Hotel Pension A la Mer Swakopmund

... down in the gorge to get water.

We spent the night at a camp up in the mountains, where it was less sandy. After having heard repeatedly about how low Namibia's annual rainfall is, you guess it -- it rained on us that night! Fortunately, our guides had little individuals roofs to put up over the tents -- kind of like tent hats -- to make sure no water leaked in.

On Sunday, we drove to Swakopmund, stopping at the Tropic of ...

... Service station at 3am......i found the local campsite .............Well i say that ...i was the only Tent there , maybe they knew something that i didnt ..........In the dark at 3:15am i set up my tent for the first time ...........Normally when im setting up a tent i pretend to be really bad at it until one of my mates comes along and does it for me (Every Time!! - Thanks Bones!)
So i was on my own ........my strategy was to plug pins into the ground ...

... 200 were opened for me. And with only 2 exceptions I didn't have to pay a cent. It was a little funny because some people got really nervous. Fabio was blown away and was pretty funny as he was very expressive and vocal in his surprise at the prices at times and the wines he didn't like. It's also possible he was drunk as he was actually drinking while I was only tasting but it's funny when your with the maker of the wine and you have this guy saying "oh my God look at ...

... arrived at about ten minutes to 7. Unfortunately, aside from the couples (Kevin and Krista, Lance and Francine, Chirs and Hollie) most people didn’t arrive until 7:40. We were all starving and asked the waitress to put in our appetizers as soon as the full group arrived. It was good food and we all had a lot of fun even though it was really hot in the restaurant. Afterward we walked down the street to a bar where Heini met up with us. Chris gave him a ...

... stuck in some shallow water so I got out and pulled it along but as I was getting back in I lost my thong and we floated away in the wrong direction - we had to commence the Great Thong Rescue! It got stuck in some reeds luckily and all was good... until falling in anyway but it was all a good laugh.
The next point was Sessriem and Soussvlei. We stayed in a camp in Sessriem which had a bar but was quite a hike from our campsite. We wanted to get a ...

... to the Sossusvlei Desert Lodge airstrip, where you board an aircraft for your scheduled flight to Swakopmund. You take off for a scenic flight over the 'Namib Sand Sea' and along the Atlantic Ocean (seeing old Diamond camps and shipwrecks), landing in Swakopmund. On your arrival in Swakopmund, you are met by your private guide from Ultimate Safaris and transferred to Atlantic Villa Guesthouse where you ...

... which is essentially a fried caterpillar) and dancing by some of the township's youngsters.

I must say that when I initially envisaged what my tour of Africa would be like, my mind was full of the media images of poverty and sadness that we are constantly bombarded with in North America, but what I discovered during my tour contradicted the entire way that thought about Africa ...

... before he left. Went into at least 6 internet joints, none of which offered skype. What is with these people, do they not realise it is something you simply download for free????

Ended up finding a pay phone and forking out US$5 for a phone card which lasted all of 3 minutes. Managed to speak to Mum who told me Dad had just left that morning. Damn damn damn!! Stupid internet and bush camping. Gutted. Felt bad for Mum too cause the conversation was so rushed. Oh I cannot ...

Just a quick update from Swakopmund, the little coastal town Claire and I are going to call home for the next couple of days. We arrived yesterday in the afternoon, knackered after a long northbound trip from Luderitz, the longest, continuous stretch of un-tarred road we have had to negotiate so far. Dust was everywhere when we stopped: in our car, on our bodies, it also found its way inside most of our boxes and bags. But that's ...

... cleaning up back at the hostel we went into town stopping at the market to barter for some memento's. Sarah C restored to telling the Market stall owners that she was a kiwi couldn't take anything back to NZ, she had seen first hand how well this worked for us! That evening we attended a viewing of our sand boarding adventure DVD and photos. The trekking up the dune in the heat (measured at 67 degrees on the sand) and a few beers took it out of us so we had an early night.