Patty & Mark's Namibia trip with a little bit of South Africa

Gorgeous photos and I love your accommodations. Those chameleons are my favorite.

The chameleons are fantastic. You saw so many. I've looked at Swakopmund and Desert Homestead. Beautiful dunes.

Welcome home!

Welcome Back Patty!!!!!

Those photographs look amazing! And pet meerkats!!!!
I can't wait to read your report.

Imelda

Beautiful photos Patty! I loved the goat in the alcove, and the chameleons are great. And I'm with Imelda - PET MEERKATS!! WoW!

Looking forward to your report. Did you feel that your desert locations were "too" similar? Were you happy with the game you saw?

Cyn

Welcome back, Patty. And thank you for sharing the wonderful photos. I cannot wait to get back there next September!

Pics are great. thnx.

What a great set of photos from Namibia -- you even had a photo of the place where I stayed (Sossosvlei Lodge). A really nice shot of a porcupine -- I've seen a few, but haven't been able to get a photograph of an African porcupine (I did get a photo of a porcupine in Denali this Summer).

Michael

Background: September 2006, I was one month into planning a Zimbabwe trip. Paul (kimburu) and I were emailing each other about our upcoming Kenya trips when out of the blue, he brought up something about his trip to Namibia next year. Namibia? The thought of Namibia never even occurred to me and I knew nothing about the destination (other than that’s where the big dunes are). The next few email exchanges started the ball rolling with very dangerous little snippets coming from Paul such as:

Sounds like a nice trip to Zimbabwe... but let me tell you that you could be in BIG trouble. Namibia is a wonderfully attractive destination, and I'm afraid cost is not going to be an issue - it is perfect for you - just full of places like El Karama and Petra's place.

If you don't want to go there yet, stay away from information....

You're doomed once you get the Bradt guide and get planning.

How could I resist such a sales pitch from someone who hadn’t even gone there yet?

During this time, it was also taking the Zim people a while to get back to me and I found my Zim trip gradually morphing into a Namibia trip. When the Namibia planning started in earnest, we knew that wanted an approximately 2 week self drive and initially I’d come up with several itinerary permutations hitting the usual places (i.e. Etosha, Damaraland, Sossusvlei) until I realized this would entail some marathon driving that we weren’t really up for.

We decided that we would concentrate on the south and save other locations for another trip (the dunes and desert scenery being what initially intrigued us about Namibia more so than the game viewing) and limit our drives to no more than 3-4 hours. On this front, we succeeded in our planning on all but the drive to our last destination which took 6 hours. But we also had a couple of drives which were only 2 or so hours in length and one of those would’ve been even shorter had we not had to stop 3 times along the way to re-wire our trunk lid shut!

Since we were using miles for our airline tickets and the closest we could get to Namibia on Skyteam was South Africa, I couldn’t resist adding a few days there. After entertaining a few possibilities we settled on Franschhoek which seemed like the perfect place to relax, get over jet lag, see some sights, eat some good food and drink some wine while slowly easing into our vacation.

Oops, I messed up the formatting. How I long for an edit function!

Thanks for the nice comments, everybody!

Cyn,
No, each location was so different from the other that I didn't feel that way. See my first installment reur thoughts for this trip. Game viewing wasn't the priority but we saw more than I thought we would.

Argh again on the accidental smiley.

What a great beginning to what promises to be a classic report! We are headed for Akademie Street Guesthouse in two days so I am interested in your comments on your stay in the area..where you ate, what you did while there, etc.

Waiting to read more!! Thanks for the amazing photos!!

The first photo I saw was "retrieving one of our hub caps that was rolling down the road". You enjoyed that road too, then?

I like the pictures a lot. I'm not sure you need a trip report.

Welcome back Patty!

I've looked at two of the sets, wonderful pictures! Those spiders gave me the creepy crawlers when I was researching Namibia before going - I am SO glad I never saw one! They were definitly one of the reasons I opted not to climb up Dune 7, I was terrified I would fall down in the sand and find myself face to face with one!

Before I go further, why didn’t anyone warn me about the coffee in Namibia We found bad coffee, marginally drinkable coffee, and that whole other category of coffee known as instant Had I known almost every place we stayed had water boiling facilities in the room (and the ones that didn’t brought a thermos of hot water each morning), we would’ve brought our own French press and coffee. We thought about buying some in Swakopmund but not being familiar with any of the brands, didn’t think we’d have any better luck that way. OK coffee rant over.

Planning: Our trip was self booked. I reserved a car online through hertz.com and emailed each lodge directly starting in October of last year. The majority of our itinerary was finalized in November and we had no problems getting our first choice of accommodations by booking this far in advance. Starting in early August I emailed each lodge just to reconfirm and ask a few questions, everything was in order and things went very smoothly throughout the trip.

Franschhoek/Cape region – We arrived at CPT on the KL flight around 9:30pm to find that one of our bags didn’t make the flight. No problem as we still had the other bag and packed stuff in each others bags. 2 days later, the missing bag caught up with us. BTW CPT has the friendliest and politest baggage reps I’ve ever encountered. Outside customs, we were met by John from Big Blue Sky Tours (recommended by Katherine at Akademie Street) for the transfer to Franschhoek. We were pretty late exiting due to the baggage issues and I think he was a bit worried about us. I got some ZAR from the ATM and off we went. It was close to midnight by the time we arrived at Akademie Street where Arthur welcomed us and showed us to our cottage, Gelatenheid.

Gelatenheid is the largest cottage at Akademie Street, two stories with an upstairs bedroom, an indoor and outdoor bath tub and a small, private pool (which the other cottages also have). Our accommodations were even better than I expected based on the photos I’d seen on their website. Arthur and Katherine are wonderful hosts and have really paid attention to the details, including such items as a cell phone in each cottage for guest’s use, fridge stocked with drinks and fruit and snacks in the kitchenette (all included and replenished daily), a printout of the weather forecast when we arrived, and many other little things that provide convenience and make your stay more enjoyable. The breakfasts here are great starting with yogurt, muesli and a plate of fresh fruit. One morning I counted 17 different types of fruit on the plate! After that, it’s whatever you want. I asked for a cheese plate one morning and got a nice selection of different local cheese. Hot breakfast items cooked to order are also available including different types of local sausages. I could go on about this place but suffice to say that they know how to take good care of their guests!

On our first full day, we just walked around Franschhoek (Akademie Street is in the village), did some shopping and browsing, went to a potter’s studio (there are several arts and crafts studios and galleries with a map highlighting these places available locally), and relaxed in our cottage with a long, hot bath.

The next day, John took us on a tour of Cape Town and Cape Point. The day started out with heavy rain but cleared by mid-morning and we had the most beautiful skies. On arrival, Mark had mentioned to John that he builds guitars, so John had made arrangements for us to stop and visit the workshop of Marc Maingard (a quite world renown luthier and friend of John’s). Marc had recently relocated to just outside of the Cape of Good Hope nature reserve and was gracious enough to meet us there, even though he hadn’t planned to be there that day, to give us a tour. Aside from that, of course, we went to the usual tourist sites but that was the highlight of Mark’s day.

On our third day, we toured the Winelands with John. I had mentioned that I didn’t really know wine and that the difference between a good bottle of wine and a great bottle of wine would be lost on me, so asked to include a couple of locations that were either particularly scenic or had some other elements. We ended up going to Fairview, Muratie and Waterford and I was very happy with the choices. John actually had one other location picked out for us where they do olive oils tastings, but we cut our tour short so we could head back to Akademie Street early and enjoy the place as it’s such a shame to spend time away. The day was warm and sunny enough to sunbathe by the pool.

As for restaurants, we dined at the Tasting Room, Bouillabaisse, and Le Bon Vivant. Out of the 3, our favorite was Bouillabaisse in terms of food quality and preparation. The restaurant is very small so it’s essential to book ahead. I posted more restaurant comments in this thread if anyone is interested http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=4&tid=34947213 There you’ll find many differing comments about the same restaurants which may be helpful (or just confusing) as people tend to disagree on such things and any place can have an off night.

Our 4 nights in Franschhoek were the perfect beginning to our trip!

ekscrunchy,
Hope you enjoy your stay as much as we did! You'll have to report back on what restaurants you tried and what you thought of them.

Paul,
Where have you been???

Thanks, Lynda!

hi, patty,

really loving your report so far. WE have the beginnings of a plan for namaqualand and namibia in our heads, so I'm very interested to read how you got on.

regards, ann

Wonderful photos, Patty. They brought back memories of my trip to Namibia last year. And I'm enjoying your report. Thanks for sharing.

Hello Patty,

welcome back. Thanks for sharing your wonderful photos - loved the meerkats. I haven't seen any of these in Africa yet which is all the more reason to keep going back. Great report too.

Cheers,


Pol.

I want to go to meerkat alley! Those little critters were everywhere. You could really get up close and personal with them. The dog seemed to take it all in stride.

I wouldn't mind the 17-fruit fruit plate either.

Lovely horse shot.

Patty, those are outstanding photos. I thought the desert wildlife was especially well-done. Someone has a very good eye.

Can you talk a bit about what the weather was like for you in Namibia at this time of year? Thanks!

You should have told us you loved coffee, I would have recommended the Out of Africa coffee shop in Swakopmund. They have great t-shirts that say "Life's too short for a bad cup of coffee".

Lovely pictures Patty. You really captured the beauty of the country.

Thanks again, everyone!

Clem,
I don't know what the actual temperatures were, but it was warmer overall than I'd expected. I'd packed a lightweight fleece and a hoodie to layer over that but never needed them both and only wore the hoodie in Franschhoek and Swakopmund at night.

The hottest areas were around Sossusvlei and Wolwedans where it was really hot during the day from about 10:00am to sundown. Because of that we opted out of the full day activity at Wolwedans and went on a morning drive instead. Kuangukuangu was a little cooler during the day but not by much. In all 3 of these areas, I was comfortable in short sleeves in the evenings. Only in the early pre-dawn hour did I have on anything more than that and that was just briefly until the sun came up.

At Erongo and Kiripotib, it was warm to hot during the day and very pleasant at night. I was in long sleeves or a light jacket in the evenings. Near Windhoek, it was a little cooler overall.

Swakopmund has it's own coastal climate. It was breezy and the air was cool all day. We stayed at the Stiltz which is on the south edge of town and walked to restaurants at night and it was pretty cold. During the day, I was down to short sleeves because it was sunny on the days we were there. Had it been overcast, I would've needed a jacket during the day because of the ocean breezes.

The temperatures roughly corresponded to the elevations I recorded (except of course Swakopmund):

Etango - 5710 ft
Erongo - 3983 ft
Kuangukuangu - 4157 ft
Desert Homestead - 2925 ft
Wolwedans - 3620 ft
Kiripotib - 4319 ft

We also had several days of high wind. We were told August is normally the windiest month. If we did it again, I think I'd prefer to go in June or July which we were told were the coolest months, just because it got so hot during the day at Sossusvlei and Wolwedans. Of course, everyone's temperature tolerance is different and some might not enjoy the evenings and early mornings in June/July. I find that I can tolerate cold much better than heat.

Hope this give you some idea.

tuckeg,
I should have posted from Swakopmund!

Patty, I loved the goat, the little sand creatures and the baby chameleon. The meerkats are a bit too cute though. Did you take them with you when you left? How could you kick Kalulu out of the car? There are so many beautiful sands and suns. Then there are some really important looking animals that are a bit blurry – blesbok. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks, Nyamera! Hannetjie says she counts the meerkats every time a guest leaves Kalulu was quite unhappy with us kicking her out. I have an even blurrier pic of some well camouflaged red hartebeest and I missed the aardvark completely!

Windhoek/Etango Ranch – Because we used AA miles for our intra-Africa tickets on BA/Comair, we went the long way from CPT to Windhoek via JNB (SAA flies nonstop to both Windhoek and Walvis Bay from CPT and Air Namibia flies nonstop to Windhoek). BTW maybe many of you know this but going from the domestic to international terminal at JNB if you have your onward boarding passes already and your bags through checked, there’s a security and passport control point behind the check-in counters of the departures level of the domestic terminal (take the escalator up) that leads right to the departures area of the international terminal (turn left after passport control). There were no other passengers using this check point when we went through and the security personnel thought we were lost at first asking us where we were headed. We said “Windhoek” and he said “you’ve come to the right place”. I think this saves some time over going outside the terminal to access international departures which I presume means having to go through the main security and passport control points that all other international departing passenger go through.

Upon arrival in WDH, Hertz has a counter inside the airport terminal. There’s also an ATM inside the terminal but it’s Visa/Plus only. Picking up our car (an automatic Nissan Tiida) took some time as the counter agent gave repeated warnings about the dangers of driving in Namibia and the agents outside where the cars are located spent a great deal of time marking every miniscule dent, scratch, scrape and chip on a form. We asked for a second spare but they said they had none available and even if we’d reserved one in advance, there would’ve been no guarantee they’d have one for us. We headed off with our car hoping for the best and knowing that we weren’t really going anywhere off the beaten path. We drove 4km to Etango Ranch (that was easy!) for our first evening. Robert and Carmen run the ranch and they have 6 guest rooms in 3 duplex buildings. The location is very convenient if you want to be near the airport and they offer a farm drive but we didn’t take part in that. I didn’t take many pictures here but I do have some photos of the accommodations if anyone is interested. We shared our dinner with a group of 6 Swiss tourists on their final evening in Namibia.

Now would probably be a good time to mention that on many guest ranches and farms in Namibia, hunting is very much a part of life. The antelope that you see is often what’s on the dinner menu. This may seem a bit like stating the obvious, but I wanted to include it so that anyone who feels strongly about this can choose carefully. Actually, game meat is pretty much on the menu at almost every lodge and restaurant whether they source it on their own land or elsewhere.

Your wind comment was helpful. I knew it was windy in other parts of southern Africa, but not sure about Namibia.

hi, patty,

I've just e-mailed this thread to myself to keep the details safe.

I am not surprised that Namibia is wndy in wat would be their winter/spring period - they are after all facing west and therefore the prevailing winds at that time of year.

Here in Cornwall [UK] on a west-facing coast we regualrly suffer from high minds from October to February. the first Christmas we were here, I daren't let the kids out the front door for fear I'd find them in next door's fields. It sounds as if the wind didn't spoil your trip.

Regards, ann

[oops, it's late sept - neeed to go and batten down the hatches].

Had to peek at the first couple of albums. Love the goat, the penguins, Damara dik dik, dassie with rock pigeon, the varied landscapes. Can't wait to read more about the trip itself.

Thanks Patty!

Ohhhh, and how could I forget: Welcome home!

Erongo Wilderness Lodge – The drive to Erongo was an easy 3 or so hours with the majority of the drive over paved roads which were in excellent condition. We made a brief stop in Windhoek to pick up 10 liters of water to keep in the car, came upon a road closure/detour, and got slightly lost before getting back on track heading north on B1. If we’d had a few more days, I would’ve liked to have spent some time exploring Windhoek. Upon arrival at Erongo, there’s a 2WD guest parking lot or guests with 4WD can drive right up to the lodge. I’d informed the lodge of our approximate arrival time so someone was there to pick us up, but otherwise, it’s only an 800m walk up to the lodge from the 2WD lot (though a bit steep).

We were assigned tent 10, an end tent with lots of privacy and a great view, with a family of dassies running around, one of which nearly got into a box of chocolates I picked up in Franschhoek and forgot was in my bag. Oops, can’t give those away anymore :"> There are a couple of small waterholes by the dining room with many birds and small animals present throughout the day. Below the main lodge is a larger waterhole for bigger game. During our 2 days here, we spent most of our time just sitting and watching the activity. A partial list of what we saw include warthog, kudu, damara dik dik, black mongoose, dassies, dassie rats, ground squirrels, Namibian rock agama, southern rock lizard, guinea fowl, lovebirds, a variety of hornbills and doves and many more birds that I can’t even name. Porcupines came by in the evening and you could hear them approaching by the rattling of their quills.

Aside from waterhole viewing, the primary activities at Erongo are walks (guided and unguided) and an afternoon nature drive combined with a short walk up to Paula’s Cave to see rock paintings. This is followed by sundowners next to the cave. We participated in a morning walk and the afternoon drive and highly recommend both. We took one of the shorter walks along the “dassie trail”, and in addition to dassies saw some chacma baboons on the cliff face and some kudu. This walk can also be done as a self guided trail, but I recommend going with a guide (at least once) for their knowledge of the local geology, flora, insects and birds that they can share. On the afternoon drive we saw damara dik dik, kudu, grey duiker, oryx and warthog but the highlight was the rock painting. The lodge emphasizes that this isn’t a game rich area, but we were pleasantly surprised with what we saw.

Two tips here – the bathrooms are semi-open on the sides and when the wind blows it can get very cold taking a shower in the late afternoon/early evening as it blows right through the bathroom. A breeze would pick up by mid-afternoon which was very nice for sitting around but very cold for showering later. I don’t know if it’s just the time of year we were there and whether the wind pattern changes. The second tip is they make delicious fruit filled crepes drizzled with honey and yogurt for breakfast here. They’re called “fresh pancakes” on the menu.

Finally, one very interesting thing happened during our stay. While having lunch the second day, the guy sitting at the table next to ours asked us if we had been in the Mara in 2005. Turns out we had an overlapping stay at Kicheche camp in Kenya in November 2005. I couldn’t believe it. First of all, what a great memory (on his part) because he and Mark had only spoken briefly and it had been a full camp that night. And to live in different parts of the world and meet in Africa again, an amazing coincidence!

Patty,I love reading your trip reports - I have gone back over the years and read them all. Your photos are always beautiful and give such a lasting impression of your travels. Thank you for sharing.
I am very interested in your NEXT trip (though this trip made me wish I had chose Namabia - but I understand I will be hooked and probably end up going anyway. You and Mark will be in Saeto Rock Lodge (sp?) and I have planned on Saeto Elerai next Sept. (as I was waitlisted on Tortilis - so what the heck, try something new!) I cannot wait to hear what you have to say about S.Rock as SXC recommended I add a couple of days there too. I envy your travels, but so happy that you share them! CC

Now I've looked through all of your galleries and know about the goat reference. Your penguin shots were wonderful, especially the young one resting on mom.

The coincidence of meeting up again in Africa is quite amazing. It happened to me one time too.

Thanks, Leely and chacheetah!

chacheetah,
Did SXC suggest how best to get to Satao Rock as I understand there are no scheduled flights? We'll be driving from Galdessa which isn't far but I'm currently trying to see if there's a way to get from NBO to Galdessa quickly and economically (the latter being the difficult part) as we'll arrive NBO in the morning after traveling for 30+ hours and I'm not looking forward to the 6 hour drive (but at least the road is much better than going to the Mara!). I need to email a pilot we flew with last year to see if he can do it for any less than our current quote of (gulp) $1150 for a charter. I can offer to fly most of the way and he only has to take off and land

Hi Patty, unfortunately it was driving..but that was from Amboselli where I would fly into for the 2 nights at Saeto Elerai. I never asked how far it was by road since I have not decided whether or not I wanted to do the "Rock". I am sure they would give you the info; they have been very quick responding to me. I email with Maria at SXC. If you can contact JanGoss, she has been very helpful also working with me on my itinerary and she has stayed there - also going back in January I believe. Good luck and keep us posted. I am so excited you are going! Cc

OH, I just noticed where you were offering to fly - so you are a pilot. Well then let's start our own charter co. I am going to try my hand at lessons; later this year! It'll be something if I succeed. ha

I was just kidding. Alexis let me fly the plane last year (see my 2006 Kenya/Tanzania report) though I do plan to take some lessons before my next trip!

Swakopmund/The Stiltz – We left Erongo shortly after breakfast for the drive to Swakopmund. As we were never quite sure how long it would take to go from point A to point B, we always left in the morning. Turns out it only took a little over 2 hours to get to Swakopmund including a petrol stop at Karibib. The majority of this drive was also on excellent tar roads. For the most part, we found the roads to be very well marked with clear signage, even the D routes, and outside of Windhoek, it’s actually pretty difficult to get lost, at least in the areas we covered.

At The Stiltz we had bungalow 7 which was confirmed to us at the time of reservation (different bungalows have different rates). Along with 4, 6 and 8, 7 is consider a sea view bungalow but 7 had the best view among them, particularly of the lagoon at the mouth of the Swakop river which I cared about more than the view of the ocean. This was where the flamingo and other water birds gathered which we enjoyed watching from our deck. Across the river are the sand dunes and to the right of the lagoon is the beach where the paparazzi with big glass would be parked at sunset shooting us on our deck. OK they were really tourists shooting birds but that’s what it felt like

The highlight of our stay in Swakopmund and one of the highlights of our whole trip was taking Tommy’s Living Desert tour. We were picked up at 8:00am from our lodge and along with 5 other passengers that day went on a fascinating tour of the dunes near Swakopmund. Among the desert life we saw were dancing white lady spiders, a Fitzsimmon’s burrowing skink, a palmato gecko, a Peringuey’s adder, different kinds of beetles and many Namaqua chameleons. Tommy showed us how to look for signs of life and what kind of animals made which tracks and burrow openings. He identified different types of plants and how they were used and everyone tasted some nara seeds as well as the bitter liquid that’s inside their thorny stems. We also did some dune driving and enjoyed the scenery which I found just as breathtaking as around Sossusvlei. The sand here is more of a golden color rather than the pinks, oranges, and reds in the south and has a beautiful iridescence. We were dropped back off at The Stiltz at about 2:00pm. Highly recommended!

The rest of our time in Swakopmund was spent walking around town and shopping and eating. We had dinner at the Grapevine and the Tug. We thought the food was better at the former and the latter was mostly a place to go for the view. We joked that at the Tug you can get your fish prepared any way as long as it was fried or fried and smothered with a cream sauce Actually that pretty much describes a lot of the food in Namibia. The preparations were definitely heavier than we’re used to with a lot of emphasis on meat (smoked meat, fatty meat, fried meat, meat with a cream sauce ) and vegetables an after thought. Halfway through the trip, even Mark commented he’d had too much meat, something I’d never heard him say in the 15 years we’ve known each other.

It was chillier in Swakopmund compared to everywhere else with the ocean breezes, cool air and sometimes overcast skies though we had mostly sunshine during our 2 days. Everyone we talked to on this trip hated the weather in Swakopmund, but we found it a nice change from the dry desert heat.

Thanks for the tip on Tommy's Living Desert Tour!

Patty... The coffee wasn't generally very good in Namibia.

I've been pretty busy at work recently - before that I "banned" myself for a couple of months for being a silly ...... I'll participate in this thread to warm up for a return.

I've also been playing with my camera. Once the rains stop here maybe I'll start doing some Thailand trip reports while I wait and wait for next September ... I was planning a trip to a national park next week but a flash flood warning has just gone out for that park, so I might wait a while longer.

I see you ignored my advice that a trip report wasn't needed after the photos. Good for us.

Thanks, Paul... noted

Kuangukuangu (aka home of Meerkat Valley) – On our way to Kuangukuangu, we stopped at the lagoon in Walvis Bay where there were more flamingo and other birds along with many, many washed up jellies. Driving inland from Walvis Bay, the road is only tar for a few km before becoming fairly smooth gravel. The landscape is flat and changes to canyons as the road goes through Namib Naukluft park. We saw some ostriches along the way and stopped for lunch and fuel at Solitaire, trying a piece of their famous apple pie. We thought it was decent apple pie but nothing particularly noteworthy (sorry, Solitaire apple pie fans!). We then backtracked north on C14 from Solitaire to take D1275 to our destination. Because we made a couple of stops, I’m not sure exactly how long the drive actually took, but I think it was around 3.5 hours from Swakopmund to Solitaire, then another half hour or so to Kuangukuangu. We could’ve gone straight to Kuangukuangu but we’d left Walvis on half a tank and weren’t sure we had enough gas without going to Solitaire first. Only 6 days into the trip and we had already violated our own rule of never leave a town without filling up.

Kuangukuangu is located on Barchan Dune, home of Vlooi, Koerie and Stokkies, along with a couple of humans named Willem and Hannetjie and some assorted dogs and horses. Kuangukuangu cabin is situated about 800m from the main farmhouse and 3 other guest cottages but is completely out of sight so that you don’t feel there’s anyone else around. It was built as a retreat for a former guest who now lives in Paris and returns to Namibia when he can. It’s located in a valley surrounded by mountains and you can hike or walk anywhere. The cabin itself has glass on two sides with wonderful views of the valley. It has everything you need (including a few resident geckos) with the option to self cater or take your meals at the farmhouse (let them know in advance).

We had dinner at the farmhouse our first evening. The food was delicious, the best we had in Namibia, and Willem and Hannetjie were such great company and hosts that we decided to dine with them the second night instead of making use of the braai pit outside our cabin. We also got a sneak preview of the meerkats before dinner just as they were retiring to their burrow for the night. Here it started to get noticeably drier as we traveled south. I found it a bit hard to get used to at first, waking up several times during the night to drink water because I was so parched. And here I thought LA was dry.

The next morning we walked over extra early before breakfast as the sun was rising over the mountains. The meerkats were already awake doing some housekeeping around their burrow. They came up to greet us and Vlooi climbed on my arm. They spend their day foraging and maintaining their burrow in front of Willem and Hannetjie’s house, napping in the house during the hottest part of the afternoon, and sleeping underground at night. Actually, I think there’s a lot more playing with the guests than any real foraging or burrow work going on. Shoelaces, buttons and necklaces were fascinating play things. Be careful though they have sharp claws. I nearly got my eye poked out a couple of times.

Aside from the meerkats, it’s a great place to do some hiking (according to Mark) and they offer a farm drive (which we didn’t try), but why would anyone be interested in doing anything other than playing with meerkats?


Dinner the second night was just as good as the first and we also enjoyed the company of a French couple who just arrived on their first night in Namibia. They rented a 4x4 with roof tent and were going to tackle the Kaokoveld heading as far north as Marienfluss and Hartmann’s Valley near the Angolan border. Willem tried to convince them that they should attempt to find another vehicle to convoy with. I hope they made it!

I spent our final morning doing what else? At one point all 3 climbed into my lap and fell asleep. Unfortunately we had to leave at some point and I had to disturb their sleep by forcibly removing them, but just as I was removing the next one, the other would climb back on my lap. It was like a comedy skit. I hated to leave. Kuangukuangu was our favorite place, so beautiful and relaxing, with wonderful hosts and I’m not just talking about the meerkats

If you want to experience real Namibian wind, visit Luderitz. It is almost always very windy there and is a real "wild coast". I was getting blown around and that is saying something. Sometimes the road in is blocked by blown sand. I had to follow a grader in as he plowed a path. I enjoyed it although I imagine many would not.

Desert Homestead – We left Barchan Dune and hadn’t even made it out of their driveway when Mark noticed that the trunk lid was flapping up and down. We stopped the car and saw that the latch had broken (it looked like it had been broken and fixed before) and drove back to the farmhouse where Willem gave us some wire so we could jury rig it together. Hannetjie suggested that I contact Hertz and ask for a replacement car. They’ll do that? The thought hadn’t even occurred to me but I call Hertz only to be told they didn’t have any automatic transmission cars available and to call back on Sunday (this was Friday). We started off again hoping that our temporary fix would hold and that we could actually limp along for the rest of the trip without having to swap cars.

As luck would have it, the stretch of road between Solitaire and Desert Homestead was the bumpiest we’d encountered so far. We were told it was pretty rutted due to the heavy traffic over the high season months. We had to stop 2 more times on the way to Desert Homestead to re-wire the trunk lid shut as the wire wouldn’t last more than 40km on the jarring road. This entailed taking all of our bags out of the car, folding the rear seats down so Mark could climb into the trunk while I held the lid down from outside, and putting our bags back into the car. By the third time we did this, we got to be pretty quick at it, like a well oiled pit crew.

Somewhere along the way one of our hub caps also came off and started rolling down the road. How Mark saw it I don’t know, but he went back and retrieved it and threw it over our pile of luggage that was now in the back seat. That’s when we noticed that the other hub caps were cabled tied to the car Heavy duty cable ties, wire, Leatherman…

OK our “fix” wasn’t really working so I got back on the phone with Hertz saying we’d take any car they have this time, only to be told they don’t have any cars of any kind right now, but if we call back Saturday evening, they could have a car delivered to us on Sunday morning. I got the feeling that I’d need to keep at them if we wanted to see a replacement car or else they’d just rent it out to someone else. It took over 2 hours to drive to Desert Homestead which considering our adventures wasn’t too bad. Along the way we saw ostriches, many springbok and a black backed jackal crossing the road.

We arrived at Desert Homestead and were offered a welcome juice to which Mark proclaimed thanks, but no thanks, he needed a beer! We were assigned cottage 4 (there are 10 on each side of the main lodge). They’re pretty much all identical and I don’t think one or the other is better or worse in terms of view or anything else. In addition to the woman that checked us in, Collin and Sam, our riding guide, came by to talk to us at lunch so we related our car story a few times. At the end of the re-telling of the story, each person would say something to the effect of “you must keep hounding the rental company” confirming my earlier thoughts. After lunch, I took a refreshing swim in the 65 degree pool.

At dinner this evening, we met our guide, Sydney, for our Sossusvlei excursion the next day and set a time to depart. It would be just the two of us, so we’d have a lot of flexibility in what we wanted to do and when we wanted to come back. Sam also came by and let us know that we’d be riding Daisy and Kavita, described as well mannered, responsive and moderately spirited horses, on our sleepout ride tomorrow.

Patty - your report and photos are wonderful. I have been flirting with the idea of Namibia since we first went to Botswana last year, and then because we loved it so much, again this year. I am already collecting info for a trip which will be in the fall of 2009. (I lost the coin toss so in 2008 its Peru and Galapagos but who is complaining!!!) Did you book it all yourself? Anything you would have taken care of in advance that you hadn't thought of or anything you would do differently next time?

A sleepout ride? Sounds intriguing. Hope the horses are more reliable than the car.

ajy733,
Yes, everything was self booked and I really can't think of anything else that we should've taken care of in advance other than bring our own coffee

Things we'd do differently - as I mentioned earlier, if it'd been possible, I would've liked to have gone earlier in the year in June/July for cooler temps. I might also rent a sturdier car next time Not that there's ever any guarantee but I think the gravel roads take their toll on these little cars. Also when we were on our Sossusvlei excursion through Desert Homestead traveling the same section of road that we did on our own the previous day, we noticed how much more comfortable the ride was in their Toyota Condor. But for the most part it was fine. Really only the stretch between Solitaire and Desert Homestead and from Desert Homestead to Wolwedans did we wish we were driving something else. Elsewhere on our route we found good gravel roads and excellent tar roads and I understand it's pretty much all tar up to Etosha from Windhoek. It's really a toss up. A bigger car is going to cost more to rent and use more gas.

What month do you go to Peru and Galapagos? Have a great trip!

Lynn,
The horses were great. Mark got a last minute switch from Kavita to Kalahari Ferrari for reasons unknown to us. She was a little frisky but fine. We joked we could've ridden Kalahari down to Wolwedans and made it there quicker. That road was slow going.

Thanks for sharing your wonderful photos and giving us some Namimbian insights.

You just answered my vehicle question, as it seems that I've heard about a few people breaking down or having car problems in Nam. Are most of the rental vehicles 2 wheel drive - seems like 4 would be better.
If you don't mind me asking, was this trip less costly than Kenya. Do you know prefer one over the other?

Thanks, Sherry! There are 2WD and 4WD vehicles for rent and judging by what we saw on the road and in parking lots, I would say two-thirds opted for 4WD. Everything we'd read previously for the areas that we covered and the time of year (dry season) indicated that 2WD would be fine and it did get us everywhere. There are places where you need 4WD (we didn't go there) and in rainy season I would think you should get a 4WD. Actually, if your budget allows, I'd go for it anyway. It will be about twice the cost of a small 2WD sedan and you'll probably use twice as much gas.

If you do have problems there's no guarantee of getting a replacement vehicle right away. We were able to get one in 2 days though we could only get a manual. Of all of the problems we could've encountered, ours was the least worrisome and though an inconvenience, we could've continued on with our trip and not been stuck. Maybe that's why we had to wait 2 days, they were hoping we'd just stop calling

While I'm on the subject of cars, look the car over carefully! It literally took us an hour and 15 minutes to return the car and only after much back and forth were we let go without being charged for any damage. We didn't buy the rental car company's CDW or Super CDW (using Amex's premium rental insurance instead), so it's possible they're not as picky with customers who have purchased waivers from them although I noticed there were still some exclusions in their coverage (as there are with Amex's coverage so read and compare carefully so you understand what's covered and what's not).

We were very careful on inspecting the first vehicle and making sure everything was marked on the damage form but made the mistake of being lax on the replacement one. The guy who delivered the replacement vehicle already had the form completed, and as he had little scribbles everywhere, we just signed off on it without taking a very good look over the car. It was also very windy that day and the car was covered in sand, so any minor scratches, chips and dings wouldn't have been visible anyway. Luckily after the guy left, I actually had the sense to take photos of the car which came in handy later.

On return, it went something like this - "you have 2 chips in the windshield, the right front fender is sticking out, there's rim damage on one wheel, and the left front wheel well is dented". Here's where the fun began. Mark hates this stuff so I did most of the "negotiating" which I kind of get a perverse kick out of.

First, the front fender damage was one of the few things I did notice and make sure was on the form, so I asked them to review it again and yes, it was there so that got crossed off. Next were the 2 chips which must have been tiny because we didn't notice them in the 5 days we had the car. We insisted nothing hit the windshield and after a couple of phone calls, they agreed the chips were there before.

For the rim damage, we looked at the photo I'd taken to see if anything was present and couldn't see anything so Mark went out to look at the car again. That's when we discovered we couldn't have possibly caused it since we hadn't had a flat and the hub cap with cable tie still intact was undamaged and they agreed.

Finally, it was just the front dent. I was about to give in when I decided to zoom in on the photo on that side and there it was. It was very faint on the photo and hard to make out but enough. We were let off the hook with a promise to email them a copy of the photo when we got home and I haven't heard anything since.

I didn't intend for this to go on so long but wanted to relate our experience since I hadn't read much about how critical the inspections were prior to our trip, but one of our hosts had warned us so we were prepared. And like I said perhaps if we'd taken their waivers, we wouldn't have had any issues. Their super waiver was about the same cost per day as the car itself and we saw no point in taking their mid-level waiver as it contained a list of exclusions most likely to happen to your vehicle anyway (damage to windshield, rims, tires, undercarriage, etc).

It would be interesting to hear other's car experiences.

I'm going to tally up our costs and get back to you on that. I haven't added it all up yet!

Trip cost breakdown:

Rental car (smallest automatic w/AC) for 13 days - 4400 NAD
Fuel - 900 NAD
1 night Etango Ranch DBB (dinner, bed, breakfast) - 960 NAD
2 nights Erongo Wilderness Lodge DBB - 4200 NAD
2 lunches - 220 NAD
Nature drive - 400 NAD
2 nights The Stiltz B&B - 2440 NAD
2 lunches and 2 dinners in Swakopmund - 1100 NAD
Tommy's tour 920 NAD
Lunch in Solitaire - 95 NAD
2 nights Kuangukuangu - 1300 NAD
2 breakfasts, 2 lunch packs, 2 dinners - 980 NAD
1 night Desert Homestead B&B - 1200 NAD
Dinner - 240 NAD
Sossusvlei excursion - 1200 NAD
Sleepout ride - 3600 NAD
2 nights Wolwedans Dune Camp FI (fully inclusive) - 7940 NAD
Lunch at Hardap Dam - 170 NAD
2 nights Kiripotib B&B incl. farm drive - 1724 NAD
1 lunch, 2 dinners - 590 NAD

So 34,579 NAD if I've added right. I didn't include drinks, tips, shopping, etc. which is variable. The NAD exchange rate is pegged to the ZAR so roughly $5000 total at today's rate, though it was better when we were there. Divided by 13 nights = $385 per night for the two of us, so yes, cheaper than anything but a budget camping safari in Kenya/Tanzania.

Too hard to compare with East Africa as it's so totally different. I will say that I don't regret having a Kenya trip planned next (I was a little worried that I'd want to go back to Namibia right away).

Hope this helps.

I wanted to add that it's possible to stay in even less expensive accommodation than we did (not including camping), but if you start looking at fly-in safaris with Wilderness, the costs do go up dramatically.

Patty, you're amazing. You should hire yourself out as an organizer and travel expert.
Thank you.

Your accomadations looked top notch IMHO. Seems however, that you just can't pull yourself away from Kenya.

As for the Seychelles, I just had a yard sale and my travel stuff is in disarray - I will get to it.
Not to dissuade, but compared to some of the islands you may be accustomed to in the Pacific, the Seychelles may leave you disappointed.
They truly are still recovering from the Tsunami. The food is so -so b/c of this and everything can be costly.
It wasn't so bad for us b/c we were on a catamaran - very enjoyable - more of a fun in the sun type of vaca rather than a cultural experience. Wonderful nature preserves as well.
I'm not sure if your into being on a boat the whole time as it was a wonderful way to see all the islands. You can do a cabin charter for a decent price - much less per day than a hotel.
Great if you like to fish, lay around, scuba, hike and bike on islands. You'll also be able to find your own private beach. Another major plus are the wonderful Creole islanders.

Just caught up with this again - Thanks Patty - it sounds like a great trip. I can just imagine how wonderful/exciting it must have been to be able to actually play with those meerkats! And thanks for the info on the hunting at the lodges - gives me pause, and I had not read that before.

Cyn

Thanks for the Seychelles info, Sherry. we're basically just looking for a few days of post-safari relaxation. The air and hotel are freebies so I have very little outlay in adding it on, just our food and excursions. I've only done a boat charter once in the BVI, and we had really bad weather so bailed mid-trip and Mark won't let me do it again but I wonder if a day charter is possible?

Cyn,
I just want to clarify that the hunting is only done on private ranches and farms and not parks and reserves and it's not so much that they take guests on hunts, though some do. There are some that are purely guest farms, some that are hunting farms and some that take both hunting and non-hunting guests (which could cause possible friction at dinner). But even at the guest farms, game meat is often served and that usually comes from their own or possibly a neighboring farm, so if you're uncomfortable with any kind of hunting, including for food, this is something to be aware of.

We got up at 5:30am for our Sossusvlei excursion to find Babes, the cat, next to our bed. We’d left the windows open for cross ventilation while sleeping, and I’d heard something in the room in the middle of the night but was too lazy to get up and check figuring nothing too big could have gotten through the window

We left around 6:20am for the drive to the Sesriem gate getting there just before the gate opened (Wilderness guests on guided excursions can use the private gate near Kulala Desert Lodge bypassing Sesriem). We watched the sunrise in the park, drove to a lookout point, watched the balloons flying and stopped for photo ops along the way before making our way to Dead Vlei. At various points in the day we also saw springbok, oryx, ostrich (we started calling these the Namibian 3 as they’re everywhere) and a black backed jackal. We climbed the dune next to Dead Vlei and sat at the top for a while enjoying the views and the cool sand up here. It was so nice I didn’t want to head down though we eventually did and it was fun going down. We spent some time taking photos in Dead Vlei before making our way back to the parking area. It was late-morning and with the sun overhead the walk back felt like much more work and seemed to take a lot longer than climbing the dune!

Afterwards we went to Sossusvlei which was kind of anticlimactic after Dead Vlei. We had a nice champagne brunch in the picnic area under a camelthorn tree. I’m glad we opted for the guided excursion vs DIY. On the way out of the park we saw the new NWR Sossus Dune Lodge inside the park from a distance. If my only reason for coming here was to see the Sossusvlei area, I’d stay here for the best access. Our tour also included a visit to Sesriem canyon if we wanted, but we needed to get back to Desert Homestead to get ready for our sleepout ride and I was feeling a bit nauseous and flush from being out in the sun too long. I pretty much felt that way for the rest of the day until early the next morning. Any sensible person would’ve skipped the ride, but of course, I went anyway.

We got back, took a quick cold shower, and packed an overnight bag for the evening. I called Hertz again to see if we could get a replacement car the next day. They faxed me a form to fill out and fax back and arranged a delivery for the following morning. We walked over to the stable and met our horses. I was still on Daisy but Mark got a switch to Kalahari aka the Kalahari Ferrari. What happened to nice sounding Kavita?

We started off toward the campsite riding through stunning scenery with some nice canters until I realized I was absolutely exhausted and walked the rest of the way arriving at the camp around 7:00pm. This was definitely a day where I had too much planned! We saw some springbok along the way and Sam, our guide, saw a family of bat eared foxes but we missed them. The campsite location was great at the base of a hill. I was still not feeling great so skipped dinner and lied down and looked at the stars.

In the early morning, a breeze picked up and I finally felt like I was cooled down. Mark didn’t tell me this until morning, but he was really worried all night and kept checking to make sure I was still breathing. Aaawwwww! By breakfast hour, the wind had really kicked up blowing over the camp chairs, glasses and anything else that wasn’t held down or sat on. The toilet paper holder also blew over and sent 2 rolls flying through the air. At first we tried catching it before realizing it was futile. The camp looked like it had been TP’d over. Eventually, we had to sit with our backs to the wind because we felt like we were getting sandblasted. Wisely, we opted to ride back in the truck instead of on horseback, so Sam took off with the horse beating us back to the lodge.

By the time we got back, our new car was already there, a hatchback and manual version of what we had before. I’d requested that the car be filled up in Solitaire or Sesriem but that was ignored so now we were faced with the dilemma of having to backtrack to get gas. We had enough to get to Wolwedans but not to the next gas after that. Luckily a call to Wolwedans was met with a reply that they could sell us 20 liters of petrol saving us from driving an hour out of our way.

Forgot to mention that one of the hub caps on the new car was missing cable ties so we made sure to tie one on. See we can learn. It also reeked of cigarette smoke and the driver forgot to turn the headlights off. Thankfully one of the staff noticed and informed us. BTW we really liked Desert Homestead and everyone we encountered there was friendly and helpful.

So far I'd call this an energizing vacation rather than a relaxing one. As usual, I'm in awe of your attention to detail.

Next chapter, please.

Wolwedans Dune Camp - The road from Desert Homestead to Wolwedans was rough going so it took us about 2 hours to cover the 95 or so kilometers. On the way we saw more ostrich, oryx and springbok. We parked our car at the Wolwedans reception area and met our guide Charlton who went over the typical program for a 2 night stay at Wolwedans with us which we proceeded to completely change. It was just as hot down here and I wasn’t about to go on a full day drive after yesterday!

Charlton drove us over to Dune Camp where I’d requested tent 3 a few weeks ago (thanks for the recommendation, Gaynor!). The tents had been replaced earlier in the year so aren’t the dome ones that they show on the website. There are 3 sets of 2 tents on raised platforms with a detached bathroom a few steps away. Tents 1 and 2 are to the right of the dining area (if you’re facing the dining area), tents 3 and 4 to the left, then the manager’s tent to the left of tents 3 and 4, and finally tents 5 and 6 located the furthest away from the dining area. The tents are well spaced for privacy though your bathroom does share a wall with your neighbor’s bathroom. We had lunch, took a nap and spent the rest of the afternoon watching the waterhole activity. We saw springbok and oryx come to drink and one oryx passed close in front of our tent. The view of the mountains from our tent was stunning.

The next morning we woke up to a beautiful sunrise over the mountains and the sound of barking geckos. The sound that always reminds me of early morning in East Africa is the mourning dove. Here it’s the barking gecko. At breakfast there were many Namaqua sandgrouse at the waterhole. They’re amazing birds that can store water in their feathers and travel up to 40km with it. We headed out with Charlton around 9:00am for a 3 hour drive. We were originally supposed to share with 2 German women but it ended up being just us because everyone else wanted to go on the full day excursion which goes all the way down to their new Boulders Camp for lunch.

We drove through the fairy valley looking at the big fields of circles and made a brief stop at Dune Lodge. The lodge had burnt down in December 2002 and was rebuilt with concrete fire breaks in the raised walkways and a pool as an insurance requirement. Aside from the usual suspects, we saw 3 oryx calves and a pair of secretary birds on the drive and a shovel snouted lizard at the lodge. After lunch, we went back to the lodge for a dip in their pool (same 65 degree water) returning to the camp around 5:30pm. Overall, I would say I prefer the camp to the lodge given the smaller size and the fact that the tents are spaced further apart. The view from the camp is also slightly better than from the lodge IMO. The two are about 15 minutes drive from each other.

The highlight of the day was when 3 bat eared foxes came to drink at the waterhole at dusk. After reading raves about the food here, I must admit I was disappointed with the first night’s dinner. However, they redeemed themselves tonight. One of the guests was celebrating her 40th birthday, so the staff surprised her with a cake.

Kiripotib (our last stop!) – Charlton drove us back to the reception area where we got our 20 liters of petrol and set off for Kiripotib. On the drive out of the NamibRand reserve this morning, we saw 2 more young oryx calves, a herd of zebra and several kestrels and goshawk. It was a scenic drive through Zarishootge pass with view of mesas and canyons along the way. It took us about 2.5 hours over gravel roads to Maltahohe where we stopped for gas. Here there were many adults and children begging which was our first such encounter in Namibia.

After Maltahohe, the road was tar and we stopped at Hardap Dam just north of Mariental for lunch. There’s a circular restaurant with a glass wall overlooking the manmade lake created by the dam. The whole place looked like it had been built in the late 60’s/early 70’s without anything having been done to it since. It reminded me of some place that could’ve been the backdrop in an early James Bond movie. Tom Jones’ rendition of “Green Green Grass of Home” was playing and we felt like we’d just entered a time warp. There were a few other guests here, the food wasn’t as bad as I expected and we watched the pelicans in the lake, so it turned out to be not a bad lunch stop overall. I wish we’d had time for a game drive on the other side of the lake. As we’d eaten lunch, we just had to show our receipt on the way out and didn’t have to pay park entrance fees.

We drove up to Kalkrand before turning off of the paved B1. From there I think it was another hour and a half on gravel through Uhlenhorst to Kiripotib Farm. Not counting our stops, I think it took us close to 6 hours total. Driving back to Windhoek probably wouldn’t have taken any longer as you’d stay on B1 all the way back. The weather was noticeably cooler here and there were more trees and vegetation.

We arrived at Kiripotib and were shown to our room which was the end unit that’s part of a triplex. There are 2 other individual guest chalets on this 10,000 ha farm and approximately 5000 head of karakul sheep. There’s an onsite weaving project as well as a jewelry making workshop though no jewelry making was going on while we were there. Their products are sold here and in their Swakopmund and Hout Bay stores. Hans gave us a tour of the farm and weaving project. His wife, Claudia, the creative force behind these projects was down in their Hout Bay store so unfortunately, we didn’t get to meet her.

The next day was spent relaxing with our new feline friend, Kalulu, and going on a farm drive in the afternoon. On the drive we saw oryx, zebra, steenbok, blesbok, and red hartebeest though many were fleeting moments and I missed the aardvark entirely while Mark just saw a glimpse of its back. We had sundowners by the hide and toasted our last sunset. Dinner tonight was our first and only braai on this trip and was delicious.

The Journey Home – We were worried Kalulu might decide to come along with us and made sure to check the car after we packed up and loaded our stuff. Sure enough she’d managed to find her way to the back seat. I could just see us showing up at WDH with a little surprise in the car!

It only took us an hour and a half to drive to the airport so we ended up getting there way early as Comair doesn’t open up check-in for JNB flights until 90 minutes prior to departure, but we did use up a lot of that time returning the rental car (see long explanation above). After that, we spent the rest of our Namibian dollars on a sandwich and drinks until check-in started. Our flight out of WDH was delayed about an hour. Luckily, Comair was able to check our bags through to LAX, so we only had to stop by the Air France transfer counter to pick up our boarding passes and go through security. The transfer desk was staffed by a rather unhelpful and bored looking fellow who was too busy texting on his mobile to look up at us and managed to mis-enter one of our bag tags resulting in it getting stuck in CDG for an extra day, but that’s OK.

Our flight departed out of gate A9. This area of JNB looked brand new and we even had two jetways to the aircraft for a very orderly boarding. I’d previously read some negative comments about JNB and did see the old boarding areas which are still in use and they did indeed look horrific. The rest of the journey was uneventful except for the one missing bag upon arrival at LAX which we’d expected as they’d caught the mistake as we were boarding at CDG. At LAX they had a form prefilled for us and the missing bag was delivered 3 days later.

That’s all folks.

Patty, thanks for the informative report. I was exhausted and overheated just reading it! What did the temperatures get up to? All the photos are great (esp. the close-ups of white spiders and such), but the meerkats are to die for. You should be a travel agent in your next life. Any estimate of how many man-hours (make that woman-hours) went into the planning and booking?
Leslie

Thanks, Leslie! I think the high temps at Sossusvlei and Wolwedans were in the high 90's, maybe 100 F. Other areas were not as hot. There's a weather station in the NamibRand and weather stats are posted online http://www.namibrand.com/weather.htm

I was just looking at that and noticed that temps for this past week were almost 10 degrees C cooler than when we were there so it seems we hit a heat wave.

I wouldn't even know where to begin trying to calculate how much time goes into research, planning and booking, but that's the fun part! Other than the actual trip of course

Patty, thanks for this information packed report with domestic cats as an important plus. I only wish you’d seen more of the blesboks.

Hi Patty:
I have been looking forward to this report but it seems that everytime that I start I get interrupted. I have enjoyed what I have seen and read so far. How old are the rock paintings?

Hi bat!
That's one thing I don't remember. I was looking through my guidebooks and depending on which one you consult the rock paintings in the general area, not the ones at Paula's Cave specifically, could be anywhere from 6000 years old to 1800's. Pretty wide range, huh?

Well that's quite a spread--but what's a few millenia here or there.

I am really glad that I finally had the time to see all of the pictures and read the report. Living vicariously through you these days--and so really appreciate the great report.

"We" are going to Kenya again soon? and the Seychelles? Nice to look forward to it;

Thanks, bat! Yes, Kenya/Seychelles in late Jan. We'd originally planned to stopover in AMS on our way to Kenya, but while I was in SA, I saw Michael's update here that KQ finalized their entry into Skyteam and well, the Seychelles sounded better than AMS

Hi Patty! I'm still catching up..great report and beautiful pictures. How cool the meerkats! I noticed you didn't wear your chaps this trip while riding?
Thanks!

Hello Patty,
I've looked forward to reading your trip report since we got back from Namibia. I'm glad you found the information that I posted about the Stiltz and Wolwedans useful - I'm envious that you managed to go to the Lodge at Wolwedans as well as the camp so that you could make the comparison. Thanks for a very detailed report - glad that you had a great time despite the problems with the car. Where next ?

Gaynor

Thanks, Dennis! Nope, no chaps this time. We rode through open areas with no acacia thorns plus it would've been way too hot. I haven't had a chance to look through your photos yet but am looking forward to them and your report!

Thanks, Gaynor! As you can see I put your info to good use. Next big trip is Kenya and Seychelles in Jan/Feb.

Patty, you are an organizational genius. Is the Kenya/Seychelles itinerary up anywhere on the board?

Mmm, not to be selfish or anything...