May 10, 2015

We have spent the last few days in Swakopmund, Namibia.  It has been nice to have a little break and down time during the days here.  We are staying in a hostel instead of in tents, but we actually kind of miss the tents!  They are really comfortable with the sleep mats and we like having our regular cook better than going out for meals.  The first day we got here was mostly running errands.  We stocked up on water and found a doctor and pharmacy where we could get Malaria medication.  The clinic in the States didn’t think the Malaria pills were that big of a deal (plus they were insanely expensive because they’re not covered by insurance), but they told us here that we really need them.  The total cost for 10 weeks of pills, plus a doctors visit for the three of us was a whopping $80…we would have paid 10x that at home!!

Our big day was on Saturday…we went sandboarding just outside of the city.  It was awesome!  Hayden was super brave and went completely on his own.  We did seven different runs, and had a great time.  The company put together a really cool video of the day, but it’s a huge file, so I can’t upload it…we will have to have a screening when we get home.  lol

Hayden and Steve after a practice run on the sand board

Sandboarding…Adam hit 73 km/hr

Sandboarding…I hit 73 km/hr

Hayden hit 70 km/hr!!!

We had two runs where they clocked our speeds.  The first run, we were at about 45 km/hr on the first run and 73 km/hr on the second run.  Adam and I tied for the fastest speeds and even Hayden casme in a 70 km/hr!  He said it was SO AWESOME!  🙂  After a day of sandboarding, we had LOTS of sand in our shoes!!

Lots of sand in the shoes!

That afternoon, at Hayden’s request, we visited the Crystal Gallery.  It turned out to be pretty cool.  The museum was all about the local gems and stones that can be found in Namibia.  They had some beautiful types of stones that we had never even heard of and a ton of huge Quartz clusters on display.  Hayden has decided that he wants to start mining for gems (especially diamonds) when we get back home.  🙂

Largest Quartz cluster on display in the world!

That’s a lot of Quartz

In the cave

MIning for treasure

We are sitting in the lobby of the hostel now and getting ready to depart for our next destination.  We are getting pretty excited to get into a few of the game parks over the next few days.  We are working our way to Etosha now where we expect to see the “Big Five” (Elephants, Rhino, Lion, Cape Buffalo, and Leopards)…the adventure continues!

May 7, 2015

Namibia has been an unexpectedly beautiful country.  We didn’t really know what we expected to see here, but we are definitely glad to have come through.  The desert landscape is beautiful and there are plenty of animals to see.  So far we have seen Mountain Zebras, Oryx, Springboks, Wildebeests, Jackals, and plenty of different birds.

Mountain zebras

Mountain zebra

Oryx along the road

Wildebeest along the road

We visited another canyon, the Sesriem Canyon.  It was smaller than the Fish River Canyon, but because it was a dry river, we could go hiking along the inside.  We made it to the back where there was a pool that has fish and where the baboons and hyenas come to drink in the mornings.  The fish that live here will remain in the pools until all of the water has dried up, then they will dig into the mud and can live for YEARS without any water.  There are actually stories about the mud being used to build huts and then when it rains, the fish come back to life and will swim out of the side of the hut…crazy!

Canyon in Sesriem

Rock climbing

Canyon in Sesriem

Canyon in Sesriem

I think the best part about Namibia are the beautiful sunsets and night skies.  The stars are absolutely amazing.  I don’t think I have ever seen the Milky Way with the naked eye before, but it is clear as day out here without any light pollution.  We got the constellation app for Hayden and we can pick out nearly every constellation because they are so clear.  Unfortunately, out camera is not quite nice enough to get pictures of the sky, but I could get some good shots of the sunset.

Sunset over Namibia

After getting into some canyons, we made it into the actual desert the next day.  We spent the day at Dune 45 where we climbed the HUGE sand dune.  It was really cool to make it to the top and to see all of the sand dunes around us.  The sand was really red, so it’s different than you might picture for the desert.  Hayden was a great sport and made it to the top without even a complaint.  Actually, he was faster than me on the way up…lol.

Dune 45 in Namibia

View from the top of Dune 45

Hold on!! 🙂

Top of Dune 45

Sand dune conquerors

On the top on a sand dune

We had a fun (but tiring!) day climbing to the top.  We went back to camp that night for dinner and will take off tomorrow for Swakopmund where we are going to go sandboarding in the dunes!

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!

View from our tent

Cool desert tree

Fish River Canyon

Tour group at Fish River Canyon

Fish River Canyon

Setting up to make the campfire

Campfire!!

Time for marshmallows!

From Fish River Canyon, we will be continuing up the coast of Namibia for the next few days.