Namibia

Hi all,

To those who have been on the Namibia holiday with us I have added you to my “travelogue” group so you can also see the photos but I shall remove you after the Namibia trip is done unless you want to see future holidays! Basically what you will get is a summary of our holiday with photos….Anything underlined in blue is a hyperlink to websites which may have more information about what I have been talking about which you can look at if you wish (this is a new thing I’ve just worked out how to do!)

To everyone else hello too! For those that don’t know I have managed to negotiate 2 months off from my job in order to spend time with Woody and his parents and also to stop feeling perpetually exhausted by the long hours and incredibly demanding job that I have. We have a good friend (that’s you Norman) who lives by this saying - Do what you can, when you can, while you can. I also like the one that went round online saying - No-one ever looks back and says “I wish I’d worked more”. So before it got too much into the work season for Woody I arranged for time off for both of us most of which is being spent in South Africa but there was also some time at home for myself at the beginning and end of the time off to get things in order and get some things done that needed doing. Before we left we also had some lovely social dinners with family and friends with the last event being an Afternoon Tea with some of our neighbours which was lots of fun. It was also a sad time as there have been several funerals - one of a past neighbour was a Muslim and green funeral at a Woodland Burial site in Edenbridge which was a lovely location but also 2 of the patients I had nursed died of their illnesses so there were their cremations which I went to with some work colleagues and also Aunty Peggy (my grandmothers half brothers wife) had died following a long period with dementia and she had a lovely funeral at Ash which has a stunning churchyard and I got to see some of my relatives and it was nice to have my parents stay on the way up and call in for coffee on their return journey.

On their stay up we had a Palestinian dinner following recipes from the book they had given us at Easter

So on the 17th April we packed our cases, 

did everything needed to be done as much as could be done and got driven to Heathrow to await our flight…. we had the traditional sushi starter to keep us going and wandered round the shops to see if anything had changed since our last visit. We absolutely did not take advantage of the ice packs with Woody’s medication to smuggle cheese to his parents because that would be very naughty and wrong. We spent time in Hermanus and Woody spent a lot of time working on the bike and adding the bits he’d brought over for it (tyres and whatnot) before zooming back to Cape Town airport for a trip to Namibia -12 days with Landscape Tours.

Not much variation in temperatures at 6am wherever you are!

A lovely sunrise lighting the little water that there is in the reservoir through the mountains on the way to Sir Lowy’s Pass and on to Somerset West

Bearing in mind that it is one hour ahead here it is very early for us!!!

The clouds were also looking very lovely as they poured over the mountains. We stopped off in Somerset West to pick up two ladies (well actually 2 lasses from Oop North where it’s boring and slow)

Walking across to our plane at Cape Town - ahead you can see Eileen, Pauline and Eileen who were also on our tour. 

And here you can see the pilot!

The food on the flight was really good and especially the chocolate dessert! No idea what it was though. It had a chocolate cup base, a chocolate brownie like cake with a lovely jaffa orange sauce and then vanilla butter cream.

We thought the plane was small but you can really see it compared to this Air Namibia plane. We all got told off for taking photos as we walked to immigration but too late!

We met our driver and guide Heidi and the rest of our group - 2 had flown in from Johannesburg and we were taken to Windhoek for our first night at Casa Piccolo

Glad we brought insect repellant...

Our rooms surrounded this little courtyard garden with pool (none of us tried it!) It’s not as murky as it looks as it has been painted/tiled in black rather than the more traditional blue...

Internet available and here is proof that we are where we are (and not in Nambia as Mr Trump would have it) …. good old google maps….

and almost exactly the right place!

The next morning another temperature check showed that Windhoek is the place to be….. Not too hot, not too cold!

We only had two lie ins - that means getting up at 7am - the rest of the time like today was up at 6am and then when ready off to breakfast as soon as it is served and here is the photo to prove we were first up! (and the last time I think!)

We saw some of Windhoek (the capital) on our way through. We passed around the Presidential palace. There had been some debts to Korea during the war so they won the contract to build it. The gold decorations on the fence as Welwitschia plants. They are painted gold rather than the intended real gold so that they were not stolen.

All roads lead to… well straight. And for a long long way. Namibia changes a lot but the roads are usually extremely long and straight.

It was more green than it has been for a long time because there has not been rain in the past 2-3 years but recently they have had some….

On our journey we stopped off for human and vehicle fuel (that is gin and diesel) at a place called Rehoboth  There was a shopping mall, a petrol station and a covered area with information boards about the local town. 

Like in South Africa the names of the places are often picked out in white painted stones on nearby hillsides

A change! Long straight roads but this time dirt. Some were in very good condition but some were very corrugated as a result of wind and water erosion...

We stopped off for lunch at Solitaire which follows…

Love to all

W&B