Through South Africa and Into the Namibian Desert

May 5, 2015

We are 4 days into our 42 day overland safari and it has been awesome so far. The scenery is beautiful and we are having a great time with our group.

We have lucked out and there are only 6 people in our tour. The bus is made to fit 24, so we have tons of space to spread out and we are not a bit crowded. We started the trip on Sunday when we left Cape Town first thing in the morning. The first thing we did was to stop outside of town so that we could see a view of Table Mountain in the distance. Unfortunately, it was pretty cloudy, so we didn’t have a great view, but as we drove for a while, it cleared up for the day and we had fantastic views of the vineyards and other great landscapes. That first night, we camped at Highlanders Vineyard. The owner had two kids, so Hayden had a great time playing with them on the trampoline and swing set. We did a wine tasting (Hayden had soda…lol), and we watched an amazing moon rise. It was our first night of camping, so we had to practice putting up our tents. They are really comfortable with the sleeping mats, so I think we will be good to go for the next 42 days!

South African landscape

Sunset over South Africa

Moon rise in South Africa

Our home for 42 days

After spending a chilly night at the vineyard, we packed up and started to head to the South Africa/Namibia border. We spent the night on the Orange River just across the border from Namibia. We had a nice early night after all of the driving, then got up in the morning to cross the border. Once across into Namibia, we went to the Fish River Canyon, which is the second largest canyon in the world (the Grand Canyon is the first). It was really neat. We were there at sunset which was beautiful. I wish the sunset pictures had turned out better! Back at camp, Hayden was designated as the camp first starter, so he got us up and running so that we could have marshmallows after dinner…his favorite part! As far as the food goes, it has been fantastic! We had hoped to lose weight while we were here, but I don’t think that’s going to happen with our cook…he is amazing!