Left Cape Town on the 12th and spent most of the last week in Namibia. First couple of days were just getting us used to things on the tour like setting up tents and things, but did a bit more wine tasting and saw the last few bits of South Africa. Namibia only has a population of about 2 million so it is very empty and we don’t see many people or cars along the dirt tracks but lots of animals and finally I saw desert (as despite Australia’s claims, I only found deserts there with trees in them, which to me is not a desert).

From this bit I have kind of stolen and edited some of Ali’s blog, oh well!

We passed loads of wildlife on our way to Sesriem, goats, cows, horses, and ostriches. There were also huge nests in some of the tree branches that looked like thatched roofs. One of the highlights of this trip so far was a desert walk to see Sossusvlei, an area cut off in the middle of the desert where dead trees over 900 years old are still standing. The dunes are the largest in the world, with one being over 400 metres high! The trip there, 28 of us standing up in the back of a truck was a great start! The information the guide had about the dunes was so interesting! The area so rarely gets water, but when it does life springs up inside it, shrimp eggs can go 30 years dried up but still populate with water! He showed us a dead flower that opened with water, caught a lizard and black beetle, then teased a trap door spider out of it’s home! Got great pictures by the trees and then we ran down a sand dune before being herded back onto the truck, where we saw loads of Springbok and Oryx beside the ‘road’ on the way back. We then climbed up Dune 45 to see the sunset over the desert. Had game meat for tea ‘Kudu’, which was a huge block of red meat, only ate about half as it was so big.

Crossed the Tropic of Capricorn for the 4th time in the last year, the landscape had changed dramatically again, totally flat. Arrived into the seaside resort of Swakopmund, the town, apparently being more German than Germany is nothing like Africa I have seen so far and more like Europe.

Wanted to upload some photos but think it will take forever from here, so will try next time.