Road Trip Adventures (pt 1)

After leaving Namibia, we started the long journey back to South Africa and began our road trip of the coastline of the bottom of Africa. Of course road trips do not come without hilarity. Here are snippets of some random things that have happened so far.

1) when trying to find a place to stay in Keetmanshoop, Namibia on our way back to S Africa, we had to search for a place at night (its dark in Africa). Once we got off the freeway we kept following signs for 'Bernices Beds', with the actual hostel nowhere to be found. Then as we turn down a random back side street...there it is. Oh, and it flashed too.

2) After stopping in Clanwilliam, South Africa near the Cederberg Mountains (gorgeous!):

we decided to attempt to see these ancient Bushman paintings from the San people (20,000 years ago). So we proceeded up the mountain pass to spend the night and see the paintings in the morning. And lo and behold...

after the hours and hours of endless gravel road driving in Namibia, and HERE is where it happened?!?!? Luckily (very luckily) it was still light out, and the first person we flagged down was able to help us and got the fix-it people out there within 20 min. We were back on our way up the mountain pass within an hour...only to stay at

3) the creepiest cottage ever, run by the creepiest woman ever who lived in the creepiest home ever. This thing was *literally* in the middle of nowhere. And then another 3km from that. Here is what the inside looked like:

Anyways, some wine and card games got us through the evening...although we were nervous that babboons would come in the middle of the night and "mess and break things", as the signs inside indicated they did from time to time.

4) the Bushman paintings and associated hike were actually pretty cool. We even saw our first animal in the wild, a huge antelope thing (scary). Here was our fave painting, "dancing ladies":

5) a note about hostels and the people you meet...so far, we've met an Isreali Rastafarian dude who bought a motorbyke in Ethiopia and proceeded to drive it through the Congo all the way to Namibia (!), 3 German ladies who wouldn't shut up, and last night our dorm-mate sounded like a beached humpback whale, as his snoring was shaking the entire place. Fun...

Onwards to the Wine Country for the weekend - so far we've tasted at 12 wineries :) - now headed to the actual coast (on the water) for a few more days of relaxation...rough life!! :)

Sand Dunes, Fish River Canyon, goodbye Namibia.

We woke up early the next morning to head down to Sesriem (where we see dunes and the Namib desert). Little did we know what the drive held in store for us - what was "supposed" to take 4-5 hours took around 7, since the roads were all like this:










After a wonderful night spent in our tent (i.e. our car) we drove into the park before sunrise and climbed Dune 45, which is about halfway between our campsite and Soussevlei (the famous area in the park). The gravel road, "sleep" in the car, and super early wake up were all worth it!! Needless to say our cameras got a workout that morning.










(youtube link to come showing the scene around the park)

After exploring Soussevlei and Dead Vlei (we think 'vlei' means 'flats') and a failed attempt to climb the world's tallest sand dune (sand was flying everywhere, so windy!) we decided to start heading back south, so the rest of the day was more driving. The next day we went to the world's second largest canyon, Fish River Canyon. While we were hoping for a day hike or something (no dice), we were nonetheless impressed by the canyon - it was beautiful!











Without a day hike to do, we actually gained a day on our road trip "itinerary" and headed back for South Africa, where road trip hilarity ensued...

A day of Animals.

Last night (Saturday the 21st) we saw a gorgeous sunset and had a couple of 'classy' drinks at a beachside bar:

After which we celebrated our one-week anniversary in Africa at what locals supposedly call the best restaurant in town, the Tug restaurant. It was a great meal with the exception of the worst service ever (and the table smoking next to us).

Sunday we had an animal-filled day. In the morning, we went on a dolphin/seal tour and learned more about the marine life in Walvis Bay (which is south of Swakopmund, and has British rather than German influence). We got really lucky and saw quite a bit, including humpback whales!!

The seals in the bay are quite familiar with the tour operators...some even jumped onto our boat (and posed for pictures). One was named Google and was the cutest damn thing:

Later that evening we went on a bit of a horseback ride through the 'Moon Landscape' which is outside of Swakopmund. The environment is very strange and supposedly like the moon - very dry, weird bumps and rocks, etc.










Since we haven't posted in some time we'll break up the reading and post the rest of Namibia tomorrow as well as what adventures we've had since.