnificent maze of waterways that make up the Okavango Delta complete with elephants, buffalo, zebra, crocs, hippos and of course, impala. The kids loved the small plane, Elijah imagining himself in a Star Wars fighter ship as the pilot dived and climbed steeply in some fun aerial manoeuvres, although Maddi was imagining herself more in a tiny ship in a rolling ocean but fortunately did not fill the sick bag she was staring into. Pete.

Thursday – Friday 22nd & 23rd May 2008
Several things have conspired to cause us to make the decision not to go into the Okavango Delta with the rest of our tour buddies. The big factor influencing our decision is Elijah’s hand. He is in great spirits but it is quite a severe burn and the risk of falling off the mocoro (small wooden canoe) into the water is quite high (fun for those without burn dressings). They also do game WALKS! HELLO? I saw what the lion “cubs” did when they caught sight of Elijah, ie went into kill mode since he is small and their natural instinct is to pick off the young from a herd. Also, there is a high possibility that you won’t see any game anyway which means the highlight of the 3 days would be the mocoro ride and at $700 for the family, that makes for a very expensive boat ride! So, it’s 3 days of maths, emails, volleyball and family time. Pete