Cape Maclear, Malawi

Got a lift with the guesthouse owner at Senga Bay to the bus station at Salima where we needed to board our bus to Cape Maclear. We had to hang around the bus station for about 45 minutes waiting for a coach to come from Lilongwe so the touts soon lost interest in us. We had mislaid our small calculator so managed to buy one in the quiet marketplace next to the station for about $1.50 NZ. Patrick and Linda joined us and Patrick had to hire a bicycle taxi and sit on the padded carrier to go to the local bank to withdraw some local currency. When the bus arrived it was already completely full and a queue formed at the door and I managed to get quite close to the front of it while John put the bags in the lockers under it.



The food sellers surrounded the bus to sell the travellers in the bus their goods; they had boiled eggs with small packets of salt, bread rolls with fried eggs, chilled water in small plastic bags that the locals nibbled the corner of to drink the water, frozen flavoured ice drinks in plastic bags, mangoes, packets of factory made biscuits, fried bread, homemade samosa and chilled canned and bottled soft drinks.

We all managed to find a seat in the crowded bus and I sat next to a large lady with a young boy. The boy drank 2 bottles of fanta, ate 2 packets of biscuits and half a bread bun and grizzled if his mum wanted any of it. The person across the aisle from us had a small puppy tied up in a piece of fabric and it whined the whole time.

The women usually wear everyday clothes and then had a length of brightly coloured material that they use to tie their babies to their backs. If they are wearing jeans or a skirt they will still tie a sarong like piece of material around their waist that covers their clothes. Often they will tie their money into the corner of the sarong.

Three hours later we arrived, after many short stops, at Monkey Bay. We were hustled onto the back of a flat deck truck and twenty five of us headed for Cape Maclear.

The backpackers was called Fat Monkey and seemed to be run by Zimbabweans. It was right on the lake going down to the beach and not as nice as the place at Senga Bay because it was pretty dusty and there was no grass to keep the place cool. The restaurant area looked over the sandy beach out to the water and occasionally the locals would look up and wave or the children would beg for food.



There were 2 Dutch girls and an English guy staying who were doing their internship at a hospital in the north. Later a Dutch couple arrived who were catching up with a friend who taught in Lilongwe and then one evening a whole safari truck full of retired Dutchies arrived to camp at the backpackers. We couldn't believe how many Dutchies there were in such a small place.



When you are walking about the local young men come up to talk to you and inevitably they are trying to sell you a trip on a boat like this one. Patrick and Linda headed off to do some snorkeling and we went exploring the village. When we walked along the beach we saw lots of small snail shells and decided that it was not a good place to go in the water because of the bilharzia. No one in the camp told us it was in the lake here and when we asked they said yes there was bilharzia but we could go to the local clinic and get pills for it. Cape Maclear used to be a popular place for travellers but because the local boys on the beach hassle the travellers they no longer come in the numbers they used to and we only saw one other traveller at another place along the beach.


The locals in their dugouts heading off to fish.

In the village the young boys begged for money and pens. No one seemed to be at school and the kids were in and out of the water all day.

The electricity was off most of one day and on and off the others. We did read that they produce more electricity than they use but must be selling it on to other countries as none of the rural village mud and thatch houses have electricity.

Did some research on where to go and found that the border crossing to Mozambique that we had chosen, meant we would have to go on the carrier of a bicycle taxi for 19 kms so changed our plans and headed for Blantyre to cross at a more popular route.

Said our goodbyes to Patrick and Linda who stayed on with the Dutch couple and were headed for Liwonde and Zomba and then onto South Africa to catch their flights home in early December.

We had to get up at 4 AM to get the minibus back to Monkey Bay and then onto Mangochi. The minibus cruised up and down the village looking for passengers to fill up the seats and just as we got the last one they went back to the village centre and loaded up 3 gas cyclinders about 900 mm high and tied them to the front seats with strips of old tyre tubes and moulded the passengers around them!

Senga Bay, Malawi

Caught a minibus from outside our guesthouse to the minibus station in town where we were hustled onto a bus going to Salima. After one and a half hours we arrived at Salima where we were mobbed by touts and they kicked each other and punched each other. It was chaos. We had read and been told that Malawians were friendly people but we regularly saw a lot of aggression especially at transport stops. Eventually we were pushed onto the back of a large truck. It was loaded with planks of wood and bags of maize were stacked on top of them and then our 4 packs were tossed on to the sacks. The locals sat on the rails on the sides of the deck and we moved off a few metres. More people climbed on and everyone had to reshuffle where they were sitting as 3 huge bags of mangoes were dumped into the middle of the deck. Linda and I ended up with babies on our knees as the mothers were getting squashed. I managed to sit at the end of the deck on my pack but at the next stop I had a large lady sitting on my hips squashing me for the rest of the bumpy 20 km ride on the potholed road to the coast where the 28 of us all bailed out.


Some loud pushy local youths met the bus in Senga Bay where we planned to spend some days resting up.


The guesthouse was right on the lake edge and had a lovely soft grass area where we all camped as the rooms were all booked up and far too expensive for us. We were able to eat an evening meal in the restaurant but had to eat in the camp area if we had our own food. It made us feel unwanted like second class citizens!

It was a pretty dusty place so we were thankful for the green grass. The locals were selling boat trips and jewellery. A lot of Lake Malawi has bilharzia but a sign in the guesthouse said that none had been found in the water outside.

When we walked around the village the children asked for money and pens and followed us about. The young men with their Rastafarian hairdoes followed us to sell jewelery or boat trips.

The owner of the guesthouse was a 40 year plus old, Zimbabwean (we were told), woman and had had the place for 9 years. She drove us to the Salima bus station when we left and waved like the Queen as she drove through the village. She is involved in many activities in the village, the hospital, children's clinic, palliative care, and supporting locals with small businesses as well as trying to educate them on HIV/Aids care so she is well respected.

Lilongwe, Malawi

We managed to organize a private taxi to take us from the backpackers out of town to get some groceries, change money, and do some last minute email checks. Linda and Patrick joined us as well so it made it more worthwhile than waiting for minibuses to fill up. When we were done we headed for the Mchinji border town. We got a free visa at the border for Malawi and our guide book warned us about changing money with the touts at the border so we were able to brush them off. We had to take a 12km taxi ride from the Malawian immigration offices to the first town on the Malawian side where we had to then get a minibus for the two hour drive to the capital city of Lilongwe. The minibus was a bit of a wreck as the sliding door kept falling off the runners and the driver had to get out and fix it up after each passenger had got off.



It was noticeable how fertile the farms were in Malawi and a great contrast to the deserts of Zambia and Namibia.



We managed to work out where the backpackers was located that we wanted to stay at and so avoided stopping at the bus station and the flood of taxi touts. Unfortunately the backpackers/camp was nothing like it was described in our guide book. Nevertheless, John and I checked into the 8 bed dorm room while Linda and Patrick pitched their tent.



The place had new owners and it stunk of dog smells on the outdoor padded seating areas. One dog was asleep in the entrance to the dorm room and another in the middle of the outdoor seating area. The place had been without water for 48 hours and we had to bucket water from the pool to wash. There were meals prepared in the camp but we decided to walk into town to eat as we were not sure that things would be very clean without any water to prepare food in the restaurant.



The town was pretty crowded and there was a huge market area near the river in the town centre where sellers were peddling shoes, clothes and food.

The next day we all decided to move from the camp. Linda and Patrick went to the golf club as they had a camp ground there and we went to the St Peter's Church guesthouse. The guesthouse was clean and each bed had a mosquito net and quite a large room. At least it had running water!

We had seen an advertisement for a local internet connection for our mobile stick so we headed off to get it and catch up on emails and the blog. Once we found the headquarters for the company we discovered that they had no SIm cards left any where in the city. We were sent to several places to find one but couldn't and as we were about to return to our guesthouse the company manager found us and had at last tracked one down that we could buy. He was so embarrassed that he didn't have any when we visited him.

By the time we had returned to our guesthouse a wedding party was raging in the garden with loud thumping music. This happened at the same time that two other wedding parties raged across the road at the golf club where Patrick and Linda were staying too. What a racket! As soon as the sunset the three wedding parties shut down so that was a relief. We joined Patrick and Linda at the golf club and ate in the clean and cheap restaurant there.

There was not much to keep us longer in Lilongwe so we planned our route out of there towards the coast.

South Luangwa National Park, Zambia

The minibuses at the bus station across the road started parping their horns at 4am so we were awake early and while we were eating our breakfast at 6am the bus driver came to tell us he would pick us up at 7 sharp. We thought it was rather strange that he was waiting for us when we walked in to the car park outside the rest camp building. We loaded up and then he drove round and round picking up groceries to take to the village of Mfuwe which is outside the national park and we didn't leave until 9.30am. If we hadn't taken this minibus we would have had to wait until 3pm when the Lusaka bus arrived and then we still would not have been able to go until the minbus was stuffed full so we didn't complain too loudly!

The road from Chipata to Mfuwe is under construction in parts so the bus drives on the badly corrugated donkey road. We were later told that a Chinese company was constructing the road and it had taken a year so far as the local government officials kept taking the money allocated for the road. The Japanese vans are not 4x4s so they rattle and vibrate and could only average about 25 kph so it was a long, hot, dusty ride.

We passed lots of small villages with the farm name on a sign as well as the chief''s name. There were a few fields of peanuts and dried up cotton plants. A lot of tobacco is also grown in this area. The road was again lined with sacks of charcoal for sale and lots of people walking to and fro with hoes, tubs of mangoes, or sacks of mealie meal.

The local bicycle spare parts shop

We had to renegotiate with the minibus driver to take us the 5kms further on to the Wildlife Camp outside the national park where we planned to camp. We met up with Linda and Patrick again and we both camped at the complex. It was a lovely relaxing place with a clean pool, bar, thatched shelters with power points and tables as well as clean ablution blocks. A short walk along the river took us to the main restaurant/bar where we ate our evening meals.

The camp is owned by the Zambian Wildlife Society and 60% of the income goes to the society for various projects and it is leased by a Swiss lady, Dora, and her husband who run it with a South African couple. It was well run and organised. We were not allowed to walk along the river's edge after dark and would be picked up by a driver in a safari truck and taken to dinner at the restaurant further along the river from our camp.

Our tent is the wee one in front

We could see and hear hippos in the river and the first night we had 5 or so elephants eating grass and drinking water in a small stream beside our tent. It was pretty nervewracking hearing their feet squelch in the mud only 15 metres from our heads in our wee tent.

One of the workers told us that a lad pitched his tent under a tree and woke to see the sillouhette of an elephant astride his small hiking tent with its trunk in the tree above. He coughed and the elephant stopped eating and after a while it continued and when finished it went on its way without harming him! There are no fences between the animals and the camp so they roam from the park into the camp and off into the village. Being mango season, it is the time when the elephants cause problems and about 3 or 4 deaths a year in the villages as they go after the ripening fruit.

We were able to order a fresh loaf of bread baked by the chef each day and at US$5 a loaf it was pretty expensive but cheaper than taking a taxi to the village 5kms away for US$20 return! We also had enough food to prepare our own breakfasts and lunches.

On our first night drive we were lucky enough to see a leopard in a tree on dusk and another at a waterhole. We also saw lots of elephants, hippos, kudu, impala and puku antelopes, zebra with black feet, genet, mongoose, crocodiles and spotted hyena.

The next day we did a walking safari with Patrick and Linda and two Spanish guys. We headed off early in the morning and were accompanied by an armed scout and a park guide. We learnt a lot about animal droppings. the hyena has white droppings because it eats the bones of dead animals. We were able to tell the sex of the girrafe by the shape of its droppings and Patrick even joined in a spitting competition with the guide- a game the village children play when they are bored- seeing how far they could spit the girrafe droppings. The elephant poos and wees at the same time and we could tell by the position of the urine if it was a male or a female. We passed several places where there were skeletons of buffalo and learnt o tell if tehy were male or female as well.

John, Patrick, Linda and the two Spanish boys later went on an afternoon hike and stayed the night in a bush camp further up the river from the camp. They had to have a bush shower and had to take the armed guard with them when they wanted to go to the toilet at night.

I chose to stay at the camp and go on another night drive and was lucky enough to see another leopard. He was in a tree eating an impala that he had caught earlier in the evening. We also saw an old lion who had been in a fight and lay without moving as we took photos of him.

All in all it was a great place to rest away from noisy cities and touts, enjoy some nice food, and spend more time getting to know Linda and Patrick. It was the International Schools' holidays so several ex pat teachers passed through the camp as well.

Took the crowded minibus back to Chipata and checked into a backpackers on a hill overlooking the town rather than spend another night in the rest camp with its lack of running water and crawling bugs.

Chipata, Zambia

When we bought our tickets to Chipata we were able to pick where we wanted to sit, so we chose the side of the bus that would be out of the sun for the whole trip. Unfortunately, when we got on the bus a rather large lady had taken one of our seats so the manager had to sort her out and it was not a pleasant way to start the journey.

While the bus was being loaded we had a man in a suit with his bible preach loudly to everyone on the bus then ask for money. A guitarist then appeared at the doorway strumming a tune and was moved on by passengers entering the bus. A man loaded up with counterfeit boxes of perfumes tried his luck but was shooed away by the driver. The bus filled up and people sat in the entry stairwell and bags lined the aisles. A large box was put on the engine cover by the driver and as it heated up it began to stink of rotting fish or rotting meat. Several of the locals complained about the smells. After a few kilometres maggots began to climb out of the box and over packages and bags nearby and it was moved to the lower step in the stairwell but the smell still wafted through the bus.

The east coast road was pretty narrow with just enough room for two vehicles. the driver would toot loudly so the locals on their bicycles loaded with sacks of mealie maize or charcoal could move off the seal to let us pass. There was very little traffic other than taxis and a few long haul trucks carrying sacks of maize to the storage silos.

There were lots of mud bricks drying in front of the rondavel houses and lots of wood fired kilns to fire the bricks and make charcoal which was bagged and set up on the side of the road for sale. The usual assortment of domesticated animals roamed the sides of the streets and occasionally darted in front of the bus causing the driver to stand on the brakes and the horn.

It would have been interesting to stop in one of the farming communities to check out the interesting farm structures that we could see. Some looked like giant baskets for drying maize while others looked like long buildings with racks for drying tobacco. Some other structures were plastered with red mud and on stilts or partly woven like baskets and partly plastered but we couldn't work out what they were for.

The trip lasted 7 and 1/2 hours and the worst part was the DVD they played. The early DVDs were in English and barely audible but towards the end of the trip they played a DVD with Sylvester Stallone and Mickey Rourke. It was subtitled in Chinese and English but the English was really Chinglish as it didn't translate to anything that sounded like what they were actually saying. The last DVD they played was so badly copied that it sounded like water roaring down a hollow pipe and no one on the bus complained that they couldn't understand it or that it was annoyingly loud. Towards the end the sound got really loud so I told the conductor and he replaced it with something else and still no one complained that they didn't see the end of the movie.

Once in Chipata we got off at the bus station and then found the government rest camp across the road. The rest camp is used for government workers when they have to work in Chipata so they are heavily subsidised but any one can stay in the rest camp and they pay a bit more than the locals. The room was basic and not very clean. The mosquito net was pretty grotty so we were finally able to use the one we have been carrying since Swaziland. There was no water and we had to have a bucket shower in the bathroom and carry water from a barrel outside. The common lounge had a fan and a TV with English news so we could cool down.

We returned to the bus station to find a bus to take us onto Luangwe National Park the next day and after finding someone who was going we arranged to meet at 7 sharp. We then walked around the station looking for somewhere to eat and other than deep fried sausages, and fried battered chicken and that looked like it had been sitting in the display box all day we couldn't find any food so we bought some eggs and cooked them on our cooker with buns.

As soon as it was dark the room started crawling with termites, cockroach-like insects and flying bugs so afte rsquashing those we could find, tying our food bag to a nail, and tucking in the mosquito net we fell asleep. The only other accommodation places that were recommended were quite a way out of town and accessible by your own car or an expensive taxi so we were stuck with the rest camp.

We saw dozens of churches nearby each other with the Catholics, Jehovahs, Adventists, Anglicans and Reformed Zambian churches the most prolific. There was also a large mosque in the business part of the town as well. As we tried to sleep there was a huge evangelical gathering nearby the bus station with loud speakers blaring music and Christian messages. It felt like Lusaka all over again.

Lusaka, Zambia

Lusaka was a pleasant change from the hot 41+ degree temperatures of Livingstone but it was still hot. The bus we caught from Livingstone had 'business class' seats and we were able to pick our seats and reserve them. Once we started they gave us a biscuit and a soft drink as well. The bus was completely full and the affluent passengers spent a lot of time chatting loudly on their cell phones the whole journey.

We passed through rural Zambia passing wheat and sugar cane growing areas where some wheat was being harvested and bagged up.

Once we arrived at the Lusaka bus station we were besieged by touts pushing and shoving to get us into taxis. Once we said we didn't want one they left us alone and we walked to our backpackers not too far away.

The hostel had 'happy hour' at the bar on Wednesdays and Fridays and on Wednesday night dozens of ex-pats working in the city arrived to drink and party at the bar until 3.30am and we had to use our earplugs to get some sleep.

We caught up with Linda and Patrick again and we tried to find a safari tour to South Luangwa National Park together. We both separately chased up leads but could not find any company who could help us over the days we wanted to go. We decided to go to the park by public transport and left a day behind them.

There is not much to do or see in Lusaka so walked about the town several times and managed to buy some air time for our dongle (mobile internet connection). It turned out there are no data bundle packages available here and the air time turned out to be pretty expensive and used up in no time. We were thus unable to keep updating our blog.

The electricity went off several times in Lusaka and one night we couldn't eat at the backpackers so we had to find a restaurant in the leafy posh suburbs. We managed to find an Indian restaurant that had electricity although it went off once we had ordered. When we walked back to our backpackers we noticed small groups of prostitutes on each street corner in the posh residential area and they even raced after cars that came by looking for clients. It was quite a strange sight.

With no electricity there was no water in the toilets or showers and the staff did not even bother to fill buckets or tubs to flush the toilets so it was quite unpleasant. I managed to find a tap in the yard with water and have a bucket shower and wash my hair.

There were several young people staying at the backpackers who were doing various volunteer projects or research in Lusaka. An American guy was teaching kids soccer skills, a British lady was nursing in a rural area for VSA (Voluntary Service Abroad) and lived in NZ, a group of Australians had been helping at an animal rehabilitation place and there was a 40+ year old Turkish guy trying to sell his 4 or 5, 4x4 vehicles that he had imported from the UK. He wasn't having much luck as he didn't research his market properly and discovered that the locals only wanted petrol powered vehicles even though petrol was more expensive than diesel and the same price we would pay in NZ.

On the day we planned to leave we had to get up at 5am to catch an early bus to Chipata, but we were woken at about 4am with loud speakers blaring, shouting, clapping, and vuvuzuelas hooting. No one could tell us what was happening but it was pretty noisy at that time of the morning so we headed out earlier than planned. The touts were waiting for us at the bus station and several started fighting over the passengers that were arriving with big bags. One guy had a bloody nose and it was bedlam. We had got our tickets the day before and even then we were followed by several touts who wanted to show us where to get our tickets even though we already knew where to go. Once we had bought our ticket and left the office we turned back to see the ticket seller paying the tout a commission.

On the street outside the station there are 30 or 40 men camping on the street corner waiting to show customers to taxis or ticket offices as it their only employment. The area is littered with rubbish and they have fires burning to cook food and it stinks from so many men defecating and urinating in the street. The footpaths are not cemented so it is pretty dusty and dirty.

Livingstone, Zambia

The night bus to Livingstone was pretty crowded with only a couple of spare seats. John discovered that his seat did not recline and the bottom cushion kept falling out when he moved on it so had to find a more comfortable seat to try to sleep when there was a vacant one.

In the middle of the night we picked up passengers in Tsumeb and we saw that they were Linda and Patrick who we had met in Outjo. They had spent enough time waiting for their friends' 4x4 to be repaired that they decided to move on without them.

Most of the passengers got off at the border town of Katima Mulilo. There were 4 young German girls travelling together on the bus a few seats ahead of us. One of the girls wrapped her handbag in a scarf and then put it on the floor under her seat and they all went to get something to eat. When they returned to their seats the girl discovered her bag had been stolen. It contained the rental car keys for their car in Cape Town where they were staying, her passport, credit cards, money, and return bus tickets!

The police were called and came onto the bus questioning the foreigners on the bus. After their questioning they concluded that the young German girl had actually left the handbag in Windhoek and had not even brought her bag onto the bus, and no amount of discussion could convince them otherwise! They even wrote this on the police report for the girl! We told the girls that they would not be able to cross into Zambia without a passport but they seemed to think that they could so they were shocked to discover that the bus was going to continue without the girl who lost her passport. As 3 of the girls were sisters they had to stay at the border while the 4th member of their group continued with us all.

Two of the four girls were studying in Capetown and were joined by the other two sisters. Together they all decided to catch a long haul bus from Capetown to Windhoek and then take the night bus from Windhoek to Livingstone to see the Victoria Falls for one day and then do the same the trip back to Capetown. The 4th girl stayed one night in Livingstone and got up at 6am to visit the falls and then 5 hours later had to take the bus back to Windhoek. Even more disppointing for her was the fact that there was hardly any water coming over the falls!

The bus trip took us 22 hours altogether with the extra time being spent waiting for the police to do their investigations.



We checked into a quiet comfortable Backpackers called Fawlty Towers in the middle of town. It was a nice place to recover with a huge garden and green grass lawn, swimming pool, bar and free internet. Unfortunately it had the most un-user friendly kitchen we had ever met. You had to sign for cooking utensils at reception and then return them after as there was only an old stove and a barely working smelly fridge in the kitchen.

We ate a couple of times at an Italian restaurant called Olga's. Olga had left some money to be used to start a training school so the at risk street children were trained not only in hospitality skills but also, sewing, cooking, wrought iron, construction, jewelery, furniture making and art skills. There were not many other places to eat in Livingstone near us other than fried chicken take away places. We were advised not to walk the town after dark so it was convenient to have Olga's across the road.

A young Dutch couple in our backpackers was distressed as they only had Mastercard credit cards and none of the ATM machines would accept them as they only took Visa cards. They were able to leave their laptop with an American lady who lent them money to cross into Zimbabwe and see the falls from there. We had also offered to help them out if the American lady couldn't. Luckily for us we carry carry both cards so have some choices.

Patrick and Linda visited the Zambian side of the falls, but as we knew there was less water than the month before when we were on the Zimbabwean side, we decided not to go. We were quite surprised when we saw their photos of the small falls and lots of rocks.



However we both decided to do a sunset 'booze cruise' on the Zambezi. We were joined by a Greek Australian called Theodore, an Ethiopian American girl, and two South African safari truck guides. There were quite a few cruises and at the end of the day the luxury cruises saw the same animals and sunset as us but had to pay heaps more for the privilege.

We saw elephants and hippos together beside the river as well as a few birds. The zebra and giraffe were probably waiting their turn in the trees.

While Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwean side is built for the tourists, Livingstone is a bustling service town for the area. It has Soviet style grey concrete residential and office buildings, dusty streets, and several government headquarters. The falls are 12 kilometres from the town and along the Zambezi riverfront are several luxury hotels away from the dusty hustle and bustle of the town. Most Zambians are Christians and the supermarket had Christian music playing on Sunday for the shoppers and there were large groups on Friday and Saturday nights attending 'crusades' as the locals call them. The loud speakers would boom the presenters messages in to the night frequently repeating the same messages for 20 minutes or so.

Windhoek, Namibia

We drove through Etosha stopping at as many of the man-made waterholes as we could find but there were not so many animals about.

Once outside the park we drove onto Tsumeb where we stayed at a guesthouse that had some rustic outdoor rooms and better indoor ones. The guesthouse was owned by a German speaking couple. We got the car washed of all the white dust at a more reasonable price than we would have to pay in Windhoek so took the opportunity to do it while in Tsumeb. Tsumeb is quite a wealthy town as they have copper mines nearby. The streets in our Lonely Planet guide were out of date as the whole town has now had the streets all renamed.

Once back in Windhoek we were able to pick up my replacement glasses that I had ordered from Specsavers. When we phoned to ask if they were ready the assistant told us they would be ready by 5pm. When we arrived at 3.30pm she whispered to us to come back at 5pm. We couldn't work out if there was some sort of scam going on that they didn't want the owner or operator to know about. However the glasses fitted well and were made to the same prescription that my lost glasses were and I adjusted to them quickly.

I had lost my previous glasses as I didn't have a small bag to carry the glasses and case in so I was able to buy some material and webbing and hand sew a handbag so I could carry a few small things about rather than lumber my overloaded day-bag about. Some of the young travellers couldn't believe that I had not only made a bag from a small strip of material but that I had hand stitched it. The female Namibian staff thought I should start a stall and sell handbags as well.

Chameleon Backpackers was pretty full but there was enough space for everyone without being too crowded. It is a pretty well thought out place and nice and quiet. Compared with the Cardboard Box Backpackers at the other end of town it was cheaper, cleaner, purpose built and well laid out. There were signs everywhere warning you of theft and muggings. There was not one warning at Cardboard Box.

We had met a few people who had eaten at Joe's Beer Hall restaurant so we drove there to have a meal in the evening. The restaurant is quite difficult to describe, but eclectic comes to mind. It had a quite large pond with huge koi carp in a central open area. There were walls made from small bamboo stakes and grass with thatched rooves. Car parts and number plates were hanging from the walls as well as stuffed antelope heads. It would once have been quite a large house and they knocked doorways through the walls creating different eating rooms set out with benches and large wooden tables like you would find in a German beer hall. There was a circular bar in the courtyard and tables with umbrellas, giving a feeling that you were by a beach and not in a city residential area. John ordered oryx, zebra, and ostrich steaks and Lil had zebra. We both enjoyed the flavour of the zebra although it was pretty chewy. It was a pretty popular place for tourists and we had to make bookings to get a seat.

We got the blog updated, photos burned to CDs, gear cleaned and food supplies restocked and posted a small parcel home. John had to get some antifungal cream for an itchy fungal rash from the hot sweaty temperatures. We bought a bus ticket for the Intercape bus to Livingstone in Zambia. It was a double decker bus and left at 6.30pm and we were told it would take 20 hours. We would have preferred to have driven the rental car across the Caprivi Strip to the Zambian border but the one way charge would have been nearly as much as the whole 8 day charge for the car so we were stuck with the night bus.

Etosha, Namibia

Loaded up the rental car with supplies from Windhoek and headed for Otjo the nearest point to Etosha with a backpackers. We had managed to book a camp site at the Etosha Pan National Park for two nights. The park has 3 rest camps and we were only able to get space in the middle camp called Halali.

At Otjo we met 2 Dutch couples, Patrick and Linda, Anja and Demis, who were camping in the backpackers and had been quite awhile there. One of the couples had borrowed a 4x4 from someone on in SA and it had blown a head gasket so they had to wait for parts to have it repaired. The couple, Jaenny and Deon, who run the backpackers hope to get to NZ for the rugby world cup next year so we may well see them again. It was really hot during the day but there were some big trees that gave us a shady spot to rest and chat.

We headed off early for Etosha and set up camp. The place had no grass except beside the pool and was 42+. Most of the camp was a dust bowl. Lots of the safari truck tours booked out many of the camp sites and they would stay one night and be up and gone around 6am.


This was the only lion we saw and she watched the zebra and antelopes from this log in the middle of a water hole.

A lot of the natural waterholes at Etosha were dry while the ones supplied with water had a mix of animals at the same time. There was always a mix of animals and it was great to see the gangly giraffes doing the splits to get a drink.

This waterhole had a large herd of elephants. They would splash and roll around in the water and then get out and cover themselves in white dust.

There were large herds of wildebeest grazing the veldt.

Spotted this white coloured chameleon in the black branched tree.

Etosha was really hot and dry and being a flat pan it was difficult to see any animals past about 2 or three trees deep from the road. the safari trucks certainly have the advantage of being high above the trees to see the animals that are further than 3 trees in.

At the camp at night there was a waterhole that was open all night as well as all day. We saw a leopard one night and enjoyed watching the rhino and their babies but had problems photographing them which was a shame. It is amazing how each group of animals waits their turn at the waterhole. The elephants apparently hate sharing the waterholes with any other animals and we saw them chase the rhino away. Some rhino would wait in the trees for the elephant to leave and then take their turn followed by the springboks.

After Etosha we spent a night in another backpackers where we did some laundry and had the car washed before returning it to Windhoek.

Sossusvlei, Namibia

We decided to head back to Windhoek but found that there was no Intercape bus running but met two Brits who were taking a shuttle bus. We asked the lodge owner about it but she felt it would be fully booked and we wouldn't get a seat. However, we rushed off to where we knew it started and got the last two seats but they had to put some bags inside the minivan because the trailer was full of bags.

We had booked a VW Chico hire car for 7 days and it had to be picked up in Windhoek. When John picked it up we had been fortunately upgraded to a bigger 1.6 Polo car in which we could fit everything in the boot and didn't have to pay any extra for. This time we stayed at a different backpackers called Chameleon close to the city centre. It was much quieter, more conservative and with more rules that the Cardboard Box but it was also cheaper, newer, and friendlier.

Managed to order some glasses from Spec Savers and were told they would be ready when we returned from our 7 day trip. This is the first time I have ever carried a spare pair of glasses with me as well as a script for my lenses. Hummmm!

There are warning signs on backpacker noticeboards, in guide books, and at tourist offices about ATM scams. We used an ATM machine in the street and while John is using the machine I stand in front of the screen and look away from the machine to keep lookout for anyone approaching. A man was in a queue behind John and he waited patiently but suddenly he and a second man as well as the security guard jostled around us. John had finished the transaction and I elbowed the men away and told them to go away. One man followed us a few paces up the street telling us we didn't cancel our account but we told him to go away. What he wanted was for us to return to the machine and put our card in and then he would tell us to put our pin in and then he would take the card and use it with memorised pin. To avoid this we try to use machines that are in malls where there are lots of people watching you. Later when we had dinner we noticed the same men following the tourists in the street waiting for some to use the ATMs. One of the men saw us watching him but didn't seem bothered by that.

We bought a whole lot of supplies for camping and headed for Sesriem. When we stopped for a bite to eat at a rest area on the side of the road we saw a traffic police man and asked him about the route we were taking. He was very knowledgeable about the roads to Sesriem and was able to give us advice on a shortcut to take as it was a 7+ hour trip.

Beside the main highway is a dirt trail where the locals race up and down with their donkey or horse carts carrying goods between places or transporting people from place to place.

These huge bird nests are made by tiny birds and they love to attach them to power pylons or telephone posts as well as trees. Some we saw were so huge they broke the tree branches. We still don't know what the birds are called but may find out in due course.

On the shortcut dirt road from Kalkrand to Maltahohe we only saw a grader, a truck and a couple of motorbikes. As we came out the other end we got to the Tsarishoogie Pass on sunset and saw several flashes of lightning. We had a small shower of rain that needed wipers but thankfully the dirt road didn't turn to mud.

We didn't make a booking at a camp ground but checked out a couple of places before settling on a brand new camp beside a petrol station. We had checked with the Namibia Wildlife Resorts office but were told that all the camps were fully booked as well as pretty expensive. However the Sossus Oasis camp was pretty reasonable and had a shelter, its own shower and toilet and a sink and bench area for cooking. It also had lighting and a electric switch that took a NZ power plug so we could use our water boiler. In the middle of the 14 or so sites was a swimming pool surrounded by soft green grass. There were no more than 6 sites occupied in the time we were there so it was pretty quiet.


The water was heated by a solar heater and in the evening the ranger came to tell us to put all food away and keep our shoes indoors as the jackals were apt to take them. We were able to see their paw prints around the tent in the morning.

We got up early and drove through the park to Dune 45 and climbed to the top along with several safari truck loads of Italians.

Namibia has the world's oldest and driest eco systems. We also did a 4km hike to Hidden Valley to look over a white salt pan. There was a part where we had to take a 4 wheel shuttle to look at the last part of the park but felt when we got there that it wasn't worth it after having walked the Hidden valley. Saw a few oryx, ostriches, jackals, and our first springboks.

Bumped into Teresa and Daisy at the dunes so had a good catch up with them. They were camped in the Namib-Naukluft National Park but found the people unfriendly, no electricity and no water in the bathrooms so they were not happy.


In the evening we walked through the Sesriem Canyon and watched the sunset then enjoyed a cool swim in the pool before cooking some camping food.



There are lots of thorn trees with pretty thick hard thorns and we had one in our tyre that needed to be repaired so the staff at the service station were able to do that for us. He pulled the thorn and then filled the hole with a rubber plug as the tyres were tubeless.

We drove back to Windhoek after a couple of days and picked up a couple of local lads who were working at the park lodge on the way. They had two weeks' holiday and they were going to Maltahohe to see their families. We cleaned our gear and restocked our camping supplies for the next journey north.

Swakopmund, Namibia

After checking out things to do in Namibia and how to do them we got up early and took the double decker Intercape bus to Swakopmund on the west coast. The bus was very comfortable and there were not many people on it. We met an elderly German woman who works for an Aid organization and has done so for many years. She travelled alone and holidayed and worked at the same time.

We passed through Okahanja where the Herero people have their administration centre. There were dozens of makeshift stalls from polythene and canvas lining the road outside the petrol station where they sold all kinds of wood carvings. Some were half the size of a real hippo and we often see these in hotels and accommodation places. They are not really suitable for backpackers like us.

The next place was Karibib, the service town for the cattle ranchers. It also has large marble quarries and not far away was the Rossing Uranium Mine, the world's largest open cast operation.

We checked into a lodge with a camp ground and separate guesthouse accommodation not far from the city centre where we bumped into Birgit from Christchurch and Matt from New Plymouth but both working in London. Matt is an engineer working on pipelines and Birgit is with a law firm. They were heading for SA where they were to meet Matt's parents and take them around SA with them so we were able to help with their travel plans.

This area was taken over by the Germans from 1884 to 1915 so there are still some historic administration buildings from this time, when it was known as German South-West Africa. Of course it is a popular place for German tourists to visit as well.





These women from the Himba tribe were selling their crafts in the mall near the beach. While waiting for buyers they ground up ochre to mix with cattle fat to smear over their bodies as they don't wash.

Birgit and Matt were heading in their rental car south so we caught a lift with them to Walvis Bay not far from Swakopmund. We had seen a poster in the supermarket advertising an October fest so we decided to have a look and try out the German style beer that is made with only 3 ingredients as it is in Germany. We had bratwurst for lunch and listened to some German tunes. The day was a fundraiser for the local soccer club. We heard a lot of German being spoken and there were even a couple of men in their leather trousers. We found it pretty cool and windy so had our coats on. Later we saw several windsurfers in the harbour enjoying the wind.

This platform, known as Bird Island, was built in the ocean for the nesting sea birds. One thousand tonnes of guano is harvested off the island annually for fertiliser. Walvis Bay is Namibia's second largest city at 54,000 people and has a tanker berth and shipping facilities.

The lodge owner told us that there was no public transport between Swakopmund and Walvis bay and that we would have to hitch hike so when we farewelled Matt and Birgit we got a lift back to Swakopmund. My day glasses, which were new when I left NZ, fell out of my pocket into the mess in the ute we got a ride with. We left details with the lodge in case the young guy cleaned his ute and found them. He was a driller working in the desert north of Windhoek drilling for water and told us several times how much he loved his country.

Back in Swakopmund we signed up to do a morning sand-boarding with a local company. It was still quite a cool 15 degrees. We drove out to the dunes outside of town and were joined by several people from 2 different truck safari companies as well as a family of 4 from SA. We were given a piece of oil-tempered hardboard, as we chose the lie-down version of sand-boarding but others chose to stand up as they do in boots for snowboarding.

Just before the instructor pushed me over the cliff. I had to remember all the instructions: lie down knees on the board, lift the front of the board up from the corners (so you don't end up with a face and mouth full of sand or get buried), keep your elbows up parallel to the ground so you don't get sand burn or flip over, feet up and together, feet down together to slow down at the end. Even though the sand looks smooth it was surprisingly bumpy where the wind had blown furrows in the sand. On the small dune they used a gadget like a traffic policeman to record your speed and I managed to get a record 59kph. When your chin is a few centimeters from fast moving sand it seems really fast anyway.

This is John disappearing down the biggest dune where the record speed was clocked at 81kph. The two dots to the far left are the video cameraman and instructor and if you double click the photo you will see the track where everyone ended up their run, right between the two people. The board cannot be steered and each one follows the same route. Every person on the lie-down board managed to stay on the board and complete the run except one guy from Malaysia who broke his board in half a few metres from the end of his run when he dropped the front and buried it and his face in the sand! One guy on the stand-up board broke his wrist when he went over the jump. His girlfriend who was a nurse didn't seem to know how to help him so I used my Red Cross first aid skills and iced him and made a makeshift sling to elevate his arm using his girlfriend's shirt. We were able to watch a DVD of the trip later and got a copy for our selves. Quite a buzz!

Met Teresa and Daisy, two German women, who were travelling in a 4x4 with a tent on their roof. We had a good laugh with them as they told us about their adventures so far. They were older than the students we usually meet so it was nice to meet people who could laugh at themselves.