Road Trip: Desert (Part 3)

Part 3: As we left the West Coast at sunrise, we had been on the road for just under 2 weeks, and had about a week left to get all the way home. Continuing North, following the Cape-Namibia route...

The famous Namaqualand daisies are a highlight of this route in springtime. If this had only been the right time of year... the slopes and roadsides pictured below would be carpeted in gorgeous wild flowers!

The Orange River forms the border between South Africa and Namibia. Approaching the crossing, the terrain becomes extremely dramatic. Down past towering rocks, we crossed the bridge over a torrential looking, brown Orange river.

After a couple of failed attempts to leave the border post, involving being sent back to square one due to the lack of the right rubber stamps, we were finally gratefully spat out the other side and released into a typical Namibian roadscape. The Namib desert, with sparse scrubby vegetation stretching as far as the eye can see. Big skies, and distant mountains. Freedom again!

That night, we made it all the way to the Fish River Canyon. In the late afternoon, we found we had the entire visitor's centre to ourselves, Hot, empty and utterly still , this was the perfect way to experience the unique atmosphere here.

The view from the platform: the amazing canyon, with the Fish River winding through it. Silent, and ancient, and difficult to do justice to with a mere digital image...

Here is a panorama that Tiennie photographed and stitched together. I thought about trying to remove the jagged edges, but decided to leave them. Trying to give a bit of scale, I am seated near the edge of the canyon, just an insignificant scrap of  humanity!

I'm not very good at heights, and during the taking of these photos, was quite convinced that I might be about to topple over right into the Fish River Canyon, yet photographic evidence shows I was pretty far from the edge!

Here is a photo of our car, doing its impression of a lunar module on a barren moonscape, watched by us two lonely shadowy beings.

 What else could grow in this inhospitable landscape, but the iconic Quiver Tree of Namibia!

After an exhausting day of driving and sightseeing, we put up our tent in the campsite, packing up again extremely early the next morning to continue on the seemingly endless road north.. We were rewarded on this day when we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn - finally approaching our own more familiar latitudes - still a long way to go, though!!

Slowly the desert regions gave way to more of a woodland zone, and we decided to follow a road sign that read simply "Meteorite".  Here is a photo of this bizarre block of extra terrestrial matter, which fell to earth many years ago, implanted itself in Namibian soil, and has been left there ever since, for people to be intrigued by!

Day 3 in Namibia, and we were almost at the Botswana border... here we stayed a night at Mahangu Lodge alongside the Kavango river, and although we could only afford camping , we still managed an afternoon on the water, and a wonderful dinner on this deck, just above the fast flowing, flooded river.

Next day, we crossed over onto Botswana soil again! A quick business and catch-up visit in the border town of Shakawe, where we filled our car up with the 'wrong' type of petrol (nothing else on offer!!) and we were on our way again - a long, long way, bypassing the Okavango delta, and going on on towards the Makgadikgadi area. A flat, arid region dotted with signature palm trees...

Our next destination: a top favourite on this blog,  Planet Baobab, was where we spent our last 2 nights, to unwind after all the driving and just totally relax. It has become our traditional place to go every year in March in the quiet season. Here is an idea of the magnificence of one of the huge baobabs.

I've posted favourite photos of Planet Baobab in the past 2 years of annual visits, and  despite the fact that I took lots more again, I will just link back to the earlier blog posts, or this post might never end:
First visit to Planet Baobab in 2009 - Part 1
2009 - Part 2
2010 - return visit

On the way home, the now traditional landmark - The Termite Mound. It was a bit difficult to decide this year if it had grown or not. However, I did feel, when up close to it, that it had changed shape in a subtle way.

After that, it was a short hop - 400km home, to finish the orange section marked on the map below - safely arriving back at our starting point of 17 days earlier - much rested, extremely relaxed, and ready for all the chaos that being absent from here for so long entails..

More than a month later, and I think I might have finally caught up! I've also really enjoyed compiling my 3 part journal, and sorting through the numerous photos and memories. I'm sure it must be time to plan another holiday! (wishfully thinking?), but until then - I'll give this page a break, and will be back just as soon as I can.. many mid week greetings to all reading this blog!

Road Trip: Oceans (Part 2)

Part 2: It was time to hit the long road once more ...a scenic descent, gravitating towards the coastal plains and the ocean...

The transition from highlands to sea level took us through spectacular mountain passes, where we enjoyed the novelty of travelling down through the clouds.

During this section of our journey, the usual minor tussles with our electronic friend turned into all out war! After she point blank refused to acknowledge the existence of a brand new shiny highway, her subsequent protestations from the dashboard were so vocal and non-productive, we were forced to shut her off entirely during that stretch of road - a very drastic act of hostility!

Finally, approaching our destination - the coastal town of  Port Alfred, I was happy to note a "Beware of the Warthogs" sign - a brief reminder of our distant home!

At last...the Indian Ocean, in a misty mood.. I was so excited to be there, that I took a celebratory drive-by shot of this speck sized ship out at sea...

Ten years had passed since last seeing our good friend, Jan. A prohibitive number of kilometres of distance between us had been a contributing factor to this, and life had kept on getting in the way. However, it was as if the intervening years had never happened, and our precious few hours of our overnight stay with her were over all too soon. We had to dash off the next morning, but even a brief re-connection with old friends is very much worthwhile.

On the road again...the Storms River Bridge spans an impressive, dizzying canyon and features a walkway right under the bridge itself. Here you can perch nervously over the gorge for a photo, while the awesome structure above rumbles and shudders with the wheels of the passing traffic.

All along the coast we drove, on the beautiful Garden Route - ending up at a gorgeous, almost deserted seaside campsite just beyond Knysna. It is so good to be able to travel out of peak holiday seasons! We could  hardly wait to get out onto the beach, kick off shoes, and enjoy the salt, spray and the wide open spaces!!

In my role as fishing companion, I spent an amazing afternoon on the beach just watching the waves and the horizon, the jellyfish and shellfish, the seabirds and the shining sand. Listening to the addictive sound of the surf, and probably just reconnecting with the cancerian part of me...

Just before the sun went down, several dolphins materialised in the waves not far from us, and entertained us for a while. For us inland dwellers, the joy of watching wild dolphins in the ocean is difficult to describe!

What would this blog be without a sunset photo? Note the familiar silhouette of a certain fishing addict.

Next day,  on the road again to Cape Town for a brief overnight stay with our very great friends Ingrid and Bernard. They had last done the mammoth distance all the way up to northern Botswana to visit us, so it was now our turn.

Turning away from the coast for a while, yet more scenic beauty appeared. We also came across this funky old caravan which appeared to be a mobile 'biltong' shop..

Back on friendly terms, our GPS picked this sea-side route into Cape Town, which turned out to be extremely pretty with all these beautiful blues, whites and turquoises.

With  our friends on leave from work in honour of our visit we all headed off early the next day to the West Coast, to meet up at their other home.

Please note a famous landmark en route!Not sure if it is very recognisable, but this tourist was absolutely determined to photograph Table Mountain as we drove straight through and out the other side of Cape Town. Despite the misty haze, it was still impressive!

Leaving the Mother City behind us, we suddenly realised our wheels were pointing North once more! We were about 3200km away from home, and no further southerly options were available.

Here in the West Coast region, alongside the Atlantic, the pace is very laidback and leisurely. Watch out for tortoises!

This section of the coast is stunning. Amongst other places, we visited the quaint fishing village of Pater Noster, where we got blown around on the beach, froze our toes off in the Atlantic, got taken in by some big-eyed, dreadlocked, un-melodious, singing-for-cash children, and then temporarily adopted by a random beach-walking dog ... We then recovered from these serious exertions at a truly fabulous seafood restaurant for a very lazy late afternoon lunch...

Next day, the mists cleared up for a bit of sailing, which was a real highlight. What we two know about sailing is pretty non-existent, but it was just fabulous to be out on the sea with the sound of the wind in the sail, and that beautiful sense of freedom!

I loved observing this lone seal ... so comfortable in the cold water, just doing its thing, and rolling over co-operatively for this photo!

Our last night, we drove through an orange-gold sunset to have dinner at yet another fabulous restaurant, at The Farmhouse Hotel, looking down over the Langebaan lagoon..

Although it was chilly and the main restaurant had a fire going, we preferred the spacious high-ceilinged section, featuring this seashell chandelier and the lovely view of the post-sunset sky over the lagoon.

All too soon, Part 2 had to come to an end, and we had to reluctantly say goodbye to our friends and the very appealing West Coast lifestyle. We had thoroughly enjoyed the good company, the sea, the glorious weather, wonderful food, and let us not forget the renowned wines of the Cape...

A green line on my map shows our travels in Part 2, and it seems that home is still a very long, long way away..

Part 3 to follow, and hopefully I will manage to finish this holiday journal before it is time to embark on yet another trip!!  Warm almost end of weekend wishes to all reading this very long travel installment!