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<pubDate>Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:40:44 -0500</pubDate>
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    <title>Animals - big and small! &#x2014; Ihaha, Caprivi, Namibia</title>
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    <pubDate>Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:40:44 -0500</pubDate>
    <description>Nam 09</description>
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        <b>Ihaha, Caprivi, Namibia</b><br /><br />6.20<br><br>I'm a bit confused by the time this morning &#8211; it&#8217;s actually 5.20, but when I looked at my phone, I thought it was the other way round, so it was 7.20. So I am now dressed and waiting for someone to get up and check the camp, but it&#8217;s a little early still!! There is no way I am getting up first &#8211; I can still hear the eles and I&#8217;m not sure if the shapes I can see are buffalo or just bushes! No doubt Dave will be up soon!!<br><br>Last evening was fun! As II said there were so many sounds and knowing anything could be just outside of our circle made the thrill even better! While we were sat Dave came back very excited &#8211; he had just seen a honey badger &#8211; the one animal on his wish list! Not only did he see it, but we all saw it as it kept coming into camp trying to steal our food! It managed to get our chicken a la king pot off the table and then returned later to rip open a rubbish bag! It later came back when everyone was in bed and caused more trouble &#8211; but Dave was very happy!!<br><br>Last night it was really windy &#8211; in fact it still is now. Everything was flapping, and at every flap I wonder if it&#8217;s the wind or an animal!!<br><br>There was a bit of confusion yesterday on the way here. We crossed the border easily and when we got to the park gates the guard said "Mr Davies has gone to Kasane to pay, you can go strait to Ihaha." The trouble was though we were also supposed to go to Kasane to pay, but didn&#8217;t know!<br><br>We were slowly driving through the park when Flora had a phone call from Kath asking where we were. As we were almost at camp, we continued there and waited fro the others &#8211; oops! While we waited at the camp entrance a huge herd of elephants arrived, which I presume were the ones we shared camp with last night. <br><br>I can hear people moving now, so I should be able to get up soon!<br><br>I&#8217;m now up! It&#8217;s still very windy and actually pretty cold, so I am sat in the car! Out of the window I can see six buffalo straight ahead, there are a few more to the side and I can also see zebra. There are lots and lots of birds about &#8211; the franklin have just arrived to pick up the scraps &#8211; they will start shouting soon and then everyone will be up!!<br><br>Dave and I drove to the toilets earlier as we needed water. Because we have an unreserved site there are no bins or a tap, but as it&#8217;s only costing 30 rand (about &#xA3;2.50!) per night, we can&#8217;t complain! We had to drive back with a bucket of water on the floor of the car &#8211; sounds easy, but when you consider the bumpy sand roads, it&#8217;s not so easy!<br><br>Some have now driven to the shower and are then going on a game drive, we are just finishing the packing and then we will be off.<br><br>Afternoon<br><br>We have had a lovely day in the park (with one exception, which I will mention that in a minute!). <br><br>After driving to the shower we left to drive in the Kasane direction along the river. We saw loads of animals &#8211; huge herds of elephants and buffalo, two big herds of sable, hundreds of impala as well as warthog, zebra and hippos.<br><br>There were a lot of flies about today, they kept buzzing around and I kept swishing then away. I felt one near my ear and thought I has brushed it away, but discovered it had not gone out, but INTO my ear! I know it sounds funny, but I assure you, it was the most uncomfortable feeling and it could have driven me mad! All I could hear was buzzing and a tickle in my ear &#8211; all I wanted to do was shake my head! Sue had some eye drops so Flora poured that in to try to drown the fly, but it didn&#8217;t work, it just went further in! Suddenly there was a massive pain &#8211; I presume it must have touched my ear drum &#8211; it really hurt! Krista then turned up and had some pure alcohol, which they put into a syringe to flood my ear &#8211; HOORAY &#8211; as the liquid squirted in the fly flew out!!! Flora said it was tiny, but it felt like the size of a horse fly! Anyway I never want to experience that again!<br><br>We are now sat looking over the river &#8211; I wonder what tonight will bring!?<br><br>22.50<br><br>I think I am now fed up of dust and being dirty! My journal, my clothes, my sleeping bag &#8211; everything is covered in a layer of dust and dirt &#8211; especially in this wind!<br><br>OK, enough of the moaning! This evening was quite quiet animal wise. We did a selection of group photos in our NAM 09 t-shirts as the sun went down and the Dave and I went to get some more water. Not only did we have to get our bucket full, we also had to fill three kettles and get them all back with water still in them &#8211; it was like some sort of challenge game! Must get some sleep now! <br />
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    <title>The adventures begin ....... &#x2014; Jo&#x27;burg To Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Gauteng, South Africa</title>
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    <pubDate>Sun, 18 Oct 2009 10:36:04 -0400</pubDate>
    <description>Nam 09</description>
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        <b>Jo'burg To Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Gauteng, South Africa</b><br /><br />Sunday<br><br>I am actually writing this this morning as last night cold wasn't the word for it! I hardly slept last night as it was far too cold - even in my very comfy and usually very warm sleeping bag! When we got up this morning the tents were iced over and even the water in the kettle was frozen! At least the sun is out and it is now warm enough to write!<br><br>So to yesterday .......<br><br>Saturday 1st August<br><br>We were up at 2.45 but even though we had all had very little sleep we were surprisingly awake! The final packing was done - in fact most of the final packing was just thrown in and the trailer forced shut! We managed to leave at 4.05, which for the Ketley crew is pretty good! As we left it was just beginning to rain, but after about an hour it was absolutley tipping down! We drove through this for about two hours - I keep getting told it doesn't rain here at this time of year, but now I know different! <br><br>We drove all the way from Jo'burg across South Africa and reached our final destination - the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park exactly 12 hours after leaving the house! Our game spotting has begin - we have already added springbok, gemsbok and wildebeest - hopefully this will get longer and longer over the next few weeks.<br><br>The Davies arrived after us - I'm afraid the trailer issues have begun already - they have already lost the jockey wheel! Will the problems continue??!! <br><br>Due to this Gary has unfortunatley been awarded the first 'Grumpy' and will now wear the t-shirt for the whole day tomorrow!!<br />
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    <title>Across The Caprivi &#x2014; Camp Kwando, Caprivi, Namibia</title>
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    <pubDate>Sun, 18 Oct 2009 10:31:41 -0400</pubDate>
    <description>Nam 09</description>
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        <b>Camp Kwando, Caprivi, Namibia</b><br /><br />A lovely morning in Hakusembe River Lodge. Gary's car is fine, he just has to drive using gears 1 &#8211; 4, Mike is with his car in the garage in Rundu and we are now packing ready to leave.<br><br>The boys have been fishing this morning, but they didn&#8217;t have any luck. We had a change of sleeping arrangements last night &#8211; the Attridges rented a chalet for the night as their tent was in Mike and Krista&#8217;s car! They had a very large room so I slept in 'Hotel Attridge&#8217; instead of putting up my tent. It was a little strange sleeping in a room &#8211; I actually missed waking up to the sounds of the birds and animals &#8211; although that may have been a good thing because those who did sleep in their tents complained the cockerel started early!<br><br>We are now sat in a fuel station in Divundu. It is the only fuel for 200km in one direction and another 200km in the other, so it was a bit of a bun fight to get to the pumps! We are now about to enter the Caprivi &#8211; another 200km of straight roads!<br><br>22.27<br><br>It is noticeably chillier here than the places we have been recently, maybe because we are next to the river, which is huge and flooded, although saying that we were by a river last night!<br><br>The drive today was pretty uneventful. No-one broke their cars and we all arrived at Camp Kwando &#8211; even if some were slower than others! The Davies can only travel at 90 &#8211; 100kmph, so they are the slow and steady group &#8211; we overtook them on the way, but then they sneaked past us when we were refueling! When we caught up with them again and overtook them, we played Queens &#8216;We Are The Champions&#8217; over the radio &#8211; well, we thought it was funny!!<br><br>Camp Kwando is a very beautiful lodge &#8211; it&#8217;s a shame we are camping! We went to the bar when we arrived and sat on the veranda over the water with a log fire in the middle &#8211; lovely!<br><br>We are not sure what is happening tomorrow &#8211; some are going fishing at 6.30 and there is a boat trip leaving at 8am, which I might do. We need to be back, packed up and leave by midday as we have to be in Ihaha before dark, so let&#8217;s see what happens tomorrow. <br />
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    <title>Hooray - To Ihaha!! &#x2014; Ihaha, Caprivi, Namibia</title>
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    <pubDate>Sun, 18 Oct 2009 10:28:34 -0400</pubDate>
    <description>Nam 09</description>
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        <b>Ihaha, Caprivi, Namibia</b><br /><br />11.50 (although it says 10.50 on the clock!)<br><br>We had a bit of a problem this morning as we had the boats booked, one for 6.30 and one for 8 o'clock. This sounds fine, but what we didn&#8217;t know was that The Caprivi runs on Bots and SA time, so they are actually an hour ahead! This meant we were all an hour late &#8211; the man was pretty cross, but they should have told us! The boat trip was lovely, we motored upstream for a while, and then sat and drank a Savanna for breakfast! Oh dear!<br><br>11.23<br><br>We have just gone to bed to the sounds of the bush! Outside this evening we heard ele, hyena, some very high pitched screams which could have been something being eaten and maybe even lion! The eles are very noisy, a huge herd wandered past our camp earlier and has settled on the plain below us.<br><br>Ihaha is one of my favourite places &#8211; it&#8217;s full of scary things and noises but you get the biggest thrill here &#8211; the hyena is now calling and getting closer! I&#8217;m going to watch out of my tent and see if anything comes! Lights off and fingers crossed! <br />
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    <title>A long, but eventful, driving day!! &#x2014; Hakusembe River Lodge, Okavango, Namibia</title>
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    <pubDate>Sat, 17 Oct 2009 09:52:33 -0400</pubDate>
    <description>Nam 09</description>
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        <b>Hakusembe River Lodge, Okavango, Namibia</b><br /><br />6.47 <br><br>We are ready to leave &#8211; the Davies have just left as they have to get a tyre fixed in Oshakati &#8211; the trouble is we need a jerry can of fuel from them! We have just over 700km to do today so it's a long drive ahead &#8211; as it turned out it was a long, long VERY eventful day for some!<br><br>23.38<br><br>We have had a very, very late night (for us!) and are now at Hakusembe River Lodge which is near Rundu on the River Kavango. It is lovely here &#8211; clean and dust free and we have even been in the bar tonight!<br><br>This is being written on Tuesday as I was way too tired last night! I am sat on a pontoon on the river looking over to Angola. The boys are fishing, trying to catch tiger fish, Dave caught one this morning, so they are trying hard. This is the Kavango River, which flows into the Delta, its pretty fast flowing and in April this year it flooded really badly and they had to move around the camp in a speed boat! <br><br>Now, let&#8217;s get back to yesterday. This should have been an uneventful driving day, but things took a bit of a turn!<br><br>As I said we left camp just before 7am and the first part of the trip was along a dirt road, which wasn&#8217;t too bad. We had to stop for fuel, so the group split for a while. Dave kept trying to contact the others over the radio, but no one seemed to be replying, until he realized Flora had accidentally pulled the aerial out! We had no contact until Oshakati and we saw the others stopped at a Spar and Dave used his phone! We stopped a little further on at the junction where we were supposed to turn north towards the dirt road. Dave managed to fix the radio and we began to hear conversations about a change of route. Mike had phoned the lodge who said to drive the longer tar way rather than the shorter dirt road as the road had been destroyed in the recent floods.<br><br>This meant we had to drive back to Tsumeb but also meant we drove straight back Etosha again! Part of the road actually has the park fence along it and we saw several kudu and a giraffe1 Just after Oshivelo, when the Swart were in front, they radioed in to say they were stopping to change driver and grab a Pepsi. We drove on &#8211; straight into a vet fence checkpoint!! These stop people taking fresh meat from north to south due to the 'spread&#8217; of foot and mouth. The lady was very thorough &#8211; she climbed into the back of the car to check both cooler boxes and the freezer &#8211; she took out the bol sauce and examined it very carefully, she was actually shaking her head to start with, but then said it was fine. Luckily (again) she didn&#8217;t go any further down as we had pork chops and they would have taken those! So we were through without them taking anything, The Davies came next, fine, then Mike and Krista &#8211; oh dear! They had some steak in the top of their freezer (or fridge) and when the lady said she needed to take it, Mike became very cross and threw it on the floor &#8211; oops!!<br><br>The Ketley car decided to stop at Tsumeb for Wimpy coffee and lunch. I had a delicious toasted sandwich &#8211; chicken, feta and mushroom sauce &#8211; yum! The others drove onto Grootfontein hoping for lunch there but only went to the fuel station instead. Somehow we managed to pass all of them, even though we stopped and bought lunch! We all left the town, us in the front thinking everyone was behind in convoy. We had tried calling on the radio while we were driving, but thought it was just playing up again and continued on our way!<br><br>The phone call came at 3 o&#8217;clock!! <br><br>"Since you left us, it&#8217;s all fallen apart!"<br><br>The call was from Puk &#8211; apparently there was something very wrong with Gary&#8217;s gearbox! Puk was now towing the trailer and Gary seemed to be driving in third gear only (from what we could gather!). As it turned out he could use gears one to four, but not five and reverse was a bit dodgy! They managed to crawl their way to camp, but that was not the only problem. The Loubser saga continued &#8211; something happened to the wheel bearings which made the wheel stop turning! Mike of course was not happy &#8211; this hire car has been nothing but problems and when he told the mysterious &#8216;Mark&#8217; he would abandon it, they made arrangements for collecting it! As it was they had to leave it by the side of the road (in the care of some locals!) but only when they took all the valuables out and packed them into the Baths and Swarts cars! <br><br>They eventually arrived in camp hours after us, in fact we were in the bar when they arrived! Considering the day, it was a good evening!<br />
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    <title>Epupa Falls &#x2014; Kunene River Lodge, Kunene, Namibia</title>
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    <pubDate>Sun, 04 Oct 2009 09:34:15 -0400</pubDate>
    <description>Nam 09</description>
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        <b>Kunene River Lodge, Kunene, Namibia</b><br /><br />6.42<br><br>Flora is up before me! I don't need to say anything else!!<br><br>PM<br><br>Wow &#8211; this is the life!! I&#8217;m sat in a hammock swinging gently, the kids are in the pool, everyone is mooching around, some are sorting, some reading, some just sitting &#8211; perfect!<br><br>Earlier we had a mass sort out &#8211; the car was emptied completely, so later we can repack and then we will know where everything is!<br><br>This morning we drove to Epupa Falls. It took just over two hours to get there and was definitely worth the drive. It is similar to Vic Falls in that the river just falls over a great big crack in the ground! This is still the Kunene River which is the same one which flows past our camp. This side of the Falls is Namibian and the other side is Angola. It is low water at the moment, but even so the Falls are still pretty spectacular. The water comes over in four or five different places and when there is a lot of water it must be spectacular. <br><br>After arriving we wandered to the edge and took some pictures. On the way to another part of the Falls we had to climb over some rocks. Dave and I were in front with Flora behind and then Mike. I thought I heard a noise and turned around to see Flora lying on the rocks and Mike running towards her! Unfortunately she had slipped and fell face first, but luckily she was wearing her sunglasses and they took the full impact, but I think she might be sporting a shiner later!<br><br>Peace has now descended on the camp and looking around it is actually a lovely place! The pool is surrounded by banana and palm trees and the river is just on the other side of the tents. It is only a thin strip of land on either side of the river which is green and covered with palm trees, beyond that is desert!<br><br>More bliss &#8211; Fi has just brought me a G&#x26;T, complete with ice and lemon, so picture me &#8211; hammock, G &#x26; T, the sun setting with just the noise of the birds and insects &#8211; perfect!<br><br>22.10<br><br>I&#8217;m now in bed, we have to be up early tomorrow &#8211; the plan is to be on the road by 7am as we have a long driving day, which has been estimated as anywhere between 7 and 10 hours!<br><br>Flora gave out Grumpy tonight &#8211; until the last minute I was top of the list &#8211; "Blimey, you&#8217;re up!" and &#8220;Is there any blood?&#8221; &#8211; but luckily Jenny was grumpy with Lindsey and Flora heard her, so that saved me from being a double Grumpy!<br />
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    <title>Opuwo &#x2014; Kunene River Lodge, Kunene, Namibia</title>
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    <pubDate>Sun, 04 Oct 2009 08:34:13 -0400</pubDate>
    <description>Nam 09</description>
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        <b>Kunene River Lodge, Kunene, Namibia</b><br /><br />6.52<br><br>We were up and ready leave &#8211; it was a beautiful sunrise this morning but we have a long drive ahead.<br><br>8.52<br><br>Stopped! It seems that Mikes roof rack has finally given up! They are supposed to be getting a new car at some stage, as their one is breaking bit by bit, but we are not sure when!<br><br>9.15<br><br>Everything from their roof is now either in the car or in another car. Off again!<br><br>13.11<br><br>Stopped! Gary's tyre.<br><br>We got to Opuwo at about 11am, filled with fuel and amazingly there was a Continental tyre place next to the BP station! Gary bought two new tyres and had them fitted onto his trailer. Its one of these which now seems to have a slow puncture and we&#8217;ve only done 20km &#8211; Grumpy shirt for Gary??!<br><br>Opuwo is described as a 'dusty frontier Himba town&#8217; and I think that&#8217;s a pretty accurate description. It had a very strange mix of people &#8211; when we were in the supermarket all you had to do was look around. There were the traditional tribal women &#8211; the Herero dressed in Victorian dresses and hats and the Himba covered in ochre and animal fat just wearing a goat skin &#8211; as well as those dressed in more western clothes. It was a fascinating place to people watch.<br><br>While we were there Mike also managed to get his car mended by a local garage. This only took an hour, so hopefully things will be fine now.<br><br>We got to the Kunene Rive Lodge at about 3 o&#8217;clock and after swapping stories with the others and setting up camp I went for a well needed shower! That felt good although I am still not sure how clean I am! Perhaps I will have another one later! <br><br>We walked to the bar which overlooks the river and is just beautiful. The other side of the river is Angola, it&#8217;s a shame we can&#8217;t visit! Unfortunately because we are such a big party we are quite noisy and we seemed to upset an Italian man who came over and asked us to be quiet &#8211; impossible with 14 adults and 10 children!<br />
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    <title>Himba country &#x2014; Otjiu, Kunene, Namibia</title>
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    <pubDate>Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:06:20 -0400</pubDate>
    <description>Nam 09</description>
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        <b>Otjiu, Kunene, Namibia</b><br /><br />11.43am<br><br>Here we go again! This time it's pretty serious &#8211; the Loubsers steering has 'broken&#8217;! At the moment Dave and Mike are on their backs under the car and the left wheel is pointing in a different direction to the right one! Luckily we have the Sat phone, as their car is hired and I feel some phone calls coming on! Kath says I won&#8217;t be invited on another trip as I keep recording all the &#8216;admin&#8217; in my journal!<br><br>The day began well, we reached the Red Drum, checked the cars and continued on the other track. We passed the Blue Drum, which was much posher than the Red Drum &#8211; it even had a &#8216;sat dish&#8217; and &#8216;phone&#8217; &#8211; of course neither worked! There were no signed stones here so we started a new tradition! <br><br>We are actually driving around the mountains today instead of driving OVER them as we did yesterday! We are on a huge plain at the moment, there should be cheetah everywhere, but no signs yet! Actually this morning I walked up the sand track away from the camp and less than 100 metres from our camp were cheetah footprints going across the road. It had crossed sometime during the night as it was over the top of the tyre tracks! <br><br>So we are now sat in the middle of nowhere &#8211; there is nothing all around! They seem to be making some progress with the car, let&#8217;s see.<br><br>You will never believe this &#8211; Gary has an angle grinder out!! It has been attached to his car battery and they have just cut a bolt which was too long! Is there nothing that can&#8217;t be done out here!!?? As I said we are in the middle of nowhere, there is grass as far as you can see and just the mountains in the far distance &#8211; yet they have just used an angle grinder!!!<br><br>12.28<br><br>Still not a person or vehicle in sight but Krista is now trying to phone the rental company on the sat phone, but none of the numbers seem to be working. We are being watched by gemsbok and springbok &#8211; maybe even a cheetah or two? <br><br>Krista has just spoken to a poor girl in South Africa &#8211; when she asked where we were, Krista said we were just south of the Red Drum &#8211; the girl has no idea!!! Oh dear!<br><br>17.08<br><br>Stopped again! This time Gary has managed to shred a tyre! They are changing it so they shouldn&#8217;t be too long. We have driven all day and have seen one local van &#8211; that&#8217;s how remote we are! Until the last hour we haven&#8217;t seen any people, but now we are beginning to see more and more Himba villages &#8211; well a village consists of one or two huts, some goats, a donkey and a family! The men seem to dress in whatever they can while the women cover themselves in ochre and animal fat and just wear a skin around their waists &#8211; they are very eye-catching.<br><br>The scenery is truly spectacular &#8211; there is a photo opportunity around every corner &#8211; we have driven across grassy plains, moonscapes and are now in the mountains. Some of the valleys have been huge &#8211; some of the most spectacular scenery in the world in my opinion.<br><br>Bedtime &#8211; I have no idea what time it is but we have had a change of plan &#8211; we were supposed to be in Opowa tonight but haven&#8217;t made it. We have made camp on the bank of the same river which runs through Puros, we are just further upstream. It&#8217;s an early start tomorrow!<br />
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    <title>The remote North &#x2014; Marienfluss, Kunene, Namibia</title>
    <link>http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emmaw/3/1254584548/tpod.html</link>
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    <category>Travel Blogs</category>
    <guid>http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emmaw/3/1254584548/tpod.html</guid>
    <pubDate>Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:04:33 -0400</pubDate>
    <description>Nam 09</description>
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        <b>Marienfluss, Kunene, Namibia</b><br /><br />I know I have said this before but I am looking at an amazing view!<br><br>Our half of the group left camp at 8.30 and began the drive towards the Marienfluss. We had been driving for about 20 minutes when we noticed the others weren't behind us. We tried to contact them on the radio and stopped and waited for ages. We were just beginning to get worried and Dave actually turned around when they appeared in the distance &#8211; the Davies had a flat tyre &#8211; let&#8217;s hope this is not the start of bad luck!!<br><br>We drove across the desert and the sand became blacker and there were a lot more stones. We saw lots and lots of gemsbok but not a lot else. The roads weren&#8217;t too bad, although there was some corrugation at times. The areas were vast &#8211; huge desert valleys surrounded by mountains. We took the 4WD track to Orupenbe, which was marked on my map, but then we turned north into the unknown according to my map &#8211; thank goodness for the GPS!! <br><br>We drove past a marble mine &#8211; they were literally cutting marble from the cliff face and blocks of white marble were just standing around. The whole area was covered in pieces of marble, from tiny bits to big chunks and occasionally we would come across a marble outcrop, which looked pretty surreal.<br><br>After stopping for lunch (and sweating in the 37.5 degrees!) we continued our journey. The next part of the drive was, how shall I put it &#8211; eventful!!!! We found sand, stones, rocks &#8211; just about everything! At one stage we had to climb a very steep rocky hill, which we had to do one at a time. Once we had all got to the top and driven a little further, we then had to drive down the other side! This was true off road driving &#8211; very exciting!<br><br>The plan was to reach the 'Red Drum&#8217;. Now the Red Drum is not a hotel or a spa or even a shop. It is, in fact, just a painted red oil drum in what seems the middle of nowhere, but it marks the beginning on the Marienfluss. The drum, along with an orange and a blue drum, are very important landmarks and all have GPS points &#8211; probably the only oil drums in the world marked on maps!!<br><br>It is now 20.58 and we are all in bed! It is pitch black outside and there is no-one for miles &#8211; how cool is that. All I can hear is the noise of the pen on my paper!<br><br>When we eventually reached the Red Drum we found that people before us have found stones and written their names and dates on them. We had to add ours! While we were there some children came out to see us. Some were dressed in traditional clothes (or lack of them) but others were wearing more western clothes. Kath had brought some footballs, as they were asked for last year, so Ryan and Graham pumped some up. The children didn&#8217;t know what to do with them at first, but soon began throwing and kicking them. It was lovely watching them and they waved goodbye with big smiles on their faces when we left after mending Mike&#8217;s flat tyre.<br><br>We also saw some Himba riding their horses and donkeys on the way in &#8211; one of them was carrying a Manchester United bag &#8211; in three days of driving we have only seen a handful of people and one of them has a Man U bag &#8211; bizarre!!<br><br>I can&#8217;t wait to see the valley in the morning, it is incredibly beautiful, and a special feature are the &#8216;fairy rings&#8217;. These are patches of ground where nothing grows. There are several thoughts why these occur, but my favourite if that they are actually made by fairies! <br><br>OK, so now to sleep. I wonder what sounds we will hear during the night &#8211; we don&#8217;t even know what animals are here!<br />
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    <title>Through the Valleys &#x2014; Puros, Kunene, Namibia</title>
    <link>http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/emmaw/3/1254571712/tpod.html</link>
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    <pubDate>Sat, 03 Oct 2009 08:33:35 -0400</pubDate>
    <description>Nam 09</description>
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        <b>Puros, Kunene, Namibia</b><br /><br />It's the middle of the day and very hot!<br><br>Todays admin &#8211; the Davies are stuck in the river!!!! We are in a beautiful river valley, which we have to drive through later, but at the moment all I can hear is revving and shouting as they are trying to get them out! Unfortunately Gary took a slightly different path to us across the river and then stopped to look at a bird &#8211; this equaled a stuck in the mud vehicle and trailer! I am sat in our car at the moment looking out for lions as when I was walking back there were several prints!!<br><br>So this morning we woke in our 5* bush camp to mist over the mountains! The Moanib Valley runs straight through the Skeleton Coast and out to sea, which is why there is a mist and the wind last night.<br><br>Today is Grants birthday and Lindsey had made a card. She had also written a little speech and read it out which was lovely of her.<br><br>We left camp and drove a little further along the valley and just before the National Park we turned north. The road began in a gorge with high mountains on either side and deep sand. As we drove the gorge began to widen out and out and out until eventually we were driving through the desert with the mountains in the far distance. The ground kept changing from sandy to stony and back to sandy, so everyone had to be very careful with their tyres. We saw lots and lots of ele tracks, but unfortunately no animals.<br><br>Gary is now out of the mud and we are about to set off again!<br><br>Later<br><br>The valley we drove through this afternoon was lovely &#8211; it was very different from the other one mainly because this one still had the river flowing through it! We had no idea what was going to happen when we first started driving &#8211; how deep would it be, would we get stuck? As it was it was a beautiful drive. We had to keep crossing the river and it was actually great fun. No one got stuck and Ant had a great time making the biggest splashes he could!<br><br>We are now sat around the fire and everyone is discussing what to do tomorrow &#8211; the problem is its taken us two days to do one days travelling, so it may be impossible to do everything planned. I think the choice is stay here for an extra day or head to the 'Drums&#8217;!!<br><br>22.39<br><br>Decisions made &#8211; well roughly anyway! The group is going to split for a few days as different people want to do different things. The Ketleys and the Davies are going further north to the &#8216;Red Drum&#8217; in the Marienfluss and the others are staying in Purros for another day to give the children a break &#8211; we are meant to all meet up on Saturday &#8211; lets see what happens!<br><br>I had a great shower earlier. This camp is run by the local people and they have built the toilet and shower for each site. These are not standard toilets and showers but are built around the bushes and trees! Our shower has a tree in the middle of it! To have hot water a &#8216;donkey&#8217; had to be lit and kept alight with wood, which heats the water!<br><br>Unfortunately while I was in the shower I dropped my head torch and the batteries came out! There I was with no clothes and shampoo in my hair feeling around on the floor in the pitch dark for batteries so I could have some light! This was made even worse afterwards as I learnt there was a scorpion in the shower, but Krista forgot to tell us all! This was actually a good thing as if I knew I would have never gone for a shower at all!<br><br>We discussed our two trailer &#8216;incidents&#8217; tonight &#8211; when we had trailer admin in Moz and Zambia last year as soon as we stopped people would appear. But on the two occasions this year (the Baths lodge and Davies stuck in the river) no local people appeared. We saw a couple of 4WD&#8217;s yesterday and one land rover today &#8211; that&#8217;s shows just how remote we are!<br><br>I have my tent open a little tonight &#8211; I&#8217;m waiting for the eles to arrive! One walked through the camp earlier and there a signs saying not to leave food around where the eles can see or smell it! Let&#8217;s hope they arrive! <br />
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