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

Let's start with some photos!

Our itinerary:

Sep 2 - LAX-ATL-AMS-CPT

Sep 3/4/5/6 - Akademie Street Guesthouses, Franschhoek
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...0&y=nnb15c

Sep 7 - CPT-JNB-WDH, Etango Ranch

Sep 8/9 - Erongo Wilderness Lodge
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...0&y=1028pp

Sep 10/11 - The Stiltz, Swakopmund
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...0&y=gx3zh6

Sep 12/13 - Kuangukuangu
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...0&y=jf662r

Sep 14/15 - Desert Homestead
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...0&y=4mb55t

Sep 16/17 - Wolwedans Dune Camp
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...&y=-d40y96

Sep 18/19 - Kiripotib Farm
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...0&y=gsp0qz

Sep 20/21 - WDH-JNB-CDG-LAX

Trip report to follow...

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?

<font color="green">Cyn</font>

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:

<i>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.</i>

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

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

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.</i></i>

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 re:our 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 &quot;retrieving one of our hub caps that was rolling down the road&quot;. 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 :O 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/threads...p;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 &quot;Life's too short for a bad cup of coffee&quot;.

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 <i>really</i> 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! #o

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 :&quot;&gt; 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 <i>very</i> 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 :D

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 &quot;Rock&quot;. 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:-D

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.