Etosha National Park

Not exactly the camping grounds i would expect in a national park, with luxury apartments. It is totally different to when i was in the Serengeti & Ngorongoro Crater. Etosha is kinda made for the tourists whereas Serengeti is real bush camping with the animals roaming around your tents.

I felt kinda of hard done by as well with the lack of animals, 3 game drives and hardly anything, mainly Zebra and various kinds of antelope. Maybe, it was the time of year or the wrong waterhole. There are 3 waterholes amongst the huge vast of park land. Night viewing was good, would have been much nicer had certain people stopped talking.........

Swakopmund

Stayed in the 3rd largest city in Namibia for 2nights. We had free time to ourselves and loads of activities to keep us occupied. I took up Quad Biking among the sand dunes, such extreme riding...........had a semi - automatic this time, took getting used to but soon managed to control it.

The majority of our group visited Napolitana Restaurant on the first night. Big Portions, you have to ask for a doggie bag. Good wine and good service, that good me & 2 friends went there the second night, while the others went to a traditional family Braai ( BBQ ) which didn't turn out to be as good as they'd hoped. But we certainly had a good time, taking the uneaten pizza home with us !I would highly recommend this restaurant !!!!

Surprisingly it's a bit of a ghost town in the evening. Going out at half seven, the town was so still but coming back after ten, still no one about on the streets . There weren't many bars about, think the main one was on the beach. It's more of a quiet town ............

Namibia

Such a vast place and so little population. As it is mainly Desert & Dunes, you only see people in the main towns of Swakopmund and Windhoek, the Capital. And of course the small villages we stopped at for refreshments, fuel etc.

We camped at a couple of bushcamps, the first being just private open space, by the side of the main road, with a long drop toilet. The second was actually an official campsite, where we had our Desert Walk to the bushman paintings.

Visited a huge Seal Colony, Cape Cross. Some people didn't think it was worth the $10 for a half hour visit but it is protected therefore you can't walk amongst them and the money helps in lots of ways.

Walked amongst the sands & Dunes of the desert Sossusvlei, parts of which were featured in the Jennifer Lopez Film " The Cell "

Fish River Canyon

Had Dinner on the rim of the second largest canyon in the world, after having walked along it. It is forbidden to walk down it........

Don't know quite what to say about it, as the Grand Canyon definately tops it !!!!

But it was a nice night, except for a slight wind chill......

Townships of Cape Town

We visited 2 townships on the first day of the acacia tour. First to Langa, where we tasted their local brew while sitting in a Shebeen ( illegal drinking tavern ). Interesting, made from sweet potato which i love but unfortunately didn't like the taste.

Next was Guguletu, where we visited a local home, viewed some crafts and had lunch which was included. spicy chicken wings, veg, pork.

Both were very interesting, was taught some local language and was followed by local kids who were very cute indeed.

Camping

I love Camping especially when i have a tent all to myself.......
Most times i had help from others putting it up, but couple of times managed to do on my own, which is easy.
although it was camping we had 2 nights in Swakopmund, accommodation was at a backpacker. Good beds etc and was a relaxing time.
People seem to take camping in the bush for granted, too much..........

Cape Desert Safari

Cape Desert Safari with http://www.acacia-africa.com, 11days camping from Cape Town to Windhoek. Guide Kathryn was from Windhoek herself, Paul the Driver ( a masaai ) and George the trainee. 21 of us, mixed nationalities from South america, Ireland, Canada, Australia & N.Zealand, Uk, Holland, S.Africa and South Korea. There was supposed to be 2 more from the uk but got stuck due to the Volcanic Lava Saga !!!! Four Couples, 2 Cousins and the rest singles.
Good weather, not many days were spent driving long distances, average day was about 4/5 hrs. but stopped every so often for drinks etc.
Fun !